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Brain injuries are scary for most people.

And the sad part is that they are often undiagnosed and unrecognized so more people (not just the injured ones but their families as well) suffer for way longer.

Every injury is challenging in its own way. I know that many people have the tendency to compare their physical traumas or downtalk them and say “Well, I shouldn’t be complaining since so and so has it worse.” There will always be someone who has it worse but that doesn’t mean that your trauma doesn’t matter or that you don’t matter. You do!

I love talking with people who have all sorts of injuries because it helps me understand their challenges better, which also makes practicing compassion and understanding way easier.

Still, people wonder – if the brain is broken, are you still you? And even if you believe in the power of the mind-body connection, how does it work if your mind might not be working as it should?

Nathalie Kelly faced all these questions after suffering a brain injury in a sailing accident. But as a hypnotherapist, she knew that the brain is capable of growth and healing, and realized that she could make herself better – she just needed to find the right approach. After engineering her own miraculous recovery, she now helps other people overcome brain injuries, and this interview is truly important for understanding them better. 

In this amazing talk, you’ll discover: 

• Why recovering from a traumatic brain injury can be possible, despite a prognosis that may say otherwise. 
• What is a heart-body connection and why it’s important in helping with recovery. 
• What kind of role your emotions play in healing and how they can help you bounce forward in life. 
• Hands-on work: tapping session for letting go of overwhelming feelings. 

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep38-nathalie-kelly/

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There are many things people believe about healing. 

Some beliefs help you get better. And some, even though they are incredibly common, can actually prevent you from doing so. 

In this solo episode with yours truly, I’m sharing some of the things that made the biggest difference in my recovery (although, as you should know by now... no magic pills. #sorry ) 

In this episode, you’ll also discover: 

• How I managed to go beyond everyone’s expectations with my recovery and how you can do it too. 
• 3 biggest myths about healing and how they are preventing people from recovering in the best possible way. 
• What might be the real reason(s) behind your injury. 
• How to use 2 techniques – ‘Playing With Pain’ and ‘Exploring Pain’ – to reduce or eliminate soreness. 
• and so much more… 

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep37-maya-novak/

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Anxiety is not necessarily fear.

Over the years, talking with hundreds of injured people around the world – one thing became very clear to me. A lot of injured women and men who are experiencing anxiety that started after they sustained their injury are sure that their recent physical trauma is the cause of this.

In my experience, for a majority of people that’s not the case because anxiety is the result of previous, different kinds of trauma, that just weren’t dealt with.

This is just one of the reasons why I wanted to talk about this topic with Amy B Scher, an energy therapist, expert in mind, body, spirit healing, and published author who’s been featured on CNN, The Washington Post, CBS, Cosmopolitan, and more. Her down-to-earth approach is a combination of all the things she had to learn to heal herself from, in her own words, every imaginable condition under the sun. She’s now using those learnings to help her clients find the missing pieces that are causing their physical and emotional problems. 

In this interview, you’ll discover:

• The difference between fear and anxiety and why people usually confuse them.
• What is the true source of anxiety you might be experiencing right now.
• How little tweaks help with your emotional and physical health during recovery and which ones work the best.
• Hands-on work: healing session for releasing anxiety.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep36-amy-b-scher/

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What’s better – knowing what to do, or knowing what not to do?

I’m still amazed when I hear stories from people whose doctors don’t even prescribe physiotherapy after an injury, because when it comes to recovery, there’s an enormous amount of value in knowing what to do – and also knowing what to avoid doing.

Of course, physiotherapy goes beyond that, especially when you’re working with a good therapist. In this talk with Erica Meloe, a board-certified physiotherapist and author of the book Why Do I Hurt? (and, in a past career, a Wall Street trader), we dive into all of the things that help you get the most out of physical therapy. 

You’ll discover: 

• How to distinguish between good pain and bad pain during recovery. 
• The 3 important questions to ask when choosing the right physiotherapist for your injury. 
• How integrating imagery and mindfulness with physiotherapy can help you regain movement and eliminate pain. 
• What to talk to your physiotherapist about, especially if you feel like you’re not getting results. 

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep35-erica-meloe/

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Popping pills isn’t always a bad thing.

I’m a huge fan of getting your nutrients from whole food. But there are many reasons why that isn’t always ideal; the quality of food you can get (which can vary depending on location, time of year, etc.), the diversity, and of course, your body’s needs, which can vary based on your own makeup and conditions such as injuries. So nutritional supplements are often a valuable tool for maintaining (or regaining) your health.

But the question remains - which supplements and how to choose them? That is the topic of this talk with Dr. Pamela Fergusson, a registered dietician with a Ph.D. in nutrition who’s been helping people change their lives for over 20 years. 

You’ll discover: 

• Which nutrients your body especially needs during injury recovery. 
• Getting the nutrients with food vs supplements (you might be surprised with this one). 
• Which supplements are necessary after an injury. 
• How foods that you eat can contribute to inflammation and consequently to pain and swelling and how to change that. 

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep34-pamela-fergusson/

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We often have a tendency to view the body as an opponent.

Or we even hate it when we think it’s preventing us from doing the things we want to be doing. And especially if we’re used to moving and enjoying what the body can do. So there can be a lot of frustration and anger after an injury, when all of that gets taken away – and that, too, even if sometimes difficult to understand at first, is an opportunity to grow.

Janine Shepherd went from being an athlete on her way to the Olympics, to being a paraplegic and bed-bound for 6 months after an accident. But she leaned into the adversity and didn’t just relearn how to walk – she learned to fly planes as well.

I was very excited to talk to her, not only because she has so much to offer but also because I watched a movie that was based on her story, called Never Tell Me Never, and her TED talk has been viewed more than 2 million times. 

Don’t be surprised if you end up bookmarking this conversation to instil courage and motivation that can help you thrive in the face of adversity. 

In this conversation on facing struggles, you’ll discover: 

• Where to find motivation and determination to keep on going even though things are rough. 
• Her 3 biggest lessons and how they can help you as well. 
• What tools and techniques to use for getting through the dark moments that any injury recovery journey has. 
• Why knowing how to stop and rest can be just as valuable as knowing how to keep going. 

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep33-janine-shepherd/

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Looking very simplistically, your brain has only one job, and that is to keep you alive.

Fear, as much as we don’t enjoy it, performs that function as well. It helps us remove ourselves from dangerous situations or not put ourselves into danger in the first place. But often (especially in our modern world) being afraid, or feeling anxious or depressed has nothing to do with dangerous situations. And in these instances, when we’re going through something difficult, it’s so important that we surround ourselves with people who understand us, support us, and can guide us through the jungle of the scary and unknown.

Arianna Gray is one of those people and I’m so glad that our paths crossed in 2016 when we met at a conference in Phoenix, Arizona. I’ve learned a lot from her and I’m sure you’ll discover things that you can implement in your life when you listen to this episode.

With over 20 years of work as a clinical hypnotherapist and mental health professional in addiction treatments, hospices, and family therapy, the life experience that she can share would be vast even before you add in her own personal lessons and the way she walks her talk, which is why I’m very happy we got to have this conversation.

In this wisdom-packed episode, you’ll discover:

• What to do so that sadness after an injury doesn’t become depression and if it does, how to resolve it.
• How to quickly pull yourself out of an anxiety attack.
• Why taking advantage of this experience is so important for living a happy life.
• Why pain is not the same as suffering.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep32-arianna-gray/

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Pain is something that way too many people are resigned to live with.

Or at best, live with while treating it with not very effective methods like anti-inflammatory drugs.

Most information that you can find on osteoarthritis says it can't be reversed because cartilage cannot regrow and thicken, and the treatment involves taking medication to help relieve the symptoms. This is the conventional medical view. I thought that was true as well but then probably five, six years ago I first came across information and research that showed it’s the opposite – that cartilage can thicken and can improve, it’s just that the process is usually slow.

Great news for those who suffer with this condition, isn’t it? Or those who tremble in fear that it might happen to them because of their injury. But what if there’s also a way to prevent it?

Eileen Kopsaftis has been practising physiotherapy for over 30 years, so she knows all about it – but her specialty is manual techniques that correct biomechanical imbalances in the body, alongside lifestyle changes that have been shown to improve conditions such as arthritis.

In this episode, where she joins me again, you’ll discover:

• How to distinguish between good pain and bad pain during recovery.
• What the new research on osteoarthritis shows and why you can potentially completely avoid it.
• How cells in your body influence your perception of pain mentally and physically.
• Why a mainstream approach to resolving chronic pain doesn’t work.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep31-eileen-kopsaftis/

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It takes courage and confidence to trust your intuition when it’s telling you to quit a career you spent years building.

And it takes wisdom to know what that inner voice is trying to tell you when it’s time to heal so you can choose the right path.

You might have noticed that I love talking to medical professionals who effortlessly bridge the gap between science-based modern medicine, and non-conventional and traditional approaches to healing.

Dr. Lissa Rankin is a great example and truth be told, also one of my favorite authors and a very well-known speaker, who also trains other health professionals in how to connect those different approaches and serve their patients better. I’m so glad that I can share this conversation with you.

What you’ll also discover in this interview:

• How tapping into your own wisdom can help you heal better.
• What to do when you are overwhelmed with fear.
• Finding the right healing approach for your unique situation.
• How underlying trauma is potentially preventing you from healing completely.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep30-lissa-rankin/

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Sometimes, it’s the simple things that are the hardest. And also most effective.

For many of us, that split second, when we sustained our injuries, changed everything. But change, even though we many times prefer not to experience it, is not always bad. Sometimes we discover things, get into practices, and start listening to ourselves better because of that moment. And it’s true that the simple things that are the hardest are also most effective. Love and gratitude, as simple as they sound, are often so hard to practice, especially when things aren’t going right. But they make everything better – including recovery, whether it’s from physical injuries, sickness, or any other kind of trauma.

In this conversation with Koya Webb, love, gratitude, and connection (with the spirit, with others, and with your own self) are front and center, just the way they are in her work. Koya is the founder of Get Loved Up Yoga School, author, celebrity holistic health coach, and public speaker (and was once also a competitive track and field athlete).  

Tune in to discover:

• Which healing techniques are a must in your toolbox and will help you recover quickly and effortlessly.
• About the 3 R’s that are essential for a successful recovery process.
• How ‘congested’ spiritual energy centers hinder your healing and how to turn this around.
• A simple breathing technique that will help you feel calm immediately.
• And of course, why love and gratitude are so important.

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• For accessing show notes, links, and transcript please visit: https://www.mayanovak.com/podcast/ep29-koya-webb/

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