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BIRTHFIT Podcast Featuring Dr. Tracey Eischeid

BIRTHFIT Podcast Featuring Dr. Tracey Eischeid

BIRTHFIT Podcast Episode Featuring Dr. Tracey Eischeid


[0:00:00]


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What’s up, BIRTHFIT community? This is Dr. Lindsey Mathews, your BIRTHFIT founder.


[0:05:04]


I’m back from the BIRTHFIT Summit, which literally just wrapped, concluded everything this past Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Hugs, clean up, everything happened, and then we had our senior leadership team meeting full of feedback, a little bit of praise, but mostly growth and feedback and how we can be better for next year. It’s been full blown, all the awareness, all the intention, 100% present since basically last Wednesday. It’s crazy.


I was just talking to our podcast guest today, who is Dr. Tracey, and I will not even try to say her last name because I butcher people’s names all the time. But she is BIRTHFIT Lincoln and we were just talking about how today we feel more tired than yesterday. So, yeah, complete exhaustion but cup full, heart full, everything runneth over, and I could not have asked for a better 2017 summit.


The BIRTHFIT tribe is beautiful, rock stars, smart women, educated women, compassionate, loving, freaking some of the best mothers out there. The tribe is amazing. And we’ve basically doubled in size since last year so definitely not doing it in a backyard. In 2018, this summit will be moved to Austin, Texas for next June 2018. I will let you know that we will have at least half a day open to the public, coaches, professionals, anyone that wants to come and listen to some of our great speakers.


We had some amazing speakers this year and I just want to say thank you to Carl Paoli, Logan Gelbrich, Elizabeth Bachner, Dr. Milo Chavira, and I probably butchered that as well, and Dr. Craig Liebenson. And we also had Jill, she was an ambassador for RIE, come and speak. We had some of these legends come and talk to us and move with us. And we also were taught Olympic lifting by the one and only Derrick Johnson. He took us through a little sample training day that he does. I must say his warm-ups look very close to ours, our functional progressions and our movement activations. Smart guy, that Derrick.


The summit was amazing, new relationships were established, old relationships were rekindled. It’s a great place to fall in love with who you are, the woman next to you, and the career path or the universe path that you are on. The summit is pure magic and I wish all of you could experience it next year.


That said, I want to talk to you a little bit about regional directors. So, if you tuned in to our webinar, that was on July 3rd, you heard Dr. Lindsey Mumma give a little bit of direction about applying to join the BIRTHFIT tribe. She talked about becoming a regional director and/or a BIRTHFIT coach or a BIRTHFIT professional. You can go back and watch this webinar. It was recorded and it is on our website under the education tab. Click on education at the top of our website and scroll down to webinars and you can find the Road to Regional Director webinar there along with some other free webinars.


And if you’re at all curious about becoming a BIRTHFIT regional director, I would highly recommend that you watch probably all the webinars there. Go ahead, spend a whole Saturday or a whole weekend and watch all the webinars there. It will give you a little insight into who we are, what we do, and then you can go ahead and keep listening to the podcast which is the next tab over on our website.


Now, if you do decide that you want to apply to be a BIRTHFIT regional director, there’s a tab on the website for that. You would scroll down to the little section that says Become a Regional Director. I’ll tell you a few requirements and investments as in money, time, energy, stuff like that.


[0:10:18]


You will hear Dr. Tracey and myself talk about in this coming podcast that the whole first year of becoming a regional director should be viewed as an internship process. This is a huge learning year, year of growth. So, if you can get that in your mind, I think, you will embrace the journey a lot more and feel like you’re keeping up as opposed to, “Oh my god, this is pure chaos. I don’t know if I know everything.” Because it can definitely feel overwhelming in the beginning.


So, all regional director applications are due by December 1st. That means, yes, we are accepting regional director applications from now until December 1st. We will not accept any regional director applications for 2018 after midnight on December 1st. So, make note of that. Yes, we have had people in the past, and you’ll hear Dr. Tracey talk about how she applied one week before the deadline. That’s okay. Get it in before December 1st because anything after December 1st will be considered for the 2019 regional director class. Applications due by December 1st.


What are we looking for? A few recommendations. DNS. You will hear us talk about DNS in this podcast. Podcast. Let me enunciate a little more. And that is because we need you to have a solid rehab foundation and this is the best rehab foundation out there. And in order to teach the BIRTHFIT postpartum series, you need to have some dynamic neuromuscular stabilization experience. So, I would suggest going on the DNS website and either looking for a DNS course near you or signing up for one, anything like that. If you go to rehabps.cz and you click on courses on the left, you will find all the upcoming courses.


If you are a chiropractor, you can take clinical courses as well as the exercise courses. So, the exercise courses are numbered. The clinical courses are labeled with an A, B, C or D. So, if you’re a chiropractor or a physical therapist or an OB-Gyne or some other professional, you can take these clinical courses. If you are a coach, you would take the exercise courses. If you are a doula, you would take the exercise one course. It is highly recommended that all those applying to be a BIRTHFIT regional director take a DNS exercise one or clinical course A course before applying.


Now, it is not required this year but it will be required come 2019. That’s why I want to say that. Also, if you do not have any childbirth educator type training, I would recommend that. ICEA or a DONA approved doula course of a CAPPA approved doula course or some doula organization course, I would get in on that. Doctor of chiropractic, medical doctor, physical therapist, nurse, strength and conditioning coach, doula, CrossFit level one, a certified yoga instructor, midwife, any of those, nurse practitioner, those are all examples of hats that women wear as regional directors in the BIRTHFIT tribe. So, take a look at that.


All BIRTHFIT regional directors will be expected to teach a certain number of BIRTHFIT pre-natal series, a certain number of BIRTHFIT postpartum series, carry out consultations, and host free power hours, blogs, stuff like that. So, there’s a big expectation to be a regional director and I would highly encourage you to watch that webinar so that you can make sure that that’s the right path for you. Now, upon applying, you will submit a brief application with some little questions, they’re short and sweet, basic information and you will have a regional director yearly fee.


[0:15:11]


Right now, and to be completely transparent, this fee is $9.50. This is due, basically, as soon as you are accepted as a regional director. Write that down. Invest in your future. Plan on. If you become a regional director, you will have 12 weeks of webinar training. We will all launch a postpartum series together. And then, definitely, all are expected, required to be at the BIRTHFIT Summit, which will happen in June next year in Austin, Texas. Write down those expectations. Make sure that’s the path you want to go on.


And if that’s not, then you can definitely check out the BIRTHFIT coach or the BIRTHFIT professional route, which is less involved, less time, money, energy investment there. But our goal is to make BIRTHFIT regional directors the hub of information at communities, cities all over the US and the rest of the world. We are looking for people that will hold the standard and be accepting of feedback.


So, in the meantime, while you’re thinking, check out Dr. Tracey’s experience. I’m so excited for you to hear Dr. Tracey. She’s one of our upcoming rock star regional directors out of Lincoln/Omaha, Nebraska. I want you to hear her experience. She is recently out of chiropractic school, recently opened her own practice so she’s a lady boss living in this crazy world and wants to share her experience with you.


How are you?


Tracey: I’m good. How are you?


Lindsey: Yeah. Recovered?


Tracey: Yeah. Almost I feel like today I was more tired. I was tired Monday but it’s like the tiredness set in today.


Lindsey: Me too. I totally get that. Well, let’s jump in this before I waste any more of your time. Are you ready? Ready machete?


Tracey: I think so.


Lindsey: All right. Welcome to the BIRTHFIT podcast. I’m speaking with one of our regional directors out of Lincoln, Nebraska. I will let Miss Tracey introduce herself.


Tracey: Hello. I am Tracey Eischeid. I’m a doctor, I guess, of chiropractic, so Dr. Tracey.

Lindsey: Dr. Tracey.


Tracey: Yeah. And I am BIRTHFIT Lincoln.


Lindsey: Awesome. So, a few questions, because a lot of people don’t know that you are one of the BIRTHFIT regional directors that does not have kids yet.


Tracey: Correct.


Lindsey: Correct. So, how did you know that you wanted to get in working with pre-natal and postpartum women? That was like one of the questions from the senior leadership team.

Tracey: So, I guess, when I started practicing this, kind of was just generally, I would say, more in the rehab type of treatment approach, I guess. I live close to the CrossFit gym so I treat a lot of athletes there. But it really was like anybody and everybody. I think that’s kind of how everybody starts when they first started in practice. And then I started to realize like in my first year I really like pregnant people and I really like just women health in general and they were my favorite people coming into the office.


Like you know, pregnant people are always changing. Every time you see them, it’s like they’re growing, something is totally different. And so I think I like the challenge of that. And so, yeah, I just kind of decided to officially pull the trigger on making it sort of like my goal to make that a big part of my practice.


Lindsey: Awesome. Yeah, that’s sort of how I got started, the sports rehab world, and then you meet somebody or a few people and you’re like, “Oh, the energy here is way better.” But what kind of experience — Were you exposed to anything birth growing up or what kind of started your path down the health care route?


[0:20:00]


Tracey: My mom is a nurse, I guess. So, I think I always knew I wanted, like I just had this feeling in high school. I’m like I think I want to do something in the medical field and not really sure what. I think the first thing I probably thought I think a lot of people do is just like I’m going to be a doctor. And I had a teacher in high school that kind of — He had a friend I think he graduated with that was a chiropractor. He said, “Hey, you should think about chiropractic.” I was like, well, I guess I never really thought about it.


I went to a talk or something that he did towards the end of high school. I was like, “This is kind of cool.” And then I ended up actually working for him at his, like in the rehab kind of back part of the office and then eventually at the front desk doing stuff. That was kind of throughout undergrad. And basically just confirmed that I think I want to do this.


Lindsey: Awesome. So, where did you go to chiropractic school?


Tracey: I went to Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, the fountainhead.


Lindsey: Yeah, for sure. And did you get into — I think you were exposed to DNS maybe in chiropractic school or after but what was your first thoughts or exposure into DNS and maybe explain a little bit about what it is to people?


Tracey: Sure. Yeah, I guess, I started off — The way that I started chiropractic school is not the way that I ended chiropractic school. I definitely went in with some blinders on. I guess, I definitely was like I’m going to heal everybody and like you’re just super pumped and then you realize going through that it’s just really not that easy and there’s a lot that comes into it.

So, I got involved with a club on campus called Motion Palpation and that was probably my second or third trimester that I was a part of that club. We would take some seminars like learn to adjust and stuff. But then throughout these seminars you kind of learn a little bit about what some of these doctors are doing outside of just manipulation. They’re doing maybe it’s DNS or maybe it’s McKenzie or maybe it’s ART or Graston. So, I was just starting to get really drawn to that rehab side and felt like it was kind of a missing link and a lot of what chiropractic can be.

I don’t know when I took my first DNS seminar but I want to say it was — I mean, it was in the first half of school, for sure. And I was pretty pumped about it. I took a couple of seminars with reflex locomotion which is kind of the way that DNS got started. So, I was also just really excited about it. With DNS, I think — So, for those of you, I guess, that don’t know what it is, I know we’ve talked about it a little bit in the podcast and stuff, but it stands for dynamic neuromuscular stabilization.


It was a technique designed by PTs in the Czech Republic. So, it’s basically exercises that are designed and modeled after developmental kinesiology. So, from a baby’s mainly first year of life. That has made sense to me. I could rationalize it. I could see it. And people got better especially when I did my, I guess I call it precept, like an internship before you graduate. I did it with one of the instructors for DNS. I mean, day in and day out, he used it on almost every single patient. I was like this shit is cool. So, I decided that, yeah, that was kind of going to be my main treatment, like my go to besides adjusting.


Lindsey: Yeah. And you sort of have to decide that before you get out of school and then you get out of school and what I have found especially with chiropractors around Los Angeles is that maybe the first three years everything changes.


Tracey: Yes.


Lindsey: But generally, you have an idea when you get out of school and you go from there.


Tracey: Exactly. For sure.


Lindsey: Awesome. So, when did you graduate chiro school and how did you choose to end up in Nebraska?


Tracey: I graduated in 2015. So, it will be two years in October. I’m pretty new onto the scene.


[0:25:03]


I always wanted, I think, like midway through I had this feeling of I don’t want to go back to Nebraska. I want to go somewhere far away, see the rest of at least the country. I had a few different places in mind. And a lot of it, I think, kind of had to do with who I was dating at that time.


Lindsey: It all happens that way.


Tracey: Yeah. But towards the end of school, I actually was not dating anybody and had a lot of, okay, I can do whatever I want. And this is going to sound super lame but you might be able to relate to it a little bit. So, I was in Saint Louis doing my internship with Dr. Brett Winchester and I went back for the first Nebraska football game.


That weekend, I was like, “Oh, I think I need to move back here.” I don’t know. I had this very strange feeling about it. And so, yeah, that was kind of my deciding moment. I didn’t want to leave that weekend. I also sort of went on a date with my current boyfriend who I expect to be my husband someday. So, yeah, it has all worked out that way. But I just felt that pull to my home, I guess.


Lindsey: I totally get that. Can’t miss another football game.


Tracey: No, I know. I was going to say [0:26:34] [Indiscernible] I feel like she might be able [0:26:36] [Indiscernible] a little bit.


Lindsey: So, you mentioned Brett Winchester. Do you have any other mentors or professors or people that maybe helped shape your journey along the way?


Tracey: Yeah. I would say Brett was a big one because of the DNS thing and it was a lot of the doctors within the Motion Palpation Institute. So, a guy by the name of Dr. Corey Campbell. He probably taught me the most in terms of adjusting just because he’s actually from Omaha, Nebraska. And so he did a lot of the seminars in the Midwest. And I stay in contact with him. I kind of look up to him. If I could choose to adjust anybody I might pick him.


And then I actually am on the other side of the wall from another instructor for DNS, Dr. Tyler Ideus. He works in our office. So, I mean, if I ever have a question about anything related to treatment or just want to learn something, I have a pretty valuable resource like three steps away from me so that’s pretty cool. He’s basically the reason I got my job. I would consider him a mentor.


Lindsey: Awesome.


Tracey: Yeah. A lot of those guys, I would say, are big mentors of mine. Just people that I wanted to emulate whether it was like their marketing skills or just overall personalities and the feels that they had in their office. I just, yeah, I wanted to be the best and I feel like all those guys like are, like Thom Lotus, they all just had like — They strive to be the best in whatever was their specialty and so I need to do that. I need to find what works for me and I’m going to do my best to be the best.


Lindsey: That’s awesome. What about any good books along the way? Do you have any favorites?


Tracey: Yeah. I would say I have been reading a ton of like pregnancy and birth books.


Lindsey: I know. That’s what I was going to go to next.


Tracey: But recently I’ve read the Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.


Lindsey: Yeah.


Tracey: And that one was awesome, like really easy read but really made me think a lot. And, I think, we talked about this at the summit a little bit just like utilizing your time, delegating and like you don’t need to worry about everything, just the important things. That one’s really good. Some stuff that I read a long time ago like something as simple as like The Shack. I’m a religious person. And so I don’t know, I just like the way that story was. I’m a big just story person. I mean, even Harry Potter or something [0:29:51] [Indiscernible].


Lindsey: I love it. So, you mentioned the BIRTHFIT Summit. And I wanted to mainly get what your take and experience and everything has been with BIRTHFIT through 2017.


[0:30:06]


So, for those of you listening, Tracey is part of the 2017 regional director class. I know I mentioned all the time about applications due by December 1st. Well, check them out. Interviews, and then the next class will start at the beginning of the year. So, Tracey is part of this 2017 class. Do you want to share a little bit about your experience so far from like the beginning through and now encompassing the summit?


Tracey: Yeah. So, I remember reading about BIRTHFIT or I don’t even know if I might have emailed you or contacted you. It might have been the beginning of 2016. So, towards the end of — Or like I had just graduated maybe and I ran into it and I was like just what is this? And I think at that time, for me, I was like I don’t really know exactly what path I wanted to take and I just want to see through patient experience where I go.


So, I’m like, okay, I’m going to hold on it. So I like sat on it for a year. And then I finally inquired a little bit more. I’m like, the applications are due. I think the application was due in like a week or something and I was like, well, it’s now or never. Like what do I really want? So, I applied pretty up close to the date. Yeah, I think I just saw it as like, okay, I love fitness, I’m a chiropractor, I’m fairly in tune with my nutrition, and like a lot of the mindset stuff which is really intriguing to me. Because I don’t think I had thought that much about that stuff regarding pregnancy and postpartum.


So, I was like this just seems like a good little niche for me and a good way to go about doing that. So, yeah, got into that and as in a lot of the new regional directors would say it’s kind of like you’re learning along as you’re going and you’re like, “Shit, am I doing this right?” But then people are in your classes and then you’re like starting to get random referrals and people are like, “Oh, I saw your social media.” So, you’re like, okay, I must be doing this right or I don’t know. But, yeah.


So, at the summit, I was super pumped for it because we have this group of regional directors that most of us have never really met and we’re all on social media and it’s nice to finally put faces and bodies to what we see on social media. That was like — I’ll be honest, meeting like 45 people at once, that’s not my favorite environment.


Lindsey: It’s overwhelming.


Tracey: Yes. I would say I’m like an introverted extrovert because I can do it fine but it’s just like buildup. I was freaking out the night before. I couldn’t sleep. But it ended up being great. I mean, everybody was really great. I would say the biggest thing that I took from summit and I think a lot of people would agree is just the connections that are made and how much you realize that everybody is supporting each other and supporting the movement and like it was a great bonding experience.


It brought a lot of excitement and motivation to go back on Monday and get back to community and reach the goal that you set or whatever. Yeah, it was crazy. I’d never been past Colorado also. So, California was, yeah, California was a culture shock for this Nebraskan girl.


Lindsey: I’m sure.


Tracey: But, yeah, it was super cool.


Lindsey: Awesome. So, for those listening and maybe thinking about applying, one of the biggest things that we even say in the free webinar and people that set up consults with Dr. Mumma is to think about your first year as a regional director as an intern or that you’re constantly learning. Would you say that as true?


Tracey: Yeah, for sure. And it is nice. We’re in this Facebook group and, I mean, like the silliest of questions can be asked and it’s not a big deal. And then we’ve got this like big sister-little sister setup. So, instead of bombarding everybody with questions, it’s nice to ask one of the, I guess, people that have been around the block questions about stuff and there’s everyone.


Lindsey: Who’s your big sister?


Tracey: Dr. Erica Boland, which I’ve actually known for quite a while because we both went to the same school and she was kind of a–


Lindsey: What?


[0:35:03]


Tracey: Yeah. We have a similar — Like I knew her through Motion Palpation and through DNS and we had taken seminars and stuff together. So, I always knew her. She’s actually the reason — I guess, I didn’t mention that before. She’s kind of the reason I got into BIRTHFIT. I think I was just like seeing what she was doing on social media and I was like, “Oh, what is this?” So, yeah, it’s a good big sister to have because I feel like I’ve known her for a while. And she’s really honest and really helpful.


Lindsey: For sure. Do you all have long DNS conversations together?


Tracey: Sometimes, yeah. I mean, I definitely think if I ask about something she’ll give me that perspective. But it is nice to like overall in the group realizing how many different specialties or whatever you want to call them we’ve got. I can go to so and so for doula questions or I could go to so and so for nutrition. We got a little bit of everything that satisfies the four pillars.


Lindsey: For sure. And I would definitely say there’s maybe some chiropractors that are listening that maybe adjust only and I used to definitely be more of adjust only and then I started incorporating more I would call these corrective exercises, how we’re supposed to move exercises.


Tracey: Yeah.


Lindsey: And even within BIRTHFIT we have such an array of chiropractors. We have the DNS chiropractors and then we have straight chiropractors and I think we’re definitely all united by the chiropractic philosophy which is the belief in the innate power of the body. I think that’s super rad. But, yeah, looking back over the weekend, because we literally just finished this, and before we got on this podcast I was asking Tracey if she’s recovered yet.


She definitely said today she was more exhausted than yesterday which I would have to agree. Me too. But looking back over the four days that we all spent together, what is some of the biggest learning pearls that you took away from, maybe two or three, if you can recall?

Tracey: Well, I think, one, and I don’t even know if it’s called as a learning pearl but realizing with DNS and how having trained in it quite a bit and being exposed to it a lot, how it takes a pretty keen eye and a lot of focus to teach a lot of that stuff correctly. Because we’ve got a lot of — I mean, we’ve got a few people that have been exposed to it but a lot of people in our group haven’t been and I thought that this weekend I’m going over a lot of that stuff was really helpful for people that understand it more and why it’s more important, why breath is pretty much the number thing.


And it doesn’t need to get fancy. You just need to focus on like if a mom can’t breathe right that’s where we stay. I would say — And beyond just the physical part with breathing we know that it’s a lot more. It’s a stress reliever. It helps women get through labor. So, breath is important in a number of facets of life. I guess, that could be one.


With our guest speakers, I felt like there was an overwhelming feeling of being uncomfortable. I think that was a big one for me. Because I told you I was super nervous the night before to meet a bunch of people but, I think, I was also nervous in feeling like, okay, I’m new here, what if I’m super inadequate compared to all these people? And this might make me feel uncomfortable.

Logan talked about the space between pretty much being great and being the greatest. And we might not ever reach that peak potential but that little gray area, that uncomfortable vulnerable gray area, I think, for me, I chose a lot of safe things in the last year and realizing that in order for a lot of the stuff to get big and to make a difference we have to be okay with being uncomfortable. And so that was a huge thing for me, just realizing that that’s something I need to do a lot better. And getting just as much contact with people in my community as possible because, I think, that health care 100% shouldn’t be one thing.


[0:40:13]


I think everyone serves a really awesome purpose and so a mom might need a chiropractor or might need a pelvic floor PT, might need a functional medicine doc, and might need a really good coach for fitness and really create relationships in this network. Everybody is on the same page. We’re all here to advocate for moms. So, yeah, I would say those are couple or three big things that I took from the weekend.


Lindsey: Amazing. Yeah. I love that you mentioned give women all the information because we don’t know what they’re going to need to heal. And the more you limit the view that they have of whatever the heck is going on or in that decision the more that your opinion is inflicting their decisions.


Tracey: Yeah, for sure.


Lindsey: I would say I’m just going to add to that for a second. I think this weekend we heard a ton of like everybody’s had a story. Like there’s a lot of mom that had some sort of story. The midwife that came to talk, I thought, was so cool because I thought about this a lot. Because I’m also a trained doula, which I didn’t even mention in the beginning. She talked about wearing different hats and that’s such a hard thing being a chiropractor who knows a lot of, I guess, the “medical side” of things and anatomy and physiology and being a doula who’s just there for support and to be there for the mom and realizing that those things shouldn’t cross and it should be all about the mom in that moment. And whatever you think about birth doesn’t matter in that moment and you have to wear your doula hat. I thought that was another really cool takeaway that I think I had thought about but it was a cool way to think about.


Lindsey: Yeah, for sure. Elizabeth Bachner of GraceFull was the midwife and she does such a great job of explaining the roles that are at a birth or present at a birth.


Tracey: Yeah, for sure.


Lindsey: All right. So, thinking about relationships, were there any awesome relationships that you established over the weekend or you met and maybe you go way back like Erica, any awesome memories you started?


Tracey: Well, yeah, it was really good to see Erica because I hadn’t seen her since we took, had DNS and, I think, it was a scoliosis seminar we took and it was back in Davenport when I might have been in school.


Lindsey: Oh my gosh.


Tracey: Yeah. It had been a long time since I’d seen her so it was good. If it’s kind of loud, I’m playing fetch with my dog because he [0:42:57] [Indiscernible] and being impatient. But the house that I stayed in which was like another intimidating part, like I’m staying in an Airbnb with a bunch of girls I don’t know, but we got to know each other pretty quickly and we all just shared beds and stuff. We called it the party cove and it was pretty fun. I connected really well with Nast from BIRTHFIT Hawthorne and Kim from kind of new BIRTHFIT Boston and Kiersten stayed with us for a night and she’s amazing from BIRTHFIT San Diego. She’s just like, I don’t know a whole a lot about exactly her but I just imagine her being one of just like an amazing doula. She just has a sweetest voice. She can just talk.


Lindsey: I know. She’s like an angel.


Tracey: Yeah. And Chelsea from BIRTHFIT Kansas City, we had actually trained under the same doula and so I tried to meet up with her once when I was there and it just never worked out. I felt like I was destined to meet her. So, that was awesome. And Jess from BIRTHFIT Logan, I’m saying that right, I think, yeah. I think she’s like 34 weeks pregnant there and just [0:44:25] [Indiscernible].


Lindsey: She totally is.


Tracey: Yeah. So, those were a few that were fun to connect with. Gina from BIRTHFIT Chicago, I kind of always — I’m not even sure if I officially had met her but I felt like I knew her because I had taken many seminars with her husband.


Lindsey: Right. Okay.


Tracey: And so, it felt like, yeah, just connecting with somebody that I already kind of knew. But, yeah, it was good. There was no strange connections of people that we, a few of us, have like in common from chiropractic school or been at the same seminar. It’s weird how small everything seems.


Lindsey: The world is small. Yeah.


[0:45:07]


Tracey: Yeah. Seriously.


Lindsey: Totally. So, after experiencing the weekend and then the past, basically, six months of BIRTHFIT internship, how would you say the four pillars fit in your life now or maybe have evolved over the time? And for those listening, and if you haven’t caught on by now, fitness, nutrition, chiropractic and mindset are the four pillars of BIRTHFIT. So, yeah, share a little bit about your lifestyle.


Tracey: So, fitness, we’ll start with fitness. I’ve been doing CrossFit for — It’s been four years, maybe close to five soon, I think. Yeah. Before that, I was always an athlete. I think I really just like the organization of things because then once I stopped having that I was like, “Oh shit, I don’t even know what to do.” And I would run. And running’s fine. It just got really boring after a while.


CrossFit really, yeah, I just felt like this is where I’m supposed to be. Like I just walk in and they tell me what to do. This is awesome. Yeah, I mean, that’s what I do regularly for fitness five days a week. But, I guess, being a little bit more aware in regards to that. I think you can easily get caught up in the CrossFit world. It’s very addicting when you start. And, I mean, you’re doing a lot of complex movements. Everybody’s body is super different. Somebody might be able to easily get into a perfect squat like Embo or something, for instance, but not everybody’s like Embo.


Lindsey: Not everybody’s like Embo.


Tracey: Yeah. So, just like realizing for myself that, and this took a while in my CrossFit journey, honestly probably in the last year of just like slowing down. Like form over anything, quality over quantity, in that case, and just not like — And having the background that I have with a lot of the DNS and movement and what’s functional and what’s not, I definitely like tater to that and made CrossFit a little bit more of my own and done that a lot with now BIRTHFIT, with my moms. And while BIRTHFIT is not CrossFit, it pulls some movements from there. And so I feel I have a variation that like it’s familiar to me when I’m coaching that with moms. And so that’s been really good.


Let’s see here. Nutrition. I would say in undergrad I really started figuring out what nutrition was. I don’t know, it’s probably when I gained my 15 pounds, classic, go to college and gain weight. I was like, I need to figure this out. I think when you start doing CrossFit you kind of come across Paleo diet. It’s almost like they’re like a couple.


Lindsey: Synonymous. Yeah.


Tracey: And so I learned a lot about that. And then, yeah, it’s all been just kind of modifying it for me and, I think, that the 100% nutrition should be totally personalized 100%. And so I’d like — A Paleo diet would say like you shouldn’t have white rice or something and that really worked for me. And I noticed when I started decreasing weights and like still keeping the same intensity in my workouts but just like not red lighting every time and then just like eating the foods that were right for me, that I was much happier in my own skin, felt better. And so it’s been a journey but I feel like I’ve mostly got it under control with nutrition. But I think there’s always room to improve and I’d like to do a lot more with that in the future. But that’s [0:49:11] [Indiscernible].


Lindsey: That and fitness are always evolving.


Tracey: Oh, for sure.


Lindsey: Well, all four pillars, I would say, but, yeah, it’s when we kind of accept that that, okay, I can change this, cool.


Tracey: Yeah, exactly. It’s so funny when you say, like especially nutrition evolving, I don’t even know how long ago this was but not super long ago when it was like you should eat a low fat diet because fats are horrible for you. And having no knowledge of it and, I mean, now, I eat way more fat than I ever have in my life and I’m smaller than I was when I was eating [0:49:50] [Indiscernible] in college.


Lindsey: In college. Awesome.


Tracey: But, yeah, it’s a journey but it’s been good. Chiropractic, like I said, it definitely changed when I started school.


[0:50:02]


But it’s changed in the sense of like kind of my population of people that I’ve been treating but overall still like a lot of the techniques and principles and stuff that I’ve focused on I still have kept and still am always planning to pursue more knowledge throughout the DNS world and just get really good at that because I think that’s just what I’m the most drawn to. So, yeah, that’s been awesome.


And then mindset, I think most everybody, I think we ask the question at the summit, what’s everybody’s hardest pillar? And most people say mindset. And I would agree with that because it’s such a — It’s like you can’t really see it. Everything else you can visibly see and there’s concrete evidence but it’s like you can’t really totally see it.


So, that’s been hard because, like especially at the summit, you realize how many people are really in touch with that or at least outwardly seen like they are and maybe they meditate and maybe they do that kind of stuff but I’ve never been into meditating and maybe I’ve done it wrong. I don’t know. I just have realized that I think whatever “meditation” works for you, it works for you.


Lindsey: Totally.


Tracey: When Mark from — It was Mark, yeah, from Expectful came and talked about his meditation app for pregnant women and postpartum and all that, it was almost this feeling I was like, “Gosh, should I be meditating? I feel like I need to do that.” And he was just like, “You don’t need to do anything.” You’re prefect the way that you are. And I was like, “You know, I really like just–” If I’m feeling shitty and I feel like I need a de-stresser, maybe that’s a run with my dog or my favorite song or a workout or whatever. I think he just assured me that that’s okay. It’s what works for you.


Lindsey: Totally.


Tracey: I’ve come to terms with that especially even after this weekend feeling like I don’t need to do what everybody else is doing. But, I think, yeah, it’s a thing that I could always be working on because life is freaking stressful and I want to get into business and it’s stressful–


Lindsey: Yeah. As a female business owner and trying to just keep up with the rat race, it’s tough. I think you touched on it. The form of meditation that people do doesn’t have to look like the person next to them. I think it was Kiersten of San Diego or Mel, both of those are popping into my head. But they wrote a blog at some point talking about — I think it was Kiersten, actually — how it’s really hard for her to sit still and just breathe.


So, she uses slow movements and sort of like yoga or the flow of functional progression. She started to use that as her movement meditation. And so that’s a great way. You don’t have to sit there on a block counting your breaths or watching the light shine out of you. You can totally use movement meditation or go on walks and have different intentions with that. I think that’s brilliant that you touched on that.


I forgot. This may have an LP therapist. I have an LP therapist that I talk to occasionally. She was like just go on a walk and pay attention to every time your foot touches the ground and how it touches the ground and how it comes off the ground. I was like, “Oh, that’s brilliant. Okay.” I would do that for going like a mile or two walk and try that and I was like, “Oh, okay, this is a different kind of awareness and I’m okay with this.”


Tracey: Yeah. For sure. And I think that’s cool. And you touched on breath. I can’t stress breath enough because just coming from the DNS model, it’s so important not only physically and what we see happen in the body but mentally. And people come in with like, “I’ve got a little back pain,” and I’m like, “Okay, well, let’s start with breath.” And almost, I don’t know, pretty close to 100% of the time within that visit they’re talking about something that’s stressing them out.

And I’m like, okay. So, we’ve got little back pain which it’s that chicken and the egg type of thing. Really what came first? If there’s no major injury. Do you have a low back pain because you’re stressed and you’re holding your breath all day long, holding tension in your stomach and your low back and everything’s tight and you can’t relax?


[0:55:08]


And it’s like, I think, breath can be such a great one way form of meditation but clinically it’s been really amazing for my practice and a very underutilized thing, I think, in the medical world.

Lindsey: For sure. What are some or just in the past couple of months, what are some of the maybe biggest, I want to say, musculoskeletal physical body related issues that you’ve seen with any of the pregnant or postpartum moms that you’ve been working with? Any case that stick out?


Tracey: Yeah. I mean, I would say most people would say this, but pregnant women always complain of low back pain. That’s really common. I mean, that is the number one thing that chiropractors treat in general. We see a lot low back pain. But we know biomechanically a lot happens as the mom’s belly grows and the center of gravity is changing. And a lot of women have this pelvic mutation which if you want to think about your pelvis, and we talked about it this weekend as like a bucket and it’s almost the bucket is tipping forward. So, think of like sticking your booty out like Beyonce.


So, that kind of sticking the butt out posture. It’s sometimes an issue just with pelvic positioning and that is just exaggerated in pregnancy. We see a lot of low back pain and it’s usually muscular tension and they also usually adjusted. I see a lot of that. A ton of like hip flexor pain and a lot of that can be relieved through soft tissue work, some stretches, and always, always, always starting with breath because it’s just a really — It’s a chain reaction, what can happen with breath.


I would say those are the big two. But even so, I had a lot of moms that come in with neck pain and it’s just like it’s hard to even say sometimes what that’s coming from. But pregnant woman say that everything hurts often. We’ve got everything going on. Yeah, it’s probably low back and hip flexor pain, I would say, are the big two that I see. Same with postpartum women because they’re really trying to find this new body of theirs. We’ve got a lot of weird stuff going on. But I can usually figure out why that’s the issue with a lot of the DNS stuff that I do.


Lindsey: Yeah. The DNS and the philosophy and the exercises and the movement and everything associated with it is brilliant for postpartum. It’s great.


Tracey: Yeah. I mean, we know that there’s a lot of muscle activation stuff that needs to happen. Maybe a mom is really never been in touch much with her butt and glute activation and using those muscles to as simple as sitting down in a chair. Maybe they have no idea what that feels like. And so for someone, it’s just starting all the way from scratch. It seems silly. Like to teach you how to sit into a chair. But like how often do you do that every day. Quite a freaking bit. Yeah.


Lindsey: Awesome.


Tracey: Everybody’s all over the place. Obviously, with postpartum, anybody who is postpartum, then if you’re 50 and you’ve had eight kids or something, it’s still postpartum and those people still have a lot of remnants of symptoms from that time period.


Lindsey: For sure. I’m glad you said that, definitely. Okay. So, looking at the future, maybe the next two years, three years, five years, what does that look like for you? Or do you have any vision for the future?


Tracey: Yeah. Well, I guess, I hope I’m married by then and having some kids, I think, within, I don’t know, three or five years. So, I guess, that is more of a personal note. Business-wise, so, very unlike Los Angeles. Nebraska as a state is almost like a very large scale Los Angeles. Everything is really spread out especially when you get to the west end of the state. We don’t have a ton of — Our populations aren’t huge. I’m BIRTHFIT Lincoln. It’s very manageable. I mean, there’s a lot of people here but it’s not like LA.


[1:00:02]


And so I’ve just haven’t really tried to put effort towards anything else but I’ve had moms contact me from outside of the Lincoln area. So, Omaha is the biggest city in Nebraska and it’s about 30, 35 minutes away from Lincoln. So, that’s actually cool. 30 to 35 minutes is like nothing to me but might be a lot to people in huge cities. Just kind of, I guess, my goal is to really tackle Lincoln and Omaha area because, I think, I will eventually live in Omaha area once I’m married. So, just kind of getting my foot in the door. I get my feet wet with Omaha.


And knowing full well with how big this is that I won’t be able to do it on my own and I’d have plenty of either it’s been like coaches or a chiropractor contact me just being like what is this, I want to get involved and I want to help. I’m like, “Okay, well, that sounds awesome. Let me just get this all off the ground first and feel really comfortable with it.” But, yeah, my goal is to really be a regional director, maybe have another one more for Lincoln or for the Omaha area, however that works out and just be able to have coaches underneath us or doulas underneath us or whatever it is and just have a really good, hosting a lot of classes, doing a lot of personal training or group training.


So, there’s really always something going on. There’s always a class and it’s a big thing for this area because the biggest part of this state is pretty much where I’m at in terms of bodies.


Lindsey: Population.


Tracey: Yeah.


Lindsey: Awesome. Where can people find you at? What is social media, websites, stuff like that?


Tracey: Well, so, my website, I have a website but it’s currently being revamped because I didn’t love it and somebody’s doing it and making it look a lot better than I did. But it is birthfitlincoln.com, would be the website. Social media though, I’m pretty on top of that stuff. So, Instagram, it’s just birthfitlincoln. And Lincoln is spelled L-I-N-C-O-L-N like the president. And then on Facebook, it’s just birthfit-lincoln. And, I think, my twitter is also birthfitlincoln. So, yeah.


Lindsey: Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing your time and about your experience with us today.


Tracey: No problem.


Lindsey: If you could leave the women that are about to embark on this motherhood transition or even women such as myself and you that maybe it’s where in the short distant future, what kind of advice, if you could leave them with one piece of advice would that be?


Tracey: I think seek help and don’t be afraid to ask questions no matter how dumb they are. There’s always somebody that can help you. I mean, I would be the first to admit I don’t know everything but I’m going to figure out the answer for you if you need it. Yeah, don’t be afraid to ask help. And for us that haven’t even really necessarily thought about having babies yet, I don’t think it’s ever too early to prepare and really get all the resources so you can make conscious choices. So, yeah, asking for help, I would say.


Lindsey: Awesome. Thank you so much.


Tracey: You’re welcome.


Lindsey: And hopefully I will see you soon.


Tracey: Yeah, hopefully.


Lindsey: Awesome. Well, recover this week and I’ll see you maybe in the fall if not next, I know by this time next year.


Tracey: Okay. Sounds good.


Lindsey: All right. Bye, Tracey.


Tracey: Bye.


Lindsey: All right, I want to give a special thank you out to all of our BIRTHFIT Summit sponsors. Be ready. I’m going to read the list here. HaaKaa, RIE, Original Nutritionals, US Wellness Meats — P.S. use the code BIRTHFIT17 for 15% off — Caveman Coffee, Topo Chico, DEUCE Gym, STR/KE MVMNT, Primal Kitchen, Phat Fudge, Traditional Medicinals, Scopa Italian Roots, [1:06:03] [Indiscernible], Expectful, ICPA, Pathways to Family Wellness and Brute Strength. Thank you all for sponsoring the BIRTHFIT Summit.


[1:05:05]


So, after listening to Dr. Tracey, I hope you have an idea of what the BIRTHFIT regional director experience is, at least in the first six months of your internship. And if there’s one thing you could take away from her and maybe from any of the past guests, I think, as well, I want you to be open, open mind, open heart, to the path that the universe is carving out for you.

The universe will open doors for you only or put doors in front of you only but you have to open them. So, be mindful of that. Spend some time getting to know and love yourself because we’re all on individual/unique journeys. And I encourage you to embrace who you are and what the universe has in store for you.


[1:06:16] End of Audio

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