Amanda Harris, a movement specialist, discusses her unique approach to pain management, focusing on correcting faulty movement patterns and calming the nervous system.
For the transcript and full story go to: https://www.drmanonbolliger.com/amanda-harris2
Highlights from today's episode include:
Amanda says chronic pain is often a nervous-system problem; calming fight-or-flight is key before new movement can heal pain.
Amanda describes a hybrid model (online course + weekly Zoom + Voxer + optional 1:1s) can be more supportive than in-person only.
Manon explains if you keep repeating the same explanations, turn them into an online resource, bonus, or membership to educate and support patients at scale.
ABOUT AMANDA HARRIS:Amanda Harris is the owner and founder of Re-Kinect Medical Exercise in Richmond, Virginia. She specializes in working with people who have chronic low back pain for any number of reasons, including disc herniation, spinal stenosis and various spinal surgeries. In addition, she has extensive experience working with those who have undergone total knee, hip or shoulder replacement.
Amanda has over 25 years of experience in post-rehabilitative and medical exercise, and is passionate about helping people return to the activities they enjoy after injury or surgery. She has had the good fortune of collaborating with top physicians and physical therapists over the course of her career.
Her unique approach includes using carefully selected and graded exercises and movement patterns to teach the body how to move better and without pain. Breathwork, mindset training and education on what's happening in your body reduces stress and brings about the positive environment needed to truly heal and move beyond pain.
Amanda's credentials include: Master's Degree: Exercise Physiology from the University of Virginia Certification: Medical Exercise Specialist from the Medical Exercise Training Institute Certification: Redcord Active Specialist from Redcord International Certification: Neurokinetic Therapy Level 1
Core purpose/passion: My core purpose and mission: to help people free themselves from bodily pain–not just for now, but in the future as well–so they can resume the active lifestyles they love.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube |
ABOUT MANON BOLLIGER, RBHT, FCAH:
As a retired Naturopath 1992-2021, I saw an average of 150 patients per week and have helped people ranging from rural farmers in Nova Scotia to stressed out CEOs in Toronto to tri-athletes here in Vancouver.
My resolve to educate, empower and engage people to take charge of their own health is evident in my best-selling books: 'What Patients Don't Say if Doctors Don't Ask: The Mindful Patient-Doctor Relationship' and 'A Healer in Every Household: Simple Solutions for Stress'. and What if Your Body is Smarter than You Think? I am the Founder & CEO of The Bowen College Inc. which teaches BowenFirst™ Therapy and holds transformational workshops to achieve these goals.
So, when I share with you that LISTENing to Your body is a game changer in the healing process, I am speaking from expertise and direct experience".
Mission: A Healer in Every Household!
For more great information to go to her weekly blog: http://bowencollege.com/blog.
For tips on health & healing go to: https://www.drmanonbolliger.com/tips
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* De-Registered, revoked & retired naturopathic physician after 30 years of practice in healthcare. Now resourceful & resolved to share with you all the tools to take care of your health & vitality!
00:00:00
Introduction: Welcome to the Healers Cafe, the #1 show for
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medical practitioners and holistic healers to have heart
00:00:08
to heart conversations about their day to day lives while
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sharing their expertise for improving your health and
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wellness.
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Manon Bolliger: So welcome to the Healers Cafe. And today I
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have Amanda Harris for the second time, and we're going to
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do a sort of follow up and open up a little bit the discussion
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to her online program. And I think one of the angles that, at
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least I've been asked this so many times, and Amanda correct
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me if I'm wrong. But patients have, or, you know, clients have
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a lot of questions, you know, how do I get what I need from
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myself? How is it different? How would I benefit potentially
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more. What's the group dynamic? I mean, we can go lots of
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places, but oh yeah, before we go there, I'll remind people a
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little bit your bio and what you do specifically so you've been
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mentored by and actively collaborated with some of the
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top surgeons, neurologists, manual medicine physicians and
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physical therapists in the mid Atlantic area over the last 25
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years, and that has all given you a unique perspective on how
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the body should move and how that movement itself can help
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heal. And so part of your work is identifying faulty movement
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patterns and using gentle movement and exercise to correct
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them, and and so getting rid of back pain, and often many
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associated other types of pain. So yeah, welcome back and maybe
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share a little bit about that, not why and how you got there,
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because we got that from last time. Yes, but tell, tell the
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audience who might be new to you a little bit what your work
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entails.
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Amanda Harris: Exactly. Sure. Well, thank you for having me
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again. Manon, first of all, I really appreciate being back on
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the healers cafe, so a lot of what I do is I feel like I'm
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kind of one of that great one of those great last hopes I think
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you're one of those two where people find me when they've
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exhausted all the mainstream options, and so often, by the
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Time folks get to me, they are hurting quite badly, and they
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don't have a lot of answers. And so the people that that find
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their way to me often start with back pain, but by the time I see
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them, they often have other complaints like hip pain or knee
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pain or sometimes even shoulder pain, and they start to get this
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feeling that they're falling apart. It's, really, it's kind
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of sad to see somebody in that state. You know that they come
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to you and they're, they're almost desperate for help, and
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they're looking at you like, I don't know about you, you're not
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a doctor, but the doctors haven't had a lot of answers for
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me at this point. And so I'll try just about anything, like,
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tell me what to do, and I'll do it. And so, you know, we start
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with an assessment, and nothing that I do is not scientifically
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based. My mother would hate that double negative, by the way. But
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you know, everything I do is based in science. And although
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often when we get to the end result, clients tell me it seems
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like magic, it's not magic. It's all based on science, and most
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of it is based on neurology. Ironically, even though I'm not
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a neurologist, I've learned a lot about the nervous system
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over the years, and so my method really is helping the client
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understand what their body's trying to tell them with those
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painful movement patterns, and then teaching the body how to
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move without pain again, which often involves helping to calm
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the nervous system down. And I don't mean that we're just, you
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know, meditating and doing things like that, although that
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can help. But often, you know, stress impacts the results of
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this work, and people don't even realize how much the pain
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they've been in, escalates their stress. And then if they've got
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job stress or relational stress, or any other kind of stress on
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top of that, it's like their system is in fight or flight
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hyper overdrive all the time. And so one of the first things
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we talk about is how to try to bring that down, and kind of
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bring the alarm system back down to, you know, out of that red
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alert zone and into a yellow alert zone so that we can
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actually operate. Because I think, like I said, by the time
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they get to me, when, when there's so much discomfort and
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so much frustration, and often, you know, there's a lot of
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discouragement, and we just gotta bring that. Down to where
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the body is in, a place that it can learn something new and
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start to work well again. So it's, it's an unusual way to
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approach pain, I think, because I think a lot of folks just jump
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right in and start giving exercises. And although, yeah,
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in the first session, you do get some exercises, we also have to
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have a little talk about this, because once you understand it,
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it's easier to start on the journey. You know, if you're if
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you're still fighting, you can't go down the road. So anyway,
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that's, that's part of my unique approach. It's, it's definitely
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a unique starting point. But clients tell me that it's
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immensely helpful to understand what's happening in their body
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and why they're so jacked
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Manon Bolliger: up, right? Yeah, I mean it. You know, what I had
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forgotten is that there's a lot of similarities with with Bowen,
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because we also work with the nervous system. And you know, if
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you've been, for example, in a car accident and you have
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whiplash, you've got to deal with the the trauma on the the
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impact that that has on your nervous system, before we start
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tweaking little muscles right, like, you know, and then people
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get it, it's like, Oh, of course, that's why I can't seem
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to heal If I go to my let's, you know, XYZ, yes, you know, I
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think, yeah, that part has not been, hasn't taken its place in
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history well enough, but I think we're trying hard, right?
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Amanda Harris: Yes, we're trying hard. We are, and hopefully
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we're making a big impact with everybody walk through our
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doors, you know, yes, exactly now.
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Manon Bolliger: So this course, because not everyone has the
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courage to put things online. What What motivated you to do
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that? How's it different for you? How does it work? Let's
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talk about that. Sure.
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Amanda Harris: Well, I'm afraid what motivated me originally is
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not very exciting, because so many people have a story like
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this. It basically happened during covid When the government
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shut us down and I couldn't see clients. And, you know, when
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you're in that situation and you're a small business owner,
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which I am, you know, the first thing that hits you is, oh my
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gosh, how am I going to eat? And and so, you know, we my husband,
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who's also a small business owner, but but had an online
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business at the time, we immediately went into problem
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solving mode about it. And one of the first things he said to
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me was, Can you do any of this online? And honestly, Manon, a
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lot like you. I was so used to having my hands on people and
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having them in front of me, I could not imagine how I could do
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this work online. And it probably took me at least four
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weeks, you know, I joke that I ran around with my hands on my
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head, you know, going, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do
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for about four weeks, how I was going to survive that shutdown.
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And then somewhere along the way, I thought, I've got to be
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able to do something online. And so a lot of like what I
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described to you about the nervous system, I sort of delved
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back into the books that I had where I had done some some
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learning, either distance learning, or, you know, maybe
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some textbook learning, or even one of the methods that I use
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called red cord. I kind of dove back into some of the pedagogy
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from red cord, and I looked at like, what are, what are we
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actually doing here with these exercises? Like, you know, this
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is different, for a reason. Is there any way that I can talk
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people through similar exercises, even though I can't
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put them on my equipment, and so I sort of just went into big
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time problem solving mode. I started tweaking a lot of the
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home exercises that I gave clients. I started creating real
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micro progressions, like little, teeny, tiny progressions of my
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exercises to see if I could get a similar result that I was
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getting in the office and and then I started calling people.
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And I just called some of my, my most dear, regular, longtime
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clients, and said, Hey, will you experiment with me? And all I
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ask is that, if you like it, will you do some sessions with
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me online, and if you don't like it, tell me why you don't like
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it, like, why it's not working for you. And you know, I think I
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wound up doing close to 15 to 20 sessions a week once I started
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offering them, and people actually really liked them, so
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much so that I've had a couple that have stayed online, even
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though they are within driving distance to my office, they have
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chosen to see me online, like ongoing, because it's more
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convenient. They don't have to drive it and so, so I realized
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there was something there, and then from there, I just thought,
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you know, like, Are there similarities enough in how I
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start people off that I could create a. Course, that has a
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menu of different exercises at every level, but so it allows
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for some customization. But that, you know, we hit all the
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similar notes, we hit all the right movement patterns. It's
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just that, you know, customer, a client, a might be doing you
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know, numbers one, two and three of a level one, you know,
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option. And if I have six exercises in there, you know, I
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might have a second customer or client that's doing, you know,
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numbers two, four and five, or something like that. And so I
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can it offered a way. I created a way for us to kind of semi
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customize the experience, right? And then I also, I tried. At
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first I thought, you know, maybe this was okay as just a self
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paced course. And then I found out, as a lot of people did,
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that self paced courses don't work for people like us, because
00:11:00
the students with all the best intentions start it, and then
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they don't keep going, because they just don't have the
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motivation. And so that's when I added the weekly zoom sessions.
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And the weekly zoom sessions have turned out to be so
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valuable because there's a community there, there's a
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support system there, yeah, that. I think a lot of my my one
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on one people, my in person people, kind of envy, you know,
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because you feel really alone when you're hurting, especially
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if you're the only one in your family with back pain, it can
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feel very lonely. You can feel like, is this just me? Like, why
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is my body falling apart? Why? Why is this my experience, and
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nobody else is like me, and then suddenly you're dropped into
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this community of other people going, you know what that used
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to happen to me too, but I got through it doing these
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exercises, and you will too. Or, you know, I had a setback last
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week, but this is what I did, and it really helped me. And you
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start seeing those connections, and you start seeing the hope
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blossom. See friendships getting made. It is very cool. And then
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I realized, I was like, Oh, this is really good, and I really
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enjoyed it. And then Manon, the latest iteration that I've
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added, because I wanted to create an even more customized
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experience. I wanted to create a higher touch experience. So I
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added using this free app that you can get through the App
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Store on called Voxer, P, O, X, E, R, it's, it's free, and I so
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I'm not getting paid anything to tell you about it, but it's a
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walkie talkie app, and it's so cool because you can, you can
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talk, you can text, you can like, you can talk into it, and
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it'll record, and then it'll ping me that somebody's left me
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a message, and I can listen to it between in person clients. I
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can listen to it on my ride home. I could so I can answer
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faster than if somebody calls me and leaves me a voicemail or
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emails me, or even sends me a text message. Because I don't
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know about you, but my text messages are full, but I look at
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that Voxer app probably 20 times a day, because I know those are
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my online people, and I am constantly in communication with
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them, so they feel like they've got a lifeline, and I've got a
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way to touch them and keep them motivated and keep them coming
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in so neat. And it also allows me to kind of direct their
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experience. So if they get through a series of exercises
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and they have questions or they want to know what's next, I can
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tell them I it's been amazing how I can take what I love about
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my in person and make it work online. It's It's amazing.
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah, very interesting. Yeah, yeah. I had
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also a little bit of a positive experience, despite, you know, a
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lot of resistance, you know, it's like, Yeah, can't teach,
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you know, hands on therapy, because it was actually to teach
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the therapy. Yeah, right, not to do it, but to teach and, and I
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resisted that, like, oh, there's no way. There's no way. And, you
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know, I was wrong.
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Amanda Harris: So you, you teach it online too now, well,
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Manon Bolliger: not, not at all, exclusively. It's an awesome and
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of the times they they need to do certain hours, it's, it's
00:14:18
allowed, you know, one time. But it makes a huge difference
00:14:23
because their perspective in being part of a group and
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listening online in the comfort of their home, yes, different.
00:14:33
So I've had a lot of very positive feedback on it, which
00:14:37
is interesting. You know, it's like sometimes you just have to
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move things around a little bit and see what happens, right? And
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you know, if it what, like, I didn't go exclusively on because
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in the end, like, how could I, you know, certify somebody or
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recommend them, yeah, their work, yeah. Or even felt it on
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my body or one of my instructors. Years, right? Like
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there's there's limits, you know. But I found it also, as
00:15:07
the observer, you're in a slightly different mode when
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you're watching through the screen. Yes, you know, you pick
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up different things than you might pick up in person. That's
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true, you know. So I found it. It worked quite well, you know.
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So, yeah, very interesting.
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Amanda Harris: It is really interesting. And I have really
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loved the feedback, you know, and it's evolved over time, and
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I would argue it's still evolving, you know, I get
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feedback from everybody that's in the program. I'm asking them
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constantly, like, always, feel free to give me feedback on a
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process or a thing that I've asked you to do, or, you know, a
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video, like, if there's a video in the course that they feel
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like needs to go deeper, I'm always open to that. And what I
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have loved is, every once in a while, I'll get somebody that is
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interested in getting into the course, especially because of
00:16:00
the convenience factor, you know, it's, it's a lot to, you
00:16:03
know, have all the, all the things that we have to do on our
00:16:07
plates, and then you got to drive somewhere for some kind of
00:16:10
a therapeutic modality or something, right? Like, that's
00:16:13
one more point month, one more trip out and back, etc. And so,
00:16:18
you know, part of what has been really appreciated is that they
00:16:21
can practice, you know, wherever they are, whenever they are, and
00:16:25
get their get their work done. But the one of the big questions
00:16:29
is always well, how do I know I'm doing my exercises right?
00:16:33
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00:17:42
Manon Bolliger: right. Right, right? Yeah.
00:17:44
Amanda Harris: And so we address that often in the weekly
00:17:47
sessions, especially if somebody has a question about what
00:17:51
they're feeling in an exercise, or what what the exercise is
00:17:54
supposed to be teaching them. And so we'll do a deeper dive
00:17:58
into the exercise. But then I've also learned to just say, well,
00:18:01
let's see if we can schedule a one on one session. So if
00:18:03
they're out of state or something, then we'll do it via
00:18:05
zoom, but if they're local, then they can come in for that one on
00:18:09
one session. And it might be a one off, or it might be a once a
00:18:12
month. But what I've learned is that people need to experience
00:18:16
this work differently, and not everybody's cut out for the
00:18:19
online piece, but there are a lot of people that are cut out
00:18:23
for a hybrid version, which is fairly neat. And I think for the
00:18:27
longest time, I was thinking it was either or. But to your
00:18:30
point, it's kind of nice to bring the two ends together, and
00:18:33
can be very effective that way. And I am getting to the point
00:18:37
where I actually really like it more than just the straight one
00:18:41
on ones, because I think the the access to those videos where I'm
00:18:45
teaching the exercises, and you can watch me teach that exercise
00:18:48
again and again and again. You can keep rewinding it, whereas,
00:18:52
if you're an in person client, it's, you know, you got me for
00:18:55
the hour, and then you get home and you can read the
00:18:58
instructions, because I send him instructions, but it's like, uh,
00:19:02
I don't know if I remember this right, right? I feel like in a
00:19:06
lot of ways, my online folks have an advantage,
00:19:09
Manon Bolliger: yeah, well, I mean, it also lends itself to,
00:19:12
like, a membership type of way of doing things, where you could
00:19:18
have your live clients come in, yeah, but you could sort of lead
00:19:23
them in with sort of necessary education, you know, where you
00:19:30
would have, like, a month of free. I mean, I'm just throwing
00:19:33
ideas out, but yeah, you know, I love the ideas they you know,
00:19:37
they get educated. They know how it works, what to expect. And
00:19:43
then they, they continue at whatever rate. I, you know, it
00:19:47
has to be something reasonable for people to, you know, to
00:19:51
value, but also that they, they're going to stick to it.
00:19:56
And then all the exercises are there. The repetition is there.
00:20:00
Because it's such a great feeling. You know, I know in
00:20:03
homeopathy, it's not physical at all, but, you know, I used to
00:20:06
teach classes just on acute, you know, for like a Titus media or,
00:20:13
you know, basic stuff that you can do for your family. You
00:20:18
know, patients would love coming in and saying, Well, I tried
00:20:24
this because it looked like that, you know, the basic stuff,
00:20:28
you know, and it's like, and it worked, you know, or it didn't
00:20:32
work, whatever, you know, because homeopathy is very
00:20:35
complicated. You don't, you know, you don't always get it,
00:20:38
but our ways of getting it and just that the knowledge that
00:20:42
could be shared where they could, you know, go through this
00:20:46
and feel competent in it. Yes, it's really exciting. You know,
00:20:52
when you're saying, Is this how you do the exercise again, like,
00:20:55
you know, you know, they're participating actively in their
00:21:01
improvement, right?
00:21:02
Amanda Harris: Yes, yeah. And it's like I said, it's just so
00:21:05
much fun for me to have those group sessions weekly and watch
00:21:09
the growth and watch the ahas. I mean, that's one of my favorite
00:21:13
things about what I do, is that that moment where the person
00:21:16
goes, Oh, and you see that, right? You see that epiphany.
00:21:21
And, man, that's like an elixir to me. You know, when I see him
00:21:24
get it and it's like, Oh, I understand this. This is what
00:21:28
this is supposed to feel like. This is amazing. It's like, yes,
00:21:31
yes.
00:21:34
Manon Bolliger: And the other thing is, for referrals, you
00:21:36
know, so often people would say to me, Oh, what do I tell them?
00:21:41
You do? You know? Because, oh yes, you know. It's like, Oh, my
00:21:45
God, you know, like it works. But what do I say, you know,
00:21:50
Amanda Harris: I don't know how to describe what you do. I get
00:21:52
that so many times, like, I have clients that will say, you know,
00:21:56
I was trying to tell my friend about you because she really
00:21:58
needs your help, but I did not know how to tell them about what
00:22:02
you do. Yeah, it's very difficult. Yeah.
00:22:06
Manon Bolliger: And therefore, if you have this kind of
00:22:08
membership thing, or it's an introduction, and they actually
00:22:11
find out, see it, start being part of a community that you
00:22:17
know goes on or doesn't, you know, it's their choice, but
00:22:20
it's, it's a great way to, you know, to I'm always a creator.
00:22:25
So I,
00:22:26
Amanda Harris: oh, I love this idea. Yeah, this is, you got my
00:22:29
wheels turning now. Got me really thinking about this. It's
00:22:33
great.
00:22:35
Manon Bolliger: Anyway, I always see the the the potential in
00:22:37
what is, and then you know how to spread it and and, you know,
00:22:41
and to enjoy what we do, right? Like, yes, you know, it's, it's
00:22:46
fun. It change, little changes, and all that makes such a
00:22:51
difference. You know, it's exciting, right? It's like, and
00:22:55
then you find another, it's almost like a slightly different
00:22:58
language.
00:22:58
Amanda Harris: And, absolutely, yeah. It is fun. I mean, like, I
00:23:05
said, the most fun thing for me is just watching the light go
00:23:07
into their eyes when they and you're just like, Oh, that's it.
00:23:11
That's what I was looking for. Yes, definitely, yeah.
00:23:15
Manon Bolliger: So do you have like, the most common questions,
00:23:18
you know, like, like, FAQs, you know that people ask, like,
00:23:22
Amanda Harris: frequently asked questions, yeah, about, about my
00:23:26
method, about the course, like, what are we either,
00:23:29
Manon Bolliger: or actually, you know, could be about the method
00:23:33
so that, let's say the brand new people that are that your
00:23:38
clients want to refer and
00:23:42
Amanda Harris: it questions that I get asked with some regularity
00:23:46
because, because one thing I have learned is that it's a lot
00:23:50
easier to have a client that is already bought and sold on
00:23:54
exercise. You know, if somebody is averse to exercise, and I've
00:23:59
had those clients before, and, boy, that is really hard. You
00:24:03
know, that's pushing the rock up the hill because they don't like
00:24:06
to move. They don't want to move, and they sort of feel
00:24:09
forced into something that they you know, they're trying to do
00:24:12
this to deal with the pain, but they don't really want to be
00:24:15
there. That's a very different animal than the person who
00:24:18
really believes exercise has a solution for them, they just
00:24:22
haven't found it yet. And that's how I was with it. That's how
00:24:25
that's where my method was born out of was my desire to get
00:24:29
exercise to do the job, instead of injections and pills and
00:24:33
surgeries, you know? And so I would say, one of the biggest
00:24:38
questions I get, because I serve an audience that's already
00:24:41
loving exercise is, do I have to quit working out? Do I have to
00:24:45
quit training? Because many of my clients come to me because
00:24:51
they're tired of having pain after their workouts or after
00:24:54
their training, or sometimes at the end of their training, you
00:24:57
know, they'll get back pain. When they're doing something
00:25:01
physical, and it frustrates them, because their identity has
00:25:07
always been wrapped up in being an athlete or being very
00:25:10
physical, and now that physicality is causing pain and
00:25:15
they're not they're scared. I'm going to tell them to quit
00:25:18
working out. And I'll be honest, there are people that, after a
00:25:23
while I just say, Okay, we need to cool it for two weeks and see
00:25:27
if we can get you through the storm, and then let's tiptoe
00:25:30
back into it again. But a lot of people, I will tell, yeah, you
00:25:34
can continue to work out as long as your workouts aren't causing
00:25:38
pain, right? So if there are things that we have to omit
00:25:42
temporarily so that we can get to the other side and then you
00:25:45
can start resuming them again, great. But what I really try
00:25:49
very hard never to tell somebody, no, you can't work out
00:25:53
while you're doing the first six weeks of this work, because I
00:25:57
think that's very it's very hard on their mental and emotional
00:26:01
state, you know, because they often use that as their stress
00:26:06
control, and, you know, their identity and all of that. And so
00:26:10
I try very hard to say, yes, you can keep exercising, just make
00:26:13
sure that you're choosing things that don't cause you pain
00:26:16
afterwards. And you know, that ensues a big conversation, but
00:26:19
that's probably one of the biggest ones. And so because I
00:26:22
very much believe in exercise, I very much believe in movement, I
00:26:25
also know that when the body is hurting, we often have to lower
00:26:29
the challenge to the system, you know, and that often means
00:26:33
backing off on intensity of exercise or load, you know,
00:26:39
like, how much are we How much are we putting on this body and
00:26:43
causing the pain? Yeah, and so often, it's a bit of a gray
00:26:47
area, but that's, that's probably one of the frequently
00:26:50
asked questions, and my answer is always, well, it depends
00:26:52
which is so unsatisfying, but it really is a case by case
00:26:55
business, and I do my very best to not have to say, No, you
00:26:59
can't do anything but these exercises, because I don't
00:27:01
really believe that's right.
00:27:03
Manon Bolliger: Yeah, no, no, and it's better to teach them to
00:27:07
become more connected and intuitive to what their bodies
00:27:11
can handle and can't, you know, then follow some sort of you
00:27:16
know, authority that says this and that, you know, because
00:27:20
those days are gone.
00:27:22
Amanda Harris: Oh yeah, yeah. And, I mean, let's face it, i
00:27:25
The whole reason we're doing this is so they can enjoy
00:27:27
whatever they were doing without the pain. It's just that
00:27:30
temporarily we might have to peel back how much or how hard
00:27:34
they're going so that it's not creating the pain. Because we've
00:27:37
got to get them out of that, that that stress cycle of pain
00:27:41
and fight or flight and all that stuff.
00:27:43
Manon Bolliger: Yeah, my biggest one, yeah, what do you think is,
00:27:48
or what? What is the most common cause of back pain that you see?
00:27:59
Amanda Harris: Well, that's a really good question. I gotta
00:28:02
think about that a little bit. You know, I think it's often,
00:28:08
well, I'll go two ways. I think, I think there are two. There are
00:28:12
two different ones. I think one of them is sitting postures and
00:28:18
too much sitting, you know, there's, there's like a combo
00:28:21
there. Most of us, modern humans sit too much. Anyway, too much,
00:28:28
whatever too much is. Because I think you know, if we if we
00:28:32
didn't sit in chairs, we would sit better. Don't you think like
00:28:36
if we didn't sit in chairs? And I mean from the get go, I don't
00:28:39
mean now, because now our bodies are so used to chairs. But I
00:28:43
think if we didn't have chairs to sit in, you know, you think
00:28:46
about like people in a third world country that are squatting
00:28:48
to eat and sitting on the floor to eat and things like that, we
00:28:51
would move more, because sit in a chair, you fidget and you
00:28:55
squirm because it's not very comfortable to stay there for
00:28:58
very long. So, you know, I think, I think chair sitting,
00:29:02
and then the expectation that we should be able to sit in a chair
00:29:05
for so long, which starts in grade school, right? You know,
00:29:07
sit in that chair and don't get out of it until I tell you,
00:29:10
right? So we get into these things where, I think we ask our
00:29:14
bodies to sit and be still too long, and and then folks find a
00:29:18
way to prop themselves that is quasi comfortable, and then over
00:29:22
time, that creates too much pressure somewhere, and can
00:29:25
cause a lot of back pain. So I feel like I see a lot of back
00:29:28
pain from from bad sitting and then, and then I also see a lot
00:29:34
of back pain from kind of ignored. What do I say, ignored,
00:29:42
like aches and pains and injuries. You know, I tweaked my
00:29:48
knee, but I'm going to pretend I didn't, and I'm going to keep
00:29:51
running, or I'm going to put a sleeve on it, and I'm going to
00:29:54
keep running. Or, you know, I turned my ankle, but I don't
00:29:57
really need to go to PT for that, right? So I'm going to.
00:29:59
Keep walking, or I'm going to keep running with a semi
00:30:03
sprained ankle, or so I feel like, often, the chronic back
00:30:09
pains come out of of sort of innocent ish injuries that were
00:30:15
just never fully addressed and never fully, can I say,
00:30:19
rehabilitated, like the joint was never taught how to move
00:30:22
well again, and so it created an unevenness in the body that
00:30:27
manifests maybe years later as back pain, because there's been
00:30:31
so much unevenness and and uneven movement, often with
00:30:34
walking right so you know a stiff ankle or a stiff knee or a
00:30:38
stiff hip that that you know You walk like that for years and
00:30:42
years and years it's going to show up in your back.
00:30:45
Manon Bolliger: Yeah, exactly, literally, like a crutch, yeah.
00:30:49
Amanda Harris: And I think, I think people, they have the
00:30:52
injury, sometimes it's even in middle school or high school,
00:30:55
and they forget about it and they just, you know, move around
00:31:00
it for years and years and years until it shows up in their back
00:31:03
and it becomes a real problem. And often, you know, when I
00:31:06
start asking questions in a history, and I especially if I
00:31:10
notice movement is limited somewhere, and I'll say, did you
00:31:12
ever enter this part? And somebody will be like, Oh, well,
00:31:16
playing basketball in eighth grade. Or, you know, water fell,
00:31:20
fell water skiing when I was in high school. I hadn't thought
00:31:23
about that in years, right? And sometimes as a smoking gun, I
00:31:28
think, yeah, for sure.
00:31:31
Manon Bolliger: I can't believe it, our time's already up. Oh my
00:31:34
gosh. Part two and we're done, yeah, wow. So how do people get
00:31:41
in touch with if they're interested, let's say for an
00:31:44
intro, or just take your course or work with you. What's the
00:31:49
best?
00:31:49
Amanda Harris: Well, you can email me directly at
00:31:51
amanda@reconnect.com which I'm guessing you're going to put in
00:31:54
the show notes, because I spelled reconnect kind of funny.
00:31:58
Connect is like kinetic. And then you can also look me up on
00:32:02
Instagram, that's reconnect RVA. So if you're on Instagram and
00:32:07
you want to kind of take a look at what I've been posting and
00:32:10
get a little idea about my content, you can look at me
00:32:12
there. You can also go to my site, which is reconnect.com and
00:32:15
you can learn a little bit more about my method and about who I
00:32:18
am from there. You can also contact me through my website,
00:32:22
so several different ways to reach out to me. I'm always
00:32:27
happy to answer questions to meet new people. So yeah, I
00:32:30
would love it. If anybody who's curious about what I'm doing
00:32:33
would like to reach out, I will absolutely email you back.
00:32:37
Manon Bolliger: Okay, well, thank you very much for your
00:32:39
time, and it was lovely speaking to you again. It's great
00:32:43
speaking with you again. All right, so the highlight for the
00:32:51
discussion with Amanda Harris would for me, is really aimed at
00:32:56
practitioners. If you find yourself, you know, repeating
00:33:02
the same thing, or you can see a commonality in your, you know,
00:33:07
first few visits, or parts like the, you know, frequently asked
00:33:13
questions. That's a good comment to consider going online and
00:33:21
giving that as a bonus or a membership, that's what I'm
00:33:25
looking for, a bonus or a membership, you know, or or a
00:33:30
program you know, if you're so that they can follow in case it
00:33:35
is more convenient for them to do things online. And I really
00:33:40
like her model, where you can do it online, but you can also come
00:33:43
in and and get, you know, extra sessions that are very specific
00:33:48
to you, so that you are able to adapt it to yourself more
00:33:54
easily. And at the same time you know she she also shared how
00:33:58
patients, then can listen to the videos over and over, and
00:34:03
therefore get the exercises right, because I know when I did
00:34:07
physio, and after I got home, I took little notes, and it's like
00:34:12
not getting it exactly, what am I supposed to do? And so if you
00:34:16
have videos for all this, it's really helpful for your your
00:34:19
patients.
00:34:20
Ending: Thank you for joining us at the healers cafe. If you
00:34:24
haven't already done so, please like comment and subscribe with
00:34:28
notifications on as I post a new podcast every Wednesday with
00:34:34
tons of useful information and tips for natural healing that
00:34:38
you won't want to miss you.