Compassion is the foundation of health care and overall well-being. Listen as Susi and her guest Shelly Prosko discuss why Shelly believes this, her journey to where she is today, how she learned about compassion fatigue, and much more on this episode of From Pain to Possibility.

Shelly is a physiotherapist, yoga therapist, educator, author, and pioneer of physical yoga with over 20 year's experience integrating yoga into physiotherapy and working with people in pain. Shelly teaches in physiotherapy and yoga therapy programs and is the author of the book 'Yoga and Science in Pain Care.'

Listen, as Shelly speaks about yoga being a compassionate practice, she teaches health care providers and other professionals on burnout. She also shares how, when she adopted self-compassion, it transferred over to her clients positively. Increased trust and therapeutic alliances lead to better outcomes.

Did you know that people with a higher trait self-compassion are more likely to try new things even when they fail or make mistakes? Shelly shares some practices that have served her and the clients she thinks we might find useful around self-compassion and self-appreciation. This has been a very enlightening episode that we all can learn from.

In This Episode

• [01:17] Welcome to the show, Shelly!
• [01:46] Shelly shares that she started her journey after discovering yoga in the early 90s.
• [03:54] Shelly speaks about how yoga is inherently a compassionate practice.
• [04:29] She teaches a course for health care providers and other professionals on burnout.
• [05:59] When you adopted self-compassion, how did that manifest itself to your clients or patients?
• [08:40] When you practice self-compassion, it means that it's ok not to be perfect.
• [11:14] Shelly finds that with self-compassion practices, she has become more present and clear.
• [11:40] Susi shares what she sees in the training she runs around health professionals being present when you are engaging with them.
• [14:01] Shelly speaks about science that suggests increased trust and therapeutic alliances lead to better outcomes.
• [15:45] Susi discusses the chaos that the COVID pandemic has created in her life with her kids and family.
• [18:00] People who have a higher trait self-compassion are more likely to try new things after they have failed or made a mistake.
• [19:48] Shelly likes the idea that when we are self-critical, that can be a huge motivator to create change.
• [22:08] Shelly speaks about the research she did for one chapter of her book.
• [26:17] What would it be like if the process of getting out of pain could be fun?
• [29:25] Shelly shares some practices that have served her and her clients that might be useful for listeners to practice.
• [32:02] Common humanity just means that we are not alone.
• [33:44] Shelly speaks about how you can show yourself self-kindness.
• [35:54] Shelly takes Susi and the listeners through the self-appreciation practice.
• [39:25] To serve self is to serve others and to serve others is to serve self.
• [42:01] Susi says that on some level if we are experiencing compassion fatigue, there may be something else going on.
• [43:20] Thank you for being on the show, Shelly!

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