Episode 169
Emma Wagner:How Childhood Habits Shape Your Current Autoimmune Journey
Emma Wagner:
How Childhood Habits Shape Your Current Autoimmune Journey
Discover how your childhood experiences and cultural background shape your current relationship with autoimmune health. Dr. Emma Wagner, a chiropractor combining functional medicine with emotional healing, reveals why understanding your protective habits is crucial for recovery. Learn practical tools like journaling and meditation to identify patterns holding you back, and discover why traditional approaches often miss the mark. Whether you're dealing with rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune conditions, this episode offers actionable insights into transforming harmful habits into healing practices. Dr. Wagner shares powerful client stories and practical strategies for reconnecting with your body's natural healing abilities, making this essential listening for anyone on their autoimmune healing journey.
First Aired on: Dec 9, 2024
Episode 169
Emma Wagner:How Childhood Habits Shape Your Current Autoimmune Journey
Emma Wagner:
How Childhood Habits Shape Your Current Autoimmune Journey
Discover how your childhood experiences and cultural background shape your current relationship with autoimmune health. Dr. Emma Wagner, a chiropractor combining functional medicine with emotional healing, reveals why understanding your protective habits is crucial for recovery. Learn practical tools like journaling and meditation to identify patterns holding you back, and discover why traditional approaches often miss the mark. Whether you're dealing with rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune conditions, this episode offers actionable insights into transforming harmful habits into healing practices. Dr. Wagner shares powerful client stories and practical strategies for reconnecting with your body's natural healing abilities, making this essential listening for anyone on their autoimmune healing journey.
First Aired on: Dec 9, 2024
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this episode:
Introduction
Dr. Emma Wagner, a chiropractor combining functional medicine with emotional and energetic healing approaches, joins me to explore how our earliest learned patterns influence our health journey. Drawing from her unique background spanning three continents and both conventional and alternative medicine, she shares insights into breaking free from limiting habits that may be holding back your healing.
Episode Highlights
The Origins of Our Health Habits
Dr. Wagner explains how our health habits are deeply rooted in our upbringing, culture, and early experiences.
- Many habits form as protective mechanisms in childhood
- Cultural influences significantly impact our relationship with food and health
- Our parents' beliefs about health shape our early patterns
Breaking Through Resistance to Change
Understanding why we resist changing habits that no longer serve our health is crucial for healing.
- People often defend harmful habits they believe are healthy
- Real client example of resistance to removing inflammatory foods
- The importance of building trust before suggesting major changes
The Role of Self-Awareness in Healing
Dr. Wagner shares practical tools for developing greater awareness of our patterns.
- Journaling helps identify recurring patterns
- Rereading journal entries reveals hidden habits
- Having a trusted person review your observations can provide new insights
Meditation as a Tool for Change
Simple meditation practices can help break old patterns and create new ones.
- Walking meditation as an accessible starting point
- The importance of disconnecting from devices during practice
- How meditation helps reduce reactivity to triggers
Reconnecting with Natural Healing
Understanding how modern life disconnects us from our natural healing abilities.
- The impact of environmental factors on autoimmunity
- The importance of spending time in nature
- Learning to trust your body's signals again
Creating New Health Habits
Dr. Wagner discusses the process of establishing beneficial routines.
- Start with small, manageable changes
- Give new habits time to become established
- Learn to distinguish between resistance and true body signals
Notable Quotes
When you have autoimmune disease, your own immune system attacks pieces of your body because it doesn't recognize your body as its own anymore. In my work, it's really important to reconnect the body and to reintegrate it as a whole.
Dr. Emma Wagner
It's very easy to create a habit to not have to think about how we got hurt in the past. Maybe we got hurt going out, so we're going to make a lot of reasons not to go out anymore, so that we don't get hurt every time we go out.
Dr. Emma Wagner
Make yourself your VIP. It's okay to be a very important person. It's okay that you're the center of your universe. It doesn't mean that you don't care about anybody else, but you're a VIP in your own world.
Dr. Emma Wagner
Other Resources:
Other Resources:
Connect with Emma Wagner
Connect with Emma Wagner
Watch this interview:
Watch this interview:
Episode Transcript
Emma Wagner:[00:00:00] We're really creatures of habits. We live our life in patterns. Those habits are based on our education, our cultures, our mindset, our trouble. Most of our habits are protections.
Emma Wagner: Cultural aspect is really important, it might be digging around and finding more deep down habits that people have.
Emma Wagner: To be a parent, I feel like I have a tendency to reproduce the same pattern to my kids and I really had to be intentional and think about what I was teaching them and what habits did I wanted to set for them as good habits.
Julie Michelson:[00:01:00] Welcome back to the inspired living with autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michelson. And today we're joined by Dr. Emma Wagner, a distinguished chiropractor from San Clemente vitality, who epitomizes the essence of holistic healthcare. With over two decades of experience alongside her husband and partner, Dr.
Julie Michelson: Burton Wagner, she passionately advocates for a healthy, active lifestyle through an integrative blend of chiropractic care, energy medicine, functional medicine, and nutritional coaching. Her dedication not only guides individuals in tapping into their healing power, but also fosters a deep sense of connection and vitality, harmonizing the physical and emotional aspects of wellbeing.
Julie Michelson: In today's conversation, we are talking about changing your habits to create wellness. [00:02:00] Dr. Emma gives us tips to get us back to our natural state, in touch with nature, which allows the body to heal.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Emma, welcome to the podcast.
Emma Wagner: Thank you, Julie, for having me. I'm excited to have this conversation here today with you.
Julie Michelson: I am as well. And I would love just for listeners to get to know you a little bit. All of us seem to have an interesting journey into functional or integrative health. Definitely.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Would you share your history? Um, cause you actually, your family has a traditional medicine background. So share with us a little bit of your journey.
Emma Wagner: So my dad is a medical doctor. I was raised by a family. That I'm that helping others and caring for others in mind and my dad from a very young age took me to the hospital to do rounds with him really wanting to get me interested in his practice.
Emma Wagner: Um, I never wanted to be a medical doctor. And, uh, when my parents divorced, [00:03:00] my mom first met, uh, an homeopathic doctor and we started homeopathic care very early on around age 12, 10, 12. And it started becoming the normal in our house at that time too. When you feel a little bit off, you start taking care of yourself and preventative care is really important in, um, homeopathic.
Emma Wagner: And then being in France, Because I'm French, if you can hear the accent. I, there's a big focus on healthy food, good food, eating well. And in my family, there was, my mom was a very good cook. She loved cooking. So there was always that aspect. When I was 14 years old, I started having headaches and naturally the homeopathic was not working.
Emma Wagner: So I went to see my dad and I asked him, dad, what should I do? And he's like, well, you should take some kind of Advil over the counter was a different name because he wasn't French. But sure, I felt like and, um, is I can take up to six a day. [00:04:00] And I started taking some and more and more up to six a day. And I came back to my dad after a few months saying, dad, my headaches are still there.
Emma Wagner: I'm taking six at the other day. What should I be doing? And he's like, Oh, it's normal. You just need to take something a little bit stronger. So I started taking something a little bit stronger for a few months, up to six a day. When I got to six a day, I went to see him. I was 16 at the time. And I'm like, okay, this is not working anymore.
Emma Wagner: What should I do? It's like, Oh, I just need to prescribe something a little bit stronger. And it was something with codeine. At 16 year old in France, kids starts drinking alcohol. I was part of that. And I started mixing the codeine and the alcohol and very fast. I realized that this was a very bad idea.
Julie Michelson: Very,
Emma Wagner: very bad idea. And I could not focus on my studies. I could not focus on anything. Much of what I was doing, and it was really affecting me, those headaches, the coding, and That's when my mom took us to, um, a silver mind control seminar where we worked [00:05:00] on the power of the mind, doing meditation, respiration, um, Visualization.
Emma Wagner: That's amazing.
Julie Michelson: Like what a gift to be introduced to that at 16,
Emma Wagner: 16 year old. So at 16 year old, I started to discover the power of the mind. After that first night in the seminar, I had a dream where my spiritual guardian angel came to me and told me, Oh, Uh, you don't need the headaches anymore. You're not going to have headaches and I never had headaches anymore So from that moment, I decided to look at what my mom knew that my dad the medical doctor didn't Yeah, and I was I started being very interested in that homeopathic medicine uh in the power of the mind and Meditation and astral traveling and I started looking into energy healing.
Emma Wagner: I did my first energy healing seminars when I was 18. That led me into chiropractic school when I was 21, moved me across the [00:06:00] Atlantic Ocean, came to the U. S. to study chiropractic in the U. S. And then when you start putting your finger into it, I feel like you're getting swallowed.
Julie Michelson: Deeper and deeper. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: It's a giant rabbit hole.
Emma Wagner: Exactly. So I started looking at how nutrition affects us. I started looking at how emotions affect us. How to really connect the power of the mind. So my practice is very unique and a lot of my patients appreciate that because I'm not just a chiropractor. I am a chiropractor that does a little bit of functional medicine, that does a little bit of emotional work, that looks at the power of the mind and the pattern that are stuck in the body, that looks at people's habits, that, um, Are is able to, to look at really how, what, what the body needs to really function well and how to encourage that normal function of the body, knowing that the base of chiropractic is to say that the body can heal itself.
Emma Wagner: Yes. And it's about tapping into that natural phenomenon that the body can heal itself.
Julie Michelson: I love that. And, [00:07:00] and that's the, that is the whole point of this podcast is that the body can heal itself. Mm-Hmm. . 'cause it is often. the opposite of what medical doctors will tell patients, especially with autoimmunity.
Julie Michelson: I was told, Oh, you can't heal. You'll just get worse. You'll decline. You know? And so I love what you, what, what you offer your, your clients and your patients is what I call a very big toolbox.
Emma Wagner: So I'm not here to fix anyone. And I tell people, even if I feel like I'm an energy healer, I'm not here to fix anyone.
Emma Wagner: I'm here to turn on your own healing power so that you can heal yourself and give you the tools that you can use because I understand what you're needing, right? And I'm going to, to assess, okay, you're doing this, you're doing this. That's right. But have you looked into that aspect of your being? And most people are very aware of.
Emma Wagner: One two or three aspects, but they might be missing a few different pieces of their own puzzle.
Julie Michelson: I love that There's always yeah, we all need the same things It's just [00:08:00] you know that hierarchy of the individual of what do we need and what do we need now? I say all the time. I mean, I feel amazing, but I'm still on a healing like I'm always Like you in the rabbit hole learning new things, but sometimes I need to up level, you know, different areas depending on what's going on in my life.
Julie Michelson: Um,
Emma Wagner: we're talking a lot about autoimmune disease on your podcast. And I think it's really important to recognize that. Yes. When you have autoimmune disease, your own immune system attack pieces, different parts of your body. And can be the thyroid and Hashimoto's disease. It can be the bones in RA. It can be, there's a lot of different.
Emma Wagner: Piece that your body can attack because it doesn't recognize your body as its own anymore, and it's going to see your body as a strange entity. And so in my work, it's really important to reconnect the body and to reintegrate it as a whole, so that [00:09:00] We, the body doesn't need to attack itself as much or not at all.
Julie Michelson: Correct. And I always say, and it, you know, it's getting, when you get to that underlying causes.
Emma Wagner: And that's where the underlying causes is so important. Yeah. It doesn't
Julie Michelson: matter which part of the body or which system it's the same. We're just, we're human. We're, we're all designed, you know, yes, we're uniquely individual, but, and yet we're all designed the same.
Julie Michelson: As humans. So, um, I know we have so many directions we could go in, but I, I want to talk a little bit about, because I know you're an expert in this area as well, habits and how habits can lead to things like autoimmune or habits can help us heal and lead to health. Um, so if you don't, if you don't mind taking us in the direction of, of that world, I would, I would love to.
Julie Michelson: So for
Emma Wagner: me, we're really creatures of habits. We, we, we live our life in patterns. And those patterns allow us to really, like, [00:10:00] do our things every day the same way. And it's, those habits are based on our education, our cultures, um, our, our mindset, our trouble, and most of our habits are protections. And. We're going to, it's very easy to create a habit to not have to think about how we're going to, how we got hurt in the past.
Emma Wagner: Right. And maybe we got hurt going out, so we're not going to want to go out anymore, and we're going to make a lot of reasons not to go out anymore, so that we don't get hurt every time we go out. So, when we look at habits, we need to look at what, why do we create those habits? So, are they educated? Again, and Our parents as good as they are, and parents.
Emma Wagner: I always tell my kids parents self charge for the
Julie Michelson: bad habits they, they have got from me. Yeah. and,
Emma Wagner: and I have a 19-year-old and a 22-year-old. It's hard to be a parent and they're not born with a manual. Sure. [00:11:00]
Julie Michelson: I always say my to do, my oldest, my oldest is the test kid, you know? Mm-Hmm.
Emma Wagner: I feel like I have a tendency to reproduce the same pattern and the same habits that my mom brought in when I was a child and at one point I'm like this is not the way I want to raise my kids and I really had to really be intentional and think about what I was teaching them and what habits did I wanted to set for them as good habits.
Emma Wagner: I'm not perfect. I didn't do everything perfectly. Oh, darn.
Julie Michelson: Back to that human thing again. Uh huh.
Emma Wagner: But I think even for ourself, it's, I know they're going to have to let go of some of those habits that I created for them. The same way I had to let go of some of those habits that my parents, my culture, had created for me.
Emma Wagner: So it's interesting for me because I was born and raised in Africa. Um, Then I moved to France for 10 years, and then I moved to the U. S. for 10 years. So, I see those three cultures, and I see the difference in [00:12:00] how we are expected to function and to interact with each other in those three different cultures.
Emma Wagner: Yes. So that cultural aspect is really important and recognizing that it's not because McDonald's is what American mom give to their kids and it's a comfort food and it feels good to go to McDonald's that it's actually good foods and that it's a good habit to set for the kids, right? It's a good habit to set for herself.
Emma Wagner: Finding the strength to be like, okay, this is not serving my higher self, and this is not the direction I want to be creating. That's where, when we create habits, and when I help people create habits, I'm really interested in where the higher self want. And what do you want to, to create out of your life?
Emma Wagner: And it might be a very easy habit, it might be very, it might be digging around and finding more deep down habits that people have. Like, we are talking about autoimmune [00:13:00] disease. I have a client that came to me, and when I was asking her about the food she was eating, she's like, well, I make my own sourdough bread.
Emma Wagner: and she has ra uh,
Julie Michelson: i, I have had those clients
Emma Wagner: and, and for a while I would leave her alone because every time I would bring up the food and how I felt like the food was inflammatory in her system, and that food would create. More information. She's like, well, I do everything. Perfect. I even make my own bread.
Emma Wagner: Right. So it was hard to get into that conversation with her because she was kind of refusing to go look into that habit because she was 100 percent sure she was doing everything right already. So after a few visits, when the trust started building and we're looking at other pieces of the puzzle, one day she arrived and she's like, my knee are sore.
Emma Wagner: painful. I'm so inflamed. I feel so, so wrong. I told her, I'm like, let's, are you ready? Let's test [00:14:00] your bread because, um, I had a little bit of a bread with, our sister had brought me some bread. So or she had brought me a big piece of bread and I'm like this bread that you're eating is not good. I could tell I could feel it in my body.
Emma Wagner: She had give me a piece. I'm like, we need to talk about this bread and you have to stop it. And she's like, well, I'm ready to take more medication from our RA. I'm just feeling so bad. I'm like, before you do take the medication, stop the bread within three weeks, our inflammation reduced 80%. So
Julie Michelson: No surprise here, but I love, I understand that
Emma Wagner: it doesn't surprise you.
Julie Michelson: I love, um, I had a client, I joke because you know, often I always, I say to clients, you know, it, you didn't get in this condition of health or lack of health overnight and healing. This is going to take time. Um, and my [00:15:00] weakest hit. Ever was with a client who also happens to be a friend. Um, I, but now at almost same story, except that she had RA and ulcerative colitis and I, it was the same, but I bake and I make my own bread and we eat really healthy.
Julie Michelson: She was eating very little protein, um, you know, real food, whole food. And sure enough, she's one of the few people that I can go to her house for dinner now, because, um, she still bakes, but she does not bake. It's sourdough bread with gluten anymore. And you have
Emma Wagner: to understand that the flour itself is the problem and you can find better flour.
Emma Wagner: Yes. But you need to be very intentional because it's hard to find those flours that are good. And it's not about the sourdough bread. It's about the flour itself. Well, and it's cute
Julie Michelson: because she has a [00:16:00] bag of flour from Europe
Emma Wagner: that
Julie Michelson: she wants to try. That she's had for like six months or so because she doesn't want to, you know, it's like she wants to try it, but at the same time, she feels great.
Julie Michelson: Why, why would she want to rock the boat? Um, and that's a whole nother podcast we could talk about the, because especially with the difference in
Emma Wagner: the Europe and, uh, what
Julie Michelson: we can, what we've done to the food system in this country is. Scary and is I'm
Emma Wagner: really excited about the change coming around me
Julie Michelson: too. I can't wait.
Julie Michelson: You mentioned McDonald's and I was thinking like, Oh, you know, and it's, it is such a relief that at least some changes are coming down the path because they're really bad, bad trajectory. And again, when we know. So, um, I mean, I think, you know, the things are so much healthier in Europe and other countries where they haven't adulterated their food system.
Julie Michelson: It's, it's not like we don't know what to [00:17:00] do, right? Let's just let food be food again, and we'll all start to heal.
Emma Wagner: Yes, exactly. Yeah. So a patient of mine was telling me that in the town next door in Laguna Beach, California, um, they're putting all their 5G tower on their water tower. So all the water is getting irradiated by those 5G.
Emma Wagner: And we know, I mean, I'm, I like homeopathy a lot. I, I really believe in the power of the water to hold resonance and to all vibration. Oh my gosh. And I'm thinking about those. I don't know where anywhere else in the country they're putting that, those 5g tower, but if in Laguna Beach they're putting in the water, the water, those 5g tower on top of that water tower, it's going to create so much disease in the population and people are going to make, but I eat healthy, I do everything I need, I drink water and water should be healthy.
Emma Wagner: No,
Julie Michelson: I would drink water out of plastic before I would drink [00:18:00] that water. That's for sure. It's really
Emma Wagner: understanding our environment and understanding how an environment is affecting us and why it's affecting us. Yes. And, and what are the key and testing, what are you reactive to in your environment?
Emma Wagner: Because in autoimmune disease, I think the environment is really key. And I think parasites is really key too. And looking at that parasite load to see if there's any of it.
Julie Michelson: Well, and. The internal environment Of the internal environment. Yeah. Chest emotion. Yep. And I know you work with all of that as well.
Julie Michelson: Um, which like you were talking about, sometimes we need to really dig deep Mm-Hmm. , um, to get to, you know, where does this habit come from? I, I love that you said, and I wanna just highlight all of our habits are. stories, those tapes that run in our head. [00:19:00] Like you said, we're protective, especially as kids.
Julie Michelson: Um, and so step one is, is often recognizing, you know, where, where did this come from? And that's not something that typically, you know, it's a process. It's a process, but it's not a
Emma Wagner: difficult process. It's not a hurtful process. It's not something where you're going to have to hurt yourself or really have trauma again and again.
Emma Wagner: It's a very easy, simple process where you can really reconnect to those traumas so that you can let go of those trauma and start living differently.
Julie Michelson: I love that. And so how do you help be like, where do people start if they're like, okay, you know what, I haven't really looked at my habits and how I'm living.
Julie Michelson: And, um, you know, again, there is a little part of, I felt like the, the gal who was baking her own sour bread, because she was trying to do the right thing. [00:20:00] Right. Um, I think also we've been misled and misguided as to what the right thing is. Um, so where do people, how do you help people start that process?
Emma Wagner: I always start with an assessment. And, and I find that people, I am able to read people through what they're saying, through what they're doing to how they explain. It's a little bit of NLP neurolinguistic information, Uhhuh, um, where I'm able to, to see to, I, I, I feel like people tell you what's going on, but they tell you in a normal way and they'd tell you like, this is, this is normal for them.
Emma Wagner: Right? And if you're able to hear that normal, that is not normal. So I'm going to give an example because I had that happen with my husband yesterday in the car. Um, my husband sometime denies that he's losing energy and he doesn't want to Recognize that he is losing his energy [00:21:00] and so and he's going and as soon as he drops energy is going to Make a story about it.
Emma Wagner: I I I didn't do it. I didn't lose my energy. It's just this happened Yeah, and and so yes, he was very very I, I saw it happening and in the moment I'm like, see what you just did here? You denied your loss of energy and by just like dismissing it because it didn't want to, it feel it, it's really hard to recognize that you're doing something that hurts yourself, right?
Emma Wagner: Sure. Because we're not intentionally ourselves, it's not intentional, and as soon as you recognize it, you're able to change it. Ah,
Julie Michelson: there's the key.
Emma Wagner: There's the key, but first you have to recognize it and you have those protective mechanism that is going to make you make a story about it so that you don't really recognize.
Emma Wagner: So somebody like me, probably somebody like you are able to just feel it, [00:22:00] feel it, look at it and tell you, you look at what you're doing here. Right. Yeah. And, and as soon as you're looking at it and you're like, wow. I'm aware of it. I acknowledge it. I can change it, but first you have to see it for what it is.
Julie Michelson: I love that. Do you have any tips for people who aren't working with somebody like you or myself, um, who, who's like, Oh, I, I want to start noticing. I want to be at least that awareness because you can't create, you can't change anything without awareness. That's always step one. Yeah.
Emma Wagner: For me, journaling is very good.
Emma Wagner: Step for people to start looking at what their pattern, automatic writing, journaling, just allowing you to look at what you're doing. Reread what you wrote and, and, and maybe journal about your disease, journal about what you're doing, your relationship with the world, with your relationship with [00:23:00] yourself, because in autoimmune disease, again, you're attacking yourself.
Emma Wagner: So what do you think about yourself? Right. What relationship. Look at what triggers you. Be aware of it. Most people, when they get triggered, they dismiss it. Well, because it's uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. I love the, I think the tip in it, you know, I'm guessing some listeners are going to hear this and say, you know, Oh, I do journal, but you, you just gave a nugget that I want to make sure everybody picks up on, which is re read.
Julie Michelson: what you wrote. Yes, you can, there's a cathartic, you know, healing modality in journaling. You know, we can get a lot out of journaling, but when, when we're talking about trying to create change, re read what you wrote, because you may be surprised at what you read. Yes.
Emma Wagner: And, and, and if you don't have the clarity, have somebody [00:24:00] else that you trust?
Emma Wagner: It doesn't have to be a therapist, but it might be your husband. It might be your best friend. It might be someone who's not triggering your daughter. That is not somebody that's not you, that you trust enough that can give you an honest, like, what do you mean in writing this? What it really means for you.
Emma Wagner: Because sometimes we write things and it's just so part of the story that we're not really paying attention but when somebody else writes it, it's like what do you really mean when you say that?
Julie Michelson: So key, and I feel, I mean, for everybody to optimize health You know, this is important across the board, but especially by the time you are experiencing autoimmune symptoms.
Julie Michelson: This is, you know, we need to start figuring out, okay, what is really going on in there? What is driving? Um, you know, and yes, environment is huge, but our perception of environment is really important as well. Very
Emma Wagner: important. And it's our stress response to our environment that is creating that [00:25:00] autoimmune disease.
Emma Wagner: Maybe we cannot change the environment, but we can change our reactivity to it.
Julie Michelson: Amen.
Emma Wagner: And I think to change that reactivity, if we want a second tip, meditation really helps people change their, their reactivity. Yes. And
Julie Michelson: how pause and
Emma Wagner: distance and contemplate and take distance from that environment that can be triggering.
Emma Wagner: And I find that meditation, I know for me, meditation changed my life and really like allowed me to open myself to a different world and to a different connection with my environment. And I think everybody has access to meditation. Actually, that meditation doesn't have to mean. Sit, don't move, breathe and be quiet.
Emma Wagner: I really love walking meditation and walking meditation. You have to be by yourself, no noise in your ear, no music, no boom, boom, boom. Just being your thoughts, contemplate, [00:26:00] observe the world, pay attention to what's going on in your environment. Connect to it. Look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the ocean.
Emma Wagner: I mean, I'm at the ocean, but you get the idea.
Julie Michelson: Feel the breeze. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Connecting with your, your physical senses. And I love, cause I was going to ask you and I didn't even need to, I, I sometimes, and I'm sure you experienced this too. You say the word meditation and you could see somebody's stress level.
Julie Michelson: Go through the room because they think they have to sit without
Emma Wagner: doing anything
Julie Michelson: for 10 minutes. So I, I think that that is a huge takeaway is, you know, it can be a walking meditation and thank you for clarifying, um, that it doesn't mean you're listening to music or a podcast or a, uh, All of those things are fine.
Julie Michelson: If, if you need to walk, but that's not meditation walking
Emma Wagner: meditation. Yeah. Um, for me, meditation is [00:27:00] really inviting life inside of you. Yes. And it's observing how that life flows through you and it can be done through the breathing if you're meditating and just immobile, but it can be through the, the rhythm of life through the walking and that walking really create.
Emma Wagner: Something in the brain that helps put you in that more relaxed state. And for beginners, I find it easier to do walking meditation than just sitting meditation because people, we live in a world where we don't know how to sit anymore. Right. Yeah. So the walking is going to help us get that relaxation going.
Julie Michelson: Well, and I love, you know, if some listeners may feel like, Oh my gosh, we're jumping all over the place. But really the thread is, if we were to get back. To how humans were designed to live, you know, it's, and we live in a modern world. So we have to take [00:28:00] steps to compensate. We have to compensate for the 5g on the water tower.
Julie Michelson: We have to compensate for the constant input. Yeah. The food, you know, how messed up our food system is all of that is why we need to take these extra steps because our natural state is to allow life to flow through us. We just have lost touch with that. I really feel like
Emma Wagner: the humanity or culture at this time is really pushing us against nature and we as a culture feel like we should have nature adapt to us and to our need rather than us adapting to nature.
Emma Wagner: Well,
Julie Michelson: we've been trying that.
Emma Wagner: And it's for years and it's been the culture for years and it's really changing that mindset that I am highly adaptable, I can adapt any environment I'm in and I can love that environment and I can [00:29:00] respect that nature that yes is violent, yes it's traumatizing, yes it can be dangerous, but it's also beautiful, it's also marvelous, it's also magical.
Emma Wagner: And if we, if we tap into that. side of nature that's marvelous and it's amazing and it's so well created when you think about it. If, if you choose to be part of the nature, and adapt to it, I think you feel better.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Well, cause that's how we're designed to be, you know, I'm sure for you is the ocean. I have the mountains, you know, there's always something, um, or I watch my, you know, we have horses and chickens and dogs and, you know, I'm jealous.
Julie Michelson: Watch the animals and, you know, and, and it's just. Yeah, and I think
Emma Wagner: that's what cat and dogs, I think cats and dogs in the house is so powerful and why and dogs are [00:30:00] so companion and support animals because they have, they give us that ability to reconnect a part of our, ourself to that human, that nature.
Emma Wagner: Yeah. And it is sad that today we only have dogs and cats that we have access to. And most people accept, You. I'm very blessed. With your horses and your
Julie Michelson: chicken. I'm also blessed enough to be well enough to take, I could not. I've lived on 10 acres and taken care of all those animals, 10 years, a lot of work.
Julie Michelson: I couldn't have imagined ever being well enough to do that. So it is, it's, it's a, it's a huge gift on, on both sides and, um, but you know, I already drank the, the healthy Kool Aid, right? So I, I'm already all in, I'm in the rabbit hole. I lit, you know, And so And I don't
Emma Wagner: like this word of being a rabbit rabbit.
Emma Wagner: I think the rabbit hole is really [00:31:00] the, the, the pharmaceutical system. It's, it's, we've been lied so much and for so long, and it's been 80 years, maybe 120 years since Rockefeller created that big, that new medicine and started using petrochemicals in our healthcare. And. And we feel like this is normal.
Emma Wagner: And this is what everybody thinks that's the normal for me. That's the rabbit hole. Well, that's true.
Julie Michelson: If you're, yeah, yeah, it's, um, it's true. I need to come up with a better, because even the Kool Aid, like, I can't say it without qualifying, not actually Kool Aid, because between the dyes and the sugar, I would never, it's
Emma Wagner: not possible.
Emma Wagner: I think it's really about re Reformatting how we talk about those things because how we talk about it is really going to create our mindset and our mind is going to see like we were talking about McDonald's and how McDonald's considers as a comfort food in the United States. [00:32:00] Just saying the word comfort food.
Emma Wagner: There's nothing about McDonald's that will comfort your
Julie Michelson: body. I get nauseous when you say the word McDonald's. Right. And I used to eat it years ago, you know, when I was younger, I, I ate it and, and as a kid, to be fair and talk about the changes, um, when I was little, we would go to McDonald's. You could, you know, there was, you didn't eat in the restaurant.
Julie Michelson: It was actually, you know, real beef, the fries were cooked in beef fat, the, it was a whole, it was not
Emma Wagner: different.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and so I love, I am excited that we're in a time where there seemed to be enough of us having a conversation that we want to change that. I love it.
Emma Wagner: I love it.
Julie Michelson: It's I, somebody asked me, well, how do you feel?
Julie Michelson: And I said, I feel hopeful.
Emma Wagner: Me
Julie Michelson: too.
Emma Wagner: You know,
Julie Michelson: um, very
Emma Wagner: hopeful. Yeah. The time is changing and I think, yes, it's, it's hard right now because we're seeing [00:33:00] all those things and especially when people discover that they have autoimmune disease or any kind of chronic disease, diabetes, cancer, they're like, oh shit, you know, and yeah, what do I need to do but What I love is that we finally have good tools that we can use, that we can put in place, that we can start working on us and start changing those habits that you were talking about, that is around food, about around what we think, about how we do stress.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Emma Wagner: Yeah. And we're, and we're able to change all that. And then our body. Takes over and that natural ability of the body to start kicking in and it's like, wow, my body can do this. I had a patient, um, yesterday coming in and she's like, I cannot believe how strong I am. She's a cancer survivor. She's been under my care for so many years.
Emma Wagner: Six or eight months. She's like I can't my husband even was surprised at everything I could do Everything I was able I was keeping up with him. I was even [00:34:00] doing more than him They they're rebuilding a house and they just bought a house and they're just whatever doing to that house but She's like, I'm painting.
Emma Wagner: I'm doing this. I'm doing that. And my head and I stopped when I need to stop. I heard you. I know what to do in terms of habits. I cannot push myself too hard, but I'm surprising myself of how strong I am. And I'm like, this is beautiful. This is what I want to hear.
Julie Michelson: Well, and the only limit on that is the limit we put on it.
Julie Michelson: Exactly. Really. And I see it too. I live it because even today I would have, there's a part of me that thinks I can't feel better than this. And yet I know in six months I will because that's been the past several years where I think like, oh, I'm here. And then I'm like, wow, well, now I have more energy and I'm stronger and I want to learn something new or, um, and, and so to, it circles ties beautifully back into this noticing, you know, you were talking habits.
Julie Michelson:[00:35:00] And I want to clarify for listeners. We're also talking about your thoughts. Yes. Like this is where habits start. Yes. Yes. And so, yeah, it can be a little uncomfortable or sometimes. So to
Emma Wagner: give an example to your, to, to, to your, to your listener, um, about, um, um, A year ago, a little bit more than a year ago, in September last year, I came back from a traveling trip to France and I recognized that I was not in the shape I wanted to be.
Emma Wagner: I was not feeling as good as I wanted to be and I needed to really like step up my game and really like look at my own habits. And in September, I decided I was going to work out. My first I was very resistant at first because I'm like, I have a very physical job. I'm a chiropractor. I push on people all day long.
Emma Wagner: Uh, I I stand up. I thought I, I, before September last year, I was like, I cannot, I'm not going to work out. I'm going to be too tired. Well, I was [00:36:00] tired. I was not feeling good. I was a little overweight and I'm like, okay, what do I need to do? And the message I got was I need to start working out. So I started working out every morning, no excuse.
Emma Wagner: At first it was just 15 minutes because that's all I could do. And slowly I started building up and, Quickly enough, I was 45 minutes every morning, and I've been doing this for over a year now. And I just met a friend the other day that I hadn't seen in about a year, and he looked at me and was like, Damn, you look younger.
Emma Wagner: Yes. And I do. And I do feel better. And I have more energy. And my mind works better. And I feel more excited about life than I have been in a very long time. So
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And I love the, we talked earlier about, you know, we're constantly, we always need to reassess and it's not, Oh, do these things for 50 years and that's going to work for you forever.
Julie Michelson: I mentioned before we started recording, I was sharing about how now [00:37:00] I'm in clinic more than just working at home. And the first two weeks that I was in clinic every day, I got inflamed. I was tired. I was like, Holy cow. What's going on. And I realized all the things that were back to nature incorporated in my daily routine that I didn't even think about anymore.
Julie Michelson: The grounding between clients, the sunshine being out with it, just things that were part of my day. I was like, Oh my gosh. I need to now create intentional routines to make sure that I'm doing the things I tell my clients to do because my, my schedule changed.
Emma Wagner: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And so
Emma Wagner: self care is super important.
Emma Wagner: And if you don't take care of you, nobody else will.
Julie Michelson: Yes. And if you don't do what makes you happy, you won't be able to take care of anybody else. That's
Emma Wagner: for sure.
Julie Michelson: That's the, or maybe you
Emma Wagner: feel like you can, but at one point. Your energy will run out. You're, you will drain yourself for sure. [00:38:00] So it's really important for me to get your good routine up to know what you need.
Emma Wagner: Is it a walk on the beach? Is it a walk hugging a tree? Is it spending some time 20 minutes outside outdoors? Something I recommend all the time for people. I think people need that sun and that sun feels so good on our skin. Um, and 20 minutes in
Julie Michelson: the morning and get sunlight in your eyes even better.
Emma Wagner: I personally like it at lunch, but that's a different story.
Emma Wagner: But figure out what works for you and, and try it. Give yourself enough time to, to adapt to it. Because yes, at first, if you're used to being sitting all the time, and I recommend that a lot, is having a stand up desk. At first standing up throughout the day, it's going to feel weird and your back is going to react differently.
Emma Wagner: And you might need to stretch a little bit more because you decide to shift from just being a sitting position to a standing position sometimes during the day. But learn what your body needs, pay [00:39:00] attention to what your body needs. And I know we live in a society where we're not taught that from a young age, unfortunately, I think it would be a normal, basic course.
Emma Wagner: And Elementary school where what does your body needs? What do you need to do every day to feel good? And go experience doing it and see how it makes you feel.
Julie Michelson: Absolutely. And it, and you had, had said it earlier too, but this listening to our body, which most people, by the time they find you or me, you know, they're not listening.
Julie Michelson: They haven't been listening. They don't want to feel the hurt. They, you know, all the things. Um, they don't trust
Emma Wagner: their body anymore. A lot of them don't trust their body anymore, especially in autoimmune disease, because look, my body, every time it's hurting me, and I don't understand why it's hurting me.
Emma Wagner: It's just hurting me. But it's because it's giving you
Julie Michelson: information and you're not listening. 100%. 100%. But I love, I want to add to your, yes, listen to your body, but you [00:40:00] Said it, and I wanna highlight again, the, there's a difference between resistance in doing something new and actually having your body tell you, this is not for me.
Julie Michelson: You know, so it's like, okay, give yourself time to adjust to the new habit and listen to your body really discern what's really going on here. . Yeah.
Julie Michelson: And, and if you're doing something that you know is really good for you. And maybe you're, you decided to just start drinking more water or start exercising a little bit more or having better thoughts and rephrasing some negative pattern that you have and that you're saying to yourself, saying I am love, for example, is a really good pattern and a really good habit in my dictionary.
Julie Michelson: So. When you, when you start doing this, start doing it regularly, give yourself a chance to, to see what is going to be brought up by that new habits.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. That's amazing. Uh, we could talk for hours and hours, [00:41:00] but I promised you I would honor your schedule. So you've already given us so many amazing tips, um, but we're at the point of the podcast where.
Julie Michelson: And you could repeat something or say something new. What is one step that listeners can take starting today to improve their health?
Emma Wagner: I don't like that question because, because, because everybody's different and something that might work for your neighbor might not work for you. So it's listen to yourself. Look at what, what is it that you, you feel you need to, what, what is your higher self really wanted you to do? And go do that. I love it.
Emma Wagner: Ask yourself what makes you alive and go do something that makes you alive.
Julie Michelson: Love that. That's amazing advice. And it's, it's essential for everybody. And, and actually something that so many listeners need to hear, you know, because we [00:42:00] don't, we don't tend, we, we have to relearn the, you know, Oh my gosh, what about me?
Emma Wagner: What about me? And make yourself your VIP. It's okay to be a very important person. It's okay that you're the center of your universe. Yes. It doesn't mean that you don't care about anybody else, but you're, you're a VIP in your own world.
Julie Michelson: I love it. Be, be your own VIP, be your own VIP. Amazing. Dr. Emma, thank you so much for joining us today.
Julie Michelson: It
Emma Wagner: was a pleasure talking to you today, Julie.
Julie Michelson: For everyone listening, remember you can get the transcripts and show notes by visiting inspiredliving. show. I hope you had an amazing time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
​[00:43:00]
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Emma Wagner
Dr. Emma Wagner, a distinguished chiropractor from San Clemente Vitality, epitomizes the essence of holistic healthcare. With over two decades of experience alongside her husband and partner, Dr. Burton Wagner, she passionately advocates for a healthy, active lifestyle through an integrative blend of chiropractic care, energy medicine, functional medicine, and nutritional coaching. Dr. Emma's unique approach transcends conventional boundaries, harmonizing the physical and emotional aspects of well-being. Her dedication not only guides individuals in tapping into their healing power but also fosters a deep sense of connection and vitality, making her a true visionary in enhancing the quality of life for her patients.
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