00;00;03;08 - 00;00;16;29
Chris
Hello and welcome to the ending Body Burn Out Show. We are your host, Chris and Filly co-founders of a multi-award-winning winning functional medicine practice, serving busy people with energy, mood and gut issues.
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Filly
While busyness addictive doing, people pleasing amp perfectionism might be the norm. It's not normal and it's a major contributor to health issues.
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Chris
Our goal with this show is to give you a holistic root, root cause approach to healing your body so that you don't have to continue doctor or diet hopping or popping a gazillion supplements hoping something might stick.
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Filly
Sorry, get ready to heal your body, get your spark back deeply, connect with yourself and step into the life of your dreams.
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Chris
Let's dive in.
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Filly
Hello. Wonderful. Merry Christmas. Can you believe this episode is coming out on Christmas Day? Now? I'm actually super organised and not only did we record this with Christy maybe two months ago, but I'm also doing this intro very early as well, so I'm having the day off with my family today on Christmas and over Christmas break. But we wanted to share this episode with you because I'm sure there's a lot of leisure time happening at Christmas season, so you're going to love this episode.
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Filly
I talk with the beautiful Kristi Russell from Movers and Shakers and music. So she is a mindfulness teacher, an accomplished musician, a course creator, and she has a really incredible healing story of working through 30 plus years of chronic pain, migraines, gut burning, fibromyalgia type pain. And she is so vulnerable and honest and so generous in sharing with us how she emerged and overcame this chronic pain by deeply connecting with herself.
00;01;58;05 - 00;02;26;03
Filly
We also tap into her expertise in mindset and using music to calm the nervous system to to support brain health and also her work with children and educators. So this is a really fun episode. You're going to love Kristi. She is just a ray of sunshine. Every time I see her put up in my social feed, I just want to smile.
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Filly
And I know that you will feel her ray of sunshine coming through this audio today. And before we jump in it, just a reminder that ending body burn out method, our program is the doors are open with let them open over the holiday period. They will be closing in January three. So if you've been oh, yeah. I mean, are you thinking I really, really want to get to the root root cause of my health issues?
00;02;54;03 - 00;03;15;09
Filly
And Christi and I talk a lot about what that looks like, say, on the on the podcast is sick of just bandaid symptoms, whether it's with medication or natural supplements or even, you know, just standard functional medicine, naturopathy, clinical nutrition. You're like, you know what, those things help. But I still haven't got to the root because my symptoms keep flaring up all the time.
00;03;15;11 - 00;03;44;28
Filly
Or maybe you haven't even tried anything yet to address your body burn out, but you want to just cut to the chase and make sure you're doing a robust healing process that creates a phenomenal results. Then jump in and join the anti what do you been out method before doors close in January. All right. Hi everybody. I'm so excited for this conversation we're going to have today with the lovely Christi Russell.
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Filly
Sorry, I've read your official bio, but I have only known you for a short period of time. But any time I see you, you just make me want to smile.
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Kristy
Oh, thank you. That's actually really lovely feedback. I hope that's the feeling. I think most people.
00;04;03;05 - 00;04;03;23
Chris
I think it's.
00;04;03;23 - 00;04;11;16
Filly
Just like I liken you to just a little ray of sunshine or a big ray of sunshine. So it's. It's lovely.
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Kristy
Thank you. Really. That's really lovely to hear that.
00;04;16;20 - 00;04;50;19
Filly
All right. Sorry with all our guests. Most people, especially if you're in more the holistic healing mindfulness health space, Most of us have experienced some sort of body burn out in the past. So I'm happy to let's just get personal so everyone can learn all the all the secrets all about you. You mentioned that you were Yui. You were experiencing 30 plus years of chronic pain, which is an incredibly long period of time to not feel well.
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Filly
So when did that start and what was happening during your life around then?
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Kristy
Yeah, just before we hit record. I know we mentioned the way the seasons and I really think that there are some specific seasons that are important to my story and I think when you ask where it started, I probably would say when I was ten, when I first got my first migraine at ten, it was excruciating and I just didn't know what was happening.
00;05;22;04 - 00;05;50;28
Kristy
And and from then on I got migraines for the next probably, I would say almost 30 years on and off, but usually related hormonally. And they run in my in my family in the female side only. So my mum, my auntie, my aunties, daughter, my cousins, you know. So we just thought that that was part of what we had to deal with in our life.
00;05;50;28 - 00;06;26;25
Kristy
And in terms so, you know, following on from sort of ten and then through my teenage years, I developed some ulcer, you know, stomach acid kind of burning sensations and still the migraines. And I would say and what was happening then was I was typical high achiever, high grades, high performing, high functioning perfectionist. All of the things that I know from listening to your podcast episodes that contribute to, you know, putting your your mental state, your physical state in a state of high alert.
00;06;26;29 - 00;07;05;12
Kristy
Yeah. So you know that that is throughout all the different seasons. That is certainly, you know, something with hindsight has contributed heavily. And so you know, then as I went into early adulthood, oh, by the way, a lot of that was to do, I think I was trained classical pianist, musician, and it's very, very perfectionist, driven and and while I'm not taking away anybody who's been classically trained or trained to, you know, to perform at a high standard, I think is wonderful things that we can take wonderful lessons, wonderful self-discipline, things.
00;07;05;12 - 00;07;31;28
Kristy
But I think sometimes if you're not mindful about what's also happening internally, it can it can lead to, you know, the burn out of the city. So it's trying to have performance anxiety plays, that kind of thing. But yeah, going through sort of teenage hood and all the hormones that come with that and the awkwardness of high school and being, you know, young then I was a very I'm still an introvert.
00;07;31;28 - 00;07;50;27
Kristy
I do love people and I do love being around people and am genuinely interested in them. But I need a lot of downtime in nature to reset my internal systems. So and I didn't know that then. I just thought I was weird, you know, I just that was the week I was into arty farty stuff. Was the hippy dippy one, you know.
00;07;50;27 - 00;07;54;11
Kristy
But I was also a real brainiac and I love science and yeah, so.
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Filly
All the things.
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Chris
Oh.
00;07;56;14 - 00;08;25;01
Kristy
Oh, the things like tainted houses and then moving into early adulthood, you know, it just, you know, it just, it was never diagnosis fibromyalgia, but it was my elbows and my joints and this and that. And then I went overseas and then I came back and that turned into and then I had chronic back pain and and then you know, fast forward a few years and then we had our own children and I had post-natal depression.
00;08;25;04 - 00;08;55;23
Kristy
My hormones just went through the roof. My husband was working away. I had two young kids and, you know, so lots of well, lots of things going on. I wasn't that typical sort of busy, busy person, high achiever, still, and didn't really didn't really feel like I could talk to anyone. I end in saying that I don't mean any disrespect to my family or my friends, but I think the pressure I put on myself to be perfect mate, I was the strong one.
00;08;55;23 - 00;09;16;09
Kristy
People saw me as a strong one and therefore I couldn't really show any weakness. And that's again, it's all on me. That was my perception. So, you know, other people, people that love you, they can only help you if you need the help. Like if you say I need help or, you know, if you show that you want the help as well.
00;09;16;12 - 00;09;41;05
Kristy
I guess so, yeah. So different seasons as I grew up and things like that, there was still this sort of underlying perfectionism, high performance and, and that sort of and repressed emotion as well. You know, we didn't talk about emotions in our family. So and interestingly, I've married an Irishman who is so the opposite. Oh, really?
00;09;41;08 - 00;09;42;05
Filly
I know. That's probably.
00;09;42;05 - 00;09;43;11
Kristy
Why.
00;09;43;13 - 00;09;45;19
Filly
I need some of this.
00;09;45;22 - 00;10;04;11
Kristy
This identify. And so we married for like 11 years and we're only it was funny, we were talking about it not long ago. We only feel like in the last few years we've kind of come to a middle ground in the way we converse with each other. We communicate our needs or whatever, because it's just so opposite. Like we're honestly so opposite now.
00;10;04;11 - 00;10;08;22
Kristy
We kind of respect that opposite ness. Yeah. Is that a word? Yeah.
00;10;08;25 - 00;10;35;18
Filly
It sounds like me and Chris as well. And actually, you know what? I've never thought about this, but yeah, I did not know how to communicate my emotions and my thoughts and feelings. And Kristen really did right from the first time we met. And so, yeah, that was a part of me that was just like, You need to help me or I want you to help me to pull this out of me.
00;10;35;18 - 00;10;39;17
Filly
Even though it wasn't a conscious decision to do that.
00;10;39;19 - 00;11;07;09
Kristy
But there was something, something in your DNA, something in your spirit. So that was telling you you're attracted to this person because you're not safe. I'm dying to love you no matter how ugly you are on the inside or on the outside. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, yeah, it's interesting and I love that. You know, I've listened to your story and Kristen's story as well, and I really I love the that the talk about the unconscious, what's happening.
00;11;07;11 - 00;11;26;13
Kristy
And I never really understood anything that was happening to the surface under the surface like, completely. But, you know. Yeah, yeah, but and I love your boss too. And you can either do something about it or you can stay in the depths of you. Despair. Yeah. And. Okay, I needed to come out. Yeah, Yeah.
00;11;26;15 - 00;11;53;28
Filly
Okay, so there is migraines, fibromyalgia, type-A in the gut, stuff going on for decades. Patterns of perfectionism, busyness, addictive doing. When did you start to actually address that? To say to yourself? Because it also sounded like as well, it's like, Oh, there is this pattern in my family line as well. And so one may look at that and just be like, Oh, I guess that's just my destiny.
00;11;53;28 - 00;12;08;14
Filly
Then everyone else. So this is just something I have to live with to learn to manage. Is that was that how you thought? Or was there a point in time where you're like, You know what? What if I can solve this? What if what if this isn't my reality?
00;12;08;16 - 00;12;33;24
Kristy
Yeah, there's been two monumental moments. I think of it as that cocoon moment when the butterflies getting prepared and then, you know, and then they come out. Complete transformation to butterfly, you know, see all that DNA, whatever. So the first time happened when I came back from overseas, I'd been away for four years, working away, had some relationships in the past that, you know, just like toxic.
00;12;33;26 - 00;12;58;29
Kristy
I was toxic to that person. They were toxic for me. And I came back and I met and I was really down really last. And I'm like, what is going on? I need to do something. And I happened to move back to Melbourne and I lived with my best friend and she's always like, She's my sister, you know, just a mother who's my soul sister and just being with her and and being allowed to be me.
00;12;58;29 - 00;13;21;20
Kristy
I went through about it actually, I looked at it was about a nine month period of dating myself and I'm doing it. It's common for those people that are not listening. Yeah. And I did this complete personal transformation. I worked, I did crystal healing, I did journaling. I worked through this thing with Tanisha. I don't know if you know anything about her.
00;13;21;20 - 00;13;53;16
Kristy
You know, in a goddess. It was beautiful. Her work. I just did everything and I just only dated myself. I had absolutely no contact with males or anything nice. And it was the most beautiful thing because I wrote down what I wanted to do. I faced some really ugly what I perceived as ugly truth about myself, my beautiful shadow, you know, how could I how could I treat myself like that when really it's just an inner child that needs a hug?
00;13;53;22 - 00;14;19;14
Kristy
You know, it needs to be understood. So that was my first around the age of 30 and then my second massive, big transformation was when I was about 42, my 40th birthday. I was like, Really? I feel amazing. 41. I was like, Oh my God, I am done with this anger in me that I had never felt before.
00;14;19;17 - 00;14;23;04
Kristy
It was so powerful and I didn't know what to do with it.
00;14;23;06 - 00;14;38;04
Filly
I was just can I can I just ask this specific question? So after the 30 year old going inwards, did that did your symptoms disappear then kissing?
00;14;38;07 - 00;15;13;19
Kristy
I would say, Now I'm going to have to think about this. I would say that my morning I don't I don't know that different symptoms came. But one thing is that I experience joy. It's joy. I literally felt it as a a stream of lost consciousness through my body, through my faith, through everything. And that is where, you know, you said to me about my smile, I think I've always a nice smile, but I actually felt like what my joy was coming out of me.
00;15;13;19 - 00;15;43;12
Kristy
Yeah, yeah. And I never felt that before, internally or externally. So I think I can't say I'm sure that things changed physically. Yeah. It was more mental. Mhm. She Yeah. I had asked for the unit I'd, you know, put it out to the universe and eventually one time I'd like to meet this person. I ended up manifesting my husband and now in manifesting a whole lot of stuff that I really put my mind, heart and soul to asking for.
00;15;43;15 - 00;16;12;07
Kristy
Yeah. But then I think what happened with, you know, the chronic back pain started a little while into our relationship. Mm hmm. And then things sort of went, you know, as I fell pregnant. And this traumatic pregnancy and then other things, you know, added to things that I hadn't still worked through internally, the different sets of things.
00;16;12;09 - 00;16;20;27
Filly
So then when you were 40 and you said, I felt amazing, is is that like physically, mentally, emotionally, all of it.
00;16;21;01 - 00;16;41;17
Kristy
Yeah, I feel a little bit sort of like I can be assertive and I kind of don't really care what people think of me. Yeah, I think it's funny because my best friend and I always talk about is I don't really care what people think of me as in I'll do what I want, but internally I do. I'm a people pleaser by default, right?
00;16;41;20 - 00;17;00;12
Kristy
Whereas my best friend always cares what people think or people say what she looks like, you know, that kind of thing. I don't have that hang up, but I have the internal. Mm hmm. Not anymore. That. But yeah, that. That sort of feeling of. Oh, wow. I feel amazing. I feel like I've kind of grown up and matured enough to not.
00;17;00;14 - 00;17;13;28
Kristy
Yeah, I just. I don't know. I just had this real, a lovely comfort feeling and a feeling of peace within. Yeah. Now, I can't exactly say what happened around 41 and 42. Maybe it was hormones shift. Who knows?
00;17;14;05 - 00;17;17;23
Filly
And then you got angry. I was angry, Christy.
00;17;17;26 - 00;17;28;13
Kristy
I had enough of the crap. I'd had enough to keep playing nice to people, and they just shut all over me and walked all over. I just had enough.
00;17;28;15 - 00;17;29;14
Chris
Yeah.
00;17;29;17 - 00;17;48;09
Kristy
Okay. And that's so unlike me, You know, I. I think of it as that's. I just. I felt like I was looking at someone going, Oh, are you okay? And that was when my chronic back pain was just at a level like I was nearly going to go in for surgery. Now, I can't get up in the morning with that.
00;17;48;14 - 00;18;14;14
Kristy
I can't go to sleep without pain. I can't lift my kids. It had been a cumulative effect. I really have so and that's when, again, I'm going to talk about my best friend. My best friend and I, we're journeying through this life together. We have so much that happens to us that suddenly just supports each other. And she was going through some horrific pain issues and she had a pain specialist come to her in hospital.
00;18;14;16 - 00;18;39;24
Kristy
And he said to me, you know, you don't have to be in pain. And she's like, what? Your pain is more than physical. And she's like, What do you mean? And then they started about this holistic way of, well, pain is not just physical. We can't explain it just through one physical element. It's emotional. It's spiritual, It's, you know, pain is an emotion.
00;18;39;26 - 00;19;01;10
Kristy
So then she said to me, Crystals, that's my nickname. You never believe this. You don't have to be in pain either. And so we went on this spiritual journey, healing thing together, and I oh my God, the best thing that I've ever done. And I you. And then I said.
00;19;01;13 - 00;19;22;15
Filly
That is okay, so cool. So we actually it was it last week or the week before we did a group call with our clients you know ending body been out method and we spoke specifically about pain and I used a model. Oh gosh, his name has disappeared off out of my brain right now. But it was in the 1970s.
00;19;22;15 - 00;19;31;10
Filly
Oh, you know, it's doctor ing angle. You know what I'm doing? Yeah, Yeah.
00;19;31;14 - 00;19;34;27
Kristy
Let's see. I'm just going to jotting down because I think so he.
00;19;34;27 - 00;19;58;20
Filly
His model is all about the bio. So Sherry psycho model and specifically for pain because he was getting a bunch of people coming into his clinic and it's like, oh, we're doing all the physical stuff. And you know, while some people it helped other people it wasn't at all and some people it helped, but it wasn't sticking for life.
00;19;58;23 - 00;20;26;02
Filly
And so then it and so then he looked at, okay, well, what else is going on? So we're not just a physical body, we're also psychological. So psychologically is mental, emotional, spiritual. What's happening in your unconscious state? And really pain is just there to keep us safe. It's there for safety and survival because that is the fastest and easiest way to get us out of danger because we will listen to pain.
00;20;26;04 - 00;20;49;09
Filly
And so then it's like, Oh, okay, well, what's happening unconsciously that is causing and safety in your system? And then socio is really interesting too. It's like who you hanging out with? What perceptions do you have either like in your family circle? So I'm thinking about your family line of, Oh, just all the women have migraines and pain, all the things.
00;20;49;09 - 00;21;10;07
Filly
Yeah. And like cultural norms. Oh yeah. Like when you feel something physical, it's just in the physical body. And so therefore, which then causes people to feel like they don't have a lot of control over it because then they have to go to the experts to fix them. So, okay, so what say you went on this journey?
00;21;10;09 - 00;21;21;26
Kristy
Yeah. And I say I'm going to use a I hope you don't mind through curable. So curable is an app. I mean, I'm not I'm not affiliated with them or anything.
00;21;21;29 - 00;21;22;17
Chris
And.
00;21;22;19 - 00;21;55;18
Kristy
It's it first started through listen to their podcast and their podcast is called like mind Alive body and it was the first time I'd ever really understood what pain is and the whole issue, not issue. The challenge is that most GP's now have gone through their training and they've had a bit of this and a bit of that, you know, an overview and they have and they've studied and it's important that they study, but they're not studying what the relevant pain, the science behind pain is these days.
00;21;55;18 - 00;22;25;02
Kristy
It's still got the old model of pain is a physical manifestation. They're not taking into account all the, you know, the quantum mechanics, quantum physics, the energetics and epigenetics, all of this stuff we have to have in our hands these days. So when you go to a GP or go to a professional and talk about your pain and they can't fix it, well then what are you supposed to just have some drugs or have this or have surgery or whatever?
00;22;25;05 - 00;22;52;15
Kristy
So that's it's just so it's so dangerous. It really is. Yeah. But what my healing was, was a combination of everything and you know, you would appreciate this holistically. I need to do graded motor imagery. I needed to do expressive writing, I needed to do CBT, I needed to do everything and address everything on a level that was that made sense to me.
00;22;52;17 - 00;23;15;18
Kristy
So the onus or the responsibility, not in a bad way, was but to come back to me and what my story was. And, you know, I know you love story, you know, you've done your PhD in creating storytelling. What are the stories that we're telling? I was telling myself that I'm not good enough unless I get 200%, I'm good enough, unless I do all the things all the time and I'm always a strong one.
00;23;15;20 - 00;23;41;21
Kristy
So all of these things that I was telling myself, I had to then go deep into them and critically evaluate those to say, Well, is that true? Okay, well, if that's true, then what about that? And what about that? So, you know, you're following it. You going to the root cause? And it took a lot of time. Like I would probably say that I worked on this for about 14 months.
00;23;41;23 - 00;24;06;16
Kristy
Most days of the week. Yeah. And, you know, I'm grateful that I do have that self-discipline. I'm really grateful that I was able to dig deep down into it. Yeah, I still believe that I am drawing upon you know, I wouldn't say I'm healed completely, but I am I've healed to the point where I'm okay with not being okay.
00;24;06;18 - 00;24;24;07
Kristy
I'm I'm okay with a little twinge pain here and there. I'm okay. I don't fear everything anymore. And that's what it was. The root root cause for me was this fear. Yeah. I wasn't loved. I wasn't good enough. People are going to abandon me if I show my true self. Mm hmm. Validate work.
00;24;24;11 - 00;24;51;26
Filly
Yeah. It's so deep and just something that you said there, too, I think is really important to understand is what does it even mean to be healed completely? Because we're we're humans. And again, I just go back to the science behind pain. Why is pain there? Will It's there to keep us safe. And so imagine if someone went through a massive healing and transformation journey and then they're completely symptom free.
00;24;51;26 - 00;25;11;27
Filly
Now, I believe that you can get to a point where they can be certainly prolonged periods of being symptom free, but but it's still there to keep you in line. Like it's still there to say, Hey, we started believing something or we started going down old patterns that aren't serving you or weren't serving you in the past, or actually, you know what?
00;25;11;27 - 00;25;32;07
Filly
You just ate something that has a nasty bacteria in it. And yeah, you actually have food poisoning now. So it's like, you know, like so it's still there to serve a purpose. It's not like, you know, though we say ending body burn out, that doesn't actually mean like you.
00;25;32;07 - 00;25;32;29
Kristy
Are happy.
00;25;33;02 - 00;25;48;04
Filly
And symptom free for the rest of your life and you're living on a cotton bowl and you are. It's actually getting to the point where you can listen to those signals before they get you to the point of like that deep body burn out again.
00;25;48;06 - 00;26;16;05
Kristy
Yeah, you're so true. And I was thinking about that this morning because I woke up this morning feeling quite anxious. And I just look at what's going on. Kristi and I realised that I'd been doing a lot of stuff, have been doing, you know, a lot of stuff. My own business, a lot of stuff with my kids, working through their, you know, they kind of one of them's pre-teens and lots of emotions that seem to kind of, you know, there's a lot of mental load going on and I haven't I realised I haven't taken enough time out for myself.
00;26;16;07 - 00;26;37;03
Kristy
Yes, that's to even if it's 5 minutes, you know, I'm not, I'm not saying I have to go into a spa for the day, you know, I just when I, I'm really grateful that I. Exactly like you said, I'm not going for happy 100%. That is an absolute myth. And I think that's really dangerous to try and attain that we are not robots and we are not monks.
00;26;37;04 - 00;26;47;11
Filly
Well, it's also perfectionism showing up again. If someone was like, I'm going to be 100% happy all the time and super healthy and pain free, no, that's a bit tiring.
00;26;47;13 - 00;26;48;04
Chris
A bit.
00;26;48;04 - 00;27;16;22
Kristy
Boring, exhausting. I'll tell you about it. So it's good because I thought, Oh, okay, Kristi, you've you're feeling all those things. It's okay. Take a breath. Just think about what you can do. What action can you take right now that will, you know, that snowball effect. We don't we want to prevent the snowball effect. Yes, that's what I didn't know before.
00;27;16;22 - 00;27;45;26
Kristy
I didn't know that you could physically and internally. Mentally, I didn't realise that I had that power within myself to stop this snowball, not replace it, not stop it forever, but just tracks. Let it flow through me, respect it, thank it for reminding me. You know, it's my accountability body. Yeah, yeah. So I'm not going to take my accountability body how I used to.
00;27;45;27 - 00;27;58;03
Kristy
I'm not going to ignore them. I'm not going to be rude to them because I don't want them to be rude to me. I don't want them to give me a heart. And you know what? I'm Yeah, Yeah. I don't like to become a heart attack or something. Yeah, Yeah.
00;27;58;11 - 00;28;17;14
Filly
I love that accountability, buddy. That's awesome. That's awesome. So life sounds like it's very different to you. You've mentioned that you're training for your first Sudan in Taekwondo. Now, I don't really specifically know what that is, but I did see you on social media chopping a board.
00;28;17;16 - 00;28;18;15
Chris
Right?
00;28;18;18 - 00;28;21;26
Filly
Broke you breaking it board with your bare hands.
00;28;21;28 - 00;28;42;06
Kristy
Well, actually, I do have to do two boards, my bare hands, but I was breaking a board with my foot. Now, this is really interesting. I have this is my accountability body in physical forms and mental as well. So taekwondo is a martial art. It's using your hair. It's the the art of using your hands and your feet as weapons.
00;28;42;06 - 00;29;06;01
Kristy
It's self-defence. Okay? So we essentially do it as self-defence. We don't compete. We do it. It's family friendly. The kids, About three months into my healing journey of my chronic pain, I just happened to one of my piano students. Did taekwondo, and she said, Oh, you'd love it. Come up and bring the kids up. So I did, and I was hooked.
00;29;06;03 - 00;29;49;27
Kristy
And my perfectionist part of me went hammer and tongs are like, I'm going to get this chronic pain. I'm going to beat it and I'm going to do, No, this is what I need. Go hard at this time, I'm off of muscles left, right and centre left, right. And then I'm like, Kristi, slow down. But why? Remember before you melted down, before you had this huge burn out, Why was that the perfectionist that the doing pushing myself, I'm just the bit and I enjoyed it more I'm well let me tell you, but in a gentle way because I love the way that it helps me.
00;29;49;29 - 00;30;15;03
Kristy
I love the endorphins and the natural stuff that's released when I physically am, you know, in physically working at my aerobics. I love the physical side of it. I love the mental discipline and same mental discipline. It's holding back when you need to hold back. MM Yeah, I love that it's still a team sport, but internally, you know, it's an individual sort of thing.
00;30;15;05 - 00;30;39;20
Kristy
Mhm. I love the community so this is, you know when I know that I, you know, like I said it's an accountability body as well when I'm mentally tired I love training, I'm like I look forward to it when I'm physically tired, I don't go to training or I go to training and I say to my instructor, I'm feeling pretty low in energy.
00;30;39;20 - 00;30;57;15
Kristy
Can I just help you out with the instructing tonight? And he was like, Yeah, that's fine. So I'm I'm in my asking voice, which I've I really have to practice that. I'm asking for what I need. I'm listening to my body. And you know, for your listeners out there, I'm not saying that I do this 100% of the time.
00;30;57;15 - 00;31;23;28
Kristy
Again, I'm about an 820 person. Yeah, boy, if I'm 73 or 5050 or whatever, then I know. Okay, well, I really need to just cut some things out of my schedule. This way I can say no to that. But that's kind of that like idea, that balance that I like to do. Yeah, I like you first in is when you do you saying you black belt so it's really yeah once you get to your black.
00;31;23;28 - 00;31;27;22
Filly
Primary it's per guy's pride.
00;31;27;25 - 00;31;58;21
Kristy
Yeah. And you you get into it physically you've you've you know because there's sparring involved as well is using your I wouldn't say fighting but it's sparring, it's using the skills that you're learning through all the patterns that you do. So that's kind of like dance movement. White to describe it like that. Certain patterns. I love the philosophy behind it about being humble, but being strong and defending the weak and, you know, try it, you know, training and striving for something greater than you.
00;31;58;24 - 00;32;17;10
Kristy
And so, yeah, when you get to your black belt, that's certainly not the end of the journey. But I like in my classical piano, you know, when I was 17, I got awarded with, you know, what we call the associate Diploma in Music. It's a very high. You've attained a technical mastery. Yeah. And then you can certainly go on.
00;32;17;12 - 00;32;44;18
Kristy
And that's probably what Black Belt is. Yeah, that's that's really cool. And one thing I do want to say about this, you know, I think there's certain you talk about this a lot, you know, character traits, perfectionism, people placing things like that. My I wouldn't say challenge, but yeah it is a bit of a challenge is to know that I want more out of this life.
00;32;44;22 - 00;33;04;07
Kristy
Mm. I don't just want to be mediocre, but what that looks like for me might look different for somebody else, but it's about me going, Well, what am I prepared to sacrifice to have to be more like I'm not satisfied just sitting around watching TV or whatever. And that's fine if people want to do that. But I'm curious.
00;33;04;07 - 00;33;22;22
Kristy
I want to meet people. I want to get up on stage and talk to people and inspire people. I want to learn new ways to do things. I want to educate, you know? Yeah. So yeah, sometimes tricky to want all those things and still be okay with just being quiet sometimes.
00;33;22;24 - 00;33;33;07
Filly
Yeah, I like it's the the good goodness, the higher part of the brain, which is the limbic system. You don't quote me on that.
00;33;33;09 - 00;33;33;20
Kristy
Front.
00;33;33;20 - 00;34;16;27
Filly
Or the frontal frontal cortex. Yeah. Yeah. Which is the part of us humans that make us very different to animals in that we do want to progress and we want growth. And and movement and not just be neutral, stagnant. And then when you add in old behavioural patterns or like programming. Yeah, it is. I feel like that's been a massive learning growth for me as well, that it's like, ooh, because there was a part of my journey as well where I'm like, Oh, maybe I need to just like wanting to do so much or like achieve, stop achieving.
00;34;16;27 - 00;34;37;06
Filly
How about maybe, maybe I just step back and just, I don't know, I'm going to say just be a mom, which I love being a mom, but I've also done that in periods in my life and I get really not like I don't feel fulfilled because I feel like there is more to give. And I actually feel like I have purpose for being here.
00;34;37;06 - 00;35;02;16
Filly
And it is what I'm doing right now within our business, which also then impacts our family and my children. So yeah, it is that that tricky balance of navigating that and I think that that's where the body is so incredible. So for someone like you who's had this chronic pain pattern in the past, well, that's just the way that your body communicates to you.
00;35;02;19 - 00;35;14;03
Filly
So, you know, you know when the balance is not right because you highly likely get a little bit of a symptom or a bit of a pain signal in the body. And that is the same for me as well.
00;35;14;05 - 00;35;40;06
Kristy
Yeah. Yeah. And when you sense it, when you're a sensitive person and when I say that it's not like you're see, I used to struggle with that. I thought I was weak. Hmm. I thought that was weakness excessively. Oh, my gosh. It's so powerful. You're the one that's going to pick up on the dead thing in the roof that needs to be taken out, which we've got in every few words.
00;35;40;06 - 00;35;59;25
Kristy
I think it's a right. Yeah. Yeah. So I smell when the food is going off so you won't get that food poisoning? Yeah. Yeah. We're going to be the one in the room that feels is something not right in this room. Is a person not safe? Let's move away. Or there's a person that needs help. We need to go and help them.
00;36;00;02 - 00;36;29;06
Kristy
I think that's a very you know, I think always I come back to mindset and mentality and what do we what lens are we looking through in our lives? Are we looking through that abundant growth mindset, positive mindset, or are we fixed? Hmm, we we judgemental? Are we What's that other way that I'm trying to search for? We am sceptical.
00;36;29;09 - 00;36;53;00
Kristy
Mm hmm. It's okay to have to ask questions and to to be discriminative. Not discrimination by any means ruminative like be. Why is that happening or why should I? Why do you want me to do that? Or something like that? But, but that general attitude, that state of mind, I think it's really important to to look at life like that.
00;36;53;00 - 00;36;55;29
Kristy
I it went completely off track. Yeah.
00;36;56;01 - 00;37;18;14
Filly
That's okay. That's often where the best conversations go. Now, I do want to talk about what you do do within your business. So you mentioned even at a young age, classical pianist say you're always into music. When did you transition Maureen to music and mindfulness and working more so with children?
00;37;18;17 - 00;37;34;18
Kristy
Yeah, well, I went into I actually thought I was going to be a child psychologist, so my studies were behavioural science with a major in psychology, but I got to the end of that degree and I went, Oh my gosh, I don't think I can study anymore. I want to meet people, I don't want to work with people.
00;37;34;20 - 00;37;58;15
Kristy
And it just so happened that I moved to out of Melbourne and I there was the government was giving away a certificate three training and certificate three in children's services. And I've always worked with children as a nanny or babysitting growing up, you know, And I love kids. Yeah. And so I just thought, oh, like 40 bucks, oh oh, pay 40 bucks and go and study something and I loved it.
00;37;58;15 - 00;38;22;19
Kristy
I was with a really forward thinking centre in Geelong and they were all about sustainability. Mind you, this is like this is 1997 Mum. So talking about sustainability back then was kind of like this new thing. So they loved me, I loved them, I worked with them for a couple of years. At the same time I worked as a piano teacher for a music company and just sort of always had those two things.
00;38;22;19 - 00;38;43;10
Kristy
On the guy working in Montessori, working as a piano teacher. Then I went overseas, worked as a nanny, came back and I thought, You know what? I'm ready to go and do my teaching degree in kindergarten. I didn't want to do primary school teaching. I knew that was it for me. So I did that at uni and then I started work as a kindergarten teacher.
00;38;43;10 - 00;39;09;00
Kristy
Loved that. Then I had my own kids and didn't go back to teaching for a little while because I needed to. I wanted to be at home and I wanted those first few years with the kids as well. And we moved to Tasmania about six years ago and I was ready to go back in the workforce and I and I couldn't go back to teaching kindergarten because I didn't have registration in Tasmania.
00;39;09;00 - 00;39;28;20
Kristy
So it's a bureaucratic six month window that completely missed my life. Wow. Just in terms of where you, you know, I had provisional registration in Victoria, but because I had been out of the workforce for so long, I didn't make it here in Tassie anyway. Long story short, I thought, Well, bugger that, I'm going to start up my own company.
00;39;28;25 - 00;39;30;20
Kristy
Yeah.
00;39;30;22 - 00;39;31;10
Chris
Itching.
00;39;31;13 - 00;39;46;09
Kristy
I'll stop whining. So I started doing music and movement programs. My mum was a teacher in music, so I had all here like egg shakers and maracas and I just we were in Delray and I just went around to different schools.
00;39;46;09 - 00;39;51;29
Filly
That's in Tasmania, by the way, where I grew up.
00;39;52;01 - 00;40;12;19
Kristy
We to come together. Not weird. Sure, but so there I just started it and I just put myself out there. I rang all the schools, then we moved. We were only there for about six months and my husband got a job elsewhere on the north west of Tasmania, which where we are now. And again I just rang up all the schools and said, I'm Kristy Russell, I love music and working with the kids.
00;40;12;24 - 00;40;33;00
Kristy
Would you like me to come and do some sessions with you? And the couple of them said, Yeah. And I ended up having a gig with our local Catholic school for about four years running. I created their kindergarten music program. I ran their birth to five programs for their families and young children. Loved it. Awesome. And with all of that, I just thought, I love this.
00;40;33;00 - 00;40;55;11
Kristy
I love the joy and connection it gives with people and families, but I also love how it can support pre literacy, pre numeracy, physical, social skills, all of that. And I started, you know, with my own I'm about three years into that. That's when I went into my own personal transformation. So that's when the mindset stuff really came in.
00;40;55;13 - 00;41;18;29
Kristy
Simple things like breathing, just learning how to breathe slowly, deeply, to switch on your automatic nervous system, switch on your parasympathetic nervous system, which is your rest and digest and switch off your fight and flight system, you know? So I've got that the right way. Yeah, yeah.
00;41;19;02 - 00;41;20;24
Chris
Correct.
00;41;20;26 - 00;41;42;12
Kristy
Simple things like that. And I would bring it into, you know, I'd always brought it into my Kindle sessions and all the sessions, you know, just about and relaxing and relaxing music and playing my tantrum but never understood the science behind it. And I was hooked. And then I started studying neuro music science through bigger, better brains. Doctor Anita Collins And I was hooked even more, and I'm still hooked.
00;41;42;15 - 00;42;16;26
Kristy
I believe that there's these two superpowers that are available to us as modes of learning. So musical learning, we know that that turns on the whole brain. It supports also especially literacy skills, but social skills, emotional, you know, all of that. Then we have mindfulness breathing techniques, being aware of our states, of, you know, our bodies. We have these two things that are that we have the power internally to work with, to have little tips and tricks to work with our own bodies.
00;42;16;28 - 00;42;56;07
Kristy
We need to be bringing those in as early as possible so that our young children are, you know, almost absorbing them as part of their natural, you know, the way that they absorb songs and nursery rhymes and counting through, you know, one, two, three, four, five words like what? Official? Let's bring all of that in with some also some breathwork and some, you know, talking about our bodies, our moods and things so that by the time they get to primary school, they're a little bit more resilient, They're a little bit more ready to learn in terms of their brain architecture and then a little bit more regulated, perhaps won't see so much.
00;42;56;08 - 00;43;15;24
Kristy
You know, I work in primary schools at the moment as well, so I'm seeing, you know, early primary struggling with reading, struggling with sitting in a classroom, struggling with social skills. If we have all of these things, this is my theory, right? If we have all of this early on, it's just going to be a little bit easier.
00;43;15;24 - 00;43;35;08
Kristy
That transition to school, primary school, and then a little bit easier when we transitioned to high school and a little bit easier when we transfer to adulthood and independent living. I just see everything. So prevention means I think, yeah, yeah, I think it's a one stop shop and it's going to end the world and you know, we're going to achieve world peace.
00;43;35;08 - 00;44;14;26
Kristy
I just think in the same way that Dr. Anita Collins talks about, you know, we invest in healthy eating, healthy mentality. Why? Why aren't we consciously investing cognitive health, building capacity early on with that music and and mindset? So that's what I do. I really you know, I've created a course for for educators specifically in the early childhood space and to support them with why music is important, why mindset, why mindfulness Tapping in tuning into ourselves is important first, because if we can't connect with ourselves, how are we going to connect with the children we work with and care for?
00;44;14;28 - 00;44;30;10
Kristy
And so I have, you know, little free resources to to get an idea of what it's like to work with me. And then I have some short things, you know, short courses and yeah, I just want to I just want to keep creating resources that support educators because they are such an important role. Um.
00;44;30;12 - 00;44;39;18
Filly
And will make sure in the shirt arts we're going to put in the show notes, the breathing and breathing. Yeah, yeah.
00;44;39;21 - 00;44;42;13
Kristy
And simple breathing techniques. Yeah.
00;44;42;15 - 00;45;11;14
Filly
I, I love music. I mean, my kids love music. I think, I think we're just wired for music. And it's also a language of the unconscious state as well. Yeah. Because some it just I find that if I'm in a poor state or even if I want to get into a different state, so I remember I did this when, what was it last year and it osmium Pioneer Awards judging and I was like super nervous.
00;45;11;14 - 00;45;58;12
Filly
So I put on Katy Perry's Roar and I just, like, danced and sang loud. I'm like, Yeah, I'm ready for this. So it's it's awesome. It's just in the same way as smell as well. Like, I find, like different essential oil scents or even smelling the fresh grass, instant state change, which is really powerful to like both for children and also for adults, that we have these very simple and often free resources where we can get out of funks or we can get out of our mind if we're smiling with anxiety or even just moving the body to the rhythm, then it helps to shift things like trauma and blocked emotion.
00;45;58;15 - 00;46;10;15
Filly
Like it's really powerful. And it I think people understand to the extent in which they have it on their firing, something that they can use to use them to heal.
00;46;10;17 - 00;46;34;11
Kristy
I know I'm with you totally, and I think it comes back to that mindset again, that fixed mindset that doctors will know. I will see the doctor and he will tell me he or she will tell me what I need to take or what I need to do, and therefore I don't need to do anything. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you are going to have to do a little bit of something to help yourself because nobody knows your story.
00;46;34;11 - 00;46;56;12
Kristy
You are your best judgement of what is going to work for you. Yeah, you know, absolutely, definitely don't. Don't not go to the doctor, you know, don't consult, don't not consult a health professional, but just know that you have so much power within you and you, like you said, you can tap into music for free. You don't have to pay money.
00;46;56;15 - 00;47;15;24
Kristy
There's certainly things that you might need to pay money for. But you know, just try tapping into anything free that you can tap into nature, tap into chatting with a friend, or sometimes it's hard to say that you're not coping. You know, I've felt that before. I'm sure there's lots of people out there that have felt that pressure to be okay.
00;47;16;00 - 00;47;26;19
Kristy
You know, I love the fact that we are getting less taboo about are you okay? You know, getting less taboo about mental health. We still got a long way to go, though. Yeah. Yeah.
00;47;26;21 - 00;47;44;10
Filly
Okay. So for our listeners who have been listening along struggling with body burn out, what would you suggest are the first steps to moving Towards Healing based on your own journey or even if it's specific mindfulness or music, What what would you say? The first steps?
00;47;44;13 - 00;48;06;22
Kristy
I do really think the first step is realising that you need help and and whether whether you're comfortable talking to a friend or family member or somebody that's, you know, a professional psychologist or your GP, I think that's the first step because if you don't recognise that you need like if, if you know internally there's something going on, please don't be scared.
00;48;06;22 - 00;48;28;29
Kristy
There are so many people out there that have experienced something similar, not your story, because your story is absolutely unique. Nobody's going to take away what has happened to you or nobody has the right to tell you that your experience is not valid. Of course there's going to be somebody that's going to be worse off than you, most likely.
00;48;29;02 - 00;48;45;22
Kristy
But do you know what? When you admit it to yourself, you are taking the very first step. So then go and talk to somebody else and say, you know, I'm not sure what I can do. Do you have any suggestions? And if they don't know, just go and ask someone else that you trust or that you feel comfortable with.
00;48;45;24 - 00;49;18;12
Kristy
There is somebody that's going to help you help yourself, but you to be able to do that yourself. And it could be something as simple as, you know, if you work in an office, just start by taking your lunch outside and eating it outside in front instead of in front of your computer. It could be something like if you do, if you're a stay at home parent or you've got a lot of parenting or lots of mental load with young children who are on some funky music and have a dancer move those emotions, okay?
00;49;18;17 - 00;49;26;01
Kristy
Just know that you have internal powers that you can tap into. You just might need to ask for help and that is okay. Hmm.
00;49;26;03 - 00;49;29;14
Filly
Awesome. So love it. Thank you so much.
00;49;29;16 - 00;49;41;10
Kristy
I'm planning out so many hugs and beautiful lot to all people that need it right now. I really. I don't know you, but it doesn't matter. I really feel you from a human heart. Yeah.
00;49;41;17 - 00;49;48;06
Filly
It's so beautiful. Thank you. You feeling good? Feeling?
00;49;48;08 - 00;49;49;15
Chris
Oh.
00;49;49;18 - 00;50;11;22
Filly
So if people want to find out more about you, especially if there's any educators who might find your resources really helpful. Or also, we were going to pop in the show notes something around breathing in regulation that everyone could benefit from. How how can people find you?
00;50;11;25 - 00;50;37;01
Kristy
So my my business is called https://www.moovernshakersmusic.com.au Double-O Ah, yes, Double-A, because I had a dream about a cow and a pig and they were dancing, singing movies, not have that as my logo at all. So we'll have to pay attention to the two eyes, movers and shakers music. You can find me on Facebook socials. I do have a small YouTube gathering, so otherwise I'd love to do that.
00;50;37;01 - 00;50;48;13
Kristy
But I have some tape drums playlists up there and some storytimes for kids. And yeah, you pop, you'll say it in the in the show notes. You'll find me if you need to see me, I reckon.
00;50;48;15 - 00;50;58;24
Filly
Awesome. The stars will align like. Sure. Well, all right. Well, thank you so much and I hope everyone has an awesome day.
00;50;58;26 - 00;51;03;23
Kristy
Yeah, thank you. Bye.
00;51;03;26 - 00;51;13;28
Filly
Thank you so much for listening. We so appreciate you. If you'd like to give us extra smiles, drop us a review and spread the love by sharing episode.
00;51;14;01 - 00;51;32;09
Chris
You can also write your own state of burnout and the root Cause contributors by taking out ending body burnout assessment on our website. And if you're interested in learning about our group one on one ending body burn programs, shoot us a DM via Instagram or Facebook. Have the best day ever.
