Hi Carrie! Thanks for taking part in my interview series. Let’s dive right into it! 🙂
Can you tell us about yourself?
Carrie: My name is Carrie Meyer. I am a Pain Resolution Therapist and I see clients out of the top floor of the lovely Hawkins House Professional Center in downtown Whitehorse, at my home near Takhini Hot Springs and online.
Tell us about your bizz – how do you help people?
C: I specialize in Somatic Movement Therapy. What this means is that I teach people about the Somatic Nervous System and how to use their brains to eliminate tension and holding patterns caused by stress, trauma, and unconscious repetitive movement.
I address the body and mind to support the healing process. I teach clients how to use a transformative technique called a Pandiculation, to release chronically tight muscles and broad-scale habituated reflex patterns that interfere with sleep, movement, and mood and over time lead to a whole suite of commonly diagnosed medical conditions.
My work is unique in that it works using the sensory motor feedback loop – the fastest and most responsive system in the body which requires active deliberate participation by the client. The amazing thing is that when you learn the technique you can do it anywhere.
What got you involved in the wellness world and in your current business?
C: I started my journey working with clients as a Yoga Instructor and Thai Massage Therapist in 2008 because I wanted to serve people on a much deeper level than I had until that point in time. Formerly, I was communications professional and although I loved communicating, writing and being creative in that capacity, I was being called to move in a different direction.
Since that I time my business has evolved from teaching classes for mind/body fitness, to working in a therapeutic yoga capacity with clients, to where I am now – where I employ almost 100% Clinical Somatic Techniques because the techniques are just that incredibly effective.
The whole world needs to learn what a Pandiculation is and so I am making it my mission to get this information out there.
What part of your job do you enjoy most?
C: I love my clients dearly, I love the relationships and I love problem solving, to determine where clients are stuck and how the tools in my toolbox can help them. To balance my dedication to my profession I try and get outdoors in nature as often as possible, whether that be a walk, a run, a mountain bike ride or sitting in reflection.
Describe a typical day in your life!
C: I rise around 6:45-7 am and immediately turn on the kettle to boil water for my morning lemon water drink. I have a 15 minute meditation practice 3-4 days a week depending on my schedule where I sit on my couch overlooking the Takhini River Valley.
I really enjoy the 30 minute drive from my home to my clinic space in downtown Whitehorse. The trip gives me an opportunity to practice gratitude and to use the time to put context around my day. I generally see clients from about 9 am until 4 pm. I take a 1.5 hour lunch break to head out for a run, head to a fitness class, run errands or address emails – each day is different, but the key is that I prioritize time for myself to maintain balance.
When I get home in the evening, I take 30-45 minutes to enjoy a somatics/yoga/movement practice based completely on what my body needs that day. My husband and I will head out for a hike with our Duck Toller Denver, up the hill behind our house, or in the winter out on a snowshoe or fat bike ride.
I take time to make a healthy dinner and love to sit and connect with my husband when we can. My evenings are spent on food prep, exploring new recipes, reading, watching a short Netflix TV show or researching travel destinations.
I start getting ready for bed around 9-9:30 pm and enjoy a routine or massaging warm oil into my feet, listening to a theta healing soundtrack or guided relaxation or picking up where I left off on a good book.
How do you take care of your health on crazy busy days? Â Eg. Do you have any stress busting practices?
C: There are 3 easy stress busting practices that I use regularly and teach my clients to practice when life becomes busy:
1) I simply pause, shift my awareness back to my breath and begin to take slow, long conscious, deliberate inhalations and exhalations. I breathe into my ribcage, into the front, the sides and the back. I think about re-claiming the real estate of my lungs and space for myself. The exhalations ground me, they quiet my mind and allow me several minutes to center before returning to what I was doing.
2) I explore a 10-20 min Somatics practice either at my clinic space or at home. The time of the day is when it works and when I feel that I need it. I teach and advocate for developing the skill of Interception – listening to the messages of the needs of the body. It is a critical self-regulation skill that we all need to stay balanced. And, working somatically automatically supports a rest and digest parasympathetic response in the body and mind.
3) My third favourite practice is Yoga Nidra – also known as waking sleep. It is a guided, systematic progressive relaxation practice that allows us to deeply release tension, quite the mind and initiate rebalancing of the nervous system and body. It has been widely studied and is one of the most effective practices that we can do. I vary my listening depending on my mood and needs. This is a great online resource site with lots of free practices: yoga nidra
I also have recorded a few that are available as part of our Resolve Pain Guru Method 101 Course.
What tips could you share for someone just learning about Somatic Therapy? Are there some interesting facts/info about it that people may not realize?
C: The biggest thing to know is that the muscles in the body ONLY listen to the messages coming from the brain, therefore when we have chronic or recurrent muscle or body pain, the only way to resolve the situation is to work with Pandiculation in a first person active process. Somatic movement practices are easy to learn, require no props and can be done anywhere.
You can find well trained somatic therapists around the world and the understanding of these powerful techniques created by Dr. Thomas Hanna is excitedly growing.
What is the biggest thing you’ve learned since starting your wellness bizz?
C: What I have learned is that the healing process happens from the driver’s seat of the client and the pace and success of the process is based on readiness and willingness of that client. Wellness practitioners, such as myself are simply here to provide space, a safe container for change to occur while sharing some amazing tools for that process to happen. It is a remarkable honour to do what I do and support transformation in people’s lives.
What is coming up next for you?
C: When I am not seeing clients at the moment, my colleague Nicole and I are madly writing, designing and building course content and programs that will be available on our www.resolvepainguru.com website. We are planning a retreat for early 2019 and will be co-teaching at the Toronto Yoga Conference next spring.
What is a random fun fact about you?
C: I love to sing and dance and move my body – embodiment is something that I really cherish in this life. If you catch me driving in my car on the 30 minute drive home you will find me bopping and singing along like no one is watching!
Where can we learn more about you?
C: I have two resource websites where you can learn more about the services I offer. The first is my personal website and the second is an amazing pain resolution resource site with online programs and videos to help you understand the powerful method that my colleague and I teach.
www.livingtruthyoga.com and resolvepainguru.com.
You can find resolvepainguru on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube with videos resources and free information to get you going on your path to eliminating pain.
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I hope that you enjoyed today’s interview with Carrie Meyer. I honestly have learned so much by talking with Carrie and I want to learn more and explore somatic therapy for myself to resolve my shoulder issues and knee issues!
Let me know, have you tried this type of therapy before?
Until next time,
Keeping it healthy,
Jill Kay
