Silent Superhero: Building Your Child’s Resilience By Nurturing Their Lymphatic System

Introduction to the Lymphatic System 0:00

Welcome back to ADHD, Autism and Chronic Disease Parenting Summit. I'm here with an amazing and interesting practitioner who loves to talk about the lymphatic system, not something that, you know, we always talk about. She's known as the lymph queen. Kelly Kennedy, who is a founder of the True Wellness Center and an amazing practitioner. I'm really excited to chat with you today about the lymphatic system. Thank you very much, John. Like I said to you before, we recorded this is Near and dear to my heart because I want to give moms and dads the proper information to take actionable steps so that they feel free to know how to care for their kids.

Yeah. Thank you. Let, let let's start very basic. And then I'm curious how you got into the lymphatic system in general. But I even want to go, you know, before I ask you that. For those that maybe are not really aware what the lymphatic system is, maybe we can just very simply, very quickly kind of break that down for people because it's a pretty important system. It's part of your body. It's everywhere. It's really interesting to be as a practitioner. You know, people have kids come in with their lymph nodes a little bit swollen.

Parents are really worried about it. They don't even necessarily realize there's a lymph node, you know, where there is a lymph node and they're kind of everywhere. So I think it's just a good thing to be aware of. And now I agree I appreciate that. And I found through studying it for the last 25 years that medical doctors don't get much more than an hour throughout their training. Chiropractors get about the same, massage therapists only get it just like any other circulation or any other system of the body.

Rather. And yet it is a huge part of our circulatory system. And actually we have three times more lymphatic fluid in our body than we do blood. So we're just going to take a breath and feel that for a minute. We have three times more of this fluid in our body than we do blood. But everybody knows about the bloods and the organs and that, you know, different systems, the circulatory, the skeletal system, the endocrine system. But who talks about this lymph system and what is that? And, well, I grew up in a house with my father and Hodgkin's, so I knew about the lymph system as an early kid because my father had cancer.

And most people, if they know anything about lymph, it's typically because somebody in their life or they themselves have had cancer, and so they know about the lymph system. And then when I started studying European medicine in the in my 20s, right after I graduated from Cornell with a degree in pre-med, and after my father died and after I'd been in a serious car accident, was told to manage my pain with drugs for the rest of my life. I really started to delve into the terrain medicine and really started to understand the spaces between the cells and a different, really a functional medicine, integrative medicine different than telepathic, because it's taking into account that whole person by regulatory medicine takes into account the whole space between the organs, between the cells, which is the lymph and the fascia, which is the structure of the body, that is, the connective tissue that connects it all together.

And the lymph is this network of vessels. And nodes. So we talk about the lymph nodes in the neck or the tonsils. People understand the tonsils have something to do with the lymph system, but they don't know what. So let's just go over the anatomy real quick. So in every single human body there's between 600 and 1000 lymph nodes.

Lymph Anatomy and Function 3:34

They're really small. They're between 1 and 25mm. They're really tiny and they're concentrated. These lymph nodes are concentrated in the areas where we bend. So all of our joints, and particularly in our neck about 20% and our gut about 50%. And they have, vessels. Or if you think about the V, the veins in the arteries, those are the vessels of the circulatory system. And then that pumps into the heart. Well, in the lymph system, it only moves when we move. So it takes skeletal muscle and breath and motion for it to move.

Then those vessels start to create like a wave in the body that's moving the water part of the body, which is 90% of the fluid in the body. And that fluid moves into these nodes. And then at the level the nodes, particularly in the neck and the gut, is where the body is identified. This fluid and going, oh, is this a gas, is this a nutrient or is this an invader? And is this something that I have to then direct a white blood cell to handle that invader. And that all happens at the level of the nodes.

There are glands that are involved with our lymphatic system. Those glands are our tonsils, our thymus gland and our bone marrow. That's where we mature. Our white blood cells known as T cells and B cells are spleen is our largest lymphatic organ. And the spleen in the small intestine, which is also a lymphatic gland or organ, is where the body creates white blood cells. They mature in the thymus, in the bone marrow, and the gatekeepers are the tonsils. And then the appendix is part of our lymphatic system, which stores our probiotics and helps us digest food.

But it also has a lot to do with the lymphatic system from, a pressure situation. So the body's fluid pressure appropriateness. Like, I just broke my elbow a few weeks ago, and I had a very big swollen hand because I had a cat, a straight, not a cast, but a brace on. Well, yeah, it it trapped the fluid, and the body's lymph system helps with the fluid maintenance of the body, so. And it helps. 80% of our toxicants are mobilized through our lymphatic system. So a lot of folks are out there trying to do detoxes and they're doing different, protocols.

But who has changing the filters in your body. And that's your alarm system. And you are here to change. I mean, you're here to teach us or help them learn, Joel. And I'm here to teach them how we change these filters, known as our lymph system. That's part of our circulatory system that 80% of our toxicants are mobilized through, doesn't have its own pump, has a lot to do with our fluid retention. Sounds like it has to do a lot with our immune system, because the white blood cells are our signal to as to which one is to be produced, as well as which one are matured and making sure they're matured, all so that we can circulate the gases and the nutrients and let go of the burden and hold on to what we need.

This is why the lymph became so important to me, because I was well and feeling well, and I wanted to help others. I wanted to be a doctor. That's what I was doing, helping people prevent cancer. And nobody was looking at their filters. Nobody was looking at the lymph system. Nobody was looking at this main. It'd be like looking at a house and only paying attention to the furniture and never looking at the structure of the house. Well, you can replace the furniture. The blood changes all the time.

The blood is new every day. We're creating new blood all the time. Yeah. No, I think it's just such an interesting thing to me as a physician, even just talking about this, because you kind of sit back, it's like it's almost like integrative medicine was like, why don't we talk about this stuff? It's like the lymphatic system. You barely learn about it. You barely think about it. It's such a huge, important part of the system. We know all about blood, but. But then it's also very, I don't know, needs a better PR team or something.

I don't know. The lymphatic system has got like, it's not cool. I don't know why. And you know, I, I find it very odd that we don't think about it more. People don't really know about it more. We'll come back to, you know, cause I want to talk about supporting the lymphatic system and everything like that. Like your infamous white boards. I love your whiteboards. You are such a great educator with your whiteboards. And it's like, look at the white space on the whiteboard. That's your lymph. And the blood are the, the markings that you put on with your marker.

I agree with you Doctor Joe. Like why are we talking more about the whiteboard instead of just the words you're putting on. I mean the words you put on the part are always important, but I'm just saying like where? Yeah. Where is the attention to the thing holding the words? Where is the attention to the thing holding the space that allows you to put your message out there? That's how I see the lymph system. And yeah, you're right, it's not cool enough. I don't know. I'm trying to be it's PR person.

I've called myself the lymph queen so I could be the PR person, because that's why I went out into when I went out to podcasts and summits and start to educate people about what I do, I could have chosen emotional work or fascia or detox, but I chose limp because it was the ugly stepsister, if you will, that nobody wants to talk about and nobody understands. And like. But this is where your emotional body is. This is where the 90% of you are living in the space between your cells. And we're not paying attention to it.

And that's why everybody's getting sick, because they're blaming one thing versus the things that are built up in the system, that then misdirect the signaling to the cells, that misdirect the organs to function because they're in a soup that's crazy and toxic and dirty, and nobody's changing it. Yeah. And and I want to talk about how we how we do that and maybe two minutes. But I want to maybe start with something more simple because and. Like a swollen lymph node. And so, you know, the most common thing that I see in the office is either with like, a baby or a toddler parent.

The kid maybe was a little bit sick, had a runny nose, maybe an ear infection, whatever it is. And then they notice on the neck or the back of the head, like a little bit swollen lymph like not something that's like huge and massive and super scary, but they're like, oh, I felt this little bump here.

Why Lymph Matters for Health and Detox 9:56

Do I need to be worried? It's cancer, you know, like that's what everybody's thinking, right? You know? So I think it would be good just to talk for one minute about like when to be worried, when not to be worried. What's normal? What's abnormal? With these little bumps. And then. And then we can go back to kind of talk about supporting the system. Great question. And correct me why I'm wrong. Doctor. Cancer doesn't happen overnight. Cancer tumors don't move. And you can affect your lymphatics and watch it shift in a moment.

You're not going to change a cancer tumor size and shape or tenderness by doing a lymphatic move, right? Yeah. So usually from a medical perspective, it's like, you know, you're looking for something that's slow growing, continuously getting bigger, very hard. Firm doesn't move. Usually it's not painful. It could be painful, but usually it's not painful. Usually painful is more like inflammation, which is very normal for a kid getting sick because again, like you said, lymphatic system is there to support your immune system and it's part of the immune system and it gets swollen to fight off infection.

So it is very normal for it to get swollen. If your kid is sick, it's that's what it's supposed to do. And then usually it kind of goes back down in size. Sometimes it doesn't go fully back, you know, as small as it was, but it usually is pretty small. So if you just feel a little bump, it's only reasonable to get it checked. But usually when you're, you know, you're worried about, like, cancer, it's their fevers. They're very sick. They're not growing. Well, there are multiple bumps. It's really slow. It's hard.

Like, those are the kind of things you're looking for. That's not exact. That's not what we're talking about here. That's kind of outside the scope of this. But I think if we're talking about lymph, that's important to mention. No, I agree, I appreciate that. And I've watched a lot of parents because I think two things happen. One is we tend to be alarmists with big C-word, right? We we see something. Anybody we don't understand. We Google it. We. Doctor Google instantly goes to worst case scenario and goes, oh, it must be cancer.

Go to a doctor and get checked. Then we're walking to a doctor that doesn't know about the lymph nodes, and then they see this and they go, well to me. And they know the things, you know. Okay, well, it's moving around. It's not painful. And when did it show up. Oh, just last week. Oh. And they had a fever right before this because they had a cold or they had a respiratory infection. The doctor goes, I understand something that's going on through the lens system. Ignore it. Don't worry about it. The body's got it.

But the moms and the dads are home and their instinct is like, I feel like I should be paying attention. This. I feel like my body, my child's body needs a little assistance. And I'm here to tell you, Kelly County is saying you're right. So just a facilitated a swollen lymph node is that is a ball that your body's trying to juggle and it keeps dropping it and it can't get it through the lymph system. And that's not a bad thing necessarily because that's an opportunity for the body that's got new exposure to something to identify it and to build the proper antigen and allow the body to overcome that.

I didn't vaccinate my kid. I had him at home. We didn't see any swollen lymph nodes, toes about 910 months old. We took him to daycare, comes home the next three years. Literally all the lymph queen is doing is pumping her baby's lymph nodes. Because I know that it's a sign, an indication that his body's got new exposures. It's bringing that into his body. His body is bringing in awareness, creating the proper white blood cell. And then it's evidence by excretion. And so what we're talking about is excretion phase.

So impregnation, which these are biological, I don't know situations isn't really the right word. They're biological cascading of what happens when you get an invader of some sort that the body's trying to rise up and deal with, whether that's a histamine or an allergen or, or a toxicant. The body's job, if you will, is to create a defense against ego. Hey, I don't want that. And often that's evidenced by swollen lymph nodes, which is the body taking that information. And there's a lot of activity, sweat swollen.

When Swollen Lymph Nodes Are Normal 14:05

But if it remains swollen then the body's not able to clear that infection and it might get a little stuck. And we want to facilitate that. So the first is we're going to take a breath and realize how smart is this body, how amazing is this innate wisdom within that is fighting something? I am not conscious of it as mom. And look at this little baby's swollen lymph node and it's that good job body. Stop freaking out and have appreciation while that baby was growing in your belly. Mom, you didn't do much. Let's be honest. Yet I'm a mom.

We didn't do much to grow that baby. We appreciate it. We allowed it, it comes out, and now we get nervous over how to take care of it. Trust the same thing that created it when it was in your belly. Take a breath and go, okay, this is a signal the body's trying to give me. And I'm now going to learn the language of the lymph, because I'm going to listen to Kelly, and I'm going to start to learn how the lymphatic system works. And I'm going to assess my child's body or my body to move out and move it along, because it's stuck.

This is a choke area. Gut congestion is the same thing. Bloating, gas, constipation 50% of our lymph is in our gut. And I know a lot of people think in our industry that that funnel that everybody draws, the bottom of the funnel is the bowel. And I'm here to say, no, it's not. It's the lymph system because 50% of your lymph is in your gut. And yes, your liver always needs to work when your lymph is moving because your liver's got to capture what the lymph is throwing at it. But as you start to release the lymph, the bowels start to improve.

And the breath and the sleeping and the menstruation and all the excretion start to improve into a natural rhythm, as the body said. Sorry to interrupt. I know that. I just wanted to say that, and I think that's like an important direction to go. And I want to spend the last couple of minutes on, on that, because I think it's, it's really important. So I wanted to kind of move into, okay. So, you know, now people maybe they recognize they they've heard your passion and they're like, all right, I got to do I oh, there's a little lymph node there.

I want to do something about it or I want to be more mindful of it. So what are some of your suggestions techniques or what would you want people to know? In terms of what they could actually physically do at home. And, and obviously I, I always, you know, preface it with like everybody's different. Every situation is different. That's why there are practitioners like you, if you need specifics, then sure, you know, you can learn and get more. But but let's talk about some some general general tips I guess. Yes.

And thank you for that. I do want people to know generally that if you brush your teeth twice a day, we should mobilize our lymph twice a day. We live in a toxic soup. Everybody's got to do this no matter who you are, no matter how old you are, no matter what you're dealing with, if you're chronically ill, you got more complexities. You might need a little consulting. This is not medical advice. This is how to live well. Advice. And what I want everybody to understand is that the way to drain the lymph is a very it's it's not to be overly complicated, okay.

It's simple, but there is a particular sequence and a particular way you have to open it. So it drains because it's a pressure gradient system. First you relieve pressure and then the pressure moves in. You relieve pressure. Pressure moves and relieve pressure. Pressure moves in so that the way that people have taught dry brushing is completely wrong. And you have superficial lymph and you have lymph nodes. These are two different aspects of the lymph dry brushing that most people teach us. For that superficial, all that fluid lymphatic stagnancy that is evidenced by fluid buildup.

But even if the fluids at the toes are, the lymph node is small and behind the knee, everybody wants to start where the swelling is, and that's not how it goes with the lymph. You must first create a valve release. Then the pressure will move into it. So you always go closest to where it dumps you. Create an opening there. Then the next area that dumps into it, you create an opening there and then the pressure is relieved, then the next area. So I teach people very quickly the sequence, but let's just break it down real quick.

All the lymph drains to the two termini above the clavicles. Then that dumps into the cardiovascular system. The heart pumps it out, you bleed it out, you poop it out, you sweat it out, you breathe it out and you urinate it out. Poop and sweat. That's how you get out. And I say, bleed.

How to Support Lymph Drainage at Home 18:38

So if all of the ends here at the termini, that's where I start. I always open the end of the valve first so that the pressure behind the valve can start to open up. I don't care if my big toe is swollen. I start all my training, all my therapy here on my neck. If it's up in my tonsil area, I don't start my tonsils. I start the bottom of my neck because I gotta open that up first. So I open that up and 25% of my lymph is going to drain on my right termini. It's called the endpoint and it's going to drain the right side of my breast.

My right side of my head am I right arm and my right chest all here. Another 25% will be drain on my left termini on that left upper body, my left side of my head, my left arm, my left breast and my left ankle, armpit. So that's 50% of the body is draining here and here. It's as you so are you massaging those areas? Is that what what what do you mean by that? You're doing a little pump. It's a, It's not a massage. It's a pump. Just a little gentle pump. And I teach this on my website for free on my YouTube channel, because it is a little it's a specific gentle pump.

It's not a massage because that's working the muscle. I'm just gently going to allow the body to create a flow, a pump, and we also have these handheld vibrational tools that facilitate that with a bio sonic vibration to simulate that same pumping motion. But it's definitely not a massage. So thank you for bringing that up. The different movement after I pump my termini and I've opened up 25%, 25%. It's from the upper body, from about the, diaphragm. Up just below the diaphragm is what's called the cysts, or in a Kylie, which is an empty sac, part of the lymph system that drains the inguinal.

So the lower body. I wear one of these now because I'm a situation, but, we've got the lower body, the, the feet, the legs all drain up to the abdomen and the abdomen drains to the cistern. A colleague and the sister and a colleague now drains up to the left thoracic. So this left thoracic actually drains 75% of our body, the 25% of the upper body and 50% which is our lower body drains here. So the 75%, the whole body has to drain first, then the neck will drain, then the head will drain. And here's what I hear all the time.

Kelly I'm doing your lymph node release. I'm doing this I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this. I'm drain the whole head, but the neck still isn't drain. Why? Because you're not draining 75% of the pressure in the body, which is below the waist is 50%. So you got to do the whole sequence. And I teach this again. I have two ways. I teach it for for well, three ways really for free. I do the quick ten which is on YouTube. I the full sequence, which is about a 20 minute video on my website.

Then I teach a master class with this. How do you don't just drain the the head in the neck, but the brass, the inguinal, your liver, your spleen and treat your scars? Then I have a separate scar masterclass. But the point is that getting people to drain here the top ten points, five of them are below. Here. Because you always drain here and here. If you have nothing else to do you drain your term nine your, your system. And those are the top three, top five are termini tonsils and cisterna. Then your top ten and are your apical nodes which are like where your breast where the bra strap is for women under the armpits and then back down in the gut and draining up here again, this is where the majority of us get clogged, but it will not release in this upper chest, neck and arm area.

A lot of women have and men have puffs, arm puffs instead of pits. I teach a lot about this. A lot of people are puffy here or puffy in the back of the arm. This is all lymphatic stagnancy, indicating that your filters need to be changed. A lot of people are puffy in. They're in their pelvic area, and it's like fluid that is not fat, that is lymphatic stagnancy and which is causing you to not be able to detox well. And the natural state of humanity is to detox naturally through the state of flow.

We shouldn't have to go through detox programs. The deer and the rabbits don't have to do detox programs. They don't have to do coffee enemas to poop, and they live in the exact same environment we do. Yeah, no, that's very true. Unless they're very wise, interesting animals. In which case, you know, maybe that's a whole YouTube special for another day. That's a whole nother summit, doctor Joel never know. The coffee enema rabbits. All right. Yeah, but I mean, that that it's it's very interesting.

I mean, again, I just I hear you speak about this stuff and it's so interesting to me because it's like, you know, we really, as a doctor, don't learn any of this stuff. I mean, obviously we learn about the lymphatic system, but like, not in any way. Not we never think about anything like this. You know, you you could have all sorts of issues with your lymphatic system, just like your blood, and nobody really thinks about it or manages it. And certainly, you know, as you said, detox is kind of all the rage these days for people.

But if you're not actually supporting the system, which is actually doing the detoxification and you're just focusing on the liver, then you're kind of missing or the liver and kidneys and you're kind of missing a big, big portion of it. And I think that, you know, almost everybody doesn't think about this. So really, I mean, if anything, the company should be like adding this in. It's like like there's a whole other product that could be selling like a whole other thing they could be doing. It's so important, you know, to be included in this.

I really thank you for, for sharing your wisdom. It's really interesting, unique. This isn't just for kids. This is this kind of for adults too. So I think this is this is a double whammy, this this talk because it'll be useful for parents too. I don't I don't think most people thought about this at all. Thank you. Well, drainage over detox is what I say. Drain, drain, drain. Your detox is only as good as your drainage. So thank you for the opportunity to share this very important part for me and and for everybody to help them reframe so that they feel free and start to engage their own immune system in their kids immune systems to heal.

Where to Learn More from Kelly Kennedy 24:58

Thank you for all the work you're doing. Thank you. And can you tell people where to find you again if they want to learn more taking those courses or anything like that? Absolutely. So the True Wellness center.com is our website all spelled out the Instagram. You can follow me on True Wellness global and same on YouTube. True. Actually YouTube is true wellness PA and then I'm Kelly Kennedy and I'm all over the place. So Kelly County Linfield usually find me if you search those three words. But I'm here to help and assist.

Oh I have a podcast called flow. Flow. Oh, we so really want you all to understand this, and I'm here to answer your questions. Awesome. Well, thank you for for joining us. And thanks for being a part of this. You.