EP38: The Body is the Starting Point to Wellness with Joan Small

This is winning with wellness, a podcast about inspiring the wellness warrior in you. If you're feeling lost or alone in your wellness journey, or looking for new ideas and inspiration, you are in the right place, a place you can learn about all things wellness, in business life and living your host Jenny rice, we'll be bringing you inspiring stories and practical tools to improve your overall wellness, personally and professionally. Imagine what living a life of wellness would be like. Thank you for joining us today.

Welcome everyone back to another episode of winning with wellness it is with grace and gratitude that I thank you for being here and listening and sharing your most valuable asset other than your health, your time. Thank you so much for stepping in and looking at new ways to impart wellness into your life. Which brings me to my amazing guests. Joan, small, Joan, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, it'sa pleasure. Thanks so much for inviting me, Jenny.

Oh, I cannot wait to get into our conversation. I am going to share a little bit about your background with everybody first, and then I can't wait for us to you know, throw the formalities out and have a deep conversation about wellness. So for everybody that was listening, Joan small is an amazing woman she believes in the integration of body mind emotions, has on has always facilitated certified synergy Joan small, having actively studied different life affirming modalities, Joan decided to combine this expertise with her passion for holistic health care through an integrative method called The Rubin field synergy. I can't wait for you to dig into that job. You just explained it to me very briefly a minute ago, and it's gonna be a really great topic. So I'm really excited i Jones method of guiding clients helps them to identify and overcome deep seated patterns and traumatic experience that can develop into actual physical and emotional ailments. And for those of you guys that have been listening to this podcast, there's a theme here. So I'm really excited for you guys to Meet Joan and learn more about what she does. She also helps clients discover a new way of living the confident inspired life they deserve. Joan, again, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Jenny.

So let's dig in. I want to ask you're really interesting. You know, for many of us, we come on this podcast to find new ways of being or new ways of understanding with wellness. So everybody's wellness journey is unique to themselves. So I'd love to ask you, what does wellness mean to you?

Well, wellness is just so encompassing in my life. I you know, through my earlier careers of nursing and owning a family photography business, I developed the belief that wellness encompasses the whole person, the Body, Mind emotions. And when we sold our business, I was looking for a new path, I wanted to get back into the health realm, but I didn't want to work in a hospital. I wanted to tap into the whole person, the body mind emotions. And I was so fortunate to discover the rubenfeld synergy technique. And I become a firm believer that in order to have whole person wellness, we need to integrate the body mind emotions and spirit. And the body is a starting point to healing because it tells the truth. And the way we live in our body is how we live in the outside world. And it speaks to us constantly. You know, Jenny, when you think of the fact of you know, if if you've eaten too much, we go through that feeling of fullness. Or if we feel embarrassed by the increase we feel that by the increased heat in our face so that I know redness here. And you know, it lets us know when we experience spear when we experience joy. And our body speaks to us metaphorically, which I really think is cool.

So let's dig into that a little bit deeper. So what do you mean by speaks to us metaphorically, I, I have a vision in my mind, but I would love for you to share it with everybody. Yeah,

so Okay, let's imagine that you vocally say to me that my husband is a pain in the neck There's a very strong possibility, you probably have a physical pain in your neck. Or if you say, I needed to put my foot down, and I feel so badly, because my daughter is so upset about this, and, and so you have these emotions into what you're feeling. And if you really take notice, you may find that one or both of your feet, may actually lacked little mobility, because it's living out the fact of putting the foot down. So you may even have tension in your legs, your hips, your ankles, your back, may even notice that or may not have noticed that you may be walking differently. Or you might be facing a decision, like a career change. And you might verbally say, you know, I just don't know what direction to go. And this is a really interesting one, because I see this a lot with a lot of my clients, when they're laying on my treatment table. And I look at their body, and they will verbally say I just don't know what direction to go here, where to go with this. And I will actually see with their feet, that one foot will be straight ahead and the other will be pointed out in another direction, or vice versa. So the body takes that on. And in order to mean well we you know to to maintain our wellness, it's important to have the awareness of what's going on in the body because I where our body tells us the truth, it tells us what's going on. And of course, we know that awareness is the key to change. Awareness is such a powerful tool. So I often say it's about 80% of the healing process as the awareness.

You know, I can think of many times just by saying it out loud. You know, just by acknowledging it in a profound way. You it has shifted my healing, just just saying it. You know, some people might call it admission, some people might call it ownership, but just actually acknowledging it's the release of that is so powerful.

Yeah, just stopping and taking a moment to just notice just to be in the moment and become aware of okay, what's going on with me right now? is pretty important. pretty profound. You're right. Yeah.

So John, I know through you know, when when I was looking at your website, you were referring to listening touch. You gotta tell me what that means. Because it sounds amazing.

Well, so Jenny, what do we do if we have a stomachache?

I tend to Yeah, I I tend to rub my tummy or believe or not, I lay on it.

Yeah, yeah. So we put our hands to it right to to rub it or gain comfort or like you say lay on your stomach to create the comfort. And and we do the same thing to if we heard an extremity like we bang our knee or elbow, what do we do? We put our hand on it, right? And Robin, we want to alleviate the pain. And if a child is hurting emotionally, what will he do? Probably run to mom or dad to get that hug, needing that physical compassionate contact. So my belief is touch is a viable form of communication. And, as you know, is crucial to life itself, whether we're an infant or whether we're an adult. And in synergy, intentional touch is what creates the trust and safety that we can then create the dialogues with the clients. Unconscious Mind. Okay, so let me help explain this to you. Yeah, I want to share it that a client example is particularly woman at the beginning of the session came in and shared with me of all the things that were going on in her life, all the challenges. And she was really emotionally out of sorts and stated that, you know, I'm just, I've got such pain in my neck and my shoulders. And when she laid down on my treatment table, I placed my hands underneath her shoulders. And I said to her, you know, of all the things that you that list that you just gave to me here or expressed. Which one stands out for you? And she said, Well, my husband, he's a pain in the neck. And immediately I felt this movement in her shoulder. We just went down her back like, like this. And she said, Oh my gosh, what was that? And I said, Well, I'm imagining that was your pain in the neck. Right? So what is really cool about that is with with the listening touch, the client can get the connection to the words, they're speaking to what they're feeling in the body and the body's response. And as a synergist, I'm able to also feel what's going on in the body too, and whether it is conducive to what the client is saying. And as we know, the body doesn't lie. No, give me information.

Yeah. And it'll keep going into.

Well, and and it helps you recognize and it's, its response is a reflection of what's going on in your, in your life. And so touch is a very viable form of the client really connecting to what is going on in their bodies, and a big part of the healing process.

So when we think about and I would just love for a minute, if you could explain to two people that are listening, that are interested in the room and felt synergy and what practice you do? Can you explain what it is there's going to be people that are listening right now that have no idea? Can you share what the modality really is about?

It's a combination of touch and talk.

I love that. See, we make things so difficult.

Yeah, you know, really, in simplicity, that's what it is, it's giving the client the opportunity, or the person the opportunity to really listen at a deeper level, getting in touch with the unconscious mind. And for me to create a safe place for them to do that. So people that are having any anxiety issues, maybe some chronic pain. It covers a whole gamut of conditions and situations that people may find a lot to do with relationships. Because whatever's going on within us is how we relate to life. And our relationship with ourselves has a lot to do with the relationship with others. And so there's a lot of healing of understanding, why do I relate that way. And our body is like, a story. And we hold these stories at a cellular level in our bodies. And for us to help to get in touch with those stories, and create new ways of healing them. So that we can move forward with with new methods and new ways of feeling confident and empowered within is really important. And a lot of my clients will say, you know, the reason I like coming to see you is because you listen to me without judgment. And with you. Yeah, yeah, that's

powerful. And I appreciate greatly you explaining that to people in such simple, beautiful form, because it doesn't need to be complicated. Now, can I ask you don't? Can you work with clients remotely? Or does it have to be in a physical location?

Well, that's an interesting one, because I with with the COVID situation, yes, I can. Nice. And I guess that's one of the ways that I realized that I had to change my ways of doing the wellness work to I knew that clients couldn't come in to see me personally. And so I know, offer phone sessions, and I offer sessions on Zoom. And I and I offer them ways of how to connect with touch. So for example, if a client is saying to me, you know, I feel some tightness in my chest, I will have them put their hand on their chest. And, and at the same time, I'll put my hand on my chest, because whether it's by phone or zoom or in person, there's an energy that's happening, right, because in connection,

I can feel a connection with you right now. And even in the same province,

right? Yes, for sure. For sure. So yes, I work with clients, not from the city from other areas of the country. It's that energetic connection. And and even another example of that to Jenny is the fact of I might be, you know, in the session with a client and they'll feel something in my gut. And I think to myself, hmm, I wonder, like, my client hasn't said anything about this, but I'm just going to check in with her. And so I'll just say, you know, curiosity, do you notice anything happening with your stomach or that area or whatever? And nine times out of 10? They'll say, Yeah, I didn't even notice that. And so then I'll have her touch her gut. And then we'll go through the experience of what's happening there, what's going on, and making that connection in the healing process. So

thank you for actually clarifying that. Because what happens for many people, of course, is we know the truth, do you if we understand the traditional way, we we aren't aware of the possibility of doing it remotely, and I've had work done remotely in the energy realm, and it works. So any of you guys that are listening, that are unsure, don't be afraid to tap into that as well. So let's tap into a really cool topic that everybody has a huge buzzword. Tell me about self care? How is that important to?

Well, that's my monitor, I think, I love it,

let's dig into that one.

It's really important for my own wellness, you know, just thinking of, so for you, even as a as a as a coach, people that are therapists or center just like myself, we experienced trauma within ourselves, right? Many levels and different levels of it. And it's also important for us to be present with our clients. So how do we maintain our own wellness? When we're working with clients, and it's not a wellness, it's not just outside the sessions, it's, it's how do we care with ourselves for ourselves within the session, during my training, a lot of time was spent not only on the physical techniques and grounding, but also taking care of myself emotionally. So I'm imagining that you as a coach, if you were working with a client, and you had some sort of a trauma situation residing in you, like the fear of what's happening with your weather systems, and hopefully, my house isn't going to flood through all of this, you know, I'm going to the extreme of nobody, it's true, but that that's a concern, right. And you could get triggered by whatever is happening within the relationship you're having with, you know, the situation with a client or in a session. So when that happens to me, I have to use a means of getting back into my body. Because when we are triggered like that, we get pulled out of our bodies. Mm hmm. And so I do a system that I call shuttling, and I'm not sure if you're familiar with that or not, no, please explain. But it is quickly going back into myself. Okay. It's a split second thing, and I may do that and and support it by in empathetically saying to myself, okay, it's okay, John, you got triggered here, something's happened. I might shift my position, if I'm sitting or standing, I might take some deep breaths, and then just really feel that I'm back into my body, and then I'll be returned to be present with to the client. And this can be just done in split seconds. Mm hmm. Very quickly. And sometimes you might have to show back and forth a few times. But the whole idea is I've got to stay present within me, in order for me to support my client. And then after a session, I may do more press processing on my own. And I may mean, I have to reach out to my own mentor if there's something that really gets huge here. And and that's another important part of my own self care. qualification, when I took my training is I had to have 12 personal sessions per year. And that was a four year program. Because when we're learning something new, and especially something that involves the body and the emotions and whatever, things are coming up, we have our own stories within us,

regardless of further practitioner, absolutely, right.

Yes, I do. And so, we need to do you get support in that way. And you know what, I still have my own synergy mentor. In fact, I will tell my clients that I do have one and it feels like they do just really appreciate that I share that with them because it's like I can watch their body language and it's like, Ha, okay, she's normal. You Right, it's like, and she'll be on in the session. You know, like she's taking care of herself, though, so that she'll take care of me.

And I think it's important to show the truth to people. I always tell people, I have a coach, in my mind any great coach as a coach? Yeah, I am not capable of asking myself the deep questions, I asked myself tons of questions. But I'm, you know, we need that outside perspective, that non biased approach from other people to support our journey. So I love that you have your own mentor to Joan, that's amazing. I can't believe it. We're getting close to our time here. Is there anything that you would love to share that I haven't asked you yet?

Well, you know, I think humor is really important. And it's important to have humor now lives and, and especially when we're working with clients. Sometimes intuitively, I just may come up with, especially if a client is really stuck in a place. No different than if you're in a big in a meeting or family situation. And it's kind of tense. Yeah, someone says a comment that's kind of humorous. What does that do? It just changes the whole dynamic of the conversation, right. And that same thing can happen in a session as well because it helps the client to relax. It creates a new dynamic of conversation between myself and the client. And it helps them to bring in another perspective, they don't feel stuck. So humor is so important in our lives. Humor

is such a powerful tool. Honestly, Joan, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your passion about what you do. Your modality is beautiful, and it is so helpful for people's healing nevermind our own self journey. So I cannot thank you enough for being on the show. Thank you for being here.

Thank you so much, Jenny. It's been a pleasure.