December 21, 2021 - EyeClarity Podcast
Dr. DeWittt is a Licensed Naturopathic Doctor and Acupuncturist with a focus on Mindbody Medicine. Dr. Kierstin uses her 3 step Holistic process to help people feel more connected to their mind and body, allowing them to move from stressed and overwhelmed to self-aware, empowered, and resilient. Overwhelm, creating sustainable health. You can learn more about Dr. DeWitt and reach her through her Instagram.
Learn more about the upcoming Whole Health Summit: https://www.drsamberne.com/summit/
Enjoy the show. If you want more, sign up for my newsletter at: www.drsamberne.com.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
overwhelm, people, reframe, impacts, Alzheimer, lives, pandemic, summit, brain dump, featured speakers, mind-body medicine, ways, cultivate, reconnect, work, manage, important, website, support, health
00:06
Hey everybody, it’s Dr. Sam and I want to welcome you to my EyeClarity podcast as part of my health summit series which is going to be coming up January 14 to the 16th 2022. I am bringing on the speakers and doing some interviews and today we have one of our featured speakers for the summit, Dr. Kierstin DeWitt, she is a licensed naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist with a focus on mind body medicine. She uses her three step holistic process to help people feel more correct connected, and the mind body, I love the mind body as well. And she is going to be speaking about overwhelm and creating a sustainable health paradigm. So Dr. Kierstin Welcome to the show. I want to thank you for joining us today and how did you get into this? This area in naturopathic medicine around overwhelm? Give us a little background on that.
01:13
Yeah, well, thanks so much for having me on. I always loved chatting with you, we always have such great conversations. So I appreciate it. And I’m so excited for you know, your upcoming event. So how I got involved? Well, first with naturopathic medicine, with it being a holistic system, right. And same with traditional Chinese medicine, they’re both holistic systems, it was during school that I really saw how overwhelming stress has a direct impact on our physical well being. And that was really, really pointing out this mind body connection to me. So after school, I dove into, you know, other training and, and just learning more practices for how we can kind of reconnect the mind and the body together because of this direct link. Right. And we’re seeing so much more research coming out of how how directly connected the mind to the body is whether that’s through our immune system through our gut health, our cardiovascular health, so many different ways. And you mentioned the three part, you know, the the three part process that I walk people through, and to me, this is kind of how I view the whole person, right. So I always look at the what I call the inner self. So this is like the core of who we are, and moving out to our embodied self. And so this is more like that physical layer, and then out to what I call the interactive stuff. And this is more of how the environment impacts us and how we impact the environment and the world around us how we show up in the world, and how that impacts our our health and well being. And so we can see even with overwhelm how that really impacts these three different layers as well. And I’ve just been, you know, through my own experience with overwhelm, I’m sure you can recall just just going through school itself, right, that is such a, it can be a very stressful environment. And it’s a lot of work balance, you know, trying to maintain balance through school and through work, and then add on top of that pandemic, right, I think so many of us can really relate to this feeling of stress and overwhelm. So just seeing the way that it really can manifest and impact at so many different layers. To me, it’s just a really important topic to talk about until learn how to manage and cope with.
04:14
Well, you know, when you were coming on the show, people started to email me questions. So I’d like to go to a question. This is a listener who lives in upstate New York, and her mother, who is suffering, Alzheimer’s is going to be moving in with her in the family and she’s worried about Of course, not only her mom, but the holidays and then with the pandemic. And so she’s an overwhelmed, she said, Help Help. And so I said, Well, I’ll be talking to Dr. Kiersten today. What would be some things that you would offer her to maybe help her manage her overwhelm, knowing that she’s dealing with her mom and the holidays and family and so on?
04:57
Yeah, well, first, you know, my crib because my grandma had Alzheimer’s and so this is one of the one of the reasons there’s many people in my immediate family who have experienced many different types of mental health conditions. And that being one of them, and so it’s one of the reasons why this is a really important topic to me the mind body medicine. So, so first, you know, I want to acknowledge that piece, because it’s not, you know, it’s not easy. And I also, through school, I, you know, kind of helped put, put myself through school by being a nurse aide, and I worked pretty closely with, with those with dementia and Alzheimer’s, and so I know how, you know how that can really be just seeing someone impacts their personality. And so we’re, the first thing I would say is to not take anything personally, you know, because, because they are changing, right from the person that you may remember, and I know how, you know, it can just be really emotionally challenging to watch someone go through that process. So the first thing is just, you know, to, to acknowledge and to not take on, you know, that as, as being personal to you, or your family members. Yeah, that’s probably one of the toughest parts of it as that emotional overwhelm, that can come with watching someone go through that. So And with that, making sure that you have some boundaries in place, and a really good support system, because you’re one person.
And, you know, if, if there are other people in your life who can help, right, like, we need to give ourselves especially, you know, if you’re living with someone, we need to have our own time and space to decompress to ground. So making sure that you have some of that time for yourself to be able to process and work through that. And that might look like a therapist or a counselor. But but also having some other friends and family nearby this is this is, you know, that interactive layer of really making sure that our environment, right is we have a safe place in our environment. So, so setting some type of boundary of like, Okay, this one room is off limits, maybe this is like my safe space to, I can close the door, I can sit quietly, I can take a moment for myself, I can incorporate some breathing practices, right, even when, you know, working with your loved one, incorporating in some of those breathing practices that you practice, the whole point of mindfulness and meditation is to be able to apply it in real time. Because if, you know, if we only if we’re only peaceful for those 510 minutes while we’re meditating, right, it’s not really, you know, it’s great, it’s still gonna be beneficial to our health. But the real game changer is when we can start incorporating those moments into our real life. So during those kinds of stressful situations, taking a pause, being able to remind ourselves that, you know, we’re safe, we’re here, we’re present, taking those deep belly breaths, or doing a more physiological side, they call it where, you know, it’s a really quick breathing technique where you do two quick inhales and a long exhale. And it really only takes about three rounds of it. It’s one of my favorite breathing techniques, because when you’re in those stressful situations, you know, we don’t have time to do a 10 minute timeout, you know, all the time. So, in real time, I’m doing those more. Okay. And I’m okay, I’m here. So the physiological side is just and you just do that three times. And it can give you a moment of clarity in the moment, reminding yourself again, not to take whatever’s going on personally. And that’s true for you know, your situation for many others. Right? Often when we’re managing our energy with other people in our life, we have to remember that it’s usually their stuff that they’re dealing with, even if it feels very personal. So those would that would probably be where I would start for that particular situation.
09:54
Okay, well, thank you for that. And she thanks you. We are here with Dr. Kissinger. Kristen Wiig. She’s a licensed naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist. She’s one of our featured speakers for my upcoming health summit, January 14 to the 16th 2022. We’re going through q&a. And I have another question from a gentleman who is 45 years old. And he just got over his COVID. And he’s been vaccinated. He got, he got COVID Again, and he’s really worried about going back to work. And he’s energy’s a little low. And he’s not feeling great. Now he lives in Los Angeles, California. And he’s asking, what are some things that he can do to reduce his emotional and mental overwhelm? Because he knows that he’s got to go back to work. And he’s not feeling 100% yet?
10:55
Hmm. Yeah, I think a lot of people are, you know, really struggling with this, this balance, right, between our physical health and our mental health, and kind of getting back to the things that we, you know, used to do. The, for the pandemic. And so, and, you know, especially for those who have actually, you know, who are going through the healing process with COVID, it can take quite a long time. So the first part is, you know, trying to you, because this is something that I think they really struggle with, as a, as a society, I hate to just throw that word society around, but I really do think that, you know, our work life balance, it’s an area that we really struggle with. And so the more people who kind of speak up about the, about their mental health and setting those boundaries with work kind of clarifying to work and just being honest with your, your boss, and your, you know, people that you work with, that, hey, I’m still recovering, I’m still, you know, for many, the fatigue can take time to, you know, to come out of so, so, just communicating with your, you know, employer and who you’re able to that, you know, I’m not quite back to 100%, I do want to get back to working, but I just might need some, some more boundaries of like, work caught off times taking a break, right, I think one of the things that people have really kind of forgotten is that, you know, like, we need lunch breaks, we need to actually take those, you know, some people work through them, or they just push it off, right, like, we need that time. So using that as recovery time, to to actually either remove yourself or, you know, shut the door like takes take that time for yourself for recovery. And then of course, the foundation’s, when we’re in fatigue, like we need to, we need to really prioritize this is like the time to really prioritize our sleep, our rest. And, and not just, you know, some people think of rest as like, oh, like, I’m resting, I’m watching TV, but then you’re also like on social media. And you’re also like, doing a million different things, right, like, rest should be rest, you should just be like, allowing your mind to rest as well. And the other thing that can come with returning to work is this, you know, the mind tends to go through the to do less, especially when, if we’ve been away from work for a while, you know, that may have piled up a bit more. And so then some of that overwhelm can come from that ongoing to do list. So what I would do in that case, which you know, impacts many people asleep as well, and I think a lot of people can relate to this. And so, doing a brain dump, you know, I always recommend doing a brain dump before going to bed, if it’s impacting your sleep, so giving your mind time to really decompress. And I really suggest also during this during the day, maybe either before you’re starting the day or before you end work doing a brain dump of all of the tasks that need to get done and then being really deeply honest with yourself when you review that task list that To Do List of okay, what do I need to actually do? You know what, what, three things are most important that need to get done? Like this week, you know, like these needs to act get done, versus the other things, you know, they can maybe they’re distracting or maybe you can delegate them, maybe, you know, they’re not actually high priority, but they’re just kind of sitting in the background because they’re things that we put off. So just being really honest, while you review that list of what things really matter, you know, what things are really going to move the needle, rather than getting caught up in these more, they seem urgent, like checking our email, checking our, you know, phone doing all these things. So just being honest about what things really matter, right. And then, and then outside of work, having those boundaries, like when you leave work, you leave work, you know, you leave it, you leave it at work. So allow yourself to rest and really, you know, prioritizing that rest.
15:56
Okay, well, I know that’s gonna help him. Let’s take a question from a patient of mine. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. And I’ve known her a long time have helped her vision. But she is suffering a situation where she’s 75 years old, she lives alone. And she was out walking, and she fell, and she broke her wrist, her left wrist, and she needed emergency surgery. And so she can’t drive she can’t cook. And her daughter lives all the way in Toronto, so can’t make it out. The daughter’s got young kids. So she’s asking, what are some things that she can do to reduce her emotional overwhelm? She’s basically, you know, with one arm right now, it’s going to be that way for another couple of months, she is in physical therapy. What What advice do you have for her? Yeah, and,
16:57
you know, this can this can be hard, right? Because we’re, we’re not able to do the things that we have been doing maybe it sounds like not having as much of the support system that we would like, and this is, this is why the connection part is really important, right? Because I think through most of our, a lot of our lives, we kind of tell ourselves, this belief of I need to do it all on my own. And, and then we aren’t really cherishing or cultivating relationships with others, like friendships, and, you know, and we really need those friendships for times like this, where, you know, we’re in a really tough place, like, sometimes we just really need to lean on someone. And so, so this is, you know, I would really encourage that individual and everyone for that matter, to really cultivate and nurture relationships with others and understand that there’s like, give and take with relationships, right? There’s times when we need support, and we need help. And that’s just life. It’s not a weakness, it’s, it’s nothing like that. It’s just, that’s, that’s life were meant to be, you know, we’re meant to support one another and to help one another. And so that’s, that’s the first thing is just, you know, if it’s been a while, you know, maybe, maybe there’s people, you know, from prior work are no prior connections, I would reconnect, I would reach out to those people and, and just reconnect. The other part is, you know, if you’re having a hard time finding people to reconnect with is to find a counselor, therapist, someone that you can talk through some of these challenges with, because, you know, for some, for some people, it can take some time to kind of re cultivate those relationships. So having having someone else to reflect and to communicate, I think, is really important. The other part is to find, you know, of course, like gratitude is, you know, so talk solo talked about and for a reason, because it can really change, help change our perspective and help reframe our situation. So, so trying to make a daily list of three, you know, it really doesn’t have to be a lot like just three things that you’re grateful for, right? It’s like, okay, my left wrist is injured, but like, I have my right hand. You know, there’s a lot of stuff that I can do with my right hand. I have my legs, right, I can walk I can, I can, I can still get Exercise and Movement, which is a really great way to help manage our stress and our overwhelm is movement, especially when we feel more limited. reframing and focusing on the things that we can do, right? Like, if even if you’re not, even if it’s your dominant hand that is injured, like, Okay, well I can practice this, you know, this gives me a chance to practice with my other hand, you know, I can play around with this and just see how see how I do. Right? Or, you know, it’s, it’s a good time to kind of get creative and to reframe it in a way that’s like, Okay, well, well, what can I do? You know, what, what hasn’t changed? What, what am I still able to, to? To manage? Right? So just reframing in that way, and trying to focus on one of the things that you that you have, right, it can be as simple as, like, I have shoes on my feet, I have a roof over my head, I have running water. Like I said, the other hand is perfectly fine. You know what I mean? Like, just trying to reframe and, and think about like, Okay, well, what, what can I do? And then, like I mentioned, reconnecting with with others, and even if it’s just calling, calling your, your daughter or your loved ones, to have more of that supporting connection.
21:21
That’s really helpful to her. So she’s really looking forward to seeing this podcast and Wow, that’s great help. Great information. So thank you. We’re, we’re here talking with Dr. Kyrsten. DeWitt, a licensed naturopathic doctor, and acupuncturist. She’s one of our featured speakers in my upcoming health summit. So we’re coming down to the end, Dr. Kiersten and how can people get in touch with you? What are the ways the avenues, the channels that you are available to us?
21:56
Yeah, so I would say the two right now at least the two main ways that you can connect with me is on Instagram, which is Dr. Kiersten, as well as on my website, which is also Dr. Pearson, I’d encourage you to sign up for my newsletter, I put out a monthly, a monthly newsletter. And that’s where you can find out about workshops and upcoming events. So and you know, I’m always trying to bring value to people, whether it’s, you know, ways to help manage with overwhelm or support your, your physical body, things like that. So So those are kind of the two main places.
22:41
Right? Well, I certainly love your content. I follow you every day on Instagram. And I feel really honored that you’re going to be part of our workshop team. We have 15 speakers. And I know people are really interested in what you have to say. You also do naturopathic consultations. Is that Is that right?
23:01
Yeah. And so on my website, you can find you know, where you can book a discovery call with me to kind of learn what that process is like, I like to work through that kind of three part process generally starting with the inner self, working out to the the physical or the embodied self and then taking a look at our environment or the interactive self, which you know, includes like those relationships that we’ve talked about. So so that’s how I love to work with people. And you can find out more about that on my website.
23:38
Excellent. Excellent. Well, thanks so much for being guest today and look forward to having you on the summit. So ladies and gentlemen, that’s our show today. I want to thank you for tuning in. And if you want to learn more about Dr. Kirsten, we’ll put her contact information in the show notes. And you can also sign up for the summit either on my website, Dr. Sam burden, Comm, Facebook, Instagram, a lot of ways to get in touch with me. All right, everybody. Until next time, take care.
24:10
Thank you
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