318 Dr. Michelle Robin: The Secret Ingredient To Wellness (And It's Not What You Think)

When you wake up every morning or every other morning when you wake up, dial in. You know what? How did I sleep last night? Well, you know what? I Woke up at 1 to 3. Why did you wake up? Did you wake up because you heard a noise? Did you wake up because you had to go to the restroom? And then you think, well, how was my energy today? Do I feel kind of flat? Am I hitting the snooze button two or three times? And do I have a bellyache? Am I able to have a bowel movement first thing in the morning? How's my skin look? Do I have acne? And really, we've got this amazing vehicle and it's like, gosh, the most phenomenal creation is the human body, mind and spirit. And so I would encourage our listeners, if you don't know where to start, start with dialing in. And so when you think about being a force or being a magnet or being this vitality, I want to walk into a room and help elevate the vibration. And the only way I can do that is if I invest in my own well being.

That's Dr. Michelle Robin, and this is episode 318 of Wellness Force Radio. Wellness Force Radio, where we discover the physical and emotional intelligence to live life well.

You can have the same brain states as someone who's done an hour of meditation every day for 40 years. There's a lot of losses that we go through. So the ability to be able to.

Cope with those losses is very important to build skill in it, because loss will happen. You know, you have to have spiritual courage to really grow spiritually, because if you really want to take guidance from your soul, you have to be ready to realize that that many of the things that you're asking for guidance on, your ego has some kind of an addiction to or an investment in. This is it. 2019 is done. Welcome back to the podcast. It's Josh Trent. The last episode of 2019. I wanted to bring on a very special guest for this final show before we reach the new decade. You know, you know, we're going into 2020. Did you know this? 2020, y'.

All?

2020. Tomorrow is 2020. This is what they talked about in the Jetsons. You remember that cartoon with The Jetsons? I'm 39, so if you don't know what the Jetsons are, you might be a millennial. That's cool, too. Basically, 2020 was going to be the year where everything was transformed. We'd have robots serving us. Humanity would be totally egalitarian and Maybe capitalism would be more conscious. Well, the only way this is going to happen is if we do exactly what our guest today is talking about, and that is treat each other with a very special ingredient, a secret ingredient to wellness. And it's not what you think. This ingredient is not what you think. I'm going to tell you exactly what this ingredient is in just a moment, but before we get there, I want to tell you about our guest today. Dr. Michelle Robin and I have known each other for, I think, three years now. Almost three years. Dr. Michelle Robyn is a chiropractor, author, teacher, holistic healer, podcast host, unshakable optimist. She's also a speaker and the founder of youf Wellness Connection. And every day she meets people, people who truly want to feel better in her practice. They want to enjoy their existence and not merely just, quote, make it through another day. She believes that we all deserve to live a happy, vibrant and healthy life. And she says that she knows we all have the power to create that life for ourselves. And she knows this because she's been in the field for decades. For 25 years, she's helped people create small changes that ultimately shift their habits and their life. And today she is here on Wellness Force to help you get started on your journey. On your wellness journey. There's a reason why I saved this episode for last. The last episode of the year is always special on every podcast. And this mission that Dr. Michelle talks about, small changes, big shifts. It starts now. It starts today. No resolutions, no big plans. We're talking about tiny habits that lead to big results. Now, I promised you I'd tell you the secret ingredient. The secret ingredient that we're exploring on today's podcast is the epigenetics. The biology and physiology of kindness. Of kindness. Who would have thought that kindness would be so powerful and so healing to our cells, to our brains, and to our gut microbiome. Well, we explore four ways that Dr. Michelle has had small changes that have led to big shifts in her life. Some of these changes aren't that small. We talk about her Hoffman process experience, how that radically shifted her life. We talk about the process of self love. How if we love ourselves, then obviously, but not so simply all the time, we can love other people. We talk about trauma being like gasoline for our genes. We explore epigenetics and testing, and basically, you are what your grandparents ate. We also explore the foundation that led Dr. Michelle to serve so many people. What happened when she was 15 years old, why we can look at things as the best or the worst thing that happened to, to us or for us. We'll talk about the power of language and really explore her four quadrant model. The four quadrant model that Dr. Michelle is well known for is mechanical, chemical, spiritual, psychological, and energetic. We go deep into all these. Let's dig in. And by the way, make sure you go to drmichellerobin.com I was about ready to go to the podcast. I was like, let's dig into the podcast because you could tell how excited I am for you to hear from Dr. Michelle. But make sure you go to drmichellerobin.com there's so many resources there. 25 years of experience in wellness. This is a woman I am super proud to close out the 2019, the last day before 2020 in this new decade where we get to practice the secret ingredient that will uplevel ourselves and connect everyone to their truth. And that is the ingredient of kindness. Practicing kindness. Do that today and make 2020 the year that you practice kindness to yourself and to other people as the bedrock and foundation of your wellness intelligence. It would be so kind if you left a review for the podcast. Not only does it help us reach more smart people who care about their wellness like you, but it also allows us to rise up the itunes charts. We're trying to beat the robots. You know, we're trying to beat the robots at their own game. Now the only way we get to beat the robots is if we authentically share how we feel. You can do this and you can win 90 days of Organifi. 90 days of Organifi. Just enter to win by going to WellnessForce.com review. Leave us a five star review. Let us know what you think of the podcast. Tell us about kindness. Tell us about yourself. I read all these reviews personally. You can also just go to itunes and leave us a five star review. We'll pick the winner the first week of 2020 and we'll let you know. We'll shout it out on the Wellness Force Facebook page. All right, let's dig in for the last episode of 2019 with Dr. Michelle Robin. I have been, I guess in your field for the past four years, like learning and growing through this podcast zone. But this small changes make big shift. Small changes to big shifts. I think many of us have heard about habit reformation. You know, whether it's tiny habits or near Eyal's work or Charles Duhigg or any of the people that are on the cutting edge of like, how do we actually make our behaviors better? How do we improve over the long run. Your way of doing it, though, comes from a very, very deep past. And this is why I'm excited to talk to you today about not just the four quadrants of well being, but just wellness in general. You know, this. This concept of how to take the small chunks, the daily ch, and make that into true transformation. Because let's face it, Dr. Michelle, like, transformation does not happen overnight. It can sometimes take years, even 10 years. So welcome to WellnessForce, Josh.

Thank you for having me. I've been following your work. I'm really grateful to get to spend time with you today.

Yeah. And time is like our biggest asset. And it's so cool to me. Like, before we recorded this, you said, I met with a genetic specialist and they said that I actually have a kindness gene. And I'd like to start off our time together talking about the contrast of kindness and time. You know, many people are nice in this world, and I feel like nice is. Nice can be a little bit passive. Nice can be something that doesn't really empower people. But kindness, kindness is power to be able to be kind. How did you find out that you had the kindness gene?

Well, I'll take it back just a minute. I had an accident about five years ago, actually four and a half years ago. And in that process, I had a head injury and I had some memory issues. And in my space, my memories have been a huge gift. I'm a little bit like a numbers nerd, you know, like, I don't use a calculator a lot of times. I'm like, okay, I can figure this out in my head and etc. So my memory was impacted. And when you're in private practice and you get a chance to know a lot of people, and I would see them, I couldn't remember their name. I actually would see them and I'd have to go back and look. I'd see my schedule and I'd be like, oh, my gosh, I've seen that person before. I've seen them four times. I remember nothing about them, which is not usually like me. And so I decided to look at my genetics. And my family has some Alzheimer's. And so when I looked at it, I thought, gosh, we know that trauma is like gasoline on genes, right? So I called a friend and he said, do this and do this. And I said, okay and okay. And then I sent my restuff to Dr. J. Dunn down in Florida, and Dr. Dunn hopped on a call with me and she said, oh, gosh, Michelle, I can tell so much about you and here's what your genes are telling me. And the first thing she said is, I bet you people say you're really kind. And my partner is with me and listening because we were going to do hers as well. And she started laughing. She's like, oh, my God, that is so true. And so that's just how I roll. And kindness to me is thinking about the little extra things. Like you said, it's okay to be nice. And I want to be nice. I don't want to be a Pollyanna. I can have the stern conversation. You have to as a leader, entrepreneur for as long as I've been doing it. But to be able to think thoughtful things, you know, someone got married, I couldn't make the wedding. Let me just send them a fun little gift or someone took time out of their day to be on small changes, big shifts. Let me send, send them a little love for them, taking time. Because the biggest asset we have is our time. As you started out with.

Yeah, gosh. And I feel into this because our conversation, I feel like I've been in the field with you for this entire year wanting to make this conversation happen. And now that we're actually here, there's like so many things I want to ask you and talk with you about. But I think really what's going to be of most service to us is just this concept of wellness. So many people out there talk about, well being and wellness. And you have actually, even on your homepage you say, tune into your well being here. And I think that's a great way to describe it because wellness can be a frequency, you know, it can be an energy that we feel from other people. And if I'm in the right frequency, if I'm living my life well, well, then it reminds people. It almost gives the people around me permission to do the very same. But that work, it takes work to live life well. And there's this concept I've been exploring. I'd love to what you have to say about this. And it's being a warrior. Because being a warrior has nothing to do with being a man or a woman. Being a warrior, especially when it comes to wellness, has everything to do with being emotionally resilient. And can you share with us a little bit about how you work with people now and how you use your own emotional resilience?

Yes. And I want to think about the word warrior, like force. And you know, in Dr. Hawkins work, you talked power versus force and you got the wellness force. And so when you Think about being a force or being a magnet or being this vitality. I want to walk into a room and help elevate the vibration. And the only way I can do that is if I invest in my own well being.

Yeah. And in that investment, there's a lot that comes, isn't there? Investment happens over time.

It does. And it's a moment by moment. And some days I'm better at it than others, and some years I'm better. For me, I love the little wake up calls that if you listen to the universe and you're dialed in, you're like, oh, wait a minute, that happened for my good. Yes, this, whether it's a bike accident or hail damage or sexual violence, whatever the case may be, it's how could I turn that for my good? And I'm not advocating that those things need to happen for your growth, but it's how you spin it. And I've chosen through my journey, through the wonderful mentors I've had and the people that have been sprinkled along my journey to shift that and take that into that force, that vibration that helps me not only be the best version of Michelle, but also to hopefully pull that out of other people.

When you hear that word resilience, Dr. Michelle, like, what does that actually make you feel when someone's resilient? Because, you know, we look at trees in nature and we're already starting this conversation in my favorite space and that is energetics, frequency and vibration. So I'm thinking about, for you, as a professional, you know, with a large academic background, how do you define resilience? Like, what actually is emotional resilience to you?

Well, part of me is, part of it for me is rhythm and consistency. So I think if I have rhythm, it builds resilience. And so finding the tools and the habits that help me be resilient so that I can bounce back. And I always, I like to say that I like to give for my overflow, kind of like my undergrads in business, in accounting. And you think about these great leaders like, oh gosh, somebody comes off the top of my head, Bill Gates, right. And they're doing some great work around the planet and they're giving from their extra. And so for me, with my resilience is I want to be able to give for my extra. And sometimes I get depleted. I mean, today was an example. I had to stop and say, you know, I can't give to anybody else today. I got to take care of myself and got some acupuncture and I believe that I want to. I want to. For me, resilience is. I have extra to give. I'm not giving from my core. I'm giving from my overflow.

Gosh, that's a great way to describe it. I think a lot of people try to give what they don't have, and they beat themselves up for not giving.

Yeah. One of my mentors is Barnett Helzberg. He started a mentoring group in Kansas City, and he's a phenomenal philanthropist. And he said to me, this is years ago, he said, you know what? If you can't give from your dollars, don't make sure you're taking care of your business, because that business is philanthropy. You are helping people live their lives. And so don't feel bad if you can't write a $10,000 check. Do what you can, but not putting yourself at risk. And so that was. It stayed with me. And I sat with another leader who we were thinking about, how do we do more in the community? She goes, michelle, do you see all the people here bullying here and the people that you're helping? And I know that there's people that come in here that can't afford your care, and you guys are figuring out how to help them. And so I think that builds resilience when people also can pour into you. And we've got to be able to allow people to pour into us. And sometimes we act like we don't need people. Some people may think, God, I got this all by myself. No one goes it alone. Josh. You don't go alone. I don't go alone. We don't do these podcasts alone. We invite our tribe into the conversation.

I mean, listen, you have actually, whether you know it or not, I'm just going to tell you here on the show, you have been energetically a support for me. Just not even without talking to me. Just your presence out there, like when I. When I look at you and when I experience who Dr. Michelle really is, you do have this power of kindness. And I want to put power and kindness in the exact same sentence, because I think for a long time in my life, the aspect of myself where when I was being kind to others, I almost, my ego wanted to make that my weakness. And there was a big part of my heart that had to really step into that and go, actually, no. My kindness is my power. And you posted something about this recently on your Facebook. You posted an article about the most important factor for wellness having nothing to do with food or exercise or time management. It was about Kindness. Can you share with us why you posted that?

Yeah. Kindness in the workplace. You know, people always say what they can't do. Gosh, Michelle, I can't change my diet. I can't go to bed earlier. I can't drink water. But what you can do is you can look people in the eye and you can smile at them. For me, I'm a hugger, and there's a whole story why I'm a hugger. So how can we invest in that moment of looking people eye to eye, soul to soul versus roll to roll? You know, we're all the same here. We're just trying to get through this thing. Hopefully some of us have maybe a bigger vision. Some of us are here raising kids, so maybe they're the ones having the big vision. I don't know what that's about for them, but I do know that I can just look people in the eye and just connect with them. It's interesting you say that's one of the questions I've shifted in my consultation. So I do a lot of wellness consultations and I sit with people and I hear their story. And I've become pretty good, especially interviewing people for my podcast, pretty good at hearing people's story. And I added a couple questions. And Josh, this would be a question that's been really fascinating for me is I'll ask them. Tell me, tell me the worst thing that's happened to you in your life. And that's like. They look at me and I don't say, that's not in the first five minutes, by the way, that says, we're starting to wrap up our time together. You know, I'm building. I'm building this relationship. And they look at me and some people are like, whoa. And it immediately takes them in an instant to their heart. And it depends on their age, whether it may be the loss of a family member. It could be. The other day I was working with a sick 16 year old and I asked her that question. My passion is people under 30 because somebody came along my life at the age of 15, and here I am, you know, 38 years later because someone poured into me. And so I asked her that and she started crying and she said, you know, I've got this friend who was a friend, but she was mean to my other friend. And I thought, wow, this went right to her soul. So think about having a kindness gene. I bet you she has the kindness gene, too. That just broke her soul. And it, you know, didn't break her, but it just kind of went right to her heart. And the other question, Josh, I've been asking is, what's the best thing? So I end after I take him on that roller coaster down, I kind of bring them right back up. Tell me the best things that's happened to you in your life. And I think if we can really hear that for people, it'll tell us kind of what's important to them. And without judgment.

Let's let that land for a moment. I know you did the Hoffman process early on in your career, and I'm curious if you. You could share with us, like, did that also help you formulate these powerful questions? What's the best thing? What's the worst thing? Because emotional intelligence is something that for me, it feels like secondhand for you. Like when I hear you speak, when I feel your presence. What. What did that Hoffman process do for you? Really?

Well, God has saved my life, Josh. You know, I was 31 years old, had a phenomenal practice, had a wonderful life, and I was sabotaging. I didn't think I deserved it. And I remember calling a minister friend of mine, Unity minister Mary Olmwick, and she said to me, you know, Michelle, I've been expecting your call. This is what I remember. It may not have been these exact words. I've been expecting your call. You give all your joy away. And that was a time in my life where I did give it all away. I didn't really feel like I deserved it. And so she recommended I go to the Hoffman process. And it was like 10 years of therapy in a week. I highly recommend it. I'm actually sending my new office leader, my client service leader setting there in a few weeks. And this is my 22nd anniversary of going to the hoppin process. It's a gift that gives to me every single day and helps me really connect more to when I do something, when I start questioning myself. Because I get fired every day, Josh. So, you know, you get fired every day? I get fired every day. You know, when you, when you see the patients I see and have a practice this size, you know, I get fired every day because some people don't want. A, don't like me being nice.

Yes.

B, don't like a hug. C, they're not used to chiropractic care and whole person health care. And that's okay.

Yeah.

It's taken me a long time to say, you know what? I'm going to be my authentic self and I'm going to treat you from a whole person perspective. If you come into Me with back pain and want to have a pop and go experience. There's nothing wrong with that. It's hard for me to do that because I see so much potential.

God, that's so wise. So within the Hoffman process, for people that don't know what that is, Dr. Michelle, like what actually is it? What is it like? I mean, you're not going to give us the whole process, but what is it in a couple sentences?

Well, it's four parts, getting aware. And one of my favorite quotes from my friend Wendy Bash right now is when you're aware, you're halfway there, you get aware of these patterns that are running your life. And then the second thing is you have a cathartic experience where you bash how they're basically messing up your life. Some people would say effing up your life, right?

Yeah.

And the third part is then you build compassion, which I think we do great in therapy, but the problem is we miss a step. We've got to get it out of our bones and out of ourselves. And after compassion, here's the real trick is it's recycle it. Okay, so I'm a little bit obsessive compulsive. I want to own that. It serves me very well sometimes if I'm your doctor, you want me to be obsessive compulsive. Okay. However, it doesn't serve me in some other areas. If I'm blowing the leafs off my driveway, doesn't matter if there's a couple left. Right. And so I've been able to reframe that and say, oh, let's take a deep breath and realize what I'm doing. So awareness, Bash, compassion, recycle. And that helps people get out of why they don't take care of themselves. I believe that we, most of us know what to do. You know, my first book, Wellness and Shoestring, Seven Habits for a Healthy Life, I talk about seven habits I've been teaching for years. And people, if you give people a quiz, they get the right answers. And then the next question is, why don't we do it and we don't love ourselves enough. And the Hoffman process helped me start to really love myself.

Gosh, this self love journey is not a light switch. It is so not linear. I'm 39 years old and I'm still on that path. Right. And it's gotten so much brighter, so much bigger. And then at the same time I look back and I can see, wow. You know, I was the one choosing to either walk on it or beat Myself up for not choosing to walk at all. And I think it really does come down to choice, which I think our logical mind fights against. Like, oh, really? There's only seven habits. There's only four quadrants of wellness. Like, yes, if you do those things on a daily basis, they will bring you a complete whole human. But really, underneath it all, like, really the undercurrent is, do I actually love myself? Do I love Josh? Do I love Dr. Michelle? Do I love whoever's listening? That is the big piece that I think many people are even afraid to explore. Like, it's such a charged topic because to even admit that someone doesn't love themselves might bring up so much fear that they would just choose to never explore it.

And what a sad state where we can't explore that at a level that helps us be more kind. And so I think it's hard to be kind to people when you're not kind to yourself.

Yes. God. Okay, that one right there, you're the quote queen. And that one right there, we could actually put on Twitter right now. Because I'm thinking about how many authors and speakers are out there and they have their thing, you know, Mel Robbins has like the five second rule, or Joe Dispenza has, you know, breaking the habit of being yourself. The way that you just put that in a sentence, I think that really is an essence of who you are. Do you feel the same way?

You know, I've never said that quote before, Josh, and so I'm taking it in. And I really do feel that way that if I cannot do for myself what I strongly recommend for others, then I'm the five letter F word, you know? The five letter F word.

Yeah, you can totally cuss on the show.

Fraud.

Oh, the other F word.

The other five letters. Yeah, fraud. And. And I. And I believe it's human nature. We don't want to be frauds. We want to. We want to be able to show up and bring our authentic self, no matter how it. What. How it is. Bring your quirky self. I don't. I don't care as long as you come in and you're authentic and you're not mean to people, just blatantly mean. And I think when you, you know, you think about the old saying that the dad hits the mom, the mom hits the kid, the kid hits the dog, right?

Yeah.

And so we've got to stop that cycle. And that's what the Hoffman does. We are breaking the cycle. If I had a magic wand and we were talking, you know, 25 years from now, this is what I'm dedicating the rest of my life to, is we've got to break the cycle for these kids. The cycle of how they feel, how they're reaching for caffeine because they don't have the energy, because they don't take time to sleep, because they don't feel connected, or they're reaching for sugar because they're missing in the sweetness of life. And so how do we truly break the cycle so that people could not only help the genetic code heal, we know that it's struggling, but also help the human spirit heal. So that's really what I'm most passionate about.

I love that you said they're reaching for sugar because they're disillusioned, they're disconnected from the sweetness of life. That is so true. Because food, as you know, I think we talked about this on your show. I was £280 at one point. So there was a avenue in my life that I was going down that had a really dark dead end. And sugar and food and the way that people have their relationship with food. Food can become this like qualming paste for emotions that people just don't know how to deal with. Is that what was going on with you at 15? Because you said your life was changed at 15. Like, were you using food at that time or what was life for you back then? Because it's really a mirror of how you've grown into who you are now.

Well, I think I've used food all my life. I used food this weekend. So, you know, I'm a work in progress. I'm a work in progress, but I use it less and less. I use it less and less. So, yeah, at 15, you know, my mother was on her just had been divorcing her third husband and I got a chance to. I got hurt playing basketball. Once again with. What's the chance I got hurt playing basketball? Well, my mom took me to the hospital. Nothing was broken. So she took me to the chiropractor and Dr. John Lake and his wife Carol Lake. And I'm from a small town, everybody knows your business. And I had taught their kids bowling lessons and they just started pouring in me. I don't remember anything about the chiropractic experience, Josh. I don't remember anything about the adjustment. What I remember is how they just started believing and they said, gosh, Michelle, you could be anything you want to be. I mean, take that, take those words in a 15 year old who was just. I was, I would Hide behind my mom. I had three brothers. It was an abusive household, some sexual violence. And then just as I was coming into my own and just starting to really be around people that thought differently.

Yeah.

And they just started pouring into me and I became their bonus daughter. And it's oddly, this is. I don't know what this says about me. Obviously, I have a lot of needs because everybody that I've ever worked for, they've been in my life until they've transitioned, and they're like my bonus families. And that's the way I go into my relationships with people in my life. And I'll say that to a lot of clients up front. I said, look, I'm going to ask you some tough questions today, but I'm asking you some fun questions. I need to know your story, because when I know your story, I can help you. And I'm planning on being in your life the rest of my life. No pressure. I tell them that. No pressure. If there's not a connection, no pressure. But if I don't start that way, then I don't give the best care.

Yes.

And I want to give him great.

Care the way that you said that, too. It's like, hey, no pressure, but I want to actually care for you the rest of your life. Does that ever scare people, or are they just not your tribe? Do you only want the people that resonate with that message?

You know, yes, yes, yes, and yes. You know, I would say they're probably not my tribe right now, but they may come back because I took time, I actually asked the questions. They may not be ready to heal that part of them, but if I could help crack that egg a little bit, and they'll know, just like Dr. Lakin said to me, you know, you could be anything you want to be. I mean, I was a woodworking student of the year my senior year. I had one science class, and here I am, you know, I've got seven books. I am a chiropractor. I've got a successful healing center. I'm around a lot of great physicians, MDs, chiropractors, etc. And so, I mean, Josh, if my life was over tonight, God's going to say, holy shit. Holy shift. Let me change the word holy shift. You've done way more than I ever thought you would do with your life, and it's because of people pouring into me. So somebody today is going to hear this podcast, and hopefully we're pouring into them so that they could go in and touch that part of themselves that is spirit, it's energy. And they're like, you know what? I can do this. And find the people around you who can help inspire you and lift you up. Whether it's podcasts, whether it's books, whether it's quotes, whether it's a church support team or a healing team of environments and different things like that, no one goes alone. You can't just do it through books and reading and podcasts. You've got to actually have human connection.

So many of us struggle with energy. This is the truth. We all struggle at times with energy. But here's the thing, it does not have to be a struggle. There are certain science based practices like micronutrients and adaptogens that'll allow you to get energy for the long term. This is my truth. I've been drinking organifi for over two years, specifically the red juice in the afternoon. I want to talk about the red juice. The red juice has higher levels of nitric oxide in it. Organifi makes the red juice, which is a superfood powder, literally it's a superfood. It's slow dried, it keeps its nutrient value, it's GMO free. If you have been looking for an afternoon pickup, but not just caffeine because let's face it, it makes our skin puffy, it can give us acne. Coffee is very frustrating for so many people, especially in the afternoons. It does not have to be a struggle anymore. You can get this nitric oxide rich natural organic superfood powder to give you energy from the inside of your cells out and it supports the show. So you can get the discount. Organifi.com wellnessforce use the code wellnessforce for 20% off. That is the best, biggest discount online. It's actually the best product online as well as far as nitric oxide and made from beets, by the way, organic, you can get this. Organifi.com wellnessforce Use the code wellness force to get 20 off and get energy from the inside out instead of supplementing with a bunch of things that'll make you ride the roller coaster up and then crash. You deserve better. This is your sign. Organifi.com wellnessforce Code Wellness Force for 20 off. The beets, the nitric oxide and everything to give you more energy. Was there ever a time in your life? Because it's pretty prevalent to me that when you speak and just the way that you put out your media, that you have a big connection with the divine, you know, with higher intelligence, with God, however you want to describe it, that seems to fuel you quite a bit. And really I can just almost feel like there's an angelic quality about you when I speak to you. That wasn't the case forever or was it? Have you always had that kind of a connection?

You know, that's a great question. I don't know because I don't remember a lot of my childhood. I can tell you some instances where, you know, if people. I would encourage our listeners today to take a moment and reflect. Don't get stuck in the past, but I can reflect. And I, and I think about when I was a young person, there was a gal, Ruth Owens, who made me clothes. I had no idea why she made me clothes until I got older and I realized we were poor, right. And then my first stepfather taught in a Catholic school. We weren't Catholic, was not baptized Catholic at the time and not now either today. But there was a nun that started pouring into me. And so I believe that I just have been blessed with some phenomenal people, that they're my angels that showed up for me and took me to the next, the next road, the next journey and said, okay, now I'm going to hand you off to Dr. John. I'm going to hand you off to Dr. Yenny. I'm going to hand you off to the Fingsten family. I've just been passed around to some phenomenal families who've taught me a lot of what to do a lot since have taught me what not to do too as well. Because people have their flaws. And so I decided probably about, gosh, maybe 18 years ago that I really wanted to dial in moment to moment, not Sunday to Sunday. And like I said, I wasn't raised in church. I can't quote any scriptures. I definitely believe that there's something bigger going on here. I see it every single day. And whatever people want to call it, I can't. The good news is for me, you call it whatever you want because I'm not attached.

Sure.

But for me, I see the work of the Holy Spirit every single day. The magic, you know, the magic of a young woman today that I've been caring for for about six months. You know, once again, I told you I love working with younger people. And she's 22 and she ended up being celiac and we helped her figure that out. And she came in to get her adjustment today and she brought her 18 year old sister her birthday today and, and her sister was like, oh my gosh, what are you doing? And just really excited about it. And so we've got to plant some seeds today in this young person of hope and healing and love in vibrancy. And so that's the divine.

I love that so much. That's such a great way to describe it, because the kids. And even if you look at some parts of the Bible, I think, you know, when Jesus would do some of his lectures and his teachings, he would place a child in the middle of the room, room, and he would tell everyone, all the adults, like, pay attention to the way this child is leaning into the message, to the way that this child is receiving the message. Because kids can teach us so much. They're so pure. They've really essentially untouched by some of the malaise and the apathy that can infect adults as they age. And there's something about you that no matter what you've been through, and it's been 30 plus years for you now, doing this healing work and speaking and so many ways that you're helping people, what is it about you? Like, what do you pull from to maintain this consistent fire of curiosity? And really what I get from you is like this childlike heart, this joy.

You know, I do all the things I mentioned. I look up quotes. I'm doing a quote of a day this year, and I started out just kind of, in a sense, promoting our new quote deck. And then I was having so much fun and I was being inspired, and so I just kept going. I listened to podcasts, I listened to the Wellness Force. I listened to things that help lift me up to keep my head on straight, because I can get the monkey mind and the committee and the shoulda, coulda, woulda. And I've got to pour in enough good to outweigh all the bad stuff that's coming at me, whether it's energetically or the media or getting fired from patients or having a doctor leave, whatever the case may be. I'm just trying to pour. I'm just trying to pour enough into myself so that I'm at least positive at the end of the day when I lay my head down. I'm not in bankruptcy because so many people are bankrupt and they're heading there and they can make a small shift. You know, they can drink water that will help make a shift because we're mostly water, right? Yep. They can go to bed 30 minutes earlier, but little tiny things that will really inspire them to get enough hope for the next day.

Gosh. And I've heard Dispenza talk about this too. Intelligent hope, right? There's a difference between hope where Someone's begging and then hope, where it's hope because it's coming from a very intelligent place. Do you, do you lean towards the camp of intelligent hope or do you think hope stands alone?

Well, first of all, I've never heard of intelligent hope, just so you know. However, I do believe more in that I'm not, I'm not just throwing a whimsical hope out there.

Yeah.

You know, for me, I really want to connect. And in my room, my treatment room's names. Hope, hope one. And I believe when you're consulting with someone, you got to give people hope, you know, and I, the one scripture I probably could get someone without hope that people perish. And so how so for me, I would say it's more of an intelligent hope.

Yep. Yeah.

I have to read more about it, though.

Yeah. And it's fascinating to me because if you even explore the word intelligence. Right. Intelligence is not how smart you are. It's definitely not like how many books you've read or all the, the trainings that you've gone to. It's. And this is what we've been leaning even more into on the show, Dr. Michelle, is. Yeah, intelligence is a few things. It's. It's our ability to, to get information, you know, to gather, like you said, said you can't just get it from podcasts, but that's a great start. And then, you know, are you trying the stuff on? Are you taking the supplements? Are you drinking the water? Are you connecting to spirit? Are you meditating? Are you going to get acupressure? Are you actually doing the things? And then lastly, you know, what we're all working towards is embodiment. You know, everyone's in the process of embodying the intelligence. And you've laid this out in a way that I think is really easy and also powerful for people to understand. And you talk about intelligence really as the four quadrants of well being. Mechanical, chemical, spiritual, psychological, and energetics. We've already touched a little bit on the energetics, but I'd love for you to describe the mechanical. What is the mechanical quadrant of the well being?

Yeah. So my teacher, Dr. Yenny, one of my mentors, helped bring acupuncture to America. He's actually from Independence, Missouri, which is about 30 minutes from where I'm sitting right at this moment. And as a young boy, Irish American, and he's fascinated with Asian lifestyle, so he became fluent Mandarin writing it, speaking it. He owned Judo studios. He was President Truman's interpreter. They were at the war Crimes, trials. And he got hurt. And so he went to the hospital and they did acupuncture on him. And he came back to Kansas City. And the closest thing to acupuncture was chiropractic. So what I remember about. I had the chance to work with Dr. Yenny and I. What I remember him one time holding up a little manila folder and it said four words, mechanical, chemical, energetical, psychospiritual. Probably said energetics, not energetic, energetical, energetical, psycho, spiritual. And that just kind of went back into my brain and my memory. And then, like I told you, my undergrad's in business. And so I actually think like a business person. So I think, okay, the body is this amazing, amazing vehicle. And it has four areas. The mechanical, chemical, energetical, psycho, spiritual, Just like a business. Operations, marketing, finance, and leadership. And as a CEO or an entrepreneur, you would never run a business just on the finance because you got to have a product that you can say you can deliver. You got to be able to sell it to your customers. You got to have the right leadership. So mechanical is really. And that's kind of my chiropractic background. It's about dealing with the structural system because we know the brain controls the spinal cord, the spinal cord controls the spinal nerves, and the whole body functions because of the nervous system. And many people leave that out in the equation. I believe it's one reason why we're suffering so much. And when we have an opiate epidemic and we have this depression. I've been getting adjusted for my anxiety for 30 years. Years. You know, I've been fortunate enough to not take any medication. I've taken. When I had a bad accident, I took, I think maybe four or five days of some pain pills because of the fractures I had. But after that, I did everything holistically. And I thought, you know, this is your chance to walk the talk. Can you really practice what you preach? So I'm not the five letter F word, fraud. And so that mechanical part, that nervous system, we ignore it in the new science. And Heidi Halvik would be a great guest for you, Dr. Heidi Halvik out of New Zealand, for her to talk about the neuroscience of what we're finding out in James Chestnut, where the amygdala controls the adrenal and cortisol centers. And if you have fixations in your spine or subluxations, what we call them, then you're going to have dysfunction in your nervous system. And so many people try to exercise and they try to eat and they try to pray, but they're not taking care of their nervous system. So to me, that's the mechanical aspect. It's my posture. It's getting adjusted. It's also the way I'm sleeping. It's the way I'm presenting myself when I'm walking down a street. So that's the mechanical.

I love the way you laid that out, too, because I'm thinking about, duh, you're in chiropractic for so long. Of course there's gonna be a structural component. The energetics, though. I'm looking on the website. Pain in the lower back can indicate a lack of intimacy. How did you come to that conclusion?

Well, it's through Louise Hay's work. You know, she's a great healer that's passed on a couple years ago, and she talked about some of the metaphysical causes for some of the pain people have and some of the pain blocks. And so I'm thinking of. Actually, I'm thinking of a great story. This is a fun story. I just went to a wedding of one of my clients, and I started seeing her when she was, like, 29. I started seeing her in 2010, and she came in to see me for back pain, and I kind of do what I do, and I've gotten better at it over the years. And I put my hand on her back and whoa. It was just so much anger and rage, and I had to take a deep breath, and I thought, okay, this is not going to be a traditional low back pain at 29 years old. Plus, she was on 30 pills a day for Crohn's disease. So we were working together, and I actually just was at her wedding, and she is on no medications. She became a nurse after all. She did the Hoffman process, by the way. I saw her in August of 2010 as she did the Hoffman process in October, November of 2010, because she thought it was a quack initially. And then I think there was a new enough curiosity that she came back for the second visit. And then she started going to therapy, and she started getting some acupuncture, and she went to a holistic MD and so it's all related. It's not one or the other. And that's what we got to get people to realize. It's not this or that.

Yeah.

It's this and that.

This and that. Yeah. Because I think if someone doesn't have a connection to family or community or, let's face it, even a higher power. You even talk about spiritual, psychological. For the lower back pain, if they have anger or inability to manifest intentions and desires. This can come up. I didn't know this. As low back pain. Inability to manifest intentions can come up as low back pain. Is that also from Louise Hay's work?

Yes.

This is so powerful to me.

I just never heard of this before. Yeah, it's so phenomenal. And it's also, we think about all the sexual violence, and I'm just to going, going to label all that because I think it's a common question we've got to be asking as practitioners, because that's where people are hitting up against that. You know, talking to a young man who said, well, I made this choice. I actually just had Damon west on my podcast. He's a great guy. He's a great guest. You would love him. He's got so much energy. But he started using, becoming. He became an addict because he had sexual violence. And I don't think we really put enough spin on that so we can actually dive into that and heal it. It doesn't mean it doesn't have to define you. It doesn't define me. It's just part of my story. And I've chosen to move through it so that I could get to the other side and get to my purpose and my calling.

There's a chemical aspect, too. There's the mechanical, chemical, spiritual, psychological, energetic. The chemical one is really about supporting our immune system health. Can you talk about this a little bit? The chemical aspect of the quadrant?

Yeah. So people come to me and say, as a chiropractor, why do you care about what I'm eating? Well, if we know that the nervous system controls everything, but what controls the nervous system and that's the gut. And so when you're polluting your body with food that does not serve you and you're, you know, we've heard about all the gut biome and all the things that's happening with that, then all of a sudden your nervous system can. Goes haywire. And so when I see somebody that's in chronic pain, I've got to not only address the mechanical, but I've also got to say, okay, what chemically are you doing? And whether it's too much alcohol, too much sugar, maybe they have an allergy to peanut butter. Who knows what it is? It could be. I've had spinach come up and I've had blueberries. And so you just, you've got to look at that aspect. I really believe that by ignoring that aspect, we're doing a disservice. And so, like vitamin D. Vitamin D with K We need K to drive it in. And that's why we're seeing an osteopenia epidemic and that people are taking the taking vitamin D and that's not driving their number up. So I look at it that way. The nervous system is that intelligence that really helps drive the system, but it drives the system through the chemical and through the energetical and through the psycho spiritual. Because when we know that if you have a lot of stress, you are not going to be well because that just upregulates your whole nervous system.

How much are you using the power of breath with clients? Are you doing energy breath work or any kind of WIM HOF or any breathing protocols with people for stress reduction?

You know, not enough. I got this great new doctor that was my intern that's been helping me, Dr. Zach. And he's like, we have been teaching him DNS breathing. And so I've taught breathing like the one minute breath. But we're diving more and more into it and then wellness and shoestring we talk about. That's habit number two is breathe. You know, rest, reflect, rejuvenate, breathe, move, free your space, et cetera.

The four quadrants is a great starting place. We're going to link this in the show notes. I want to shift because when you were talking about the shift for you that happened. The big shifts come from small changes. Like that's really our life. You know, one day we could eat really bad food, then the next day we can just decide literally with the snap of fingers to be like, you know what? I'm just going to make one decision today that moves me in the direction of what I want. And it can be that simple. But there's something that comes in. I don't know how you would describe it, but I'd love to hear you explain how you see this. Is it the ego that sabotages us? What actually is sabotaging us when we start to make these little changes? Because we all know they'll work if we just consistently do them.

I think it's love, I think it's lack of self love. And if that's the ego, possibly. But I know that when I love myself, I take care of myself differently. And you know, there's days I'm probably, I would say I'm clean, probably when I say clean, minimize sugar. I don't do dairy, I don't do wheat. You know, like 97% of the time, maybe 95% of the time I have alcohol, maybe that's pretty good.

95, 97. Dr. Michelle, come on.

Yeah. You know, my big weakness is French fries. So I just really try to keep those at bay. And I know that that weakness is french fries because it's the salt. And I usually want those on Friday because I poured it all out all week and I know that my adrenals drop on Friday. So I actually now start to do a massage on Friday to kind of help my body recover. And so just those little things of self care and it's just investment that you make. You either pay a little bit as you go now now, or you get a big bill later. Yeah, and I would. I don't know about you, Josh. I don't want a big bill later. I don't want a disease. I don't want to not be able to bend down and tie my shoes or, or bend down on the, get on the floor and play with my dogs or play with my greats, nieces and nephews. So there's all those little things and you have to have a, you know, we talk about the bigger why, you know, and kind of what's your bigger why? And you got to, you got to almost paste that to the, to the wall. You know what? I want to go on this hiking trip and I'm going to have to be in good shape to do that. Hiking trip?

Yeah. There's so many people out there that are going to resonate with this and then there's so many people out there that just honestly aren't at the state of awareness. I loved how we even started the show where you talking about the Hoffman process is first, like, get aware of the patterns that are going on in your life that are running your life from a subconscious level. And I think about the kind of people that need your four quadrants and that need to make these small changes to get these big shifts. How do we reach them?

Them?

Because those are the people that are going to bring more kids into the world than those kids are going to have a lack of awareness. Like, let's focus on what we can control and stay inside of that realm of power. How do we do this, though? How do we reach the people that aren't even at that stage of awareness?

Well, I think you started it, the show, right. Got to tune in. And so when you wake up, you know, every morning or every other morning when you wake up, dial in. You know what? How did I sleep last night? Oh, you know what? I Woke up at 1 to 3. Why did you wake up? Did you wake up because you heard a noise? Did you wake up because you had to go to the restroom, etc. And then you think, well, how was my energy today? Do I feel kind of flat? Am I hitting the snooze button two or three times? And do I have a bellyache? Am I able to have a bowel movement first thing in the morning? How's my skin look? Do I have acne? And really, we've got this amazing vehicle and it's like, gosh, we spend more time and energy with our fancy phones and our fancy computers and our fancy fancy cars instead of. We have the. The most phenomenal creation is the human body, mind and spirit. And so I would, I would encourage our listeners. If you don't know where to start, start with dialing in. Okay, you know what? I don't feel so good today. What, what did I do the last couple days? Who was I around? Was I around? Somebody that held has me. I'm playing a tape in my back, in the back of my mind of who in the heck do I think I am? I'm not worthy challenging that. Did I have. Did I have French fries and a hamburger in a chocolate shake? Oh, yeah, that could be my belly ache. Oh, you know what? I decided to stay up and binge watch something. So I didn't get to sleep on time and I don't have a rhythm. And so I would say that's a great way to start, is to start just asking yourself questions. Because we are designed to be well. We are innately designed to be well. And that's the definition in all of us.

The way that we can be well is by really accessing our truth. And your truth, you accessed. Did you always know that your orientation, your sexual orientation would be different or that's something that come. That came along later? And how have you navigated that? Because for so many people, their ability to see their own truth, they can push it down for so many years. And I'm curious if you could share with us that you have a partner now and you're in a field where, where a lot of that field is changing rapidly in just the love and acceptance of orientation. Doesn't matter. But I'm sure 30 years ago people looked at it differently. There was a lot more judgmental minds back then. How did you navigate that?

Oh, gosh, that's such a loaded question. We could do a whole show on that. I'm going to say I don't know all the answers to that question. But I will tell you that if you don't make it a big deal, other people don't make it a big deal. Hmm. I'm gonna let that sit there for a second. And so it's. For me, I'm just. I'm really just. I'm just like everybody else. I'm trying to get through this thing called life. If I'm fortunate enough, you know, I'm getting ready to turn 54. And if you've read the 20,000 Days book, you know, I'm getting ready to hit my 20,000 days here in the next couple months. And when I think about that, I think, gosh, days, I mean, we are wasting days worried about somebody else. I want to worry about Michelle. I want to just be about Michelle. And what kind of energy and what kind of vibration am I bringing in this moment? Whether it's to social media, whether it's to a phone call, whether it's to a podcast, whether it's to the client in front of me, I want to tell you, there's days I miss the mark. Some days I am not. I'm going to tell you, today I thought I was an okay doctor. Some days I'm a phenomenal doctor, and some days I'm not so great. Today I was good enough, but it was not the Michelle that I wanted to show up. That's why I stopped and said, you know what? I'm kidding. Acupuncture, my team can handle this commitment we had. They took care of that, and I took care of myself. So I would say I'm not really worried about everybody else. I'm just trying to be the best version of myself.

Yes. And the reason I asked is because you're a courageous soul, and I love that you let that drop, too. You're like, listen, if something's not a big deal within you, it won't be a big deal within other people. And that resonates very loudly because we are going through an evolution of spirit and evolution of consciousness. Think about, like, you know, 50 plus years ago, there were so many things that were just stripping us down from the way that we treat each other. And even if you look a hundred years ago plus, women couldn't even vote and people were on, like, property. And just. We've come such a long way, and I want to honor you. I want to take this moment to just honor not only everything you've done in the past 30 years, but just reminding people to be courageous, because that's what you're doing by going through the Hoffman process and working with your patients and clients and having your podcast. Like, how do you get all this done. How do you maintain your own health while doing all of these things with your foundation and your podcast and everything else?

Well, I don't have kids, so if you have kids out there, I commend you. I can barely take care of two little white dogs, so I think that's a different path. And I've been given so much. I mean, when you look at where I've come from, and I know some of our listeners get this, I mean, I got to pinch myself, you know, the life. I'm getting to talk to Josh Trent, and we're sharing, sharing well being, and we're sharing energy and we're sharing love in one person. If it's just one person a day is going to say, you know what? I got something out of that and I've got hope, and I'm going to take action and make a small change that leads to a big shift and be mindful that I've got this gift of life. And how cool is that? I mean, I get chill saying that.

Oh, I love this. And I'm smiling too. And I'm thinking about, like, if we. If we could just create whatever we wanted by focusing on. On the exact vibration that feels best to us, by focusing on the love. Like you said, if something's not a big deal to you, then it won't be a big deal to other people. How do we adopt that as a society? Like, what do you think your role is while you're here on the planet? You know, because we only get a little bit of time here. What is your role here? You know, what do you want to leave as a legacy?

I think showing up for people in. In the little ways, you know, when I. When I had my accident, it was really a great thing. I'd never. I'd never broke a bone. And I. And I kind of am kind of that martyr that. You know what? I got it. I've got my tribe and I'll take care of myself. But it was amazing how many people showed up for me, you know, I mean, literally within. I mean, actually a patient saw the accident, oddly enough. You know, I was bicycling to my office and the patient actually saw the accident. But just the people that you get a chance to touch. I would say show up for people and like, I've got a friend who just had hysterectomy. I couldn't go see her, but I sent some. I have a company I work with called the Broth Pot, and I had them deliver 10 things of broth. So that she can use that to heal. It could be just sending somebody a quote deck or sending somebody at my favorite company, be good to people. Just the little tiny things. You never know how that's going to ripple and shift somebody. So that's for me, I'm just going to try to show up, show up, show up and be a go giver. I want to be a go giver and not I don't want to go do something because what I'm going to get a, get process from it. You know, I didn't interview Josh Trent on my show show small changes, big shifts because I wanted to get something from it. I wanted to truly admire what you were doing. And here we are maybe a couple years later having this conversation. And so I would encourage people to show up for people and show up for yourself and be a go giver. And if you are in a bad state, go give.

Yeah, that's a recipe.

Get out there.

It's a recipe. Like if, if I want to shift my state, the fastest way to shift my state state is to do for someone else what I am wanting, what I'm craving, what I feel like will fulfill me. Like, if I want love, the best way to do it is to go give love to someone else because I'm going to feel that ripple, as you mentioned, but for many of us, especially with mental health, as I've shared in the show, my mom has a disease that ruled her life. And there are millions of people in the world that their body and brain, for whatever reason, maybe it's their soul contract, maybe they're just here to learn in a different way than the rest of us, but they have a different wiring. Dr. Michelle it's almost like their brain doesn't see the potential, it doesn't absorb the possibility. Like you and I are talking about. How do we reach those people? Or is it just a different narrative to which we reach them through.

Well, I just think we love them and we honor them and know that they have maybe have a different soul agreement this lifetime. And how do we continue to break the cycle? And that's where this genetics. I think the epigenetics that we're studying right now is pretty darn phenomenal. That, you know, when I looked at my genetics and my genetic doctor, Dr. Dunn said to me, you know, but I can see the anxiety. Do you have anxiety? And you know what? I've been working so hard to not even admit it. And I was getting acupuncture and chiropractic and massage therapy and nutritional therapy. My friends used to laugh. They said, it's a good thing you're in this field because we'd have you on something for ocd, pms, add. And so when she. I was able to take a deep breath and go, you know what Part of it is my makeup now? How do I hack that system? Because we know that we're all chemistry. And so then I take specific supplements. I don't randomly. Some of them say, you should take the supplement. I'm like, you know what? Nope. I go, I get it muscle tested. We see how it fits in my pathways genetically before I decide to take it. So we're at exciting times. So I think for our listeners, just have some hope and have the courage to change it for your family and your grandkids. Because what we're doing right now, there's a great book that's just coming out, is what your grandparents and. And so you are what your grandparents ate. I love that you're what your grand. You know, and so how do you care enough about your future generations if you can't do it for you, do it for your grandkids.

You are what your grandparents ate. And don't you think in a way, we are what our grandparents thought?

I do. And I think about that for my African American friends who that poverty, that hate, that slavery, it's just still around some of their souls, and I have some that it's not. And I'm always trying to think, okay, how do I navigate this and how do I support and encourage? So. And just like it's with the gay and lesbian population too. It's. It's just part of that. Is that intertwinement. Yeah. And so I think it's just releasing and letting go. And maybe some of the dogmas and some of the different religious. You know, I don't have all the answers. I just have my answers for me to show up and be a go giver.

Yeah. And I look at earlier I was talking about evolution, and you know what makes the most sense to me in etymology, if you look at language, is the way that the truth is always kind of tucked in there. It's like the truth likes to hide in plain sight in the word evolution is love inside of us evolving, is us loving one another, us treating one another with kindness, being of service. And it's not always easy. Right. So I'd love for you to share the ways that if you could wave a wand, like, literally, if you could cast a spell, you know, like a magical spell spell, and you could just Give people three things or maybe a handful of things that they could do to be part of this evolution with the love, with the kindness. What would be on that magic wand? What would you sprinkle on everyone?

Curiosity. You know, ask why, you know why. Why do I have a belly ache? Why do I resent that person? Why are they pushing my buttons? So curiosity would be number one. Gosh, that takes care of a lot of things, doesn't it?

Yeah, it really does. I mean, because if we're curious, we're eventually going to get to the truth.

Yeah. And for yourself, and I would say, when in doubt, hug it out. You know, when in doubt, give, share a hug, share some love with people, give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm pretty empty on what else to say, but I think, I think I've never been asked that question, but I think curious curiosity is what I. When I go in with curiosity, it's a better conversation.

What are you? I love that, by the way, because my next question is me being curious. What are you most excited about then? For small changes, big shifts for your foundation, for everything that you're creating in the world, even the legacy that you mentioned, you know, where you just want to be this ripple. What are you most excited about in the coming years?

Yeah, well, we just launched the shift experience and so we have. Over the last five years, I've been bringing together providers in our community because there's nothing. It's flattering when somebody drives 30 minutes to see you, but I don't know about you, I'm not sure I would drive 30 minutes to see somebody. I don't care how good you are. I may drive it once a month, but if I need it once a week, I'm probably not going to drive it.

I mean, if I'm really feeling them, I'm going to take that 30 minute drive.

But it's 60 minutes round trip. And what if it's traffic? But you know what I mean?

Yes, totally.

And some people will do that. And I don't know about you, but time for me is my greatest asset. And so I have been building this tribe of people, of wellness people. And then we've been pouring into them the small changes, big shifts, message in the quadrants of well being, whole person health. And so we just launched in four parts of our city where the providers in that community are delivering the curriculum around whole person health. And that has me so jazzed because ideally it's with families and so that the mothers and daughters and the fathers and sons and they can start to really talk about why, you know, why do we eat this way? Well, we eat this way because that's the way I ate. Or why don't we exercise? Well, if you find a 40 year old who doesn't exercise, they probably didn't exercise as a kid. So looking at that, why and that curiosity. So I'm most excited about building community so that people realize there's phenomenal practitioners close to them. We're in such an amazing time right now. Whole person health is here to stay. I was in a meeting recently and somebody asked me, a CEO who's retired, he said, michelle, did you know this was, did you do this because you knew there was going to be such a financial problem?

Of course he asked that type of question. Of course, yeah.

And it was a great question. He was type. And I said, are you kidding? I said, I'm just trying to stay alive and if it's good for me, it's good for the people I serve. And so if you see me add something to my center, it's because I'm using it myself. I don't do any of the fancy anti aging stuff. I'm just not that smart to add at all, to be honest. But really, I just think that if people do the small changes that lead to big shifts and do the simple things, get sleep, hydrate, eat real food, spread love, free their mind, body and spirit from the toxic thoughts and traumas and chemicals and really, really just get out, get some sunshine, get some essential fatty acids, I really believe that will heal the planet. And I maybe have a lot of naivety, but let's try it.

I don't think you do. I think you're right on point. And this is an echo of many other leaders that we've had on the show. And I'm flashing back to an episode we had with Josh Takel, and he was talking about, you know, the quality of our soil and the way that we treat the planet is a direct mirror and a reflection of our own soil inside of ourselves. You know, what seeds we're planting within us, seeds of thought, seeds of nutrition, seeds of anything, seeds of beliefs. And I want to close out the show with something you said towards the beginning because it really hit my heart. You said, trauma is like gasoline for our genes. If someone has experienced trauma and they're maybe in a state of sadness or depression or, you know, they got pulled to this podcast and they've been feeling kind of that flicker of hope and they've been feeling that excitement of like, oh, there's other things possible. Can you speak to that person? Can you speak to that person who has experienced trauma and it feels like gasoline?

Yeah. And a lot of people are in a stuck in a trauma state right now. I would say, you know what, as hard as it is, get out of your house. Go find a team of people to help you. You. And what's great about a lot of places, they'll have sliding scale. I believe all of us need some type of a coach, therapist. I wish we'd started doing that when our kids were little so we knew that once a quarter we could go check in with somebody. Absolutely, yeah. Whether it's through a church community, whether it's through AA or Al Anon or ACOA or narcotics, and I'm. Whatever it is, there's people out there willing to help. The amount of people helping on the planet right now is unbelievable. You've got to have the courage to plug in and don't go just once, because one time you can talk yourself out of it. But if you commit to going six times, you'll probably get more out of it if you just give yourself a chance to really connect. So that would be my biggest thing, is get out of your home and also to think about how you're fueling your mind before you think about how you feel in your body. Fuel your mind. Listen to these podcasts, listen to quotes, start reading. There's so many TED Talks. Just really start pouring into your soul.

I just actually was closing my eyes when you were speaking, and I'd love for you to lead us through just whatever comes through for you with this last question. It's a question that I ask every guest, and I'm going to close my eyes as you answer. Now, if you're driving in your car, like, don't do that. Don't close your eyes. Pull over. Because I just have a sense that your wisdom right now will be really profound. Looking at everything that we've explored, intelligence, you know, the gathering, the applying, and lastly the embodying. And also your quadrants, you know, understanding that everything truly does overlap. There is no such thing as one. Cause everything has a connection to everything else. It's really in the center of all this is wellness. And if you were to encapsulate wellness, if you were to define wellness, how would you speak that into existence? Your definition of wellness.

Two things. Well, being equals happiness. And I could say, do you want to be happy? And people raise their hand, you want to be more. Well, it sounds like too much work, but here's my definition of wellness is when your mind, body and spirit don't get in your way of living life. When your mind, body and spirit don't get in your way of living life. You're, you're not paralyzed with fear. You don't have a bellyache, you don't have a headache, you don't have back pain. That's my definition of well being.

Smallchangesbigshifts.com is the website. Dr. Michelle what an honor to be on your show, to have you on mine and everyone tune into your well being. Tune in to your well being. Make sure you go check out the small changes, big shifts, podcasts. We covered a lot of ground. Do you think there's anything that we missed?

You know, I just think I want to acknowledge you for the work you're doing not only for the planet, but for yourself. And so I just want to say thank you to you for having the courage. I know what it takes to do a show week after week. And so I want to say thank you for stepping up and showing up.

Oh, it feels good to receive that from you and it's a total honor. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Dr. Michelle Robin hey, thanks for listening to the show, my friend. Everything you learned on this podcast starts with your morning practices. So from over 3, 300 world class guests, we pulled together six simple yet powerful morning practices down into a 21 minute system guaranteed to increase your vibration and the way that you feel every day. Get this free powerful guide over@wellnessforce.com M21 and if you love this show, share it with somebody. Share it with somebody that you love or that you care about. You can support the show easily by leaving us a five star review on iTunes. Just go to wellnessforce.com or if you're on your phone, just tap it. Hit the link in purple that says review this podcast and the journey does not stop here. We're continuing this discovering process in our private Facebook group over@wellnessforce.com group. You can be a part of it. You already are. All you have to do is join us@wellnessforce.com group and I will welcome you at the door. Now go out into your life and live your life well. And until I see you again real soon, I'm wishing you love and wellness.