SPEAKER_00 0:00

You can eat all the organic food, but if you still have a subluxation that's blocking the nerve to that stomach, that stomach is not going to be able to digest the best it possibly can until we remove that, even if you're eating all the best things that you possibly can. There's a study that was done that one chiropractic adjustment will do more in your system than what three weeks of weight training and strength training will do in somebody else's body for the benefit of what that is. And so the actual physiological change that will happen from one adjustment literally is more than how much you could eat organic, how much you could work out in a three-week period of time. And so the brilliance of the counterpart of both of that and how they can work together, I think is literally magic, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Welcome to part three. This is the final chapter of my conversation with Dr. Sarah Nelson Gray. And I want to warn you up front, this one went somewhere I did not plan. Like I was saying all along. Parts one and two covered identity, freedom, the production hamster wheel, the cost of leadership, and what you have to surrender to grow. All of it was good, but this episode? This episode? We went home. Not the office, not the mission, not the Instagram page. Home. The kitchen table, the marriage, the part of the story that does not make it into the bio. Dr. Sarah talks about how she physically transitioned from CEO mode back into being a wife, including an actual note card she keeps in her garage. We talk about what she is no longer willing to sacrifice for the mission and the hard boundaries she set from day one that most practice owners do not think to put in place until something already burned down. Also, as always, shout out to Clear Cut Podcasting, Chris and Team for making it to part three with me. Three episodes, one guest, um, and a whole lot of moments. They had to probably figure out what to do with me in the edit. I mean, they're professionals, so I'm a work in progress. Together, we make it work. If you have not heard parts one and two, go start there. Let's get real for a second. And I know we've been real, but let's get a little bit more real. I want to go somewhere that most practice owners do not get asked about publicly, and that is home. You could tell me to shut up, you could tell me to move on, but but because the mission is real and it and it matters, but so is the kitchen table. And and and I want yeah, and I want to ask about kind of that, you know, attention, not in a work-life balance tips kind of way, but in kind of a real, as you and Dr. Marisa say all the time, human way. I you use that word often, and I love it. But how do you balance the weight of you know of the mission with the people at home who just need you to be a person? And if I have a teenager or young person watching now, they'd probably go six, seven, because I'm going like this. But how do you, Lord help me with that, please? Anyway, uh, but how do you how do you balance that? Like there's it's not easy.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

I'm not a parent. I'm I I'm a fur baby parent, so there's that. But I I can only imagine again the nuance of being a parent within this too. And yeah, it's it's wild. Like I being an entrepreneur, like you inevitably are not that you can't shut it off, but there's typ typically there's still gonna be versions of you that are still operating as an entrepreneur, even in your home. And one of the things that again, just through honest conversation and through honest, like vulnerable conversation with my husband has been the reality of like, I can't come home and be his leader. I need to be his wife. Like, I'm not meant to be his boss. I'm meant to be his partner. And so that is something that we have really very deep, vulnerable conversations about of the reality of like when I come home and I get in my garage, like I have literally a note card that's asked me three questions that I look at every single time of like, and they change depending on where I'm at. But right now, my season is just like, how can I be playful when I come in? Cause I feel like I've been invited to get playful this year. There's this like creative side of me that I feel like has been suppressed for a while. And so that's just one of the questions I ask of like, how can I come in and support Nolan and be here and be present with him in this moment? And so there are practical things that we have done to also help put some boundaries around it. When I come home, we both, yes, we have space to talk about our business. We have space to like and talk about our work and that type of thing. But then we move on and we ask each other other questions and we spend time with each other. We're also very intentional about creating date nights and that type of stuff. We spend at least a very, very intentional time once a week to not only just go spend time together, but it's really at that point, it's not about anything typically business unless we're just processing something in our own life that relates to our work at the same time. We also, so we have a scheduled time where we do, it's we call it together time. So we one time a week on Wednesday mornings, we get together just because it's the day for us. And it's literally a non-negotiable that this never, like this is just time that we spend together at least a half an hour. We go over our week, we go over our time, we go over, depending on this, the time of the month, we're going over our budget, we're going over finances, we're just going over things we're on the same page because it is it's a reality of like if you don't set intentional time, it will you'll just continue just to move through a routine and a routine that sometimes can get influenced by other things. And so and I definitely I can talk business all day long. So he's just had to literally tell me to shut up.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The reality of that, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

So and I I have also had to learn like I it's not just about me working at nine o'clock all the time. Like I'm just I'm not that type of person anymore. I used to be, but I know that when I have my time, I have my schedule and I will be working beautifully there. But I've also learned what it's like to rest well so that I can be fully present when I'm working on the business, but at the same time, I can be fully present when I'm home. Um because it, like you said, it is important and it's hard to manage. And again, I don't even have kids. So the rhythm around having kiddos, I'd imagine, is even more just because you have activities, you have depending on the age of them, you have a lot of things that are moving pieces along with all of it too. So creating rhythm and boundaries around it is important for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

100%. We were just talking about that, my wife and I, about being intentional about date night. We're we're not good at that because we let life happen and the kids and and all that. And she's actually about to we we just launched a Christian counseling practice, so that's another business that we're exciting. Yeah, it's really exciting, actually. But it's also more.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

It's just more. So being intentional at home is important. Um, we were literally just talking about that.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

But I think there are seasons real, right? Like there are gonna be seasons where, like, especially something's brand new, there can be an agreement between the household and the the family to where it's like this is maybe a season, but we're gonna still create intentional time, even if it's 10 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour, whatever it may be, or just a full day or whatever it is, like there can still be intentional space. Um also knowing that it may just be a season. You know, seasons you there can be a time where it's just also hard work and you're just putting the your head down to the grindstone and you're just doing it. I think one of the other things I've learned too is like sometimes if you need the help, you need to ask for help. If you need the support and you have a village around you, like let's say that again you're starting a business or you're doing something and like you just don't want to clean your house, like have somebody come clean your house or have somebody come make you make meals. You know, like if you need the support so that you can actually be intentional with your family and you can be intentional with your business when you're there and it's not being stolen by things that just do not bring you joy, if you can finagle it and it's something that you have the means to do, that's also supported us tremendously.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

You stole my next question, but that's good. But when you are when you are in those seasons, right, where kind of the mission gets more of you than it should, how do you recognize it?

SPEAKER_00 8:24

I mean, I think it's I think you will recognize it for the sake of you just know you're going into a season, right? And like you're going in because you have agreed that, okay, I'm going into a push season or I'm opening a business or we're really wanting to grow something or I'm launching something, or or I you just maybe have transition in your business where especially chiropractors, they know this where you potentially have had team transition out and you're having to onboard a new team and your training team and all that type of stuff. That is a season. And that's typically a season that requires more of you and it just requires a different version of you, I should say. Not even necessarily more, but it's maybe a different version. And so I think the the thing for me that I typically watch out for is if I am going, going, going, going, and I'm not actually taking a breath, I typically will find myself get really fatigued when I actually come to the point of rest. And I actually will find myself like, when I want to rest, I will get, I actually will literally not want to do anything, or I will want to binge stuff, or I will, it's like I go on my phone and I'm just scrolling because I'd like need to like mind dump something, right? Disconnect. And I think that itself can also be pretty telling because if we're always looking for a constant outward stimulation, we're not actually going internal to have an understanding of like what's happening and what is it that you actually are wanting to put intention to. So I think the season of it, you I mean, it's typically gonna be, I mean, for me, I feel like it's understood, but also at the same time, it's there's gonna be a reality of busy, maybe a little bit couple later nights, but then understanding it's like what is it that you actually want to be creating at home around you, what boundaries do you want to actually put in into place when those seasons are a little bit more specific.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

But but is there something that you're no longer willing to sacrifice for the mission? And if so, when did it become clear?

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Yeah. Um so I have always kind of been this person when I opened my business. I was never one to say that I was gonna work on a like I I not that I will never not do this, but I didn't want to work on a weekend or I didn't want to work on a Friday type of thing. I don't want to be adjusting. But I also did not want to be going home at 10 p.m. When we leave, we leave. That is a hard boundary. Or like when we are our hours are done. And I've set that up from the beginning for my team is like I will literally, everybody needs to be out the door, basically. Cause I I respect it for myself, but I also want it for my team that they go home to their families and they go home to actually enjoy. But then the other part of that is that a non-negotiable for me is like, uh there may be seasons, 100%, but most commonly my non-negotiable is I'm not bringing work home and I'm typically not doing work at nine o'clock at night. If I need to do work at nine o'clock at night, then I'm either in a push season or I have not set my time up really well during the day. And I'm typically missing something with my family at that point. That's just for me, it's just a non-negotiable. Like I want to actually be present with my family. Again, are there seasons? So don't hear me say that I'm never not working at that time, but are there seasons of it for sure? I think for for me, it activates a lot of if I have to be constantly working, it's the place where I'm trying to prove myself and typically trying to do more for the sake of what a lot of times. So I think the question that you get to ask yourself is like, why are you doing that? Do you feel like you just have to, or is this just busy work? Like, is it actually moving the needle or is it just busy work and is it just taking you from a place of actually being intentional in your life? So those are pretty non-negotiable for me, just in the side of like timing and time frame. I want to be with my family and I want to be able to actually rest well when I'm actually home, you know?

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Yep. Yeah. And I I think that's I think it's healthy. I think you need to know what you want and kind of draw that boundary and stick to it. And and that and that's okay. It's okay. All right, what one more quick pause. Dr. Sarah just talked about not bringing work home, being intentional and protecting the things that matter. Great, do that. But here's the uncomfortable truth. While you're trying to be present at home like a healthy adult, potential patients, customers are on Google right now looking for someone like you. And if your profile has not had a fresh post or a new photo or a recent view response in a while, Google's quietly moving you down the list, silently, ruthlessly, no warning. Google literally just updated their guidelines to confirm it. So it's it's fresh content, real photos, specific posts about your actual business, not generic stuff, not commodity content, your practice, your business, your story, your patients, your clients. That's what ranks now, whether someone's searching the old-fashioned way or asking AI. AI LocalBoost takes all of that off your plate. It writes content to your business's voice, it pulls actual stories out of your five-star reviews, it checks in with you every week to grab what's new and automatically creates photos and videos for your Google Business profile and YouTube. All of it. Done. You can leave the office, go home, be human, and your Google Presence is still out there doing its job. Head to AILocalboost.com, protect your time and your visibility at the same time. That is the move. And real quick, you're on part three of a three-part series. You are basically a super fan at this point. Just own it. Okay. Hit like, hit subscribe, leave a comment, leave a review. You already invested this much time. Might as well make it official. I'm not asking you to put a ring on it. I'm married. The algorithm will thank you. I will thank you. Dr. Sarah will probably thank you too if I tell her. Okay. Final stretch with Dr. Sarah. Let's go. Is the connection and I think this is I think I I think it is, is the connection between the nervous system and what an adjustment actually does and kind of and mental health. Is that a thing, right? Because I don't think those are are separate things, in in my opinion, right? And and and I want to hear how how you see it. So most people most people understand chiropractic at the pain level. And that's that's fine. Um there's nothing wrong with looking at it that way, because it will help, but but you practice at a completely different level, in my opinion, from what I'm what I've learned from you over the past couple of conversations, and also from what I've learned from you online. But what is actually happening in the nervous system when someone gets adjusted? And why does that matter kind of beyond the neck pain? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Well, so at the basic level, your nervous system literally controls everything. So if we actually truly believe that and we know that, and then the day, it's not even about a belief. It's literally chiropractic is like gravity. Your nervous system is literally the truth of that, it literally controls every single thing in your body. Truly. And so if that's the truth, which is true, then inevitably it's obviously going to affect the chemicals that are produced in your body. It's going to affect the hormones that it's produced in your system at the same time. It's also going to affect the receptors that accept those hormones and those chemicals at the same time, whether those are actually receiving or turning off or turning on and not. So when you actually look at the nervous system, your brain is obviously trying to send signals up and down to be able to communicate to the rest of your body and through that spinal column. And then all those nerves are talking to different cells, tissues, and organs within your system just cleanly, the way specific, like simple way to say that. And your body heals from above-down inside out. I'm sure if you've been around chiropractic, you've listened to this. I'm sure lots of people have talked about above dot and side out if you're listening to this. So when you look at like mental health, and we look at like, I'm gonna, I'm actually gonna talk about kids a little bit because kids are easy to like chat through sometimes and that can relate to an adult. But for a child, we actually have a scan that we do in our office. It's basically called a SEM SM EMG scan. So it's a surface electromyography scan that allows us to be able to see how well the posture of the nervous system that basically the posture muscles are supporting the nervous system as they're sitting upright in gravity. And we call it basically the busy brain scan. So we want a certain energy score and a certain like balance from above down inside out, or like above, north to south, and also side to side. And I cannot even tell you how many times I will see that scan. So let's say I got a seven-year-old. It is not uncommon. On average, I want them to be at about 200. When they start with me, they can be 800 and above. And when I'm looking at, talk about a busy brain. So a lot of times when people come to me, especially if their child is experiencing an 800 version energy score versus a 200, they typically have a lot of focus stuff going on at school. They have a lot of ADHD potential things happening. They have outbursts, they have sensory symptoms, such as they like constantly need to be moving or touching, or they don't like certain things on them. They maybe have sound stimulation happening at the same time. And as a um, like a seven-year-old, they typically are gonna navigate more to like the focused behavior type stuff. But if we leave that there, that most commonly then is they go into teenhood and go into teenage world and hire like early adults, all that type of stuff, that's typically where you'll see it turn into mental health because that subluxation is still landed. And why that's happening is that what a subluxation is, is basically that misalignment within that nervous system. But that subluxation is causing that nervous system to go into a fight or flight response.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

That fight or flight response, basically everything goes into this place of holy crap, I need to protect myself and I need to keep myself from danger. So you're basically running away from a tiger, your adrenaline is always spiked, your body's like holding itself in really, really tight. All the good hormones. So we talk about like good chemicals, all those types of things, they typically take a back seat because your body is most commonly just worried about getting away from a really, really dangerous situation. And also, like a lot of times, even if it's if they've been stuck in that space for a really long time, even if it's not necessarily a dangerous situation, it can be perceived as dangerous. So that's why like a sensory kiddo can put a soft shirt on their body, but yet they don't like it because that soft shirt is still perceived as a dangerous input into the body. It's kind of crazy. It's wild what the nervous system does.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

That is pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Um, and so when that subluxation is there, it basically keeps these kids and these adults locked into this perception of danger. And so hence the reason like, yeah, we may have pain as an adult, but the undertone of that is that there is a lot of other dysfunction that's happening. And what we'll see again for kiddos, the minute that they start getting adjusted, it helps them basically unlock. That nervous system gets to start to communicate and that subluxation is removed. And not only do they get to just like release and breathe and actually have rhythm around their actual system again. But what will happen, for one, the energy score will come down. So that brain will not just be constantly revving and going, but now they're they can focus, they can sit good, their anxiety will go like drop down. And we don't like so many parents by the time they come to us, they have done the doctors, they've done the potential medication. But this is the place to where like if we can actually get that nervous system to chill out, the medication can also go away. Because when you're talking about like mental health, a lot of times, like we're looking for something to basically suppress something in your body. Nervous system chiropractic is what's going to support your body to actually do the thing that it needs to be doing and produce the proper chemicals, serotonin, dopamine, all those types of things to also be flourishing really well and not just have to suppress it or do it put a fake hormone in your system too. So there's so much that happens, but that for kiddos, that's where we typically will see a lot of it start. And then I'm sure you've heard this or not, but there's actually been a study that for adults, especially, if you've had pain, if that problem has been there within your system for at least 10 years. And so the actual subluxation process. And so if you've had pain, it's been there for a really, really long time, and you can only imagine what it's also doing to the rest of your system. And I can't tell you how many times I'll have somebody get adjusted and they will literally go into their car and just start crying, or they will have emotion on the table. I literally just got to celebrate with somebody the other day. She's been on depression medication for her whole adult life, and she is 35 years old, and she just came off of her depression medication, has not been on one for the past six months now. And it's amazing. She literally like has never experienced the capacity to come off of that. That and that is that story is not an uncommon story. People hear that all the time within chiropractic, but but those types of things, like if we can get you off of depression medication or anxiety medication or any of that, it's not about for me, it's not necessarily about saying that I'm never gonna, you're never gonna not gonna need a medication, but it's It's allowing your body to be supported and functioning at the best that it possibly can. Sure, there may be seasons where you have more stress, where you have more things going on, but can your body actually navigate and function the best it possibly can without it, without something to suppress it or have to give a fake version of that at the same time?

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Yeah. I was gonna make a nervous system joke, but do it. I don't want to get on anyone's nerves. And yet here we are. Anyway, no, but that's that's really awesome because you're not the first chiropractor I talk to that tells me these kind of things. I've had discussions with chiropractors that tell me how people's depression, uh not just like on medication, but like severe depression, that whole fight or flight thing, I mean, all of it, all these different things, kids uh ADHD, suffering from HD, like improving, just so many things because it's all tied uh to the nervous system. Would you do you remember a time though that somebody came back and said, you know, something shifted, like because they they came in for you know back pain or whatever, but then they came back and then there was like something emotionally or mentally that kind of lifted or shifted and they were surprised. Did you ever actually experience that?

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Oh, so many times. I came in, like so many times. I only just had a mom yesterday, so she's carrying twins. She's just starting care with us, and she she had to adjust to her first adjustment last week. And she literally just told me yesterday because she got her first adjustment and she was signing out of care yesterday. She's like, after the first adjustment, I went home, literally got in my car and immediately had tears and just felt like my body was not only because part of it was like her system just released, right? So her system, she felt different, and overall her body also had an emotional response to that at the same time. I mean, I had this gentleman also. It's funny, this was probably like a couple years ago now at this point, but big burly guy, like not somebody that you would anticipate crying, right? Like literally just this guy that's like hard, rough on the edges, super skeptical, and just didn't really know what was happening. And he'd been with us probably like two weeks at this point, at that point. And he got up off the table after one of his adjustments and he's like, Is this normal? And I'm like, Okay, here we go. You know, like just anticipating that he's gonna like tell me something's in pain because he came for pain, right? Like he came and he talked to us a little bit about his anxiety and like some of his like mental health stuff that he had, but not it just wasn't something that he wanted to focus on in the beginning, even though we touched on it, it wasn't something he wanted to focus on. And he literally got up on the table and said, Is this normal? And I was like, What? And he said, Well, so literally last time I got adjusted, I went in my car and I feel like I had this whole like emotional release and I just kept cried. And I'm like, Well, that's awesome. He's like, No, it's not. I don't want to cry. Like, he was just like he had to put on this like big bear like type show. But I'm like, no, that's your nervous system. Like, regardless of yes, you came in for pain, that's your nervous system releasing. We hold on to so much emotional trauma just as much as we hold on to physical trauma and emotional energy. And if that stays stuck, like tears are a sign of strength, they're not a sign of weakness. And and that type of thing literally happens, I can't even tell you, probably at least every week, if not like every couple of weeks, we'll hear somebody talk about emotional changes or like again, the reality of them being able to come off a med or their child was able to actually focus in school without having to take a medication, those types of things.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Yeah. There's a there's a growing conversation about the nervous system and and mental health, anxiety, depression, trauma responses. Uh how do you see chiropractic fitting into that conversation?

SPEAKER_00 25:53

And I think it's a really vital one. I think it's a vital one for the sake of, again, you can do talk therapy, therapy, counseling, life coaching, all that time, all of that. But also, and I think it's incredible. I mean, I have literally had a coach support me for the past nine years, and I literally I send so many of my patients to a counselor a lot because I do think that there is a place to where chiropractic, there, I'm really, really brilliant at what I'm brilliant at, but I am not somebody's counselor, right? And so, like I had a patient I literally just referred to a really trusted referral source of ours the other week, and we were talking, and I was like, your emotional health that you are experiencing is affecting your physical body. And that physical aspect, you're coming in in discomfort. You're literally coming in like so locked up. You're coming in telling me you're so anxious, you're experiencing all this stuff, like and you're leaving and you're doing so much better after an adjustment, but then you go back into your same world and you go back into your same process. And so I can I can do what I do really, really brilliantly, but you need consumed continued support here. So I'm gonna recommend this over here. Granted, you got to, that person needs to be willing to do that. But so we actually, I'm a huge advocate for both. I think it's a really brilliant for both facets to be happening because also at the same time, like you could be working with somebody and they could be doing going so far, but yet something is still really locked in the nervous system because they're subluxated, and then they're only they're only gonna be able to go so far until we release that. It's the same thing I always say, like you can eat all the organic food, but if you still have a subluxation that's blocking the nerve to that stomach, that stomach is not going to be able to digest the best it possibly can until we remove that, even if you're eating all the best things that you possibly can. There was also, I just saw this video, there's a study that was done that one chiropractic adjustment will do more in your system than what three weeks of weight training and strength training will do in somebody else's body for the benefit of what that is. And so the actual physiological change that will happen from one adjustment literally is more than how much you could eat organic, how much you could work out in a three-week period of time. And so the brilliance of the counterpart of both of that um and how they can work together, I think is literally magic, 100%. So it's really cool that you guys are starting a Christian Cup. Yeah. You know, like how freaking awesome is that?

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Yeah, it really is. I'm excited about it. But there's obviously the piece of you having to manage or handle kind of the conversations when somebody comes in for a physical issue and their mental health starts to change alongside it and all that. So yeah, you obviously have to handle those conversations uh in your practice. But where does your role end and a mental health provider's role begin?

SPEAKER_00 28:41

I think that is it's such a wise discernment. Um, and that's the same for like if somebody is having, you know, like I again, I'm a chiropractor and I don't do functional matter or anything like that. But let's say somebody's having like a major autoimmune flair or something like that. Doesn't mean that I can't be supportive and I can give recommendations, but there is gonna be a time and a place where I'm like, I need you to go see this other human because they're gonna be able to support you here. And for me, I can 100% hold space. And I know I think I'm more inclined than some that I can hold space and I can ask questions and I can actually see and hear what somebody is going through. But I am not a licensed therapist, I am not a licensed counselor, and and also I don't want to sit for an hour with somebody, you know, so like that's not my job. So, like, like just the instance of this, this girl, like she was telling me certain things that I'm like, okay, I see that you need more support and it's not my lane. And so here is what my resource would be. And I think any practitioner needs to know where their boundary is in that, and that you don't need to be all things to every single human. And if you feel like you need to be, then you need to check your ego. Because at the end of the day, we are we are truly meant to be in our lane. And if we try to be not saying that you can't be gifted in a lot of different things, and I know there's a lot of chiropractors that do a lot of different therapies, they do a lot of different um, like functional med, nutrition, all that type of stuff, which because that's that, that's their calling. However, if it's not your calling and if it's not your mission, get out of the way and let the like people that are actually meant to hold that space there. Because that person's gonna see the better care if they're actually in the hands of somebody that knows what they're doing. Sure. Um I think also just professionally speaking, if you're worried, at least I hear this from a lot of chiropractors, or like if I send somebody to a PT, there if you don't have a relationship with that human, there can be a lot of fear that you're gonna lose your patient because there's not the reciprocal understanding of what each industry does. And so that's also a part to where it's really important to make sure you have really beautiful resource referral partners in your area so that you know that and they know what you do, you know what they do, so that there can be a really beautiful cross, basically co-patient care for your people at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

That I guess that brings me to a question of what you would want kind of the mental health professional uh to know or understand about what chiropractic can actually do for a dysregulated nervous system. And then also the opposite, right? What do you want, or what would you think that chiropractors need to understand about better regarding mental health?

SPEAKER_00 31:21

I think there is this thing in our world right now, it's very, it's the the hot words are nervous system dysregulation or a dysautonomia or vagus nerve, maybe even, you know, like those are some really hot topics, I feel like in our trending like world when it comes to mental health sometimes. And I think the for a therapist to understand that the chiropractor, for one, is the is gonna be the first line of defense to helping your nervous system regulate, doesn't mean you can't have support in other things 100% at home. There can be home care practices and all that type of thing, but you're the chiropractor literally is gonna be the one that's gonna help regulate that nervous system the most. And then their role can also be the support of like, okay, yes, the nervous system is gonna be supported as you do the work to be able to uncover why that nervous system got dysregulated in the first place. So, and then they also are gonna support as they heal through it. Because as we know through any facet, if you're in the mental health world and you actually are the therapist counselor, because I just know this for myself, holy crap, does it take a lot of work to go back through trauma? Does it take a lot of work to go back through emotions that have been built up over the course of time and how that literally affects your physical body at the same point? And so the support of having a chiropractor on that team is again so vital and it can be such a beautiful asset to your patient base so that they, when they process through it, it's not going to also keep them from saying stuck in a place of a cycle that they just can't get out of. And then the same for again for the chiropractors, it's the same facet. Like I think we have the potential of missing an opportunity of sending out for support if a patient's willing to go there. And we will see the same thing. Like I will see somebody experience the same cycle over and over and over again and not actually see change because they're not getting the actual support and health help within that emotional mental space. And it will literally, I mean, it's the same, we run these cycles back and forth, back and forth. Doesn't mean you're not going to see change. However, some of that change may be stunted a little bit and blunted a little bit. So and I think that is, I think for me, like I we actually teach on this. We actually have had a couple of people come and share with us just so we can also see the support from the mental health world. But when I teach my um doctors of like, okay, what is our line of boundary? You know, what is our boundary when it comes to what we're willing to share with and communicate with? And obviously, yes, there's the extreme cases, right? Like there's the if somebody's talking about suicide or somebody's talking about wanting to hurt themselves or, you know, like domestic violence, you know, there's those extreme cases that we obviously will majorly advocate for support really quickly. But then where are the the grayer lines when it comes to if somebody is talking to you about they're incredibly burnt out as a postpartum mom? Are they actually getting postpartum support outside of just getting chiropractic care? Do they have a village? Do they have all these other resource partners in their world? Right. And so, and also when to be able to recommend out for that. So we we train on that all the time.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

How how many years have you been in practice?

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Oh, I've been uh practicing for 15 years now.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Okay, so I feel like there is a profound patient case that you came across that maybe was a light bulb. And if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but it might have changed kind of how you see the the impact or the connection that chiropractic and mental health kind of connection have. Is there one?

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Um I feel like it's funny. I think I am my one of my own patient cases. I will tell you a I will tell you a patient one for sure, but I feel like I when I because I will be honest, I thought counseling for a while or with like mental health facilitators for a while were if something was wrong. Because I also think like, especially in the mental health world, and it's the same with the chiropractic world. It's like you have to be in pain or something has to be going on for you to seek out care. And before I started my own journey with it, again, I felt like, well, I'm fine. I don't have anything going on. Like, I'm good. Why would I ever need a counselor? People have need a counselor and they need a therapist. They got depression, they got anxiety, they got all these crazy things going on, right? So so I feel like I was my like self, somebody that was like brilliantly got to be my own patient case study, essentially, because I started my own like journey with it with seeking and having like essentially a counselor in it, and it literally transformed my perspective around it big time. Um it was lived experience. And then I there's this just the other lady. I've literally taken care of her for almost 10 years. She was one of my early, early on, within six months of me opening my practice, she came to me for headaches. She would like debilitating migraines. And she's like literally one of our biggest referral sources in our office. She actually was a team member of mine, worked for me a little for a little bit, and still just her husband's under care, all the fun stuff. And she came to me for headaches, and literally within about probably about three months, she was talking to me about how all of a sudden her depression and all of this like mental health stuff that she had was dramatically changing. But one of the things that she also talked a lot about was how she was constantly also talking to a counselor and had just the support outside of us in how she utilized both there. And it was just one of those, like, I just remember getting curious with her as she was talking. Like, I I was still at that age in my life and my practice where I was like, well, chiropractic's the cure all for you. Like you shouldn't even need a counselor. It should be the cure all. Chiropractic is just going to be all of it. Like I was very ego-driven in that sense. And so, but she was just one of these humans where she was able to actually then work with her counselor and come off her medications and work to actually come like she's literally medication free from all of the depression, all the stuff that she originally came to meet, came with to my office with. However, the value that she still found, and she still meets with her counselor on a like bi-weekly basis at this point. And so it just was really cool like to also hear her talk about the co-regulation essentially and the co-management and how much she valued both and how also her counselor advocated for her to be able to have not necessarily to be medicated, but to be able to have mental like health, essentially, and to find mental health in that and like not just like survive, but also and advocated for her to continue to do us, like and all that. So it became this like really like co-management, and it was a really beautiful um expression of that pretty early on. And ever since then, it's been like, yeah, let's go. Like, how can I find you somebody if you're willing to go? Right. Like I can't force somebody to go, but if I'm if they're willing to go, like let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Man, I can literally talk to you for hours, Dr. Sarah. I I appreciate you, honestly. But I think we're getting close to wrapping up here. I've held you hostage long enough. Um, but I have just two more things I want to ask you before I let you go. One is more about freedom chiropractic and kind of the next version of freedom chiropractic. Because we're if we're not evolving, we're walking backwards, right? What are you building toward when it comes to your practice? What's the next version of it?

SPEAKER_00 38:51

The next version is a continued, like sustainable business. I think when you become an entrepreneur, you again, we've talked about this a little bit, like we're constantly seeking the next thing. So I have a desire to be sustain myself as a CEO. I have worked myself out of the business side of it where I'm adjusting as much. And we are, we're working really beautifully to get to a point where that is really sustainable. So that does not require me to be there. And then the potential of further impact in other areas in our city. Um, that's something that we've talked about for a long time. It just has kind of been, for some reason, it just has never been the like, let's do that now. And so we still have that on our on our vision board and our like dream area of like, I have a my husband and I have a big dream to purchase land. And I I love horses and I have a horse and I actually want to purchase property in an area where I would see myself actually opening another practice at the same time. But one of the coolest things is we want to be able to have a sustainable, sustainable place so that when we do that, it's also going to be it's an easy implementation, easy team process. We have all the systems there, which we do. It's just like in a matter of timing too. So it's just a matter of like when that all lands and where it goes. So, and we still, at the end of the day, we still have this. Our mission is to create create a safe space for people to heal and actually experience life and to be able to experience a free life. And that will never change. We have a desire to be able to see moms, babies, and kids and families experience health and be able to walk out of their doors and actually know that they are being taken care of and they're known and they're seen at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

Love it. I'm gonna be watching from the sidelines. I think it's gonna be beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Um, yeah, absolutely. So, what's one thing uh you want someone listening today to walk away with? Not the chiropractor, not the patient, just the person who needed to hear something true.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

Just know that your I feel like I go back to this a lot, but your story is always evolving. And to be aware of where you are in your season of life, that it you may feel like you're getting brought back to something that you feel like you've worked through before, but that part typically is just a further understanding of where you are and that it's an opportunity to go deeper, an opportunity to have more clarity, more understanding of who is the person that God is trying to bring more and more to this world. And I think one of the other things that I would invite people is like if you are constantly searching for the how, I would invite you to ask more of the why and the what. Like, why do you want to do something and what is it that you want to do versus how do you do it?

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Yeah, we could always figure out the how. Yeah. I love that. The why is very important.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Because we tend to like just do, do, do, do. Okay, but like, why are we doing this stuff? Yeah. And then I'm gonna ask you this final question here. It's gonna maybe require some imagination, or maybe you thought of it. I don't know. But if if the version of you uh that was fighting through illness, you know, fighting through surgeries, uh, could see who you are today, what do you think she would say?

SPEAKER_00 42:19

I think she would say that she's incredibly proud of me. And she's incredibly proud of herself. I think so many times, like if you're talking to your inner child, it's there's this place to where we feel like we have to leave that person behind, or we have to leave versions of ourself behind. And I know that for myself, it's more about an integration and it's about that person made me, you know, like what I went through provided me the strength and it provided me the the gumption, the ability to risk what I've risked, the ability to be able to want to work hard. And I know that she and I are just as proud. And so I think that's been just a beautiful thing. And she's she doesn't that little girl doesn't need to keep protecting me anymore, also. Um, that she just gets to be her herself. And she's really proud of the the woman that also gets to be herself and gets to be a playful little kid at times and be a creative human being that gets to dream and desire things from her true authentic self versus just what she feels like she's had to create based on what other people have done or what the world tells her to do.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

I love that. Dr. Sarah, thank you so, so much. So, so, so, so much.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Yeah, I really appreciate it. And um, I didn't realize we were gonna be recording for as long as we did, but it's it's been a great conversation. And again, thank you so, so much.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Yeah, thank you for having me. I hope it's a beautiful gift for everybody, and yes, I look forward to hearing it come out.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Yeah, absolutely. And that's a wrap. Three parts, one conversation, and honestly, more than I plan to say out loud myself at a few different points in there, especially where I shed some tears. Wasn't planning that either. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, that means you skipped too many parts of the videos. Anywho, if this series gave you something, send it to someone. Uh, the provider grinding themselves down on the production hamster wheel, the practice owner who needs to hear that letting go of control is actually the move. The spouse who's wondering when their partner is gonna come home and just be a person again, send it to them. Big thank you to Dr. Sarah Nelson Gray for showing up three times and somehow getting more honest every single time. That is rare, and I do not take it lightly. If you are not subscribed yet, just go ahead and do that now. Alright, cool. Thanks. Leave a review if this series landed for you, and I will see you on the next episode of Beyond Adjustments. Pace.