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44% of knee pain has its origin elsewhere.

Do you know anyone with knee pain? It feels like there are so many people who just kind of program themselves for it. It’s ‘part of getting old’ for them. So of course, the body listens.

We already know that even when there’s actual, mechanical damage, knee pain is not the guaranteed result. And we also know that even when there is pain, it can be managed and improved with many holistic techniques, so surgery or injections are far from the only solution. And of course, sometimes the knees are not even the cause of knee pain…

Ron Clinton is a physiotherapist with 35 years of experience and an authority on all things knees and spine. He helps people identify and deal with the root causes of their pain and often resolves even the most difficult cases without the need for surgery.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why being diagnosed with osteoarthritis is not an automatic sentence to a life of pain.
• Why it’s so important to examine a person holistically and not just focus on the joint that hurts.
• How spine issues become knee issues, and how to approach that.
• Hands-on work: The questions you can ask yourself to quickly figure out what might be causing your pain.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep68-ron-clinton/

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“There are very trusted brands whose supplements are very mediocre, to say the least.”

If you had asked me a decade ago what I thought about supplements, I’d probably say that they’re unnecessary, because a well-planned diet should provide you with pretty much everything that you need (with perhaps one or two exceptions). I now understand that my thinking was at least a bit idealistic, if not totally wrong. Yes – a perfect diet should provide you with pretty much everything you need. But a perfect diet does not exist. And my own thinking about supplements has changed a lot over the years.

One thing that hasn’t changed is my belief that you should be able to do your own research and understand what you’re taking, and why.

But it can be hard to know where to start and who to trust in the supplement industry.

Jerry Sever is the Chief Operating Officer at Complement, a supplement brand that evolved primarily to fulfill the needs of people on plant-centric diets, where he’s responsible for research, development and production of new products. He also happens to be my husband, so I know first-hand how much work they put into developing quality supplements, and also into being transparent with their customers.

This episode is not about promoting their products, though. Knowing what kind of insights Jerry can offer, we dove deep into things that most people don’t know about the supplement industry, but which can definitely help you make better choices.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this interview:

• What to look for when choosing a brand of supplements
• What are some of the essential quality procedures they should follow (and disclose)
• Whether organic supplements are always better than regular
• What are some of the things you should look for (and avoid) when checking labels
• What are some of the things that aren't as scary as they seem

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep67-jerry-sever/

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You may lose parts of your physical body – but you are still you.

Many/most people build their identity around their bodies. That is normal and natural – the body is the physical YOU. But what if you have an accident where the end result means that you lose a limb or two or three? Who are you then? Please know that you may lose parts of your physical body – but you are still you. This is a hard lesson for most people to even think about, even though we have come a long way in normalizing disability and amputees. And speaking of things that are hard to think about – how about dying?

Dr. Bruce (BJ) Miller has vast experience with both. As a triple amputee since age 19, he’s lived through the positive changes in society, worked with other amputees, and knows how important it is to navigate through everything that losing limbs brings, both mentally, emotionally and physically. And as a palliative care physician, he’s witnessed thousands of people face their death, and he’s one of the leading voices in reframing our discourse and views of dying. 

In this deep, vitally important talk, you’ll discover:

• Ways you can manage ‘phantom pains and sensations’ in body parts that are no longer functioning or you have lost.
• How to face everyday struggle and turn it around.
• Why pity will cause you problems, but empathy will empower you.
• How to cope with different kinds of loss so that you can still live your life to the fullest.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep66-bruce-miller/

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Balance is always important. Especially when healing.

To keep things flowing smoothly it’s important to have balance. Focusing more on one thing and forgetting or ignoring others creates a situation that is not harmonious – and this can cost you greatly further down the road.

Balancing energies has been a big area of focus in Eastern medicines for thousands of years. It’s something that isn’t really talked about in our evidence-based Western medicine, but is crucial in, for example, Traditional Chinese Medicine. And when we speak of balance, this also applies to how we combine and use the techniques each of these approaches offers.

This is an interesting and important point that Dr. Felicia Yu, an integrative medicine physician with a specialty in traditional Chinese medicine and culinary medicine, brings up in this talk – that Western and Eastern medicine can be viewed as the Yang and the Yin, which also means that knowing when to use one approach, and when to look to the other is essential. 

In this interview, you’ll discover: 

• What are the blind spots of Western medicine and how Eastern medicine can complement your healing. 
• How yin and yang energy affect your recovery. 
• Different modalities that can help you resolve chronic and acute pain. 
• Hands-on work: 4 acupressure points to keep your energy flowing. 

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep65-felicia-yu/

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We need to be our own best cheerleader.

Sure, we all have down moments and sometimes it’s hard to do that. But constantly only relying on others to tell you what to do, how to think, where to go, what to choose, how to do things, can leave you in confusion, fear, and disappointment. I truly believe that each and every one of us already possesses all the answers that we need in any kind of situation and with any kind of challenge. The problem is that many forget how to listen to that tiny voice within, or can’t hear it because they fill their minds with external stuff from social media, TV, newspapers, magazines – and to hear it, it’s necessary to have some quiet time.

Because we all have the capacity to heal – but we need to get in touch with it.

And through my own healing journey and through working with other injured people, I’ve developed my Mindful Injury Recovery Method, but I’ve also learned that to apply it in the best way, you have to ask the right questions.

These are things that I ask people when working with them one on one, but you should definitely be asking them yourself whenever you’re faced with an injury, even if it seems something unimportant.

In this solo episode with yours truly, Dr. Maya Novak, you’ll discover: 

• What is your inner healing power and how to release it. 
• About Dr. Maya’s unique approach to healing and why it works so well. 
• What is The Mindful Injury Recovery Method and how to use it to your advantage. 
• The 5 questions to explore that will help you turn things around fast. 

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep64-maya-novak/

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Whatever happened to you, you shouldn’t be diminishing your own experience, or downtalking your trauma.

Broken ankle, broken back, a tendon tear, those are all very general descriptions of what happens to us, but as with anything, the details are what matters.

Comparing one injury to another and then doubting yourself if you’re healing well since someone else is progressing so fast is just not a good thing to do. Comparison can cut your motivation, put your mind into a negative place, let you ride that nasty emotional roller-coaster for too long, and it can affect your healing as well.

But what to do if you find yourself comparing yourself with others? There are ways that pretty much any experience can be turned into a growth opportunity, and this goes double for injuries.

Dr. James Gordon is an expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, anxiety, and psychological trauma, published author, and creator of programs of mind-body healing for physicians, medical students, and other health professionals. And in this really important talk, we explore how you can always find things to be grateful for, and things that will positively affect your mental state, and in turn, your physical health. 

In this amazing episode, you’ll discover: 

• Why the overwhelming feelings you are experiencing right now might not be caused by injury-related trauma. 
• How comparison can negatively affect your recovery and what to do instead. 
• What makes an attitude of gratitude one of the many small important steps you need to be taking right now. 
• Hands-on work: deep breathing calming exercise. 

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep63-james-s-gordon/

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Can you really heal with just the power of thoughts?

The answer probably depends on how you approach this. If you just think very hard about healing, it probably won’t do much for you (and if you’re focused on your injury, it might even make things worse). But there is definitely power in your thoughts to change your health and your life. We’ve known it for a long time, and science is now slowly catching up to this.

That’s why I like hosting people who can take this subject, which so many still think is just pseudoscience, and very clearly explain all the evidence we already possess that our thoughts do have a direct effect on our bodies. And Dr. Dawson Church, energy psychology expert, best-selling author, and founder of the National Institute for Integrative Healthcare is a great guest to do just that.

In this interesting interview, you’ll discover:

• How your thoughts affect your physical body and recovery.
• Easy steps for learning energy healing and how to use it on yourself.
• How your genes affect your healing and how to turn on those that positively affect your recovery.
• Hands-on work: tapping session for creating a positive shift in your mind and body.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep62-dawson-church/

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Nothing happens without intention.

It was summer 2010, a couple of months before I met my husband, when I was enjoying a long weekend with a bunch of friends on a sailboat on the Adriatic Sea. One of them was reading a book with what I though a weird title: ‘Ask and It Is Given’. Even though it was weird I was intrigued, got the book upon returning home, dove into it, started implementing what I discovered and at the end of summer met the love of my life; even though I had to say that I gave up on love all together after so many heartbreaks and difficult relationships.

What does this have to do with this interview? The book is about the Law of Attraction and manifesting, and manifesting is the intention that brings results. Not in the sense that you make something happen just by sitting around and wishing for it to be true. It’s that belief that moves you, and the world around you, in ways that we’re still just learning how to understand.

Lana Shlafer is a mindset coach and law of attraction expert who works with people who have reached an upper limit with what they believe they can create in life, and continuously helps them go beyond those limits. In this talk with her, we explore not just how she does that, but also what brought her to it (from investment banking, of all possible past careers), and the obstacles she overcame along the way. 

In this episode, you’ll discover: 

• How the right questions get you unstuck in your recovery and life. 
• What to do when you start thinking worst-case scenario thoughts and how to snap out of them. 
• How to empower yourself to break the upper limit you created for yourself. 
• What to do to put yourself into healing vibration​.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep61-lana-shlafer/

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Tapping should probably be in everyone’s recovery toolbox.

If there’s one thing that I’ve heard from injured women and men countless times it’s this: “I’m so frustrated with this!” Whether with lack of progress or not progressing quickly enough, people around them not understanding them, or just being plain angry and frustrated with themselves for getting into this situation. It’s normal to experience a rainbow of emotions on a daily basis, the problem begins when we’re bathing in the negative emotions day in and day out. It can start affecting not only just our mood but our health and healing as well.

Tapping can really help you out – and it’s probably one of those tools that is great to have in your recovery toolbox. It’s one of those techniques that can be learned quickly by anyone and used almost anywhere, to address almost any kind of issue. And while it seems really simple, it’s actually based on the knowledge behind acupuncture, which has been around for thousands of years.

In this interview, Brad Yates, the internationally renown Emotional Freedom Techniques expert and best-selling author whose YouTube videos have been viewed millions of times, returns for another talk on the principles behind tapping and ways that you can use it to make healing easier. 

In this episode, you’ll discover: 

• How the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) works for clearing your limiting beliefs. 
• Why self-sabotage is a learned process and how you can turn this around with tapping. 
• What are habitual negative emotions and how you can deal with them. 
• Hands-on work: tapping session for releasing lingering fear​.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep60-brad-yates/

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Fasting can be really helpful when done right... and really bad for you when done wrong.

It must have been in my very late teens or early 20s when I did my first fast. It lasted 3 days and as many people would confirm, the first 36 hours are the worst. And then – things got easy, or easier. After three days I kind of had to force myself to start eating again because I completely lost my appetite. If I could go back to that time I’d do things differently, but wise decisions usually come with life experiences.

Fasting is a useful tool, but it is one of those that really needs proper guidance and supervision. And rest!

With my first fast there were some mistakes that I made but resting wasn’t one of them. This is something that I’ve seen people do so many, too many times. They just stop eating for a period of time without any other changes. Without eliminating the stress or just keeping it very low, without skipping their workouts, without taking it easy.

Dr. Alan Goldhamer, Director of the True NorthHealth Cente is board-certified in fasting supervision and has 40+ years of experience with guiding people through fasting and helping them adjust their diet and lifestyle to truly maximize the health benefits. If you’ve ever wondered how fasting can help your body and healing, this conversation is a great resource.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why and how what you eat affects your body’s ability to heal.
• When water-only fasting could be appropriate for you – and when it’s definitely not.
• How ketosis and keto diet affect your ability to heal.
• What intermittent fasting is and how it can benefit you and your body.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep59-alan-goldhamer/

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