Ep 581: Pelvic Floor Secrets Every Woman Should Know by 40 with Dr. Bhawna Malik

Introduction to pelvic health and heart coherence 0:00

Welcome to the health fix podcast where health junkies get their weekly fix of tips, tools, and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds and fit physiques for life. Dr. Bhavna Malik, welcome to The Health Fix Podcast. Thank you so much for having me Janine. Pleasure to be here. Well, we've had some fun already on Instagram going live and so I have no doubt that in our conversations previously we are going to have a good conversation today. So, of course we're talking pelvic health. We're taking about heart coherence.

A lot of people probably wouldn't put those two things together. What was the process of you figuring out like, wow, these things go really well together? How did you learn about it? how did it come together, give us a scoop. Absolutely. So my work as pelvic floor physical therapist led me to a lot of diagnosis in different women of all ages, really, but working with them, it came to the point where there was this common thread, and more often than not, stress, how they were carrying that stress in their bodies, especially the pelvic floors, their ability to relax, or not relax rather.

was determining a lot of the issues that they were having with the pelvic floor, be it difficulty with urination, pain during sex, or just tightness overall. All of these symptoms are just like a little tip of the iceberg, but there is so much more that goes on into that. And that's when the heart-brain coherence, ability to relax the muscles on command, because we are supposed to. If there's too much pain happening during the menstrual cycle, during sex, None of that is normal. If there is leakage happening during laughing, sneezing, that's not normal, it may be common.

These are all the common threads and pieces that brought us to, okay, these are really, really the three pillars, if you will, where the nervous system, the pelvic floor, and heart-brain coherence go together. I think a lot of people at this point, it seems anyway, have seen heart coherence or learned about the nervous system. And probably the biggest thing that's brought that to everyone's attention is the open conversation of trauma. and trauma stuck in the body and things of that nature. Can you speak a little bit to trauma-stuck in pelvic floor, hips, that area?

Perhaps you can twist it towards a bit of the chakras for those folks that are under, you know, well, let's see, while versed is probably a good word in

Trauma, nervous system, and pelvic floor connection 2:50

those departments. Give us a a background there in terms of how you've addressed that with different folks. Yes, and I'm so glad you brought this up. And generally speaking, I wouldn't go in chakras, just because I love to speak about science, but the truth is that in our, we call it first energy center, where is the sacral plexus, a lot of neurons are meeting up So many neurons are meeting up to that one center where it's informing the brain about what is going on. And when I say what's going, it means whether or not your body is either in the sympathetic or parasympathetic at a time.

So then depending on what signals are coming from that sacral plexus or that pelvic floor region, The brain makes the decision of what types of hormones to now release and then circulating the bloodstream. There is so much research that's now coming out, like I said, with the trauma being stored in the body that this is really very, very clear that there is a very close connection and it's really so close that we can't separate the two. They are together, they go together. So unless there are steps taken to address that and then heal and release whatever it is that needs to be processed, the body can't function as it was meant to.

That makes sense. Well, you know, one of the other things along with trauma that I tend to see is the digestive system will tend interfere with the pelvic floor. And a lot of folks who have constipation in my practice, I will often say, hey, have you seen a pelvic-floor physical therapist? I mean, same goes with diarrhea and abdominal pain. I've even found that if folks work on their pelvic floors and they have diverticulitis, I've seen some change. So I'm guessing in the field of working with fertility, along with folks that have digestive issues, you've probably seen a little bit of connection between all of those things, fertility gut, gut health, pelvic floor.

Give us give us a background there. Big connection actually. So the constipation is, I would say, 90 to 99% of the time, that's how common it is when people are having pelvic floor issues. And there's a very good reason because right above the sacral plexus that I talked about is your gut in all of the neurons are meeting now there to form the next plexus on that chain and then informing again the nervous system and taking the directions and communicating. Gut health again in the trauma is deep rooted in body and just like the pelvic floor, the body does not feel safe in those two energy centers when there is trauma present.

And that is why, when we change the approach, then we address the root cause when you start to work with the heart and brain coherence, we can undo years of trauma that was stored in the body. using breath work, using heart and brain coherence techniques. There is also quick coherance techniques for folks who have busy schedules and the lifestyle and whatnot. So there are ways to address. And first thing is to become aware of what it feels like in the body. Because if people are so busy and going about with their lives, They sometimes don't even they're so disconnected that they don' even know that if they are feeling that.

Yucky feeling in the stomach and the good in, the, you know, more lower, let's say public exploration. What does it mean and why are they having it and then. how to address it actually, which is part two which comes later once they have learned the tools and techniques. But prior to that, just being aware of what they're feeling is not normal.

Gut health, constipation, and pelvic floor issues 7:10

It shouldn't happen. And then they actually have some control over changing that. So yeah, a nervous system plays a humongous role in detecting the types of signals that these two centers are producing and then communicating back to these systems. You know, I think a lot of people look at all of the different symptoms they might be experiencing, or they're looking at it and going, okay, how do I even start? What's one of ways that you have folks starting to track their symptoms? Do you like people writing out on a journal?

what do you do? Or how Do You recommend exploring the symptoms and when they show up and helping you keep track? Yeah, so a lot of times when I'm working with women, the first hour is really deep diving into where they are coming from because two people with same age groups, same diagnosis may look totally differently based on, of course, what else is going on in their environment and how they're processing the feedback from the environment and their body and then how they are actually responding to the environment.

So that's why that personalized approach becomes so, so important. And so there's a framework that I work with where I would look at the pelvic floor health and what's going on there, the gut health, and nervous system, their movement, And then sort of come up with in all of these, you know, framework, what is it that they need most help with? And, then we go from there. And like I said, it will look totally differently based on what it is that's going on in their particular life and scenario. Gotcha, gotcha.

Now you mentioned movement, and we had talked about this before, because obviously physical therapists specialize in pelvic floor physical therapy. So before you became a pelvic-floor physical therapist, you did all the physical-therapy things. And you had mentioned movements. I think for a lot of people, we're still not 100% sure of what mobility in the pelvis means. And, you know, maybe they go to a Chiropractor and the chiropractors tells them they have a twisty pelvis, or maybe even their physical therapist has mentioned that.

How does movement play into the pelvic floor? Where do you see restrictions? Or where do You see, I'm curious and also like even maybe hypermobility and like things like Ehlers-Danlos or even in A Lucy-Goosie, I'm gonna call it this because this is my terminology guys, but Lucy Goosy like pelvic floor connect- or not pelvic-floor connection but pubic symphonist. I can talk today, boy. Pubic-symphosis connection because maybe they just had a baby a couple months ago, they're relaxed and still active, or the pubics and this has never really seemed to come back together.

Yeah, but it's a great one because that's true. A lot of times people are not sure what movement really means. In yoga, there is a saying that you are as young as your spine. You're only as old or as young as your spine. I believe that is so true and right on. Because again, it's not the chronological age, is the biological age that makes all the difference. Two 50-year-olds can look totally differently depending on how they are presenting. The posture makes a difference, how are they carrying themselves, the gait.

makes a difference. How much mobility there is in their spine makes the difference and these are some major major key points. Most people I would say have low mobility so hypo mobility is more common. hypermobility is present like you said after pregnancy the ligaments there is lexity going on and then yeah there's a phase and sometimes in athletes where they have been used to you know doing certain types of movements or it could also be by birth right so So there are a small percentage of people where there is hypermobility, where you really want to make sure that they have more stability at that point and their muscles are strong and doing what they're supposed to be, because when their joints are so loose, they are prone to get injured.

Movement, mobility, and pelvic floor assessment 11:30

And so that's a different segment, but talking about the hyper mobility. Now, looking at the lifestyles, people after a certain age in our Western culture, lose so much motion just because the default lives that we live in. Most people are so used to sitting in the chair, couch, bed. They hardly ever sit on the floor. The pelvis doesn't get a chance to actually get that full external and internal rotation. It presents issues which ties into already if someone is having, let's say, difficulty or myofascial issues at the pelvic floor.

Now, the joint restrictions are going to add up and then muscle restrictions, which further pronounce the problem even more. So, going back to that mobility piece, what type of mobility is also important, especially for pelvic floor, is something that is not much talked about. When I say that what I mean is that, for example, the reciprocal movement has such a big piece for our brain where when we are utilizing the opposite or these, you know, twisting and turning in a guided gentle way, but done properly, it also communicates with the brain in the way that it lets it know that the body is safe through movement.

So we let that body know through breath work, like we talked about earlier, through heart and brain coherence. But even with that rhythmic movement, the brain gets informed that it is actually okay, things are safe, and so we can start to relax. I hope that answered your question. Absolutely. I think for a lot of people, yes, the hypo. So lack of mobility is definitely a big, big deal. And like you said, you know, we're sitting on couches. A lot, a lotta people can't even get up off the floor. This is something that I used to, when I saw a lots of folks in person, I would put them through.

Let's sit on the for for second, then let's get back up, because it helps me to really see how mobility happens. And sadly, you know, I'm seeing folks in their 40s really struggling with this and I am going, whoa, okay, hopefully you've got another 40 plus years to live. This is not a good thing. We want to make sure, we're getting moving here. But not only that, hypomobility and now pelvic floor. And we are wondering why so many women are struggling hormone stuff. So many are women struggling gut stuff, it's all wildly connected.

So when you see folks online, are you going through a movement analysis with them? Are you putting them through all the paces of sitting on the floor or doing whatever types of things you would think through? Oh, yes. So the assessment does include looking and sort of assessing how they're presenting, but more importantly, going by what are they coming up with? What are the listing as these are, the issues that, for example, someone is having and then breaking it down to further. But yeah, movement analysis is definitely something that goes with that.

And so, you know, seeing them through the lens and camera is definitely something that is, part of the evaluation. I find this really significant that you're doing that because let's face it, a lot of folks are specializing in fertility and I don't see it happen where we look at mobility quite often. And one of my most, I would say, profound cases of helping someone with fertility when I was seeing folks in person and doing a little bit of acupuncture was this one gal who had incredible hip. like restriction on the left side and also had issues with her gut too.

And realizing that, you know, all of the different supplements and things we were doing to try to regulate her period and, and you get a good ovulation, didn't really do the trick until we worked on that mobility. And so this is why, of course, I really wanted to have folks talk about this. Now, another thing that you kind of had mentioned, and let's switch towards fertility a little bit here. I know that this probably doesn't apply to everybody listening, but I think we can all agree that is great information to share with the younger generation.

With fertility, do you find that a lot of women come to you on supplements using progesterone, using hormones for, I mean, aside from IVF, but looking just, or IUIs, just looking at general starting, are people using wild yam creams? Do they come to see you with a bunch of different supplements on board and nothing's working? Most of them do because they're already trying, they've been trying to conceive and they have, so first thing what they think of is going on Google and looking up the symptoms and then they can look with the supplements.

Supplements yes, for sure. Now, as I'm sure, you know. The way that the supplements are in our country, there is no standardized way. So a lot of times it's just about you can close your eyes and pick anything really. It wouldn't make much of a difference unless you really, really know where it has been sourced. Has it been tested? What's going on? And, you know, those details, but most people don't. So, yeah, they do have some sort of supplements as a baseline when they reach out. Are you are you recommending anything?

Do you find that? You know, you either have, and keep in mind, we all know that like everyone's individual. I don't wanna like give anyone the idea that we're saying you have to do this. It's more like, do you find that there's something that tends to be beneficial for most women who are struggling with pelvic floor and heart coherence? Is there anything like adaptogenic herbs, magnesium? I'm just throwing out things, CBD. Is or anything that seems to probably a good thing to have on board? Maybe fish oil.

I don't know, I'm just throwing things out. Well, my number one thing is almost to look at their nutrition super, super closely and make sure that they're at least doing the bare minimum because nothing beats just pure vegetables, fruits, water, and of course the fiber and all of those things and protein that goes into it. So just making sure they have a full rainbow going on on their plates which is super important and a lot of times that's something that they don't even

Fertility, supplements, and nutrition basics 18:30

have yet and yes they're taking supplements but we really need to address that so yes with the busy lives whatever we can do is is good but just understand that it's affecting your hormones and fertility in a bigger way than perhaps most people understand. So that's of course number one. But no, the research definitely points fingers towards some of the main supplements that make a big difference, including OQ10, magnesium, there is There is also a prenatal, so folate acids, those tend to be really a good starting point.

And like I said, main area of focus should always be what they're eating, what's on their plate is the biggest thing. Absolutely. Absolutely, I mean, and I've been there with folks and trying to support fertility in whichever way we can and yes, the different supplements and it can be overwhelming. And I think we cannot supplement our way out of a poor diet that we just cannot do. So, so important to think of it that way. Now, in terms of looking at different phases of the cycle. And I don't know how you believe about this.

I believe that even when we don' have our periods anymore, meaning either it's stopped, we've gone into menopause, that we still have somewhat of a rhythm and cycle. And so I'd love to get your opinion on that. What, what types of things might you recommend be between follicular and luteal phase or even the phase of the period and the face of. The ovulation. Are there certain little tidbits that you can share with us that may help someone who's thinking, yeah, I probably do need to work on my heart and my pelvic floor a little bit.

Absolutely, and this is such a good topic to bring on because I feel like with the social conditioning and the way we are raised, most women don't see the connection, though there's such big connection between all of those things. And to start off with what you said, yes, even after the cycle has stopped, there is still rhythm to the body. So that absolutely goes on for the female system. That's just the truth of it. Now, food and activity both matter. And especially, let's start with the menstrual cycle, that phase.

Our bodies are naturally guiding us to take it easy at around those times. So when it comes to the exercises and movement, what we should be doing at that time is really taking it easy, just gentle movement, gentle walking. And that's what the body is really asking for. You know, and that is the most conducive environment for the hormones. Be it, you know if the fertility is gold and yes, if not just overall, for you, know wellness and health. That is what when we do that right things, body will follow and have the right environment and things for us.

So that's the phase when there's menstrual cycle. And then let's talk about ovulation. That's when we feel like, oh my God, I can take on the world, so that the time to go do your strength workout, the cardio that you've been waiting, all of those things, perfect for that time. Food wise also, if someone is really in touch with their body, they'll know that right before the period they start to feel this heaviness or bloating. It's their body letting them know that not every food is right right now for me.

So really watching the food and this is something that's big in Ayurveda where they really focus on warm meal versus cold food that has been sitting or fridge like salad is just harder for the body to digest. And the bloating is the direct sign where the body will let you know that, okay, if it was a warm, nice meal, it digested in a different way. Bloating his minimal versus having something that's just, you cold, cold food or. Salads are great, but around that time is it's affecting the buddy differently.

So. There is so much more that goes on the deeper level, where how even the moon cycles are affecting the menstrual cycle and so closely connected, something that has been established in yoga culture, So many, you know, thousands of years ago, and I'm sure that will research is still sort of there and coming. But, but these things are so connected and we are not so far apart from the nature is like, it's like we're part of it. And these things are proof. So, yeah, what we eat, how we even, you know, rest, How we move all of those things.

Are done in a certain way. That's why the 8 to 5 culture, all the jobs and everything. I always see that as this was designed for a male society primarily. because the female body, female system works quite differently. And so there are days when we can do 8 to 5 and more and we, in fact, do 24-7 for those of us who have so many things to take care of. We know what that's like. And yeah, so that's definitely something to consider when it comes to choosing the right types of workouts and the food options, depending on which cycle you are in.

In my coaching practice, we do what's called cycle syncing, which is exactly this where we really get super clear. And then this is very informed and empowering thing because once they start to follow this protocol, so to speak, their bodies will let them know whether it's working or not. So all of the symptoms that they were having, for example, pain during menstrual cycle, bloating, heaviness, fatigue. So when we start to do the cycle syncing, it takes care of those symptoms. Wow. I think for a lot of people, they're like, no way, but it's true.

I mean, I've seen it too with cycle syncing. Now for those folks who are not having their periods and they've gone into menopause, what kind of cycle-syncing will you do for them? Are you looking moon cycles? are you're looking at their individual rhythm and kind asking, getting more details from their body as to what their rhythm is? Definitely their individual symptoms and what do they experience because, believe it or not, every month they'll have the same occurrence of what's going

Cycle syncing, menopause, and HRV tracking 25:30

on mentally, what is going physically, and then it repeats, it keeps on repeating. So really that personalized approach part is all about getting clear about what was going, how was their sleep, when did, you know, so, once we start to track that data, gives us a very clear picture about where to move next from that point on. Yeah, I think it's important for folks to really think about that. Now, the other big thing, you know, with the part of the heart coherence is, of course, heart rate variability and heartrate in general.

And I Think a lot of folks have seen on their different apps that their heart-rate variability over time has gone down or they get excited when their recovery, It looks like they recovered the night before and it's measuring things like heart rate variability or sleep scores or things of that nature. So with specifically looking at heartrate variability in different parts of the cycle, can you speak a little bit to the different cycles, timeframes, I guess, and where heart-rate-variability might actually be lower normally because your body needs more time to recover and is assigned to look at sinking?

So the heart rate variability is now undoubtedly the most important marker compared to what used to be just looking at the heartbeat because it really doesn't give full information heartrate variability on the other hand goes as that shows us that what goes on into our heart rate when we are met with situations that may be super challenging. So the heart-rate variability goes really up and then what does when it's really down. It's the graph between that high and low that shows us that how well equipped our heart is to meet the demands of the environment and going from really low to really high.

And that is what really shows the overall cardiac health. So the goal for A lot of the heart and brain coherence techniques that we employ is to improve the heartbeat variability and to not only have the hearts and brains sinking in together, but also to actually have that reflected on the Heart Rate Variability. Now your question is about which cycle it should be more or less. Well, ideally there should more heart rate variability all across and that's what we are shooting for. That's our goal is to really be working on it so that the heart read variability where it was, what you're looking at is like the past measurement and now going on forward with using those heart rates techniques, how much has it improved for us?

So that's like regardless of the cycle, we are looking at that growth from the point that we started to where we're at now. That makes sense. I think for a lot of people, they're looking at their heart rate variability day to day versus over the course of a full month. And sometimes I, and of course, give me your opinion here too, because I feel like heart-rate variability is a trajectory or wanting to see it go up over time. But when we have devices that tell us day-to-day where we're at, it can get us into a cycle of, oh, what I'm doing isn't working.

How do you answer that in terms of the cycles? So say someone's in luteal phase and they're pushing themselves a little bit harder in workouts and not seeing the recoveries. That's kind of more of a context. Sorry, I didn't give you as much context before. So how about that? What would you say in that department? Yeah, so each data is information. And so if they're noticing shifts in their heart rate variability, I encourage them to actually look at what they were doing prior, because whatever activity or conversation they got engaged in, something happened at work, they engaged Usually the things that get recorded are emotional or stressful.

So whether it was either they were super happy, they weren't at a football match or something, and then they got really excited, or they went at work and they're in a meeting and there were really stressed. Then it showed up on the graph. Each piece of information is showing what were you doing just prior to that data. and then tying it in together because if it is showing that during the luteal phase you were really not giving your body a chance to rest and you are pushing yourself Look how that affected your heart rate variability.

And now moving forward, can we make some changes to address that and then improve this because that data is providing us information? And so how we use it is now on us. I wouldn't encourage constantly looking at the heart rate variability on the devices, and I know that in itself can present just anxiety, looking it all the time. But it is a piece of information to look, let's say, checking it maybe once or twice a day, it's okay. And then taking that information and then tying it into, okay, what can we do better now?

Yeah. Now, in terms of technology to monitor our heart rate variability, what's your preferred tech? Do you have a favorite brand or technique or? company, I guess it's probably a brand new company. Yeah. So actually there's a device. However, with most of my clients and patients that I work with, unless they really want to buy it, i don't really tell them to by it because honestly speaking, the whole purpose to get that, you know, technology and understanding is a feedback mechanism, right? So as long as they understand the emotional regulation shift their own internal environment to a point where they realize first of all that where there were wasn't serving their body and now okay once they had the awareness what can they do to shift the internal environments that's actually more conducive for them so the HeartMath Institute actually has a free app, Global Coherence, where you can just actually, if you have iPhone, you touch on the camera with your index finger, and it actually measures your heart rate variability for you.

So if don't want to invest in technology, it's totally okay. And that serves the purpose just as well. Interesting, interesting. Yeah, I, I've had an aura ring, I have had the whoop, and then there's Apple Watch and everything too. And I had even specific HRV measurements that are monitoring at overnight versus all day long and taking snapshots. So I don't know how you feel about the different types of technology. If someone's going to invest, do you want them, or I hate to say the word, what is your preferred one if they were going invest?

Which one do like the best? Is it the heart math? Yes, HeartMath is what I would go with. I believe it's called inner balance or balance device. The name of the device is that I think it is inner balanced, but that's a pretty good device where it really showing on the app itself and on device and pretty a good way to measure and keep track and really get good with it because once we have practiced it so many times, it becomes a skill. Yeah. So of course, now folks are like, okay, we need to monitor our HRV.

We're watching our cycles. How do we work in the moment with our heart rate variability and our hearts and really work to achieve heart coherence? What's one of your favorite techniques maybe that folks could leave this podcast with and try it out and see how that goes? So that comes with a lot of practice, but the one that I like the most is simple, simple techniques within their environment, just slowing down and then inhaling through your nose for seconds, holding for and then exhaling through their mouths, eight seconds, only if it's done even for a minute to two minutes, it has the ability to start to shift your brainwaves and your brains determine which state of mind you're gonna be.

And then, like I said, the heart and brain work together. So once the brain waves are lowering or slowing down, So does your heart rate and the variability that starts to respond in the correspondence to what's going on with the brainwaves. And if you couple that with, let's say that people are not used to it and so reaching for gratitude or joy in the moment when they're really having a big stressful moment seems like is too out of reach. The brainwaves or the information, even if they say that, yeah, I'm going to feel grateful.

The thing is that if, so the body is very smart and if they reach for that, when they actually can't reach it, it would be like your body's going like, no, you're not. You're now grateful right now. So be authentic. And if the closest emotion at that point is, let's say, relief, go with that instead of going all the way and feeling grateful when your, your just, body can go from there to there. I think you bring up a really great point. A lot of people say that to themselves, like, I'm grateful.

I am happy. But really, they're saying it, but their nervous system doesn't match the sentiment. Exactly. And that's what happens when people are making those affirmations. Yeah, it's like, okay, you can do it, but you cannot fool your body. Your body knows. No, absolutely not. The information is actually not going past your brain stem at that point. Because the brain wave states are so high, they are in high beta when they're stressful. Brain wave states need to be reduced down to alpha and theta and then delta.

That's how we know the process goes when we go to bed.

Heart coherence techniques and emotional regulation 36:30

And then when you wake up, they slowly move from delta to theta to, alpha to beta. Um, and so when someone is really in a stressful or, you know, situation where they're so, like, plugged up and they are really, ready to do something and Reaching for gratitude is not very likely. So best thing is to just be honest with yourself and your body. Your body will know anyway. And so just work with the breathing, number one, and then reach for something like, oh, I'm okay, or relief. You know, i'm safe, just that much.

That's hugely important because I think it really isn't. I found this with myself too, is like sometimes I will try to get into a state of calm. And you know, when I know that something set me off and I'm trying to be like, I am not mad. Not mad, totally not as mad as I mad I totally angry. You know and so you'll get to that point and you're like I trying breathe and trying calm this down but I need to let the emotion go and work through it. So it sounds you like yes, Work through it. Don't lie to yourself.

I mean, that's really just the conscious brain. We can do that. The subconscious knows the full story. Your body is going like, no, you're not grateful. You're nowhere close. Oh, funny. You know, I mean, it's, and I think that's why a lot of people too will tell me like, my life's not stressful, everything's good. I don't know where to begin. And I find that sometimes it goes back to the emotions and what we're telling ourselves and things of that nature. How do you approach that? I'm fine. Everything's okay.

everything is great. But there's infertility and there is, you know or there are some serious hormonal dysfunction in terms of periods. Yeah, and the funny thing is that a lot of times when people start off by saying that no, there's nothing in absolutely It turns out a lot of times that they, not consciously, but on sub-subconscious level, there is so much that, they're upset with their body, that their bodies sort of, their thinking. Now that's not the truth, But that how they are thinking that.

Their bodies disappointed them. And so they were actually pretty upset. And to even admit that something is wrong, you know, it's like they see that as a failure, but it is, as we know that is far from truth, right? But in the beginning, yes, It takes some really sitting down and getting to what it that this issue has caused in your physical, mental space that has affected you the most. And when we get down to really talking about those things, people start to put it, because they haven't even admitted this to themselves.

So when they're saying that I'm not stressed, they are in a way being honest, Because they have not admitted it even to them. It's only when we start to dig deeper and we put those, you know, connect those dots, they see that actually, yeah, my whole life is revolving around this matter, whether I say I'm stressed or not. Every vacation, every plan that I do is now based on what if I get pregnant or what, if my plans change. So I am saying that i'm not stressed, but in truth, everything, every decision that I'm taking is around that topic which hasn't happened yet.

And also if I get invited to someone else's baby shower, how do what that does to me? And so, yeah, it takes some digging, digging deeper and really, again, being honest with oneself and then truth comes out. Yeah. Oh gosh, you know, having worked in the fertility industry when I first started to practice it, it's a tough industry to work in, especially when a lot of folks are struggling with friends getting pregnant. baby showers, all those different things, you know, it's incredible. And I think this even translates into like perimenopause, menopaus too, when folks are having lots of wild symptoms from like periods that won't quit to fibroids, deciding they're going to release a little bit more blood and you're not ready for those kinds of things too.

So, where I'm going with this is that it does seem that we have a lot of different things that we can be focused on and obsessed over, like getting pregnant. Or I'll do another great one that's in the perimenopause menopausal space is that belly fat and gaining weight. Can you speak a little bit to focusing on the problem versus working on solution and working different things to help and what that does to your HRV over time when you're so obsessed on outcome and not working what you can do to actually get to that place without focusing the outcome?

That was the weirdest question ever. I'm hoping you know what I mean. I know exactly what you're saying and it is right on point because, believe it or not, regardless of the age, whatever the main thing that we get focused on becomes the whole entire focus. Now, what that does to the body in a very physiological way is that that focus and attention is now robbing their body's resources, which could be used towards rest and repair and restorative function is, now, the entire time fighting with that perceived threat that what if this doesn't happen, then what will this happen?

And then the worst case scenario, and that is the sympathetic system, that the cortisol spike. Because it's all the time occupied with this X, Y, Z problem that I'm having. Right. So that mindset shifts everything, not just to say that, yeah, you know, think positive is not purely or just dismissively saying, Think positive. Physiologically, it is affecting the body because Like I said, the buffer body is perceived or real. Threat is considered as real threat. And so the sympathetic hormones and that increased spike that we get from the cortisol and the adrenaline rush is getting all the body prepped up for, okay, there's a threat in danger in the environment.

So we gotta be ready for that. And that's not the time for body to feel safe. We go back to the same loop that we talked about in beginning, that doing that is actually making it harder. In the instance of fertility conceived, because the has to be safe before it can be a home for a baby, that's a big deal.

Mindset, support groups, and working with Dr. Malik 44:00

The body has to really feel safe. In other incidents or other diagnosis, same thing really happens where if your body does not get a chance and always being super hyper-focused on that problem but not the solution, it shifts how your bodies reacts to it on a very physiological level. your immune system responds to this type of thinking because your system, like I said, is preparing for that, getting that army ready for the possible fight or flight or whatever is going on is the danger. So as little as it sounds, but that is truth and that's why this heart and brain coherence reverses that whole story because we can change our stories.

And once we change our stories, we can also start to shift the perspective and then understand that my job is really, really really to focus on the solution so that the solutions appears because when I'm so focused on this problem, it's only worsening my body chemistry, minute to minute, day to day level. I couldn't agree with you more. And I think it's one of the things that all of us in the medical space struggle with because we have ICD-10 codes and we know diagnoses. When someone gets a diagnosis, it can be incredibly rewarding for them because now they know what's going on.

But at the same time, what trends to happen, especially in females and whether it's fertility, whether its Hashimoto's thyroid stuff, perimenopause, menopausal, heavy periods, whatever, we join the forum, you know, or I'm saying old school forum. We join a Facebook group, join groups, follow all the people, and now it is inundation of all of the information when in reality looking towards solutions. Focusing on working on the solution not on this problem is is probably one of the biggest secrets to unlock anything When you're looking at help here Absolutely.

Absolutely, and especially when the common theme of a lot of these support groups is, look how bad my situation is. And then, you know, there's a general theme that no, mine tops and mine is the worst. No, no. I got my worst one. So, yeah, that's not helping anybody if that is of course how it is now. There are a lots of times when they're supportive and they are more Solution oriented and if that is the case, they're amazing because that community gives us that connection and it really feeds in that, you know, that that emotional regulation piece and gives that empowerment sense because we can do so much.

Then the society has conditioned us to believe And so much is still in our hands that we can do. And, so, if it is used, like I said, in the right environment, it's a great thing empowering to have that kind of support system. But if is a support group where it constantly going, who's the bigger victim, then it not a conducive place for anybody. Absolutely something something you definitely check out and definitely one of the spaces that you know I try to avoid folks to head towards so of course speaking of community You've got a lot going on with yes to pregnancy And I definitely want you to share a little bit about how you're helping folks tell us about your website Give us more of this group because I think by now folks might be like hmm Might she be able to help me with certain conditions, maybe even just regular pelvic floor, you know, stuff that doesn't have to do with fertility but perimenopause and menopausal?

Give us a scoop there. Absolutely. So, like I said, my main focus is in fertility, but I also work with women of all ages, hormonal issues, gut issues. And we work really getting to that root cause that on an average, it's shown that a doctor spends six to seven minutes with the patient. And as we know, is not enough time to get to the root causes. A lot of times, their questions or issues get ignored. That is what I really love doing, spending that one-on-one time and really be that person who's bridging the gap between the current medical system and their real health.

Whether it is helping them with reviewing their labs for them or coming up with that plan based on where they're at or looking at their history and checking out what's going on with the pelvic floor, gut health, nervous system, their movement, and And tying it all together and so from there we, we we work together. And yeah, you can find me on Instagram. Yes, to pregnancy. Same thing with the website. Like I said, the best way to find would be Instagram and I would, I'd love to connect. Well, thank you so much, Vamna, for coming on because I think it's really important for folks to hear how so many things are connected, pelvic floor-wise, but also the connection with the HRV because, you know, I thing a lot of people haven't really learned that we have a way to monitor our nervous system.

And the HIV is a very big call-out to where you may be hanging out in any given case. I'm really glad that you're using it and educating folks on it. So we'll definitely have to come back, talk some more as time goes on and see what we can do about keeping the education going about HRV. Absolutely. It's been a pleasure. And Janine, thank you so much for having me here. I really appreciated our talks. Hey, my pleasure. You guys stay tuned. I'm going to put all of the notes and everything with Yes to Pregnancy in my podcast notes at drjkrausnd.com.

Thanks again for coming on, Vovna. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Hey fellow health junkie, thanks for listening to the health fix podcast. If you enjoyed tuning in, please help support me to get the word out about the podcast, subscribe, rate and review and just get that word. Thanks again for