Taming the Mental Chaos: How Gratitude & Movement Heal the Body & Mind

Introduction and guest background 0:00

We become our ailments. We become our inability to drop weight. We become our sleepless nights. We become our incontinence, right? We become that. And when I would meet with women, they would. They would talk about. They wouldn't almost sometimes even get tell me their name before they started going through the grocery list of what was going on in their body. This is doctor talks. Welcome to this summit. Hormones and Mental Health. I recommend you anxiety, depression and ADHD in women. I'm your host Dr.

Cassie Smith on that functionals endocrinologist and today I have Jana Danielson. She's an award winning wellness entrepreneur, transforms her personal struggle with physical pain into a mission to elevate women through self-love and empower. A founder and CEO of Bloom Better, she helps women discover their selves by integrating physical wellness with mental and emotional health. Focusing on mastering mindset, movement, and metabolism. She has a Planet Master Instructors certified twice instructor, certified weight Loss specialist, and Amazon International Bestselling author.

Joanna created The Coach The Two Spas, the world's first pelvic floor fitness tool for women. She's also a pioneer in the mindset space thanks to the launch of her emotional intelligence AI app called orchid, which we are just talking about. And so she's going to talk to us about that. She was the recipient of the 2023 Mindshare Leadership Summit. Nature of health award was a big deal. I was at Mindshare in September and she's having she's coached hundreds and hundreds of thousands of women globally.

And she continues to inspire and guide them towards enhanced quality of life competence and empower her work proves that when women invest in their health, they invest in their power to change the world. So thank you for joining me today. Hi, Cassie. So we were talking right before this about some really cool stuff. And so I think, you know, if you're watching this summit, hopefully you're watching it because we wanted to talk about some of the things in menopause that maybe don't get as much attention as they should.

So anxiety, depression, ADHD, just like the mental aspect that there's way with menopause. And these are very real symptoms that affect you a lot. Right. And so a lot of times unfortunately in medicine, the treatment for that is here's a prescription. And my problem with that is that there is not a Xanax deficiency. There's not a Zoloft deficiency. We are not medication deficiencies that cause this. This is all things that we really need to address. And like you said, like minds that we really need to address mindset and we really need to address like what is causing this now for loan imbalance cause this.

But there are other things. And so you were saying to me, and I just want to kind of start with that because it is like my job. You are saying to me, you know, you think that with with mindset when people say it's important that nobody really does it. And you were telling me something about about the thoughts that we have. And so why don't we just start with that something? Yeah. No, I think I think what's important to kind of kick this off is that, you know, for myself, at 51 years old, I feel like I am, you know, head and shoulders in a better space than I was when I was 21 years old.

Right at 21 years old, I would go to bed literally with 11 different medication bottles on my nightstand, and I would wake up and see those 11 bottles literally. I was told by my doctor that the pain I was experiencing was in my head, and that I was seeking attention, and that's when the shift for me happened was literally 30 years ago. And so I went into a depression. I was newly engaged, finished my degree, and didn't know what my life would be like. And it wasn't until I found Pilates that I actually healed myself.

And for months that I had this big moment about the body, about health and wellness, our mind, how it impacts every cell in our body. And I realized that going to bed, looking at those 11 bottles of medication,

Mindset, thoughts, and self-perception 4:20

and waking up and looking at those 11 bottles of medication was actually a big deal in what was making me ill. And so, through my learning over the last 30 years and, you know, working with many, many women, we become our ailments. We become our inability to drop weight. We become our sleepless nights. We become our incontinence. Right? We become that. And when I would meet with women, they would they would talk about they wouldn't almost sometimes even get tell me their name before they started going through the grocery list of what was going on in their body.

And so understanding and this is from Doctor Joe Dispenza is work. And this is what really gave me clarity and confidence with what you were just saying. We pay lip service to this mindset. But here's the thing. We would rather live in our familiar past, then step into a new version of ourselves in an unfamiliar future. And he backs this up by saying, we have every single day, 60 to 70,000 thoughts. That's a lot of thoughts. But here's the kicker of those 60 to 70,000 thoughts, 80 to 90% of them are the same as the thoughts we had yesterday and last week.

And last month and last year. So we might consciously be craving change, right? Like we just wanted so badly. And we do all the things we think we need to do. We eat the right food. We do our 10,000 steps, we get our morning sunshine, we drink our water. All of that is going to be minimized. The impact will be minimized if those voices in our head that are subconscious, we don't know they're happening. It's like a movie playing over and over and over. If that continues to happen, long term change becomes a pipe dream.

And then you hear women and I'm sure in your office you hear them say, like, I've just I've fallen off the wagon. Right. That metaphor of of being on a wagon, off the wagon. I just there's no wagon. There's no wagon right there is understanding how powerful your thoughts are. Your thoughts become your actions. They do. Your actions become your character. Your character becomes you know how you live your life. And one thing I don't think a lot of women know is that the brain doesn't discern between success and gratitude.

So if we employ a simple gratitude strategy, getting up in the morning, what are the three things you're grateful for? Pick them out loud. Think them in your mind. Even that can start to shift us. So, you know, that's how I wanted to kick this conversation off, is that we have so much power as women, and I feel like so many of us are actually walking around this planet numb, sleeping, settling for a life because we were told or conditioned that this is what happens when you hit menopause. So you're just supposed to, you know, deal with it accepted.

And, you know, hopefully it's not that bad. But ladies, I'm here to tell you that that actually is not that belief system does not serve us any longer. Yeah, I completely agree. That's one of the things I worked on that last year. But that's my big thing this year is like being present in the moment. I feel like so many people are just numb, right? Like they wake up with this little list and it's like, I must do this and this and this and this and even and I thought of this last, last year. So I have a trainer, I work out with the trainer now, and I realize when I go work out with my trainer because when I listen versus when I know not, it's like he's got this like set of activities for me to be right.

Like, I'm going to do these exercises this many times with this many reps. I was just doing it. I'm just like doing it with like just mindlessly doing it. And but when I worked out by myself, I was like, oh, contract my muscle. Like I'm just more I don't know, I think and it's it changes like so much when you're actually present. You're not just like, I almost use my workout as like a check off list, like everything else. Me. Right. But when you're actually present in the moment doing it, it's just different.

Unlike you feel different. You're everything's different. And so I think that a lot of people, unfortunately, like you said, we are in this world where it's like you're so many things to do every day and you're trying to get through this like your medicines, you have to get through all of those medicines that you just if numb. And it's like when you're numb like that and when you're not grateful and when you're not happy, then you're depressed. Yeah. Because you have all these things that you need to do.

Then when you actually need to sit down and focus on something and do it, you can get and feel like you have ADHD and you need Adderall or whatever, because it's not that you can't focus is that one brain is I don't like yoga. There's too much going on, right? And we just don't recenter those moves at all, I think. No, no. And, you know, I think while we're like kind of deconstructing this, there's a really important, emotion that we all experience, the emotion of shame. Right. And I think that that's for some women that is like their modus operandi.

Here's something I learned maybe about 3 or 4 years ago from a women's health perspective. And it actually that was a mic drop moment for me. So the main nerve that runs from our brain to our pelvic floor and genitals in both a man's body and a woman's body. Okay, both both sexes have this nerve. It's called the dental nerve. All right? The dental nerve is a motor nerve. So it sends messages. It's time to go to the bathroom so the pelvic floor relaxes. It's time to pick up a heavy weight. The pelvic floor contract.

So it's a messaging center, but it also is a sensory nerve which means it's a feeling nerves. So everything from pleasure through through pain is also running through the dental nerve. Well, if you were to Google what is the Latin root of the word pew dental, do you know what pops up? What pops up is an area of shame. That is the Latin root of the word pew dental. For this nerve that connects our brain to the most beautiful part of our body. It's like this beautiful magic cauldron in a woman's body where life, if a woman does, that's where life is created, right?

We hold a lot of stress and tension there, and to know that we are actually born into this world with the energy and frequency of shame in and around our pelvis from a women's health perspective, from a perimenopause and menopause perspective, that's a pretty big deal. And so just understanding that, you know, it's not just it's not just you, it's not just you that, you know, holds tension and and squeezes. And there is there's fear and there's anger and there's shame in that area. It literally is all of us. And the first piece that has to happen to move through that is understanding that it's actually there.

Yeah. That's crazy. It's very true. I think, you know, I take care of a lot of people just like you. And to your point, a lot of them come in and I'll introduce myself. Hi, Dan. For Chancey, are you fill in the blank. Yes. And they just immediately attack you with. I've been to and for this long I like. They want to come at you with like I like to start the conversation with, you know, nice to meet you. What do you do for a living? Like trying to want to get to know them in 95% of the time. It's just like this word vomit of like, you know, are all my my issues, right?

Yeah. No. My issue, it's me. And it's like, I like to try and start on a positive note because I always when I know, like, well, what do you do for a living? What makes you happy, what you know, what drives you? Like I try to that general doesn't happen. It's interesting because and maybe, you know, maybe it's because they think, well, I'm coming to you and I don't know, but it was interesting that we all, like you said, we become our limits. Right? It's not like because I take care of I take care of some very high functioning, phenomenal women.

And I really do a lot of cool things and world and all they want to talk about are these,

Shame, body awareness, and emotional health 12:40

you know, like, oh, I'm, I'm, I'm 5 pounds overweight or, you know, I cannot sleep. Right. And I'm like trying to do all these things to change the world, you know. And so it is I think it's this mindset is so important. Like you said, mindset movements, all of this is so important. It actually in metabolism means things to help shape your mental health at any point in your life. But especially when your hormones are changing. Yeah. So much. And like you said, there's this lip service given to mindset where people are like, oh, you should have a good mindset.

But then like nothing is, you know, nothing is. And mental health is very undervalued in this country. You know, it's almost like a stigma. If you see a therapist like, I'm very open that I see a therapist every week, but that's day of the week. It's on Thursdays at 5:00. I look forward to it every Thursday. I've seen her for a long time and. But then some people, I mean, I find people literally say to me, oh, why do you see a therapist every week? You don't need to see it there. You know? And it's like, fuck, you do like, you mean you're processing.

You need to. So it's interesting. So how do you define like mindset movement, metabolic health? Like how can you explain these to like individuals and like how do these things help with mental health? Yeah. So when you think about, you know, alone, you're working on your mindset will impact your mental health. Moving your body will impact your, your your health. Understanding I mean, metabolic health. I if we would have been doing this chat 12 months ago, I don't think we would have been using the word metabolic health like we do now.

I think that has gotten a really big boost over 2024. And so just to help women understand that, you know, from the from the metabolic health or the metabolism perspective, I think we've come to believe that, you know, we think that when we're young, our metabolism is high and we can burn fat quickly. And when we age and get into, you know, menopause, metabolism slows. But at its very basic definition, you know, metabolism truly is how efficient is your body at taking energy from food and converting it into energy for yourself?

Because when your cells have energy to do their job, they're going to serve you at the highest form, right? So when you are doing your meditation, going to your yoga, you know, doing your prayer and those mindset strategies. You can gain more clarity and confidence when you move your body in whatever way you love to do. You will gain more clarity and confidence when you understand. Like I said, morning sunlight, making sure you're hydrated, you will get clarity and confidence. But here's the beautiful thing what I found with the women in my community is that like if we were braiding our hair with those three strands mindset, movement, and metabolism, when you braid them together, all of a sudden they amplify each other and you start to realize that when you are out for your walk, that maybe you want to pull your headphones off and just listen to the sounds or smell the air, because you're dialing into being more present, which is part of the mindset kind of recipe, right, that you, like you said, when you're working out on your own, you are focusing on what does that feel?

Oh, what does my glute feel like when I do that? Same thing when you're walking, can you feel your glute? You know, the number one reason event that people go from independent living to assisted living is because they can't get up and off the toilet. Well guess what ladies? That is a squat, right? That is a squat position. And so when we understand and try and plant these seeds for why am I doing this? I am doing this. Am I doing this for a size on my pants? Yes, maybe that's one of the outcomes.

But what about that longevity that we all strive for? Like I think back to when I was young and would go to my parents, my great and 50th wedding anniversary or 50th birthday parties. These women, in a very respectful way, looked old. They dressed old, their body moved right. And I'm like, she's that's me. I'm 51, right? I don't I don't feel that I still want to plank my kids and when you bring these pillars together and understand, like I said, how they optimize each other, it's kind of like putting fuel on the fire.

And we are so conditioned to want to see an outcome. We want to see something different. We want to see maybe less of that double chin, or we want to see that tummy change, or we want to get a full night's sleep. So we don't have a bunch of puffy bags under our eyes. But here's the thing is, when we get so focused on being outcome driven, we miss the beautiful learning that happens in the process of trying to reach those outcomes. So that's where a lot of women get very frustrated. Is when we're outcome driven, then you get the women like you do in your clinic cases.

I need your help doing this. Can you fix me? Versus here's how I can support you. Here are, you know, your daily I call habits in rituals. Those are chosen actions that boost your life. They're like the superheroes of habits in rituals. Well, when I pick up my bottle of water and take a sip because I know that my brain is going to get hydrated first, my vital organs are going to get hydrated second, and my joints are going to get hydrated last. My stash is going to get hydrated last. If I got a little knee issue going on and want to heal that, you better believe that I'm going to be dialed in and committed to getting hydrated because I know how my body is using that hydration.

Ladies, there is absolute power in this education that you are getting in this summit with Doctor Cassie, and there's going to be so much information, it's not all going to stick the first time, and that's why it's important. I feel like when you have these moments of learning to take advantage of them, what is resonating and what resonates actually becomes learning. You're going to start living that information, and then we pass it on to others. And that's when it becomes that women's wisdom that I feel like we just gloss over and I also feel like we're returning to that again.

So that's where the mindset, the movement and the metabolic health all intersect in this beautiful way to give us the longevity that we are craving. Yeah, I like that. I think a lot of people are outcome driven. Yeah, very often especially like high functioning women. And so they don't focus on the journey and the learning. They focus on the outcomes. And then that, you know, it's kind of like I say this sometimes living in the the gain instead of the gap. So coaching a company I used to live in the gap my whole life and it was exhausting.

It was like it didn't matter what I did. There was always more to do. Right? And that's everyone. Like, it doesn't matter what you do. Never. I personally don't believe that there's a single human on this planet that goes to bed every night and thinks, oh, I got everything I want to

Metabolic health, movement, and longevity 19:40

accomplish today. It's so good for you. Like, awesome. But what we forget is all the things we actually do get done. So I used to go to bed very anxious, thinking like, oh my gosh, I didn't get. There's two things on the day that I really wanted to do, negating the fact that I got 100 other things done that were really important because I injury good at prioritizing by importance, right? So if I don't get something done, it's something that like just did not have to be done, it has to be done, I'll get it done.

And most people are like, if it's something that's going to affect you living, breathing, tell your children some like you're going to get it done. Those other things that you don't get done. A lot of times you may put pressure on yourself, but it's not something that necessarily have to get done. But I think a lot of people lay down at night to the point of these symptoms. We're talking about depression and anxiety, insomnia. Some of you people listening to those that have these, you're the people who lay down at night and go off.

I still have five things on my to do list saying it, done it. Oh my gosh. I mean, roll over and put another on there that just popped into my head. Instead of thinking like, oh my gosh, I got all my children fed today. I got them all to school, did their homework. I made sure everyone had a nutritious dinner, I got my job done, I did some laundry. I like all the things that you actually did do to make the world go round. No. Or maybe you're in a later stage of your life or you're not dealing with kids.

But I got all this stuff done at work, and I made sure that I dropped my husband's name off at the dry cleaner, and I made sure he had dinner. And, you know, I took myself to the gym. When all these things you get done, you just like I don't forget that I don't don't give yourself credit for that extra stuff on your checklist to do. And I think that's a lot of the problem too. And so then your mindset is always, you're not good enough. You can't get enough done. No. And so then that when you have that negative mindset and I want you to talk to this, that drives the anxiety and depression.

Right. And then the other thing that I hate that a lot, I think a lot of women are in this toxic culture right now. I had this conversation with somebody yesterday. I go to the gym. This lady, this particular person, works out every single day. I go to the gym every single day. I a lift every single day at least 20, sometimes 40 minutes. But I don't do enough cardio. I only do like 20 minutes of cardio every day. And I'm like, Dear God, you workout like three times more than I do. You know? It's just like, it's never enough. No matter what we do.

I think some on a society, some of that is social media. Some of that is just, I don't know, do we just naturally compare ourselves to other people, or do we just show ourselves like, are we always harder on ourselves? I don't know, can you talk to somebody? Yeah, absolutely. You know, I just I created this what's in and what's out for, you know, mindset movement and metabolic health. This list that I made for what's out for 2020 or what's what's what's so 2024 and what's so 2025. And this was exactly, you know, part of the pieces of my list that we live in this comparison culture.

Right. There's always going to be someone who is looks to be doing it better. They are they drive a better car. They have a better house. The relationship with their husband seems better. They have a better job. There's always going to be that. And that's why I put comparison culture on my what's out for 2024. I also put on that list that believing that fitness includes a puddle of sweat on the floor every single day, or it's not worth it. I had on there in my what's in list, I had things like restorative movement, and I'm a big proponent of this.

So I created something with the couch bounce scooch ball that I, that I have called Terrain Fitness. All right. And so if you think of your body as a garden. Well, let's do that. Let's just let's just come with me on this little journey, okay? Our body is a garden. There are some gardens, you know, think about, you know, seeing different gardens that are just covered with weed, right? They are neglected. And you maybe you see some flowers popping through or, you know, you see some vegetables that were planted, popping through, but obviously, you know, neglected.

Even if there is optimal sunshine and optimal rainfall, those weeds are going to be suffocating the fruits and vegetables that are trying to flourish in that garden. On the other hand, there might be a garden that is meticulous, right? Meticulous. But maybe that meticulous garden has an owner that is using toxic spray to get rid of the weeds so that we don't even see the weeds. And we walk by and we think, oh my gosh, look at how amazing that garden is. But we don't understand what's going on underneath and the long term implications of that strategy.

Right. And then there's a garden that we see that we're like, okay. Getting optimal sunlight, getting optimal rainfall. You know, we see see the the potatoes, you know, starting to bloom. Maybe we see the raspberry bushes with fruit on them. And yeah, maybe there are some weeds in between. I love to use that metaphor because our body truly is a garden, and fitness is one little sliver of that formula. And so. Doctor Amy a pig in uses this uses this term for trauma. So she defines trauma as too much too soon or too little for too long.

All right. Like what a beautiful definition. Too much too soon or too little for too long. Ladies. That is all of us. We have all experienced that, whether it's been, you know, going through our schooling, whatever level high school, college, post doctorate, there's lots going on. Whether you chose to become a mom, I mean, the physicality of growing a baby, delivering a baby, you know, nurturing a baby, the relationships we have, you know, we might we might not always be in the same city as our family.

And being able to not have those hugs for so long. I know our middle son is a big, big hugger, right? And so when he comes home from college, he loves that physical touch aspect of it. So too much exercise that is too intense. So instead of, like I said in my train fitness world, laying on your couch ball and doing some breast release, doing some, you know, lymphatic work to make sure that that lymphatic fluid is moving, that it's our body's garbage disposal system can work wonders. Imagine a body that is being worked out every single day.

We are going to put ourselves literally into that state of cortisol spike. The body thinks we're in danger because we are. It's wondering, what the hell are we training for? When's the when's the big fight coming? Or when, you know, when is the threat coming? Because we must be training for something really major to happen. We don't allow ourselves to think, you know, a lot of women will be like, should I go do cardio or should I go to my yoga class? Nine out of ten of those A-type personalities will choose the cardio.

The hard run, the high intensity interval training over that yoga class or that Pilates class because they'll quickly do the math in their head and they'll think, well, I'm going to get way more out of the 60 minutes running because they physically get sweaty and their heart rate goes up. But for most of us, what we actually need is that 60 minutes on a mat, diaphragmatic breathing, getting that main muscle of respiration, shifting us into a parasympathetic mode, getting the diaphragm to start to talk to the pelvic floor because there are upstairs and downstairs neighbors taking it 600% more oxygen when we're breathing that way.

Right. Like that's truly what our body is craving. And because we didn't come with an owner's manual for the different phases of our life, we just subscribed to what others are doing and that we are aspiring to that recipe or that recipe. And so bio individuality. The end of one. Like imagine that you are back in your grade ten biology class and it is your day for your lab. You are your lab ladies. Like what happens when I exchange two cardio sessions for, you know, a breathwork class and some meditation?

What happens after four weeks? Let me let me commit to this short term and see what happens. What happens when I get my feet on the ground or my morning sunlight within half an hour of waking up? How does that help to reset my circadian rhythm at night, these don't I? I feel like if I could invite one one thing for the women in your audience, Cassie, is. I want to invite you to be curious about your body. Like return. Find a picture of yourself at six years old or seven years old, or eight years old and ask yourself, would that six year old version of yourself like, go hard or go home every single day?

Oh, there's some days where she's going to be rambunctious. There's going to be some days where she's just going to want to play house, and there's going to be some days where she's going to want to read a book, and there's going to be some days, right. And so why in our 40 and 50 and 16 year old selves, don't we honor that curiosity anymore? That's one of the major things that was on my in for 2025 is the restorative curiosity about our mind, our body and our soul. And watch, watch and feel what starts to happen to yourself when you reframe a lot of those belief systems that were promoted to us, right.

The no pain, no gain. How often did we hear that? Calories in, calories out? I just got to burn more calories than what I take in. And the scale should tell me you know the outcome? No, actually not. What about macros? What about how much protein you're taking in? How many? Like, what are your what's your good fat profile look like? What? So this is this is the curiosity. And this is what like I said, summits like yours offer women is. I didn't know that. Or, you know, talking to your sister. You know what I just heard on this summit?

Have you ever heard that that that curiosity, the spark that I feel like events like this gift women in your audience. Yeah. And what's so cool about you saying this is I'm a huge advocate and proponent for weight lifting. I know that Watsons myself knows this. I was honestly last year lifting weights, pretty heavy weights, probably five days a week. Sometimes I don't do a lot of cardio. I might get on Sarah Cranmer for 10 or 15 minutes on a lot of weights, because last year I was like, I really wanted to dance the muscle.

That's the end of last year. I felt so terrible. My trainer could even tell she was like, what is wrong with you? And I'm like, I don't know, I'm just tired. Like, my body's tired out. And so I decided I went on vacation last week. I barely lifting weights. My husband was like, are you okay? I went two weights, maybe two days. But the days that I looked at, I felt really good. And I did a lot of walking and I do yoga occasionally. It's hard for me to shut my mind off, but when I do it, I want it.

And I did this one day. Never done for. At least. Embarrassed to tell you about never done. Plus I did a reformer poll on the science. Okay, coolest this thing I loved it. I was like a little kid in a candy store. And so when we came back, I told my husband and I told my trainer, who's not very happy with me, I said, I'm going to work out with you one day a week for the next two months. And he was like, why? Because I've been working out and five days a week I said, I'm going to work out on Mondays and I am going to run a yoga studio this week.

And I'm going out of politeness at least once a week. I might for two, and I don't know what else I'm going to do, but I'm just going to do that because I feel like I need something different. And so I will tell you that this week is Wednesday. Now I have lifting weights. One day I went to yoga and then you go to Pilani state like and I'm just going to see. So it's interesting that you said that because I don't know, because I just felt like I was at this point where I was tired and I was like, I told you, I, I was lifting weights, that I wasn't really present and I wasn't really.

And your point and it was a point in my life where, like, I had a lot of stuff going on and try to finish my book and try to make this course, I just. And so I think I need that restorative, like our time to just relax and just like, I don't know, mindfully do something else because I do like muscle. I mean, I don't have, you know, too much, but I have muscles for me. To your point, I need to get rid of some of these pesticide weeds things. You know, I need to work on some of that as opposed to building muscle.

And so it's kind of cool that you said that because I'm sitting here thinking like, that's exactly. And I actually felt guilty when I texted him. And she kind of made me feel guilty when you texted me back about, like, what? You don't want to, you know, and so I, I've, I've had this like,

Restorative exercise and listening to the body 32:40

I feel bad because I probably shouldn't be working out more. I probably should. But then when you just said, like you need to rewrite around owner's manual, like, maybe I shouldn't feel bad though, because maybe I'll be honest me like, I need more of that restorative like time. You know, I'm shut down all day, right? I take care of people all day. I'm five minutes behind all day. Sometimes I get, do you want some days I don't like? So it's okay for me to want to go set an alarm and breathe for an hour and just be like, I think that's okay.

I think that's a beautiful thing. And you know, you're what you're doing, Cassie, is you're actually listening to your to your woman's wisdom, to your to your body. Your body is communicating with you. And what most women don't do is you're listening to it now, it's maybe not whispering. It might be like a little bit of, you know, in a quiet voice. But most women, for me, it's okay. Well, that's what I was going to say. If most women wait till she's screaming, which maybe that's what's happening with you.

And the beautiful thing about the movement that you're inviting into your body, it is to optimize everything you're doing with your weight. So your weight lifting is concentric movement, right? Like those muscles are getting shorter and longer and shorter and longer in response to a load at the end of a lever. It's it's simple physics, right? But now with your yoga and your Pilates, what you're going to be working is the muscles are going to be working opposite to concentric, which is that eccentric or is centric way.

So you're going to be working your muscle fibers through a lengthened position through a range of motion. So now your joints are going to get yummy love. The range of motion is going to be improved. I bet you you're going to see you should like I would take I would take some photos. You know maybe take a few measurements just just to do a little end of one experiment with your own body. And then in 12 weeks from now, let's see, you know how you're feeling, how you're sleeping, what your body looks like.

Because what I have known with the women that I've worked with who have been in that must lift weights, must run my five miles a day, and then we do a little bit of a shift, which includes some fascia release, lymphatic work, diaphragmatic breathing. They will actually release. And it's not necessarily fat, but it's the inflammation they've been holding on to because their body has been in this inflammatory state trying to keep up with everything. Our prefrontal cortex CEO has been telling the body, no, we got to do it, got to do it more and more. More, right.

They actually start to release a lot of the weight through the middle. We start to see their mental health improve because again, we are a society of like outcomes for sure. So when we can shift the process and then the outcomes start to happen, then that CEO is like, look at that, I don't know, that doesn't make sense. We didn't work. We're supposed to work harder for those outcomes, not different. So it's not necessarily you're working easier or less. You're just working different. So good on you.

I'm excited. I want to keep tabs and see how you feel over these next few months. Yeah. And like I told you, I'm going to this yoga retreat at the end of February with these people who I'm assuming are like huge yoga, like I've done yoga, I'm doing minimal times, I can barely touch my toes. And so to your point, it's very awkward when I do you get I have a frame on the studio and I'll go. I like to like, be in the very corner and hope nobody's looking at me. But at the same time, like I told myself the other day, I know what I'm saying.

You know, I don't really care if people I know, I hear I breathing's like eye contact, so it's my eyes the last time I went, because where am I looking wrong? You know, I'm there. People doing handstands and all this new stuff, and I'm like, I can't even touch my toes. But the last time I went, I was like, I'm just going to close my eyes the whole time. I'm going to open my eyes and I'm just going to like. And I felt my body like just kind of like it was weird, just like release. And then I was like, I can almost touch my toes and like, it just dropped.

It was more comfortable. And so to your point, I think I done it because I'm uncomfortable. And then I went to that class super uncomfortable for all these, like skinny little ballerina people doing all this crazy stuff. I can't do it all. But the instructor was really nice and she was like, oh, you're doing great too. No, but I actually really liked it, so I'm going to do it. Although it's uncomfortable and that's fun to me. And then I'm not. But to your point, I realized I needed to do it because, you know, my thought was like, oh, take in getting people on this yoga mat.

And slightly so, so was that. Yes. So I just thought to myself, that's a softball, you know, like so I probably need to work on that. Right. Like I need to set I need to. So I'm actually kind of excited and I'm kind of getting to that age working for I don't care what people think anymore. I'm over it. I think when you get into social media, you just get over it too. You have to real quick. Yes, people are no nice with their comments sometimes, so I'm kind of excited to see what happens. That's my goal for 2025.

Once you I'm out with the life. This is what everyone else does. This is like, I'm very I promised myself this year I'm going to listen to my dad myself. I'm going to be that's true to myself. So to your point, I'm going to get rid of some of these, like, yes. Yeah, I just said, yeah, I'm going to. So I think that's very important that people realize that. And so when you do do it like you're talking about the benefits with weight, when you move your body and you do all these things, like what benefits?

You see, if I was like mental health for people, do you see that the movement and the exercise and all of these things do that actually help their anxiety? Do they help the depression? How long does it to me like what are some of the things that you see. Yeah. So, you know, it can be the length of time it takes before someone sees or feels a difference, obviously is very individual. But here's what I know is that the the more vulnerable you can be to allow that guard to your point of going to your yoga class and not being able to touch your toes, you did something just innately, Cassie, that I tell all of my women, close your eyes, get rid of the visual stimulation.

Go inside your body and feel the movement Doctor Joe Dispenza talks about. That's the I love the statement because he says thoughts are the language of our mind, and feelings are the language of the body. And when there is a disconnect between our thoughts and our feelings. So I'll give you an example of just to make that more clear, you're in line at the grocery store. You're, you know, you're in the checkout line. The clerk says to you, how's your day? What's our countdown? Good. Fine. How's yours?

Good. Coming. Great. Every day. How's yours? Right in that moment, if you are in a state of depression or anxiety and you are, you know, your stomach is in knots, you're you're maybe having a bit of a even a hot flash in that moment, you feel your armpits sweaty. You feel, you know, it's a challenge to take big breath. What's going on in your body are all these little messages like, no, you're not, you're not good. Like, look at your guts and knots, your squeeze in your butt with all this tension you have.

You have a killer headache. All you want to do is open this bag of Doritos instead of going home to cook a nice meal. Right. So there's this inner dialog between your mind and your body that's like, you're lying. You're not good. So when we understand that inner dialog, that thoughts are the language of our mind and feelings are the language of our body, we don't want to change that. But what if we lived a little less here or started here, but then closed our eyes and, you know, maybe you just got off a phone call with your mother in law, or maybe you just got a call from the school or something at work and you're here in your head vibe.

What if you just took a second and went in your butt? Where do I feel that? Where do I feel that is my heart. Feeling like a raisin? Is my gut in knots and feel it and acknowledge it. So when people come in and start moving their body, it's like they have this canvas and some canvases are like a, you know, like a paint splatter. They're all over the place. Some canvases are completely white, not even a drop of paint. Some are being very meticulously and trying, you know, we're we're controlling what the outcome is.

Oh, jeez. That line was too thick. I got to fix that now so movement can become movement is medicine in itself. Because especially when you can go within, especially when you can get off the treadmill, get the headset out, lay with yourself, putting on, you know, some sort of, you know, there's these amazing frequency type playlists you can get off Spotify that have healing frequencies or abundance frequency. And as uncomfortable as it might be, or as what is the point of this as it might be? There is beauty in that because like I said earlier, we live in this state of sympathetic nervous system where the body is preparing for war and that actually that system, it keeps us alive.

Because in those moments when we do need to get the heck out of a space because there is danger, you know, our thirst mechanism gets shut off, our hunger gets shut off, our our heart pumps blood to our extremities so we can physically get out of an unsafe situation. The issue has become that we live in that modus operandi. The saber tooth tiger is always right behind us. The danger is always right behind us, so we never get to tap into the rest and digest, right? We don't. I think I read a stat that said that 60% of North American families eat one meal, or 1 or 2 meals a week at a table.

Otherwise it's in their vehicle in front of the TV. What do you think is happening when you're watching your favorite crime drama and you're eating? What do you think's happening to that nutrition? It's going in to an anxious body, right? It's not being received in a beautiful way. So that's what I see when it comes to movement. And you know, and mental health is that, you know, the women that come to me that are defined like we talked about earlier, defined by their pain point, you start to see like almost like the snake of a skin being shed and the vulnerability and the rawness get to like, I've had many, many women, you know, will be in a Pilates class, will start breathing, will start moving the spine.

Because spinal movement is what Pilates is all about. The help of the spine dictates the health of the body. And they'll come up to me at the end and I'll see tears just streaming down their face. We'll be doing little baby swans, right, which is a heart opener, and they'll come up to me at the end and they'll be like, help me understand what just happened. And that is that is where movement does become medicine, where it's like a little chisel and it's gently chiseling away at this hard exterior that we have believed for so long.

That's how we have to show up as these superwomen. We got it wrong, ladies. An independent woman doesn't mean doing it all ourselves. It doesn't mean doing it alone. Even a wolf has moments where they are the lone wolf. But when that wolf looks back, there is a pack behind. Behind her. Right. There's a pack of women that are ready to support and that's. Oh, I'm just getting kind of goosebumps. That is what movement can offer the body and the mind and the spirit is like a playground. That's why when you said a polite reformer class, I was like, I love it because that reformer is like a playground for an adult body that can let down her guard and just feel her body move.

So you know what? That for me, in my body on those 11 medications, it took me four months from my first Pilates class to literally weaning myself off of those 11 medications that four years of white coats and stethoscopes had no impact on my health. So that's I mean, that's what it took for me, was 16 weeks of twice

Community, resources, and closing remarks 44:40

a week Pilates mat. And that's awesome. Yeah. Well, what I did for me was make me realize, like, wow, I really do need to stretch because like, I when I did those things that hurt, right? And I was like, you should probably be able to do that. So go and even yeah, go ahead now. And 0.2 like the whole when you made the comment about like we're assuming we're supposed to be the second person that gets everything done. And like, it took me until 2024 to realize you need a a team of people. And when you start, I think that some of the people that you can rely on changes your life.

So like, I have a team of people that I'm still working on it, but like I've had an amazing social media team. I from an amazing podcast team and an amazing assistant, I have all these, you know Steph, it's amazing. I have so many people that help me do things and there's no way I could do it. I, you know, my husband helps me do the audio for this. Like if you don't have people to I have a therapist kind of trainer. You have to have these people because it's not like it just. But for so long of my life I was like, no, you should just go and do it.

You should just be able to do it. You don't need an assistant. You should be able to go through it. You know, you should be able to. And when you find they're like, no, I need the help. It's like, oh yeah. And then you show up so much better. Yeah, I feel like I show up so much better for my patients. I show up so much better for my husband. I show up so much better for myself. We can ask around these people helping you now and you just have to get the right people, and I, I sort of joke, but like I say, 2025 is my year, 2025 is the year where you'll be there on the Carson Smith Modern Endocrine M.D.

train, or you're not, you know, get on and get the hell out of the way. Yeah, I'll say it. And we're looking for people to get on and help, but like, that's where you have to be, right? So that you can take care of yourself and you can and like when you want to listen to yourself. And that's the hard part, I think for people is like it's uncomfortable and it's weird and it's like, it is weird for me to ask my assistant to do things I know I can do. It is weird for me and you and also Stephanie and say, hey, can you book that so I can, you know?

But it also like, I know I don't have the time to do it right and do something a little uncomfortable locked in. The longer you do it, it just happens. Right. So so to your point, I think that that's something people need to remember and realize too. Yes. I think all of everything that you said is, is so amazing. And I think just listening to ourselves and we did more with Matt and mindfulness and in some of these things, people would so like them. So will you kind of tell everyone where they can find you, where they can learn more about you?

I guess you're asking like, tell me on that. Of course. We'll put it in the notes that you said that people that you know. Absolutely. So on all the social media is just Jana with one and Dot Danielson. That's where you can I do have a free telegram group called The Blooming Babe. So I'm in there, you know, kind of twice a day answering questions, leaving little videos on. I do like little recipes and little restorative type movements or hey, you know what? I was feeling a headache. Come on. Today I actually use my swell bottle as my Tylenol today.

You know, here's what I did. Right? So that's a great community. My YouTube channel, my Instagram, and then Bloom. Better life is my website where you can see, you know, information on the Bloom Room experience, which is my community membership. I just launched a book last fall called The Sacred Woman's Guide to Blooming Better. So there's information there. And I mean, I'm just here, DM me. I am here to support. And this is the way I explained myself last night on a masterclass or this is the way I explained women, is that I feel like we are lighthouses in the ocean, right?

What does a lighthouse do? A lighthouse shines, lights or boats that have lost their way. Okay, so just think of us. Cassie, you're a lighthouse. I'm a lighthouse. And we're trying to shine our light. Yeah, and there's all these boats out there. But imagine a lighthouse with dirty windows. So the light we're shining, the boats can't see. What I feel like I love doing is showing women how to take a nontoxic cleaner. Maybe some vinegar and water and clean a little bit of their lighthouse window so that two things happen.

All of a sudden they realize, oh my gosh, there are boats out there that I can help. I thought I was helping, right? And the boats are like, oh my gosh, there's the light. That's the way I have to go. When you talk about, you know, getting on the doctor Cassie train, that's what you're doing is you're shining a light. And that's exactly what we do in this space. And it's usually because we've been in the dark and we know the contrary. I mean, you can't know what health is without disease or sickness, right?

We wouldn't know what day is if we didn't have night. So in those shadowy moments that you and I have had throughout our life, that's how we become who we become, and that's how we can take that experience to show up for the women, to show them the contrast doesn't last forever. Winter doesn't last forever. This summit might be the kind of the the little bit of momentum. Remember momentum only exists when you have a moment and you add another moment and you add another moment. You can't catch the wave, right, without having these little moments.

And that's what you create. That's what I create. So bloom Better Life and Jana Danielson is where I can be found on the worldwide web. Thank you so much for your time. I think that this is very beneficial. And so if you're listening to this summit and you found it beneficial, make sure you check Jana out and then make sure you listen to the rest of the summit and share this with other people. So thank you. Thank you Cassie. Thank you for tuning in to Doctor Talks. We hope today's episode has enlightened and inspired you on your path to optimal health.

Each day is a new opportunity to make choices but empower your wellbeing. For more insights and strategies, subscribe to our podcast and visit our website.www.drtalks.com. Stay connected, stay healthy and join us next time on Doctor Talks. Real talks from real doctors on the issues that matter to you most.