S4E14 Dr. Amy Novotny
This week’s guest is Dr. Amy Novotny, Founder of the PABR Institute which focuses on a treatment method that she developed while studying the nervous system and breathing.
Dr. Novotny was a practicing physical therapist when she came up with the PABR method after experiencing extreme stress and trauma in her own life. She was preparing for the Boston Marathon at the time. She started testing the method and process on others and now has her own practice.
Additionally, Dr. Novotny is an ultra-marathon runner. Astoundingly, she once ran 102.88 miles in 24 hours! She has done many races including an Iron Man Triathlon.
Besides her practice and her running, Dr. Novotny is also an accomplished nature photographer. She even traveled from Arctic Norway and Finland to Antartica for 6 months with a photographer, hired on to treat him using the PABR method and also doing photography herself.
We talk about all of this and how she used the 6 months she was away to explore what she wanted to do next in her life and how facing unexpected adversity let to her building up her resilience.
Note from Rabiah (Host):
I think what I really enjoyed about speaking with Dr. Novotny was that she is another great example of a person who pursued what she wanted and found the resources needed to make things happen. I think we all do this more than we realise but don’t think to celebrate it very often. I appreciate that she took the time to acknowledge her own achievements with me but also that she was honest about struggles along the way. That authenticity makes for an episode I’m very proud to share with you!
Rabiah and Amy on recording day from London and AZ respectively.
Find Dr. Novotny
Mentioned on the episode
Transcript
Rabiah (Host): [00:04:13] Welcome to More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self worth is defined by more than your job title. I'm Rabiah, an IT Project Manager, comedian, nonprofit volunteer and sometimes activist. Every week, I'll chat with a guest about pursuing passions outside of work or creating meaningful opportunities inside the workplace.
As you listen, I hope you'll be inspired to do the same. Here we go!
Hey everyone. This will be the last episode of 2021. I've been traveling as I've mentioned and finding places to record. And right now I'm in my mom's closet thinking this was the best for acoustics, but I think I just need to take the rest of the year and probably a week or so next year, while I'm traveling just to get new episodes [00:05:13] recorded and to revamp a few things because even my job title changed, so I have to change the beginning of the podcast. And, I record on Squadcast, so if anyone's interested in starting a podcast or wants to know how to record, I think Squadcast is amazing and I'm going to be doing a little bit more with advice I was given from them during a podcast audit, a p'audit, if you will.
And I just kind of want to reset things a little bit more. You may have noticed show notes have changed if you go to the website or look at the show notes, but really take a look. They're a lot longer. They're more informative. And I think it's a little bit more fun because I'm getting a chance to write in addition to recording this stuff.
So who's the last guest of 2021? Well, it's Dr. Amy Novotny. She developed her own treatment method using breathing and looking at the nervous system and uses it for herself and for her clients. And so you hear more about that and you'll hear about her [00:06:13] passions of running and also photography. And I never know what we're going to get into when I talk to a guest. A few have surprised me actually, um, just with how honest they are and how authentic they are. And Dr. Novotny is no different. She was very honest about her experience with this one trip that she went on. It sounds like a dream come true and it wasn't for her. And I really appreciate that she got vulnerable and talked about it because it's just to me, authenticity and vulnerability are so important.
And this podcast partly does cover that a lot because people are telling their stories. And most of us don't have the neatest, cleanest stories. I am already really excited about some of the guests I have coming up because we're also getting into that space more. That really makes me happy. She does give some advice on breathing and how you can really check in with yourself at the end of the episode, too. So I hope you enjoy that.
But the last thing I'll [00:07:13] leave you with is she talks a lot about how she wanted to do things and just kind of went and did them. And I think that that's the thing I want to leave people with is to live in such a way where you see something you want to do, and then you find the resources to enable yourself to do it. That's what I did with the podcast and with comedy and with writing and with other things. And I'm not doing it consistently all the time, so I want to be better at it, but I also just, that's the thing I hope people are getting out of this podcast if it's anything. I'll leave you with that. I just, I'm really grateful that you're listening whenever that is. If this is your first episode, 50 something episode you've been listening to the whole time, i, I really just thank you. And, please subscribe, like, share all that. If you have guest ideas, let me know. Otherwise everyone be safe, happy holidays to you whatever holiday you're celebrating. If you already celebrated, I hope you had good holidays and happy new year.
See [00:08:13] you in 2022!
Rabiah (Host): My guest today is Dr. Amy Novotny from the PABR Institute. She's the founder of the PABR Institute, actually and we're going to talk about that, what that is and some of her hobbies. So thanks for being on Amy. And is it okay if I call you Amy? I just called you doctor. Okay.
Dr. Amy Novotny: That's totally fine thanks, Rabiah. It's a pleasure to be here and I'm looking forward to sharing.
Rabiah (Host): Awesome. Cool. Well, thank you. Where am I talking to you from? Let's start with that.
Dr. Amy Novotny: So currently I'm in Denver, Colorado in the United States. I'm kind of based out of here temporarily. I'm looking to move here, but I have been in Arizona for many, many years and looking to relocate.
Rabiah (Host): Weather or what what's bringing you to Colorado?
Dr. Amy Novotny: A little bit of the weather, a lot of nature mountains, and I'm tired of the air pollution that plagues the Phoenix area. I know people in Denver say it's bad in Denver, but Arizona tops the charts on quite a [00:09:13] few scales for air pollution and just, I'm a little bit tired of the brown, the concrete, all the congestion and all of.
Rabiah (Host): I have a work colleague and friend. I mean, she's both, but that moved to Colorado and she's does a lot. Well, let's actually start, we'll start with one of your hobbies just cause I know it's similar and I'd like to give a shout out to this friend, cause she's a listener, but you're an ultra marathon runner.
Right. And you do like kind of extreme running. So yeah, let's talk a little bit about how you got into that because that's different than being a half-marathon Walker like me and being just a regular marathon.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Yeah. So I had decided to get into running. Out of a fluke. I wanted to see what it was like. Back in, 2009. And then from there, once I got into actually running a marathon in 2011, I was curious about doing an ultra and it's like, okay, you know, I'm going to see what it's like. So I started off easy with a 50 K, so that's 31 miles and I did it and I know easy.
I did it [00:10:13] at the beginning of 2013 as kind of a part of a challenge. I decided in 2013 to push my limits a little bit further. So I did a challenge is called "The Goofy Challenge" and you go to Walt Disney World out in Florida, and you run a half marathon one day and then run a full marathon the next day.
And it did fine with it. And so I thought, oh, a couple of weeks later, there's a 50 K. So since I'm trained, why not run a 50 K a couple of weeks later? So I did that and that's how I actually got into it. And then by the end of the year, I was also signed up for an Iron Man Triathlon, and I was doing that in mid November at that same year.
And I decided that I wanted to also see how far I can run in 24 hours. I figured I would be well-trained and in good shape, if I did an Iron Man and then five weeks later run this 24 hour race. And so I accomplished 102.88 [00:11:13] miles during that 24 hours. So I officially knew I was ultra marathon or at that point.
Rabiah (Host): Wow. That's amazing. I mean, just like, well, especially someone like me, cause I don't run like that, you know, at all. I don't run first of all. As far as that kind of running though, then you've kept it up since then
Dr. Amy Novotny: Yeah. So once I did that, I realized, wow, I can do a lot more than I ever thought possible. And why not challenge my body a little bit each year in a unique way. So each year came with different challenges, different feats, until about 2018, then my focus shift to my business and I was traveling around the world with my business.
So I haven't run an ultra marathon in the past couple of years. COVID also kind of affected that as well. But I did do a marathon last year right before COVID hit. And then it was like, okay, I'll running kind of came to a screeching halt unless I was doing it on my own, you know, races kind of stopped. But [00:12:13] it's, it's been part of my life.
It's part of my identity in the sense that I'm, I can accomplish long distances and I can rely on my body to get me from here to there if needed to in a crisis.
Rabiah (Host): Right. Yeah.
That's actually a good way to look at it too, that, you know, if you didn't have a car for some reason, or had some reason you had to run very far, you could do that and survive something. We're going to get to founding your business, but what were you doing on the work front before you did that?.
Dr. Amy Novotny: So at the time I was a traditional physical therapist. So I just, when I started running, I just gotten out of my doctoral program and started in kind of a sports orthopedic outpatient clinic, where I was just treating people for different injuries, different surgeries. And I worked through that. And then about five years after that, Just finishing that first a hundred miler
when I [00:13:13] started shifting my approaches and studying the nervous system in a different way, looking at breathing. And that's when I kind of started, traditioning transitioning away from physical therapy into what I do now and developing the process that I use now, which is very different and is not physical.
Rabiah (Host): and it's, but it does heal the physical.
Dr. Amy Novotny: It does. It actually helps people with physical issues, mental issues, emotional issues. It helps people free their physical body from a lot of different afflictions that can develop, whether it's a mental issue, a stress anxiety issue, or sometimes it helps people with blood pressure. Helps people reduce medications and as well as pain, chronic pain, acute injury, pain, and even avoiding various surgeries.
Rabiah (Host): and how did you develop it because it had something to do with you actually going through something yourself, right?
Dr. Amy Novotny: Right. It's a [00:14:13] couple, a couple things that I was going through at the time. So in 2014, I was training to qualify for the Boston marathon. So I was on a treadmill running eight miles at a time running at a very fast pace. Well, for me, it was fast paced. Seven minute mile pace. And I just remembered, I was practicing on shifting my breathing.
I was taking some coursework on asymmetries in our body, looking at how we're different on the inside and how that effects our breathing effects, the way we move. And so when I started playing with it, I started changing the way, held my rib cage position, which affected my breathing mechanics. And all of a sudden I could just feel this whoosh of pain, stress, tension, everything just go out of my body. So when I got off the treadmill, I didn't have to stretch. I didn't have to scrape. I didn't have to foam roll. All those traditional advices that were given, and I used to teach people. I didn't do any of it. I, I felt like I had just gotten on the [00:15:13] treadmill. I didn't feel like I'd run eight miles for 56 minutes.
It was a different feeling altogether. And so I knew at that point they'd done something different to my body that elicited a relaxation response. And at the time I had studied a little bit about the fight or flight nervous system, but I didn't know it in depth. And about that time. I was also going through my mom, you know, being diagnosed with terminal cancer and going through the stress of all of a sudden becoming her caregiver, having hospice around.
And there was a lot of trauma going through my whole entire life, personal as well as the trauma of going through, trying to qualify for Boston. So at that point, I was fooling around with my breathing, fooling around with how I held my body, as well as dealing with a lot of high-level stresses. So I was on all the time.
And you know, when you get to that point where you're just ramped up and you're holding on for [00:16:13] dear life, just hoping you can make it through the next day, month, hour, whatever it is. I didn't understand at the time, but I was just in extreme fight or flight mode. And after she passed away at the end of that year, my dad almost died a couple of weeks later.
He was in the hospital with a horrible case of valley fever and they weren't sure if he's going to make it. And then my job switched and there was just all this trauma that was going on in my world. And then all of a sudden I crashed and it was like, I had gotten to that threshold and then just everything fell apart.
I was having hormonal issues. I was having digestive issues. I was told I had a pituitary tumor through an MRI that was done. I mean, there was just a whole slew of things. I felt like I was moving through mud that was engulfing me through my whole body. I just, by the two o'clock in the afternoon, I felt this blanket over me and all I wanted to do was take a nap.
And so basically my body [00:17:13] had just gone through one extreme and then just crashed and said no more. And I didn't realize at the time that this was all related to that fight or flight nervous system and how I had ramped up so high that my body just shut down. And of course, you know, there's grief going along with it and there's crying and all that stuff.
And so I started studying the nervous system more and say, how can I pull myself out of it? I started using breathing to help me, but specifically I played with my technique, my body position, and I realized I could start to pull myself out of it based on. This process that I developed that also helped me out of, you know, mental, emotional pain, but as well as physical pain.
And so over time I started implementing this with other people, trying it out, coming up with a process. And to now what I do is I work with people virtually all over the world through zoom, to help [00:18:13] people on all the different scenarios that I had kind of touched on a little bit earlier.
Rabiah (Host): So, do you have like a daily practice similar to meditation that's your breathing or is it, and is it related to exactly what you're doing or, and I guess, do you have people do that kind of thing or is it more kind of like there's a symptom, so you do the breathing. Does that make sense?
Dr. Amy Novotny: Right. Yeah. I would say if I have a specific injury, there's something that I would do for it, but there is also, I would say like a maintenance type where I practice this breathing every single day For as long as I can remember now I've practiced. I get up, I sit a certain way and I practice a breathing.
And then I go out when I run and I practice this specific breathing just to help my body stay in neutral. Occasionally there are times where I don't get that time to do that and I can tell that I feel off the rest of the day. And it's not, it's not that I'm addicted to it. [00:19:13] It's I know my nervous system needs the help to calm down because obviously we're going to have stressors all day long. We're just going to have them.
So we have to take the time to release our body from the emotions that get imprinted into it and ideally practicing at night as well, to feel that relaxation of the body to let go is ideal as well. But, especially in the morning too, because we toss and turn and contort ourselves and our bodies all night long.
And we're often processing things when we're having dreams and nightmares. So our body can often get into a state where it's locked up. And so practicing first thing in the morning helps sets the stage for going through the day.
Rabiah (Host): Hmm. I did a course on transcendental meditation, which we're not allowed to talk about other than to say that apparently. You're not supposed to tell people how to do. I think that the idea is that if you, as someone who's not trained to [00:20:13] do to teach it, teach them, there are implications in that.
And I guess, would you say the same for you? Like if you give someone a treatment protocol or whatever, do you want them to go out and decide they're going to go treat people without being trained to do it? So it's probably similar.
Dr. Amy Novotny: You know, I understand with transcendental meditation, they don't want someone to just treat. And that same thing. I don't want somebody to treat someone and say, they're using the PABR method.
Rabiah (Host): Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny: I'm not in, I'm not saying this in an egotistical way. I'm not worried about that happening. And because I don't give protocols.
Rabiah (Host): Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Everything is customized to a person. So what I give you to do is going to be different than what another person needs. So there's not really a protocol. There's a process to analyzing someone. And I haven't taught someone how to do that so I'm not really worried that if I go through a treatment with someone and because I record the Zoom sessions. If someone's okay with it and I give it to them. I ask them not to share it with anyone because it's specific to their body
and I don't want them [00:21:13] to, I don't want someone else to do it and then get hurt, especially if that's not what they need. But so in that sense, obviously I want someone to learn correctly. And if someone wants to learn the process, then I'm going to take the hours. I mean, it would be hours and hours of time to explain to them the process. If you see this, this is what's needed next. If you see this, this is what's needed next. It's not just a simple recipe where here's step one, here's step two. So in that sense, I mean, obviously in the future, I want to teach people how to do this because I don't want this to stop, which is mean
Rabiah (Host): Yeah.
Dr. Amy Novotny: my life's going to end at some point in time and I want someone else to be able to continue this process on with them.
Rabiah (Host): Yeah, that makes sense. And it kind of reminds me of, like, I have a friend who's in school for acupuncture right now. And like in theory, I could just go take needles and start poking them in someone and say, oh, this is where they put them in me, but I have no, you know, no qualifications to do so. So that, [00:22:13] Yeah that makes a lot of sense.
So as far as it goes too, I'm asking you questions that I asked my acupuncturist before, actually cause I just think I see a similarity in as far as like non traditional Western medicine, put it that way. But what she told me when, cause I was questioning stuff just cause I'm that kind of person, she goes, look, don't come to me if you have a broken arm, go to a doctor. Cause I can't fix your broken arm with this. But if you have X, Y, and Z come to me. Do you have a similar thing? If someone has a certain thing, it's like, well, maybe in conjunction with your doctor, I can do this, but this is not the only solution. Do you have that kind of?
Dr. Amy Novotny: Right, right. Any organic type of problems, you know, cancer, heart attacks. There's so many different issues. People have hormonal issues or gut issues. You need to see a specialist in those. Now, if there is a nervous system [00:23:13] component to it, like, let's say you have a stroke. There's a nervous system component to the injury, to the central nervous system, but there's, there is a fight or flight nervous system component to whether or not you get your movement back or how you get it back.
And so I would work alongside a neurologist to help someone get that back. Same thing with stress and anxiety or panic. There's some changes in the brain chemistry that's contributing to these types of mental health conditions. And so working with a psychologist and a psychiatrist depending on if you want medications or not, that's that's necessary.
And then my component is we're going to free up the body to allow you to feel calm so that you can use the tools that your psychologist or therapist or counselor teaches you. And that's that's goes the same with all the body parts.
Rabiah (Host): And that's even with when you were a physical therapist, I mean, you weren't just randomly doing physical therapy on people, you would get the [00:24:13] report of what their injury had been. Or like, I mean, I've been through it a few times, like with surgery, so it's not like I'm looking to go to physical therapy cause they know they have an injury, but if they come in after surgery, you know what their surgery was.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Right, right. So sometimes like if someone's coming after surgery as a physical therapist there, the physician or surgeon can often have a protocol and says, I want you to do this and this and this based on what was done in surgery. Like let's say you go out and you're running and all of a sudden you have a calf strain.
You don't have to see a doctor for that. One of the reasons that we have a doctorate as a physical therapist is to help through the diagnosis process and to look at imaging and scans to know what's going on. So there's direct access now for a lot of physical therapists because there is often not a need to see another healthcare practitioner and it can be a waste of time and money for everyone involved. So, it really depends on the process
Rabiah (Host): [00:25:13] Yeah. And yeah, I'm with, especially with the US healthcare system, like saving money is key for a lot of people. So when you look at what you were doing and what you went to school for and what you're doing now, what's the difference in how you feel about your work? Because in both cases you were helping people.
I mean, I know for me as someone who has been injured multiple times, my physical therapist has always been really important because they taught me actually some of them, some of the things that I use going forward more than anyone, right? But now you're doing a different way of helping people, so how, how are those similar and how are those different for you?.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Sure. So I would say if you're going to someone and they're helping by all means continue. You know, as long as you're getting relief, that's absolutely wonderful. Now I will say there are a lot of things that I was taught as a physical therapist that I do the exact opposite now that I have seen how certain recommendations can actually be [00:26:13] detrimental or they address things by an external approach, whereas what I do now is more of an internal approach. I want to change your wiring, your internal wiring, to bring about a change in the way your muscles and your bones work or your way your muscles operate on your bones and the way your bones are being held. With the physical therapy approach that's often external stretch someone, you massage someone from the outside, you strengthen someone, you work on balance. It's a lot of it is externally can we do something to your body to elicit a response and hopefully your nervous system will hold on to that. And that works for a majority of cases. For a majority of people, but it doesn't work for everyone.
And often there are issues, like, let's say you have left shoulder pain, it may be related to how you're walking and striking your right heel. It really could be related. And with traditional physical [00:27:13] therapy, they look at the joint above and below, and sometimes you have physical therapists that will look beyond that but a lot of times you're restricted to what insurance requires, which is address only the part that you come in for. But that's not going to always solve problems. It definitely can help, no doubt about it. I helped people as a physical therapist and there were people that I didn't get completely better.
And that those were the people that it bothered me. It kept me up at night. Why in the world have I studied and got a doctorate in the physical body but I'm not getting everyone better? There has to be a solution to that. There has to be a reason because I do believe at one time and point, that person existed without this problem, this pain, this issue.
So what am I missing? And that's why I do what I do now, because I can answer that better. Obviously there's always going to be a learning process for as long as I live and I will constantly study the human body. What can I learn? How can I do [00:28:13] better? But I'd say that I have more insight now because I'm taking a different lens and looking through it differently. A different filter. And I'm going at it from a nervous system approach.
And how can I help people from that angle? And it definitely gets results that are faster, better and more longterm.
Rabiah (Host): That's great. I never thought about that. Sometimes I know just, I mean, even seeing like a trainer at the gym, you as a person who isn't like the most athletic, like I might not put the work in and then they might take it on as themselves having a problem, but just for like, no, I just was really like awful this weekend didn't do anything and that's not on you, but yeah
then on the other hand, like the person could be working really hard and just not getting better. So I didn't think about that being hard on the person doing the treatment as well.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Absolutely.
Rabiah (Host): Yeah.
So during one thing that's good, I guess, were you doing stuff over zoom before COVID or is that something you had?
Dr. Amy Novotny: I was doing stuff through zoom [00:29:13] before COVID. I would say it wasn't the majority of my business and now it is, so it has, this has allowed me to open up to more people around the world. So I started with clients mostly in the U S and France when I first started my business. And then since then, since COVID, I have a lot more in Canada, Australia, New Zealand UK, I mean, if people who, English speakers in other other countries where English is not the predominant language so basically all over now. It's really allowed me to tap into how can I help more people.
Rabiah (Host): That's really cool. That's it's good. Cause it wasn't good for everyone, but I think for some people it kind of added our ability to connect to each other but also, yeah, this kind of opportunity where you can seek treatment from people outside. And it's good that you can do that too cause you don't really need to be physically involved with them, I guess, to do
Dr. Amy Novotny: [00:30:13] Right. As long as they have a camera that I can, we can use through video chat through Zoom, I can see everything I need to see and it's actually almost better in that sense, because it makes a person two dimensional and they're away from me. So I can see things about how their body moves and what's stuck in their nervous system versus if I was in person with someone and they're two feet from me and I'm trying to watch them move, it's a little bit harder. The Zoom actually does a better job and also we can record the sessions and they can practice everything that we've gone through when they have. All the instructions in person.
There's no recording. So it's based on a person's memory. So there are some definite benefits and it forces a person to learn by doing it through zoom.
Rabiah (Host): Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's almost, you can see if they're doing it or not too. Like
Dr. Amy Novotny: Absolutely.
Rabiah (Host): you get caught on zoom, not paying attention. Some of us learned that in our jobs too, so,
Dr. Amy Novotny: Yes.
Rabiah (Host): And then I know you said for people who are [00:31:13] listening, that they could contact you for 15 minutes session, right if they're curious?
Dr. Amy Novotny: Yep. And the 15 minute consultation is a free consultation. It helps me get to know them. And it's kind of almost like a casual conversation interview process to see if it's the right process for someone as well as there are some people that it's not the right process. Some people who just want free resources and they can email me and I can send them different resources to help them get started.
But. The work that we do, one-on-one, it's a teamwork effort and I want to make sure that that's the correct fit first.
Rabiah (Host): Cool. Good. And just go ahead and talk about what are some of the most common things people will see you for some may be someone's listening, going, oh, I wonder if my situation applies?
Dr. Amy Novotny: So first and foremost, back pain back and neck pain. People having sciatica. People who can't bend over can't lift things. That's, that's a huge one. I [00:32:13] also see people for stress and anxiety. That's that's a big one. Other body pains, knee, shoulder, hip pain, people who want to avoid joint replacements or what they've been told is arthritic pain.
And then I have athletes. So professional athletes from the NFL, all the way into endurance athletes, triathletes and ultra marathoners all the way into weekend warriors. So people who w who go out and do something and now are suffering from the repercussions. So it really is spans the gamut.
Rabiah (Host): Great. So then I want to talk about your thing that you do outside of work, in addition to the ultra marathoning, I guess when you have time, which is photography, right? So this is like a really special hobby for you. So can you talk a little bit about that? Because you've had some cool opportunities already with it.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Absolutely. So I I've always loved photography, but I never took courses or anything growing up. And I started volunteering for [00:33:13] an organization in Arizona called Arizona Highways PhotoScapes where they host workshops and volunteers run it so to keep the cost down low for the participants. That's a nonprofit.
And I just started dabbling in it through that and learning from the instructors as I was helping with the logistics and keeping, you know, the participants happy. And so from there, I just started experimenting with photography more and more. And then this PABR Method and my business with that, that allowed me to be hired by a world renowned photographer who wanted to be kept out of a knee replacement surgery and a rotator cuff surgery.
And so he hired me to coach him in this process twice a day, but he wanted to in-person. So it led me to traveling around the world with him for six months going from Arctic Norway, Arctic Finland, all the way down to Antarctica within just six months. And so, I did that. And then once [00:34:13] I finished that, I I came back and started my business, but the photography has been, it's an outlet for me because nature is my ultimate joy, my ultimate peace, and being able to photograph it in an artistic way and share it with others, well, it helps to give people appreciation of nature so that they may think the next time they use a plastic bottle or bag or whatever, but at the same time, it gives people just an appreciation of the beauty that's out there in the potential and picking up the trash, instead of throwing it on the ground, just little things like that. And even, you know, I've been able to win some competitions and contests as well
so that's been helpful and that's always a nice reward and, you know, gives you a little boost of energy.
Rabiah (Host): Right. Yeah. And so, I mean, the opportunity to travel for six months, did you have any apprehensions in taking off, or how did that work for you? I mean, it sounds, I'm sure some people will be like, oh man, that's amazing. And other [00:35:13] people say, oh, I could never do that.
Dr. Amy Novotny: oh, I I'm, I'm a pretty straight and narrow person. And it was. In my head, pretty crazy for me to give up my job, give up my house, give up my boyfriend that I was with at the time. I basically gave up my life to go try out this adventure and be hired. And it was like nothing I had done never done before.
And I was terrified and I thought to myself, you know what, this is the moment I am working to change my life. And sometimes we come to those crossroads and think, okay, If I keep going down the same path, my life has never going to change. Am I truly happy? And I wasn't. I felt stagnant. I felt stuck. I was growing, I was doing things I was becoming more recognized, but I still was stuck.
And so I took these six months to dive into, do I want to continue down the same path that I was doing? Do I want to go into photography or do I want to do something different? And it gave me the chance. To [00:36:13] do that. And it was terrifying. I was traveling around with, with a photographer and his girlfriend for six, seven weeks.
And it wasn't the most comfortable situation. It, it, it was the working conditions were not good.
And so I learned a lot about myself and my resilience and my ability to handle challenging situations. A lot of people thought it was the most ideal, best life in the world. And it was one of my worst points in my life. That the nature and the travel are the best, but the people I were around were the worst.
So it was how do I get through that situation and how, what can I take out of it? So I don't make those mistakes again. And what did I learn about how my body responds to negative situations? It was, I mean, it was truly a group. Period. And that's really what life is about relationships and growth. And we can choose on both of those and we can choose to be stagnant and you chose to go [00:37:13] forward and, you know, face whatever came
Rabiah (Host): Yeah, sorry. You mostly self-taught with the photography.
Dr. Amy Novotny: pretty much. Yeah. So with the. With the workshops I learned in a, I heard the instructors teach, so I gained a lot of knowledge from that, but I never took a formal photography course.
Rabiah (Host): Yeah.
I'm sorry. It's funny there with this podcast. I mean, I've got little over 50 episodes and it seems that themes just keep unfolding. And so like the theme lately is about people just kind of deciding they want to do something. So they're just doing it. And it's like using YouTube, using workshop resources, whatever.
And I feel like you're one of the, you're fitting into that category of look, I want to improve how I'm working with others from my professional life. So I'm going to develop this method that now I know is working for me, that I can try it. Other people, I want to do photography. I'm going to do it this [00:38:13] way.
So it's kind of just the theme I'm seeing, which is nice.
Dr. Amy Novotny: yes. I think when you have that intrinsic drive, To learn something. Your ability to grow is that much more instead of being forced to sit in a classroom, but when you start to learn and explore, I mean, there's so many different ways that humans learn. And when you take the initiative to go start doing something, you're going to bring in the visual auditory, the kinesthetic you're going to bring in the experiential.
There's some power into that. And there's so many benefits and just diving into something head first and seeing if you sink or swim.
Rabiah (Host): Awesome. And I just, Yeah, that trip, it sounds thank you for admitting that it wasn't all just rainbows because I think people don't always do that because they're afraid that it'll make them sound a certain way. But I think talking about the good and bad helps give the fuller [00:39:13] story.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Yeah. Yeah.
Rabiah (Host): I find that more inspiring than someone just saying, oh, everything's worked out every time.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Right. And I am one where I value honesty probably more than, than anything, because I want someone to go into something with clear, with clarity, with good intentions and know, Hey, here's the good, here's the bad. There was some fabulous times. I got to see the most amazing sites, but there were also bad things that were leading up to it.
And I don't think any aspect of life is peaches and cream all the time, but that's not to say we can't learn from the bad times we're going to have them. So we might as well learn how to deal with them and how to get support from other people to get through it.
Rabiah (Host): Yeah, definitely.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Yeah.
Rabiah (Host): So is there anything we didn't cover that you were hoping to talk about?
Dr. Amy Novotny: I think that we kind of [00:40:13] covered everything and just one thing I would tell people is. If you're not sure what's going on with your nervous system, check in with yourself throughout the day. How much do you hold your breath? How much do you hold your belly button up and in those are indications that you're ramped up, that your nervous system needs help.
Do you feel buzzed? Do you feel on edge? Does your mind race and you can't fall into a nice sleep at night? Do you have pain? Watch yourself. The belly button is not supposed to be sucked up and in your rib cage is not supposed to be elevated all the time. You want to be able to blow out relaxed lecture, tailbone, go let your back go.
There are many things that we can do to help our bodies relax into release the stresses of the day. It is extremely important that we do that because otherwise that's when you start to end up with autoimmune [00:41:13] conditions, other health crises, diabetes strokes, and it's all related to stresses and how we hold it in our body.
So there is a lot we can do for it, so just start becoming aware if I can instill one thing; be aware of your belly button, what is it doing?
Rabiah (Host): Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And if you saying that caused someone to do all those things, check in later again.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Yes. Yes. Yes. Check in hourly because you can release it. And if your nervous system is patterned strongly, it will likely suck up an end again. So you have to check in with yourself on a periodic basis.
Rabiah (Host): Yeah. Cool. Well, other than that, is there any advice or mantra that you'd like to share. That may be something that you kind of turn to, that you dislike to impart on others?
Dr. Amy Novotny: I typically tell people, ribs down, belly out, ribs down, belly out, let your [00:42:13] ribs drop down. As you blow out as you exhale, let your belly spill out that can help do wonders to calm your body.
Rabiah (Host): Hmm. Cool. All right. So I have a set of questions called the fun five that I asked. So we'll go for it. What's the oldest t-shirt you have in stoneware?
Dr. Amy Novotny: So for that, I have a couple race t-shirts from my first marathons and that was in 2011. And I still wear those around the house and, or going out for a run, but, and they're not too smelly, so I still work.
Rabiah (Host): Good. They still are shirt-likes so that's good too. All right.
Dr. Amy Novotny: Yes.
Rabiah (Host): So, I mean, during the earlier part of the pandemic, it definitely seemed like Groundhog's Day, if you're familiar with the film. What song would you have your alarm clock play every morning if it had been Groundhog's Day?
Dr. Amy Novotny: So lately I've been obsessing over a song by Mumford and Sons, they did it with an African [00:43:13] group. It's called "There Will Be Time".. And it is absolutely beautiful. It's a combination of Mumford and sons group with this African tribe group. And it is just stunning, but I like the message. It's uplifting. It's soothing.
It's a combination of a lot.
Rabiah (Host): Cool. Great. I think that's the first Mumford song I got too. So that's awesome. All right. Coffee or tea, or neither?
Dr. Amy Novotny: Neither, no caffeine for me. I like to be calm and have my body respond to the daily hormonal challenge changes with adenosine and melatonin and all that. I don't like the caffeine jab. I used to long time ago, but once I got off, it never wanted to go back.
Rabiah (Host): So do you just do plain water most of the time or?
Dr. Amy Novotny: Plain water.
Rabiah (Host): Cool. Yeah. Well, that's supposed to be best for you. Can you think of something that just makes you. you like laugh so hard you cry or just crack up and kind of lose it or, yeah. And just share that? [00:44:13]
Dr. Amy Novotny: A friend of mine he's since passed, but he was in Vietnam. And when he was in training, he used to have to jump out of planes. And he told me this story once that always makes me laugh. And he's a, he was a tall guy, six foot, four, really, really tall guy, very gentle kind hearted spirit, even though he was in the military.
And He was skydiving in Australia once and he was doing a training and he came down on a field and there were these cows standing there and he said that. He was skydiving. And as he was coming to a landing, there was a cow in his way. And he said that he had to lift his legs up straight. So his butt skimmed over the top of the cow that just looked at him and mood.
He landed, just skipped along the ground. And it's the funniest thing. When he told me like I was crying, I was laughing. Especially as this huge tall guy, not heavy, but just [00:45:13] tall. I just seen him saying this California's head and moving at him as he's just coming into his butt skimming right over the top of it.
I'm like, oh my gosh,
Rabiah (Host): Yeah, that's I mean that it is funny to picture it. And when you skydive, you don't really land right on your, but usually
Dr. Amy Novotny: no, no, no, you don't typically, but you also don't want to crash into a cow. So
that would be worse.
Rabiah (Host): No, the cow might win that one.
Dr. Amy Novotny: definitely.
Rabiah (Host): All right. And last one, who inspires you?
Dr. Amy Novotny: I think right now I have a couple mentors and people in my life who I'm part of different groups. And I have one, I was just at an event over the weekend for a group called the hope makers and kind of the person who organizes his name is Greg Zlevor. He is phenomenal in trying to change this world and he put together this group, it's
an international group of us who are, have kind of experts in different areas. A lot of them are leadership experts, thought [00:46:13] leaders. I'm kind of more in the body space. There's some people in the mental health space and we can come together and try to help create change on a greater level. And he is always part of amazing groups of people.
And he inspires me because he's always working to do good and I want to do the same. .
Rabiah (Host): Hmm. Yeah.
that sounds like a great guy. Awesome. Well, so people want to find you, if they want to contact you about the 15 minute session, or if they just want to see your photography or find you where's the best place to go? And I'll put everything in the show notes, just
Dr. Amy Novotny: Sure. So my website pabrinstitute.com P A B R Institute dot come that stands for pain awareness, breathing, relief. That's the best way to get kind of a whole group of resources. But if they want to also just contact me, I can also send them a list. And my email is amy a m y at PABRinstitute.com. I'd like to get to know people.
So if they want to reach out, I'd love to reach out to them.
Rabiah (Host): Great. Yeah. [00:47:13] And you'll be people's neighbors soon in Colorado, so that's great. Well, thanks for, thanks for joining me, Amy. I really appreciate it.
Dr. Amy Novotny: I really appreciate you sharing your time and space with me, Rabiah, and thank you for sharing your audience as well. It was an honor.
Rabiah (Host): Thanks again for listening this week. You can find out more about the guest in the show notes and at rabiah said dot com (rabiahsaid.com). Joe Maffia created the music just for this podcast. Find him on Spotify. That's Joe M A F F I A. And Rob Metke is responsible for our visual design. You can find him online by searching for Rob M E T K E. Thanks, Rob.
Let me know who you'd like to hear from or about your own experiences to finding yourself outside of work. Follow at more than work pod (@morethanworkpod), or send a message on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Or visit our website more than work pod dot com (morethanworkpod.com). Give us a follow on Spotify, apple, or wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review if [00:48:13] you like. Thanks for listening to More Than Work. While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself.
