August 6, 2025 • 37 mins
What if pain isn’t just something to fix, but something to understand? What if the body, in all its complexity, is trying to speak to us through sensation, fatigue, and even injury?
In this illuminating conversation, I’m joined by Dr. Adam Brady, a physical therapist, bodyworker, and founder of Tend Bodyworks, to explore the powerful shift that occurs when we stop treating the body like a machine to be fixed and start listening to it as a wise guide.
We dive into Adam’s healing journey from a devastating wrestling injury to a career grounded in somatics, martial arts, energy work, and intuitive care. Together, we explore how pain can convey meaning, how sensation can serve as a form of communication, and how genuine healing occurs through collaboration, presence, and deep listening.
Tune in for a conversation about healing as integration, the wisdom beneath pain, and how tending the body is also tending the spirit.
Follow me on Instagram: @tohumishuman and @sonorous.light555
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Website: www.sonorouslight.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello, friends.
It's Donna Bell here, your hostof To Hum It's Human, the
podcast where we explore thetransformative power of tuning
into our intuition to expressour passionate purpose.
I'm so glad you've joined metoday.
In this episode, From Complexityto Clarity, Tending the body
(00:25):
through intuition and energywork, we're talking about the
body not as a machine to befixed, but as a wise, responsive
guide that speaks volumes if weknow how to listen.
If you're craving a deeperconnection with your body beyond
the pain, beyond the tension,and ready to tap into its innate
wisdom, this episode is for you.
(00:48):
My guest is the incredible Dr.
Adam Brady, a doctor of physicaltherapy and a skilled body
worker whose approach is asgrounded as it is intuitive.
Adam believes injury isn't justabout trauma or strain.
It's the body saying, I can'tcarry this anymore.
And that's where the realconversation begins.
(01:10):
From his early training inmartial arts to his integration
of somatics, energy work, andcutting edge physical therapy,
Adam invites us to explorehealing not as a fix, but as a
relationship one rooted incuriosity, collaboration, and
deep inner listening.
Welcome, Adam.
(01:31):
Thank
SPEAKER_01 (01:31):
you, Donabell.
It's good to be here.
SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
Well, truth be told, I've had the privilege of
working with you over the pastfew years, and I can personally
attest to the profoundtransformation that's unfolded
in my body Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:47):
Yeah.
(02:12):
I can still vividly rememberthis.
I was a wrestling camp as a 17year old going into my senior
year.
And wrestling was my big sportand sort of, you know, at that
time, source of pride in mylife.
And in the middle of a match, myknee just went crunch on me.
And that really shocked me andscared me and hurt.
(02:35):
And I remember being in tearsand kind of crawling off to the
side and just my coach laying inon me about how you're not
supposed to cry.
It's not a very bad injury.
You didn't tear something, whichended up being false.
But it was at that moment Ireally took in that message of,
oh, this should be suppressed.
(02:56):
And, you know, like just gritthrough.
And for that whole week, Idistinctly remember the walk
between the gym and the dorms atthe campus we were staying at.
And it took everybody aboutthree minutes and it took me 30.
So I get up early to do it andlimp my way over and then limp
my way back.
And some of my friends took pityon me and they laughed.
(03:17):
they brought me food because Icouldn't make it to the
cafeteria in time.
And by the time the week wasdone, my parents came and they
were just like, what is goingon?
And I was still in that like,no, we're not going to.
I'm okay.
And it took a while for me tosort of come off of that and
then years later peel back thelayers of, you know, how I could
(03:41):
be of better support to myself.
And I guess we can get more intothat
SPEAKER_00 (03:46):
too.
Well, and I imagine howterrifying that is because
wrestling is a very physicalsport.
And when your body isn't part ofthe equation in doing what you
need to do, I would personallybe a little terrified there.
And of course, the sound musthave been shocking.
SPEAKER_01 (04:06):
Yeah, that's the part that sticks with me the
most, for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (04:11):
And I know that after that injury, essentially,
you were told that you mightnever run or play sports again.
How did you navigate thatemotionally and physically at
such a young age?
SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
That's a good question.
And it...
To sort of like put it all in aneat package, a couple of years
ago came across my old journalonline from that time period.
And this was like an earlyinternet era.
Facebook didn't exist.
And it told a tale of teenagewoe.
so to speak.
(04:46):
And so much got wrapped up intothe injury, into the sense of
vulnerability and call itbetrayal.
Having different doctors eithergo so wildly into, this is the
worst juvenile arthritis I'veever seen on one hand, on the
other hand saying, there'snothing we can see here.
And I felt so lost in betweenall of the different possible
(05:07):
things and also limited to adegree, gimped.
That was the word my friendsused.
And yeah, it was just, I didn'thave appropriate skills or
frameworks to navigate
SPEAKER_00 (05:20):
that.
Did that injury then reshapeyour relationship with your
body?
SPEAKER_01 (05:40):
Yeah.
So to fast forward a couple ofyears, one doctor who I really
did enjoy his connection andwillingness to listen to me, I
did end up getting knee surgery,which didn't really help.
And looking back at it, I cansee that there is so much
wrapped up around the experienceof the injury that the context I
(06:03):
went into it wasn't conducive toa positive outcome.
It just registered as furthermanipulation and like top-down
approach on myself.
And so I was then in college andat that point really couldn't
even walk for more than 30minutes.
I was in Boston at the time andwould just have to stop and sit
(06:26):
at a picnic bench or somethinglike that.
And my parents, who were intheir 50s or 60s at the time,
out walking me easily.
And that was just so hard.
And at that time, now this islike early Facebook era, I was
looking for martial artsinstructors who could work more
with energy as, I think, someintuitive hope to find a
(06:48):
different way of approachingthis.
And...
found somebody who was a Chinesemartial artist, is a Chinese
martial artist, and justbasically sort of sat at his
feet for the next three yearswhile also in physical therapy
school, learning two verydifferent approaches.
Early on, it was the mainmotivator for all of that was to
(07:08):
heal myself.
to find agency again, and ittook a while.
SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
Well, I'm curious about your journey into martial
arts because working with thisparticular person who was
working in a modality quitedifferent, obviously, from
Western medicine, and you'recurrently studying at this time
Western science.
These seemingly differentlineages inform and challenge
(07:32):
each other in different ways.
How do you combine the two inyour approach?
SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
That's a great question.
And the answer through thoseyears of intensive, nascent
early study was I didn't.
It was very confusing in a lotof ways.
I had a lot of ideas, but mostof it was, yeah, that I had two
well-fortified systems ofknowledge and very little
(07:58):
inroads between them, despitethe fact they were both things I
felt quite passionate about.
It was after school was overthat, and I was starting to look
for places to work, that Iluckily fell into a mentorship
program.
with Bob Myers at AdvancedTherapeutics, and he and Kate
Faulkner both took me through.
(08:18):
Ultimately, the starting of theinroads was osteopathic manual
medicine and what they describeas listening touch, which is in
essence a blend of bothintuition and evaluation and
ways to use the language ofsomatic intelligence to support
what could also be a scientificmore classical understanding of
(08:42):
physical therapy.
SPEAKER_00 (08:43):
Now, for our listeners, what is somatics?
Because most of us probablydon't know.
SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
Good point.
Somatics, loosely and roughly,and there's a lot of people with
a lot of different ideas ofdefinitions here, but I think
can be broadly categorized asthe study of our inner sense of
ourselves and specificallyrelated to physicality and
embodiment.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
When you're listening to the body, Those are
really subtle cues.
Could you speak about that alittle bit?
SPEAKER_01 (09:12):
So one of the ways I often think about this is that
having a different road maps toexplore the territory helps one
when their feet on the groundorient and get a sense for how
they want to approach something.
And there's value in preciseanatomical and biomechanical
maps, and there's value in moremetaphysical or we might say
(09:37):
somatic maps as well.
And the joy I get is in findinginterfaces, having an atlas full
of different maps, and thenlooking at the base phenomena of
the interrelationship betweentwo people.
and seeing what maps are mostvaluable for whatever we're
looking to do in that.
SPEAKER_00 (09:57):
I guess the other question I'd like to have a
little more clarity about isconsidering in a lot of ways
that somatics is aboutembodiment.
Could you define embodiment forus in the way in
SPEAKER_01 (10:11):
which you work?
I would describe embodiment as aprocess of awareness, of
self-awareness, that isultimately a practice.
and also philosophy of tyingback all of our experience to
the vessel, the physical body.
And when I was first exploringthrough my own knee injury and
(10:31):
my own feeling of collapsearound that, my mind state, my
approach to people around me inmy environment at the time, etc.
It became clear to me that allof this happened on a backdrop
or in a setting of my physicalbeing, and that I really needed
to acknowledge and find a way totrack that connection.
(10:54):
which I believe is there for allof us, no matter how aware and
conscious of it we are.
And so I would say the practiceof embodiment is making more
conscious that connectionbetween the vast different
layers of our experience and ourphysical body.
SPEAKER_00 (11:07):
Well, that makes sense since you describe the
body not as a machine or a meatmachine, as I've heard, but as a
complex intelligent system,right?
And so what have you seen interms of healing and shifts that
happen in the modalities ofhealing that become possible
when we relate to the body inthat way.
SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
One of the big eureka moments for me where
things felt like they werecrystallizing was in the concept
that the body will hold or hugan area of vulnerability or at
least perceived vulnerability.
And what that meant for me interms of my more kinesiology and
physical therapy, my study ofmovement itself would look at
(11:52):
things like a shoulder injury.
and say, oh, we need to help theshoulder posture find a better
carriage that's more efficient,that allows the muscles to work
better.
What's the range of motionthere?
What's the strength there?
And all of that's reallyvaluable.
But when we apply that to ashoulder without understanding
what context it's sitting in,it's kind of like talking down
(12:13):
to something.
And so when we look more at,well, maybe that shoulder is
curling inwards, which yes, wewant to quote unquote change
that, but maybe there's apurpose to that.
And we find ourselves throughvarious different techniques and
ways of relating, allying tothat, which might mean instead
of drawing a shoulder that'srounded forward back, we're
(12:33):
actually joining that process ofbringing it forward.
And when I started to reallyfeel that in myself, that I
needed that step before my bodywas gonna listen in a more fully
consenting form to directchoice-making, we got to get
that shoulder back.
It's like, well, first let'sbuild the ally relationship.
(12:54):
And so let's go with the thingthat we're identifying as not
being ideal.
See what message is presentthere.
And as I started to work withmore people that way, really
feeling the truth of that inmyself and thus being able to
better offer that to others too,wild stuff started to come out
of those sessions.
One of my early sessions likethat, a person came in with
(13:15):
questions.
really bad low back and pain insciatica state was an insomniac
for three weeks couldn't sleepbecause of the severity of the
pain everybody was giving herstretches and different ways to
approach that and she was kindof going out of her mind
understandably and i went theopposite direction and just put
(13:36):
my hand on that area and I couldfeel the intensity of it needing
to tighten up and gather andsupported that both of my hands
and then offered her, try not toforce this to relax.
And within five minutes, she wasfirst asleep.
And then 30 minutes later,snapped up in a full terror
about her brother who had justdied in the tsunami in Japan.
(13:58):
And so she was in a recurringsubconscious terror around his
experience of that.
And she processed that in a realvisceral and full way, laid back
down on that table 15 minuteslater and got up and wasn't
feeling in pain at all.
And so that was one of the firstsessions where I was saying,
okay, something is really inthis, especially in the moments
(14:20):
where it's most needed.
So that's one story of such.
SPEAKER_00 (14:23):
Wow.
I mean, that's such a profoundacknowledgement in her knowing
of what was causing the pain inher body.
And of course, your connectionbetween the two things that were
obviously manifesting in herbody.
I think there's something toalso you bringing in another
aspect of yourself because youtalk about awareness and most
(14:45):
people have general awareness oftheir body and space, you know,
body moving, but there's aninnate awareness within you that
you've honed over time, Iimagine.
Can you touch upon that?
SPEAKER_01 (14:59):
Yeah, and one of the things that feels like both a
blessing and a curse of thistype of work and looking at ways
to offer support and hands-onphysical therapy is that I truly
believe that at a certain level,you can't fake it, that there
has to be enough of a felt senseof that trust that there's a
(15:25):
purpose or there's a meaning.
That pain and injury often istrying to offer us something
more than what it's justshouting at us on the surface
and that we need to give it acontext to share that.
That's the primary job when weare experiencing pain is to
offer it context to best shareits experience.
(15:48):
And from there, healthyrelationship forms.
But if I hadn't gone throughthat in my own body and feel
that in my literal marrow, so tospeak, maybe not literal, but
that wouldn't be something thatI could effectively help
somebody else find inthemselves.
So it really required me to notbypass all of that and have my
(16:09):
own process.
Yes.
And it's an ongoing one.
SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
And that experience has really given depth to your
understanding of what people aregoing through when they come to
see you and You're essentiallysaying that injury is just
signaling, I can't hold all ofthis anymore.
And you've said that.
How do modern stressors from thepace of life to digital
(16:39):
overwhelm manifest in the body,as you've seen?
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
Well, that's a great question.
So to offer a little context formy answer for that question, And
to bring my atlas to the mapthat is biodynamic craniosacral
therapy, one of the concepts inthat map, that understanding of
the body, is that there'sdifferent rhythms and
frequencies that our system is,you could say, humming at at any
(17:06):
given moment.
And to take a very nuanced andcomplex understanding and to
reduce it for this purpose, Wecould say there's three rough
categories, the long tide, midtide, and what you could call
short tide.
And the long tide is like themonastic look on life where one
forgets that they're eventhirsty or hungry, that there's
(17:28):
a slowness to the rhythm of thatnervous system or that energy
body, depending on who you ask,that is palpable.
And the mid-tide is often seenas one foot in both worlds.
You have a connection to thatdeeper than physical need, self,
but you're also tethered to theworld.
And oftentimes we feel that inwhen you're trained to feel it
(17:51):
as about a rhythm of four to sixseconds in and out and then
there's the shorter rhythmswhich are anything kind of more
frantic than that so we can alsostructure this as some people
think of it like we always wantto get to the long time which I
don't think is accurate.
I think we want all of thesedifferent rhythms in ourselves
to be somewhat harmonic and fornone of them to sort of forget
(18:14):
their connection to the others.
Oftentimes I see modern lifefrenetic pace is sort of like
where the white water hasforgotten its deeper
underpinnings, the undercurrent.
And there's a real sense ofdislocation and anxiety that
comes with that.
And it manifests physically assuper tense muscles, a pace that
just can't stop, higher heartrate, higher blood blood
(18:36):
pressure.
And for the longest time, when Ifirst started to do this type of
work, I tried to rid myself ofall of that extraneous, quicker
rhythms, things like texting,blah, blah, blah.
And I still think that's a validapproach, but just wasn't one
that I wanted.
And I like to think now that wehave this choice of living on
the front lines of informationoverload and still having a
(19:00):
process of feeling those slower,deeper rhythms in ourselves.
And ideally, the more wepractice the range of self
there, the better we can walkit.
So it's more freedom thanchoosing one and planting
ourselves there.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
And if you think about, you're talking about the
whitewater flow.
When you're in flow, you're ableto ride all the different waves
of experience.
And so I believe also, too, thateach experience carries
something that is of value.
to you and your overallexperience.
And I think that's a healthyapproach to understanding, yeah,
(19:37):
there'll be sort of greatperiods and then there'll be
lulls and then probably somedifficult times.
But knowing that it's a wave,it'll come back up again.
And, you know, as you look atyour body and you're feeling
your body and knowing that thisis natural, this is totally
natural and human, it's justsort of how you approach it.
and acknowledge it.
So when people come into youroffice, what are you listening
(20:01):
for in their body?
their story or their
SPEAKER_01 (20:03):
presence.
There's a lot of differentangles to that, but I think the
central tenant is, I know thecentral tenant is that I am
looking for what in osteopathicmedicine they call the area of
greatest restriction.
But I prefer to think of as whatthe body is hugging the most.
Somebody might be coming inagain with shoulder pain, but
(20:26):
when we tap in, we feel thatthere's a strong pull maybe to
the low back, then myorientation there is that your
body level is doing its best todraw more support to your low
back.
And there's often a connectionto the shoulder or to whatever
surface level pain is beingdescribed in that moment.
(20:49):
A lot of how those connectionswork, how I can support somebody
else and not just having me saythat to them, but sort of arrive
at their own awareness of thatis, I think, where the art and
joy of the work comes in.
SPEAKER_00 (21:02):
Well, and it's definitely a partnership, I
believe, over time as you workwith your clients to give them
an overall view of Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
(21:39):
Yeah, that
SPEAKER_01 (21:45):
is one of the big questions that I'm always asking
myself and trying to refine.
I love getting to support peoplein, you know, coming in and
leaving feeling better.
But that old parable of you givea man a fish or you teach him to
fish, and I much prefer teachingto fish.
And, you know, the great joysabout that process is I find
(22:07):
relating it to each other.
So I might speak about how wecan connect to ourselves
differently to, for example, amusician than a mechanic, that
there is a different base.
Of course, it's not allprofession dependent.
The.
(22:27):
best thing for me to offerpeople is, and one of the first
things I work with on the vastmajority of people, is helping
them be able to trackinternally, often with their
eyes closed, the sensation ofwhat is drawing them in the
most, what's pulling, so tospeak.
And relating to that with openquestions and curiosity, and we
(22:51):
can go into more details aboutexactly what that might be,
rather than immediatelyapproaching it with change,
which might be, I'm feeling mylow back tightening up, aka
pulling in, without even knowingit, without even understanding
or thinking about it.
So often, our first thing to sayto that is, Relax.
(23:12):
And we know we wouldn't tellthat to our partner.
That would not work.
We shouldn't know that anyways.
So why do we say it to aspectsof ourselves?
And instead, if we could say,why are you tight?
Because I'm exhausted.
Then we might be able to say,hey, can you relax for me?
I've got a tennis match.
Then I'll support you morelater, I promise.
And yeah, to develop that sortof reciprocal relationship
(23:35):
internally is, I think, a greatboon to anybody.
And
SPEAKER_00 (23:40):
I know you do encourage that in people, too,
because, you know, I love tohelp you.
But of course, you can continuethis on your own.
And that's so much moreempowering.
What's interesting is speakingof tennis and speaking of modern
day pace, where we're alwayssort of striving and driving.
Yeah.
How do you guide people to shiftfrom fixing or fighting their
(24:05):
body to collaborating with it,especially in this culture that
rewards pushing through pain?
SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
Yeah, that is one of the hardest pieces.
And I think I am fortunateenough in how I end up getting
to meet people that they tend tobe at a place of enough need and
urgency that habits are moreopen to shifting.
to put imagery behind it.
(24:32):
They've painted themselves inthe corner enough and that
there's more willingness to trya different option, which, you
know, I was one of the moststubborn in not going through
that.
So there's also a realcompassion for when people come
in and they're not quite readyto shift that yet.
And I try to meet everybody atthe level of engagement that
they're willing to go to.
(24:53):
And usually there's a real senseof, oh, something is happening
here.
And that brings interest, evenif it isn't there right off the
bat.
But it's wonderful to see peoplewho, yeah, have a more, let's
say, like the way I relate to mycar, which is I have to get my
oil changed.
Same.
(25:14):
Exactly.
I can appreciate how we offerthat same approach to the body.
But one of the wonderful silverlinings of injury and pain is
that it necessitates we shiftaway from that.
That it's sort of like the debtcome due on me not getting my
oil changed until a month later,and we only get one body.
(25:36):
Oh, and it also is thefoundation of our experience in
a way a car isn't.
So yeah, I feel very passionateabout meeting people where they
are and sort of helping themcome to their own place of
actually this is really enhancesmy life.
Why, why wouldn't I give alittle more time and space for
what we might call them?
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Well, and, and I feel that that is a big
transformation on the client'spart because they probably
didn't come to that conclusionuntil that pain came.
So the pain served as the hello,the signal to say you need to
slow down or, you know, you needto pay attention and otherwise
you're just not going to move.
(26:16):
And, you know, we have thesebeautiful bodies and we should
honor them as the temple theyare.
You're the founder of Tend BodyWorks in East Hampton,
Massachusetts.
a space that holds a veryspecific intention and presence.
Can you share what inspired youto create this space and what
(26:38):
the name TEND means to you?
SPEAKER_01 (26:40):
So I love what I do and getting to connect with
people in it.
And I'm fortunate enough to bequite busy at that and people
value it.
And Yeah, there was a sense of,I can't keep up with the demand.
And it isn't purely a businesssense.
(27:01):
It's actually not at all thatfor me.
It's more of a sense of wantingto support sharing this
information.
And it brought great value tome.
And it's nice to bring it toothers.
And so I was interested increating a space with
like-minded practitioners andbringing in, particularly
through physical therapy andmassage, but not just in those
(27:24):
avenues, a more, we might say,holistic approach to people who
are coming in in need that Ikicked and screamed against
making something bigger thanmyself because it felt like a
lot.
But yeah, it was actually at thetime I was about to have my
first child and a space justcame open that It seemed
(27:47):
perfect.
I'm saying yes to a lot of newthings.
Why not one more?
It's been wonderful to be ableto mentor and share and help
others find their own ways ofbringing this type of work to
others.
And so to me, what tend means isto attend to somebody, to
(28:08):
support them, to not just offerthem expertise, but support.
to first listen and learn themand help them find their own
toolkit, so to speak.
And that there's also just seeso much in our medical system
right now, just by sheer dint ofburnout and overwhelm, a real
(28:29):
lack of the personal.
And so TEND is a reminder bothto myself and anybody who works
for us and hopefully a messagethat we want to offer people
first healthcare.
Not lose that interpersonalconnection in the midst of the
rest of it.
SPEAKER_00 (28:46):
That's so valuable in these days when people are
going through the medical systemand feeling kind of like a
number being brought through thesystem and there's something
very valuable in that humaninteraction and seeing of the
client that I have to attesthappens quite beautifully at
your practice.
And I know you have severalother practitioners there who
(29:08):
work.
So even though Adam's busy, hedoes have others who can offer
support in ways similar yetdifferent.
And as I listened to yourjourney of becoming this
incredibly sensitive, intuitive,embodied, and grounded
practitioner.
It just strikes me because yourstory says so much about how and
(29:32):
why you do what you do.
If you could offer one messageto anyone struggling with injury
or burnout, what would it be?
In
SPEAKER_01 (29:43):
line with the rest of this podcast, I would say
take a moment to to suspenddisbelief and try to listen.
And where that can be abstract,in this case, if there's a
physicalness to pain or burnout,if you're feeling it somewhere
in your body and you likely are,see if there's a way that that
(30:05):
is tensing up muscles or drawingyou into a posture.
And maybe even enhance that.
Instead of immediately relaxingit, go with it and then see if
you can give it more of an earand if that changes the way you
feel it.
SPEAKER_00 (30:21):
Just an acknowledgement, really.
That's such a beautiful piece ofadvice.
Now, I know...
Where you're at now, your bodyis totally different from when
you were when you were 17 andencountered that injury.
And I know movement is soimportant to you and you do, in
fact, work through dance.
(30:42):
Could you tell us a little bitabout that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:45):
Yeah.
And so to go back to my ownpersonal story and just fast
forward through some of thejourney, I was...
deeply involved in Chinesemartial arts, multiple hours,
probably six to seven hours aday for three to four years
through college.
(31:05):
And it was around that time thatI worked also as a bouncer and
was able to recognize that I hadenough sense of security in
myself that the need for theviolence and a study of
opposition was lessening in me.
I could feel The desire to provemyself that was at the core of a
(31:28):
lot of my interest in martialarts was waning.
And what that left was a reallove and fascination for
movement.
And capoeira, which is aBrazilian martial art that has a
lot of what they call floreu orstyle and trickery and
expressiveness to it.
It was sort of like the first Iallowed myself to go from just
(31:51):
martial movement to somethingwith a little bit more mixture.
And somebody I met in thatcommunity then said, told me,
you would love contactimprovisation, which is a dance
form where there's a lot ofshared weight, et cetera.
And it was very similar tograppling for me.
So it was another place where Iallowed myself in.
And soon enough, I just wantedmore and more of more open
(32:13):
expression.
And I was finding that mycapacity as a martial artist was
also improving.
Cause I was less locked intohabits and patterns and yeah,
things that were tense becausethey came from insecurity and
habit in me.
And then more and more, I justdid more dancing.
So modern dance and contactimprovisation are two of my most
(32:36):
favorite places to basicallyfeel what's emerging in me and
give it a vehicle to expressitself, to join to not get in
disharmony and discordance withthe rest of me.
And as long as I keep up withthose practices, I find that I
can do a lot of hard physicallabor and demands and stay
(32:59):
healthy.
So that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (33:01):
What more could you ask for, honestly?
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (33:05):
No, but it's deeper than that.
It's my practice of spiritualityand the way I, so much of my
work brings in the stories ofothers And there has to be my
own embodied processing of that.
And so without the vehicles toexpress whatever is coming up
and ideally doesn't even needintellectual framing, I can just
(33:28):
let it move through instead.
And then I become more of aconduit than the capacitor
that's about to explode.
SPEAKER_00 (33:35):
So well said.
Now, what continues to surpriseyou about your body, even after
All your years of study,practice and healing work,
perhaps not just your body, butthe body in general.
SPEAKER_01 (33:50):
I like that question.
One of the biggest present timestudies for me is having enough
at this point of a sort of livedin sense of where the spirit is,
we might say, or where I canbreathe change and adaptability
into my system and where thatisn't.
Ultimately, we are in physicalbodies that aged.
(34:13):
And that we can dance within thelimits of that physicality and
also exceed it in transformativeand transcendent fashions.
But yeah, at a certain point, Isuspect my knee will hurt and I
only will have so much facilityto shift the feeling of that.
And so there's almost a comingback for me of a trust that not
(34:35):
everything has to be processed.
If I wake up and my back issore, it can just be.
And I think I had to get to aplace where there wasn't a lot
of inborn toxic relating beforeI could just be truly at peace
with what is.
And I'm getting to settle intothat more.
In a similar sort of way, painis a great teacher of that.
(34:59):
Like, oh, yeah, actually, youjust did too much shoveling of
snow yesterday.
SPEAKER_00 (35:05):
Less of that.
My goodness.
Dr.
Adam Brady, thank you forsharing your story and your deep
well of wisdom with ourconversation today.
I mean, your ability to listento pain, to movement, and to the
body's subtle language is abeautiful reminder that healing
(35:29):
isn't a problem to solve.
but a relationship we nurturewith care and intention.
And I'm so grateful for the wayyou tend to complexity with
compassion and help others comehome to themselves in such an
embodied and grounded way.
SPEAKER_01 (35:49):
Thank you for your honest interest and listening.
And thank you for this wholepodcast.
I've listened to all of theepisodes so far, and it's I love
the way you draw out people'sinsights and interests in
humanity.
So I'm eager to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00 (36:06):
It's an honor, really, to share these stories
and to be privy to the innerworkings of each person's
practice.
So I feel very touched by thegenerosity of you and all my
other guests.
But to me, it's really aboutshowing how we're all connected
in ways that in which we bringso much beauty and wisdom and
(36:28):
light into the world.
You're absolutely a beautifulpart of that web.
So thank you.
Thank you, Bec.
Thanks so much for tuning intoday.
I'm so glad you spent this timewith me.
If something in this episoderesonated, feel free to share it
or pass it along to someone whomight need that little spark.
(36:49):
Until next time, keep humming.
Hello, friends.
It's Donna Bell here, your hostof To Hum It's Human, the
podcast where we explore thetransformative power of tuning
into our intuition to expressour passionate purpose.
I'm so glad you've joined metoday.
In this episode, From Complexityto Clarity, Tending the body
(00:25):
through intuition and energywork, we're talking about the
body not as a machine to befixed, but as a wise, responsive
guide that speaks volumes if weknow how to listen.
If you're craving a deeperconnection with your body beyond
the pain, beyond the tension,and ready to tap into its innate
wisdom, this episode is for you.
(00:48):
My guest is the incredible Dr.
Adam Brady, a doctor of physicaltherapy and a skilled body
worker whose approach is asgrounded as it is intuitive.
Adam believes injury isn't justabout trauma or strain.
It's the body saying, I can'tcarry this anymore.
And that's where the realconversation begins.
(01:10):
From his early training inmartial arts to his integration
of somatics, energy work, andcutting edge physical therapy,
Adam invites us to explorehealing not as a fix, but as a
relationship one rooted incuriosity, collaboration, and
deep inner listening.
Welcome, Adam.
(01:31):
Thank
SPEAKER_01 (01:31):
you, Donabell.
It's good to be here.
SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
Well, truth be told, I've had the privilege of
working with you over the pastfew years, and I can personally
attest to the profoundtransformation that's unfolded
in my body Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:47):
Yeah.
(02:12):
I can still vividly rememberthis.
I was a wrestling camp as a 17year old going into my senior
year.
And wrestling was my big sportand sort of, you know, at that
time, source of pride in mylife.
And in the middle of a match, myknee just went crunch on me.
And that really shocked me andscared me and hurt.
(02:35):
And I remember being in tearsand kind of crawling off to the
side and just my coach laying inon me about how you're not
supposed to cry.
It's not a very bad injury.
You didn't tear something, whichended up being false.
But it was at that moment Ireally took in that message of,
oh, this should be suppressed.
(02:56):
And, you know, like just gritthrough.
And for that whole week, Idistinctly remember the walk
between the gym and the dorms atthe campus we were staying at.
And it took everybody aboutthree minutes and it took me 30.
So I get up early to do it andlimp my way over and then limp
my way back.
And some of my friends took pityon me and they laughed.
(03:17):
they brought me food because Icouldn't make it to the
cafeteria in time.
And by the time the week wasdone, my parents came and they
were just like, what is goingon?
And I was still in that like,no, we're not going to.
I'm okay.
And it took a while for me tosort of come off of that and
then years later peel back thelayers of, you know, how I could
(03:41):
be of better support to myself.
And I guess we can get more intothat
SPEAKER_00 (03:46):
too.
Well, and I imagine howterrifying that is because
wrestling is a very physicalsport.
And when your body isn't part ofthe equation in doing what you
need to do, I would personallybe a little terrified there.
And of course, the sound musthave been shocking.
SPEAKER_01 (04:06):
Yeah, that's the part that sticks with me the
most, for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (04:11):
And I know that after that injury, essentially,
you were told that you mightnever run or play sports again.
How did you navigate thatemotionally and physically at
such a young age?
SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
That's a good question.
And it...
To sort of like put it all in aneat package, a couple of years
ago came across my old journalonline from that time period.
And this was like an earlyinternet era.
Facebook didn't exist.
And it told a tale of teenagewoe.
so to speak.
(04:46):
And so much got wrapped up intothe injury, into the sense of
vulnerability and call itbetrayal.
Having different doctors eithergo so wildly into, this is the
worst juvenile arthritis I'veever seen on one hand, on the
other hand saying, there'snothing we can see here.
And I felt so lost in betweenall of the different possible
(05:07):
things and also limited to adegree, gimped.
That was the word my friendsused.
And yeah, it was just, I didn'thave appropriate skills or
frameworks to navigate
SPEAKER_00 (05:20):
that.
Did that injury then reshapeyour relationship with your
body?
SPEAKER_01 (05:40):
Yeah.
So to fast forward a couple ofyears, one doctor who I really
did enjoy his connection andwillingness to listen to me, I
did end up getting knee surgery,which didn't really help.
And looking back at it, I cansee that there is so much
wrapped up around the experienceof the injury that the context I
(06:03):
went into it wasn't conducive toa positive outcome.
It just registered as furthermanipulation and like top-down
approach on myself.
And so I was then in college andat that point really couldn't
even walk for more than 30minutes.
I was in Boston at the time andwould just have to stop and sit
(06:26):
at a picnic bench or somethinglike that.
And my parents, who were intheir 50s or 60s at the time,
out walking me easily.
And that was just so hard.
And at that time, now this islike early Facebook era, I was
looking for martial artsinstructors who could work more
with energy as, I think, someintuitive hope to find a
(06:48):
different way of approachingthis.
And...
found somebody who was a Chinesemartial artist, is a Chinese
martial artist, and justbasically sort of sat at his
feet for the next three yearswhile also in physical therapy
school, learning two verydifferent approaches.
Early on, it was the mainmotivator for all of that was to
(07:08):
heal myself.
to find agency again, and ittook a while.
SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
Well, I'm curious about your journey into martial
arts because working with thisparticular person who was
working in a modality quitedifferent, obviously, from
Western medicine, and you'recurrently studying at this time
Western science.
These seemingly differentlineages inform and challenge
(07:32):
each other in different ways.
How do you combine the two inyour approach?
SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
That's a great question.
And the answer through thoseyears of intensive, nascent
early study was I didn't.
It was very confusing in a lotof ways.
I had a lot of ideas, but mostof it was, yeah, that I had two
well-fortified systems ofknowledge and very little
(07:58):
inroads between them, despitethe fact they were both things I
felt quite passionate about.
It was after school was overthat, and I was starting to look
for places to work, that Iluckily fell into a mentorship
program.
with Bob Myers at AdvancedTherapeutics, and he and Kate
Faulkner both took me through.
(08:18):
Ultimately, the starting of theinroads was osteopathic manual
medicine and what they describeas listening touch, which is in
essence a blend of bothintuition and evaluation and
ways to use the language ofsomatic intelligence to support
what could also be a scientificmore classical understanding of
(08:42):
physical therapy.
SPEAKER_00 (08:43):
Now, for our listeners, what is somatics?
Because most of us probablydon't know.
SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
Good point.
Somatics, loosely and roughly,and there's a lot of people with
a lot of different ideas ofdefinitions here, but I think
can be broadly categorized asthe study of our inner sense of
ourselves and specificallyrelated to physicality and
embodiment.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
When you're listening to the body, Those are
really subtle cues.
Could you speak about that alittle bit?
SPEAKER_01 (09:12):
So one of the ways I often think about this is that
having a different road maps toexplore the territory helps one
when their feet on the groundorient and get a sense for how
they want to approach something.
And there's value in preciseanatomical and biomechanical
maps, and there's value in moremetaphysical or we might say
(09:37):
somatic maps as well.
And the joy I get is in findinginterfaces, having an atlas full
of different maps, and thenlooking at the base phenomena of
the interrelationship betweentwo people.
and seeing what maps are mostvaluable for whatever we're
looking to do in that.
SPEAKER_00 (09:57):
I guess the other question I'd like to have a
little more clarity about isconsidering in a lot of ways
that somatics is aboutembodiment.
Could you define embodiment forus in the way in
SPEAKER_01 (10:11):
which you work?
I would describe embodiment as aprocess of awareness, of
self-awareness, that isultimately a practice.
and also philosophy of tyingback all of our experience to
the vessel, the physical body.
And when I was first exploringthrough my own knee injury and
(10:31):
my own feeling of collapsearound that, my mind state, my
approach to people around me inmy environment at the time, etc.
It became clear to me that allof this happened on a backdrop
or in a setting of my physicalbeing, and that I really needed
to acknowledge and find a way totrack that connection.
(10:54):
which I believe is there for allof us, no matter how aware and
conscious of it we are.
And so I would say the practiceof embodiment is making more
conscious that connectionbetween the vast different
layers of our experience and ourphysical body.
SPEAKER_00 (11:07):
Well, that makes sense since you describe the
body not as a machine or a meatmachine, as I've heard, but as a
complex intelligent system,right?
And so what have you seen interms of healing and shifts that
happen in the modalities ofhealing that become possible
when we relate to the body inthat way.
SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
One of the big eureka moments for me where
things felt like they werecrystallizing was in the concept
that the body will hold or hugan area of vulnerability or at
least perceived vulnerability.
And what that meant for me interms of my more kinesiology and
physical therapy, my study ofmovement itself would look at
(11:52):
things like a shoulder injury.
and say, oh, we need to help theshoulder posture find a better
carriage that's more efficient,that allows the muscles to work
better.
What's the range of motionthere?
What's the strength there?
And all of that's reallyvaluable.
But when we apply that to ashoulder without understanding
what context it's sitting in,it's kind of like talking down
(12:13):
to something.
And so when we look more at,well, maybe that shoulder is
curling inwards, which yes, wewant to quote unquote change
that, but maybe there's apurpose to that.
And we find ourselves throughvarious different techniques and
ways of relating, allying tothat, which might mean instead
of drawing a shoulder that'srounded forward back, we're
(12:33):
actually joining that process ofbringing it forward.
And when I started to reallyfeel that in myself, that I
needed that step before my bodywas gonna listen in a more fully
consenting form to directchoice-making, we got to get
that shoulder back.
It's like, well, first let'sbuild the ally relationship.
(12:54):
And so let's go with the thingthat we're identifying as not
being ideal.
See what message is presentthere.
And as I started to work withmore people that way, really
feeling the truth of that inmyself and thus being able to
better offer that to others too,wild stuff started to come out
of those sessions.
One of my early sessions likethat, a person came in with
(13:15):
questions.
really bad low back and pain insciatica state was an insomniac
for three weeks couldn't sleepbecause of the severity of the
pain everybody was giving herstretches and different ways to
approach that and she was kindof going out of her mind
understandably and i went theopposite direction and just put
(13:36):
my hand on that area and I couldfeel the intensity of it needing
to tighten up and gather andsupported that both of my hands
and then offered her, try not toforce this to relax.
And within five minutes, she wasfirst asleep.
And then 30 minutes later,snapped up in a full terror
about her brother who had justdied in the tsunami in Japan.
(13:58):
And so she was in a recurringsubconscious terror around his
experience of that.
And she processed that in a realvisceral and full way, laid back
down on that table 15 minuteslater and got up and wasn't
feeling in pain at all.
And so that was one of the firstsessions where I was saying,
okay, something is really inthis, especially in the moments
(14:20):
where it's most needed.
So that's one story of such.
SPEAKER_00 (14:23):
Wow.
I mean, that's such a profoundacknowledgement in her knowing
of what was causing the pain inher body.
And of course, your connectionbetween the two things that were
obviously manifesting in herbody.
I think there's something toalso you bringing in another
aspect of yourself because youtalk about awareness and most
(14:45):
people have general awareness oftheir body and space, you know,
body moving, but there's aninnate awareness within you that
you've honed over time, Iimagine.
Can you touch upon that?
SPEAKER_01 (14:59):
Yeah, and one of the things that feels like both a
blessing and a curse of thistype of work and looking at ways
to offer support and hands-onphysical therapy is that I truly
believe that at a certain level,you can't fake it, that there
has to be enough of a felt senseof that trust that there's a
(15:25):
purpose or there's a meaning.
That pain and injury often istrying to offer us something
more than what it's justshouting at us on the surface
and that we need to give it acontext to share that.
That's the primary job when weare experiencing pain is to
offer it context to best shareits experience.
(15:48):
And from there, healthyrelationship forms.
But if I hadn't gone throughthat in my own body and feel
that in my literal marrow, so tospeak, maybe not literal, but
that wouldn't be something thatI could effectively help
somebody else find inthemselves.
So it really required me to notbypass all of that and have my
(16:09):
own process.
Yes.
And it's an ongoing one.
SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
And that experience has really given depth to your
understanding of what people aregoing through when they come to
see you and You're essentiallysaying that injury is just
signaling, I can't hold all ofthis anymore.
And you've said that.
How do modern stressors from thepace of life to digital
(16:39):
overwhelm manifest in the body,as you've seen?
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
Well, that's a great question.
So to offer a little context formy answer for that question, And
to bring my atlas to the mapthat is biodynamic craniosacral
therapy, one of the concepts inthat map, that understanding of
the body, is that there'sdifferent rhythms and
frequencies that our system is,you could say, humming at at any
(17:06):
given moment.
And to take a very nuanced andcomplex understanding and to
reduce it for this purpose, Wecould say there's three rough
categories, the long tide, midtide, and what you could call
short tide.
And the long tide is like themonastic look on life where one
forgets that they're eventhirsty or hungry, that there's
(17:28):
a slowness to the rhythm of thatnervous system or that energy
body, depending on who you ask,that is palpable.
And the mid-tide is often seenas one foot in both worlds.
You have a connection to thatdeeper than physical need, self,
but you're also tethered to theworld.
And oftentimes we feel that inwhen you're trained to feel it
(17:51):
as about a rhythm of four to sixseconds in and out and then
there's the shorter rhythmswhich are anything kind of more
frantic than that so we can alsostructure this as some people
think of it like we always wantto get to the long time which I
don't think is accurate.
I think we want all of thesedifferent rhythms in ourselves
to be somewhat harmonic and fornone of them to sort of forget
(18:14):
their connection to the others.
Oftentimes I see modern lifefrenetic pace is sort of like
where the white water hasforgotten its deeper
underpinnings, the undercurrent.
And there's a real sense ofdislocation and anxiety that
comes with that.
And it manifests physically assuper tense muscles, a pace that
just can't stop, higher heartrate, higher blood blood
(18:36):
pressure.
And for the longest time, when Ifirst started to do this type of
work, I tried to rid myself ofall of that extraneous, quicker
rhythms, things like texting,blah, blah, blah.
And I still think that's a validapproach, but just wasn't one
that I wanted.
And I like to think now that wehave this choice of living on
the front lines of informationoverload and still having a
(19:00):
process of feeling those slower,deeper rhythms in ourselves.
And ideally, the more wepractice the range of self
there, the better we can walkit.
So it's more freedom thanchoosing one and planting
ourselves there.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
And if you think about, you're talking about the
whitewater flow.
When you're in flow, you're ableto ride all the different waves
of experience.
And so I believe also, too, thateach experience carries
something that is of value.
to you and your overallexperience.
And I think that's a healthyapproach to understanding, yeah,
(19:37):
there'll be sort of greatperiods and then there'll be
lulls and then probably somedifficult times.
But knowing that it's a wave,it'll come back up again.
And, you know, as you look atyour body and you're feeling
your body and knowing that thisis natural, this is totally
natural and human, it's justsort of how you approach it.
and acknowledge it.
So when people come into youroffice, what are you listening
(20:01):
for in their body?
their story or their
SPEAKER_01 (20:03):
presence.
There's a lot of differentangles to that, but I think the
central tenant is, I know thecentral tenant is that I am
looking for what in osteopathicmedicine they call the area of
greatest restriction.
But I prefer to think of as whatthe body is hugging the most.
Somebody might be coming inagain with shoulder pain, but
(20:26):
when we tap in, we feel thatthere's a strong pull maybe to
the low back, then myorientation there is that your
body level is doing its best todraw more support to your low
back.
And there's often a connectionto the shoulder or to whatever
surface level pain is beingdescribed in that moment.
(20:49):
A lot of how those connectionswork, how I can support somebody
else and not just having me saythat to them, but sort of arrive
at their own awareness of thatis, I think, where the art and
joy of the work comes in.
SPEAKER_00 (21:02):
Well, and it's definitely a partnership, I
believe, over time as you workwith your clients to give them
an overall view of Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
(21:39):
Yeah, that
SPEAKER_01 (21:45):
is one of the big questions that I'm always asking
myself and trying to refine.
I love getting to support peoplein, you know, coming in and
leaving feeling better.
But that old parable of you givea man a fish or you teach him to
fish, and I much prefer teachingto fish.
And, you know, the great joysabout that process is I find
(22:07):
relating it to each other.
So I might speak about how wecan connect to ourselves
differently to, for example, amusician than a mechanic, that
there is a different base.
Of course, it's not allprofession dependent.
The.
(22:27):
best thing for me to offerpeople is, and one of the first
things I work with on the vastmajority of people, is helping
them be able to trackinternally, often with their
eyes closed, the sensation ofwhat is drawing them in the
most, what's pulling, so tospeak.
And relating to that with openquestions and curiosity, and we
(22:51):
can go into more details aboutexactly what that might be,
rather than immediatelyapproaching it with change,
which might be, I'm feeling mylow back tightening up, aka
pulling in, without even knowingit, without even understanding
or thinking about it.
So often, our first thing to sayto that is, Relax.
(23:12):
And we know we wouldn't tellthat to our partner.
That would not work.
We shouldn't know that anyways.
So why do we say it to aspectsof ourselves?
And instead, if we could say,why are you tight?
Because I'm exhausted.
Then we might be able to say,hey, can you relax for me?
I've got a tennis match.
Then I'll support you morelater, I promise.
And yeah, to develop that sortof reciprocal relationship
(23:35):
internally is, I think, a greatboon to anybody.
And
SPEAKER_00 (23:40):
I know you do encourage that in people, too,
because, you know, I love tohelp you.
But of course, you can continuethis on your own.
And that's so much moreempowering.
What's interesting is speakingof tennis and speaking of modern
day pace, where we're alwayssort of striving and driving.
Yeah.
How do you guide people to shiftfrom fixing or fighting their
(24:05):
body to collaborating with it,especially in this culture that
rewards pushing through pain?
SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
Yeah, that is one of the hardest pieces.
And I think I am fortunateenough in how I end up getting
to meet people that they tend tobe at a place of enough need and
urgency that habits are moreopen to shifting.
to put imagery behind it.
(24:32):
They've painted themselves inthe corner enough and that
there's more willingness to trya different option, which, you
know, I was one of the moststubborn in not going through
that.
So there's also a realcompassion for when people come
in and they're not quite readyto shift that yet.
And I try to meet everybody atthe level of engagement that
they're willing to go to.
(24:53):
And usually there's a real senseof, oh, something is happening
here.
And that brings interest, evenif it isn't there right off the
bat.
But it's wonderful to see peoplewho, yeah, have a more, let's
say, like the way I relate to mycar, which is I have to get my
oil changed.
Same.
(25:14):
Exactly.
I can appreciate how we offerthat same approach to the body.
But one of the wonderful silverlinings of injury and pain is
that it necessitates we shiftaway from that.
That it's sort of like the debtcome due on me not getting my
oil changed until a month later,and we only get one body.
(25:36):
Oh, and it also is thefoundation of our experience in
a way a car isn't.
So yeah, I feel very passionateabout meeting people where they
are and sort of helping themcome to their own place of
actually this is really enhancesmy life.
Why, why wouldn't I give alittle more time and space for
what we might call them?
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Well, and, and I feel that that is a big
transformation on the client'spart because they probably
didn't come to that conclusionuntil that pain came.
So the pain served as the hello,the signal to say you need to
slow down or, you know, you needto pay attention and otherwise
you're just not going to move.
(26:16):
And, you know, we have thesebeautiful bodies and we should
honor them as the temple theyare.
You're the founder of Tend BodyWorks in East Hampton,
Massachusetts.
a space that holds a veryspecific intention and presence.
Can you share what inspired youto create this space and what
(26:38):
the name TEND means to you?
SPEAKER_01 (26:40):
So I love what I do and getting to connect with
people in it.
And I'm fortunate enough to bequite busy at that and people
value it.
And Yeah, there was a sense of,I can't keep up with the demand.
And it isn't purely a businesssense.
(27:01):
It's actually not at all thatfor me.
It's more of a sense of wantingto support sharing this
information.
And it brought great value tome.
And it's nice to bring it toothers.
And so I was interested increating a space with
like-minded practitioners andbringing in, particularly
through physical therapy andmassage, but not just in those
(27:24):
avenues, a more, we might say,holistic approach to people who
are coming in in need that Ikicked and screamed against
making something bigger thanmyself because it felt like a
lot.
But yeah, it was actually at thetime I was about to have my
first child and a space justcame open that It seemed
(27:47):
perfect.
I'm saying yes to a lot of newthings.
Why not one more?
It's been wonderful to be ableto mentor and share and help
others find their own ways ofbringing this type of work to
others.
And so to me, what tend means isto attend to somebody, to
(28:08):
support them, to not just offerthem expertise, but support.
to first listen and learn themand help them find their own
toolkit, so to speak.
And that there's also just seeso much in our medical system
right now, just by sheer dint ofburnout and overwhelm, a real
(28:29):
lack of the personal.
And so TEND is a reminder bothto myself and anybody who works
for us and hopefully a messagethat we want to offer people
first healthcare.
Not lose that interpersonalconnection in the midst of the
rest of it.
SPEAKER_00 (28:46):
That's so valuable in these days when people are
going through the medical systemand feeling kind of like a
number being brought through thesystem and there's something
very valuable in that humaninteraction and seeing of the
client that I have to attesthappens quite beautifully at
your practice.
And I know you have severalother practitioners there who
(29:08):
work.
So even though Adam's busy, hedoes have others who can offer
support in ways similar yetdifferent.
And as I listened to yourjourney of becoming this
incredibly sensitive, intuitive,embodied, and grounded
practitioner.
It just strikes me because yourstory says so much about how and
(29:32):
why you do what you do.
If you could offer one messageto anyone struggling with injury
or burnout, what would it be?
In
SPEAKER_01 (29:43):
line with the rest of this podcast, I would say
take a moment to to suspenddisbelief and try to listen.
And where that can be abstract,in this case, if there's a
physicalness to pain or burnout,if you're feeling it somewhere
in your body and you likely are,see if there's a way that that
(30:05):
is tensing up muscles or drawingyou into a posture.
And maybe even enhance that.
Instead of immediately relaxingit, go with it and then see if
you can give it more of an earand if that changes the way you
feel it.
SPEAKER_00 (30:21):
Just an acknowledgement, really.
That's such a beautiful piece ofadvice.
Now, I know...
Where you're at now, your bodyis totally different from when
you were when you were 17 andencountered that injury.
And I know movement is soimportant to you and you do, in
fact, work through dance.
(30:42):
Could you tell us a little bitabout that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:45):
Yeah.
And so to go back to my ownpersonal story and just fast
forward through some of thejourney, I was...
deeply involved in Chinesemartial arts, multiple hours,
probably six to seven hours aday for three to four years
through college.
(31:05):
And it was around that time thatI worked also as a bouncer and
was able to recognize that I hadenough sense of security in
myself that the need for theviolence and a study of
opposition was lessening in me.
I could feel The desire to provemyself that was at the core of a
(31:28):
lot of my interest in martialarts was waning.
And what that left was a reallove and fascination for
movement.
And capoeira, which is aBrazilian martial art that has a
lot of what they call floreu orstyle and trickery and
expressiveness to it.
It was sort of like the first Iallowed myself to go from just
(31:51):
martial movement to somethingwith a little bit more mixture.
And somebody I met in thatcommunity then said, told me,
you would love contactimprovisation, which is a dance
form where there's a lot ofshared weight, et cetera.
And it was very similar tograppling for me.
So it was another place where Iallowed myself in.
And soon enough, I just wantedmore and more of more open
(32:13):
expression.
And I was finding that mycapacity as a martial artist was
also improving.
Cause I was less locked intohabits and patterns and yeah,
things that were tense becausethey came from insecurity and
habit in me.
And then more and more, I justdid more dancing.
So modern dance and contactimprovisation are two of my most
(32:36):
favorite places to basicallyfeel what's emerging in me and
give it a vehicle to expressitself, to join to not get in
disharmony and discordance withthe rest of me.
And as long as I keep up withthose practices, I find that I
can do a lot of hard physicallabor and demands and stay
(32:59):
healthy.
So that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (33:01):
What more could you ask for, honestly?
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (33:05):
No, but it's deeper than that.
It's my practice of spiritualityand the way I, so much of my
work brings in the stories ofothers And there has to be my
own embodied processing of that.
And so without the vehicles toexpress whatever is coming up
and ideally doesn't even needintellectual framing, I can just
(33:28):
let it move through instead.
And then I become more of aconduit than the capacitor
that's about to explode.
SPEAKER_00 (33:35):
So well said.
Now, what continues to surpriseyou about your body, even after
All your years of study,practice and healing work,
perhaps not just your body, butthe body in general.
SPEAKER_01 (33:50):
I like that question.
One of the biggest present timestudies for me is having enough
at this point of a sort of livedin sense of where the spirit is,
we might say, or where I canbreathe change and adaptability
into my system and where thatisn't.
Ultimately, we are in physicalbodies that aged.
(34:13):
And that we can dance within thelimits of that physicality and
also exceed it in transformativeand transcendent fashions.
But yeah, at a certain point, Isuspect my knee will hurt and I
only will have so much facilityto shift the feeling of that.
And so there's almost a comingback for me of a trust that not
(34:35):
everything has to be processed.
If I wake up and my back issore, it can just be.
And I think I had to get to aplace where there wasn't a lot
of inborn toxic relating beforeI could just be truly at peace
with what is.
And I'm getting to settle intothat more.
In a similar sort of way, painis a great teacher of that.
(34:59):
Like, oh, yeah, actually, youjust did too much shoveling of
snow yesterday.
SPEAKER_00 (35:05):
Less of that.
My goodness.
Dr.
Adam Brady, thank you forsharing your story and your deep
well of wisdom with ourconversation today.
I mean, your ability to listento pain, to movement, and to the
body's subtle language is abeautiful reminder that healing
(35:29):
isn't a problem to solve.
but a relationship we nurturewith care and intention.
And I'm so grateful for the wayyou tend to complexity with
compassion and help others comehome to themselves in such an
embodied and grounded way.
SPEAKER_01 (35:49):
Thank you for your honest interest and listening.
And thank you for this wholepodcast.
I've listened to all of theepisodes so far, and it's I love
the way you draw out people'sinsights and interests in
humanity.
So I'm eager to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00 (36:06):
It's an honor, really, to share these stories
and to be privy to the innerworkings of each person's
practice.
So I feel very touched by thegenerosity of you and all my
other guests.
But to me, it's really aboutshowing how we're all connected
in ways that in which we bringso much beauty and wisdom and
(36:28):
light into the world.
You're absolutely a beautifulpart of that web.
So thank you.
Thank you, Bec.
Thanks so much for tuning intoday.
I'm so glad you spent this timewith me.
If something in this episoderesonated, feel free to share it
or pass it along to someone whomight need that little spark.
(36:49):
Until next time, keep humming.
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