April 29, 2025 • 43 mins
Spoiler alert: hustle energy is killing your creativity and focus.
In this episode of Rebel CEO, I’m bringing you a game-changing conversation that every female entrepreneur needs to hear.
Dr. Amy Novotny—founder of the PABR Institute, nervous system expert, ultra-marathon runner, and literal powerhouse—joins me to share how breathing mechanics and nervous system regulation are the missing links between success and sustainable freedom.
After years in traditional physical therapy, Dr. Novotny realized the real breakthrough happens not when you push harder—but when you reset your nervous system and shift out of chronic stress.
We dive into how mastering your breath and calming your nervous system can literally change your brain’s executive functions—boosting your clarity, intuition, problem-solving, and even your income.
If you're an entrepreneur feeling stuck in hustle culture, high-achiever stress, or just craving a healthier way to grow your business and your life, this is your blueprint.
Inside This Episode:
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The PABR Method: How shifting your breathing patterns rewires your body out of fight-or-flight mode.
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Why regulating your nervous system is the ultimate business strategy for sustainable success.
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How long-term stress secretly sabotages your leadership, decision-making, and health—and how to fix it.
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Practical steps to start calming your system today (even in the middle of a chaotic workweek).
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Why true freedom in business starts inside your body—not just in your schedule.
Notable Quotes
"Your body, your mind perceived something as a stressor that affects how your body reacts."
"If you look at your life, how can you really cut back and choose your activities so that you're not on, on, on all the time?"
"Take your mind out of it, focus on preparing, and then just go do it."
"I got out of that state because I don't know if I would have made it to my 50s and 60s because I was pushing so hard."
"The more you spend time in fight or flight, the more you're hurting all of your organ systems."
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bree) (00:00):
Before we get into the episode for today, I want you to know how passionate I am about helping you break free from the old hustle culture and create a business that lights you up. So I have something really exciting to share with you. If you're ready to dive even deeper into aligning your life and your business with your soul's blueprint, then you've got to check out my brand new secret podcast. This podcast is not listed in the RSS feed, so you won't be able to find it just by searching in your favorite platform.
(00:27):
You'll have to go through the steps that I'm giving you here to access the secret podcast series. This series is called the Age of Aquarius A New Era of Business. And this secret podcast is all about unlocking your spiritual power and tapping into the energy of the new age. Because we're not in Pisces anymore. So if you've been craving more alignment, more intuition and purpose driven success, then trust me, you are going to love it.
(00:53):
So hit pause on this episode and head over to the Age of Aquarius Secret Podcast and come with me as we explore ways to bring your soul's mission into your business.
Amy Novotny) (01:02):
So if you're ready to become one.
C) (01:03):
Of the leaders in doing business in.
Amy Novotny) (01:05):
The Aquarian age, then head over to.
D) (01:07):
Brianak.Com forward/ageofaquarius and sign up there.
C) (01:12):
Welcome to Rebel CEO, the podcast where we ditch the rules and build businesses that don't just make money, but set your soul on fire. I'm Brianna Kaye, your business coach, freedom advocate, and personal permission slip to dream bigger. I scaled my own business to six figures while breaking every mold that people told me to fit into. And now I'm here to help you do the same. I'll help you build a business and a life that's so deeply rooted in your purpose that you never feel like you missed out on the life that you were supposed to live.
(01:39):
This is your time to root down, rise up, rebel, and manifest all of your wild goals. So grab your coffee, get cozy, and let's dive in.
Amy Novotny) (01:47):
I was gonna be bold.
Bree) (01:49):
Hey, Rebels.
D) (01:50):
Today we have an incredible guest who.
Bree) (01:52):
Is Dr. Amy Novotny. She's founder of the Paber Institute.
D) (01:55):
And Dr. Amy's mission is simple.
Bree) (01:58):
To help people find natural, long lasting relief from pain, stress and anxiety. She's been in healthcare for over 16.
D) (02:05):
Years, working with everything from sports injuries to chronic pain. But what's really exciting is her approach.
Bree) (02:11):
To building a business around something that we all overlook, which is our health. So to Piggyback off of last week's.
D) (02:17):
Episode where we talked about mineral balancing.
Bree) (02:20):
Dr. Amy is going to take our.
D) (02:22):
Health as entrepreneurs to another level. All right, Dr. Amy, thank you so much for joining on the call today. I'm really excited to hear kind of your take on health, how it applies to entrepreneurship to get started. Can you share before we get into all of the business and the health talk, just who you are as a human?
Amy Novotny) (02:39):
Sure. Thanks for having me on, Bri. It's a pleasure to be here and I just am grateful. So who I am as a human, I'm fascinated by life. I run marathons. I've done over 40 of them. I've run 10 ultra marathons, up to 100 miles a couple times. I've done an Ironman. I'm into wildlife photography. I do nature stuff. I've traveled around the world photographing wildlife. And I am a new mom. So I have a trip, 22 month old little boy and he is my world.
(03:15):
I just love being a mom and I'm still in that gushy mama stage where it's very exciting and you know, the hard days, I just breezed by them like, yeah, okay, whatever. And yeah, I'm just, I love life, just love it. So grateful.
D) (03:36):
Well, congratulations on your little one. That's amazing. I didn't realize that you were a mom also. So it sounds like you kind of have a full plate then, huh?
Amy Novotny) (03:44):
Yes, yes, that, that I do. Running a business and having a toddler at the same time and then fitting in other activities, it's definitely a full life. And some activities right now are taking a little bit on the backside just as I spend more time with my toddler and then as he gets no longer as interested in me, that I'll get back into more running and marathons.
D) (04:10):
So, yep, we have. He's almost 13 and he's my stepson, so we have him on the weekends. And I feel like he's kind of hitting that age where he's starting to be less interested in us. But him and his dad are like best friends. So I'm not sure if he's fully ever going to outgrow that.
Amy Novotny) (04:29):
I hope that doesn't happen. I. I hope, I wish for more kids to just enjoy their parents. I just know that right now as a toddler, I'm his whole entire world and every waking moment he wants to spend with me. And I just, I know that eases up a little bit. At least in the teenage years, they don't want to spend every waking moment with You?
D) (04:51):
Yeah, for sure. So you have the Paber Institute, and it's pabr. So can you say what that stands for?
Amy Novotny) (05:00):
Sure. So P is pain awareness, breathing, relief. Okay, and why did I come up with that? Acronym is usually the next question. And it came from. I thought about what it is I do. I help people get from whatever their pain is, whether it's mental, emotional, physical, intellectual pain. And I'm working to get them relief. And in between that, those two ends, we're changing breathing mechanics. So it's not breath work.
(05:35):
We're physically working on how you breathe and the mechanical aspects of it, of how anatomically things are arranged. And then we're also working on your awareness, nervous system awareness. How can you sense and feel what's happening in your body and how your nervous system is affecting all of your organ systems? And so we're taking those concepts and we're putting them together to get you relief.
D) (06:04):
Okay, so do you have a background in traditional medicine too? Did you work in a doctor's office or some form of similar office?
Amy Novotny) (06:14):
So I have my doctor in physical therapy. And so I did physical therapy for about five years, and I realized that wasn't the solution for everything. And so then I switched over into nervous system work. And when I switched into nervous system work, my ability to run marathons went a lot faster. I qualified for the Boston Marathon very easily. I ran marathons pain free. I ran 50 milers pain free. Anytime I had some pain in the middle of a run, I could get out of it very quickly, all by doing and working on the nervous system and breathing mechanics. And so that's when I switched away from physical therapy.
D) (06:53):
Okay. And then the Pabr Institute, is it a school that other healthcare professionals can go to to help teach this on their own, or do you have to be in healthcare at all to get the benefits out of this? Or can you just, like, give me a rundown on what it is, who it helps or teaches?
Amy Novotny) (07:10):
Sure. So right now I'm the one who runs it and owns it. And I currently work with individuals and sometimes companies to train people on this process of getting relief. So anyone who works with me right now, they don't have to have any training. They don't have to have knowledge of the body. I teach it all as we go. Now there are some people that are interested in learning to teach and help other people themselves.
(07:39):
And I tell them they need to go through this process first. And so they're looking at doing that, like actually experiencing it first. So then we can work on how do you use this to help other people?
D) (07:50):
Yeah, that totally makes sense. Why would you say that? It's important for entrepreneurs to prioritize maybe taking the information from this method and using it while they're running a business.
Amy Novotny) (08:01):
Sure. Because your executive functions which need to be really spot on when you're an entrepreneur, they're dependent on this autonomic nervous system and how the autonomic nervous system runs in your body. And so the autonomic nervous system has a couple, has three components. One is your enteric nervous system, which is your gut digestion. We don't really need to discuss that unless a person's gut is affecting their business.
(08:27):
And sometimes that happens, digestive issues affects the business. But there's two other nervous system which is your parasympathetic relaxation and your sympathetic, which is fight, flight, freeze and fawn. And fawn meaning people pleasing, which is a big deal. So if you're constantly in a fight, flight, freeze or fawn type of state, your executive functions go down, you become emotionally reactive, you have trouble focusing, you have trouble being creative, you have trouble being intuitive or even have initiative to create and analyze.
(09:05):
And so what then happens is you're just very reactive. And as an entrepreneur, when you're trying to assess your company and assess what the market needs, you need to be able to step back and look at things and see how things are flowing, what's working, what's not working. And that's a higher level function that if you're caught in a fight or flight state, you're not going to be able to do that and your business is going to, is going to suffer because of it.
D) (09:35):
Okay, so I'm going to give you an example and I want you to tell me if your system could possibly help. Because when you were talking about the fight or flight state and your nervous system, I was thinking about times that my nervous system might be like a little bit, a little bit freaked out and maybe sometimes if so I have a photography background and I do weddings and elopements and if you're on a call with a couple maybe and it's like this wedding that you really want to book but you don't quite feel qualified for.
(10:04):
So like maybe a higher budget and it's like a dream wedding and you start to get a little freaked out that like you are not good enough or those other things start sneaking in that distance you a little bit from this job that you really want. Would that be an example of a time where you could take your PAVR method And apply it to help calm yourself down so that you could actually potentially book this client and this couple instead of creating space between what you want and where your body feels safe.
Amy Novotny) (10:35):
Absolutely. So you're basically, your mind is creating a scenario that isn't true. And so your body is physically reacting to an idea in your mind that hasn't happened. And so that idea is scary to you. So your body already starts to go in a fight or flight state. And so there's different things that you can do to help the body fight that off and change and block that transition and to go back into a parasympathetic relaxation state.
(11:11):
So that way you switch the narrative. And so all of a sudden, your mind's racing and thinking one thing, and then you just stop, and you're like, okay, let me feel my body shift back into parasympathetic relaxation. And what happens then is your brain recognizes something that's real that's happening in your body. And because your brain starts to recognize and feel the safety in your body, your mind calms back down.
(11:40):
And so then you get back into. I can tell what's real in my body, what's real in my mind. Okay. What's real in my mind is I've done a photography shoot of like, this before. These people reached out to me because they liked my photography. I can provide it. I have the equipment to do it. I have the time in my calendar. Okay. These are real things. Okay, now let's talk to the people, and let's be real.
(12:10):
And so you shift away from the fear factor, which pulled your body into a fight or flight state, which caused physical reactions. And you took it and you said, okay, body come back into a calm, parasympathetic relaxation state. And now the mind starts to follow. Does that make sense?
D) (12:31):
Yeah, absolutely. So can you think of any times where you've specifically used this and it's been really impactful for you?
Amy Novotny) (12:38):
Oh, absolutely. Back in 2021, I had joined. It was already part of a couple masterminds, and I joined this kind of exclusive mastermind where I paid a lot of money, and it's the first time I ever paid a ton of money to be a part of something. And I had to. And we had an initial gathering, and there was quite a few people there that had significant wealth. And I was a little minion compared to these people, multi millionaires. And I'm just like, okay.
(13:12):
And we had to give a speech. And you were given just a few minutes to prepare the speech. Like you weren't given any time. And so I'd speak in front of the group of. Of these people. And I was one of the last people to go. And I could feel. And I was. We all had dress in white, and I was in this short little dress, and I had to get up on stage, and I had these heels that wore just because I had them, but they didn't really, like, lend climbing up onto a stage and in a little short dress.
(13:44):
And so I was. I remember my heart started racing. The typical speakers, oh, my gosh, sweaty armpits, heart started racing. What am I gonna do? Am I gonna forget what I planned on saying? And I've only had a few minutes to prepare. I don't even know if it's good, you know, all the. All the different things. And so I realized I was like, wait a second. Why am I not applying what I teach on a daily basis? And so I did.
(14:10):
I stood right there and I ignored everything else that was happening to me, and I just. And I purposely went next to the stage to do this, because I realized if I could go next to the stage, I'm very close to being on stage, and I can turn and face the audience, but then block them all out and work on calming my nervous system down so it would get me as close as possible to being on stage, which is when I needed to be calm and I needed a similar environment.
(14:42):
So if I could pull my body back into a relaxation state and then take a couple steps up on stage and be in a relaxation state, I could then speak and perform, and I won the competition. I got outstanding ovation because I calmed myself down enough that by the time I got up on stage, I was ready to perform. And I didn't have the speaker's fright and sweaty armpits results and all that stuff. I could just be and exist and share and do and animate and all those things that I had hoped to create in front of the audience. And it worked.
(15:25):
I was shocked, but it worked. So I use it, and I've used it in races, too, where my nervous system ramped up, and because I'd been running on a slope or because I fell and busted up my knee and I still had 10 more miles to run, and I stood up, calm myself down, and once I could calm myself down, I walked and calmed myself down. Then I started running and calming myself down, and by the time I got to the end of that 50 miler in the woods, I was sprinting, even though my knee was swollen and bleeding.
(15:55):
So you can use it in different scenarios, whether it's a fear based scenario, a physically nervous system ramped up scenario, it just, it works because we're all human and we all work the same way.
D) (16:07):
Yeah, I actually just wrote down physical and mental symptoms because with the speaking it was mental that you were helping and then with the busted up knee it was physical, physical that you are helping. So I think that's really powerful. And then if we break down the pain awareness, breathing and relief, can you give listeners just like a simple overview of how they can use this technique?
Amy Novotny) (16:33):
Yeah, so it's, it's not just a, like a quick technique, it's a process that takes weeks to learn. So to give you an example, I worked with a lady, she's a retired psychologist. At the time she had had knee pain that was chronic and she was bone on bone, she was getting injections three times a year, she was doing daily anti inflammatories. And so at the time she was prepared for a knee replacement in three months.
(17:04):
This was back in 2016. And I talked to her about calming down her nervous system because as you can imagine, a psychologist takes in a lot of stress from the patients that they've worked with. And so I said, I won't touch your knee at all, but I want to work on your rib cage position and how you breathe and what you feel in your body so you can release attention that you've had over the years. And she was in her 70s and she said okay. She's like, okay, it's a little off but I'll try it.
(17:38):
And so after a couple sessions she said, how quickly is this supposed to work? And I said, well, things should start changing very quickly. I expect you to have changes every time we meet. And she said, well, the pain went away and I'm due for a shot. And normally I have pain all the time. And I said, yeah, you're calming your nervous system down and you're doing the work. So we worked on her bit by bit, changing her rib cage position, changing how she inhaled, how she exhaled, how she felt, certain muscles when she walked.
(18:14):
And we changed how she walked, how she reached, how she bent, how she squatted, how she lay down in bed, how she sat in a chair so that all of these activities, washing dishes, doing laundry, none of them were done with a nervous system ramped up, but a nervous system calmed down. And so she had to learn how to do all these things differently so that when she reached for something in the cabinet, she didn't put her body in a fight. Or flight position that caused her to ramp up and put pain on her knee.
(18:48):
But instead she reached using her shoulder blade and arm for the first time and keeping her ribs down. And her breathing changed so that it didn't affect her knee. And that was back in 2016. And now she's in her late 70s, and she hasn't had a shot or medication since then. And she's traveled all the world, over the world, hiking, climbing in and out of Zodiacs. Like, she's moved a couple places around the states.
(19:15):
And she's a go getter. And before she. She was very limited.
D) (19:21):
Okay, that's amazing. And if you had shared this technique in this. This way of doing things in the medical world, do you feel like it would have been accepted by other professionals or feel like it would be something that they would brush off?
Amy Novotny) (19:38):
It depends on the person. So when I first started developing it back in 2014, 2015, I got a lot of pushback, and I got a lot of pushback from various doctors until they. I started working with people who came to me specifically to learn this stuff, and they took the information to the doctors, and then the doctor said, wait, what? You're better already. You shouldn't be better yet. You should be still hurting for another three or four months. How come you're completely healed?
(20:12):
And so then doctors started coming to see me, and then now I work with physicians and those who are open to it and who give me a chance to discuss the science of all this, then I have no problem.
D) (20:31):
Okay, so it sounds like one of the key pieces to this, obviously, because it's in the title is breathing. And when I think of your nervous system being ramped up, I think of, like, really shallow breaths and not fully breathing into your abdomen. So would you say that people who are notorious for breathing kind of shallow, which, like, I definitely am one, Are. Are people who should work on taking more full breaths or are there any breathing tips or techniques that you can give listeners?
Amy Novotny) (21:02):
Right. So, yeah. So breathing shallow is a state of fight or flight breathing. And I wish there was, like, tips, but this is not a just a tip thing. Hey, just do this and poof, you're fixed. It's an actual process of learning to change your breathing mechanics. And usually that part of it takes a couple hours to learn and to practice and to feel, because mechanically, how your rib cage is sitting on your body and in relation to your pelvis and your spine, that determines how much you are using your diaphragm or not.
(21:44):
So someone who's shallow Breathing, they've lifted up their rib cage and so their diaphragm isn't being used as much. And so they're trying to lift their ribs up to breathe, which becomes hard, and eventually you become short of breath, and then you get even more shallow breathing. And so what we have to work on is getting you to be able to drop your ribs down and to sense and feel that and how you do that. Brie is different from someone else.
(22:17):
So I can't just give a general tip and say, hey, I want you to drop your ribs and do this and this because it might be right for you. It may not. I'd have to watch your body and watch how it's breathing and how you're moving all those things. So I can't really give just a general tip to anyone because I need to see some things on your body.
D) (22:35):
So it's totally custom, depending on the person and what's going on with their body. That makes sense. Are there any signs that somebody is in a fight or flight state or that somebody might find this useful?
Amy Novotny) (22:47):
Absolutely. So if you're emotionally reactive, you know, a glass of water spills over and you freak out, that's a good sign. If you're yelling at loved ones, that's a good sign. If your mind is racing and it doesn't allow you to go to sleep easily within a couple minutes at night, that's another sign. If you're waking up with nightmares or waking up and your mind is racing and you can't go back to sleep, if you don't feel restful in the morning when you wake up, that's another sign you're in fight or flight state.
(23:20):
If you feel tight, if you feel like you have tight hamstrings, that's a sign. If you feel like you're short of breath or you can't catch your breath, or that you hold your breath or that you have shallow breathing, if you. If you feel like you have brain fog or you can't think or you can't be creative or any of those other executive functions that seem to be lowered and you're normally not like that, that's a sign you're in fight or flight.
(23:51):
If you have chronic pain, that's another sign you have fight or flight. Insomnia, we talked about gut issues. If you're having trouble with digestion, you don't feel like you get energy from your food, you have bloating, constipation, those are signs. Racing heart, that's a sign. Basically, I'm trying to go through each organ system in our body and you can kind of. You kind of just, okay, what are the signs of a person that's stressed out? And you just look, you just kind of think about it that way.
D) (24:24):
Yeah. So I feel like a lot of the time we think that we're just functioning normally. Like, that's just how it works in our society. And we don't even realize that we are maybe in that fight or flight state. And I, I feel like a lot of people probably are just consistently stuck in a fight orf flight state because we're taught to prioritize working really hard and to work so much per week, in fact, like, overtimes, and then we have to work in the house and we just have so much weight put on us to like, do all of these things. And it's even glorified to get them done. And I was actually just talking about this on the podcast call I was in, and it's. It seems like sometimes fight or flight could even be beneficial in our culture, even though I know it's not. But it's like you're getting all this stuff done, so it's hard to see the, the downfalls and, like, the reason that you actually do have to address it.
(25:20):
So for people who don't fully see why this has to be addressed and they're kind of looking at their health as an afterthought or something they'll just deal with later, what would you say to them?
Amy Novotny) (25:31):
So the fight or flight state is anatomically normal or physiologically normal. We are supposed to have that state. We're supposed to have that state for when we're in true danger so that we can use it. Most of our waking and sleeping hours, we should be in a parasympathetic relaxation state and then occasionally pop into fight or flight, deal with something, then come back out of it. The problem with being in a fight or flight state most of the time is then when you have a true danger, guess what? You can't perform anymore.
(26:04):
And then you're in a big trouble. So I tell people, if you look at your life, how can you really cut back and choose your activities so that you're not on, on, on, on, on if it means moving somewhere that's less expensive, not going out to eat as much if finances are a trouble, or if you don't have no time? But finances are not a trouble. Okay, go get food. So look at how can you create more time in your life to help you calm down, buy your time back if you need to, if you have the finances to do it, or cut out from your life what you need to.
(26:52):
Most of people's stresses come from a time issue or a financial issue, one of those two things. And we can make a lot of changes that address those two things, because the more you spend time in fight or flight, the more you're hurting all of your organ systems. Most people have pain as an older adult, not from being old. It's from the additive stresses that have caused physical changes in their body that they just don't know how to get out of.
(27:22):
And they can still reverse it, but it just takes a little bit longer to reverse it. So really look at your life and decide, is it that important to be in a fight or flight state? And there's a phrase that's really. I used to live it and embody it and say it. And I cringe because I used to say it, and it's, you'll sleep when you die. I used to live that and embody it. And I used to hear another lady say it, and I'm like, yeah, I do that, too.
(27:52):
And you hear that in a lot of entrepreneur groups. Just go, you'll sleep later. Like, push through. And I'm like, yeah, there's a lot of people getting sick and cancer and dying in their 30s and 40s nowadays because they lived and embodied that. And luckily, I had an awakening much earlier in my early 30s that I was able to shift. And I got out of that state because I don't know if I would have made it to my 50s and 60s because I was pushing so hard.
(28:24):
And so I caution people, yes, it feels great to be on top of the world, but it feels even better when you do it in a calm state and you just watch everyone else running around in a crazy way, and you're. You just look at them and you're just like, please stop. Please change, because it's not worth it.
D) (28:44):
So I have two things that you touched on there that I want to kind of bring attention back to. So I've heard, and I kind of want your opinion on this, that when you are in that fight or flight state, that your body sees it the same way as if you are being chased by a tiger or you have some, like, actual danger there, because our fight or flight was really meant to help us back when we did have those real dangers. Or right now, if you're being chased by, like, a stranger or whatever it may be, but that your body doesn't actually know the difference. It's just trying to protect you. And it sees that, like your example earlier where you were getting on stage to speak, it sees that as the real life threatening danger. When you're in that state. Do you think that that's true or not?
Amy Novotny) (29:30):
Yeah. So your body, your body follows what your mind perceives. So I can go to a zoo and I see a tiger and I'm like, okay, it's behind the cage, I feel safe. So I see a tiger and I feel safe. I'm not going to react to it. Now let's say the tiger got out of the cage, but just walking around and there's someone near it, like, okay, still I feel fine. But now if I was out in a jungle and a tiger came up to me and I saw its fangs out, okay, I'm going to be in a fight or flight state, My mind perceived the situation differently. Even if the tiger wasn't really even interested in me, my mind perceived a danger.
(30:18):
So my body's going to respond, my back muscles are going to kick in, they're going to compress on the fight or flight nervous system physically. So my body's going to tense up all over. It's going to contract and be in a ready state to either freeze, fight or flight. That's part of being human. It's a normal response, but it's all dependent on if your brain thinks something is a stressor or not. So you could technically try to train your mind to think that nothing is a stressor out there in this world and you might not have any trouble with your body at all and you may never be in a fight or flight state. I've never met anyone to be able to do that.
(31:01):
Maybe some Buddhist monks might be able to do that. I haven't met them personally and talked to them, but just in my mind that could maybe be the case. The people that you know sometimes sit for days on end in silence, they might have achieved that ability. I don't know, but it's possible.
D) (31:20):
Okay. And then the other thing that I wanted to touch on was you said that your life in your early 30s, before you had your awakening to this, this whole realm of things and how you could help yourself, looked vastly different. In that you probably would have ended up not living until a certain age based on that. So can you share a little bit about what your life looked like before and what your life looks like now?
Amy Novotny) (31:45):
Yeah. So the biggest thing was I was, I thought being a perfectionist meant good things. So growing up with a mother with mental health issues, single mother, who it was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. When I woke up, I wasn't sure which one was going to show up today and be my mom. And so the easiest way to handle that was to try to be as perfect as possible. Don't create a scene. Don't ever talk back. Don't argue. Get perfect grades.
(32:20):
Stand perfectly, talk perfectly. I had this image that perfection always was best. And that carried into school, that carried into college, that carried into my first career. And it was exhausting. And I could tell I had a lot of friends, but I could sense that there were times that my friends got frustrated with me because things had to be done the correct way. Like, how dare you not do it the correct way if we're making a meal? Everything had to be cut perfectly because the world would fall apart if it wasn't.
(33:06):
Because that's how I was trained. And it was how I trained myself so I wouldn't get in trouble. So from very little, I grew up in a fight or flight state because it's how I was, how I could exist in that environment. And I carried it out on my own for the first 10, 12 years. And then I realized, if that water spills, it's not going to hurt anything. If I cut a bunch of potatoes up and one looks like a triangle and one looks like a long rectangle, wow, who cares?
(33:44):
One might be cooked all the way through, one might not, oh, well, guess what? I'll still eat both of them, and the world's not going to fall apart. And so I realized, and I shifted. And once I started developing the technique and I realized I could calm myself, and I changed my breathing pattern and I no longer had aches and pains and everything just felt easier. All the mental emotional stressors that I used to have didn't seem as acute or intense because I felt safe in my body. All of a sudden, my body had shifted into a parasympathetic state, and my mind no longer thought all those things were really that significant because they weren't.
(34:29):
I finally realized the truth of the situation. And I could reflect back and just realize, wow, I grew up a certain way to protect myself and get myself through a period of time. And I thought that was the best way to exist as an adult, even when I wasn't under those influences. But when I started reflecting on that and figuring it out, I was like, okay, no, I'm going to change. And so now if my little boy throws something, I go pick it up.
(35:05):
He throws food, you know, he makes a mess. Okay, go Pick it up. He's learning. He's learning. He just figured out that if he squishes that blueberry, it's going to make a mess. And there's blueberry juice all over. He wiped it on his clothes. Hope. Guess what? I have stain remover for that. Oh, wow. He's learning. Someday he won't want blueberry juice on his clothes, so he won't squeeze it on there.
(35:30):
Feel good?
D) (35:31):
Yeah. Okay. Thank you for sharing that story and for being vulnerable. I feel like that definitely helps illustrate how you can develop some of these habits, especially from a young age, and the difference in life from when you are operating from that fight orf flight state and when you have a more regulated nervous system. So, yeah, thank you for sharing that. And then I think for entrepreneurs also, it's helpful to understand that when you do have that parasympathetic state, then you are able to also open up so many more doors for yourself. Because, like you said, things don't seem like, as scary or, like, as big of a deal. It's not like if you launch this podcast or if you put yourself out there into the public eye, like, it's not a life or death situation.
(36:21):
So if you're operating from that Paris parasympathetic state, then it could also help you to maybe dream a little bit bigger or take that next step or stop playing smaller. Holding yourself back, too?
Amy Novotny) (36:35):
Yeah, absolutely. And we have to get out of our own way. I know that's a common phrase that's said. My big thing is, why create a scenario that isn't true? Our minds have big imagination, and we love to try to connect the dots. We like to make sense out of things. But a lot of times we reach and try to connect dots that haven't been connected yet. And so I try to bring people back into what's real.
(37:09):
You're given an opportunity. Just go say yes. If you want to go do it. If you don't have the time and you don't want to add something to plate, you just say no. Just like in your scenario where you're talking to the clients, they came to you. Can you physically do it? Do you have the equipment to do it? Do you have the skills to do it? And then just say yes.
D) (37:34):
Yeah.
Amy Novotny) (37:36):
And that's hard. And you have to train yourself to do that. But with practice, you can. You can just take your mind out of it, and hormones will play a factor in that. And if you can recognize that hormonally, we can have periods of time in our Lives where the fears come up more and you can recognize that and you can say, okay, let's get back down to truth. Do I have the equipment? Do I have the physical capabilities? Do I have the time?
(38:08):
If so, yes, I want to do it. Okay, just go do it. And then stop off the mental stuff and then you just start preparing. You just say, okay, what do I need to do so I can get prepared to do that job? And you just go do it. And just, then you go do it. And then you look back and say, okay, I took all these awesome photos, now I have another project in my repertoire and the next time another thing like that comes up, your body won't be so quick to go into that fear mode.
(38:44):
And that's how you break out of that fear mode as an entrepreneur. You just say yes to something and just think, how do I prepare? Not can I do it?
D) (38:54):
Yep. I love that you're touching on preparing because if you are getting freaked out by something and you don't, you don't know if you're good enough, then if you're not preparing yourself, like if you're not actually doing the due diligence that you need to achieve whatever result it is or to succeed at doing that thing, then obviously you're going to feel dysregulated. And if you go out and you're like, okay, I'm going to prepare and I'm going to learn as much as I can and make sure that I am ready for this because I took on this job or whatever it may be, then you're going to feel so much better and you're going to deliver a better product or experience or whatever it is to your clients in the end. And then that's going to validate that you were able to do this and give you that confidence moving forward when another opportunity comes up.
Amy Novotny) (39:39):
Absolutely, absolutely.
D) (39:42):
So you mentioned before that you were wanting to share a 15 minute consultation with listeners. Can you give everybody a little bit of information on how they can connect with you if they are interested in that?
Amy Novotny) (39:55):
Yeah, absolutely. So my website is pabaintitute.com pabrinstitute.com and on there you can go under services and then sign up for a free consultation. And so what we do during that time is see what your pain is, what's going on that you're struggling with in life, and it gives me an idea of what to talk to you about. And so if you're interested in learning what I can do to help you, we'll talk about that. And Sometimes what I do is not appropriate for a person.
(40:30):
And I'll say, okay, I have these resources, I can refer you to these people and I can help you in that way. Or maybe now's not the correct time. I want you to try this first and see if that works. And if not, then we can work together. So the consultation is to see what is really going to help you move the needle and get better faster, whether it's we work together or not.
D) (40:59):
Okay, awesome. Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that and also that you are willing to say if it is or isn't a good fit for, for what you, what you have to offer. So if somebody just wants to kind of follow along with you and connect with you, where can they find you?
Amy Novotny) (41:13):
So on most of the social media, I'm on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Those are the ones that I post mostly. I have a Twitter or X account. I have a TikTok, but I haven't done anything with that TikTok account yet. But LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook are the biggest ones that I've posted on.
D) (41:33):
Okay, awesome. Do you know your handle offhand?
Amy Novotny) (41:37):
They're all a little bit different, but if you search for Dr. Amy Novotny, you can find me.
D) (41:42):
Okay, awesome. And I think I should have it in your form too, so I'll make sure to link them in the show notes if somebody just wants to scroll through the show notes and find them that way. But thank you so much for being on the call and for sharing. I think that what you're doing is amazing and I love the mix between your medical background and kind of branching off to do something in the more, more holistic. I don't know if that's the right word for it, but wellness, mental wellness space.
(42:08):
So thank you.
Amy Novotny) (42:10):
Thank you so much for having me on. Bri, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks.
C) (42:13):
Thanks for tuning in to Rebel CEO. If today's episode lit a fire under you, I would love if you would hit subscribe, leave a rating and drop a review. That little action helps more purpose driven women like you find this show and make sure that you're not keeping all of this magic to yourself. Share this episode with a friend who's ready to ditch the rules and build a life that actually feels good. If you're looking for a little one on one connection, slide into my DMs on Instagram @rebel CEO podcast. And I would love to hear what you're thinking and what you're building so that I can cheer you on every step of the way.
(42:46):
And one more thing, if you're ready for even more support, join my free Facebook community. It is packed with like minded women who are rebelling, setting wild goals, dreaming big and making moves. The link's waiting for you in the show notes and I will see you inside. Until next time, keep breaking the rules, chasing your purpose, and creating the life that you were meant for. I'll see you in the next episode.
Before we get into the episode for today, I want you to know how passionate I am about helping you break free from the old hustle culture and create a business that lights you up. So I have something really exciting to share with you. If you're ready to dive even deeper into aligning your life and your business with your soul's blueprint, then you've got to check out my brand new secret podcast. This podcast is not listed in the RSS feed, so you won't be able to find it just by searching in your favorite platform.
(00:27):
You'll have to go through the steps that I'm giving you here to access the secret podcast series. This series is called the Age of Aquarius A New Era of Business. And this secret podcast is all about unlocking your spiritual power and tapping into the energy of the new age. Because we're not in Pisces anymore. So if you've been craving more alignment, more intuition and purpose driven success, then trust me, you are going to love it.
(00:53):
So hit pause on this episode and head over to the Age of Aquarius Secret Podcast and come with me as we explore ways to bring your soul's mission into your business.
Amy Novotny) (01:02):
So if you're ready to become one.
C) (01:03):
Of the leaders in doing business in.
Amy Novotny) (01:05):
The Aquarian age, then head over to.
D) (01:07):
Brianak.Com forward/ageofaquarius and sign up there.
C) (01:12):
Welcome to Rebel CEO, the podcast where we ditch the rules and build businesses that don't just make money, but set your soul on fire. I'm Brianna Kaye, your business coach, freedom advocate, and personal permission slip to dream bigger. I scaled my own business to six figures while breaking every mold that people told me to fit into. And now I'm here to help you do the same. I'll help you build a business and a life that's so deeply rooted in your purpose that you never feel like you missed out on the life that you were supposed to live.
(01:39):
This is your time to root down, rise up, rebel, and manifest all of your wild goals. So grab your coffee, get cozy, and let's dive in.
Amy Novotny) (01:47):
I was gonna be bold.
Bree) (01:49):
Hey, Rebels.
D) (01:50):
Today we have an incredible guest who.
Bree) (01:52):
Is Dr. Amy Novotny. She's founder of the Paber Institute.
D) (01:55):
And Dr. Amy's mission is simple.
Bree) (01:58):
To help people find natural, long lasting relief from pain, stress and anxiety. She's been in healthcare for over 16.
D) (02:05):
Years, working with everything from sports injuries to chronic pain. But what's really exciting is her approach.
Bree) (02:11):
To building a business around something that we all overlook, which is our health. So to Piggyback off of last week's.
D) (02:17):
Episode where we talked about mineral balancing.
Bree) (02:20):
Dr. Amy is going to take our.
D) (02:22):
Health as entrepreneurs to another level. All right, Dr. Amy, thank you so much for joining on the call today. I'm really excited to hear kind of your take on health, how it applies to entrepreneurship to get started. Can you share before we get into all of the business and the health talk, just who you are as a human?
Amy Novotny) (02:39):
Sure. Thanks for having me on, Bri. It's a pleasure to be here and I just am grateful. So who I am as a human, I'm fascinated by life. I run marathons. I've done over 40 of them. I've run 10 ultra marathons, up to 100 miles a couple times. I've done an Ironman. I'm into wildlife photography. I do nature stuff. I've traveled around the world photographing wildlife. And I am a new mom. So I have a trip, 22 month old little boy and he is my world.
(03:15):
I just love being a mom and I'm still in that gushy mama stage where it's very exciting and you know, the hard days, I just breezed by them like, yeah, okay, whatever. And yeah, I'm just, I love life, just love it. So grateful.
D) (03:36):
Well, congratulations on your little one. That's amazing. I didn't realize that you were a mom also. So it sounds like you kind of have a full plate then, huh?
Amy Novotny) (03:44):
Yes, yes, that, that I do. Running a business and having a toddler at the same time and then fitting in other activities, it's definitely a full life. And some activities right now are taking a little bit on the backside just as I spend more time with my toddler and then as he gets no longer as interested in me, that I'll get back into more running and marathons.
D) (04:10):
So, yep, we have. He's almost 13 and he's my stepson, so we have him on the weekends. And I feel like he's kind of hitting that age where he's starting to be less interested in us. But him and his dad are like best friends. So I'm not sure if he's fully ever going to outgrow that.
Amy Novotny) (04:29):
I hope that doesn't happen. I. I hope, I wish for more kids to just enjoy their parents. I just know that right now as a toddler, I'm his whole entire world and every waking moment he wants to spend with me. And I just, I know that eases up a little bit. At least in the teenage years, they don't want to spend every waking moment with You?
D) (04:51):
Yeah, for sure. So you have the Paber Institute, and it's pabr. So can you say what that stands for?
Amy Novotny) (05:00):
Sure. So P is pain awareness, breathing, relief. Okay, and why did I come up with that? Acronym is usually the next question. And it came from. I thought about what it is I do. I help people get from whatever their pain is, whether it's mental, emotional, physical, intellectual pain. And I'm working to get them relief. And in between that, those two ends, we're changing breathing mechanics. So it's not breath work.
(05:35):
We're physically working on how you breathe and the mechanical aspects of it, of how anatomically things are arranged. And then we're also working on your awareness, nervous system awareness. How can you sense and feel what's happening in your body and how your nervous system is affecting all of your organ systems? And so we're taking those concepts and we're putting them together to get you relief.
D) (06:04):
Okay, so do you have a background in traditional medicine too? Did you work in a doctor's office or some form of similar office?
Amy Novotny) (06:14):
So I have my doctor in physical therapy. And so I did physical therapy for about five years, and I realized that wasn't the solution for everything. And so then I switched over into nervous system work. And when I switched into nervous system work, my ability to run marathons went a lot faster. I qualified for the Boston Marathon very easily. I ran marathons pain free. I ran 50 milers pain free. Anytime I had some pain in the middle of a run, I could get out of it very quickly, all by doing and working on the nervous system and breathing mechanics. And so that's when I switched away from physical therapy.
D) (06:53):
Okay. And then the Pabr Institute, is it a school that other healthcare professionals can go to to help teach this on their own, or do you have to be in healthcare at all to get the benefits out of this? Or can you just, like, give me a rundown on what it is, who it helps or teaches?
Amy Novotny) (07:10):
Sure. So right now I'm the one who runs it and owns it. And I currently work with individuals and sometimes companies to train people on this process of getting relief. So anyone who works with me right now, they don't have to have any training. They don't have to have knowledge of the body. I teach it all as we go. Now there are some people that are interested in learning to teach and help other people themselves.
(07:39):
And I tell them they need to go through this process first. And so they're looking at doing that, like actually experiencing it first. So then we can work on how do you use this to help other people?
D) (07:50):
Yeah, that totally makes sense. Why would you say that? It's important for entrepreneurs to prioritize maybe taking the information from this method and using it while they're running a business.
Amy Novotny) (08:01):
Sure. Because your executive functions which need to be really spot on when you're an entrepreneur, they're dependent on this autonomic nervous system and how the autonomic nervous system runs in your body. And so the autonomic nervous system has a couple, has three components. One is your enteric nervous system, which is your gut digestion. We don't really need to discuss that unless a person's gut is affecting their business.
(08:27):
And sometimes that happens, digestive issues affects the business. But there's two other nervous system which is your parasympathetic relaxation and your sympathetic, which is fight, flight, freeze and fawn. And fawn meaning people pleasing, which is a big deal. So if you're constantly in a fight, flight, freeze or fawn type of state, your executive functions go down, you become emotionally reactive, you have trouble focusing, you have trouble being creative, you have trouble being intuitive or even have initiative to create and analyze.
(09:05):
And so what then happens is you're just very reactive. And as an entrepreneur, when you're trying to assess your company and assess what the market needs, you need to be able to step back and look at things and see how things are flowing, what's working, what's not working. And that's a higher level function that if you're caught in a fight or flight state, you're not going to be able to do that and your business is going to, is going to suffer because of it.
D) (09:35):
Okay, so I'm going to give you an example and I want you to tell me if your system could possibly help. Because when you were talking about the fight or flight state and your nervous system, I was thinking about times that my nervous system might be like a little bit, a little bit freaked out and maybe sometimes if so I have a photography background and I do weddings and elopements and if you're on a call with a couple maybe and it's like this wedding that you really want to book but you don't quite feel qualified for.
(10:04):
So like maybe a higher budget and it's like a dream wedding and you start to get a little freaked out that like you are not good enough or those other things start sneaking in that distance you a little bit from this job that you really want. Would that be an example of a time where you could take your PAVR method And apply it to help calm yourself down so that you could actually potentially book this client and this couple instead of creating space between what you want and where your body feels safe.
Amy Novotny) (10:35):
Absolutely. So you're basically, your mind is creating a scenario that isn't true. And so your body is physically reacting to an idea in your mind that hasn't happened. And so that idea is scary to you. So your body already starts to go in a fight or flight state. And so there's different things that you can do to help the body fight that off and change and block that transition and to go back into a parasympathetic relaxation state.
(11:11):
So that way you switch the narrative. And so all of a sudden, your mind's racing and thinking one thing, and then you just stop, and you're like, okay, let me feel my body shift back into parasympathetic relaxation. And what happens then is your brain recognizes something that's real that's happening in your body. And because your brain starts to recognize and feel the safety in your body, your mind calms back down.
(11:40):
And so then you get back into. I can tell what's real in my body, what's real in my mind. Okay. What's real in my mind is I've done a photography shoot of like, this before. These people reached out to me because they liked my photography. I can provide it. I have the equipment to do it. I have the time in my calendar. Okay. These are real things. Okay, now let's talk to the people, and let's be real.
(12:10):
And so you shift away from the fear factor, which pulled your body into a fight or flight state, which caused physical reactions. And you took it and you said, okay, body come back into a calm, parasympathetic relaxation state. And now the mind starts to follow. Does that make sense?
D) (12:31):
Yeah, absolutely. So can you think of any times where you've specifically used this and it's been really impactful for you?
Amy Novotny) (12:38):
Oh, absolutely. Back in 2021, I had joined. It was already part of a couple masterminds, and I joined this kind of exclusive mastermind where I paid a lot of money, and it's the first time I ever paid a ton of money to be a part of something. And I had to. And we had an initial gathering, and there was quite a few people there that had significant wealth. And I was a little minion compared to these people, multi millionaires. And I'm just like, okay.
(13:12):
And we had to give a speech. And you were given just a few minutes to prepare the speech. Like you weren't given any time. And so I'd speak in front of the group of. Of these people. And I was one of the last people to go. And I could feel. And I was. We all had dress in white, and I was in this short little dress, and I had to get up on stage, and I had these heels that wore just because I had them, but they didn't really, like, lend climbing up onto a stage and in a little short dress.
(13:44):
And so I was. I remember my heart started racing. The typical speakers, oh, my gosh, sweaty armpits, heart started racing. What am I gonna do? Am I gonna forget what I planned on saying? And I've only had a few minutes to prepare. I don't even know if it's good, you know, all the. All the different things. And so I realized I was like, wait a second. Why am I not applying what I teach on a daily basis? And so I did.
(14:10):
I stood right there and I ignored everything else that was happening to me, and I just. And I purposely went next to the stage to do this, because I realized if I could go next to the stage, I'm very close to being on stage, and I can turn and face the audience, but then block them all out and work on calming my nervous system down so it would get me as close as possible to being on stage, which is when I needed to be calm and I needed a similar environment.
(14:42):
So if I could pull my body back into a relaxation state and then take a couple steps up on stage and be in a relaxation state, I could then speak and perform, and I won the competition. I got outstanding ovation because I calmed myself down enough that by the time I got up on stage, I was ready to perform. And I didn't have the speaker's fright and sweaty armpits results and all that stuff. I could just be and exist and share and do and animate and all those things that I had hoped to create in front of the audience. And it worked.
(15:25):
I was shocked, but it worked. So I use it, and I've used it in races, too, where my nervous system ramped up, and because I'd been running on a slope or because I fell and busted up my knee and I still had 10 more miles to run, and I stood up, calm myself down, and once I could calm myself down, I walked and calmed myself down. Then I started running and calming myself down, and by the time I got to the end of that 50 miler in the woods, I was sprinting, even though my knee was swollen and bleeding.
(15:55):
So you can use it in different scenarios, whether it's a fear based scenario, a physically nervous system ramped up scenario, it just, it works because we're all human and we all work the same way.
D) (16:07):
Yeah, I actually just wrote down physical and mental symptoms because with the speaking it was mental that you were helping and then with the busted up knee it was physical, physical that you are helping. So I think that's really powerful. And then if we break down the pain awareness, breathing and relief, can you give listeners just like a simple overview of how they can use this technique?
Amy Novotny) (16:33):
Yeah, so it's, it's not just a, like a quick technique, it's a process that takes weeks to learn. So to give you an example, I worked with a lady, she's a retired psychologist. At the time she had had knee pain that was chronic and she was bone on bone, she was getting injections three times a year, she was doing daily anti inflammatories. And so at the time she was prepared for a knee replacement in three months.
(17:04):
This was back in 2016. And I talked to her about calming down her nervous system because as you can imagine, a psychologist takes in a lot of stress from the patients that they've worked with. And so I said, I won't touch your knee at all, but I want to work on your rib cage position and how you breathe and what you feel in your body so you can release attention that you've had over the years. And she was in her 70s and she said okay. She's like, okay, it's a little off but I'll try it.
(17:38):
And so after a couple sessions she said, how quickly is this supposed to work? And I said, well, things should start changing very quickly. I expect you to have changes every time we meet. And she said, well, the pain went away and I'm due for a shot. And normally I have pain all the time. And I said, yeah, you're calming your nervous system down and you're doing the work. So we worked on her bit by bit, changing her rib cage position, changing how she inhaled, how she exhaled, how she felt, certain muscles when she walked.
(18:14):
And we changed how she walked, how she reached, how she bent, how she squatted, how she lay down in bed, how she sat in a chair so that all of these activities, washing dishes, doing laundry, none of them were done with a nervous system ramped up, but a nervous system calmed down. And so she had to learn how to do all these things differently so that when she reached for something in the cabinet, she didn't put her body in a fight. Or flight position that caused her to ramp up and put pain on her knee.
(18:48):
But instead she reached using her shoulder blade and arm for the first time and keeping her ribs down. And her breathing changed so that it didn't affect her knee. And that was back in 2016. And now she's in her late 70s, and she hasn't had a shot or medication since then. And she's traveled all the world, over the world, hiking, climbing in and out of Zodiacs. Like, she's moved a couple places around the states.
(19:15):
And she's a go getter. And before she. She was very limited.
D) (19:21):
Okay, that's amazing. And if you had shared this technique in this. This way of doing things in the medical world, do you feel like it would have been accepted by other professionals or feel like it would be something that they would brush off?
Amy Novotny) (19:38):
It depends on the person. So when I first started developing it back in 2014, 2015, I got a lot of pushback, and I got a lot of pushback from various doctors until they. I started working with people who came to me specifically to learn this stuff, and they took the information to the doctors, and then the doctor said, wait, what? You're better already. You shouldn't be better yet. You should be still hurting for another three or four months. How come you're completely healed?
(20:12):
And so then doctors started coming to see me, and then now I work with physicians and those who are open to it and who give me a chance to discuss the science of all this, then I have no problem.
D) (20:31):
Okay, so it sounds like one of the key pieces to this, obviously, because it's in the title is breathing. And when I think of your nervous system being ramped up, I think of, like, really shallow breaths and not fully breathing into your abdomen. So would you say that people who are notorious for breathing kind of shallow, which, like, I definitely am one, Are. Are people who should work on taking more full breaths or are there any breathing tips or techniques that you can give listeners?
Amy Novotny) (21:02):
Right. So, yeah. So breathing shallow is a state of fight or flight breathing. And I wish there was, like, tips, but this is not a just a tip thing. Hey, just do this and poof, you're fixed. It's an actual process of learning to change your breathing mechanics. And usually that part of it takes a couple hours to learn and to practice and to feel, because mechanically, how your rib cage is sitting on your body and in relation to your pelvis and your spine, that determines how much you are using your diaphragm or not.
(21:44):
So someone who's shallow Breathing, they've lifted up their rib cage and so their diaphragm isn't being used as much. And so they're trying to lift their ribs up to breathe, which becomes hard, and eventually you become short of breath, and then you get even more shallow breathing. And so what we have to work on is getting you to be able to drop your ribs down and to sense and feel that and how you do that. Brie is different from someone else.
(22:17):
So I can't just give a general tip and say, hey, I want you to drop your ribs and do this and this because it might be right for you. It may not. I'd have to watch your body and watch how it's breathing and how you're moving all those things. So I can't really give just a general tip to anyone because I need to see some things on your body.
D) (22:35):
So it's totally custom, depending on the person and what's going on with their body. That makes sense. Are there any signs that somebody is in a fight or flight state or that somebody might find this useful?
Amy Novotny) (22:47):
Absolutely. So if you're emotionally reactive, you know, a glass of water spills over and you freak out, that's a good sign. If you're yelling at loved ones, that's a good sign. If your mind is racing and it doesn't allow you to go to sleep easily within a couple minutes at night, that's another sign. If you're waking up with nightmares or waking up and your mind is racing and you can't go back to sleep, if you don't feel restful in the morning when you wake up, that's another sign you're in fight or flight state.
(23:20):
If you feel tight, if you feel like you have tight hamstrings, that's a sign. If you feel like you're short of breath or you can't catch your breath, or that you hold your breath or that you have shallow breathing, if you. If you feel like you have brain fog or you can't think or you can't be creative or any of those other executive functions that seem to be lowered and you're normally not like that, that's a sign you're in fight or flight.
(23:51):
If you have chronic pain, that's another sign you have fight or flight. Insomnia, we talked about gut issues. If you're having trouble with digestion, you don't feel like you get energy from your food, you have bloating, constipation, those are signs. Racing heart, that's a sign. Basically, I'm trying to go through each organ system in our body and you can kind of. You kind of just, okay, what are the signs of a person that's stressed out? And you just look, you just kind of think about it that way.
D) (24:24):
Yeah. So I feel like a lot of the time we think that we're just functioning normally. Like, that's just how it works in our society. And we don't even realize that we are maybe in that fight or flight state. And I, I feel like a lot of people probably are just consistently stuck in a fight orf flight state because we're taught to prioritize working really hard and to work so much per week, in fact, like, overtimes, and then we have to work in the house and we just have so much weight put on us to like, do all of these things. And it's even glorified to get them done. And I was actually just talking about this on the podcast call I was in, and it's. It seems like sometimes fight or flight could even be beneficial in our culture, even though I know it's not. But it's like you're getting all this stuff done, so it's hard to see the, the downfalls and, like, the reason that you actually do have to address it.
(25:20):
So for people who don't fully see why this has to be addressed and they're kind of looking at their health as an afterthought or something they'll just deal with later, what would you say to them?
Amy Novotny) (25:31):
So the fight or flight state is anatomically normal or physiologically normal. We are supposed to have that state. We're supposed to have that state for when we're in true danger so that we can use it. Most of our waking and sleeping hours, we should be in a parasympathetic relaxation state and then occasionally pop into fight or flight, deal with something, then come back out of it. The problem with being in a fight or flight state most of the time is then when you have a true danger, guess what? You can't perform anymore.
(26:04):
And then you're in a big trouble. So I tell people, if you look at your life, how can you really cut back and choose your activities so that you're not on, on, on, on, on if it means moving somewhere that's less expensive, not going out to eat as much if finances are a trouble, or if you don't have no time? But finances are not a trouble. Okay, go get food. So look at how can you create more time in your life to help you calm down, buy your time back if you need to, if you have the finances to do it, or cut out from your life what you need to.
(26:52):
Most of people's stresses come from a time issue or a financial issue, one of those two things. And we can make a lot of changes that address those two things, because the more you spend time in fight or flight, the more you're hurting all of your organ systems. Most people have pain as an older adult, not from being old. It's from the additive stresses that have caused physical changes in their body that they just don't know how to get out of.
(27:22):
And they can still reverse it, but it just takes a little bit longer to reverse it. So really look at your life and decide, is it that important to be in a fight or flight state? And there's a phrase that's really. I used to live it and embody it and say it. And I cringe because I used to say it, and it's, you'll sleep when you die. I used to live that and embody it. And I used to hear another lady say it, and I'm like, yeah, I do that, too.
(27:52):
And you hear that in a lot of entrepreneur groups. Just go, you'll sleep later. Like, push through. And I'm like, yeah, there's a lot of people getting sick and cancer and dying in their 30s and 40s nowadays because they lived and embodied that. And luckily, I had an awakening much earlier in my early 30s that I was able to shift. And I got out of that state because I don't know if I would have made it to my 50s and 60s because I was pushing so hard.
(28:24):
And so I caution people, yes, it feels great to be on top of the world, but it feels even better when you do it in a calm state and you just watch everyone else running around in a crazy way, and you're. You just look at them and you're just like, please stop. Please change, because it's not worth it.
D) (28:44):
So I have two things that you touched on there that I want to kind of bring attention back to. So I've heard, and I kind of want your opinion on this, that when you are in that fight or flight state, that your body sees it the same way as if you are being chased by a tiger or you have some, like, actual danger there, because our fight or flight was really meant to help us back when we did have those real dangers. Or right now, if you're being chased by, like, a stranger or whatever it may be, but that your body doesn't actually know the difference. It's just trying to protect you. And it sees that, like your example earlier where you were getting on stage to speak, it sees that as the real life threatening danger. When you're in that state. Do you think that that's true or not?
Amy Novotny) (29:30):
Yeah. So your body, your body follows what your mind perceives. So I can go to a zoo and I see a tiger and I'm like, okay, it's behind the cage, I feel safe. So I see a tiger and I feel safe. I'm not going to react to it. Now let's say the tiger got out of the cage, but just walking around and there's someone near it, like, okay, still I feel fine. But now if I was out in a jungle and a tiger came up to me and I saw its fangs out, okay, I'm going to be in a fight or flight state, My mind perceived the situation differently. Even if the tiger wasn't really even interested in me, my mind perceived a danger.
(30:18):
So my body's going to respond, my back muscles are going to kick in, they're going to compress on the fight or flight nervous system physically. So my body's going to tense up all over. It's going to contract and be in a ready state to either freeze, fight or flight. That's part of being human. It's a normal response, but it's all dependent on if your brain thinks something is a stressor or not. So you could technically try to train your mind to think that nothing is a stressor out there in this world and you might not have any trouble with your body at all and you may never be in a fight or flight state. I've never met anyone to be able to do that.
(31:01):
Maybe some Buddhist monks might be able to do that. I haven't met them personally and talked to them, but just in my mind that could maybe be the case. The people that you know sometimes sit for days on end in silence, they might have achieved that ability. I don't know, but it's possible.
D) (31:20):
Okay. And then the other thing that I wanted to touch on was you said that your life in your early 30s, before you had your awakening to this, this whole realm of things and how you could help yourself, looked vastly different. In that you probably would have ended up not living until a certain age based on that. So can you share a little bit about what your life looked like before and what your life looks like now?
Amy Novotny) (31:45):
Yeah. So the biggest thing was I was, I thought being a perfectionist meant good things. So growing up with a mother with mental health issues, single mother, who it was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. When I woke up, I wasn't sure which one was going to show up today and be my mom. And so the easiest way to handle that was to try to be as perfect as possible. Don't create a scene. Don't ever talk back. Don't argue. Get perfect grades.
(32:20):
Stand perfectly, talk perfectly. I had this image that perfection always was best. And that carried into school, that carried into college, that carried into my first career. And it was exhausting. And I could tell I had a lot of friends, but I could sense that there were times that my friends got frustrated with me because things had to be done the correct way. Like, how dare you not do it the correct way if we're making a meal? Everything had to be cut perfectly because the world would fall apart if it wasn't.
(33:06):
Because that's how I was trained. And it was how I trained myself so I wouldn't get in trouble. So from very little, I grew up in a fight or flight state because it's how I was, how I could exist in that environment. And I carried it out on my own for the first 10, 12 years. And then I realized, if that water spills, it's not going to hurt anything. If I cut a bunch of potatoes up and one looks like a triangle and one looks like a long rectangle, wow, who cares?
(33:44):
One might be cooked all the way through, one might not, oh, well, guess what? I'll still eat both of them, and the world's not going to fall apart. And so I realized, and I shifted. And once I started developing the technique and I realized I could calm myself, and I changed my breathing pattern and I no longer had aches and pains and everything just felt easier. All the mental emotional stressors that I used to have didn't seem as acute or intense because I felt safe in my body. All of a sudden, my body had shifted into a parasympathetic state, and my mind no longer thought all those things were really that significant because they weren't.
(34:29):
I finally realized the truth of the situation. And I could reflect back and just realize, wow, I grew up a certain way to protect myself and get myself through a period of time. And I thought that was the best way to exist as an adult, even when I wasn't under those influences. But when I started reflecting on that and figuring it out, I was like, okay, no, I'm going to change. And so now if my little boy throws something, I go pick it up.
(35:05):
He throws food, you know, he makes a mess. Okay, go Pick it up. He's learning. He's learning. He just figured out that if he squishes that blueberry, it's going to make a mess. And there's blueberry juice all over. He wiped it on his clothes. Hope. Guess what? I have stain remover for that. Oh, wow. He's learning. Someday he won't want blueberry juice on his clothes, so he won't squeeze it on there.
(35:30):
Feel good?
D) (35:31):
Yeah. Okay. Thank you for sharing that story and for being vulnerable. I feel like that definitely helps illustrate how you can develop some of these habits, especially from a young age, and the difference in life from when you are operating from that fight orf flight state and when you have a more regulated nervous system. So, yeah, thank you for sharing that. And then I think for entrepreneurs also, it's helpful to understand that when you do have that parasympathetic state, then you are able to also open up so many more doors for yourself. Because, like you said, things don't seem like, as scary or, like, as big of a deal. It's not like if you launch this podcast or if you put yourself out there into the public eye, like, it's not a life or death situation.
(36:21):
So if you're operating from that Paris parasympathetic state, then it could also help you to maybe dream a little bit bigger or take that next step or stop playing smaller. Holding yourself back, too?
Amy Novotny) (36:35):
Yeah, absolutely. And we have to get out of our own way. I know that's a common phrase that's said. My big thing is, why create a scenario that isn't true? Our minds have big imagination, and we love to try to connect the dots. We like to make sense out of things. But a lot of times we reach and try to connect dots that haven't been connected yet. And so I try to bring people back into what's real.
(37:09):
You're given an opportunity. Just go say yes. If you want to go do it. If you don't have the time and you don't want to add something to plate, you just say no. Just like in your scenario where you're talking to the clients, they came to you. Can you physically do it? Do you have the equipment to do it? Do you have the skills to do it? And then just say yes.
D) (37:34):
Yeah.
Amy Novotny) (37:36):
And that's hard. And you have to train yourself to do that. But with practice, you can. You can just take your mind out of it, and hormones will play a factor in that. And if you can recognize that hormonally, we can have periods of time in our Lives where the fears come up more and you can recognize that and you can say, okay, let's get back down to truth. Do I have the equipment? Do I have the physical capabilities? Do I have the time?
(38:08):
If so, yes, I want to do it. Okay, just go do it. And then stop off the mental stuff and then you just start preparing. You just say, okay, what do I need to do so I can get prepared to do that job? And you just go do it. And just, then you go do it. And then you look back and say, okay, I took all these awesome photos, now I have another project in my repertoire and the next time another thing like that comes up, your body won't be so quick to go into that fear mode.
(38:44):
And that's how you break out of that fear mode as an entrepreneur. You just say yes to something and just think, how do I prepare? Not can I do it?
D) (38:54):
Yep. I love that you're touching on preparing because if you are getting freaked out by something and you don't, you don't know if you're good enough, then if you're not preparing yourself, like if you're not actually doing the due diligence that you need to achieve whatever result it is or to succeed at doing that thing, then obviously you're going to feel dysregulated. And if you go out and you're like, okay, I'm going to prepare and I'm going to learn as much as I can and make sure that I am ready for this because I took on this job or whatever it may be, then you're going to feel so much better and you're going to deliver a better product or experience or whatever it is to your clients in the end. And then that's going to validate that you were able to do this and give you that confidence moving forward when another opportunity comes up.
Amy Novotny) (39:39):
Absolutely, absolutely.
D) (39:42):
So you mentioned before that you were wanting to share a 15 minute consultation with listeners. Can you give everybody a little bit of information on how they can connect with you if they are interested in that?
Amy Novotny) (39:55):
Yeah, absolutely. So my website is pabaintitute.com pabrinstitute.com and on there you can go under services and then sign up for a free consultation. And so what we do during that time is see what your pain is, what's going on that you're struggling with in life, and it gives me an idea of what to talk to you about. And so if you're interested in learning what I can do to help you, we'll talk about that. And Sometimes what I do is not appropriate for a person.
(40:30):
And I'll say, okay, I have these resources, I can refer you to these people and I can help you in that way. Or maybe now's not the correct time. I want you to try this first and see if that works. And if not, then we can work together. So the consultation is to see what is really going to help you move the needle and get better faster, whether it's we work together or not.
D) (40:59):
Okay, awesome. Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that and also that you are willing to say if it is or isn't a good fit for, for what you, what you have to offer. So if somebody just wants to kind of follow along with you and connect with you, where can they find you?
Amy Novotny) (41:13):
So on most of the social media, I'm on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Those are the ones that I post mostly. I have a Twitter or X account. I have a TikTok, but I haven't done anything with that TikTok account yet. But LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook are the biggest ones that I've posted on.
D) (41:33):
Okay, awesome. Do you know your handle offhand?
Amy Novotny) (41:37):
They're all a little bit different, but if you search for Dr. Amy Novotny, you can find me.
D) (41:42):
Okay, awesome. And I think I should have it in your form too, so I'll make sure to link them in the show notes if somebody just wants to scroll through the show notes and find them that way. But thank you so much for being on the call and for sharing. I think that what you're doing is amazing and I love the mix between your medical background and kind of branching off to do something in the more, more holistic. I don't know if that's the right word for it, but wellness, mental wellness space.
(42:08):
So thank you.
Amy Novotny) (42:10):
Thank you so much for having me on. Bri, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks.
C) (42:13):
Thanks for tuning in to Rebel CEO. If today's episode lit a fire under you, I would love if you would hit subscribe, leave a rating and drop a review. That little action helps more purpose driven women like you find this show and make sure that you're not keeping all of this magic to yourself. Share this episode with a friend who's ready to ditch the rules and build a life that actually feels good. If you're looking for a little one on one connection, slide into my DMs on Instagram @rebel CEO podcast. And I would love to hear what you're thinking and what you're building so that I can cheer you on every step of the way.
(42:46):
And one more thing, if you're ready for even more support, join my free Facebook community. It is packed with like minded women who are rebelling, setting wild goals, dreaming big and making moves. The link's waiting for you in the show notes and I will see you inside. Until next time, keep breaking the rules, chasing your purpose, and creating the life that you were meant for. I'll see you in the next episode.
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