The Mindful Injury Recovery Talks with Dr. Maya Novak
For many people, healing physical trauma is the hardest thing they have to face in life and the conventional medical approach doesn't (yet) cover all the things that are important and that can make or break the recovery. Tune in to get inspired & empowered, and discover ways you can help yourself to heal in the best possible way and beyond expectations.
Episodes
44% of knee pain has its origin elsewhere.
Do you know anyone with knee pain? It feels like there are so many people who just kind of program themselves for it. It’s ‘part of getting old’ for them. So of course, the body listens.
We already know that even when there’s actual, mechanical damage, knee pain is not the guaranteed result. And we also know that even when there is pain, it can be m...
“There are very trusted brands whose supplements are very mediocre, to say the least.”
If you had asked me a decade ago what I thought about supplements, I’d probably say that they’re unnecessary, because a well-planned diet should provide you with pretty much everything that you need (with perhaps one or two exceptions). I now understand that my thinking was at least a bit idealistic, if not totally...
You may lose parts of your physical body – but you are still you.
Many/most people build their identity around their bodies. That is normal and natural – the body is the physical YOU. But what if you have an accident where the end result means that you lose a limb or two or three? Who are you then? Please know that you may lose parts of your physical body – but you are still you. This is a hard lesso...
Balance is always important. Especially when healing.
To keep things flowing smoothly it’s important to have balance. Focusing more on one thing and forgetting or ignoring others creates a situation that is not harmonious – and this can cost you greatly further down the road.
Balancing energies has been a big area of focus in Eastern medicines for thousands of years. It’s something that is...
We need to be our own best cheerleader.
Sure, we all have down moments and sometimes it’s hard to do that. But constantly only relying on others to tell you what to do, how to think, where to go, what to choose, how to do things, can leave you in confusion, fear, and disappointment. I truly believe that each and every one of us already possesses all the answers that we need in any kind of situation ...
Whatever happened to you, you shouldn’t be diminishing your own experience, or downtalking your trauma.
Broken ankle, broken back, a tendon tear, those are all very general descriptions of what happens to us, but as with anything, the details are what matters.
Comparing one injury to another and then doubting yourself if you’re healing well since someone else is progressing so fast is just ...
Can you really heal with just the power of thoughts?
The answer probably depends on how you approach this. If you just think very hard about healing, it probably won’t do much for you (and if you’re focused on your injury, it might even make things worse). But there is definitely power in your thoughts to change your health and your life. We’ve known it for a long time, and science is now slowly catc...
Nothing happens without intention.
It was summer 2010, a couple of months before I met my husband, when I was enjoying a long weekend with a bunch of friends on a sailboat on the Adriatic Sea. One of them was reading a book with what I though a weird title: ‘Ask and It Is Given’. Even though it was weird I was intrigued, got the book upon returning home, dove into it, started implementing what I dis...
Tapping should probably be in everyone’s recovery toolbox.
If there’s one thing that I’ve heard from injured women and men countless times it’s this: “I’m so frustrated with this!” Whether with lack of progress or not progressing quickly enough, people around them not understanding them, or just being plain angry and frustrated with themselves for getting into this situation. It’s normal to experien...
Fasting can be really helpful when done right... and really bad for you when done wrong.
It must have been in my very late teens or early 20s when I did my first fast. It lasted 3 days and as many people would confirm, the first 36 hours are the worst. And then – things got easy, or easier. After three days I kind of had to force myself to start eating again because I completely lost my appetite. If ...
We all remember 2020, don’t we?
How could we forget days that turned into weeks that turned into months and then into years of fear, confusion, anger, mistrust, and doubts. Some people coped better, other people not so well. That situation forced all of us to sit with our feelings, thoughts, and loneliness.
To say that it was difficult is an understatement. While I was observing this crazi...
What if we all carry some anxiety?
What if this is something that all humans have in common with the only difference that the source and level, and the way we deal with it, is different? Yes, some of us are more resilient, and some of us are less – but unexpected life events like injuries can throw anyone off balance, and if you’re not used to listening to your anxiety, it can get a lot worse in such...
It’s really hard to go wrong by eating more plants.
No matter what kind of nutrition research you look into, there’s one thing that most if not all researchers agree on: the more your diet includes whole foods and plants, the better it is for your health and healing.
I can agree that my own recovery was definitely a lot better because of the food I was eating. And truth be told, my doctor ...
You have a healer inside.
I truly believe that each of us knows exactly what we need in order to heal when we get sick or end up with any kind of physical trauma. The problem is that people are either led to believe this is not the case or they overcomplicate things and then they become their own biggest obstacle.
We all have an incredible healing potential and there’s a powerful healer wi...
We often think healing trauma that’s buried deep is hard – but it doesn’t need to be.
Sometime in 2011, I had my first experience with hypnotherapy. I was positive that the therapist would hypnotize me to the point of me being kind of unconscious and then after everything was done I’d be cured and I definitely wouldn’t be able to remember anything. How wrong I was. And it was only a couple of years ...
Healing from within means looking at the whole picture.
That doesn’t mean that healing with external help can’t do the same – but it often misses things, and looks at symptoms and specific body parts or organs, rather than the whole body-mind-spirit being that we are. So the best healing with external help will actually mean helping you get to the point where you can heal from within.
That’s...
We would be in a lot of trouble without pain.
Say that again?
Yes, even though this might seem impossible, it’s true. In its acute form, pain can keep us from harm, teach us what (not) to do, and slow us down when we need to heal.
But on the other hand, chronic pain is a completely different thing, and it’s really linked more to our brain than it is to any actual damage in the ph...
Injury recovery can be even more painful if you’re an active person or athlete.
It’s true that no matter the level of activity, every person who is injured suffers. This is because it’s not only our physical body that gets affected but our emotional and mental ones as well.
And when it comes to athletes (or just very active people), sometimes we might think “They’re fine,” right? Because th...
Even when the source of pain seems obvious, it might not be.
When figuring out the physical reasons for pain in the body, it’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing the affected body part separately from the rest. But sometimes, the source can be quite far away – an injured foot, ankle, or even toe can lead to issues with the hips, lower back, and all the way up to the neck and head. And that one is ...
Perfectionism can be painful.
We all have an incredible healing potential – the problem is that we very often forget about it. Sometimes that is because we give our power away and just wait for others to tell us what we need to do or not to do, and other times it’s because we get so caught up in our emotional and mental turmoil that it’s hard for us to remember this.
When we’re too hard on ...
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