December 22, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of Raising Wild Hearts, Ryann Watkin sits down with chiropractor and nervous system educator Dr. Kristina Guerriero, founder of StillPoint, to explore how true healing happens when the body feels safe.
➳ Join Dr. Kristi's Resilience Reset for Free with Code WILDHEARTSVIP
Together, they unpack what neural tension really is, how living in survival mode impacts our emotions, creativity, and physical health, and why slow, subtle nervous system work often creates the deepest and most lasting change. This conversation is especially for overwhelmed moms, recovering perfectionists, and anyone feeling stretched too thin — a grounded reminder that healing doesn’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful.
Topics we cover:
• Nervous system regulation
• Neural tension + stress
• Healing through safety and stillness
• Motherhood, capacity, and overwhelm
• Gentle chiropractic & tonal work
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryann (00:01):
Welcome back to Raising Wild Hearts.
This is episode 142.
I'm Ryan Watkin, and aroundhere, we believe we can change
the world by starting at home inour own minds and hearts.
This show is really abouttransforming from the inside
out, and today we are doing justthat.
I am joined by Dr.
(00:21):
Christina Guerriero.
Was that right?
Yep, that's right.
Okay, a chiropractor, nervoussystem educator, and founder of
Still Point.
Dr.
Christy's work is rooted in asimple belief.
The body already knows how toheal when we give it the right
conditions.
So today we're going to bediving into neural tension,
(00:42):
nervous system regulation, andwhy slow, subtle healing often
creates the deepest change.
Dr.
Christy, I'm so glad you'rehere.
Dr. Kristi (00:51):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to talk to youabout all of this.
Ryann (00:55):
Yeah, me too.
So it's crazy.
My podcast app that I record onjust spit out my most popular
word for 2025.
And I posted like a cute littlefunny reel on Instagram of a
montage of my guests and Isaying the word body, body,
body, body, body, body.
That was my most used word for2025.
(01:17):
And I was like, just found thisout today.
Thank you, universe, becausethis is like the perfect way to
kick this off.
It feels like no matter wherethe conversation starts, no
matter what it's about, it allcomes back around to what is
inside of us, whether it's ourrelationships, our career, like
(01:39):
anything.
It all really starts with us.
And so I feel like that'sreally the perfect place to
start with you, Dr.
Christy.
You say on your website, StillPoint was born out of personal
experience, watching my ownfamily walk through addiction,
recovery, and physical pain, andrealizing how much people carry
in their bodies that forcealone can't fix.
(02:01):
Uh, you said you saw firsthand,even with good care, people
still got stuck in cycles ofpain, anxiety, and burnout, and
that this is a new kind ofchiropractic experience, gentle,
specific, and grounded in thebelief that real change happens
in safety and stillness.
And I just, when I read that, Iwas like, yes, like it really
(02:23):
made my nervous system just calmdown like 10% more.
And for somebody though, who'smaybe hearing that sentence,
your body already knows how toheal.
What would you say to thatperson who might be hearing that
sentence for the first time andwho's like, really?
What?
Dr. Kristi (02:40):
Yeah, I think that we're taught in our society that
there's something wrong with usinnately.
Um, you know, I don't want tokind of bash any other
professions or any of that kindof thing, but the message is
that there are conditions withinus that need to be fixed,
whether that's throughmedication, surgery, therapy,
you name it.
(03:01):
So this type of care is sopersonal and so important to me
because it's empowering for us.
It puts the power back in ourown hands rather than having to
rely on an outside practitioneror source in order for us to get
healing from that.
Ryann (03:18):
Yeah, that's big.
I mean, it's interesting.
I think it's coming at us fromall angles in the culture from
school to family life to you,we're just taught like seek
outside yourself for more stuff,more answers.
Like, you know, the other day Ilike DM'd some like, and this
(03:39):
is embarrassing to say, I likeDM'd an influencer on Instagram
and it was like basically liketell me what I should do.
And I thought about it like 20minutes later.
I'm like, why am I asking thisperson on Instagram about my
life who has no idea about me?
Dr. Kristi (03:53):
Yeah.
Ryann (03:53):
And it was interesting.
That question was aboutbalancing career and motherhood
and being able to really, Iguess, hold those both, like in
the way that I want to.
So when I envision myself likebeing a mom, like you see me be
a mom, like our kids go to thesame school.
Like I, it's one of the most,if not the most important
(04:16):
aspects of my life, likemothering and the way I show up
for my kids.
And then, you know, my career.
Like I love my work, I lovethis show.
I'm growing.
I I want to grow.
You know, there's so much moreI want to do in this life,
career-wise.
And I get stuck in this like,how am I gonna have the capacity
to hold both?
(04:37):
This is like a nervous systemcapacity issue, I feel for me,
in that it doesn't actually feelsafe to hold them both.
So let's talk about safety inthe body.
Dr. Kristi (04:52):
Yeah, well, I wanted to start off by saying
there's absolutely nothing wrongwith asking questions to other
people.
I mean, that's how we learn.
So it's even though you ask,like, what do I do in this
situation?
It's okay to gather as muchinformation as you can and then
decide from there, like, thenkind of go inside of yourself,
center yourself, give yourselfto like these are my options,
(05:14):
and then kind of choose likewhat path works best for you.
You know, like I think it'samazing.
You know, I went through yearsand years of school gathering
information, and then I get outand practice and I have to
figure it out for myself.
You know, it's like you createthis tool belt for yourself.
And we do the same thing inchiropractic with adjusting
techniques.
We create this toolbox forourselves and we're able to pull
(05:35):
from that with whatever patientsituation presents to us.
It gives us a variety ofoptions, which helps you make
the decision for yourself what'swhat works best in your
specific situation.
So shifting gears to yoursecond part of what you said is
if you're my patient and you'recoming in super strung out,
overwhelmed, there's too muchgoing around you.
My job specifically with what Ido isn't necessarily talking
(05:59):
patients through their problems,although I do listen because it
does paint a picture for mewith what they're going through.
My job is to see how theirnervous system presents itself
to me in that moment.
So when I get somebody on thetable, I'm not only looking at
different cues that the body ispresenting, like muscle tension,
heel tension is something thatI check in the feet.
(06:21):
It actually is like a it's areflection of what's going on in
the central nervous system.
But I'm also looking at the waythe breath is moving through
the body because you mentionedthe words, you feel stuck like
there's too much going on andyou don't really know which
direction to go.
I can actually see thatreflected when the breath isn't
necessarily moving fully throughthe body.
(06:43):
So it that's giving me a cueinto where I need to potentially
make an adjustment in thesystem to help your body achieve
this eased state.
Like one thing that I talk alot about is accessing ease in
your body.
Because what you're talkingabout is like overwhelm,
(07:03):
difficulty, strain.
And we want to start to peelback the layers of everything
that's added on, added on, addedon over the years in order to
get back to this almost likeit's like a baseline.
Like we were born at ease.
You know, obviously everybodygoes goes through trauma in
their life, birth trauma, adulttrauma, you name it.
(07:24):
But we're designed to feel thatease.
And that ease is the stillpoint, which is why I named my
business that word, because thatis the moment where the body
can finally take a deep breath,fully expand into all the
tissues and release.
So that's my goal with care.
And that's people that comeinto me and talking about the
(07:45):
same situations that you'veexperienced.
I'm able to work with theirsystem in that moment to help
them release.
And it's from that point ofclarity that you can then move
forward with your life and makedecisions, you know, difficult
decisions about your career andyour family, and learn how to
balance that for yourself.
Right.
Ryann (08:05):
So then the question becomes a smaller question of
hmm, what do I want my weeks ordays to look like?
Not like, what am I gonna dowith my life?
It's like, what am I gonna doon Tuesday morning?
It's like one foot in front ofthe other.
And actually, that's been apattern of mine.
(08:26):
And I sense myself doing thislike in those really busy
seasons, which is kind of likeall the time for me right now.
But I'm doing like, okay, sonext Thursday, I have this,
that, and this.
And what am I gonna make fordinner?
And I have these like 17 likechecklists, like I'm doing
mental gymnastics in my head.
And what I notice is thatreally creates tension because
(08:50):
my body's going, like, I can'thandle all this.
We're like, we're here rightnow doing one thing, and you're
like, you know, thinking of 17other things, and it might not
even be like that stressful.
It might not even be somethingthat's bad.
It's just that I'm up here inmy brain, like hamster wheeling
(09:10):
about the next and the next andthe next thing.
And so, you know, I love that.
I love that the name of yourcompany is still point, first of
all, because when you adjustedme, I told you I was like, I
feel high, not like like drugsand alcohol high, because that
hasn't been for years, but likeyoga high.
(09:30):
Like I feel high on life rightnow.
I felt so calm.
And I was not expecting that atall.
Like I have had chiropracticcare and not felt like that
after.
So can you speak to that almostlike euphoria and that that I
guess still point that I wasfeeling after you adjusted me?
Dr. Kristi (09:52):
Yeah, that feeling is the goal of the adjustment.
I mean, it's you know, I heardsomeone say recently the
adjustment truly begins when youget off the table.
So not every person I adjust isgonna feel that in that moment.
But I love hearing that you saythat you felt that.
You know, not everybody is asperceptive as well.
So they might have thatsensation, but they don't really
(10:13):
know yet how to tap into that.
What I'm looking to do witheach person is help them and
help their body learn safety,which is what you're saying.
And sometimes it takes a littlebit longer for others than it
might for you, because you'vedone a lot of body work, you've
done meditation, you've doneyoga.
Um, all of those things helpyou learn how to reorganize on
(10:37):
your own, basically, to helppeel back the layers of stress
and overwhelm.
So if I'm seeing somebodythat's never done that work
before, it can take a little bitlonger.
But that's that feeling thatyou're talking about is it is
the still point.
It is that moment of ease thatyou want to be able to access.
Um, and like I said earlier,it's that it's from there that
you can start to really, youknow, start shifting in your
(11:01):
life, whether that's like makingdecisions or whether that's
relating to your family membersin a more positive, constructive
way, whether that's performingbetter in athletics or, you
know, communicating and teachingin your job.
You know, it can, it canmanifest in so many different
ways, but it's impossible toheal and thrive when you're in
(11:22):
the fight or flight phase ofyour nervous system, like when
you're in that overwhelmedstate.
It's impossible for your bodyto, you know, expand and access
the abundance that we'reinherently designed to be able
to access when you're in thatstressed out state.
So yeah, bottom line is my goalis to is to help your body
(11:43):
access that feeling on its own.
Absolutely.
Ryann (11:47):
So what I'm hearing you say is like that's the baseline.
Like that feeling of likecomplete ease, complete calm,
like that is actually thebaseline.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's so cool.
And it might be shocking tosome people, including myself,
because we do kind of run onautopilot, many of us.
And so when we slow down enoughto feel or perceive that, that
(12:10):
sense of calmness or stillness,it's like, oh my God, this is
it.
This is what's available to me.
This morning I left yoga, andso we had, you know, this
amazing class, and then we didthis amazing meditation, and
everybody, there's like 10people in the class, and we all
just feel like, oh, you know,there's like angels singing, and
we were at that place.
(12:31):
And our yoga teacher said, thereal work is now to go out, and
you know, we're in likeChristmas and Hanukkah season
here, and like when you're inWalmart in two hours from now,
like stay in that place.
Like that's the work.
And do you think we can trainour bodies with, you know,
(12:52):
gentle chiropractic care andyoga or meditate meditation or
different modalities to be ableto see what's available to us
and then choose that more?
Do you think then it comes downto like a choice in a
day-to-day situation?
Dr. Kristi (13:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I think the the bestway to be able to do that is by
utilizing the breath becausebreath is life.
Your breath is the only humanfunction that can be
involuntary, which means ithappens on its own, or also
voluntary where you can directit yourself.
Um, it's a magical tool that wehave available to us.
(13:30):
And I would say that whenyou're in a situation where
you're reactive or you couldpotentially be reactive or
annoyed or frustrated, is toclose your eyes and use your
breath to direct it into all thedifferent parts of your body,
especially if there's an area ofyour body where you hold
stress, direct the breath intothat area and do I, you know,
there's a bunch of differentbreathing techniques, but one of
(13:53):
the easiest ones that's easy tovisualize is box breathing,
which I know you probably haveheard of.
So inhale for four, hold forfour, exhale for four, hold for
four.
And you just visualize thesquare and you just do that when
you're in in that position.
If you're able to, I mean,obviously we have different
situations, like you're in themiddle of Walmart, it might be
difficult to do that in thatmoment, but even doing it a
(14:16):
couple cycles of that can helpcalm your nervous system down
and help us not be so reactive.
So I would say that the besttool we have when you're not
with a practitioner or you'renot in yoga is to use the tools
that your body already hasavailable and the breath is the
best thing for that, in myopinion.
Ryann (14:33):
Yeah, I agree with you for sure.
It was one of the first thingsI learned to do when I got into
personal development.
Actually, even before I gotinto personal development, I was
like, it was like one of myfirst yoga classes.
It was in my early 20s.
I still had a lot of work todo.
I would still be like on thispersonal growth journey for a
long time.
But it was one of thebreadcrumbs.
And I remember this yogateacher sitting up there.
(14:54):
She had this like, you know,halo around her.
I just thought she was likethis golden goddess.
And she's like, you know, Inever hit red lights.
I never like she's talkingabout her life, and I'm like, oh
my God, is this woman serious?
But as I really like learned alittle bit about the modality of
just simply breathing, my lifereally did start to shift.
(15:16):
It shifted slowly, but I agreewith you on the breath.
So let's get into the weeds.
Like, what are some signs thatsomebody is carrying neural
tension?
You talk a lot about neuraltension.
How do we know if we have that?
Or do we just assume, likebecause we're in 2025 slash 2026
(15:37):
society, that we do have it?
Dr. Kristi (15:39):
Yeah.
You know, yes, you can prettymuch just assume that you have
it, but I'm gonna give youtangible ways to know because,
you know, I don't like answerslike everybody has it, you know,
like I don't really like that.
So I'm gonna bring up symptomsor scenarios that people have
talked to me specifically about.
Okay.
So one of them that I'm hearinga lot right now is reactivity.
(16:00):
So if you're with your familyand you're getting easily
frustrated, you're yelling atyour family when you don't
really want to.
I mean, it's just that reactivestate, you know, you're not,
you're not operating from aplace of like understanding and
compassion, you're like done.
You know, that's a that's likea hot clue that you are
experiencing neural tension.
Neural tension is at a deeperlevel, but that's a that's a
(16:24):
good sign.
Brain fog is another one whereyou're not able to think
clearly.
Attention issues where you'renot able to focus on something
for a long period of time, thatkind of goes in with a little
bit with brain fog as well.
I mean, we can go down theline.
Digestive issues, skin issues.
There's so many that I feellike I'm not even.
Um, your immune system isstruggling.
(16:44):
That can also be neuraltension.
Muscle tension is a very largeclue.
Muscle tension is interestingbecause what the body, so the
body is extremely smart.
It's highly intelligent.
You are always working torelease neural tension on your
own.
The body is extremely smart inthat way.
(17:04):
The problem is that because ofour life right now that we're
living, because we have amillion things on our plate, you
know, we've been throughphysical or excuse me, mental,
emotional, and um, chemicaltraumas in our world that we get
stuck, like that's that wordcoming up again.
Our our nervous system hastrouble releasing these things
(17:26):
that it's um, it's almost likethe um the vibe, it's not almo
that what I actually speak aboutis that the vibration of the
nervous system changes, and wecan get into that later, but it
gets stuck in this state whereit's not able to release it on
its own.
And that's where tonalchiropractic comes in, is it
helps your body kind of rememberwhat it's like to work through
certain issues.
Ryann (17:46):
When I think tension, I think physical tension.
So, like, oh, like a soreshoulder or like my legs are
sore, like whatever.
But so when we say neuraltension, if we literally broke
it down to someone who's not adoctor, like me and some people
listening, like are we talkingtension in the central nervous
(18:06):
system or like tension in ourbrain or all of the above?
Dr. Kristi (18:11):
One thing I'm I'm specifically looking for in the
adjustment.
Okay.
So imagine your brain and yourspinal cord just kind of
floating in the air.
Okay, no bones or anything likethat.
What do you think of?
Do you think it's like liquidygel?
Or how do you what do youimagine when you think of that?
Ryann (18:28):
The actual physical brain and the actual little
branches of the nervous system.
Dr. Kristi (18:32):
Like so I'm imagining like little nerves
that come out.
Ryann (18:34):
Yeah, all those little like the tree roots almost,
right?
I'm imagining those, like thelittle fibers.
Dr. Kristi (18:40):
So the brain and the spinal cord, all these
little roots, they're suspendedin the bones of the spine by
connective tissue.
So it's basically the spinalcord is protected, the brain is
protected by meningeal tissue.
It's just that's a science wordthat I'm gonna use.
But that is connected at thetop and the bottom by dural
(19:00):
attachments, which is that's thename of it.
But it's basically the anchorsat the top and the bottom of the
spinal or the skull and thespinal cord or the ver
vertebrae.
When I'm looking at somebody,I'm looking for a window into
the nervous system.
Neural tension is specificallyareas of the cord that are
(19:22):
anchored in to the bones whereyou might have twisting of the
connective tissue in theseareas, and it happens when we
experience too much stress inour life.
Ryann (19:34):
So it's actually presenting to you in a physical
way.
So when you're looking at orfeeling like or both somebody's
spinal column, you can actuallysee andor feel, which is this
physical manifestation ofsomething that is energetic or
internal.
Is that right?
Dr. Kristi (19:55):
Yeah.
So okay.
The it's an energetic change inthe nervous system.
But when that happens, itactually changes the physical
structure of the tissuesurrounding the spinal cord.
Okay.
Yeah.
So that can, you know,traditionally in chiropractic,
we look for a bone out of placeand the bone gets adjusted,
right?
So when I'm looking at from aneurological perspective, I
(20:20):
sometimes will check the bonesin certain areas of the cord
because it's an indicator forme.
There's many indicators that Ilook for, but a bone shifting is
an indicator that there'sneural tension in that area
causing the body to shift intodifferent patterns.
So yeah.
And then neural tensionmanifests into the symptoms that
(20:41):
we were talking about earlier,like brain frog, gut issues,
reactivity, stuff like that.
Ryann (20:46):
So there's like a set of emotional symptoms, and then
there's also a set of physicalsymptoms.
So this is like kind of howyou're feeling in your emotional
experience, and then also likejust how you're feeling like in
your body, right?
Definitely.
Okay.
And I would imagine that thiswould also help people with
mental health issues.
Like I would imagine that itwould help people kind of get
(21:09):
back to baseline.
Have you seen any like researchon mental health and
chiropractic?
Dr. Kristi (21:16):
I have.
Actually, the technique thatI'm practicing is called torque
release technique.
And the developer of thetechnique has done a lot of
research himself.
He focuses primarily onaddiction and compulsive
disorders.
But one of his research studiesdealt with it's what's called
the P300 wave.
It's basically a measurement,it's like a tangible measurement
(21:39):
of wellness, like health andhuman performance wellness.
And the wave is an indicator oflike how well we're able to
access wellness, essentially.
And he found that throughgetting these tonal adjustments,
your ability to access humanpotential was what he's calling
it, is more available to youwhen your system is more in a
(22:00):
state of ease after getting theadjustment.
I believe that.
Ryann (22:04):
I mean, after I got adjusted by you, by the way, we
all need to get adjusted.
I was like, I'll talk to Dr.
Christy today.
Paige asked yesterday.
Can I get adjusted by Dr.
Christie?
Yeah.
Oh, that's I know, so cute.
But so I can actually likereally speak to that.
Like, yes, like feeling that,you know, euphoria, which was
right after.
Of course, I didn't walk aroundthat like that for like a week,
(22:27):
but I did feel really good thatweek.
And I did notice like a bit ofa shift.
Like it, I think it's a greatsupport tool for somebody who,
you know, which is all of us, isoverwhelmed with the daily
responsibilities of life.
Let's talk a little bit aboutsurvival mode.
How do we know we're in it?
Dr. Kristi (22:49):
And how do we get out of it?
If somebody's like, I'm sooverwhelmed.
Physical pain is anotherindicator for me.
Like, I have quite a fewpatients right now that have
sciatica for whatever reason,like low back pain that refers
into their butt or their leg.
Yep.
That's an indicator.
Any of the symptoms that Ibrought up, but the thing about
being in survival mode, itdoesn't always show up as a
(23:11):
symptom.
So one way that you can kind ofcheck in with yourself and see
if this is the case is that ifyou feel like you're in a state
of creativity and you're ableto, you know, use your
imagination and you know createnew things, that's an indicator
that you're doing pretty goodbecause that means that your
frontal cortex is online.
(23:32):
However, on the other hand ofthat, if you're in survival,
what happens is that the frontpart of our brain shuts off a
little bit and we're operatingfrom our hind brain, which is
the survival area.
That's what we call thereptilian brain.
So you're living like areptile, basically.
But it's it's basically likethat's when you become reactive.
That's when you are goingthrough the motions.
(23:53):
Maybe life feels boring.
Like you're just going from onetask to the next, and there's
no really there's no creativity.
I mean, that would be the bestway for me to put it.
Ryann (24:03):
I love that you use that as an example because, as like
a creative person, I mean, Ithink we're all creative, but I
love that as an example becauseI know I've gone through certain
seasons of my life where I'mlike, I don't have any ideas.
I don't know what I'm gonnatalk about, I don't know what
I'm gonna write about.
And in those seasons, like Ithink that's a really good
(24:24):
indicator for us to just beaware in our life.
You know what's interesting?
After I had Nash, this made methink of like when I was newly
postpartum with Nash, for likealmost an entire year, my feet
hurt so bad when I would walkaround the house.
And yes, I was carrying likeextra weight from being pregnant
(24:45):
and from nursing and likehormonal stuff, but it was like
it was more than that.
It was so strange.
And eventually, likeenergetically, it just kind of
like worked out, and I don'treally know how.
But I wish I would have lookedinto chiropractic at that point.
I think it would have been areally helpful thing.
And for some reason, I feellike it had something to do with
my fascia and my feed and likeI don't know, but I just I look
(25:08):
back to that and like I was mostcertainly in survival mode.
I had like two little kids andthen a baby.
I was homeschooling, like allof these things.
And I kind of just like letmyself be there.
I was just like, well, I knowI'm in survival mode.
I'm just gonna like be hereanyway.
You know, I I wasn't trying tochange it.
Dr. Kristi (25:27):
Yes, 100%.
You know, when when we're inthe throes of motherhood, like
being a being a mom in generalto a newborn is extremely
overwhelming because yourattention is outside of
yourself.
You are focusing on helpingthis little dependent being
survive and thrive.
So literally all of your body'sminerals, your attention, like
(25:50):
every bit of you is gettingpoured into this little being,
you know?
So that is extremelyoverwhelming.
I can't imagine doing it withother children because I only
have one and it was a lot forme.
Um, yeah, it's it's veryoverwhelming.
But one thing that you broughtup is the tension in the feet
and the pain in the feet.
(26:10):
Yes, of course, likestructurally, we, you know, we
gain weight when we're pregnant.
It puts a lot of pressure onour joints of our lower body,
you know, knees, hips, feet.
Plantar fasciitis is a goodexample of what I'm about to
bring up as well.
You know how if you had plantshar fasgitis before, or what
they would call I think thatmight have been what it was.
Ryann (26:30):
I mean, I didn't like go to a doctor.
I was just like, oh, this willwork its way out eventually.
Yeah.
But I have a feeling it wasvery similar.
Dr. Kristi (26:37):
The yeah, the interesting thing about that is
that it usually will resolve onits own.
And I had it really bad a fewyears ago also, and it just went
away.
So really, it's a great exampleof how the body will work
things out and it just needstime, you know.
Um sometimes we don't haveenough time to heal certain
(26:58):
things, like certain illnesses,you know, our bodies don't have
you know enough longevity togive it time to heal from
certain things, and that'sunfortunate.
But with heel tension, like Imentioned earlier that I look
for heel tension when I'm whenI'm addressing somebody in the
adjustment.
The connective tissue and thefascia in the body, I'm just
(27:19):
learning recently, honestly.
You know, I've been apractitioner, I've been a
chiropractor for 10 years, and Iwas a massage therapist before
that, and nobody talks about howimportant the fascia is, how
intelligent it is.
Um, I focus on the nervoussystem, which controls
everything in the body, butthere's there's a connection
between all of the atoms andcells inside the body, even if
(27:43):
they don't directly touch eachother, and it's magic.
It is so incredible.
So, speaking for the feetspecifically, you know, the
nervous system is like at thetop half of the body.
Your feet are the farthestpoint away from the nervous
system.
And when there's tension, likeif I'm moving your ankles, like,
you know, in and out, backwardsand forward, and I feel like it
(28:03):
gets stuck in certain positionsor it doesn't want to move a
certain way.
For me, as a provider, that'san indicator for me of neural
tension as well.
And that can actually manifestwith foot pain.
So plantar fasciitis is a greatexample because it's the
connective tissue, the fascia,at the the furthest point away
from the central nervous system.
(28:24):
And yeah, the like seeing thatresolve on its own is so
incredible because it's like howresilient is your body, you
know?
Ryann (28:32):
So do you think that physical manifestations of pain
or like dis-ease is actually ourbody like healing?
Like, is that actually healingin motion?
Dr. Kristi (28:46):
Yeah.
I mean, I think if if you havesomething going on with your
body and then it just kind ofheals on its own, that is true
healing.
That is the body's innateintelligence taking care of it.
There are limitations tomatter.
So sometimes that can'tnecessarily work its way out,
which is which is why you knowtraditional Chinese medicine
(29:08):
started existing thousands ofyears ago, right?
Um, humans have had this humanexperience for thousands of
years, and we've had differentmodalities placed in our
experience to help us movethrough those things.
The manifestation of dis-easeor, you know, certain types of
ailments, it could be so manydiff for so many different
(29:30):
reasons, you know, like mentalreasons, like the power of the
mind is a really incredibletopic to cover as well.
Um, but again, that's that'syour innate ability to heal
using the power of your mind,the power of your breath, right?
Yeah.
Ryann (29:46):
Was it you that I was talking to about the book The
Power of Now, where animals likeEckhart Tolle uses an example
of like if you see two likeducks fighting in a pond and
they're like fighting, and thenthey swim away from each other,
and then they like really likevigorously like shake their
wings, and other animals do thistoo out in the wild, and they
(30:09):
like shake, shake, shake, shake,shake, and then they like just
move along like nothing everhappened.
I don't know if I was havingthat conversation with you, but
I was having that conversationwith somebody recently, and
that's what your work reallymakes me think of is that like
we as humans don't shake it outwhen we have an issue, when we
(30:30):
have a trauma, and all thesethings like build up over our
entire lives, decade afterdecade, like sweeping stuff
under the rug, whetheradvertently or not.
Like, and we're like one of thebeings who holds on to it
mentally and emotionally, andthen it just starts to kind of
like build up in our bodies.
Dr. Kristi (30:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, it's it's the wholelike shut up and be quiet
message that we're talking aboutin society.
Yeah.
One of my really good friendsis doing a somatic healing
course right now, actually.
And she's telling me about it.
And there's there was astrategy of breath work that I
learned many years ago calledsomato-respiratory integration.
(31:12):
It's body breath integration.
You're integrating the body andthe breath, right?
It helps you connect to certainareas that may be shut off.
Like, for example, if you'relike you don't want to speak
your truth or you're quiet oryou're scared, breathing into
the throat, for example, okay.
But this somatic program thatshe's doing is teaching her to
(31:33):
do exactly what you're saying.
It's it's experiencing likepaying attention to how your
body wants to release energy.
So, for example, for her, itwould have been, you know,
imagining when you're six toeight to nine years old and you
experience some type of reallyfrustrating situation, you put
yourself in that state, and thenyou beat up a pillow or you
(31:56):
scream or you shake it out, likeyou're saying.
And she's like feeling thatthat euphoria and that sense of
vibration, like even into herfingertips afterward.
It's powerful.
Movement is so powerful.
Ryann (32:11):
That's amazing.
Actually, I watch my kids uh dothis thing where they'll like
stretch and they'll roll aroundon the ground and like just be
like rolling around like little,I don't even know what kind of
animals.
Um and sometimes Nate and I arelike, what are they doing?
Especially like when the girlswere very young when we still
(32:33):
didn't know what we're doing.
I mean, we don't know whatwe're doing still, but when we
didn't know what we were doing,any of us know.
Dr. Kristi (32:39):
I don't know.
Ryann (32:40):
No, no, I don't think so.
Spoiler alert new parents.
Uh you never know.
So um, yeah, but they still doit and they're you know, they're
like getting older, but theyroll around and like do this
like stretching thing.
And I'm like, yeah, they'reresetting their nervous systems,
right?
Dr. Kristi (32:55):
Yeah, like we should literally be doing that,
you know.
My daughter will do like weirddances and stuff.
Like, I'm like, kids are soweird, but they're not, they're
highly intuitive.
Kids are so smart because theydon't think up here with what
they look like, oh my gosh, whatare people gonna think about
me?
They react to what their bodyneeds in that moment and they
(33:16):
freaking do it, and it'samazing.
Yeah.
Ryann (33:19):
Right.
They dance, they scream, theyscream, they run, they they're
just free, right?
Until until they're not, youknow, until they start to
realize, and I'm watching myoldest go through this.
There's very much um a now,like, you know, other people are
(33:40):
looking at me.
This awareness of like howwe're showing up in the world
when we hit a certain age,whether that's like, you know,
11, 12, 13, we're trying toextend childhood in our house as
long as we can.
But even then, you know, westill we still see it happening,
you know, like she went fromlike this little curly haired
kid who didn't brush her hair toall of a sudden, like, oh, I
(34:02):
need to brush my hair now.
And I know it's just like lifeand a silly example.
Um, but we do, we becomeself-aware and conditioned.
And then we carry many of thoselike unhealthy manifestations
of that, hopefully not too many,but on to adulthood.
And then we just say, like,this is who I am, this is how I
am.
But I really believe that wehave a tremendous capacity to
(34:25):
change.
And part of that is like, Iwatched myself do it, and I'm
like walking that journey.
So I think this is the perfectplace to talk about the word
resilience and what resiliencemeans to you.
And then if you would tell usabout your, is it a 90-day
reset?
Dr. Kristi (34:44):
Yes, yeah.
Ryann (34:47):
Awesome.
Dr. Kristi (34:48):
Resilience to me is adaptation.
So it's you are able to adaptto whatever life throws at you,
and that's resilience.
You know, you're constantlyshifting and changing and moving
with life, you know.
Obviously, you know, that canget hindered.
Like our ability to access theresilience that we're designed
(35:09):
to be able to access can gethindered.
And the 90-day reset issomething that I designed for
people that, you know, maybewant to create a new habit in
their life to help their body,help nourish their body, help
their mindset, help theirconnection with their self.
You know, it's just like adaily thing.
(35:30):
It's, you know, you talkedabout habit stacking to me one
time when we were having aconversation.
And the 90-day reset isbasically a daily guide to help
you create better habits foryourself to where you can
self-regulate and you can adaptbetter.
You know, that's my goal.
My goal with my patientsspecifically is I don't want, I
(35:51):
don't want people to be 100%reliant on the care.
You know, the care is amazing,but I feel that it's my job to
help your body remember what it,what it's like to feel safe in
yourself.
And it's in that moment thatyou're able just to adapt
better, you know, to gain thatresilience on your own.
So I want to teach people'sbodies how to do that.
(36:13):
It's not a conscious thing thatwe talk about really, but it's
something that happens when youstart to peel back those layers
of stress and trauma and all ofthat.
Yeah.
So the the reset is um, there'srecipes in it.
There's some journaling,there's actually an example of
movement.
Like there's a week ofexercises that you can't you can
(36:35):
choose to follow or not.
But it's just like an easy waywhere it's laid out for you and
you don't have to consciouslythink about what am I gonna do
today.
It's just like a new habit thatyou're gonna implement into
your life to help your bodyadapt.
Ryann (36:47):
Amazing.
So, and I have a code foreverybody listening who, if you
want to go over and get thereset, I will put that in the
show notes.
So just pop down to thedescription and see what it is
because I forget what it is now.
Um, but I'll put it down there.
So, what a gift.
I love that.
Uh, personally, for me in 2025,I know we talked about this.
I did, I just hit 365 days ofmy three-minute meditation.
(37:11):
And it's so interesting.
I'm like kind of, you know, wehave a tendency to be like all
or nothing, right?
And like three minutes, it'slike three minutes, so what?
But like three minutes is stillthree minutes.
Three minutes is still mepausing in the morning, making a
promise to myself.
There's so many other thingsthat go into it, like in
addition to the benefits ofsitting down and quieting, you
(37:33):
know, whatever your mind forthree minutes or whatever it is.
And so I do believe like that90 days is like, I mean, after I
hit 90 days of mine, I waslike, well, I guess I should
keep going.
I never set out to do a year.
I wasn't like, I'm gonna dothis for a year.
It wasn't anything like that.
It was like, I'm seeing andfeeling the benefits of this in
my life, and I'm gonna keepgoing because I know that it
(37:57):
feels really good.
Um, so if you're somebody whoreally wants to kind of get into
that groove, creating a newneural pathway, becoming a
person who, right?
This is something we talk abouta lot.
Like it's not, you know, I'mgoing to meditate this morning.
It's I am a person whomeditates.
(38:18):
I'm a meditator.
I'm a person who keeps apromise to myself.
I'm a person who puts myself-care on the forefront,
right?
And so that just to me, yourreset seems like this full like
identity shift.
And 90 days is like the perfectamount of time to get there.
So hop over there and get Dr.
Christie's reset.
Thank you so much for sharingthat with us.
(38:39):
Absolutely.
Amazing.
Dr.
Christy, thank you so much forthis conversation and for the
grounded reminder that healingdoes not have to be dramatic to
be meaningful and lasting.
Sometimes the most powerfulship shifts happen quietly.
Friends, you can learn aboutDr.
Christy and her work atstillpointcare.com.
(39:01):
I'm going to put all thoselinks in the show notes to her
reset and everything else.
And if this episode resonatedwith you, text it to a friend.
Remember to leave a review.
And until next time, go lovesomeone well.
Welcome back to Raising Wild Hearts.
This is episode 142.
I'm Ryan Watkin, and aroundhere, we believe we can change
the world by starting at home inour own minds and hearts.
This show is really abouttransforming from the inside
out, and today we are doing justthat.
I am joined by Dr.
(00:21):
Christina Guerriero.
Was that right?
Yep, that's right.
Okay, a chiropractor, nervoussystem educator, and founder of
Still Point.
Dr.
Christy's work is rooted in asimple belief.
The body already knows how toheal when we give it the right
conditions.
So today we're going to bediving into neural tension,
(00:42):
nervous system regulation, andwhy slow, subtle healing often
creates the deepest change.
Dr.
Christy, I'm so glad you'rehere.
Dr. Kristi (00:51):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to talk to youabout all of this.
Ryann (00:55):
Yeah, me too.
So it's crazy.
My podcast app that I record onjust spit out my most popular
word for 2025.
And I posted like a cute littlefunny reel on Instagram of a
montage of my guests and Isaying the word body, body,
body, body, body, body.
That was my most used word for2025.
(01:17):
And I was like, just found thisout today.
Thank you, universe, becausethis is like the perfect way to
kick this off.
It feels like no matter wherethe conversation starts, no
matter what it's about, it allcomes back around to what is
inside of us, whether it's ourrelationships, our career, like
(01:39):
anything.
It all really starts with us.
And so I feel like that'sreally the perfect place to
start with you, Dr.
Christy.
You say on your website, StillPoint was born out of personal
experience, watching my ownfamily walk through addiction,
recovery, and physical pain, andrealizing how much people carry
in their bodies that forcealone can't fix.
(02:01):
Uh, you said you saw firsthand,even with good care, people
still got stuck in cycles ofpain, anxiety, and burnout, and
that this is a new kind ofchiropractic experience, gentle,
specific, and grounded in thebelief that real change happens
in safety and stillness.
And I just, when I read that, Iwas like, yes, like it really
(02:23):
made my nervous system just calmdown like 10% more.
And for somebody though, who'smaybe hearing that sentence,
your body already knows how toheal.
What would you say to thatperson who might be hearing that
sentence for the first time andwho's like, really?
What?
Dr. Kristi (02:40):
Yeah, I think that we're taught in our society that
there's something wrong with usinnately.
Um, you know, I don't want tokind of bash any other
professions or any of that kindof thing, but the message is
that there are conditions withinus that need to be fixed,
whether that's throughmedication, surgery, therapy,
you name it.
(03:01):
So this type of care is sopersonal and so important to me
because it's empowering for us.
It puts the power back in ourown hands rather than having to
rely on an outside practitioneror source in order for us to get
healing from that.
Ryann (03:18):
Yeah, that's big.
I mean, it's interesting.
I think it's coming at us fromall angles in the culture from
school to family life to you,we're just taught like seek
outside yourself for more stuff,more answers.
Like, you know, the other day Ilike DM'd some like, and this
(03:39):
is embarrassing to say, I likeDM'd an influencer on Instagram
and it was like basically liketell me what I should do.
And I thought about it like 20minutes later.
I'm like, why am I asking thisperson on Instagram about my
life who has no idea about me?
Dr. Kristi (03:53):
Yeah.
Ryann (03:53):
And it was interesting.
That question was aboutbalancing career and motherhood
and being able to really, Iguess, hold those both, like in
the way that I want to.
So when I envision myself likebeing a mom, like you see me be
a mom, like our kids go to thesame school.
Like I, it's one of the most,if not the most important
(04:16):
aspects of my life, likemothering and the way I show up
for my kids.
And then, you know, my career.
Like I love my work, I lovethis show.
I'm growing.
I I want to grow.
You know, there's so much moreI want to do in this life,
career-wise.
And I get stuck in this like,how am I gonna have the capacity
to hold both?
(04:37):
This is like a nervous systemcapacity issue, I feel for me,
in that it doesn't actually feelsafe to hold them both.
So let's talk about safety inthe body.
Dr. Kristi (04:52):
Yeah, well, I wanted to start off by saying
there's absolutely nothing wrongwith asking questions to other
people.
I mean, that's how we learn.
So it's even though you ask,like, what do I do in this
situation?
It's okay to gather as muchinformation as you can and then
decide from there, like, thenkind of go inside of yourself,
center yourself, give yourselfto like these are my options,
(05:14):
and then kind of choose likewhat path works best for you.
You know, like I think it'samazing.
You know, I went through yearsand years of school gathering
information, and then I get outand practice and I have to
figure it out for myself.
You know, it's like you createthis tool belt for yourself.
And we do the same thing inchiropractic with adjusting
techniques.
We create this toolbox forourselves and we're able to pull
(05:35):
from that with whatever patientsituation presents to us.
It gives us a variety ofoptions, which helps you make
the decision for yourself what'swhat works best in your
specific situation.
So shifting gears to yoursecond part of what you said is
if you're my patient and you'recoming in super strung out,
overwhelmed, there's too muchgoing around you.
My job specifically with what Ido isn't necessarily talking
(05:59):
patients through their problems,although I do listen because it
does paint a picture for mewith what they're going through.
My job is to see how theirnervous system presents itself
to me in that moment.
So when I get somebody on thetable, I'm not only looking at
different cues that the body ispresenting, like muscle tension,
heel tension is something thatI check in the feet.
(06:21):
It actually is like a it's areflection of what's going on in
the central nervous system.
But I'm also looking at the waythe breath is moving through
the body because you mentionedthe words, you feel stuck like
there's too much going on andyou don't really know which
direction to go.
I can actually see thatreflected when the breath isn't
necessarily moving fully throughthe body.
(06:43):
So it that's giving me a cueinto where I need to potentially
make an adjustment in thesystem to help your body achieve
this eased state.
Like one thing that I talk alot about is accessing ease in
your body.
Because what you're talkingabout is like overwhelm,
(07:03):
difficulty, strain.
And we want to start to peelback the layers of everything
that's added on, added on, addedon over the years in order to
get back to this almost likeit's like a baseline.
Like we were born at ease.
You know, obviously everybodygoes goes through trauma in
their life, birth trauma, adulttrauma, you name it.
(07:24):
But we're designed to feel thatease.
And that ease is the stillpoint, which is why I named my
business that word, because thatis the moment where the body
can finally take a deep breath,fully expand into all the
tissues and release.
So that's my goal with care.
And that's people that comeinto me and talking about the
(07:45):
same situations that you'veexperienced.
I'm able to work with theirsystem in that moment to help
them release.
And it's from that point ofclarity that you can then move
forward with your life and makedecisions, you know, difficult
decisions about your career andyour family, and learn how to
balance that for yourself.
Right.
Ryann (08:05):
So then the question becomes a smaller question of
hmm, what do I want my weeks ordays to look like?
Not like, what am I gonna dowith my life?
It's like, what am I gonna doon Tuesday morning?
It's like one foot in front ofthe other.
And actually, that's been apattern of mine.
(08:26):
And I sense myself doing thislike in those really busy
seasons, which is kind of likeall the time for me right now.
But I'm doing like, okay, sonext Thursday, I have this,
that, and this.
And what am I gonna make fordinner?
And I have these like 17 likechecklists, like I'm doing
mental gymnastics in my head.
And what I notice is thatreally creates tension because
(08:50):
my body's going, like, I can'thandle all this.
We're like, we're here rightnow doing one thing, and you're
like, you know, thinking of 17other things, and it might not
even be like that stressful.
It might not even be somethingthat's bad.
It's just that I'm up here inmy brain, like hamster wheeling
(09:10):
about the next and the next andthe next thing.
And so, you know, I love that.
I love that the name of yourcompany is still point, first of
all, because when you adjustedme, I told you I was like, I
feel high, not like like drugsand alcohol high, because that
hasn't been for years, but likeyoga high.
(09:30):
Like I feel high on life rightnow.
I felt so calm.
And I was not expecting that atall.
Like I have had chiropracticcare and not felt like that
after.
So can you speak to that almostlike euphoria and that that I
guess still point that I wasfeeling after you adjusted me?
Dr. Kristi (09:52):
Yeah, that feeling is the goal of the adjustment.
I mean, it's you know, I heardsomeone say recently the
adjustment truly begins when youget off the table.
So not every person I adjust isgonna feel that in that moment.
But I love hearing that you saythat you felt that.
You know, not everybody is asperceptive as well.
So they might have thatsensation, but they don't really
(10:13):
know yet how to tap into that.
What I'm looking to do witheach person is help them and
help their body learn safety,which is what you're saying.
And sometimes it takes a littlebit longer for others than it
might for you, because you'vedone a lot of body work, you've
done meditation, you've doneyoga.
Um, all of those things helpyou learn how to reorganize on
(10:37):
your own, basically, to helppeel back the layers of stress
and overwhelm.
So if I'm seeing somebodythat's never done that work
before, it can take a little bitlonger.
But that's that feeling thatyou're talking about is it is
the still point.
It is that moment of ease thatyou want to be able to access.
Um, and like I said earlier,it's that it's from there that
you can start to really, youknow, start shifting in your
(11:01):
life, whether that's like makingdecisions or whether that's
relating to your family membersin a more positive, constructive
way, whether that's performingbetter in athletics or, you
know, communicating and teachingin your job.
You know, it can, it canmanifest in so many different
ways, but it's impossible toheal and thrive when you're in
(11:22):
the fight or flight phase ofyour nervous system, like when
you're in that overwhelmedstate.
It's impossible for your bodyto, you know, expand and access
the abundance that we'reinherently designed to be able
to access when you're in thatstressed out state.
So yeah, bottom line is my goalis to is to help your body
(11:43):
access that feeling on its own.
Absolutely.
Ryann (11:47):
So what I'm hearing you say is like that's the baseline.
Like that feeling of likecomplete ease, complete calm,
like that is actually thebaseline.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's so cool.
And it might be shocking tosome people, including myself,
because we do kind of run onautopilot, many of us.
And so when we slow down enoughto feel or perceive that, that
(12:10):
sense of calmness or stillness,it's like, oh my God, this is
it.
This is what's available to me.
This morning I left yoga, andso we had, you know, this
amazing class, and then we didthis amazing meditation, and
everybody, there's like 10people in the class, and we all
just feel like, oh, you know,there's like angels singing, and
we were at that place.
(12:31):
And our yoga teacher said, thereal work is now to go out, and
you know, we're in likeChristmas and Hanukkah season
here, and like when you're inWalmart in two hours from now,
like stay in that place.
Like that's the work.
And do you think we can trainour bodies with, you know,
(12:52):
gentle chiropractic care andyoga or meditate meditation or
different modalities to be ableto see what's available to us
and then choose that more?
Do you think then it comes downto like a choice in a
day-to-day situation?
Dr. Kristi (13:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I think the the bestway to be able to do that is by
utilizing the breath becausebreath is life.
Your breath is the only humanfunction that can be
involuntary, which means ithappens on its own, or also
voluntary where you can directit yourself.
Um, it's a magical tool that wehave available to us.
(13:30):
And I would say that whenyou're in a situation where
you're reactive or you couldpotentially be reactive or
annoyed or frustrated, is toclose your eyes and use your
breath to direct it into all thedifferent parts of your body,
especially if there's an area ofyour body where you hold
stress, direct the breath intothat area and do I, you know,
there's a bunch of differentbreathing techniques, but one of
(13:53):
the easiest ones that's easy tovisualize is box breathing,
which I know you probably haveheard of.
So inhale for four, hold forfour, exhale for four, hold for
four.
And you just visualize thesquare and you just do that when
you're in in that position.
If you're able to, I mean,obviously we have different
situations, like you're in themiddle of Walmart, it might be
difficult to do that in thatmoment, but even doing it a
(14:16):
couple cycles of that can helpcalm your nervous system down
and help us not be so reactive.
So I would say that the besttool we have when you're not
with a practitioner or you'renot in yoga is to use the tools
that your body already hasavailable and the breath is the
best thing for that, in myopinion.
Ryann (14:33):
Yeah, I agree with you for sure.
It was one of the first thingsI learned to do when I got into
personal development.
Actually, even before I gotinto personal development, I was
like, it was like one of myfirst yoga classes.
It was in my early 20s.
I still had a lot of work todo.
I would still be like on thispersonal growth journey for a
long time.
But it was one of thebreadcrumbs.
And I remember this yogateacher sitting up there.
(14:54):
She had this like, you know,halo around her.
I just thought she was likethis golden goddess.
And she's like, you know, Inever hit red lights.
I never like she's talkingabout her life, and I'm like, oh
my God, is this woman serious?
But as I really like learned alittle bit about the modality of
just simply breathing, my lifereally did start to shift.
(15:16):
It shifted slowly, but I agreewith you on the breath.
So let's get into the weeds.
Like, what are some signs thatsomebody is carrying neural
tension?
You talk a lot about neuraltension.
How do we know if we have that?
Or do we just assume, likebecause we're in 2025 slash 2026
(15:37):
society, that we do have it?
Dr. Kristi (15:39):
Yeah.
You know, yes, you can prettymuch just assume that you have
it, but I'm gonna give youtangible ways to know because,
you know, I don't like answerslike everybody has it, you know,
like I don't really like that.
So I'm gonna bring up symptomsor scenarios that people have
talked to me specifically about.
Okay.
So one of them that I'm hearinga lot right now is reactivity.
(16:00):
So if you're with your familyand you're getting easily
frustrated, you're yelling atyour family when you don't
really want to.
I mean, it's just that reactivestate, you know, you're not,
you're not operating from aplace of like understanding and
compassion, you're like done.
You know, that's a that's likea hot clue that you are
experiencing neural tension.
Neural tension is at a deeperlevel, but that's a that's a
(16:24):
good sign.
Brain fog is another one whereyou're not able to think
clearly.
Attention issues where you'renot able to focus on something
for a long period of time, thatkind of goes in with a little
bit with brain fog as well.
I mean, we can go down theline.
Digestive issues, skin issues.
There's so many that I feellike I'm not even.
Um, your immune system isstruggling.
(16:44):
That can also be neuraltension.
Muscle tension is a very largeclue.
Muscle tension is interestingbecause what the body, so the
body is extremely smart.
It's highly intelligent.
You are always working torelease neural tension on your
own.
The body is extremely smart inthat way.
(17:04):
The problem is that because ofour life right now that we're
living, because we have amillion things on our plate, you
know, we've been throughphysical or excuse me, mental,
emotional, and um, chemicaltraumas in our world that we get
stuck, like that's that wordcoming up again.
Our our nervous system hastrouble releasing these things
(17:26):
that it's um, it's almost likethe um the vibe, it's not almo
that what I actually speak aboutis that the vibration of the
nervous system changes, and wecan get into that later, but it
gets stuck in this state whereit's not able to release it on
its own.
And that's where tonalchiropractic comes in, is it
helps your body kind of rememberwhat it's like to work through
certain issues.
Ryann (17:46):
When I think tension, I think physical tension.
So, like, oh, like a soreshoulder or like my legs are
sore, like whatever.
But so when we say neuraltension, if we literally broke
it down to someone who's not adoctor, like me and some people
listening, like are we talkingtension in the central nervous
(18:06):
system or like tension in ourbrain or all of the above?
Dr. Kristi (18:11):
One thing I'm I'm specifically looking for in the
adjustment.
Okay.
So imagine your brain and yourspinal cord just kind of
floating in the air.
Okay, no bones or anything likethat.
What do you think of?
Do you think it's like liquidygel?
Or how do you what do youimagine when you think of that?
Ryann (18:28):
The actual physical brain and the actual little
branches of the nervous system.
Dr. Kristi (18:32):
Like so I'm imagining like little nerves
that come out.
Ryann (18:34):
Yeah, all those little like the tree roots almost,
right?
I'm imagining those, like thelittle fibers.
Dr. Kristi (18:40):
So the brain and the spinal cord, all these
little roots, they're suspendedin the bones of the spine by
connective tissue.
So it's basically the spinalcord is protected, the brain is
protected by meningeal tissue.
It's just that's a science wordthat I'm gonna use.
But that is connected at thetop and the bottom by dural
(19:00):
attachments, which is that's thename of it.
But it's basically the anchorsat the top and the bottom of the
spinal or the skull and thespinal cord or the ver
vertebrae.
When I'm looking at somebody,I'm looking for a window into
the nervous system.
Neural tension is specificallyareas of the cord that are
(19:22):
anchored in to the bones whereyou might have twisting of the
connective tissue in theseareas, and it happens when we
experience too much stress inour life.
Ryann (19:34):
So it's actually presenting to you in a physical
way.
So when you're looking at orfeeling like or both somebody's
spinal column, you can actuallysee andor feel, which is this
physical manifestation ofsomething that is energetic or
internal.
Is that right?
Dr. Kristi (19:55):
Yeah.
So okay.
The it's an energetic change inthe nervous system.
But when that happens, itactually changes the physical
structure of the tissuesurrounding the spinal cord.
Okay.
Yeah.
So that can, you know,traditionally in chiropractic,
we look for a bone out of placeand the bone gets adjusted,
right?
So when I'm looking at from aneurological perspective, I
(20:20):
sometimes will check the bonesin certain areas of the cord
because it's an indicator forme.
There's many indicators that Ilook for, but a bone shifting is
an indicator that there'sneural tension in that area
causing the body to shift intodifferent patterns.
So yeah.
And then neural tensionmanifests into the symptoms that
(20:41):
we were talking about earlier,like brain frog, gut issues,
reactivity, stuff like that.
Ryann (20:46):
So there's like a set of emotional symptoms, and then
there's also a set of physicalsymptoms.
So this is like kind of howyou're feeling in your emotional
experience, and then also likejust how you're feeling like in
your body, right?
Definitely.
Okay.
And I would imagine that thiswould also help people with
mental health issues.
Like I would imagine that itwould help people kind of get
(21:09):
back to baseline.
Have you seen any like researchon mental health and
chiropractic?
Dr. Kristi (21:16):
I have.
Actually, the technique thatI'm practicing is called torque
release technique.
And the developer of thetechnique has done a lot of
research himself.
He focuses primarily onaddiction and compulsive
disorders.
But one of his research studiesdealt with it's what's called
the P300 wave.
It's basically a measurement,it's like a tangible measurement
(21:39):
of wellness, like health andhuman performance wellness.
And the wave is an indicator oflike how well we're able to
access wellness, essentially.
And he found that throughgetting these tonal adjustments,
your ability to access humanpotential was what he's calling
it, is more available to youwhen your system is more in a
(22:00):
state of ease after getting theadjustment.
I believe that.
Ryann (22:04):
I mean, after I got adjusted by you, by the way, we
all need to get adjusted.
I was like, I'll talk to Dr.
Christy today.
Paige asked yesterday.
Can I get adjusted by Dr.
Christie?
Yeah.
Oh, that's I know, so cute.
But so I can actually likereally speak to that.
Like, yes, like feeling that,you know, euphoria, which was
right after.
Of course, I didn't walk aroundthat like that for like a week,
(22:27):
but I did feel really good thatweek.
And I did notice like a bit ofa shift.
Like it, I think it's a greatsupport tool for somebody who,
you know, which is all of us, isoverwhelmed with the daily
responsibilities of life.
Let's talk a little bit aboutsurvival mode.
How do we know we're in it?
Dr. Kristi (22:49):
And how do we get out of it?
If somebody's like, I'm sooverwhelmed.
Physical pain is anotherindicator for me.
Like, I have quite a fewpatients right now that have
sciatica for whatever reason,like low back pain that refers
into their butt or their leg.
Yep.
That's an indicator.
Any of the symptoms that Ibrought up, but the thing about
being in survival mode, itdoesn't always show up as a
(23:11):
symptom.
So one way that you can kind ofcheck in with yourself and see
if this is the case is that ifyou feel like you're in a state
of creativity and you're ableto, you know, use your
imagination and you know createnew things, that's an indicator
that you're doing pretty goodbecause that means that your
frontal cortex is online.
(23:32):
However, on the other hand ofthat, if you're in survival,
what happens is that the frontpart of our brain shuts off a
little bit and we're operatingfrom our hind brain, which is
the survival area.
That's what we call thereptilian brain.
So you're living like areptile, basically.
But it's it's basically likethat's when you become reactive.
That's when you are goingthrough the motions.
(23:53):
Maybe life feels boring.
Like you're just going from onetask to the next, and there's
no really there's no creativity.
I mean, that would be the bestway for me to put it.
Ryann (24:03):
I love that you use that as an example because, as like
a creative person, I mean, Ithink we're all creative, but I
love that as an example becauseI know I've gone through certain
seasons of my life where I'mlike, I don't have any ideas.
I don't know what I'm gonnatalk about, I don't know what
I'm gonna write about.
And in those seasons, like Ithink that's a really good
(24:24):
indicator for us to just beaware in our life.
You know what's interesting?
After I had Nash, this made methink of like when I was newly
postpartum with Nash, for likealmost an entire year, my feet
hurt so bad when I would walkaround the house.
And yes, I was carrying likeextra weight from being pregnant
(24:45):
and from nursing and likehormonal stuff, but it was like
it was more than that.
It was so strange.
And eventually, likeenergetically, it just kind of
like worked out, and I don'treally know how.
But I wish I would have lookedinto chiropractic at that point.
I think it would have been areally helpful thing.
And for some reason, I feellike it had something to do with
my fascia and my feed and likeI don't know, but I just I look
(25:08):
back to that and like I was mostcertainly in survival mode.
I had like two little kids andthen a baby.
I was homeschooling, like allof these things.
And I kind of just like letmyself be there.
I was just like, well, I knowI'm in survival mode.
I'm just gonna like be hereanyway.
You know, I I wasn't trying tochange it.
Dr. Kristi (25:27):
Yes, 100%.
You know, when when we're inthe throes of motherhood, like
being a being a mom in generalto a newborn is extremely
overwhelming because yourattention is outside of
yourself.
You are focusing on helpingthis little dependent being
survive and thrive.
So literally all of your body'sminerals, your attention, like
(25:50):
every bit of you is gettingpoured into this little being,
you know?
So that is extremelyoverwhelming.
I can't imagine doing it withother children because I only
have one and it was a lot forme.
Um, yeah, it's it's veryoverwhelming.
But one thing that you broughtup is the tension in the feet
and the pain in the feet.
(26:10):
Yes, of course, likestructurally, we, you know, we
gain weight when we're pregnant.
It puts a lot of pressure onour joints of our lower body,
you know, knees, hips, feet.
Plantar fasciitis is a goodexample of what I'm about to
bring up as well.
You know how if you had plantshar fasgitis before, or what
they would call I think thatmight have been what it was.
Ryann (26:30):
I mean, I didn't like go to a doctor.
I was just like, oh, this willwork its way out eventually.
Yeah.
But I have a feeling it wasvery similar.
Dr. Kristi (26:37):
The yeah, the interesting thing about that is
that it usually will resolve onits own.
And I had it really bad a fewyears ago also, and it just went
away.
So really, it's a great exampleof how the body will work
things out and it just needstime, you know.
Um sometimes we don't haveenough time to heal certain
(26:58):
things, like certain illnesses,you know, our bodies don't have
you know enough longevity togive it time to heal from
certain things, and that'sunfortunate.
But with heel tension, like Imentioned earlier that I look
for heel tension when I'm whenI'm addressing somebody in the
adjustment.
The connective tissue and thefascia in the body, I'm just
(27:19):
learning recently, honestly.
You know, I've been apractitioner, I've been a
chiropractor for 10 years, and Iwas a massage therapist before
that, and nobody talks about howimportant the fascia is, how
intelligent it is.
Um, I focus on the nervoussystem, which controls
everything in the body, butthere's there's a connection
between all of the atoms andcells inside the body, even if
(27:43):
they don't directly touch eachother, and it's magic.
It is so incredible.
So, speaking for the feetspecifically, you know, the
nervous system is like at thetop half of the body.
Your feet are the farthestpoint away from the nervous
system.
And when there's tension, likeif I'm moving your ankles, like,
you know, in and out, backwardsand forward, and I feel like it
(28:03):
gets stuck in certain positionsor it doesn't want to move a
certain way.
For me, as a provider, that'san indicator for me of neural
tension as well.
And that can actually manifestwith foot pain.
So plantar fasciitis is a greatexample because it's the
connective tissue, the fascia,at the the furthest point away
from the central nervous system.
(28:24):
And yeah, the like seeing thatresolve on its own is so
incredible because it's like howresilient is your body, you
know?
Ryann (28:32):
So do you think that physical manifestations of pain
or like dis-ease is actually ourbody like healing?
Like, is that actually healingin motion?
Dr. Kristi (28:46):
Yeah.
I mean, I think if if you havesomething going on with your
body and then it just kind ofheals on its own, that is true
healing.
That is the body's innateintelligence taking care of it.
There are limitations tomatter.
So sometimes that can'tnecessarily work its way out,
which is which is why you knowtraditional Chinese medicine
(29:08):
started existing thousands ofyears ago, right?
Um, humans have had this humanexperience for thousands of
years, and we've had differentmodalities placed in our
experience to help us movethrough those things.
The manifestation of dis-easeor, you know, certain types of
ailments, it could be so manydiff for so many different
(29:30):
reasons, you know, like mentalreasons, like the power of the
mind is a really incredibletopic to cover as well.
Um, but again, that's that'syour innate ability to heal
using the power of your mind,the power of your breath, right?
Yeah.
Ryann (29:46):
Was it you that I was talking to about the book The
Power of Now, where animals likeEckhart Tolle uses an example
of like if you see two likeducks fighting in a pond and
they're like fighting, and thenthey swim away from each other,
and then they like really likevigorously like shake their
wings, and other animals do thistoo out in the wild, and they
(30:09):
like shake, shake, shake, shake,shake, and then they like just
move along like nothing everhappened.
I don't know if I was havingthat conversation with you, but
I was having that conversationwith somebody recently, and
that's what your work reallymakes me think of is that like
we as humans don't shake it outwhen we have an issue, when we
(30:30):
have a trauma, and all thesethings like build up over our
entire lives, decade afterdecade, like sweeping stuff
under the rug, whetheradvertently or not.
Like, and we're like one of thebeings who holds on to it
mentally and emotionally, andthen it just starts to kind of
like build up in our bodies.
Dr. Kristi (30:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, it's it's the wholelike shut up and be quiet
message that we're talking aboutin society.
Yeah.
One of my really good friendsis doing a somatic healing
course right now, actually.
And she's telling me about it.
And there's there was astrategy of breath work that I
learned many years ago calledsomato-respiratory integration.
(31:12):
It's body breath integration.
You're integrating the body andthe breath, right?
It helps you connect to certainareas that may be shut off.
Like, for example, if you'relike you don't want to speak
your truth or you're quiet oryou're scared, breathing into
the throat, for example, okay.
But this somatic program thatshe's doing is teaching her to
(31:33):
do exactly what you're saying.
It's it's experiencing likepaying attention to how your
body wants to release energy.
So, for example, for her, itwould have been, you know,
imagining when you're six toeight to nine years old and you
experience some type of reallyfrustrating situation, you put
yourself in that state, and thenyou beat up a pillow or you
(31:56):
scream or you shake it out, likeyou're saying.
And she's like feeling thatthat euphoria and that sense of
vibration, like even into herfingertips afterward.
It's powerful.
Movement is so powerful.
Ryann (32:11):
That's amazing.
Actually, I watch my kids uh dothis thing where they'll like
stretch and they'll roll aroundon the ground and like just be
like rolling around like little,I don't even know what kind of
animals.
Um and sometimes Nate and I arelike, what are they doing?
Especially like when the girlswere very young when we still
(32:33):
didn't know what we're doing.
I mean, we don't know whatwe're doing still, but when we
didn't know what we were doing,any of us know.
Dr. Kristi (32:39):
I don't know.
Ryann (32:40):
No, no, I don't think so.
Spoiler alert new parents.
Uh you never know.
So um, yeah, but they still doit and they're you know, they're
like getting older, but theyroll around and like do this
like stretching thing.
And I'm like, yeah, they'reresetting their nervous systems,
right?
Dr. Kristi (32:55):
Yeah, like we should literally be doing that,
you know.
My daughter will do like weirddances and stuff.
Like, I'm like, kids are soweird, but they're not, they're
highly intuitive.
Kids are so smart because theydon't think up here with what
they look like, oh my gosh, whatare people gonna think about
me?
They react to what their bodyneeds in that moment and they
(33:16):
freaking do it, and it'samazing.
Yeah.
Ryann (33:19):
Right.
They dance, they scream, theyscream, they run, they they're
just free, right?
Until until they're not, youknow, until they start to
realize, and I'm watching myoldest go through this.
There's very much um a now,like, you know, other people are
(33:40):
looking at me.
This awareness of like howwe're showing up in the world
when we hit a certain age,whether that's like, you know,
11, 12, 13, we're trying toextend childhood in our house as
long as we can.
But even then, you know, westill we still see it happening,
you know, like she went fromlike this little curly haired
kid who didn't brush her hair toall of a sudden, like, oh, I
(34:02):
need to brush my hair now.
And I know it's just like lifeand a silly example.
Um, but we do, we becomeself-aware and conditioned.
And then we carry many of thoselike unhealthy manifestations
of that, hopefully not too many,but on to adulthood.
And then we just say, like,this is who I am, this is how I
am.
But I really believe that wehave a tremendous capacity to
(34:25):
change.
And part of that is like, Iwatched myself do it, and I'm
like walking that journey.
So I think this is the perfectplace to talk about the word
resilience and what resiliencemeans to you.
And then if you would tell usabout your, is it a 90-day
reset?
Dr. Kristi (34:44):
Yes, yeah.
Ryann (34:47):
Awesome.
Dr. Kristi (34:48):
Resilience to me is adaptation.
So it's you are able to adaptto whatever life throws at you,
and that's resilience.
You know, you're constantlyshifting and changing and moving
with life, you know.
Obviously, you know, that canget hindered.
Like our ability to access theresilience that we're designed
(35:09):
to be able to access can gethindered.
And the 90-day reset issomething that I designed for
people that, you know, maybewant to create a new habit in
their life to help their body,help nourish their body, help
their mindset, help theirconnection with their self.
You know, it's just like adaily thing.
(35:30):
It's, you know, you talkedabout habit stacking to me one
time when we were having aconversation.
And the 90-day reset isbasically a daily guide to help
you create better habits foryourself to where you can
self-regulate and you can adaptbetter.
You know, that's my goal.
My goal with my patientsspecifically is I don't want, I
(35:51):
don't want people to be 100%reliant on the care.
You know, the care is amazing,but I feel that it's my job to
help your body remember what it,what it's like to feel safe in
yourself.
And it's in that moment thatyou're able just to adapt
better, you know, to gain thatresilience on your own.
So I want to teach people'sbodies how to do that.
(36:13):
It's not a conscious thing thatwe talk about really, but it's
something that happens when youstart to peel back those layers
of stress and trauma and all ofthat.
Yeah.
So the the reset is um, there'srecipes in it.
There's some journaling,there's actually an example of
movement.
Like there's a week ofexercises that you can't you can
(36:35):
choose to follow or not.
But it's just like an easy waywhere it's laid out for you and
you don't have to consciouslythink about what am I gonna do
today.
It's just like a new habit thatyou're gonna implement into
your life to help your bodyadapt.
Ryann (36:47):
Amazing.
So, and I have a code foreverybody listening who, if you
want to go over and get thereset, I will put that in the
show notes.
So just pop down to thedescription and see what it is
because I forget what it is now.
Um, but I'll put it down there.
So, what a gift.
I love that.
Uh, personally, for me in 2025,I know we talked about this.
I did, I just hit 365 days ofmy three-minute meditation.
(37:11):
And it's so interesting.
I'm like kind of, you know, wehave a tendency to be like all
or nothing, right?
And like three minutes, it'slike three minutes, so what?
But like three minutes is stillthree minutes.
Three minutes is still mepausing in the morning, making a
promise to myself.
There's so many other thingsthat go into it, like in
addition to the benefits ofsitting down and quieting, you
(37:33):
know, whatever your mind forthree minutes or whatever it is.
And so I do believe like that90 days is like, I mean, after I
hit 90 days of mine, I waslike, well, I guess I should
keep going.
I never set out to do a year.
I wasn't like, I'm gonna dothis for a year.
It wasn't anything like that.
It was like, I'm seeing andfeeling the benefits of this in
my life, and I'm gonna keepgoing because I know that it
(37:57):
feels really good.
Um, so if you're somebody whoreally wants to kind of get into
that groove, creating a newneural pathway, becoming a
person who, right?
This is something we talk abouta lot.
Like it's not, you know, I'mgoing to meditate this morning.
It's I am a person whomeditates.
(38:18):
I'm a meditator.
I'm a person who keeps apromise to myself.
I'm a person who puts myself-care on the forefront,
right?
And so that just to me, yourreset seems like this full like
identity shift.
And 90 days is like the perfectamount of time to get there.
So hop over there and get Dr.
Christie's reset.
Thank you so much for sharingthat with us.
(38:39):
Absolutely.
Amazing.
Dr.
Christy, thank you so much forthis conversation and for the
grounded reminder that healingdoes not have to be dramatic to
be meaningful and lasting.
Sometimes the most powerfulship shifts happen quietly.
Friends, you can learn aboutDr.
Christy and her work atstillpointcare.com.
(39:01):
I'm going to put all thoselinks in the show notes to her
reset and everything else.
And if this episode resonatedwith you, text it to a friend.
Remember to leave a review.
And until next time, go lovesomeone well.
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.