March 14, 2025 • 46 mins
What if the pain you've been taught to live with isn't your fate but simply a signal your body needs help? In this eye-opening conversation with Dr. Amy Novotny, founder of the PABR Institute, we explore a revolutionary approach to addressing chronic pain, stress, and anxiety that challenges conventional medical wisdom.
Dr. Novotny shares her remarkable journey from highly-disciplined academic to innovative pain specialist after discovering how changing her breathing mechanics transformed her own athletic performance. She explains how our bodies often remain locked in a protective fight-or-flight state, causing muscles to maintain an abnormal grip on bones and joints that results in pain we mistakenly attribute to aging or structural problems.
The most fascinating revelation? Many people undergo unnecessary surgeries and take lifelong medications for conditions that could be addressed by calming their nervous systems. Dr. Novotny explains that even "bone-on-bone" arthritis doesn't inherently cause pain—it's the abnormal muscle tension pulling bones out of alignment that creates suffering. Through her unique PABR method (Pain Awareness, Breathing and Relief), she teaches patients to release this tension and allow their bodies to function naturally.
You'll hear incredible stories, like how she instantly relieved a collapsed marathon runner's excruciating muscle spasms with a 30-second intervention that left medical staff stunned. For high achievers especially, this approach offers a way to maintain ambition without the physical toll of constant tension. Whether you're dealing with chronic pain, considering surgery, or simply living with stress you've normalized, this conversation offers hope and practical wisdom for reclaiming your body's natural capacity for comfort and ease.
Ready to explore a different approach to pain? Visit PABRInstitute.com for a free consultation with Dr. Novotny and discover how changing your relationship with your nervous system might change everything.
Get ready to break free from obstacles and live life on your terms!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cassandra (00:00):
Good day out there to all my listeners and I'd like
to welcome you to Is your Way Inyour Way podcast, and I am your
host, cassandra Crawley Mayo,and I am well for the new
listeners, because I know wehave new listeners.
So let me share a bit aboutwhat this podcast is about.
It's actually about individualsthat are in their way.
(00:23):
I actually wrote a book titledIs your Way In your Way, so I
thought how appropriate it wouldbe to have a podcast titled Is
your Way In your Way, and whatthat's all about are individuals
who are stuck.
It's kind of like you know youwant a new job, you wanna be
promoted, you need to get out ofa relationship, maybe you need
to get over a divorce, I don'tknow.
(00:44):
Maybe you need to get over adivorce, I don't know.
Maybe you need to forgivesomebody.
Maybe, you know, you've justbeen struggling with stress and
pain and you can't figure outhow to get out of it.
Well, those are the things thatwe like to talk about on Is
your Way In your Way, and todaywe talk about like, let me share
.
We talk about topics related topersonal development, also
(01:06):
business development, and alsoit will enable you to do some
self-reflection, and today ourtopic is how to calm your
nervous system, to alleviatepain, stress and anxiety, so you
can go for your dreams.
Imagine that Now, who's notstressed these days?
Right, and who better yet totalk about this is Dr Amy
(01:32):
Novotny.
Well, hello, I'm going to callyou Dr Amy, and thank you so
much for having me on.
Dr. Amy Novotny (01:38):
Absolutely, I'm so glad that you are on.
Cassandra (01:46):
And before we get started and take a deep dive
into I'm calling her Dr Amy Iwant to read a little bit of her
bio so you, as listeners, canunderstand where she's been, who
she is, and just have a pointof reference that will enable us
to move forward with thisinterview.
Dr Amy is the founder of PABRInstitute, and that means pain
(02:13):
awareness, breathing and relief.
She's dedicated to providingnatural relief from pain, stress
and anxiety through her uniqueP-A-B-R method.
She has a unique method withover 12 years of experience in
orthopedics, sports geriatrics,chronic pain and more.
(02:35):
She developed this method toaddress restrictive and painful
conditions without reliance onmedications or surgeries.
Wow, I'm excited about that.
Her work has helped countlessindividuals find freedom from
pain and improve quality of life.
For example, many of you knowRobert Koyosaki.
(02:56):
Everybody knows that name richdad, poor dad.
He had some pain in his hand,so in other words, she talks
about how the body is in aprotection mode when we have so
much pain and stress and all ofthat.
So she has actually co-authoredseveral books that are on
Amazon and Wall Street Journalbestseller.
(03:16):
Outside of her practice, she isan accomplished endurance
athlete and award-winningwildlife photographer.
She speaks French and Spanish.
That has allowed her tocommunicate and help various
clients from all around theworld.
Oh, my goodness.
So, dr Amy, could you explainto my listeners what was life
(03:40):
like before you went abroad?
Dr. Amy Novotny (03:43):
So before I went abroad I lived with my mom
and one of my brothers growingup in Arizona and my mom was
very strict.
She was strict but alsorestrictive.
She did not allow us to do alot of things.
We were in activities, but oncethose activities ended we came
(04:04):
home.
We didn't really have friendsat home.
She tried to control most ofour behavior as best as possible
.
So to say it was hard, itreally was.
But how I coped was I studied.
Cassandra (04:18):
I figured.
Dr. Amy Novotny (04:19):
One thing I could control is I could control
my performance in my academicsor whatever activity I partook
in that she allowed.
I just dove into it and I putall my heart into it.
So my desire to escape wasbased on could I get enough
scholarships, Could I get enoughfunding to be able to go study
(04:44):
abroad?
And that's literally what I did.
Now, right before I went I hadstarted to work and so I was
able to get kind of out of thehouse in that sense.
But then abroad was really myway to expand and get free.
Cassandra (05:01):
Okay, well, tell us about you being able to speak
French and Spanish.
All of that occurred when youwere born.
Dr. Amy Novotny (05:08):
So in school, starting in seventh grade no,
ninth grade, seventh grade Istarted speaking Spanish.
I started taking Spanishclasses.
Then in ninth grade I startedtaking French classes.
So by the time I graduated highschool I was in the AP level
for both French and Spanish.
And so I started college doinga French major and a Spanish
(05:31):
minor, in addition to a biologymajor and math minor.
And so going to study abroad inFrance allowed me to finish a
French major, and I was able tofinish a Spanish minor when I
came back.
Cassandra (05:44):
Oh, wow, Interesting.
So you have done a lot.
You know abroad, your studies,your academics and, if I'm not
mistaken, you were valedictorianin school.
Dr. Amy Novotny (05:58):
I was salutatorian in high school,
valedictorian in my doctoralschool yes.
Cassandra (06:03):
Wow.
So what?
What was it that enabled you topick?
Well, let me ask you this Didyou always know what you wanted
to do?
Dr. Amy Novotny (06:12):
No, not at all Okay.
It just like any other person.
It wavered from marine biologyto veterinarian, to um, I was
going to go into ecology and bea research scientist to ending
up as a physical therapist, thenswitching to nervous system
work.
So that's where I am now as abusiness owner, which I never
thought I would be never,thought I'd be a business owner
(06:36):
that was right.
Cassandra (06:37):
So you went orthopedic.
I mean, you did, did you dosurgeries or what?
Type of work you didn't do that, okay, no.
Dr. Amy Novotny (06:45):
No, no, no.
My doctorate's in physicaltherapy, it's not in surgical
procedures, medicine like that.
Cassandra (06:51):
Okay Now, what tempted you to go in the field
that you are currently in?
Did anything have to do withyour backstory, or where did
that come from ?
You really are on a mission toget have to relieve pain,
stress and anxiety with folks.
Dr. Amy Novotny (07:12):
So my background in physical therapy,
that that led me to where I amright now because, I got the
doctorate in that and I studiedabout the human body.
I was into physics, I was intobiology, so it was a good field
for a little bit but, I,realized that a lot of people
weren't fully healing and a lotof the things were done external
(07:32):
to the body.
There weren't internal changes.
And so at the same time as Iwas studying and practicing and
working with people, I was alsostarting to run and train for
marathons and I was trying toqualify for the Boston marathon.
And so I realized when I wasrunning on the treadmill I'd run
eight miles on the treadmillthree days a week.
(07:53):
For the days that I ran, if Ichanged my bra, my breathing
mechanics and my body position,I could feel my body release
tension and I didn't stretch, Ididn't have to foam roll, I
didn't have to scrape and do allthe things I was telling people
to do as a physical therapistthat you had to do, and I felt
(08:16):
very free.
It just felt good.
So I realized at that point,all the physical therapy stuff I
was teaching people are notalways enough.
And so that's when I startedexploring what is that?
Something else, if I can feelit on myself, how could I put it
into a process to help otherpeople?
And that's what led me to boomwhere I am today.
Cassandra (08:39):
Okay, well, I'm hearing that you have a very
unique process, and tell usabout that.
That's part of your institute,right?
That's why it's called the PainAwareness and Breathing Relief
Institute, so tell us about that.
What happens in that institute?
Dr. Amy Novotny (08:58):
Sure.
So in that I work with peopleone-on-one and I teach them how
to calm down the fight or flightnervous system that ramps us up
.
So in our body we have anautonomic nervous system, one
that either ramps us up and getsus really wound up or we have
the opposite, that calms us down.
And then there's anothersegment of one that helps us
(09:20):
with digestion.
So the fight or flight nervoussystem.
We often hear fight, flight,freeze or even fawn, which is
people pleasing.
So people who are peoplepleasing, they are still in a
heightened state because they'renot in a relaxed state, because
they're trying to accommodateto someone else.
So what I realized is when wework on influencing it and
(09:44):
controlling that and working oncalming the body down, actually
getting the nervous system tostop being overactive, the
muscles in your body start torelease.
Okay, when they release, theycan release their abnormal grip
on your bones and joints, whichcould help with joint pain.
When they release, they canalso release emotions, which can
(10:04):
help with trauma, abuse,anxiety, panic, PTSD.
When they release, they allowour breathing mechanics to
change and how we move our body.
So my work then became abouthow do I get people to learn how
to release the nervous systemso they stop guarding their body
(10:25):
day in, day out for a year,decades on end.
Cassandra (10:30):
Okay, what are some of the let's talk about?
I want to know about some ofthe techniques, because I also
read that you have really helpeda lot of people that somebody
wanted was going to get a kneereplacement and, based on the
work that you did, they didn'thave to get a knee replacement.
(10:50):
I even remember a story of arunner I don't know if he was a
marathon runner or whatever andas soon, I think, as he got to
the finish line, he justcollapsed and you were able to
see the pain in his body and theparamedics came over.
It was just.
It was to me, it was scary.
It was like he was shaking andI mean he it's kind of like I'm
(11:13):
sure he he his nervous system,everything he was tensed up.
Tell us about that and how didyou help him relieve that pain?
Dr. Amy Novotny (11:30):
that and how did you help him relieve that
pain?
Sure, so I was running amarathon.
It was two marathons back toback.
One marathon was done inMichigan, the other one was done
in Wisconsin, and I believethat we did Wisconsin first and
then Michigan, and so we were onthe second marathon and I was
running and there was thisgentleman, beautiful, perfect
specimen of no fat, just perfecttone, Like he looked like a
(11:56):
Kenyan or Ethiopian runner and Idon't mean to be stereotypical,
but he literally looks justlike the top runners in the
world.
And he was running and so atfirst he was running past me
very, very fast because I wasjust going plodding along and
then about mile 23, 24,something like that, I passed
(12:18):
him.
And I was shocked because Icould see he was limping and I
just I felt horrible because heshould, he should have been done
, he should have been flyingthrough that and I never liked
to see someone in pain and notgoing through the experience
that they want to be in.
So I finished the race and thenI was in the finish line waiting
for my cousin to finish as well, and I see this runner coming
(12:43):
through the finish line and heis hobbling through the finish
line and when he stopped moving,his body kind of seized up his
legs, his thighs were seized up,his quads and so they rushed
and got him a wheelchair.
They put him down and he wasgrimacing and you know, crying
out in pain and grabbing hislegs, and you get a lot of
medical staff to come out andhelp him, because sometimes it's
(13:05):
hard at the finish line themedical staff is there to help
you but they're trying to getinformation out of you, but if
you're not really able to speakbecause you're in so much pain,
it's hard to know what to do.
Yeah, yeah.
So I went up to him and I justwhispered in his ears and I said
, can, can I help you, can you?
And he just kind of nodded alittle bit, which was enough for
(13:26):
me to say, okay, go ahead.
I said just listen and followwhat I say.
And so I had my hand gently onhis chest and I said you know,
breathe in.
And I said, when you, when youexhale, I said, just follow my
hand, just let it fall, let yourchest fall under my hand.
And then we did this for 30seconds and there was a little
(13:47):
bit more to it, but we did itfor 30 seconds and then all of a
sudden his eyes popped open andhe's like it's all gone.
It's all gone.
Cassandra (13:54):
Wow.
Dr. Amy Novotny (13:56):
And he jumped.
He just stood up quickly out ofthe wheelchair and he just
looked around and the medicalstaff's like what the heck?
Um why is this guy who's just inexcruciating pain, not able to
communicate, really like, nowall of a sudden is okay?
And the guy said I'm fine, I'mtotally fine.
And he looked at his friendthat was on the other side of
the fence and and his friendsaid, hey, are you okay?
(14:18):
He said, yeah, I'm hungry,let's get food.
And so I just kind of backed upand the guy didn't even realize
that I was there or what hadhappened.
He just realized all of a suddenhe was out of pain and I had
already backed off, so I didn'twant to create a commotion or to
mention who I was, because Iwas waiting for my cousin to
(14:39):
finish and I didn't want to getright here.
Yeah right, oh my gosh yeah,and so basically what we did was
his nervous system has hadoverloaded and his muscles had
gone into spasm, and what weworked on in those few seconds
was just getting his nervoussystem to calm down.
So his muscles stopped anabnormal contraction that was
(15:01):
too much for him and too muchfor his bones and joints, which
causes excruciating pain.
Cassandra (15:07):
Yeah, yeah.
So tell us about this breathing.
I hear that so much, even whenpeople meditate, you know, even
when I work out, I say don'tforget to breathe, breathe in,
hold your your abdomen in andbreathe out and breathe in.
But yet you have sometechniques.
And you know, what I amunderstanding is not that you
(15:30):
don't believe that you don't situp straight and with your
abdomen straight.
You know that this these arethe things that we're told to do
.
Why do you think we should notdo that?
What?
Because, first of all, we'reall.
We all experience stress and alot of people are in pain, some
(15:53):
type of pain, If it's their legs, their knees, their arms, their
back.
What techniques do you use thatare so unique that can mitigate
all that?
Dr. Amy Novotny (16:06):
Right.
So one I reverse how peoplebreathe.
We work on changing what istypically thought of as a normal
way of breathing, which it'snot really a normal way of
breathing, especially's notreally a normal way of breathing
, especially, I mean, I have atoddler right now a baby, and
I've watched him closely.
So when we breathe, we don'twant to breathe where we're
(16:30):
sucking our gut in as we exhale.
We actually want to do theopposite where we exhale and
lower belly spill out.
So what I work on with peopleis a full process of getting
them to change their breathingmechanics so that they don't
breathe in a way that tightensthem up.
We want our breathing to allowus to relax, to calm down.
(16:53):
So that means we have to changea lot about what we do, and
what I'm saying right now meansnot much to a lot of people, but
it does.
It takes time.
It's not like I can just tellyou all the techniques, because
how you have changed yourbreathing, cassandra, is
different from someone else, andhow they've changed their
(17:15):
breathing.
So, what I teach people is Ilook at their body and I see
okay, where is your rib cageposition?
Okay, it's like this so we needto adjust your rib cage position
so it's not high or elevated ortipped, so that we can get your
muscles to work correctly, sothat your diaphragm works the
(17:36):
way it's supposed to do it andair into your lungs.
So it's different for everyone.
So that's why I say it's.
It's not something that is thesame process for everyone, which
is one of the reasons why I dothis with one-on-one on people
is working to try to get them torelease tension in their body,
(17:56):
but I have to do it in a waythat serves them.
Cassandra (17:59):
Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny (18:00):
If I do it in a way that serves one person,
that's great, but it may not bethe same for another person.
Cassandra (18:06):
Okay, okay.
So is it just breathing thatcan mitigate the pain and the
stress?
Is that all you have to do isjust breathe?
Dr. Amy Novotny (18:16):
Nope, we're not just doing a hair kumbaya
breathing it's not breath work.
Cassandra (18:20):
Okay.
Dr. Amy Novotny (18:21):
Changing your breathing mechanics.
We're changing the position ofyour rib cage and how you hold
yourself and how you hold yourpelvis, how you hold your rib
cage, so that your breathingmechanics allow your body to
relax.
Then we have to work onstabilizing you.
So if you're, if you werelearned to relax, let's say you
(18:43):
went to a massage therapist andthey're pounding on you and
you're like, oh, this feels good.
And the next day you wake upand you're like I'm just as
tight as I was because yournervous system didn't change.
You had someone do somethingexternal to you and press on you
, but they didn't really changeyour nervous system.
So what we're doing is saying,OK, let's teach you how to relax
(19:04):
the nervous system so yourelease the muscles yourself
without needing the massagetherapist.
Cassandra (19:11):
OK.
Dr. Amy Novotny (19:12):
And then you stabilize your body that way, so
the next day you don't wake upand you're tight, like you would
feel after a massage.
We want you to keep the gainsthat you've received.
So, it's not just working onthe breathing mechanics, but
it's learning how do we changewhat muscles you use to
stabilize you so you don't goahead and tighten back up.
Cassandra (19:34):
Okay, okay, yeah, a little bit.
I guess you know, and I knowyou do.
When you say you do one-on-one,do they have to come to you?
Do you do it virtually, or howdoes that operate?
sure, it's all virtual it's allvirtual, wow, so you can
actually work with people, seethem, see how they are, and
(19:55):
that's amazing.
Well, tell me about.
You have some other techniquesand I'm curious because not only
the pain and the stress, butI'm hearing that even there's so
many people with insomnia.
I'm just shocked how manypeople don't sleep well at night
.
And one of your techniques isthat once you're done, as you
(20:18):
indicate, it's not an overnightthing, but people start sleeping
through the night.
What do you do, like whattechnique do you use to help
people sleep all night?
It's all the same stuff, really.
Dr. Amy Novotny (20:29):
It's no different.
Yep.
So we're teaching them how tocalm down the nervous system and
they use that before they sleep, they go to bed at night and
literally it's the same stuff,you, you, it's no different.
Once you learn how to get yournervous system to calm down, you
feel your body relaxing.
(20:50):
Your body just lets go and youcan sleep better.
And it helps with nightmares,it helps with insomnia, it helps
with that, that brain that justkeeps working on edge and won't
stop going.
It's all of it.
Yeah, all the same stuff.
It's all.
Nervous system work.
Your nervous system affectsevery organ in there that is
(21:10):
amazing.
Cassandra (21:11):
Well, look, I I saw that you use straws and you use
bubbles, and that's why I'm likeis that all part of it?
But what you're saying isreally getting the breathing
straight.
Where do the straws come in?
Where do the bubbles come in,which I used to love to do when
I was younger?
Dr. Amy Novotny (21:31):
that's good, don't stop, okay.
Um, so the straw comes in.
So when I'm going throughchanging people's breathing
mechanics, the straw comes inbecause we're working on getting
them to blow out where there'snot a restriction in their
airway.
So when you blow out, you wantthe air to come out where you're
(21:54):
not creating pressure.
So a lot of times you hearperched lip breathing or they
say, bring your lips togetherand blow out.
I don't like that because itcreates pressure and you can
feel it.
As soon as you do that and youbring your lips together and you
blow out, you can feel pressure.
Pressure start to develop inyour chest.
So I have people use a straw sowhen they blow out, they blow
(22:15):
out and it's like the air justcomes out.
It allows the air just to comeout like an open hose so that
you're not using abnormalmuscles to breathe anymore.
We want the diaphragm, as itgoes up, to push air out, not
you to tighten up your neck,your belly, your shoulders, your
back.
We don't want to tighten upyour neck, your belly, your
(22:37):
shoulders, your back.
We don't want to tighten upareas to exhale.
Our diaphragm works really welland if we give the diaphragm a
chance to work.
It does wonders for us andother areas in our neck and our
back and really learn to startto relax.
Cassandra (22:54):
Wow, you see me trying to blow.
I don't have a straw oranything, but I'm trying to
practice what you're sayingbecause this is really weird.
So you get a straw and you blowin it, and then you breathe and
you exhale.
Dr. Amy Novotny (23:10):
There's more.
You breathe in through yournose, you exhale through the
straw.
There's more to it.
As we go through, I watch yourbody and make sure parts of your
rib cage is going down and inand you can feel like your
collarbones relax down.
You can feel your shouldersdrop down and your belly spills
out, so there's a full onprocess to doing this.
(23:32):
That can do wonders for you.
And then the bubbles are kindof a.
I use them after someone's beenpracticing for a while.
I'll have them practice blowingbubbles because it helps them
get out of their patterns thatthey've been in.
Now, if it's a kid, I'll go tobubbles a little bit earlier on
in the process because theydon't have a lot of stress,
(23:54):
tension that has locked them uplike adults.
So, it's very easy to get a kidto change quickly and just have
them start blowing bubblesright away.
Cassandra (24:05):
Oh, my goodness, this is amazing.
So let's talk about arthritis,perhaps, like as people get
older, and I also remember mymom when she started having
arthritis.
She she would say it's going torain.
And I also remember my mom whenshe started having arthritis.
She would say it's going torain.
And I'm like what she said.
I can feel it in my bones.
(24:25):
My bones ache because I cantell it's going to rain.
So do you do the same thing forarthritis?
Or is arthritis I don't want tosay real, I'm sure it's real
and bursitis and all of that,but does your technique help
with arthritis, or yeah?
Dr. Amy Novotny (24:47):
it does.
So arthritis is really just adegeneration of cartilage, the
covering on bones.
Arthritis doesn't mean pain.
Arthritis is just adegeneration of cartilage.
You can, you can look that up.
You can read all about that.
We often associate arthritiswith pain because anytime you go
(25:09):
to a doctor and you have sometype of joint pain, they often
take an x-ray and then say, oh,you have a degenerate little
tear and tear on these bones.
That's arthritis pain.
And you know they're reallytrying their hardest.
But I don't believe that's thecase.
I say that because I've workedwith people who are bone on bone
(25:32):
, who have been bone on bone foryears, and I've worked with
them to calm down the nervoussystem the same stuff we've been
talking about.
They they do well.
They get the muscles to relax.
They can feel their musclesrelaxing the bone and joint pain
goes away.
Did the arthritis change?
No, the arthritis is stillthere.
The degeneration that is reallywhat arthritis is is still
(25:54):
there.
But the thing is their boneshave changed position because
the muscle stopped pullingabnormally on the bones.
As soon as the muscles stoppulling abnormally, their bones
go back into the normal position.
They can glide and they're fineand they're okay.
They don't need to, don't needto have a joint replacement
injections anymore, because theychanged the position, changed
(26:18):
the nervous system.
Cassandra (26:18):
they're fine wow, um, this is fascinating.
Now I remember so, let's say,because a lot of people I have
friends that had two kneereplacements, hip replacements,
um, and they're, they're, um,they're not old.
I mean it's just weird, it'slike, and they say, well, I
(26:41):
think you probably get it theolder you get.
I'm like, I hope not, you know,um, so what you're saying is,
sometimes people are gettingthese replacements and it's not
necessary, you think absolutely,absolutely.
Dr. Amy Novotny (26:56):
I've worked with many people who've had
replacements and regrettedgetting them.
Cassandra (27:01):
Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny (27:01):
Because it didn't solve their issue.
It really didn't, and so itoften won't.
So you think about a surgerylike a joint replacement.
They're cutting into a lot ofparts of your body to create
space to you back space.
But if the problem was yourjoints were being pulled
(27:23):
abnormally by the muscles?
Surgery doesn't fix that.
It creates space for you, butif your muscles are acting the
same way they did before, it'sstill going to behave that way
on your joints.
Now it might create enoughspace that gives you some
benefit for a period of time,but it may not solve everything.
(27:45):
For some people it does, butfor some people it depends on
the person too.
There are people who want thesurgery.
By all means go get the surgery.
I the no criticism, no judgment.
But there are people who don'twant the surgery and those are
the people that I would love towork with because they just they
(28:07):
don't want that surgery and I'mokay with that.
But again, nothing againstanyone who wants a surgery If
that's their path by all meansI'm happy to support them.
Cassandra (28:18):
How long.
I guess I'm going to asksomething you probably should.
It depends on the person, likehow long you know how you go to
a chiropractor or have physicaltherapy Like I've had back
problems in my life and andthey'll tell me what to do and I
feel great, you know, and Icome home and I do the little
(28:38):
exercises, but I don't continueto do them.
You know I'm like okay, I feelgood, that's it.
So with your methodology ormodality, is it something that
they have to keep doing afteryou, after they go to the
(28:59):
institute, like they can't juststop, they just know the
methodology they have to do inorder to alleviate the pain.
Dr. Amy Novotny (29:08):
Right.
So yes and no, what we're doing, I'm teaching you principles
and getting you to sense yourbody differently, okay, so what
does that mean?
So if I have you do something,cassandra, I want you to feel
what we're doing.
It's not just do an exerciseand off you go, go lift this one
(29:30):
thing and do it five times, forthree parts of five.
It's not that.
It's can I get you to feelsomething with your body.
Once I get you to feelsomething with your body, once I
get you to feel something withyour body, now you own it.
Your body starts to incorporatethat in your daily movement.
(29:54):
So we're working on changing howof you at a basic level.
So the hope is that as youimplement these things, you feel
the change.
So you just start implementingit in your daily life.
So then, once you're done, youcan just feel those things.
And if you can keep feelingthose things, then you're fine
(30:17):
to go.
Just feel those things, and ifyou can keep feeling those
things, then you're fine to go.
If you feel like you forget oryou feel some kind of pain crop
up, you know your body changedand you've lost the sensation of
something.
So I tell people.
Obviously I'd like you to keeppracticing things and depending
on the level of activity you arein your life and that, for some
people say, yeah, you reallyshould be doing something to
(30:39):
this effect, for you know, therest of your life just like
every single day to calm yournervous system every day.
I mean, we shouldn't do it forself care, but on the other hand
, you can just work on sensinghey, can I sense this part of my
body?
Okay, good, so I know my bodycan stay free.
So it's not like a gym program,it's not like a physical
(31:03):
therapy exercise program.
It's different than that.
It's more about sensory and canyou feel your body work a
certain way?
So it stays free.
Cassandra (31:13):
Right, so it so pain, it's just like a fever.
You have a fever, it's likeit's, it's, you have an
infection.
That's what some people saywhen you have a high fever,
infection or something going onin there.
So when you have pain in yourbody, that's a way of saying, of
(31:34):
course, something's wrong withyour body, way of saying, of
course, something's wrong withyour body.
But we talked about, like,protection.
So the pain is because, let youknow, of course, something's
wrong and you know it's yourback or you know it's your
shoulder, um, and so, and likeyou said, like we all get
(31:59):
stressed sometimes, and and youtalked about high achievers, you
know there are certain thingsthat high achievers do and they
and they cramp up.
They're so busy working andthey do this and people, as I
indicated before we startedtalking, is they live with pain,
they think it's just their fate.
(32:21):
You know and I know you don'tbelieve that, yes, yes, right,
right, um, it's just like, uh, aheadache.
If somebody has a headache,what you do can alleviate the
headache too.
Wow, you're like a miracleworker.
Dr. Amy Novotny (32:40):
I just understand how the body works
and and occasionally there arepeople that stump me or it just
takes longer because of thetrauma in their past.
But it's more your bit.
Your pain is a signal from yourbody to your brain that
something is out of position andyour body is asking for help.
So your choices are keep doingthe same thing that you have
(33:04):
been doing and stay with thatpain or whatever that your
body's talking to you about, oryou can change things.
You can change things, andsometimes it's a little bit of a
puzzle, depending on how muchknowledge you have of the body.
But sometimes it's a bit of apuzzle puzzle, depending on how
much knowledge you have of thebody.
But sometimes it's a bit of apuzzle on how do we get the body
to stop having this signal.
(33:25):
Yes, you have to figure out.
Okay, what do I need to change?
for some people it's easier tofigure that out than others, but
that's why I say this is aprocess.
That's why I say I have to lookat your body to see what's
going on, just like anypractitioner will tell you.
No one's going to diagnose youwith anything without taking a
(33:46):
look at you.
Cassandra (33:48):
Okay.
Dr. Amy Novotny (33:49):
Depends on how you're moving.
How you move, how you walk, howyou stand, how you reach, tells
me the state of your nervoussystem.
Stand, how you reach, tells methe state of your nervous system
.
I want to take a peek at it soI can give you all the right
information, so that you knowwhat you have to work on and you
can sense and feel.
But ultimately, your body tellsyou.
It tells you hey, you're notdoing something the way we want
(34:15):
you to do it in order for you tobe pain free.
Are high heels not good forwomen, not good physically and
nervous system wise.
If you want to look good, yes,they make you look good.
Cassandra (34:33):
Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny (34:33):
Not good for your nervous system.
Cassandra (34:35):
No, Wow yeah, because I can't even wear heels anymore
, because if I do my, my lowerback oh my gosh, it's
unbelievable how bad it hurts.
Dr. Amy Novotny (34:47):
Right, exactly.
Your body has gotten to thepoint where it says please stop.
And so the way that your bodyis positioned right now,
cassandra, it's already in aposition where your pelvis is
tipped forward too much and yourlow back muscles are already
overworking.
Putting high heels onexacerbates that condition.
(35:07):
So until your body learns tochange and to reverse kind of
what it's fallen into, thepatterns it's fallen into, I
would recommend not wearing highheels.
That's not to say you can'twear them again in the future if
you can get your body to change.
Cassandra (35:26):
Wow.
Dr. Amy Novotny (35:27):
You could wear them again, and I've had many
women do that.
But it will take some practiceand awareness first to change
your nervous system before.
I would recommend that.
So, dr Amy, what is yourmission?
Well, my mission is to help asmany people as possible out of
(35:53):
surgery.
I want people off medications.
I want them, if they choose tohave surgery, not to have
medications, not to haveprocedures, if that's what
they're looking for.
So many people I've heardregret their surgery that
they've had, and I hate hearingthat.
So, even if someone doesn't workwith me, if they can hear what
(36:15):
I'm saying here on this podcastand other places, it gets them
to change how they do things andgets them to think differently.
I've fulfilled my mission.
I just want to get people tothink differently so they seek
other forms of treatment.
So they pause and look at thetreatment that they are
receiving and say is this reallyaddressing what Amy's talking
(36:39):
about?
Am I changing how I can feelthings so I own my body again?
If not then do somethingdifferent, whether it's work
with me, work with someone elsesomething different, so you stop
repeating the same thing overand over.
Cassandra (36:54):
So the work that you do?
Is there a community of doctorslike you that do what you do
Not?
Dr. Amy Novotny (37:00):
yet.
Not yet I will eventually workon training other people.
Cassandra (37:04):
Oh, wow, that's amazing.
So you are a hot commodity.
I do keep busy.
Yeah, that's amazing.
I want to talk a little bitabout those high achievers.
They have certain habits andyou're not saying all high
(37:26):
achievers are in pain, they'rein fight mode or whatever, but
it's something about highachievers that perhaps do they
have more pain, more stress,more anxiety, do they?
Dr. Amy Novotny (37:37):
have more pain, more stress, more anxiety.
They can Often someone who'shigh achieving they like to be
high achieving in variousaspects of their life physical,
mental, emotional.
How they hold themselvesphysically can often lead to a
lot of pain, stress, anxiety.
I work with a lot ofentrepreneurs and I see that
(38:00):
very much so in that community.
It's not always the case, butit's very, very common, and so I
try to work with people onteaching them ways to relax
their body and their nervoussystem and then getting them to
change their mindset, because alot of them will feel, if they
sit a certain way or if I coachthem to to hold themselves a
(38:20):
certain way, they feel likethey're slouching, they feel
like they're being lazy, eventhough they haven't changed
their work ethic.
They just feel that way becausethey've been trained to believe
something.
Cassandra (38:37):
So I have to do a list.
Dr. Amy Novotny (38:40):
No, not in the sense of that.
I do screen people, so I screeneveryone I work with, because I
want to make sure we're on thesame page, to make sure that, as
we're working, one a persongoing to do the work to make
sure they understand what we'redoing is very different.
(39:01):
So, I will tell people duringthe screening process.
I'll say, yes, this would be agood fit, or no.
Right now this is not the rightfit because it's not what
you're looking for.
And check, check with me later.
Cassandra (39:17):
OK, that's good, that's good, that's good, Wow,
that's great.
The screening process Wow, sowow, I'm just in awe.
What we haven't talked aboutwas anxiety.
A lot of people, depression,anxiety.
(39:38):
I don't know if it's the samething, but you know they're all
tight and you know, I've seenpeople you can tell when they
have anxiety.
So what you're saying is thework that you do now will
mitigate it.
Stop it.
Dr. Amy Novotny (39:53):
It will help with it, depending on what the
person's doing and what's goingon in their life.
It can help people get rid ofit, some people, it helps them
lessen it and they can manage it.
But it depends so much ofanxiety depends on how much a
person is willing to changetheir life.
So anxiety usually shows upafter a long period of keeping a
(40:16):
person's life a certain way,after a long period of keeping a
person's life a certain way.
Now we can change that, but itdepends on how much of a radical
change a person is willing todo.
That's give or take.
You know it's depends on theperson, depends on their
circumstances.
So I can't always promise themoon, because so much is
(40:38):
dependent on is the personreally willing to change their
life?
Cassandra (40:40):
OK.
So when you say change yourlife, it's not just the the body
, is it food?
You know it's kind of like.
Why would they have to changethat?
Why are you saying change theirlife because of the way they
walk, they talk, they sit,exercise?
Dr. Amy Novotny (40:58):
all that, all of it.
It's how they sleep, theposition they sleep, what hours
they go to sleep, how what theyeat, how they carry themselves,
everything that you mentioned.
Physically that matters howmuch they move, how much their
job stresses them out, theirrelationships stress them out.
All of it depends on that,because anxiety often comes from
(41:24):
a chemical change that happensin the body as a result of the
whole entire lifestyle.
So we have to look ateverything and it really is
dependent.
Is the person able and willingto change and do they feel
comfortable changing, or is itgoing to create more stress or
(41:46):
anxiety for them?
It really depends on the person.
Cassandra (41:50):
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
How can people get in touchwith you?
Dr. Amy Novotny (41:56):
Sure, they can go to the website PAPR-b-r
institutecom.
So pain awareness, breathingrelief.
So, p-a-b-r institute, they cansign up their email list.
I have an email blog so I sendout letters to people, tips and
suggestions.
They can reach out for me for afree consultation for that
(42:17):
screening process that I wastalking about yeah, and.
I say that in all love, becauseI don't want to waste someone's
time or money right.
I really don't.
I care about what I do and Iwant to do a good job like.
I really care about doing a goodjob.
So I say that in all love thatI do want to make sure it's a
(42:38):
cry fed.
Cassandra (42:39):
Right, right, and I appreciate that and I appreciate
you with those values.
I think that they're very, veryimportant.
Wow, this is, this isincredible For my listeners.
You know, when I talk about getout of your own way is your way
in your way.
Talk about get out of your ownway is your way in your way, and
(43:01):
many of us it is.
It's just, you know, it's likehow, how, how bad is the pain,
you know, and there's so many ofyou that don't want to take
medication and you're justmedicated taking this, taking
that, taking this, taking sleepmedicine, taking anxiety
medication, oh my gosh, bloodpressure, all of that.
So this Dr Amy has a modality.
(43:23):
I'm calling it a modality.
Hers is very different thanwhat I've ever heard.
And if you're open to it andyou are having that pain, and am
I not mistaken, you don't takeinsurance either.
Is that right?
No, I don't Right, okay.
Okay, so she doesn't takeinsurance, but I have a lot of
entrepreneurs on the phone, andwouldn't it be better to feel
(43:47):
better than buy that dress?
Wouldn't it be better to bebetter than maybe go on that
vacation, which vacations aregood?
It will enable you to relax,but maybe we have to sacrifice
sometimes so that we will notget stuck, because my experience
, like I indicated, I've hadback pain and it's a lot better
(44:09):
than it used to be.
But I used to travel 90% of thetime on a plane and boy oh boy,
sometimes I just couldn't makeit and I could tell my body was
out of line and I didn't reallyknow about the nervous system
stuff, but I'm sure that had alot to do with it.
So I just encourage youlisteners, for those who don't
wanna have surgery, just call DrAmy, email her.
(44:34):
She indicated the consultationis 15 minutes Yep.
15 minutes free, yep.
15 minutes, Yep.
15 minutes, yep 15.
Okay, 15 minutes, 15 minutesfree.
So, dr Amy Novotny, it was mypleasure to talk with you.
I've learned so much and I tellmy listeners if there's
something that Dr Amy shared,please share this podcast and
(44:56):
when you do hit the button thatsays publish, hit the button
that says publish, hit thebutton that says like, and that
way you'll hear more of thesefabulous podcasts.
That is your way, in your way,broadcast.
So again, thank you, dr Amy.
It was my pleasure to meet youand my audience, my listeners.
I always say bye for now.
(45:16):
Thanks again, dr Amy, thank you.
Good day out there to all my listeners and I'd like
to welcome you to Is your Way Inyour Way podcast, and I am your
host, cassandra Crawley Mayo,and I am well for the new
listeners, because I know wehave new listeners.
So let me share a bit aboutwhat this podcast is about.
It's actually about individualsthat are in their way.
(00:23):
I actually wrote a book titledIs your Way In your Way, so I
thought how appropriate it wouldbe to have a podcast titled Is
your Way In your Way, and whatthat's all about are individuals
who are stuck.
It's kind of like you know youwant a new job, you wanna be
promoted, you need to get out ofa relationship, maybe you need
to get over a divorce, I don'tknow.
(00:44):
Maybe you need to get over adivorce, I don't know.
Maybe you need to forgivesomebody.
Maybe, you know, you've justbeen struggling with stress and
pain and you can't figure outhow to get out of it.
Well, those are the things thatwe like to talk about on Is
your Way In your Way, and todaywe talk about like, let me share
.
We talk about topics related topersonal development, also
(01:06):
business development, and alsoit will enable you to do some
self-reflection, and today ourtopic is how to calm your
nervous system, to alleviatepain, stress and anxiety, so you
can go for your dreams.
Imagine that Now, who's notstressed these days?
Right, and who better yet totalk about this is Dr Amy
(01:32):
Novotny.
Well, hello, I'm going to callyou Dr Amy, and thank you so
much for having me on.
Dr. Amy Novotny (01:38):
Absolutely, I'm so glad that you are on.
Cassandra (01:46):
And before we get started and take a deep dive
into I'm calling her Dr Amy Iwant to read a little bit of her
bio so you, as listeners, canunderstand where she's been, who
she is, and just have a pointof reference that will enable us
to move forward with thisinterview.
Dr Amy is the founder of PABRInstitute, and that means pain
(02:13):
awareness, breathing and relief.
She's dedicated to providingnatural relief from pain, stress
and anxiety through her uniqueP-A-B-R method.
She has a unique method withover 12 years of experience in
orthopedics, sports geriatrics,chronic pain and more.
(02:35):
She developed this method toaddress restrictive and painful
conditions without reliance onmedications or surgeries.
Wow, I'm excited about that.
Her work has helped countlessindividuals find freedom from
pain and improve quality of life.
For example, many of you knowRobert Koyosaki.
(02:56):
Everybody knows that name richdad, poor dad.
He had some pain in his hand,so in other words, she talks
about how the body is in aprotection mode when we have so
much pain and stress and all ofthat.
So she has actually co-authoredseveral books that are on
Amazon and Wall Street Journalbestseller.
(03:16):
Outside of her practice, she isan accomplished endurance
athlete and award-winningwildlife photographer.
She speaks French and Spanish.
That has allowed her tocommunicate and help various
clients from all around theworld.
Oh, my goodness.
So, dr Amy, could you explainto my listeners what was life
(03:40):
like before you went abroad?
Dr. Amy Novotny (03:43):
So before I went abroad I lived with my mom
and one of my brothers growingup in Arizona and my mom was
very strict.
She was strict but alsorestrictive.
She did not allow us to do alot of things.
We were in activities, but oncethose activities ended we came
(04:04):
home.
We didn't really have friendsat home.
She tried to control most ofour behavior as best as possible
.
So to say it was hard, itreally was.
But how I coped was I studied.
Cassandra (04:18):
I figured.
Dr. Amy Novotny (04:19):
One thing I could control is I could control
my performance in my academicsor whatever activity I partook
in that she allowed.
I just dove into it and I putall my heart into it.
So my desire to escape wasbased on could I get enough
scholarships, Could I get enoughfunding to be able to go study
(04:44):
abroad?
And that's literally what I did.
Now, right before I went I hadstarted to work and so I was
able to get kind of out of thehouse in that sense.
But then abroad was really myway to expand and get free.
Cassandra (05:01):
Okay, well, tell us about you being able to speak
French and Spanish.
All of that occurred when youwere born.
Dr. Amy Novotny (05:08):
So in school, starting in seventh grade no,
ninth grade, seventh grade Istarted speaking Spanish.
I started taking Spanishclasses.
Then in ninth grade I startedtaking French classes.
So by the time I graduated highschool I was in the AP level
for both French and Spanish.
And so I started college doinga French major and a Spanish
(05:31):
minor, in addition to a biologymajor and math minor.
And so going to study abroad inFrance allowed me to finish a
French major, and I was able tofinish a Spanish minor when I
came back.
Cassandra (05:44):
Oh, wow, Interesting.
So you have done a lot.
You know abroad, your studies,your academics and, if I'm not
mistaken, you were valedictorianin school.
Dr. Amy Novotny (05:58):
I was salutatorian in high school,
valedictorian in my doctoralschool yes.
Cassandra (06:03):
Wow.
So what?
What was it that enabled you topick?
Well, let me ask you this Didyou always know what you wanted
to do?
Dr. Amy Novotny (06:12):
No, not at all Okay.
It just like any other person.
It wavered from marine biologyto veterinarian, to um, I was
going to go into ecology and bea research scientist to ending
up as a physical therapist, thenswitching to nervous system
work.
So that's where I am now as abusiness owner, which I never
thought I would be never,thought I'd be a business owner
(06:36):
that was right.
Cassandra (06:37):
So you went orthopedic.
I mean, you did, did you dosurgeries or what?
Type of work you didn't do that, okay, no.
Dr. Amy Novotny (06:45):
No, no, no.
My doctorate's in physicaltherapy, it's not in surgical
procedures, medicine like that.
Cassandra (06:51):
Okay Now, what tempted you to go in the field
that you are currently in?
Did anything have to do withyour backstory, or where did
that come from ?
You really are on a mission toget have to relieve pain,
stress and anxiety with folks.
Dr. Amy Novotny (07:12):
So my background in physical therapy,
that that led me to where I amright now because, I got the
doctorate in that and I studiedabout the human body.
I was into physics, I was intobiology, so it was a good field
for a little bit but, I,realized that a lot of people
weren't fully healing and a lotof the things were done external
(07:32):
to the body.
There weren't internal changes.
And so at the same time as Iwas studying and practicing and
working with people, I was alsostarting to run and train for
marathons and I was trying toqualify for the Boston marathon.
And so I realized when I wasrunning on the treadmill I'd run
eight miles on the treadmillthree days a week.
(07:53):
For the days that I ran, if Ichanged my bra, my breathing
mechanics and my body position,I could feel my body release
tension and I didn't stretch, Ididn't have to foam roll, I
didn't have to scrape and do allthe things I was telling people
to do as a physical therapistthat you had to do, and I felt
(08:16):
very free.
It just felt good.
So I realized at that point,all the physical therapy stuff I
was teaching people are notalways enough.
And so that's when I startedexploring what is that?
Something else, if I can feelit on myself, how could I put it
into a process to help otherpeople?
And that's what led me to boomwhere I am today.
Cassandra (08:39):
Okay, well, I'm hearing that you have a very
unique process, and tell usabout that.
That's part of your institute,right?
That's why it's called the PainAwareness and Breathing Relief
Institute, so tell us about that.
What happens in that institute?
Dr. Amy Novotny (08:58):
Sure.
So in that I work with peopleone-on-one and I teach them how
to calm down the fight or flightnervous system that ramps us up
.
So in our body we have anautonomic nervous system, one
that either ramps us up and getsus really wound up or we have
the opposite, that calms us down.
And then there's anothersegment of one that helps us
(09:20):
with digestion.
So the fight or flight nervoussystem.
We often hear fight, flight,freeze or even fawn, which is
people pleasing.
So people who are peoplepleasing, they are still in a
heightened state because they'renot in a relaxed state, because
they're trying to accommodateto someone else.
So what I realized is when wework on influencing it and
(09:44):
controlling that and working oncalming the body down, actually
getting the nervous system tostop being overactive, the
muscles in your body start torelease.
Okay, when they release, theycan release their abnormal grip
on your bones and joints, whichcould help with joint pain.
When they release, they canalso release emotions, which can
(10:04):
help with trauma, abuse,anxiety, panic, PTSD.
When they release, they allowour breathing mechanics to
change and how we move our body.
So my work then became abouthow do I get people to learn how
to release the nervous systemso they stop guarding their body
(10:25):
day in, day out for a year,decades on end.
Cassandra (10:30):
Okay, what are some of the let's talk about?
I want to know about some ofthe techniques, because I also
read that you have really helpeda lot of people that somebody
wanted was going to get a kneereplacement and, based on the
work that you did, they didn'thave to get a knee replacement.
(10:50):
I even remember a story of arunner I don't know if he was a
marathon runner or whatever andas soon, I think, as he got to
the finish line, he justcollapsed and you were able to
see the pain in his body and theparamedics came over.
It was just.
It was to me, it was scary.
It was like he was shaking andI mean he it's kind of like I'm
(11:13):
sure he he his nervous system,everything he was tensed up.
Tell us about that and how didyou help him relieve that pain?
Dr. Amy Novotny (11:30):
that and how did you help him relieve that
pain?
Sure, so I was running amarathon.
It was two marathons back toback.
One marathon was done inMichigan, the other one was done
in Wisconsin, and I believethat we did Wisconsin first and
then Michigan, and so we were onthe second marathon and I was
running and there was thisgentleman, beautiful, perfect
specimen of no fat, just perfecttone, Like he looked like a
(11:56):
Kenyan or Ethiopian runner and Idon't mean to be stereotypical,
but he literally looks justlike the top runners in the
world.
And he was running and so atfirst he was running past me
very, very fast because I wasjust going plodding along and
then about mile 23, 24,something like that, I passed
(12:18):
him.
And I was shocked because Icould see he was limping and I
just I felt horrible because heshould, he should have been done
, he should have been flyingthrough that and I never liked
to see someone in pain and notgoing through the experience
that they want to be in.
So I finished the race and thenI was in the finish line waiting
for my cousin to finish as well, and I see this runner coming
(12:43):
through the finish line and heis hobbling through the finish
line and when he stopped moving,his body kind of seized up his
legs, his thighs were seized up,his quads and so they rushed
and got him a wheelchair.
They put him down and he wasgrimacing and you know, crying
out in pain and grabbing hislegs, and you get a lot of
medical staff to come out andhelp him, because sometimes it's
(13:05):
hard at the finish line themedical staff is there to help
you but they're trying to getinformation out of you, but if
you're not really able to speakbecause you're in so much pain,
it's hard to know what to do.
Yeah, yeah.
So I went up to him and I justwhispered in his ears and I said
, can, can I help you, can you?
And he just kind of nodded alittle bit, which was enough for
(13:26):
me to say, okay, go ahead.
I said just listen and followwhat I say.
And so I had my hand gently onhis chest and I said you know,
breathe in.
And I said, when you, when youexhale, I said, just follow my
hand, just let it fall, let yourchest fall under my hand.
And then we did this for 30seconds and there was a little
(13:47):
bit more to it, but we did itfor 30 seconds and then all of a
sudden his eyes popped open andhe's like it's all gone.
It's all gone.
Cassandra (13:54):
Wow.
Dr. Amy Novotny (13:56):
And he jumped.
He just stood up quickly out ofthe wheelchair and he just
looked around and the medicalstaff's like what the heck?
Um why is this guy who's just inexcruciating pain, not able to
communicate, really like, nowall of a sudden is okay?
And the guy said I'm fine, I'mtotally fine.
And he looked at his friendthat was on the other side of
the fence and and his friendsaid, hey, are you okay?
(14:18):
He said, yeah, I'm hungry,let's get food.
And so I just kind of backed upand the guy didn't even realize
that I was there or what hadhappened.
He just realized all of a suddenhe was out of pain and I had
already backed off, so I didn'twant to create a commotion or to
mention who I was, because Iwas waiting for my cousin to
(14:39):
finish and I didn't want to getright here.
Yeah right, oh my gosh yeah,and so basically what we did was
his nervous system has hadoverloaded and his muscles had
gone into spasm, and what weworked on in those few seconds
was just getting his nervoussystem to calm down.
So his muscles stopped anabnormal contraction that was
(15:01):
too much for him and too muchfor his bones and joints, which
causes excruciating pain.
Cassandra (15:07):
Yeah, yeah.
So tell us about this breathing.
I hear that so much, even whenpeople meditate, you know, even
when I work out, I say don'tforget to breathe, breathe in,
hold your your abdomen in andbreathe out and breathe in.
But yet you have sometechniques.
And you know, what I amunderstanding is not that you
(15:30):
don't believe that you don't situp straight and with your
abdomen straight.
You know that this these arethe things that we're told to do
.
Why do you think we should notdo that?
What?
Because, first of all, we'reall.
We all experience stress and alot of people are in pain, some
(15:53):
type of pain, If it's their legs, their knees, their arms, their
back.
What techniques do you use thatare so unique that can mitigate
all that?
Dr. Amy Novotny (16:06):
Right.
So one I reverse how peoplebreathe.
We work on changing what istypically thought of as a normal
way of breathing, which it'snot really a normal way of
breathing, especially's notreally a normal way of breathing
, especially, I mean, I have atoddler right now a baby, and
I've watched him closely.
So when we breathe, we don'twant to breathe where we're
(16:30):
sucking our gut in as we exhale.
We actually want to do theopposite where we exhale and
lower belly spill out.
So what I work on with peopleis a full process of getting
them to change their breathingmechanics so that they don't
breathe in a way that tightensthem up.
We want our breathing to allowus to relax, to calm down.
(16:53):
So that means we have to changea lot about what we do, and
what I'm saying right now meansnot much to a lot of people, but
it does.
It takes time.
It's not like I can just tellyou all the techniques, because
how you have changed yourbreathing, cassandra, is
different from someone else, andhow they've changed their
(17:15):
breathing.
So, what I teach people is Ilook at their body and I see
okay, where is your rib cageposition?
Okay, it's like this so we needto adjust your rib cage position
so it's not high or elevated ortipped, so that we can get your
muscles to work correctly, sothat your diaphragm works the
(17:36):
way it's supposed to do it andair into your lungs.
So it's different for everyone.
So that's why I say it's.
It's not something that is thesame process for everyone, which
is one of the reasons why I dothis with one-on-one on people
is working to try to get them torelease tension in their body,
(17:56):
but I have to do it in a waythat serves them.
Cassandra (17:59):
Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny (18:00):
If I do it in a way that serves one person,
that's great, but it may not bethe same for another person.
Cassandra (18:06):
Okay, okay.
So is it just breathing thatcan mitigate the pain and the
stress?
Is that all you have to do isjust breathe?
Dr. Amy Novotny (18:16):
Nope, we're not just doing a hair kumbaya
breathing it's not breath work.
Cassandra (18:20):
Okay.
Dr. Amy Novotny (18:21):
Changing your breathing mechanics.
We're changing the position ofyour rib cage and how you hold
yourself and how you hold yourpelvis, how you hold your rib
cage, so that your breathingmechanics allow your body to
relax.
Then we have to work onstabilizing you.
So if you're, if you werelearned to relax, let's say you
(18:43):
went to a massage therapist andthey're pounding on you and
you're like, oh, this feels good.
And the next day you wake upand you're like I'm just as
tight as I was because yournervous system didn't change.
You had someone do somethingexternal to you and press on you
, but they didn't really changeyour nervous system.
So what we're doing is saying,OK, let's teach you how to relax
(19:04):
the nervous system so yourelease the muscles yourself
without needing the massagetherapist.
Cassandra (19:11):
OK.
Dr. Amy Novotny (19:12):
And then you stabilize your body that way, so
the next day you don't wake upand you're tight, like you would
feel after a massage.
We want you to keep the gainsthat you've received.
So, it's not just working onthe breathing mechanics, but
it's learning how do we changewhat muscles you use to
stabilize you so you don't goahead and tighten back up.
Cassandra (19:34):
Okay, okay, yeah, a little bit.
I guess you know, and I knowyou do.
When you say you do one-on-one,do they have to come to you?
Do you do it virtually, or howdoes that operate?
sure, it's all virtual it's allvirtual, wow, so you can
actually work with people, seethem, see how they are, and
(19:55):
that's amazing.
Well, tell me about.
You have some other techniquesand I'm curious because not only
the pain and the stress, butI'm hearing that even there's so
many people with insomnia.
I'm just shocked how manypeople don't sleep well at night
.
And one of your techniques isthat once you're done, as you
(20:18):
indicate, it's not an overnightthing, but people start sleeping
through the night.
What do you do, like whattechnique do you use to help
people sleep all night?
It's all the same stuff, really.
Dr. Amy Novotny (20:29):
It's no different.
Yep.
So we're teaching them how tocalm down the nervous system and
they use that before they sleep, they go to bed at night and
literally it's the same stuff,you, you, it's no different.
Once you learn how to get yournervous system to calm down, you
feel your body relaxing.
(20:50):
Your body just lets go and youcan sleep better.
And it helps with nightmares,it helps with insomnia, it helps
with that, that brain that justkeeps working on edge and won't
stop going.
It's all of it.
Yeah, all the same stuff.
It's all.
Nervous system work.
Your nervous system affectsevery organ in there that is
(21:10):
amazing.
Cassandra (21:11):
Well, look, I I saw that you use straws and you use
bubbles, and that's why I'm likeis that all part of it?
But what you're saying isreally getting the breathing
straight.
Where do the straws come in?
Where do the bubbles come in,which I used to love to do when
I was younger?
Dr. Amy Novotny (21:31):
that's good, don't stop, okay.
Um, so the straw comes in.
So when I'm going throughchanging people's breathing
mechanics, the straw comes inbecause we're working on getting
them to blow out where there'snot a restriction in their
airway.
So when you blow out, you wantthe air to come out where you're
(21:54):
not creating pressure.
So a lot of times you hearperched lip breathing or they
say, bring your lips togetherand blow out.
I don't like that because itcreates pressure and you can
feel it.
As soon as you do that and youbring your lips together and you
blow out, you can feel pressure.
Pressure start to develop inyour chest.
So I have people use a straw sowhen they blow out, they blow
(22:15):
out and it's like the air justcomes out.
It allows the air just to comeout like an open hose so that
you're not using abnormalmuscles to breathe anymore.
We want the diaphragm, as itgoes up, to push air out, not
you to tighten up your neck,your belly, your shoulders, your
back.
We don't want to tighten upyour neck, your belly, your
(22:37):
shoulders, your back.
We don't want to tighten upareas to exhale.
Our diaphragm works really welland if we give the diaphragm a
chance to work.
It does wonders for us andother areas in our neck and our
back and really learn to startto relax.
Cassandra (22:54):
Wow, you see me trying to blow.
I don't have a straw oranything, but I'm trying to
practice what you're sayingbecause this is really weird.
So you get a straw and you blowin it, and then you breathe and
you exhale.
Dr. Amy Novotny (23:10):
There's more.
You breathe in through yournose, you exhale through the
straw.
There's more to it.
As we go through, I watch yourbody and make sure parts of your
rib cage is going down and inand you can feel like your
collarbones relax down.
You can feel your shouldersdrop down and your belly spills
out, so there's a full onprocess to doing this.
(23:32):
That can do wonders for you.
And then the bubbles are kindof a.
I use them after someone's beenpracticing for a while.
I'll have them practice blowingbubbles because it helps them
get out of their patterns thatthey've been in.
Now, if it's a kid, I'll go tobubbles a little bit earlier on
in the process because theydon't have a lot of stress,
(23:54):
tension that has locked them uplike adults.
So, it's very easy to get a kidto change quickly and just have
them start blowing bubblesright away.
Cassandra (24:05):
Oh, my goodness, this is amazing.
So let's talk about arthritis,perhaps, like as people get
older, and I also remember mymom when she started having
arthritis.
She she would say it's going torain.
And I also remember my mom whenshe started having arthritis.
She would say it's going torain.
And I'm like what she said.
I can feel it in my bones.
(24:25):
My bones ache because I cantell it's going to rain.
So do you do the same thing forarthritis?
Or is arthritis I don't want tosay real, I'm sure it's real
and bursitis and all of that,but does your technique help
with arthritis, or yeah?
Dr. Amy Novotny (24:47):
it does.
So arthritis is really just adegeneration of cartilage, the
covering on bones.
Arthritis doesn't mean pain.
Arthritis is just adegeneration of cartilage.
You can, you can look that up.
You can read all about that.
We often associate arthritiswith pain because anytime you go
(25:09):
to a doctor and you have sometype of joint pain, they often
take an x-ray and then say, oh,you have a degenerate little
tear and tear on these bones.
That's arthritis pain.
And you know they're reallytrying their hardest.
But I don't believe that's thecase.
I say that because I've workedwith people who are bone on bone
(25:32):
, who have been bone on bone foryears, and I've worked with
them to calm down the nervoussystem the same stuff we've been
talking about.
They they do well.
They get the muscles to relax.
They can feel their musclesrelaxing the bone and joint pain
goes away.
Did the arthritis change?
No, the arthritis is stillthere.
The degeneration that is reallywhat arthritis is is still
(25:54):
there.
But the thing is their boneshave changed position because
the muscle stopped pullingabnormally on the bones.
As soon as the muscles stoppulling abnormally, their bones
go back into the normal position.
They can glide and they're fineand they're okay.
They don't need to, don't needto have a joint replacement
injections anymore, because theychanged the position, changed
(26:18):
the nervous system.
Cassandra (26:18):
they're fine wow, um, this is fascinating.
Now I remember so, let's say,because a lot of people I have
friends that had two kneereplacements, hip replacements,
um, and they're, they're, um,they're not old.
I mean it's just weird, it'slike, and they say, well, I
(26:41):
think you probably get it theolder you get.
I'm like, I hope not, you know,um, so what you're saying is,
sometimes people are gettingthese replacements and it's not
necessary, you think absolutely,absolutely.
Dr. Amy Novotny (26:56):
I've worked with many people who've had
replacements and regrettedgetting them.
Cassandra (27:01):
Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny (27:01):
Because it didn't solve their issue.
It really didn't, and so itoften won't.
So you think about a surgerylike a joint replacement.
They're cutting into a lot ofparts of your body to create
space to you back space.
But if the problem was yourjoints were being pulled
(27:23):
abnormally by the muscles?
Surgery doesn't fix that.
It creates space for you, butif your muscles are acting the
same way they did before, it'sstill going to behave that way
on your joints.
Now it might create enoughspace that gives you some
benefit for a period of time,but it may not solve everything.
(27:45):
For some people it does, butfor some people it depends on
the person too.
There are people who want thesurgery.
By all means go get the surgery.
I the no criticism, no judgment.
But there are people who don'twant the surgery and those are
the people that I would love towork with because they just they
(28:07):
don't want that surgery and I'mokay with that.
But again, nothing againstanyone who wants a surgery If
that's their path by all meansI'm happy to support them.
Cassandra (28:18):
How long.
I guess I'm going to asksomething you probably should.
It depends on the person, likehow long you know how you go to
a chiropractor or have physicaltherapy Like I've had back
problems in my life and andthey'll tell me what to do and I
feel great, you know, and Icome home and I do the little
(28:38):
exercises, but I don't continueto do them.
You know I'm like okay, I feelgood, that's it.
So with your methodology ormodality, is it something that
they have to keep doing afteryou, after they go to the
(28:59):
institute, like they can't juststop, they just know the
methodology they have to do inorder to alleviate the pain.
Dr. Amy Novotny (29:08):
Right.
So yes and no, what we're doing, I'm teaching you principles
and getting you to sense yourbody differently, okay, so what
does that mean?
So if I have you do something,cassandra, I want you to feel
what we're doing.
It's not just do an exerciseand off you go, go lift this one
(29:30):
thing and do it five times, forthree parts of five.
It's not that.
It's can I get you to feelsomething with your body.
Once I get you to feelsomething with your body, once I
get you to feel something withyour body, now you own it.
Your body starts to incorporatethat in your daily movement.
(29:54):
So we're working on changing howof you at a basic level.
So the hope is that as youimplement these things, you feel
the change.
So you just start implementingit in your daily life.
So then, once you're done, youcan just feel those things.
And if you can keep feelingthose things, then you're fine
(30:17):
to go.
Just feel those things, and ifyou can keep feeling those
things, then you're fine to go.
If you feel like you forget oryou feel some kind of pain crop
up, you know your body changedand you've lost the sensation of
something.
So I tell people.
Obviously I'd like you to keeppracticing things and depending
on the level of activity you arein your life and that, for some
people say, yeah, you reallyshould be doing something to
(30:39):
this effect, for you know, therest of your life just like
every single day to calm yournervous system every day.
I mean, we shouldn't do it forself care, but on the other hand
, you can just work on sensinghey, can I sense this part of my
body?
Okay, good, so I know my bodycan stay free.
So it's not like a gym program,it's not like a physical
(31:03):
therapy exercise program.
It's different than that.
It's more about sensory and canyou feel your body work a
certain way?
So it stays free.
Cassandra (31:13):
Right, so it so pain, it's just like a fever.
You have a fever, it's likeit's, it's, you have an
infection.
That's what some people saywhen you have a high fever,
infection or something going onin there.
So when you have pain in yourbody, that's a way of saying, of
(31:34):
course, something's wrong withyour body, way of saying, of
course, something's wrong withyour body.
But we talked about, like,protection.
So the pain is because, let youknow, of course, something's
wrong and you know it's yourback or you know it's your
shoulder, um, and so, and likeyou said, like we all get
(31:59):
stressed sometimes, and and youtalked about high achievers, you
know there are certain thingsthat high achievers do and they
and they cramp up.
They're so busy working andthey do this and people, as I
indicated before we startedtalking, is they live with pain,
they think it's just their fate.
(32:21):
You know and I know you don'tbelieve that, yes, yes, right,
right, um, it's just like, uh, aheadache.
If somebody has a headache,what you do can alleviate the
headache too.
Wow, you're like a miracleworker.
Dr. Amy Novotny (32:40):
I just understand how the body works
and and occasionally there arepeople that stump me or it just
takes longer because of thetrauma in their past.
But it's more your bit.
Your pain is a signal from yourbody to your brain that
something is out of position andyour body is asking for help.
So your choices are keep doingthe same thing that you have
(33:04):
been doing and stay with thatpain or whatever that your
body's talking to you about, oryou can change things.
You can change things, andsometimes it's a little bit of a
puzzle, depending on how muchknowledge you have of the body.
But sometimes it's a bit of apuzzle puzzle, depending on how
much knowledge you have of thebody.
But sometimes it's a bit of apuzzle on how do we get the body
to stop having this signal.
(33:25):
Yes, you have to figure out.
Okay, what do I need to change?
for some people it's easier tofigure that out than others, but
that's why I say this is aprocess.
That's why I say I have to lookat your body to see what's
going on, just like anypractitioner will tell you.
No one's going to diagnose youwith anything without taking a
(33:46):
look at you.
Cassandra (33:48):
Okay.
Dr. Amy Novotny (33:49):
Depends on how you're moving.
How you move, how you walk, howyou stand, how you reach, tells
me the state of your nervoussystem.
Stand, how you reach, tells methe state of your nervous system
.
I want to take a peek at it soI can give you all the right
information, so that you knowwhat you have to work on and you
can sense and feel.
But ultimately, your body tellsyou.
It tells you hey, you're notdoing something the way we want
(34:15):
you to do it in order for you tobe pain free.
Are high heels not good forwomen, not good physically and
nervous system wise.
If you want to look good, yes,they make you look good.
Cassandra (34:33):
Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny (34:33):
Not good for your nervous system.
Cassandra (34:35):
No, Wow yeah, because I can't even wear heels anymore
, because if I do my, my lowerback oh my gosh, it's
unbelievable how bad it hurts.
Dr. Amy Novotny (34:47):
Right, exactly.
Your body has gotten to thepoint where it says please stop.
And so the way that your bodyis positioned right now,
cassandra, it's already in aposition where your pelvis is
tipped forward too much and yourlow back muscles are already
overworking.
Putting high heels onexacerbates that condition.
(35:07):
So until your body learns tochange and to reverse kind of
what it's fallen into, thepatterns it's fallen into, I
would recommend not wearing highheels.
That's not to say you can'twear them again in the future if
you can get your body to change.
Cassandra (35:26):
Wow.
Dr. Amy Novotny (35:27):
You could wear them again, and I've had many
women do that.
But it will take some practiceand awareness first to change
your nervous system before.
I would recommend that.
So, dr Amy, what is yourmission?
Well, my mission is to help asmany people as possible out of
(35:53):
surgery.
I want people off medications.
I want them, if they choose tohave surgery, not to have
medications, not to haveprocedures, if that's what
they're looking for.
So many people I've heardregret their surgery that
they've had, and I hate hearingthat.
So, even if someone doesn't workwith me, if they can hear what
(36:15):
I'm saying here on this podcastand other places, it gets them
to change how they do things andgets them to think differently.
I've fulfilled my mission.
I just want to get people tothink differently so they seek
other forms of treatment.
So they pause and look at thetreatment that they are
receiving and say is this reallyaddressing what Amy's talking
(36:39):
about?
Am I changing how I can feelthings so I own my body again?
If not then do somethingdifferent, whether it's work
with me, work with someone elsesomething different, so you stop
repeating the same thing overand over.
Cassandra (36:54):
So the work that you do?
Is there a community of doctorslike you that do what you do
Not?
Dr. Amy Novotny (37:00):
yet.
Not yet I will eventually workon training other people.
Cassandra (37:04):
Oh, wow, that's amazing.
So you are a hot commodity.
I do keep busy.
Yeah, that's amazing.
I want to talk a little bitabout those high achievers.
They have certain habits andyou're not saying all high
(37:26):
achievers are in pain, they'rein fight mode or whatever, but
it's something about highachievers that perhaps do they
have more pain, more stress,more anxiety, do they?
Dr. Amy Novotny (37:37):
have more pain, more stress, more anxiety.
They can Often someone who'shigh achieving they like to be
high achieving in variousaspects of their life physical,
mental, emotional.
How they hold themselvesphysically can often lead to a
lot of pain, stress, anxiety.
I work with a lot ofentrepreneurs and I see that
(38:00):
very much so in that community.
It's not always the case, butit's very, very common, and so I
try to work with people onteaching them ways to relax
their body and their nervoussystem and then getting them to
change their mindset, because alot of them will feel, if they
sit a certain way or if I coachthem to to hold themselves a
(38:20):
certain way, they feel likethey're slouching, they feel
like they're being lazy, eventhough they haven't changed
their work ethic.
They just feel that way becausethey've been trained to believe
something.
Cassandra (38:37):
So I have to do a list.
Dr. Amy Novotny (38:40):
No, not in the sense of that.
I do screen people, so I screeneveryone I work with, because I
want to make sure we're on thesame page, to make sure that, as
we're working, one a persongoing to do the work to make
sure they understand what we'redoing is very different.
(39:01):
So, I will tell people duringthe screening process.
I'll say, yes, this would be agood fit, or no.
Right now this is not the rightfit because it's not what
you're looking for.
And check, check with me later.
Cassandra (39:17):
OK, that's good, that's good, that's good, Wow,
that's great.
The screening process Wow, sowow, I'm just in awe.
What we haven't talked aboutwas anxiety.
A lot of people, depression,anxiety.
(39:38):
I don't know if it's the samething, but you know they're all
tight and you know, I've seenpeople you can tell when they
have anxiety.
So what you're saying is thework that you do now will
mitigate it.
Stop it.
Dr. Amy Novotny (39:53):
It will help with it, depending on what the
person's doing and what's goingon in their life.
It can help people get rid ofit, some people, it helps them
lessen it and they can manage it.
But it depends so much ofanxiety depends on how much a
person is willing to changetheir life.
So anxiety usually shows upafter a long period of keeping a
(40:16):
person's life a certain way,after a long period of keeping a
person's life a certain way.
Now we can change that, but itdepends on how much of a radical
change a person is willing todo.
That's give or take.
You know it's depends on theperson, depends on their
circumstances.
So I can't always promise themoon, because so much is
(40:38):
dependent on is the personreally willing to change their
life?
Cassandra (40:40):
OK.
So when you say change yourlife, it's not just the the body
, is it food?
You know it's kind of like.
Why would they have to changethat?
Why are you saying change theirlife because of the way they
walk, they talk, they sit,exercise?
Dr. Amy Novotny (40:58):
all that, all of it.
It's how they sleep, theposition they sleep, what hours
they go to sleep, how what theyeat, how they carry themselves,
everything that you mentioned.
Physically that matters howmuch they move, how much their
job stresses them out, theirrelationships stress them out.
All of it depends on that,because anxiety often comes from
(41:24):
a chemical change that happensin the body as a result of the
whole entire lifestyle.
So we have to look ateverything and it really is
dependent.
Is the person able and willingto change and do they feel
comfortable changing, or is itgoing to create more stress or
(41:46):
anxiety for them?
It really depends on the person.
Cassandra (41:50):
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
How can people get in touchwith you?
Dr. Amy Novotny (41:56):
Sure, they can go to the website PAPR-b-r
institutecom.
So pain awareness, breathingrelief.
So, p-a-b-r institute, they cansign up their email list.
I have an email blog so I sendout letters to people, tips and
suggestions.
They can reach out for me for afree consultation for that
(42:17):
screening process that I wastalking about yeah, and.
I say that in all love, becauseI don't want to waste someone's
time or money right.
I really don't.
I care about what I do and Iwant to do a good job like.
I really care about doing a goodjob.
So I say that in all love thatI do want to make sure it's a
(42:38):
cry fed.
Cassandra (42:39):
Right, right, and I appreciate that and I appreciate
you with those values.
I think that they're very, veryimportant.
Wow, this is, this isincredible For my listeners.
You know, when I talk about getout of your own way is your way
in your way.
Talk about get out of your ownway is your way in your way, and
(43:01):
many of us it is.
It's just, you know, it's likehow, how, how bad is the pain,
you know, and there's so many ofyou that don't want to take
medication and you're justmedicated taking this, taking
that, taking this, taking sleepmedicine, taking anxiety
medication, oh my gosh, bloodpressure, all of that.
So this Dr Amy has a modality.
(43:23):
I'm calling it a modality.
Hers is very different thanwhat I've ever heard.
And if you're open to it andyou are having that pain, and am
I not mistaken, you don't takeinsurance either.
Is that right?
No, I don't Right, okay.
Okay, so she doesn't takeinsurance, but I have a lot of
entrepreneurs on the phone, andwouldn't it be better to feel
(43:47):
better than buy that dress?
Wouldn't it be better to bebetter than maybe go on that
vacation, which vacations aregood?
It will enable you to relax,but maybe we have to sacrifice
sometimes so that we will notget stuck, because my experience
, like I indicated, I've hadback pain and it's a lot better
(44:09):
than it used to be.
But I used to travel 90% of thetime on a plane and boy oh boy,
sometimes I just couldn't makeit and I could tell my body was
out of line and I didn't reallyknow about the nervous system
stuff, but I'm sure that had alot to do with it.
So I just encourage youlisteners, for those who don't
wanna have surgery, just call DrAmy, email her.
(44:34):
She indicated the consultationis 15 minutes Yep.
15 minutes free, yep.
15 minutes, Yep.
15 minutes, yep 15.
Okay, 15 minutes, 15 minutesfree.
So, dr Amy Novotny, it was mypleasure to talk with you.
I've learned so much and I tellmy listeners if there's
something that Dr Amy shared,please share this podcast and
(44:56):
when you do hit the button thatsays publish, hit the button
that says publish, hit thebutton that says like, and that
way you'll hear more of thesefabulous podcasts.
That is your way, in your way,broadcast.
So again, thank you, dr Amy.
It was my pleasure to meet youand my audience, my listeners.
I always say bye for now.
(45:16):
Thanks again, dr Amy, thank you.
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