Podcasts about pt summit

Are you a CLT who would like to learn more about Oncology Physical Therapy? This summit is for you! Listen to my conversation with Elise Cantu, PT, DPT, CLT and Jimmy McKay, PT, DPT to learn just what to expect at the this amazing VIRTUAL conference! Too many exclamation marks?!?!? I just want you to … Episode 62: Virtual Oncology PT Summit Read More »

On this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Podcast, I welcome Brenda Walding on the show to discuss Whole-Hearted Living. Dr. Brenda Walding is a Women’s Holistic Wellness Expert & Coach, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and HeartMath certified coach. Brenda specializes in supporting women health/wellness professionals in overcoming burnout and health challenges in order to truly thrive and give their gifts to the world. In this episode, we discuss: -Brenda’s incredible story of illness and recovery -The 9 Essentials to Whole-Hearted Healing -The importance of the biopsychosocial model in healthcare -And so much more!   Resources: Sick of Being Sick: The Woman's Holistic Guide to Conquering Chronic Illness Brenda Walding Website and a Free Gift: Dr. Walding is offering a complimentary 45-minute consult for any woman dealing with burnout or health challenges that has a deep desire to THRIVE. Schedule your consult and see how she may be able to support you in creating a life you love. Brenda Walding Instagram Brenda Walding Facebook Email: risetoradiance@gmail.com Heart Math Website Women in Physical Therapy Summit 2019 Outcomes Summit: use the discount code LITZY For more information on Brenda: Dr. Brenda Walding is a Women’s Holistic Wellness Expert & Coach, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and HeartMath certified coach. Brenda specializes in supporting women health/wellness professionals in overcoming burnout and health challenges in order to truly thrive and give their gifts to the world. She currently resides outside of Austin, Texas on the beautiful Lake Travis with her husband and dog. Brenda loves spending time in nature, connecting with her family and friends, dancing, facilitating women's circles, and learning about holistic wellness.   Read the full transcript below: Karen Litzy:                   00:01                Hey Brenda, welcome to the podcast. I'm happy to have you on. Brenda Walding:           00:06                Oh, thank you so much for having me, Karen. I'm excited to be here today. Karen Litzy:                   00:11                And like I said in the intro you are a recently published author of the book sick of being sick, the women's holistic guide to conquering chronic illness. So without giving away the entire book, can you give the listeners a little bit more about your background and your story of illness and where you are and how that led you to where you are today? Brenda Walding:           00:36                Yeah, sure. I'd love to. You know, it's really, I'll give you do my best to give you the cliff notes. It's spans the time period of over a decade. So really I grew up seemingly really healthy and vibrant. I was a collegiate athlete. I played soccer at TCU in Fort Worth. And then I went on to physical therapy school to get my doctorate in physical therapy. And then after that moved to Austin, Texas with my now husband. And during that time we passed our licensure exam, got new jobs, moved to a new city, got engaged, got married, and then after this whirlwind of all these major life events, my health started to rapidly decline. And you know, I was in a busy physical therapy practice and seeing a lot of patients, and you know, all of a sudden I'm just getting weaker and more tired and getting sick more frequently. Brenda Walding:           01:35                And then it got to where I could hardly even get up and down the stairs. I was experiencing chronic fatigue and experiencing, I broke out into these rashes that literally covered my entire body for two and a half years. No one could really figure out what was going on and I just kept getting more and more sick and I was seeing specialists all over trying to figure out what was wrong with me at this time I didn't really know much about natural health nutrition, holistic wellness. I was just kind of in the conventional medical model, taking the steroids and the pills and you know, my blood work had come back pretty normal, so they couldn't really figure out what was wrong. But literally I had oozy itchy rashes, like covering my entire body where I had to pack my body full of ice in the evening to fall asleep and eventually developed in a systemic infection that led me to going on disability from my job as a physical therapist. Brenda Walding:           02:40                And granted, this is, you know, I am in my late twenties, not even 30 yet, so very young. And you know, I got to the point where I thought like doctors kept giving me antibiotics and they were worried that the infection would get into my bloodstream and I thought I was dying. I was really, really at that point of like, okay, I think this is it. And by the grace of God, I had, I took four rounds of antibiotics and a month and a half, kept being sectioned, kept coming back, had pus all in my mouth and throat, couldn't swallow, couldn't hardly eat. So this was a pretty intense experience. And I found this article I was looking, researching and found this article called natural solutions to drug resistant infections. And it caught my eye and I thought maybe I have a drug resistant infection. And it talked about wild Mediterranean, Oregano oil and how it was, you know, healing people with malaria and different, you know, chronic. Brenda Walding:           03:45                Very, very severe illnesses. So I thought I would try it. It's like $20 and I know bought it online and in, within a few days the infection went away. And for the first time in years I got some relief from the pain and itching on my skin. And so that really was the portal to opening me up to natural healing. And I thought, what is it? What do I not know? What else do I not know, you know, about this? And so that really became this entry point into studying natural healing and nutrition. And I started seeing more alternative and holistic type practitioners. And that over time started to gradually heal. I started to get some answers. I was full of toxins. Had lots of infections and a poor ability to really clear toxins from my system. So I started to get more answers, started to change my diet, slow down my life a little bit, you know, as that type a over achieving, you know, hardcore athlete and academic. Brenda Walding:           04:54                And I realized that also was part of the puzzle here ever learning to slow down and then, you know, so for eight years I really focused on healing my body. Like it was a full time job. I was able to go back to physical therapy after a while and start working again. But it really opened up my passion into natural healing and started a nutrition lifestyle company with my husband and helping people heal their bodies through nutrition and lifestyle changes. And you know, it was a slow and gradual process and I started, you know, getting better gradually and then almost to the point where I felt okay, I think I'm almost ready to, you know, start a family. I had a few lingering symptoms but I was like, you know, I'm doing pretty well. Got my strength back. This is eight years later. And then I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Brenda Walding:           05:51                And so this was a few years ago. So this was like, what am I missing? What am I not getting? Cause I was really, you know, dialed in my diet lifestyle. I started meditating. I was really, you know, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on healers and treatments, natural remedies. You couldn't find somebody more committed to their healing. And it was like a full time job. And I wasn't really living, I was just trying to get better and feel better. And then the cancer diagnosis came and so I had to step back and go, what am I not getting? And I really, you know, I share this in my book. I had to step back and I was in, this is actually, I found the mass in my breasts right before this, we had planned this epic trip to Italy where we were going to start our family. Brenda Walding:           06:50                So it was this tragic, you know, oh my gosh, you know, why is this happening to me? And then, yeah. And so, you know, in the middle of the night at 3:00 AM I'm, you know, tears coming down my face going like, God, what do you want me to do? Because I knew that conventional chemotherapy and radiation was not going to be my path. I just didn't know what I was going to do. And you know, I heard this, I call it the divine whisper that said, if you're going to survive, you're going to have to learn to listen to your heart. And I just felt this immediate peace. And then I started to kind of panic because I thought, I don't know how to do that. I really don't know how. I don't know, like maybe like so many of the listeners and people and my clients that I work with, we're really stuck in our heads so much of the time. Brenda Walding:           07:42                And, you know, my immediate reaction to a challenge would be to research it, to try to figure it out, to strategize. And this was like, no, no, Brenda, it's time for you to really go within and listen and allow your heart to guide you. And, so I knew there was a level of emotional and spiritual, you know, healing too that needed to take place. And so I committed at that point to learn to listen to my heart. And over the next few years I had a pretty interesting and incredible journey through healing, holistically and wholeheartedly I should say from cancer. And it really became the catalyst for me to live in even more extraordinary life. Now I can say that I can access joy and just living a life of purpose and wholeheartedness that I'd never experienced before cancer. And so now that's really why I'm, you know, I kinda quit physical therapy and I'm focusing on helping women, especially women, wellness professionals, to truly heal and thrive so that they can give their gifts fully to the world. So that's kind of my story in a nutshell. Karen Litzy:                   08:56                And are you now cancer free? Brenda Walding:           09:01                Yes. So I'm doing great. And yeah I'm doing awesome. And that's really where my focus is now, is helping women to heal and thrive and connect more fully to their hearts. Karen Litzy:                   09:15                And quick question on, you know, so you're diagnosed with cancer, you did not do traditional cancer treatments. Brenda Walding:           09:24                I did sort of a mix. I didn't do traditional chemotherapy and radiation, but I did do surgery. So I went to a couple of different clinics in the United States that focus on holistic and alternative cancer treatments. And so I did. It was a pretty wild ride. So we spent our entire life savings and did this treatment but then I also had a mastectomy. Karen Litzy:                   09:56                Okay. I guess sort of a combination. Yeah. Cause I just don't want to give the listeners the impression that you don't have to go through traditional medicine when you have a very serious diagnosis as cancer and that, you know, sometimes that is the route that one needs to take. And like you said, combining it with other holistic treatments I think is perfectly reasonable. But I don't want people to think that we're saying no shun traditional treatments. Brenda Walding:           10:27                Exactly. And you know, for me, this is what I do. What I do know to be true is that, you know, a decision made out of fear is never the highest best choice. So when I work with women, where you're working with people on their healing journey is like learning how to really access the heart to be able to tune in to that guidance to make decisions. So yes, you get the tests and get the information from doctors and healers and then trust your own heart to lead and guide you down that path. And that might look like conventional therapy for some people and that might look like alternative therapy for others. And that might look like a combination. So it's really, you know, definitely not shunning conventional medicine. But I knew for me in my heart that in this particular moment, you know, chemotherapy and radiation wasn't going to be my choice, that I was going to do a combination. And it really does differ for each person. And that's the thing is, you know, oftentimes we get scared into, you know, doing things because someone else tells us that we have to do this and we have to do that. And you know, my recommendation is to take the information but also really listen within and let your heart guide your journey as well. Karen Litzy:                   11:42                Right. Yeah. Yeah. And I think in combination with your physicians and other practitioners that you're working with as well. Brenda Walding:           11:53                Yes. It's important to have an amazing support team. Karen Litzy:                   11:54                Yeah, I just don't want people to think that we're saying, no, don't, don't listen to your doctors, because that would be really irresponsible. But yes, you have to, and it's like what we say within physical therapy as well as you as the practitioner and wanting to give the patient all the available information and guidance that you have and then along with the patient, you make those decisions on what is best. And I think that that is what every healthcare practitioner strives to do and strives to educate patients as best as they can. Give them the knowledge, give them the odds, give them pros and cons and then along with the patient and their support team and physicians and nurses and whoever else you have working with you kind of make that decision on what is best for you. And, those decisions aren't always easy. Brenda Walding:           13:01                No. Yeah. And Yeah, work with people, you know, work with people on your support team that you feel good about. That you feel supports you fully and is in alignment with your values. You know, I definitely navigating this path, you know, I definitely had practitioners that, you know, were trying to force me into something or I just had a gut feeling that didn't feel good. And so to really follow that and find, you know, doctors that are really on board with you and are listening to what you desires are. Because they exist, they exist for sure. Karen Litzy:                   13:31                Yes, of course. Of course. Okay. So you've obviously gone through a lot, over a full decade plus it sounds like, of your life. So let's talk about kind of what you're doing now and how you're helping other, like you said, mainly women kind of navigate through a healing process. Brenda Walding:           14:00                Yeah. So like Karen mentioned earlier, that I felt really called to write a book. And so this book really is my love letter to all women and it's applicable to men as well. But you know, it's really all the information I wish I would have had 10 years ago to really truly to heal and to really thrive. Cause it's, I spent eight years really focusing on the physical aspect of healing. And I think that's where we're naturally inclined to as sort of these physical beings is that we're like, okay, nutrition, lifestyle, medication, you know, the various things, focusing on our physical body. But, what I've come to find out that, you know, really looking at ourself holistically, taking into account our mental and emotional and spiritual bodies, so to speak and healing on those levels are equally as important as the physical. Brenda Walding:           15:00                And then this sort of heart centered approach of really learning to get out of the head and allowing the heart to lead. So that is where I call it, like this whole hearted healing or this whole hearted living approach. And so that's what I share in my book along with my story. And, I did research on, you know, what, who are these men and women that were not only healing from catastrophic illness but that were really thriving and using that illness as an opportunity to create an even more extraordinary life and what did they all have in common? And so that's really how I, you know, navigated my journey. And also, you know, taking that research into consideration really came up with these nine wholehearted healing essentials. And I share that in my book. And that's really sort of the framework I use when I work one on one coaching with women. Brenda Walding:           15:55                And then I also do, you know, create a curated experiences, a women's circles and workshops and things to help women to have an experience of some of these things. So that's kind of what I'm up to now. Karen Litzy:                                           And can you share with us what your wholehearted healing 9 essentials are? Brenda Walding:                                   Yeah, I'd love to. So the first one is taking responsibility for your health and your life. And that really, it just, it kinda comes down to so many of us, we kind of rely on other people, maybe it's even relying on a doctor or relying on, you know, other people to tell us what to do or to have authority over our life and our health. And this really is just taking your life and your health in your own hands, stepping away from that victim mentality and really taking ownership of everything that's ever happened in your life and taking responsibility for you right now so that you can be in the driver's seat of your life and what happens moving forward. Brenda Walding:           17:06                And so the number two is creating a vision. And this is really, I have a mentor that I said, it's better to be pulled by your vision than pushed by your problems. And so there's a lot of research that has come out in the realm of quantum physics and the power of imagination of using our mind and elevated emotional states to actually change to affect us on the level of our DNA. And so I really got fascinated with the work of, you know, like Dr Joe Dispenza and Greg Braden, and really tapping and honing in the power of imagination and vision when it comes to healing. So that is something I really work with, with people to do is like what is it that we want to create and when we tune into that and imagine and tap into that elevated emotional state, that really helps to begin to pull that event towards us, whether that's healing or creating more of what we want in our life. Brenda Walding:           18:12                And number three is thoughts and beliefs. So just learning to manage our mind and harness the power of our thinking mind to create healing and really looking at beliefs because our beliefs are our underlying beliefs can be something that is really in alignment with our vision and what we want to create. Or it can be subtly sabotaging if we don't really believe we're worthy of healing or we have beliefs that are contrary to what it is that we really want. So that's a piece I think often a lot of people overlook. And number three is feel your feelings. And so that is sort of tapping into that emotional part of healing, which I feel like there's a lot of energy that we deplete in waste because we are dealing with a low to moderate level of anxiety and stress a lot of the times. Brenda Walding:           19:12                And that has a really huge impact on our physiology. So there's that whole element, it can dive into that more. But that's number four. Number five is nutrition. So really looking at what we're putting into our bodies, the quality of food, but not just what we eat, but how well we're able to digest and absorb and assimilate that food. Number six is live to thrive. And so in this essential, I really dive into lifestyle factors. So this is where exercise and movement and connecting with nature and getting sunshine and play and you know, these different how we go about living our life on a day to day. And then the next one is connection and relationships. So really looking at the quality of our relationships and, you know, found that in our relationships. Brenda Walding:           20:17                That's where a lot of people can experience a lot of emotional drain. And we know that how our emotional state, you know, negative quote unquote depleting emotions affect our physiology. So really looking at the quality of our relationships and this piece around authentic connection. And I love this topic because this was actually a huge blind spot for me in my own life, is really learning what true connection really was, which is, you know, the ability to be, this sense of being, feeling connected energetically and being able to be seen, heard and valued and deriving strength and sustenance from the relationship. And, you know, there's so much research on the impact of chronic loneliness, you know, we're so disconnected. We're connected very much with technology, but there's so much loneliness. I think it was one study was talking about how chronic loneliness is equivalent to smoking, like several cigarettes a day. Brenda Walding:           21:25                And the impact that has over time on our body of not being connected with one another in a deep and meaningful way. So that is a really incredible piece to look at. And then we have self love and self care, so love yourself and that really can encompass a lot of different things and can be an even bigger conversation. But really I found underneath it all is really healing and thriving is about all about truly falling in love with who you are and loving your life. And how does one do that? And then finally trust and surrender. So I found that, you know, of all the people that I researched, they all spoke about elements of really having this higher power that they were trusting, trusting, you know, source God, trusting within themselves, you know, and surrendering the outcome really learning to trust and as a power bigger and greater than them to guide them on their path. And so that is the last one is learning to trust and surrender. Karen Litzy:                   22:36                I mean, that's a lot. Brenda Walding:           22:38                Yeah! Karen Litzy:                   22:40                That's a lot. But if you think about it and break those down, that's as human beings kind of what we need. So it seems like, oh my gosh, this is so daunting. This is so much work. This is going to be work. But if you take each one individually and break them down, I mean, it's pretty simple. It's what we all need to be happy and healthy and live our lives. So I get it. I'm on board. Brenda Walding:           23:04                Yeah, exactly. And you know, like I said, they intention really was to create this holistic healing living roadmap. So it's like these are, I wanted to like, I've got this, all of this information downloaded and experienced in my life over the decade and I got the little bits of information here. Oh, you need to learn about nutrition. Oh, okay, great. I will focus on that for many years. Oh, okay. I need to understand how my emotions impact my health. Okay. You know? And so I got these little, these, this information and different from different books or different teachers. Then I realized like, oh, really, it's really about it. All of these things. And they're all important to really living your best and most full life. And it takes all of those things to some capacity to really, really live and thrive. And it doesn't, you know, like you said, you know, you don't dive in and try to do them all at once, right, yeah, you focus on one thing and you began to implement that. Brenda Walding:           24:08                And that's why coaching is really amazing. It's like I had so many coaches and mentors and teachers that helped me begin to integrate all of these pieces. And so it's helpful too. Yes, my book is a good resource, but it's also helpful to have, you know, someone that can see your blind spots and can see, oh, hey, you know, let's dive into, you know, there's this emotional piece that you have held on to all these emotions from the past and that's taking up a lot of energy and negatively affecting your body. But I didn't really see that. And so let's work through that together. So there's a lot of things that can be helped when you have someone to help you move through some of these things together. Karen Litzy:                   24:52                Sure. And how has your training as a physical therapist, how does that play into the role that you're doing now with coaching? Because I know there are a lot of physical therapists who might be looking for nonclinical roles or nontraditional roles. So how has your training helped prepare you for what you're doing now? Brenda Walding:           25:09                How has my physical therapy training help me in what I’m doing now? Well, I think, well, and you know, I actually had the really beautiful experience recently of going back and doing some physical therapy part time. And so I've been able to kind of go from both directions. See the difference, how my training up until this point with all of this work has made me and even different, physical therapists how I interact. So from that perspective, I can, and I think there's a lot of value for physical therapists and any healers or practitioners to interact and address the patient or the client from this holistic perspective. Knowing that coming in this person with chronic pain or this, you know, ailment has, there's many pieces. Generally speaking, generally speaking, especially if it's a chronic issue and that it's more than just the physical aspect, oftentimes that there's an emotional piece and that there is a mental piece perhaps. And so being able to relate to that person in their wholeness can help me be a better overall practitioner to be able to offer some insights or how to relate to that person and help them, you know, experience a greater outcome. Karen Litzy:                   26:37                Yeah, absolutely. And you know, it's that shift from a strictly biomedical to a biopsychosocial framework of treatment, which we talk about all the time on this podcast. I'm sure people are sick and tired of me saying it, but that is the way things should be in healthcare. So I will keep saying it many, many times. Now before we finish up, is there anything that maybe we didn't touch on that you're like, oh wait, I really want the listeners to know that. Brenda Walding:           27:10                I think really a piece that I think is really helpful, especially for practitioners and you know, I don't know much if we'll have time to go into this, but this, I am a heart math certified coach and really we look a lot about energy management. And so we waste a lot of energy in the domain of emotions and repetitive negative and repetitive thoughts. And that affects our physical abilities and our physiology. And so really learning to manage our energy. And we do that through being able to get into a coherent state. So getting our heart, mind and emotion and energetic alignment through slowing down the breath and experiencing elevated emotional states like love and gratitude and can actually get the heart into a smooth coherent rhythm, which impacts the way that the rest of the body feels and how it can heal. And so I think if we learn some techniques, as practitioners to help manage energy we can improve outcomes for our patients and our clients. So this is sort of that combining of going beyond the physical and that heart math has some really incredible tools so that you can check them out heartmath.org I think it's a really great tool for a lot of practitioners. I just wanted to throw that out. Yeah. So I think that, yeah, that's helped me a lot in my own coaching on and with physical therapy. Karen Litzy:                   28:48                Great. And we'll have all of that info at the show notes over at podcast.healthywealthysmart.com. So if people want to learn more about heartmap.org they can just go click on it and you're there. So thank you for sharing that. And now the one question I ask everyone is, knowing where you are now in your life and in your career, what advice would you give to yourself as a new Grad right out of PT school? Brenda Walding:           29:16                Right out of PT School? So I would definitely, I wish I would know now is really learning how to listen and lead from my heart. I feel like I got myself into a position where I was burned out running ragged, just trying to do the best I can as a new Grad. And I've missed a lot of the cues, you know, internally of Hey, slow down. These other aspects of your life are important to you. And you know, I think that was really the catalyst for me to start to get burnt out and sick. And so really to slow down and really listen to my heart is what I would tell myself. Karen Litzy:                   29:42                Great Advice. And burnout is real. This year at the women in PT Summit in Portland, we have a whole panel on burnout. I'm really looking forward to listening to, cause I am not part of this panel. I'm not part of the creation of it. It was sort of pitched to us and I'm really excited to hear what the women on that panel have to say. Cause it's a thing and I think it's happening more and more with the newer grads because they're trying to work more and more. They've got student debt out the yes. What? Um, so I feel like it's a real thing, you know, and like you said, just to take a moment to slow down and focus on other parts of your life is, is something that that can help. So thank you for that. And now where can people find you if they have questions? Where can they get your book? Brenda Walding:           30:49                Yes. So you can find me. I'm in the process of creating, readjusting my website. So right now you can really connect with me by emailing me at risetoradiance@gmail.com. And then I'd also love if any of this resonated with you, if you're a woman that is dealing with burnout, exhaust exhaustion. I love working with wellness professionals. If you're interested in some of these heart math tools that I use, I'd love to hop on the phone and I'm happy to offer your listeners a complimentary 45 minute consult. Karen Litzy:                   31:32                Oh, that's awesome. Brenda Walding:           31:34                Yeah. So if you'd like to take advantage of that and you can go to www.Brendawalding.com and that is my calendar link. And so you would just set up a time to chat with me. Okay. And I love hearing your stories and hearing where you're at and what you need most support with. So happy to do that. And then my book is coming out in hard copy at the end of this year, but you can find it on Amazon. Karen Litzy:                   32:02                Perfect. And you'll give me all the links. I'll put all the links up on the podcast website under this episode so that way people can get to you, they can chat with you. And thank you so much for offering a session for everyone. That's so nice. Brenda Walding:           32:21                Yes. Awesome. I look forward to connecting with some of you. Karen Litzy:                   32:24                Great. And, again, Brenda, thank you for coming on and sharing your really incredible story. And we are all very happy that you are today healthy and happy and moving forward. So thank you so much. Brenda Walding:           32:39                Oh, thank you, Karen. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being here, so thank you for the opportunity. Karen Litzy:                   32:44                And everyone, thank you so much for listening. Have a great couple of days and stay healthy, wealthy, and smart.   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!

On this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Podcast, I welcome Laurie Seely on the show to discuss gut health.  Laurie is a Certified Health and Wellness Coach specializing in helping people repair their gut from Candida, IBS, and Heavy Metals Toxicity. In this episode, we discuss: -The number one question you should be asking your doctor at your next check up -How you can assess the health of your stool -Simple solutions to improve your gut health -Laurie’s long journey to overcome Candida -And so much more!   Resources: Laurie Seely Website Laurie Seely Facebook Young Living Parafree Candida, IBS, and Heavy Metals Education Facebook Group FREE GIFT: 7 STEPS TO KILL CANDIDA CHECKLIST   For more information on Laurie: I’m a Functional Medicine Health Coach, a lover of Young Living Essential Oils, a mom to a beautiful little girl, and a professional opera singer, formerly in the chorus at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. I suffered for years with IBS and all the horrible, embarrassing symptoms that came along with it, including a raging candida (yeast) overgrowth. Eeeeew! With help from my health coach and the School of Applied Functional Medicine, I learned how to kill Candida and repair my gut. I am a health detective! Now I teach people how to kill Candida and repair their gut through workshops, group programs, essential oils, and 1-on-1 coaching. Many of my clients find surprising side effects such as extra energy, clearer skin, fewer wrinkles, better digestion, less need for medications, lower blood sugar, and clearer thinking!   Laurie Seely   Read the full transcript below: Karen Litzy:                   00:01                Hey Lori, welcome to the podcast. I am happy to have you on. Laurie Seely:                 00:05                I'm so happy to be here. Thank you Karen. Karen Litzy:                   00:08                Of course. And as we were talking about before we got on the air, the way that we were introduced to each other is through Christine Gallagher, who's a really wonderful business coach and she was part of my women in PT Summit, in our inaugural summit a couple of years ago. And so I just want to give a quick shout out to Christine for the hookup here. Karen Litzy:                   00:31                She’s great. So now obviously in your bio I talked about the fact that you're a functional medicine health coach, but I have a feeling a lot of people aren't exactly sure what that is or what that means. So would you mind giving the listeners a little bit of background on to what that is exactly. Laurie Seely:                 00:48                I got a certification as a health coach and then I continued at the school for Applied Functional Medicine and they offer another certification. And basically that's where I learned all my stuff. You learn about just really how to be a health detective because there are so many symptoms of dis-ease that a lot of doctors will label as an illness. And I was very interested in this kind of, it's not really medicine, but I was very interested in this kind of health detective work because I went through this whole thing myself with IBS and Candida and I still had a couple of pieces left to really, really find health for myself. And it was at this school that I've finally put in the last couple of pieces to make that happen. And so, in the process I became a functional medicine health coach. Isn't that cool? Now I help other people that had the same sort of problems that I once had. Karen Litzy:                   02:08                Yeah. And I feel like oftentimes that's kind of the way life takes us, right? We kind of have these experiences and we figure them out for ourselves and then we try and delve a little bit deeper to widen the net and then help others. So I think it's great when you can kind of make that change. But a question, what were you doing before you were a health coach? Laurie Seely:                 02:32                Well, I was an opera singer actually. I was singing fulltime in the chorus at the lyric opera of Chicago, which was really, really fun. And actually I just recently quit there. I was doing both at the same time for a while, which was a really difficult juggle. And I feel like this is where my heart lies and my passion now. So yeah, I was an opera singer.                  Karen Litzy:                   03:12                What a career, what a career switch. Yeah. I love talking to people who have had different careers within their life because I always think like it gives people hope, you know? So if you're not doing exactly what you love right now, that there's hope, you may find that thing that kind of, like you said, gives you your passion. Right? Fantastic. All right, so now let's talk about the health coaching aspect of things. So let's say I'm one of your clients. I come to you and I've already been to my doctor or maybe I'm going to see my doctor. So what are some important questions that maybe doctors should be asking us that they're not? Maybe that, yeah, we're not delving into as much. Laurie Seely:                 03:49                So I think that the number one most important question a doctor can ask you is what does your poop look like? And specifically, what does it look like and how often do you poop? Because that is your body's way of telling you when there's something wrong. I learned that functional medicine school that most dis ease begins in the gut. We don't say all because we just want to, you know, 99.9% of disease begins in the gut, I would say, right? And that's your first indication. That's your body telling you, hey, there's something wrong. You know? And so we need to be educated on our part. What poops should look like. Right. And I feel like this should be like on the commercials on TV instead of like, you know what pharmaceutical drug can help you with your IBS. Laurie Seely:                 04:52                They should be telling us what our poop should look like so it doesn't have to go all the way to IBS. We can see right at the beginning, you know what, I'm pooping little marbles like that's, that was my problem for most of my life. Little marbles with occasional bouts of diarrhea and I went for close to 40 years not knowing that there was anything wrong. If one doctor had asked me what my poop looked like when I was say 12 years old and I was old enough to kind of tell him, well about nine times a day I'm pooping little balls. He'd be like, wow, there's something wrong with you. We need to figure out what it is. And I feel like there's so many people who are in the same boat, you know, it never would have gotten to candida for me. I had a yeast infection for a year, every single day. And if somebody had asked me at 12 years old, what does my poop look like? I just, I feel like it never would have gotten that bad. And I feel like there's so many other people in this world who are in the same boat, you know, and who are maybe at some sort of state of disease that really could have been kind of nipped in a bud years ago when it was much less. Karen Litzy:                   06:05                Hmm. Yeah. And so if we're going there, right? We're going to talk about poop right now. We're in it, we're doing it. Laurie Seely:                                         If you have a conversation with me long enough, it'll eventually go there. Karen Litzy:                                           Yes. This is it. Obviously a very good question that your doctor should be asking, but now if people listening to this next time they go to their doctor, they can bring this up, correct? Laurie Seely:                 06:33                Yeah, absolutely. And you want to be very clear because even doctors can mess up with this. You know, there was one chiropractor that I was at who asked, we sort of, we get treated in the same room, a bunch of us, and there was another client, they're getting treated at the same time. And she was making comments that kind of made the chiropractor and me kind of go to, sounds like you're constipated, but we didn't say that. And he asked her, how's your digestion? Laurie Seely:                 07:04                She’s like oh, it's fine. And then he left the room and I said, what does your poop look like? How many times do you poop a day? And she said, Oh, I'm pooping like once every 10 days. Oh my God. Yeah. So I was like, wow. Like I didn't want to alarm her, but I sort of explained, you know, that it shouldn't be that way. So, that's the thing, when you talk to your doctor, like get gross, get like in it, tell them what it looks like, what it feels like, the texture, the smell, how long it takes to pass, because they need to know all of those things. And sometimes the doctor's going to get grossed out by that. And you know what, find a different one because you need to be able to talk about this stuff. Karen Litzy:                   07:45                Okay. So let's talk about what it should look like. So there is a chart called the Bristol stool chart. So can you tell us what it is and what it should look like? Laurie Seely:                 07:59                So on the chart it goes from number one to number seven. So number one is constipation and that's the tiny little balls. Number seven is diarrhea, that's watery stools. And number four is Nirvana poop. Like exactly what it's supposed to be like. It's like soft serve, ice cream texture. And it's not going to smell very much. It's going to be light brown in texture, easy to pass. We're talking one or two minutes and it's all gone all out and it leaves almost nothing to wipe. So that's the, the good stuff. And then they have, you know, the different levels in between one, four and seven also. So you can, you can Google that. There's like great illustrations online. Karen Litzy:                   08:50                And so obviously if you're at a one or a seven, we pretty much know something's up, right? Yep. So four is perfect. What if you're at three or a five? I mean, are these things to be worried about? Laurie Seely:                 08:56                I honestly, I don't think so. If you're at a three or a five, it's probably not your norm. If that makes sense. Like you want to look at where, where is it usually? Right? What is your pattern? If you have a couple of days with a little bit of stress and suddenly you're pooping tiny little balls, but then you get back to a number four after that, you're good. It was the stress you got over it. Right. Do a little yoga, some deep breathing, you'll be fine. Same thing happens with diarrhea. You know, a lot of people get stressed diarrhea. So if that's a temporary thing and it's due to stress that's temporary, then you're fine. Laurie Seely:                 09:49                If it's happening all the time, then you need to know that, yeah, it's a problem and you need to do some detective work there and that's time to do a stool test or to do any number of blood tests for parasites and stuff like that. So that's time when you want to, you want to find out what's causing it. A lot of times like, okay, so I went to my gastroenterologist, I said, I have IBS, I'm constipated all the time. Sometimes I have diarrhea. I told her the whole story and she said, we don't know what causes IBS. Laurie Seely:                 10:24                So that's another indication that you need a new doctor. So that's what I did. I got a new doctor because there are so many things that cause IBS and that's time to just find yourself a health detective and figure it out. There's a great test from the Meridian Valley lab called a comprehensive stool analysis and Parasitology times three. So that will tell you all of the expected beneficial flora that you want in there. It'll measure imbalanced flora. Any flora that's dysbiotic or like out of crazy, out of balance. So you know exactly really what's supposed to be there. It's also going to measure how much yeast you have in there because everybody pretty much has yeast in their digestive tract. It's just when it gets overgrown and it's bad. And then it also measures like mucus and then it checks for parasites and it's a three day test. Laurie Seely:                 11:26                So if you find a doctor that gave you a stool test and it's just from one bowel movement, that's not a good enough test. If it finds something cool, then you got lucky. But it's good to test over the period of at least three days. There are some stool tests that go up to six days. So the reason for that is that the bacteria and the parasites and the candida, it all travels in groups like in clumps, they like to stick together like a school of fish, right? And from one bowel movement you could be full of parasites and in one bowel movement you pass a whole bunch that doesn't have any parasites in it because they were hanging out somewhere else in your colon. So that's why you want to test over three days. So then you have a pretty good chance that if there's any parasites in there, you've found them. Karen Litzy:                   12:27                Yeah, that makes sense to me. And now let's say you do this test and something is positive. Where do you go from there? Laurie Seely:                                         Well, there's a lot of things you can do about that. It depends on your doctor. He might give you a pharmaceutical antiparasitic drug to take, which can be effective and there's the possibility that it's not effective as well. You always want to retest. What I do with my clients is I use a product from young living essential oil as it's the best thing that I've found so far, the most effective and it's called para free and it's full of various essential oils and all. So, other ingredients that are known to support intestinal health and are, I can't say that they're known to kill things because it hasn't been approved by the FDA, but I've seen in my practice and in my own body and in my mother's body, that it clears up parasites. Karen Litzy:                   15:29                So now let's say you do this comprehensive stool analysis and you find something, it's treated either by your physician with the pharmaceutical or through the essential oils, but I guess it's probably important to note that with the essential oils that like you said, they're not FDA approved and they're not studied or tested. It's just more like anecdotal stuff. Laurie Seely:                 16:01                There are many case studies and actually it seems like from the case studies that the para free is actually more useful. Karen Litzy:                   16:14                Well it would probably behoove someone to do some research on that because it's hard to I think get buy in from a lot of people when something isn't well-researched. That's a word I was going to say, test it. But research is probably better. Probably a better way to put that. So, you know, at least someone will, we'll do that to help people make a better decision. Laurie Seely:                 16:50                Right. Well, here's a thing, the reason why they're not FDA approved is not because the FDA looked into it and disapproved them. It's because the FDA doesn't want to waste their time on something that can't be patented because they're natural ingredients in there. They're not synthetic versions of natural ingredients it’s the actual natural ingredient. And so those things can't be patented and they can't, you know, companies can't make money off of that. And so the FDA doesn't want to use their funding on that. Karen Litzy:                   17:23                Right. Yeah. Well hopefully someone can do like a nice comparative study between that and a pharmaceutical and see what works and what doesn't. Laurie Seely:                 17:34                I think one of the issues that pharmaceuticals are usually aimed at just one thing. And the para free has been useful in treating a wide range of parasites. So it's like throwing a huge blanket on it. You Kill Them all. But you're right. You're right. It'd be nice if it were more widely publicized. Karen Litzy:                   18:05                All right. Now let's say we talked about this a little bit. Let's say you're on the one of the Bristol stool chart, which means that you're constipated and everyone at some point in their life has been, and we know it's not comfortable, so how can we relieve this? Laurie Seely:                 18:29                So there's a couple of different ways. It depends on what's causing it. So before doing a stool test, I would try, what I'm going to tell you now, I would first look at how much water are you drinking every day. So the rule of thumb for how much water you should be drinking is you see how many pounds you weigh, divide that by two. And that's how many ounces of water you should be drinking every day. So if you weigh 140, you should be drinking at least 70 ounces of water per day. Right? Now there's a lot of people who are already doing that, but there are a lot of people for whom that would be quite a bit of water. That's really what we need to be doing because, the number one and the Bristol stool chart is an indication that your stool is dehydrated and you're still maybe dehydrated just because you're not drinking enough water, it's possible that the muscles along your colon aren’t functioning absolutely properly and that you're just moving along slowly because there's not enough water in your stool. Laurie Seely:                 19:36                So that's the simplest fix. Right? And then also if you do that and you find that it doesn't fix it or it improves it, now you're still drinking more water. Another thing to do is consider that maybe you don't have enough magnesium intake. So a lot of us don't have enough magnesium just because we're not getting it anymore from the fruits and vegetables because of modern day farming practices. It's not in the soil. So if it's not in the soil, can't be in the vegetables and that's where we're supposed to be getting our magnesium from. So we use supplements. So there's, the form of magnesium that helps to stimulate the bowels is called magnesium citrate. And so you just see, you try taking some magnesium citrate and there's a very easy way to figure out how much of that you need. Laurie Seely:                 20:32                You want to get the powdered version because it's easier to lower or raise your intake right then like taking a capsule. And so you start with half a teaspoon of magnesium citrate. And you do that for about three days because it takes a while for it to build up in our bodies. And if after about three days you're not moving along the way you want to be, then you raise it by another half teaspoon and you just keep doing that in three day intervals like that until you're where you want to be. And it's possible that you might go up a little too far and have diarrhea and then you know, for sure that half a teaspoon or less than that is what you need. Karen Litzy:                   21:17                Right, right. Yeah. So it's a little bit of trial and error there, but I get it. Laurie Seely:                 21:22                I mean that if you're trying to do things naturally, that's how it is. Karen Litzy:                   21:27                Yeah, for sure. Okay. So we've got lack of water, lack of magnesium. Anything else that can contribute? Laurie Seely:                 21:35                Well, we always say we should have more fiber. Right? And that could be part of it as well. So you want to make sure that you're eating enough vegetables because I never recommend a person to get their fiber from things like shredded wheat or bread or things like that. But that's what we see in the media, right? We see like, oh, have your high fiber bread and that's going to help you. Well, wheat actually can irritate the colon. Whether you have a sensitivity to it or not because of the way that it's being produced nowadays. It's a very common irritant. And so that could be, I mean, maybe you're eating bread and that's your problem, right? So if you feel like maybe it's a fiber issue, then the way to get fibers through vegetables and I'm talking about like spinach, Kale, leafy Greens. Karen Litzy:                   22:34                Yeah. So that makes sense. So you want to start having more water, kind of eating a little bit healthier and things may even out for you. Okay, great. So is there anything else with constipation that we didn't go over about kind of how to relieve it or what might be causing it? Laurie Seely:                 22:55                Well, those are the places that I would start. And if you don't make any headway there, then got to find yourself a health detective, I think. Karen Litzy:                   23:07                Yeah. Yeah. All right. Sounds good. Now you made mention of this earlier, but, and I know it's part of your history and kind of why you became a health coach, but talk a little bit about Candida and what it was like for you for 10 plus years. Laurie Seely:                 23:28                So, my whole life, this whole thing with my digestion just kept getting worse. I didn't even know that I had a problem. I was unaware of it. That's why I'm here. Like educating people about it, bringing it into the light. Eventually I started having like three to six or more yeast infections every single year, which I also didn't know, but that's considered frequent for yeast infections. And then eventually, this is a little while after I had my daughter. My immune system just tanked and so did my thyroid and I had a yeast infection for every day for an entire year. I remember spending a week at Disney with an itch that I couldn't scratch. It was just horrible. So that's when I finally, I took the plunge. I was googling the whole time, like, there's probably a good 10 years that I was like, why am I getting so many yeast infections? Laurie Seely:                 24:32                And I would Google that and it would come up as a candida, you know, a systemic candida infection. I was like, no, no, no. It couldn't be that, because then I of course googled the remedy for that. And it just seemed like so hard and such a problem to go through that I was like, no, it's gotta be something else. It can't be that. So when I finally admitted it, I mean, that was the first day of the rest of my life, you know? And, I started my journey to health Karen Litzy:                   25:11                So aside from having the recurrent and constant yeast infections, was there anything else that you noticed that maybe you ignored? Laurie Seely:                 25:20                Yes. Looking back, I started to have, when I wasn't constipated, I was having far more urgent diarrhea, which actually led to like public accidents. Very, very embarrassing. And I got some allergies that I had always had some allergies, but it was just so bad that I was seeing an allergist and I was using Flonase and other steroid nasal sprays. And of course that was just making my problem worse because steroids actually kill gut bacteria and that was the root of my problem. And then after that allergies then more yeast infections. That was I think the allergies and the more frequent diarrhea that I didn't put it together. I didn't understand. Karen Litzy:                   26:19                Yeah. And that always seems to be the way because especially when you're in it, it's kind of like hard to connect all those dots, right? Because you're just trying to take care of the symptoms. Laurie Seely:                 26:30                I was constantly putting band aids on symptoms, not realizing that they had a common cause. And sinus infections also. Yeast kinda likes to live in the warm, wet areas and sinuses are a really good place for them to take up shop. And I had that problem too. Karen Litzy:                   26:50                Gosh. What a way to go through life. Laurie Seely:                                         Yeah. Yeah. And you know, there's so many people who are really experiencing this all the time still and also haven't connected the dots, you know. Karen Litzy:                                           Well, you know, hopefully you can raise a little bit more awareness for people and have them be a little more aware of how they poop yes. And what it looks like and the consistency and this smell and all that stuff so that hopefully we can, cause you know, what you put in your body's got to come out, right? So, I think it's important that we pay attention to what our body is doing because like you said, our bodies are pretty good at telling us when things are wrong. When things are out of homeostasis and if checking your poop, that seems pretty easy to me so then you could say, oh, this doesn't seem right. Maybe I should call my doctor about this. Laurie Seely:                                         Exactly. Yes, exactly. Just have to pay attention. Karen Litzy:                                           Yes, we have to pay attention. Well, now is there anything that maybe we didn't cover that you feel like who I really want your listeners to know this. Laurie Seely:                 28:21                I think we got everything. Karen Litzy:                                           All right, well then I have one last question for you and it's a question that I ask everyone, and that's knowing where you are now in your life and your career. What advice would you give to yourself, let's say right out of school, or maybe in your case when you first started getting into the opera world? Laurie Seely:                 29:05                Oh, well this is, yes. Advice that I wish I'd had. Just keep trying get used to hearing no. Laurie Seely:                 29:20                Because in the opera world we deal with a lot of rejection. There's a lot of auditions and you might get out of, I don't know, 20 auditions, you might get one job. So I really would have liked to start to hear that, to know that it was normal. You have all these auditions and just get one job, you know? But I have a very stick-to-it-ness sort of nature to me and I rolled with it. Karen Litzy:                   29:52                Gosh, I'm sure so many people have been in your boat many times over and would have loved to have had that advice. And now you have, which I'm very grateful for, something for the listeners. So what is a Freebie for people? Laurie Seely:                 30:10                So I have a seven step program that I use with my clients to help them get over candida and repair their gut. And I have a blog post on my website that goes through those seven steps. And it also has a very handy downloadable checklist that you can use as you're going through the program. Laurie Seely:                 30:42                So, and it also has a very nice list of Anti-candida foods, foods that are allowed and not allowed on the anti-Candida, a diet that is very handy to print out and just hang in your kitchen so that you can check it every once in a while and see what kind of recipes you want to make for yourself. Because when you're doing the Anti Candida Diet, it can be very difficult and very depressing to try and figure out what there is that you can eat without feeding your candy jar. So for anybody who sort of was thinking, oh, that might be me, I don't know, you can go to my website and check out that post. And there's so many other posts on there about IBS and Candida and food sensitivities and all that stuff. You can go down quite a worm hole on my website. Karen Litzy:                   31:33                Perfect. And we'll have the link to the seven steps to kill Candida checklist. We will have the link to that in the show notes over at podcast.healthywealthysmart.com so you can one click and it'll take you there. And where can people find you? Laurie Seely:                 31:55                I am at laurieseely.com and I'm also on Facebook at Laurie Seely functional medicine health coach. And I also have a group on Facebook called Candida Ibs and heavy metals education group. Karen Litzy:                   32:14                Awesome. And again, we'll have all the links to that. So if you have questions you want to get in touch with Laurie, you can pop over to her website. If you weren't writing all this down, you can go to the podcast website, click onto it and it'll take you right there. So Laurie, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about poop which is a first for me on the podcast. Laurie Seely:                                         So that's awesome. I'm so glad I get my bad for you. Karen Litzy:                                           It was at first. And hopefully people, no pun intended, got a lot out of this. So Lori, thanks so much for coming on and everyone else, thanks so much for listening. Have a great couple of days and stay healthy, wealthy, and smart.     Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!

On this episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Jenna Kantor guest hosts and interviews Karen Litzy on her journey to become a leader of the physical therapy profession. Karen Litzy, PT, DPT is a licensed physical therapist, speaker, owner of Karen Litzy Physical Therapy, host of the podcast Healthy Wealthy & Smart and creator of the Women in Physical Therapy Summit. In this episode, we discuss: -How Karen started her career in New York City -The importance of relationship building to grow your practice -Why you should say yes to things that align with your values -A sneak peek at the Strictly Business Mastermind -And so much more!   Resources: Karen Litzy Twitter Karen Litzy Instagram  Karen Litzy Facebook FOTO Outcomes Summit, use the discount code LITZY   For more information on Karen: Dr. Karen Litzy, PT, DPT is a licensed physical therapist, speaker, owner of Karen Litzy Physical Therapy, host of the podcast Healthy Wealthy & Smart and creator of the Women in Physical Therapy Summit.   Through her work as a physical therapist she has helped thousands of people overcome painful conditions, recover from surgery and return to their lives with family and friends.   She has been a featured speaker at national and international events including the International Olympic Committee Injury Prevention Conference in Monaco, the Sri Lanka Sports and Exercise Medicine Conference, and various American Physical Therapy Association conferences.   Karen has been featured in magazines and websites like Redbook, Women’s Running, Martha Stewart Living, Family Circle, Health.com and CafeMom. She has been a guest on several podcasts including Entrepreneur On Fire, Hack the Entrepreneur, and The Healing Pain Podcast. She lives in New York City.   For more information on Jenna: Jenna Kantor (co-founder) is a bubbly and energetic girl who was born and raised in Petaluma, California. Growing up, she trained and performed ballet throughout the United States. After earning a BA in Dance and Drama at the University of California, Irvine, she worked professionally in musical theatre for 15+ years with tours, regional theatres, & overseas (www.jennakantor.com) until she found herself ready to move onto a new chapter in her life – a career in Physical Therapy. Jenna is currently in her 3rd year at Columbia University’s Physical Therapy Program. She is also a co-founder of the podcast, “Physiotherapy Performance Perspectives,” has an evidence-based monthly youtube series titled “Injury Prevention for Dancers,” is a NY SSIG Co-Founder, NYPTA Student Conclave 2017 Development Team, works with the NYPTA Greater New York Legislative Task Force and is the NYPTA Public Policy Committee Student Liaison. Jenna aspires to be a physical therapist for amateur and professional performers to help ensure long, healthy careers. To learn more, please check out her website: www.jennafkantor.wixsite.com/jkpt   Read the full transcript below: Jenna Kantor:                00:00                Hello, this is Jenna Kantor interviewing for Healthy, Wealthy and Smart. And I am here with the founder, the original Mama Jamma, Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Karen. And I am going to be a major fan girl. No apologies for this at all because I've been wanting to interview Karen for a long time because she is just one of the most inspirational people in physical therapy. And I would say honestly amongst women and physical therapy, the leadership that you take is absolutely incredible and I appreciate you agreeing to coming on. So thank you. Karen Litzy:                                           Well thank you. And I think this is the first time I've been interviewed on my own podcast. I think so unless you count the time Bronnie Thompson was asking me questions and made me cry. But for the most part, this is definitely the first time. Jenna Kantor:                00:51                Not a meltdown in this one. Well what I'm really excited about as so anybody who is a fan of Karen lets you see all that she does. This is to really learn about her backstory and also how possible it is to get to where she is at now. So one thing we were talking about the other day, Karen, as you were saying, how you moved to New York and you knew no one, I would love for you to expand upon that and how you took those steps to knowing everyone. Karen Litzy:                                           Well, so when I first moved to New York, I knew my roommate because we had gone to high school together and maybe two other people that we went to high school with. And what I decided to do when I first moved to New York is I couldn't find a physical therapy job that I felt like it was a good fit. Karen Litzy:                   01:43                And so I ended up working at what was then called Reebok Sports Club. It's now an Equinox, but it was this sort of a country club in the city. So it was a very high end, very expensive gym. So I started working there as a personal trainer. And because of that environment, there were so many personal trainers, Pilates instructors, nutritionists, not to mention all of the people who go in and out of the gym and all the clients I was lucky enough to work with. And because of that I was able to meet hundreds and hundreds of people. And to this day, those trainers, the people who work, like a computer program there for children, there are nutritionists, pilates instructors. To this day they still refer patients to me. And that was wow, 18 years ago. So, you know, we talk about building relationships and how important that is. Karen Litzy:                   02:41                And I think having that as my first job in the city and being exposed to so many different people, I felt like it really helped me build relationships and friendships at this point that have continued to blossom and grow. And I mean, I just had a patient that was looking for a strength and conditioning coach. And so I said, well, I work with one, a person who is amazing. And he was one of the first people I met at my new job 18 years ago. So it was a bit of like an unconventional path for a physical therapist and it's just cause I couldn't find my fit. I couldn't find that niche that I really wanted and maybe the clinic that I really wanted to work at and now that being said, I knew ahead of before I moved to New York that this gym existed and that it was a high end gym and that I would be exposed to a different kind of clientele. Karen Litzy:                   03:36                I don't know why I looked that up to begin with, but it was because of that, that gave me the idea to go out on my own and to start seeing patients in their homes and home gyms and homes and offices because all of the personal trainers at this gym, we're seeing people outside of the gym. If they're doing that, then why can't I do that? Why can't a physical therapist do that? Why do they only have to come to a clinic in a more traditional sense of the word? So it was because of that first job that I met so many people and those relationships continue to grow other relationships and that I got the idea to do my business. Jenna Kantor:                04:28                That's incredible. So for you, now that your network has expanded over time, clearly it's like full bloom. Hello, I look at you almost like the Oprah of physical therapy here. So how do you keep in touch or maintain these relationships with all these people? Like what is your skill for that? Karen Litzy:                                           So as far as maintaining them within New York City, it's pretty easy because we'll get together or you send a quick text. Cause most of these people are my friends and I credit working at that gym and also playing softball in central park that I was able to meet so many people. Jenna Kantor:                                        You play softball. Hold on, pause, elaborate. Karen Litzy:                                           So one day I was running in central park and I was like, Ooh, softball. So I went down and I was like, Hey, do you guys allow girls to play? And they were like, no. And I was like, oh, um, okay. And they said, well, what do you do? Karen Litzy:                   05:16                And I said, well, I'm a pitcher. And then they asked if I was good. And I peeked my head around and looked at their pitcher. I'm like, I'm better than the one you have. And so the next week I went for my tryout and then I became their pitcher. And then the following, summer I was recruited to play in a fast pitch like windmill fastpitch league. So I played there for several years and all the guys that I played with on that softball team, are lawyers, and they have referred patients to me. And you know, you just keep in touch. And so I met my two best friends that way in the city and they refer people to me from a business standpoint, but they're also my friends, you know, and they're part of my lifeblood of being in the city. And so my best advice if you're moving to someplace where you don't know anyone is to get involved in things you like to do. Karen Litzy:                   06:07                So I love playing softball. So that's what I did, you know, and I loved working out. So I decided to work in a gym as my first job. So instead of kind of pigeon holing yourself into what just physical therapy or just this, just that, like really kind of open yourself up because you never know who you're gonna meet. So in this city it's easy to keep in touch, well, I shouldn't say it's easy. It's not easy, but if it's a priority for you and your life, you make it and you make it a priority and you put in the effort. And so for me, and as you know, Jenna, you keep in touch with a lot of people. You spend your time on networking and on making those relationships. And the best way to do it is to make it a priority. Karen Litzy:                   06:47                And so I may have, you know, my week is sort of chunked out so I have patient care, but then there's times where I'm like, okay, all I'm going to do is write emails and send messages to people and it's in my calendar, it's write emails and send messages to people just so that you're still in there hemisphere. Jenna Kantor:                                        You know, it's keeping those relationships. Otherwise it becomes that long lost relationship. Even if when you hang out with them again you could just act like no time has passed. It's still something that needs to be rekindled. So it avoids that. Karen Litzy:                                           And it's putting in the effort. Like a good friend of mine, his name is Dr. Jordan Metzl who's a physician in New York and he does free workout classes every month. And so I try and make it a point, okay, I'm going to go to one of his classes even though I can't walk for two or three days because my legs are so sore afterwards. But I make it a point because he's my friend and I want to support him and I think what he's doing is important. Jenna Kantor:                07:37                I love that. I'm sure I've probably seen pictures of you after the workout going, just finished the workout with Metzl right now. I love that. And you actually are tapping upon something that I know we are 100% agree upon is really supporting what other people are doing. Showing up for what they do is a real big part of the networking and how your life and your career has truly grown. Karen Litzy:                                           Yeah. It's just being supportive of people that you believe in. So going to something like the CSM where there's 16-17,000 people here, like there are people that I want to make it a point that I at least say hello and that I have a conversation with, even if it's just five minutes, you know, because it's important to me and I hope it's important to them, but I know that it's important to me because I want to show up for them and I want to support them. Karen Litzy:                   08:31                And so that's just what you do if you want to keep your relationships going. And as far as keeping relations with international colleagues, it could just be a quick, a quick note on Twitter or a quick email or hey, I thought about you the other day because I really want to introduce you to this person because I think you guys should at least know each other cause you're doing the same research or you know, I met a colleague in the Netherlands and he has since referred patients to me in New York and he's a physio in London, but you just keep in touch with people and you do good work. And I think that's the best way to keep your relationships going. And it doesn't have to be every day, right? It could be consistent. Karen Litzy:                   09:24                It takes five minutes. A lot of times I do this when I'm on the bus cause I'm going from patient to patient. So what else am I supposed to do on the bus? You know, so that's sometime when I'd be like, okay, I'm going to make sure that I reach out to so and so in Australia or to this person in Pennsylvania or to this and that's a good time. So I'm lucky in that sense that I have like random downtime. Chunks during my week and you just, if you think about someone, just let them know. Jenna Kantor:                                        Yeah, it takes seconds. It takes seconds. Okay. So you have your hands on many things which I love about you. So you have this podcast, which is amazing and soaring and now you also have a team working for you with this podcast. Jenna Kantor:                10:07                You have your own practice, you have the speaking course. What am I missing? You have a course coming up that's going to be helping practitioners, which is amazing. You’re the nominating committee for the private practice section? Am I missing anything? I want to make sure we tap and tap everything. Okay. So you're doing all these things now, did they all come about all at once for you to achieve it? Or did some of them overlap as you were developing them? Oh, and you're working to become a paid speaker. I mean these are a lot of fantastic things, all a hundred percent possible to achieve in a life, but for you achieving each and every one, have some of them overlapped in the process of growing? I would love to hear that journey. Karen Litzy:                   10:56                Yes. And I also think that one allows for the next and allows for the next. So one event allows for the next event and for the next and for the next or one experience allows for the next. So for instance, starting the podcast many years ago, I took a couple of years off to go back to get my DPT, but starting the podcast had led to credibility and has led to visibility and in maybe some vulnerability on my part. So when people can see that you're being credible and you're being authentic and you're putting yourself out there, they're drawn to that. And so from that, I was invited to be on a proposal to CSM and then that got me public speaking a little bit. And then maybe from that someone sees you, it's like, hey, you know something, I really like this. We should try this. Karen Litzy:                   11:50                And so I kept saying yes, yes, yes, yes. And to say as a piece of advice, say yes to everything until you can say no, terrible advice. I don't know. It was terrible advice. Awful. So what I started to do, cause I was saying yes, everything and it is overwhelming and you get burnt out and you start to cry and then you don't feel like you have a personal life. And I want a personal life as well. So now what I've started to do is say yes to things that align with your values. Say Yes to things that in your gut it's a hell yes. Because when you start saying yes to things that are like, I guess I should do it, it's a no, like if you're saying I guess I should do it, you don't want to be shoulding things. Karen Litzy:                   12:30                It's like, yes, I want to do this. Not, yeah, I guess I should do it. And so I think having that in my mind has been able to narrow my focus a little bit more. So it sounds like I'm doing a lot, but it's all inter related. Jenna Kantor:                                        It's connected.  And I even left out that you have the annual women in PT Summit. Karen Litzy:                                           But again, that's all connected, right? So I think it started with the podcast and then doing a little bit of speaking and then I really started to enjoy speaking more and more. And because of that I have made that a priority. And for me each year I pick a word that I like to kind of follow my year and to base decisions on and things like that. And so this year it's courage. And so one of the things that I really wanted to have the courage to do was to do more public speaking and to put out a course to help physical therapists create their own private practice and occupational therapists create their private practice. Karen Litzy:                   13:27                And these for me, takes a lot of courage and planning and things like that. But if you, like I said, I sort of planned my week in little chunks. So if you can do that, you can get everything done. You just have to put your mind to it. And I also as just a FYI on how I manage my time is that I kind of use pomodoros. So a Pomodoro is a concept that's a 25 minute work block. So I'll set a timer for 25 minutes. I turn everything else off. Sometimes I'll put theta wave music on in the background or binaural beat music because that music is supposed to help increase theta wave, excitability in your brain, which is supposed to have, this is all very, you know, but it's supposed to help you be able to block out distractions and help you focus and things like that. Karen Litzy:                   14:17                It's the kind of music you hear when you're at the spa. And so I will do that and block everything else out. And it's amazing how much you can get done in 25 minutes. Like so if you are full of distractions, yeah, it's going to take you forever. But if you can really focus for 25 minutes, then you can write that blog post in 25 minutes instead of screwing around for three hours. You know what I mean? And if emails come in, like I'm not the president of the United States, like it's not that important. It's just not. I think we're in a world now where everything has to happenmnow. Now, now, now, now. Whereas I mean, I can say, I mean I started my podcast in 2012 and then took a couple of years off. Karen Litzy:                   15:03                It's 2019 so it's not like it's an overnight success. You know, I started speaking, the first CSM I spoke, it was in Indianapolis, which was, I don't even know how many years ago. So again, this is just been years of work and years of working on your reputation and years of working on myself in order to get to these points. Nothing is an overnight success because you're always laying foundations and groundworks that can take months or years. So I think it's really important for people to understand that. Jenna Kantor:                                        And habits, habits are a big thing too, because I'm sure it took you a bit to even make this, this 25 minute habit. Karen Litzy:                                           Oh my God. Yeah, because I love to be distracted. Squirrel. I'd be like, what? I love to be distracted. But it's true. So to be able to do that and calm my mind down to focus on one thing took practice, but just like we tell our patients with like practice your exercises, if you practice these methods, you become better at the methods. It's the same thing. Jenna Kantor:                16:02                Yeah. I definitely can relate with that. So now for you, what is your next, oh my gosh. I can't wait for you to listen back to this podcast in like a couple of years and be like, what is your next, cause you have, you have things coming up and maybe those will be your next you would want to discuss, but I would love for you to share that. Karen Litzy:                                           My probably biggest next is the soonest are the quickest next, let's put it that way. The quickest next would be this course that I'm developing for physical therapists and occupational therapists called Strictly Business Mastermind. And it's to help them create their own cash PT or hybrid or if you already have a practice and you're trying to transition out into a cash based practice. Karen Litzy:                   16:52                So it's really for those two groups of people. And I'm really excited about that and hopefully we'll have that solidified in the next couple of weeks and put that out there. Jenna Kantor:                                        That's going to be incredible. And honestly to speak to the fact that we don't have a woman and physical therapist yet leading something like this and we need to, it's for anyone. You need to see somebody who you can even visually identify with. So on top of the content that you're going to be providing, which is going to be off the charts, I'm grateful that you are filling a void that needs to be filled in. Karen Litzy:                                           And I think it's important to know that I'm not teaching this on my own because I don't have the answers to everything. I can't do everything. It's just physically impossible and mentally impossible. Karen Litzy:                   17:36                Like I can't do it. So I'm lucky to have a lawyer involved. I'm lucky to have an investment advisor involved. And someone who's an expert at SEO and Michelle Collie who's an amazing colleague with like 5,000, no, not really, but like a whole bunch of clinics in the Rhode Island area because these are people who quite frankly are doing things better than I am. And so to be able to share their knowledge with people, I think it's going to be a little bit unique in that space. Because I know I can't do it on my own. And so I asked for help. Jenna Kantor:                                        And it's okay to ask for help. And honestly, I definitely wouldn't use the Hashtag better together right now for this because it really is, as much as you are taking the lead on it, it is so good to get to work with other people and everybody benefits from it. Karen Litzy:                   18:26                Of course. Of course. I just feel like that's important for people to understand that you can't do any of this alone. And that if, if you do, you'll burn out, but if you have the wherewithal to find out, well, what are your weaknesses? Like, what are you good at? What are you not so good at? What do you love? What will someone pay you for? And if you can fill that out and kind of connect the dots, then you'll know what you're good at and then what you're not good at. Just find someone else who is. Because you're doing a disservice to yourself and you're just doing a disservice to people who are spending their money and their time to learn from you. So it's all about respecting the audience. And so what I really want to do is respect the audience and give them the best user experience that they can get and meet those expectations. And I'm my harshest critic. Jenna Kantor:                                        So I think everyone is, I think everyone is their harshest critic. Well, thank you so much for coming onto your own podcast to just share this. I love how you're just so authentic and insightful and just so true to your own story. And I think a lot of people just appreciate that about you and I definitely do. So thank you. Karen Litzy:                   19:52                Thanks for having me on.     Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!  

Between running her cash-based practice in NYC, recording her thriving Healthy Wealthy and Smart podcast, and co-founding the Women in PT Summit, Dr. Karen Litzy is one BUSY person. I last interviewed Karen back in episode 40, so when our schedules lined up nearly 3 years later I was stoked to get in a follow-up episode! In this short interview, I get Karen's thoughts on hiring new employees for her concierge practice, how podcasting has changed her life and how my listeners might start their own patient-generating podcasts, and her upcoming speaker series, public speaking workshops, and women's summit. More specifically, we discuss: Karen's concierge practice and her plans for bringing on a second PT The speaker series she is organizing in New York to help health professionals continue their education and network How podcasting has brought Karen multiple new patient referrals… often international patients What methods PTs might use to attract local patients via a podcast The Women in PT summit and what experience Karen is striving to create for attendees Karen's advice for current cash-based PT practitioners and for PTs considering opening a private practice. Resources mentioned in this episode: Women in PT Summit on Sept 21-22 Facebook - HealthyWealthySmart Twitter - KarenLitzyNYC Instagram - KarenLitzy The Healthy, Wealthy, & Smart Podcast Interested in the cash-based private practice model? >> Click Here to learn how to start your own Cash-Based Practice

F. Scott Feil sits down with Sandy Hilton, Sarah Haag, & Karen Litzy while they are all at CSM 2018 in New Orleans to talk about international conferences. They talk about the benefits of going to international conferences, how to navigate international conferences, how to navigate which conference is best for you to attend, differences between conferences in the U.S and conferences outside of the U.S, the guests pitch their favorite conferences, and much more!   Join Karen and others at the Women in PT Summit!! The Early Bird rate expires on August 1st so be sure to grab a ticket at the discounted rate! Women in PT Summit: http://womeninpt.com/   Karen Litzy's Website: https://karenlitzy.com/  The Healthy, Wealthy & Smart Podcast Website: http://podcast.healthywealthysmart.com/  The Healthy, Wealthy & Smart Podcast on Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/healthy-wealthy-smart/id532717264?mt=2  Karen's Interview on Therapy Insiders on "Why Aren't There More Women Leaders?" : https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/why-arent-there-more-women-leaders-special-episode/id609009250?i=1000384711690&mt=2  Karen's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/karen.litzy  Karen's Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/karenlitzyNYC  Karen's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/karenlitzy/  Entropy Physio Website: http://entropy-physio.com/  Pain Science & Sensibility Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pain-science-and-sensibility/id1003630972?mt=2  San Diego Pain Summit Website: https://www.sandiegopainsummit.com/  Sandy's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/sandy.hilton.73  Sarah's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.haag.129  Sandy's Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/SandyHiltonPT  Sarah's Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/SarahHaagPT  Sandy's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/sandyhiltonpt/  Sarah's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/ssarahjopt/  The PT Hustle Website: https://www.thepthustle.com/  Schedule with Kyle Rice : www.passtheptboards.com    HET L.I.T.E Tool: www.pteducator.com/het  Biographies: Sandy Hilton graduated from Pacific University (Oregon) in 1988 with a Master of Science in Physical Therapy and a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Des Moines University in December 2013. She has worked in multiple settings across the US with neurologic and orthopaedic emphasis combining these with a focus in pelvic rehabilitation for pain and dysfunction since 1995. Sandy teaches  Health Professionals and Community Education classes on returning to function following back and pelvic pain, has assisted with Myofascial Release education, and co-teaches Advanced Level Male Pelvic Floor Evaluation and Treatment. Sandy's clinical interest is chronic pain with a particular interest in complex pelvic pain disorders for men and women.  Sandy is the co-host of Pain Science and Sensibility, a podcast on the application of research into the clinic.    Sarah Haag graduated from Marquette University in 2002 with a Master's of Physical Therapy. Sarah has pursued an interest in treating the spine, pelvis with a specialization in women's and men's health.  She went on to get her Doctorate of Physical Therapy and Masters of Science in Women's Health from Rosalind Franklin University in 2008. In 2009 she was awarded a Board Certification as a specialist in women's health (WCS). Sarah also completed a Certification in Mechanical Diagnosis Therapy from the Mckenzie Institute in 2010.  Most recently, Sarah completed a 200 hour Yoga Instructor Training Program, and is now a  Registered Yoga Instructor. Sarah plans to integrate yoga into her rehabilitation programs, as well as teach small, personalized classes.  Sarah looks at education, and a better understanding of the latest evidence in the field of physical therapy, as the best way to help people learn about their conditions, and to help people learn to take care of themselves throughout the life span.   Karen Litzy started her physical therapy career in an inpatient hospital in Scranton, Pa. Moving to New York a few years later she had the opportunity to work for the New York public school system, Broadway musicals and orthopedic outpatient clinics. While the work was rewarding, she always felt like she could do more to serve her clients.  As she was searching for ways to provide a more comprehensive approach to practicing physical therapy she became overwhelmed with requests from clients to be seen in their home or office. This was an opportunity to provide not just convenience, but a different kind of practice. By adopting a “concierge” model, she could dedicate a full hour of one-on-one treatment to each and every client. Now she had ample time to evaluate, treat and re-evaluate. The concierge model allowed me the time to provide vital client education. Her clients would now benefit from a comprehensive home education program.  As part of her commitment to her clients and her career, She is constantly engaging in continuing education. She has been lucky enough to learn directly from some of the best in the profession. She has received certificates from Dr. David Butler, Dr. Lorimer Moseley, Dr. Adriaan Louw, Dr. Paul Hodges, The Institute of Physical Art, The American Physical Therapy Association, Hospital for Special Surgery, and many more. She graduated from Misericordia University with her masters degree in Physical Therapy in 1997 and then graduated from the same university in 2014 with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy.  She is the host of the podcast, Healthy, Wealthy, and Smart. The podcast provides up to date clinical information combined with business strategies from the best and brightest thought leaders in physical therapy, wellness and entrepreneurship. The show promotes the profession and provides a channel to get the most accurate information out there for both practicing physical therapists and everyday people.  She is a proud member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the Orthopedic Section of the APTA, the Section on Women's health, the Home Health Section and the Private Practice Section of the APTA. She is also an official spokesperson for the APTA as a member of their media corps.  Physical therapy is an ever evolving practice and for her, a personal journey. That's why she's committed to staying at the forefront of the industry. Through continuing education and her practice, she works to enrich myself so she can impart to others the true value of physical therapy. Her mission is to show people how physical therapy can improve their lives. This is what drives her to help her clients attain their own goals and for herself to build upon the work of those who have helped lead the way

On this episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Jenna Kantor, DPT guest hosts and interviews Felicia Wenah on networking as a physical therapy student. Felicia enjoys managing, branding and marketing for those in private practice within the health and wellness profession (especially Boss Women in Physiotherapy). In this episode, we discuss: -Advantages to networking as a student -How to maintain professional relationships with a busy school schedule -Felicia’s top conference recommendations -And so much more!   Felicia seeks guidance from physical therapy professionals and has found that, “As you seek knowledge and you are able to apply it, whether it’s instantly or later on in the future, you feel more confident and comfortable with taking the steps you need to take in life.”   Managing school on top of new professional connections can be a juggling act but it allows you to “better decipher where [your] priorities need to be for that moment.”   Maintaining relationships doesn’t have to be forced. From Felicia’s experience, “I let them come to my mind and then I reach out to them.”   For more information on Felicia: She enjoys managing branding and marketing for those in private practice within the health and wellness profession (especially Boss Women in Physiotherapy). She is most likely with a client, training and development staff/mentee, traveling to a conference/seminar OR most importantly spending quality time with mi familia. Contact her to see how I can guide you with connecting your YOU-nique skill sets to obtaining and maintaining the interest of your target audience in the health and wellness profession.   For more information on Jenna: Jenna Kantor (co-founder) is a bubbly and energetic girl who was born and raised in Petaluma, California. Growing up, she trained and performed ballet throughout the United States. After earning a BA in Dance and Drama at the University of California, Irvine, she worked professionally in musical theatre for 15+ years with tours, regional theatres, & overseas (www.jennakantor.com) until she found herself ready to move onto a new chapter in her life – a career in Physical Therapy. Jenna is currently in her 3rd year at Columbia University’s Physical Therapy Program. She is also a co-founder of the podcast, “Physiotherapy Performance Perspectives,” has an evidence-based monthly youtube series titled “Injury Prevention for Dancers,” is a NY SSIG Co-Founder, NYPTA Student Conclave 2017 Development Team, works with the NYPTA Greater New York Legislative Task Force and is the NYPTA Public Policy Committee Student Liaison. Jenna aspires to be a physical therapist for amateur and professional performers to help ensure long, healthy careers. To learn more, please check out her website: www.jennafkantor.wixsite.com/jkpt   Resources discussed on this show: Felicia Wenah LinkedIn Felicia Wenah Facebook Felicia Wenah Youtube Felicia Wenah Twitter Felicia Wenah Instagram Smart Success PT Live Ascend Conference Women in PT Summit   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen  

Karen Litzy, owner of Karen Litzy Physical Therapy, host of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart podcast and co-founder of the Women In Physical Therapy Summit,  comes on the show to talk about why and how she started her own podcast and business, advice for prospective business owners and podcasters, what inspired the Women in PT Summit and what the Summit entails, issues for women in healthcare, and much more.   Join Karen and others at the Women in PT Summit!! The Early Bird rate expires on August 1st so be sure to grab a ticket at the discounted rate! Women in PT Summit: http://womeninpt.com/    Karen Litzy's Website: https://karenlitzy.com/  The Healthy, Wealthy & Smart Podcast Website: http://podcast.healthywealthysmart.com/  The Healthy, Wealthy & Smart Podcast on Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/healthy-wealthy-smart/id532717264?mt=2  Karen's Interview on Therapy Insiders on "Why Aren't There More Women Leaders?" : https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/why-arent-there-more-women-leaders-special-episode/id609009250?i=1000384711690&mt=2   Karen's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/karen.litzy  Karen's Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/karenlitzyNYC  Karen's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/karenlitzy/  HET L.I.T.E Tool: www.pteducator.com/het 

It’s Monday, October 9th. Yet again, we are struggling with the aftermath of horrific violence. Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the Las Vegas shooting. If you have any information to share with us regarding the current situation, please visit talusmedia.org, and click on “contact us.”Puerto Rico is still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria--we bring you an update from a student at the University of Puerto Rico. Therapists have an opportunity to help with the Rehab Therapists Give Back movement. Congress allowed the Children’s Health Insurance Program to expire--what happens now? Attorneys general are promoting the use of non-opioid treatments for pain--including physical therapy. The 2nd annual Women in PT Summit was held on September 23rd. Talus Media News is a subsidiary of Talus Media: PT Views & PT News. You can find all interviews mentioned in this newscast on our sister channel, Talus Media Talks. Check us out on Twitter & Facebook @TalusMedia, and head to our website at talusmedia.org for more information.

In this chapter of the #PTSideHustle I share my biggest take aways from the Women in PT Summit on leadership. The Women in PT Summit took place on Saturday September 23rd in NYC. It brought together some of the finest leaders in the physical therapy world including our keynote speakers Dr. Sharon Dunn, president of the APTA and best selling author and executive leadership coach Lolly Daskal. This episode is all about changing your mindset and getting in touch with your self and you needs. In this episode I discuss: - The importance of authenticity in your life and in your business. - Why knowing your values is paramount to your business - How amplification can improve your side hustle - My leadership archetypes and how they can help and hinder me in my life - And much more!   Resources I spoke about in this episode: Women in PT Summit The Leadership Gap by Lolly Daskal Dr. Sharon Dunn   Thank you to our sponsor for today’s episode. Get your free month today by clicking on the link below: Freshbooks   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen

On this week’s episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Nick Lucius and I chat about physical therapy wellness services. Nick is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist working with Barwis Methods as an Applied Coach in Port St. Lucie, Florida. In this episode, we discuss: -How to transition from episodic care to wellness services -The role of strength and conditioning in physical therapy services -Nick’s thoughts on the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist -How to develop a therapeutic alliance in a biopsychosocial model framework -Advice for #FreshPTs -And so much more!   When communicating desired outcomes to patients, it is important to stress the long-term wellness and quality of life aspects. He states, “have them understand that the goal is not to run you through the ground and to make you hurt, it’s really to empower you to live the rest of your life in the most positive and healthy way possible.”   In contrast to the biomedical approach to patient care, the biopsychosocial model can allow you to empower the patient and ultimately develop buy in for future wellness needs. He believes, “it really would benefit us to not look at us as a lifelong PT or lifelong clinician insinuating the mechanic, ‘Oh yeah, just come back to me and I'll fix you up.’ It's not like a car, you have feelings and emotions and thought processes, it muddies the water really fast, and that’s what really benefits having that wide range of education from strength conditioning to pain science to traditional physical therapy and that ties it all back in together.”   As a new graduate, Nick offers some advice for fresh PTs to, “Keep the hunger for knowledge and the hunger to really make substantial and life changing change for these individuals. When you get a couple of cases that might be discouraging or make you feel uncomfortable, everyone feels uncomfortable and at some point they got comfortable being uncomfortable, they got very used to having that hunger to try to keep driving to be better and better.”   For more about Nick: Nick graduated from the University of Michigan with a Doctor in Physical Therapy in 2015. Previously Nick earned a Bachelors of Science from Grand Valley State University in Clinical Exercise Science in 2012. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and CPR/AED certified through the American Red Cross. Nick began at Barwis Methods as an Intern prior to starting his DPT studies and is a Barwis Methods Applied Coach.   Make sure to follow Nick on twitter and facebook and find more educational materials at Barwis Methods where Nick is offering 10% off with the code: barwismethodHWS!   Resources discussed on this show: Nick Winkelman Twitter Mike Reinold Twitter Kelly Starrett Twitter Doc and Jock Podcast Therapy Insiders Podcast Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning Neuromechanics of Human Movement   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on The Do's and Don'ts of Social Media!   P.S.S. Check out the inaugural Women in PT Summit here! Sign up now as space is limited!  

Thanks for tuning into the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast! I had the pleasure of chatting with Mike Connors about advocacy in physical therapy. Mike is a private practice physical therapy owner, an outside consultant for a professional ballet company in Fort Worth and an adjunct professor in orthopaedic physical therapy for the DPT program at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. In addition, Mike is the current President of the Texas Physical Therapy Association advocating regularly for the PT profession in Austin and DC on regulatory and payment policy issues impacting PT. In this episode, we discuss: -Levels of advocacy and ways to demonstrate the efficacy of physical therapy -Mike’s pitch for APTA membership -Mike’s initial wellness consultation and his focus on preventative care -Advice to new professionals on empathy and preventing burnout -And so much more!   Mike stresses the need for PT advocacy which can take many forms including calling an insurance company, talking to medical colleagues, and increasing awareness in the community in addition to legislative change. He states, “What did you do today that was in the patient’s best interest that the patient couldn’t do for themselves or didn't have the knowledge or the resources to do for themselves? We treat patients. We manage their complex presentations, but we do a lot more than I think we give ourselves credit for. That's a big part of why it is we don't have the widespread knowledge base about what we do because we don’t talk enough about what we do. PT has become the new fight club and the #1 rule of PT is not to talk about PT.”   Mike believes there are untapped candidates for physical therapy services due to public unawareness of the healthcare benefits. “Ironically, in private practice, we are sitting here all competing against one another for 20% of the pie and what we’re not seeing is another 75+% that’s out there that’s doing everything but physical therapy.”   Mike encourages entrepreneurship within physical therapy and recommends to continually strive for excellence. Mike advices, “Entrepreneurs are going to continually learn and evolve over time. Count your successes as much as you count your failures as long as you learn from them and you evolve then it was a worthwhile endeavor.”   For more about Mike: Mike has a BS in Biology from Stockton College with a minor in Psychology (2001). His entry level degree in physical therapy is a Master of Physical Therapy from University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ-Rutgers University (2003). Mike has a post professional Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Temple University (2008). He became a board certified specialist in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy from the American Board of PT Specialties in 2011. Mike is currently finishing (ABD) the remaining requirements for completion of a PhD degree in Physical Therapy with an emphasis in applied biomechanics from Texas Woman's University (Anticipated completion 2016).   Mike began working with GTC in October 2004. He most recently rejoined the GTC family in June 2015 as the Director of the Fort Worth Clinic.   Mike's focus and specialization in orthopaedic physical therapy makes him an efficient clinician in managing patients with orthopedic dysfunction. He utilizes a multimodal approach to meet the needs of his patients and clients that include spinal manipulation, dry needling, KT taping, and various other interventions. Mike is certified in functional dry needling from Kinetacore. He has experience working with patients of all ages, from kids to adults and from the weekend warrior to the elite athlete. He is an outside consultant for a professional ballet company in Fort Worth and is an adjunct professor in orthopaedic physical therapy for the DPT program at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. In addition, Mike is the current President of the Texas Physical Therapy Association advocating regularly for the PT profession in Austin and DC on regulatory and payment policy issues impacting PT.   Mike is happily married to his wife Shannon. He enjoys spending time with his family, that includes two beautiful daughters. Mike enjoys staying active, running, traveling, exercising, biking, golfing and staying active in his faith community.   Personal statement: It's ALWAYS all about the patient. We exist as PTs to help patients move better with less pain. It's my pleasure to help patients achieve this goal on a day to day basis.   Social Media: Greater Therapy Centers Twitter Facebook   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on The Do's and Don'ts of Social Media!   P.S.S. Check out the inaugural Women in PT Summit here! Sign up now as space is limited!

On this week’s episode, I share the first part of my talk with Dr. Bronnie Thompson from one year ago on chronic pain management which will change the way you practice. Dr. Thompson has worked in the field of chronic pain management, helping people develop ‘self management’ skills for 20 years and has a passion to help people experiencing chronic health problems achieve their potential. In this episode, we discuss: -How to learn to live well despite chronic pain and her research on the 3 phases to reoccupy your self-concept -How to incorporate values based pain management into your practice -The value of motivational interviewing, the specifics of implementation, and why it’s not always about pain -Why patience is key to a person-centered practice -And so much more!   Healthcare providers should address the nature of chronic pain and the goal of treatment should be to educate patients on how to understand and manage their pain. Dr. Thompson found that for patients with chronic pain, “Hearing that this pain is likely to remain was a really important turning point for all the participants. So they stopped that search for the cure.”   Dr. Thompson promotes a psychosocial approach to learning to live well with chronic pain and making new sense of your self-concept.   Dr. Thompson states, “When pain comes on, life becomes incoherent—it doesn’t make sense anymore. Your self-concept, the person that you think you are, suddenly goes. You can't rely on yourself to do the things that you used to be able to do and the expectations you have of yourself disappear. For a long time, people are sustained on this search to go back to the person they used to be. But 5, 10, 15 years later, they are never going to be that person. It’s about saying, ‘Who can I be now?’ The process of learning to live well is about recognizing, ‘I do need to let go of that desire to go back to my old self and look to build this new person.’”   One of the key aspects of learning to live with chronic pain is to find a sense of community and begin building new meaning in your life. Dr. Thompson states, “Carrying that invisible sort of separation, ‘I’m not who I used to be, I feel like I’m not who I used to be and yet nobody can see that’ is so isolating. It’s unbelievably isolating. To be able to say, ‘I can connect,’—what you do connects you with other people, the way you dress, the way you happen to tidy your house or not, the way that you drive—you’re going to look at other people and you’re going to say I'm like them or I'm different from them and that’s how we find our way.”   For more about Dr. Thompson: I trained as an occupational therapist, and graduated in 1984. Since then I’ve continued study at postgraduate level and my papers have included business skills, ergonomics, mental health therapies, and psychology. I completed by Masters in Psychology in 1999, and started my PhD in 2007. I’ve now finished my thesis (yay!) and can call myself Dr, or as my kids call me, Dr Mum.   I have a passion to help people experiencing chronic health problems achieve their potential. I have worked in the field of chronic pain management, helping people develop ‘self management’ skills for 20 years. Many of the skills are directly applicable to people with other health conditions.   My way of working: collaboratively – all people have limitations and vulnerabilities – as well as strengths and potential. I use a cognitive and behavioural approach – therapy isn’t helpful unless there are visible changes! I don’t use this approach exclusively, because it is necessary to ‘borrow’ at times from other approaches, but I encourage ongoing evaluation of everything that is put forward as ‘therapy’. I’m especially drawn to what’s known as third wave CBT, things like mindfulness, ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and occupation.   I’m also an educator. I take this role very seriously – it is as important to health care as research and clinical skill. I offer an active knowledge of the latest research, integrated with current clinical practice, and communicated to clinicians working directly with people experiencing chronic ill health. I’m a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Orthopaedic surgery & Musculoskeletal Medicine at the University of Otago Christchurch Health Sciences.   I also offer courses, training and supervision for therapists working with people experiencing chronic ill health.   Check out her blog HealthSkills for more great resources and follow Dr. Thompson on twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn.   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on The Do's and Don'ts of Social Media!   P.S.S. Check out the inaugural Women in PT Summit here! Sign up now as space is limited!

On today’s episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Dr. Rachna Patel joins me to discuss common misconceptions of medical marijuana. Dr. Patel has been practicing in the area of Medical Marijuana since 2012 and step-by-step walks patients through how to use medical marijuana for their specific medical condition.  In this episode, we discuss: -How medical marijuana functions in the body -Conditions that can be treated with medical marijuana and surprising outcomes -What the side effects of medical marijuana are and how to avoid them - Alternatives to smoking medical marijuana -Why lab-tested medical grade marijuana is very different from what’s found on the streets -And so much more!   The therapeutic range for medical marijuana varies from patient to patient. A practitioner can help find the optimal ratio of the THC and CBD components of the plant which work best for the patient. Dr. Patel states, “You can adjust the effect that the medication will have on you based on the proportions of these different chemicals.”   One of the practical benefits of medical marijuana is the fact that, “These chemicals are fat soluble… Patients don’t have to take this medication every day. Once you take it, you have stores of it in your body.”   Medical marijuana has proven to be less addictive and have fewer side effects. From Dr. Patel’s clinical experience, there is growing evidence that medical marijuana could serve as a potential alternative to opioids. “When I was reading the research studies, a couple studies I came across said that when medical marijuana is used in conjunction with opioids, the marijuana helps to reduce the dose of the opioids that you have to use. What I found surprisingly, patients were able to come off of a lot of these pain medications and just use medical marijuana in its place.“   There are potentially many patient populations that could benefit from the use of medical marijuana. For some conditions like fibromyalgia, medical marijuana has revolutionized patient treatment plans. “I expected [medical marijuana] to be a part of the arsenal, I didn't expect it to be the only tool in the arsenal that these patients were using.”   For more information on Dr. Patel: Dr. Rachna Patel has been practicing in the area of Medical Marijuana since 2012.  She step-by-step walks patients through how to use medical marijuana for their specific medical condition.  She completed her medical studies at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine and her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University.  You can learn more about the work she does at www.DrRachnaPatel.com   Resources discussed on this show: YouTube channel How to Choose a Medical Marijuana Doctor.   Facebook Page: Listeners are welcome to ask questions on the page for Ask Me Anything on Wednesdays every week.    Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on The Do's and Don'ts of Social Media!   P.S.S. Check out the inaugural Women in PT Summit here! Sign up now as space is limited!  

On this week’s episode, I had the pleasure of discussing financial strategies for Doctor of Physical Therapy student loans with Joseph Reinke. Joseph Reinke is the CEO and founder of FitBUX, Inc which is introducing innovative finance products and technology to the student lending industry with a specific focus on physical therapists. In this episode, we discuss: -Why FitBUX is in the business of aiding human capital development -Helpful and actionable strategies to manage student loan debt -Options for new graduates in debt that want to start their own business -Why student debt should not get in the way of a worry-free retirement -And so much more!   Joe recommends starting as early as possible on the road to entrepreneurship if that is your long-term goal. “Even if you're a student and you know you're going to be an entrepreneur, start networking at all these events with people who have podcasts or have private practices. Get into that setting so all that human capital that you are developing is geared toward being that business owner because the more you do of that the higher probability you will be successful.”   Joe has found that finance is more about discipline and delaying gratification. Developing strategies to tackle financial obstacles can help provide the extra discipline needed. Joe states, “The other thing you’re doing that is even more important is you’re developing discipline. That’s one of the hardest things to do in finance. We want instant gratification on everything. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing in finance, it can be paying off your loan, saving for retirement, buying a house and paying that off—there is no instant gratification...”   Joe cautions his clients to consider the downside. The more prepared people are for unexpected shocks, the less they will struggle with financial obstacles. He recommends, “Keep it simple and strategize… The stress a lot of people get financially will be gone or it will be a lot less because you'll be prepared. That’s when I see a lot of people get into financial stresses. They just get hit with a tsunami at some time and they are not ready for it and that’s when you start seeing people stress out about money.”   For more about Joe: Joseph Reinke is the CEO and founder of Fitbux, Inc. FitBUX is introducing innovative finance products and technology to the student lending industry with a specific focus on physical therapists. Thus far in FitBUX’s beta test, they have helped PTs develop financial strategies on over $11mn in student loans. Joe has been in the finance industry for over a decade and is one of the few CFA Charterholders in the world who has experience in both wealth management and business valuation (globally, there are only 120,000 CFA Charterholders). He has hosted numerous live chats about student loans with SPTs across the country, presented at the California Student Conclave, appeared on podcasts, and written numerous financial blogs.   Resources: FitBUX: Sign-up for the beta test that is testing FitBUX technology to help answer SPTs and DPTs questions about student loans such as “do I invest or prepay my loans?”, “do I pay down my loans or go onto a Federal Income Driven repayment plan?”, “what are my refinancing options and should I refinance?”…And the beta test is FREE! FitBUX Blog for Physical Therapists FitBUX Blog on Finance FitBUX videos on student loans PT Pintcast Episode NewGradPT: How Physical Therapy Careers are Changing   Social Media: FitBUX Twitter FitPT Twitter Facebook LinkedIn   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on The Do's and Don'ts of Social Media!   P.S.S. Check out the inaugural Women in PT Summit here! Sign up now as space is limited!    

On this week’s episode, Dina Behrman joins me to share strategies for healthcare professionals on how to utilize publicity and public relations. Dina is a journalist-turned-publicity coach who is passionate about empowering business owners to get the best kind of publicity for their business to raise their profile, position themselves as an expert, build their brand, find new opportunities, reach new audiences, put their prices up and help more people. In this episode, we discuss: -Why you should start calling yourself an expert -How introverts can break personal barriers and promote their brand -How to pitch to the media and gain your brand access and coverage -Dina’s top tips for attracting more publicity -And much, much more!   The media often selects authority figures who are “experts” on a topic or field. As a healthcare professional, you have expertise and must learn to communicate and represent yourself as an expert. Dina suggests, “The main thing is to start seeing yourself as an expert, because especially if you're a health entrepreneur and you’ve got that expertise in a particular area then you want to be pitching yourself to the press as an expert and as someone who can talk knowledgably about a subject. A lot of people have an issue calling themselves an expert and it’s almost like they need someone to come along and say, ‘Yes, you're an expert’ as opposed to feeling very confident about saying you know what I really know my stuff.”   Sometimes introverts can be preoccupied with their own discomfort to pitch to a journalist. Dina suggests instead focusing on the huge benefits your expertise can provide to so many people. Dina recommends, “Having a bit of a mindset shift and thinking about it from the point of view of coming from a place of service and thinking whatever it is that you're sharing, if it’s your knowledge and your expertise that's going to be helping other people... The people that read that, it’s going to have a huge impact on them it’s going to really help them and the reason for getting that PR and publicity is that you can reach so many more people than you would be able to reach normally. So there is the potential for you to be helping so many more people and you’re doing something really good in the world by getting publicity and sharing your knowledge and your expertise and your experiences.”   Starting your publicity journey doesn’t have to be complicated. Often the very basics of your education are immensely valuable to the public and can start the conversation. “You only need to be a couple of steps ahead of the people you are talking to to be of help to them… Journalists can't possibly know all of the ins and outs of your industry the way that you do and so you're going to know more than they do and you're going to be useful to them… They don't have those years of training and everything that you have. There is so much value you can give even if it seems like it’s the basic level.”   For more information about Dina: Journalist-turned publicity coach Dina Behrman is a PR and publicity expert who works with female entrepreneurs who are struggling to take their business to the next level. She helps them get their business seen and heard in the media so they can share their story and help more people, whilst gaining more followers, raising their prices and making more sales. She has featured as a PR expert in The Guardian, BBC Radio, Huffington Post, Raspberry Magazine, BussinesZone, YFS, Prowess, Women Unlimited, Business Rocks Magazine, amongst others.  Click here to download her media kit. To get in touch, email her on dina@dinabehrman.com or click here to fill out a contact form.   Find Dina on social media: Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn   Make sure to grab her free publicity prep cheat sheet and check out her group program Business Fame School!   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on The Do's and Don'ts of Social Media!   P.S.S. Check out the inaugural Women in PT Summit here!  Sign up now as space is limited!