Welcome on this podcast, we explore everything around self healing, health, personal growth, the mind body connection, relationships, and more. Hey everyone. Welcome back today. I am speaking to Chandler Johnson. Welcome Chandler. Thank you. Happy to be here. Yeah, happy to have you because I reached out on Instagram. We have been following each other for a while and I just really resonate and love the content you post and your own story. So really looking forward to delving into that.
So Chandler is a chronic pain recovery coach, a certified holistic life coach. Certified mind, body syndrome, TMS practitioner. She has an MA in clinical psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy. And importantly, she created My Atlee Chic, which is a mental health and wellness platform with a focus on nervous system regulation and overcoming chronic conditions. That's a lot. That was great. That was such a great summary. Really focused on getting that.
Let's just start, tell us a little bit about yourself and what has led you here. Yeah, well, thank you for that great introduction. Um, so I'm Chandler, like, like you stated, I started Mindfully Chic and it really was started from my own journey with, um, chronic health issues, uh, mental health, the importance of both and the importance and the way that both, um, play on each other.
So for me, I previously worked as an associate marriage and family therapist, and I worked with the homeless population. And I also worked as a luxury wardrobe stylist. So that's where the name Mindfully Chic comes together. Completely different, um, areas, but yeah, but two things that I'm really passionate about. So that's where that name came from. Um, but for me, I dealt with chronic illness for over a decade. fibromyalgia, TMJ, just kind of things here and there.
But in 2020 was when everything really snowballed. So I woke up in the middle of the night with a hemiplegic migraine, which at the time I had no idea what it was, but. It's a really severe migraine attack that causes paralysis and weakness throughout your body, severe pain all throughout your body, but especially in your head. For me, it was the right side of my head and my face and my neck. And from then on, I experienced cluster headaches and daily migraine attacks.
So those migraine attacks lasted for weeks. I was having a severe attack in the middle of the night, every single night. That led to. daily head pain. Um, so every single day I had pain in my head, face and neck and dizziness, nausea, heart racing, anxiety, all of those chronic symptoms. Um, like basically any chronic symptom you can think of, I had it and that lasted for years. So that really started my work.
Thank you so much for sharing because yeah, one thing I found moving through chronic symptoms is you think you're the only person going through that and you know, a lot of people think, well, I've just got, I've got multiple diagnoses. So therefore a mind body approach won't work for me. Whereas what I find with myself and a lot of my clients who have used mind body approaches, there are several symptoms. There are several diagnoses. Symptoms of persisting, so you were dealing with daily pain.
how did you go about getting a diagnosis and what sort of diagnoses were you given? We need to stop. Yeah. So when I was 1st, having before I had that really severe attack, I was having just random pressure in my face and I didn't know exactly what it was because from my knowledge, I had never had a migraine attack. So migraine was never. On the table for me, but my E and T actually referred me to a neurologist and said, I think you're having migraine.
And I was like, no, this is just like, I think it's sinus pressure because I had really bad allergies and I had sinus issues. And he was like, no, you need to go to the neurologist. So saw a neurologist, but just because I was having those little symptoms, you know, it, I kind of wrote it off. And then when I woke up in the night with that severe, severe pain, that's when I was like, okay, this. Maybe they're right, like this is migraine.
So I got the diagnosis of chronic migraine, even though it falls into so many different headache categories. Um, so it started with, with that chronic migraine diagnosis, I was put on so many different medications, so many side effects, all of that, and, and then it just continued to pile on. Like my neck had so much pain. So I was diagnosed with occipital neuria, so now I'm going to.
A pain management doctor where I'm getting steroid injections and pain medication, and I'm getting Botox injections and I'm, I'm doing all of this. And so it just continued spiraling. And every time I went to the doctor, I was like sent to a new specialist. So I was sent to someone to check for POTS. So I went to like a cardiologist, um, I was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis. So I went to a urologist and it just constantly, it just constantly piled on.
So. You know, as you can imagine, I just had so much anxiety just thinking about, okay, every, it seems like every day there's something new, something's worsening, I'm getting a new medication. Um, so yeah, the, the, just everything just piled on really. Yeah, and I think, you know, when you're as more than one label and it feels like something that started out being contained and then it doesn't feel contained.
Plus the fact that you don't even know what you're dealing with or the tests are coming back normal. No one can give you answers. It's so stress inducing, I fully understand how hard that is. It sounds like you followed the typical path to trying to get well, trying all the medications, taking the steps, nothing seemed to be working very well. Was there anything that, that didn't work? You had success with, yeah, you know, there were things that worked for a short amount of time.
And I, when I say work, nothing really works, you know, but some things I felt improvement, like, I took so many medications and eventually I was on this medication that actually was meant for Alzheimer's, but for some reason. They also treated people with migraine with it, and that actually worked the best. So that was interesting.
Um, but, you know, I did physical therapy, which, you know, it would help for a couple of days and then get worse, um, things like vestibular therapy worked better for dizziness because, you know, vestibular therapy. Helps you take the fear out of the dizziness, which, you know, is the basis of my work is decreasing fear. Um, but back then, you know, I didn't realize that's what it was doing.
So that did help some, but for the most part, um, really eventually finding this mind body approach is what helped me no longer have chronic symptoms. So I'm curious, uh, how you got to the point where you actually even discovered, um, a mind body approach to healing chronic symptoms.
Because what I find is unless you stumble across it, or unless you hear a lot of people that have really positive experiences it can be a completely different way of thinking so how did you get to this point of desperation where a mind body approach was something you started looking into? Yeah, that's such a good question. So. Let's like flash, let's, let's go back a little bit. So this was in 2020 when all of this was happening, I was working as, um, an associate marriage and family therapist.
I had just left, um, the wardrobe stylist job and started my first like big girl job doing therapy. And this is when all of this happened. So eventually I had to go on disability leave. And so I left my job. I couldn't work. I was so debilitated. I couldn't even, like, look at screens, like, how we're talking like this. Like, I couldn't I couldn't do that. I was in so much pain all the time. And so disability, like, short term disability last a year.
So they'll pay you out for a year and then you have to apply for a permanent disability. So, it's October. 2021 and I applied for, um, permanent disability and I got denied because usually with migraine and a lot of chronic conditions, they just don't approve you. They're like, Nope, you can figure it out. It's not serious. And it's like, yeah. So at this point I really hit a rock bottom. So that was October. We moved into November.
Still was like, I don't know what I'm going to do for work at this point. I was living with my husband now, but, um, he was my boyfriend at the time we were in LA, still in a pandemic and just literally one income, not knowing when I could work. Complete rock bottom. And I had heard of mind body syndrome before, but I really just wrote it off because I was like, my symptoms are way too severe. And obviously I was in psychology. I worked as a, as a therapist.
So I knew about the mind body connection. I always loved learning about the brain. So I knew that like emotions impact your body and I knew how powerful the brain was, but. I think that when you're in it, you just really can't believe that it will help you, you know, because you think you're, your stuff is so severe. Yeah. You think you're so severe. You're so different. Plus, like, it takes so much.
To try and convince people that you are in pain or that you're struggling and yeah, it's illness You know, it's not something that in your head per se, but it's something you have to really Try and convince people of like I'm really struggling.
I know the tests are normal, but this is something I'm dealing with So what I learned when I got to that point of mind body Opening up to the mind body connection is like, I just wanted to make sure no one felt like they were dismissive of the pain because it was a brain approach or a mind body approach. It felt quite hard for me to mentally get to that point. Even though like you, I had studied psychology, just my bachelors.
I knew about the power of emotions, but it was still quite a big jump to get there. Really look into it. Yeah, yeah, definitely. That's that's exactly where I was at, too. And, you know, I also, I, my dad passed away in 2018 and I knew that grief had impacted my symptoms, but I didn't really, I didn't realize to this extent and and other things, you know, definitely impacted my symptoms. Like, you know, I needed to set stronger boundaries.
I. I wasn't aligned in my career path and you know, I wanted to do something a little different., but I didn't think I needed it. That they were really at the root, especially when you're dealing with all of these conditions, you just think like, there's some medical mystery that's going on here. They're just not finding things, you know, any little incidental finding, whether it was a scan or a blood test, I would just latch on like, Oh, this has to be it. We have to fix this now.
And then it's like, Okay, that didn't work or a doctor's like, okay, this, this isn't going to help you. So I was really at a rock bottom and I ended up dealing with insomnia for like 2 weeks straight. Like, I just was just so stressed about this. I just, I was like, what am I going to do? I have to, I have to work. I can't, I have to figure this out. So I believe that I just started searching podcasts because I had gotten it really into podcasts actually, like during the pandemic.
And I think I searched like How to cure pain or something like that. And this podcast came up about mind body syndrome or TMS neuroplastic pain. And everything is under that same umbrella. I started listening to it and it was people on there talking about the same thing as me. Like I'm dizzy every day. I've had pain every day.
And on this podcast, they talked a lot about how fear plays a role in your symptoms and when you've been dealing with this for a long time, and everything's coming up normal, there's no answers. You're just managing and you're not really managing. It's something called mind body syndrome, and your brain is playing a pivotal, pivotal role in your symptoms.
So for me having such a psychological background and loving science, like my dad was a scientist, he was a molecular biologist, I've always loved science and the human body, so with someone breaking it down that way, and this is how the brain works and this is what's happening really resonate with me. Like, it just felt like something clicked and I think. Also because I was at that rock bottom, I was like, well, I'm going to try anything like this is making sense to me.
This kind of seems like so miraculous, but like, I'm just going to try it. So I reached out to, um, uh, a center that focused on mind body syndrome. I learned more about it. And when I had a consultation with them, like just the fact that they were saying, this is something that you can overcome. That was the first time someone really said like, You don't have to deal with this forever. Luckily. I had a good neurologist that, you know, it was like, we can get this under control.
Like, I know we can do it, which is great timelines or yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There was like, no timeline or anything and this was the 1st person that was like. No, we've seen this like in our practice, like this is something that we can work through. So I did brain retraining work for eight weeks and I was actually able to go back to work and it was huge. Like I had no idea when I was going to be able to work. I knew that I didn't want to go back to being a therapist.
It just, I, especially because I was working for a department of mental health. It was so much paperwork just.
So taxing and I knew that my like nervous system was not ready to jump back into that So I actually went back being a wardrobe stylist and I was on my feet all day nine hours a day Talking to people under bright lights music everything I feared honestly for two years I was able to go back and do and I just continued to get better from then And within about six months, I was completely off of all of my medications, like feeling back to my normal life.
And I just, you know, I realized how much, not only the grief was playing into my symptoms, the fear about the symptoms themselves, and also just me not living in my purpose, which even going back to that job, I was like, okay, I don't know that like being a stylist really is still my purpose, but. Just showing myself that I could do that helped me even clear my mind to be like, okay, what do I want to do next? Because now the future that I see is actually possible now.
Ah, there's so much in there that you just said. Oh my god, I'm like, oh my god. Yeah, I so resonate with what you're saying like so many parts of that and you don't really Go in the same as you come out if you hear the chronic illness or maybe could but I think like you said It's a huge opportunity to really look at what is important and it forces you to reassess a lot of different things Things in your life and the way that you're showing up.
So I want to circle back to the brain retraining, because one thing I try and do on this podcast is break down concepts because I know when we're in a world and it's just common knowledge, if someone's listening from outside and that they are new to these concepts, I am a brain retraining. My body practitioner, I teach brain retraining, you've done brain retraining and you're also teaching it in your course. How did it look for you?
in the first part of getting well, was it implementing exercises frequently throughout the day? Yeah. What did it look like for you? So I feel like for me, It wasn't so scheduled and I know that some people need that schedule, like, this is my time to sit down and do this. But what I really liked in my healing process and what I implement in my course is taking that pressure off of yourself to, like, do things so rigidly. So, for, for me, the 1st thing was a big mindset shift.
So finding that evidence of why my symptoms. Were able to be overcome why there wasn't anything structurally wrong with me. And that wasn't just like a sitting down for 15 minutes and writing that out. That was noticing that throughout the day, like seeing if, if when I'm driving, I don't notice it, but then when I stop at a stop light, the pain comes, okay, that's evidence of, okay, it's not something structural, it's the way my brain is processing this.
So, it really was, it's really a practice, you know, a lot of people want something instant and it makes sense because, you know, if you've dealt with. Pain you just wanted to go away, but it really was a practice throughout the day. It was checking in with the language that I'm using. Like, how am I talking about pain? How am I saying my pain versus the pain? How am I describing it? And then also doing the meditations, visualization, somatic tracking.
Um, so following those pain sensations with curiosity without trying to change them. Um, this was all things I did throughout the day. Like, I feel like I'm, I'm not the best at like routines in a way. Like I want to meditate, but you got me, you got me like. I love meditating, but like, I'm not like every morning I wake up and I just immediately go meditate for 30 minutes. And then I, I, like, can't really do that.
I just, I try to, but I'm also like, not the best morning person, even though I want to be to like, a lot of people I think shop in this space and.
Everything looks so perfect, but everyone has different ways of moving through the day and different rhythms and, um, I think that sustainability piece, and when you're so down and out and when you're really at rock bottom, the thought of having to do so many things, quote unquote, perfect, which doesn't exist, but that is a very typical, Driving force and personality of someone who does experience chronic symptoms. A lot of it's actually unlearning in the way that we do things as well.
So not expecting so much of ourselves to get it all right, to do things, uh, really rigid, uh, actually creating a bit of space right, because especially, like you said, people that have more perfectionist tendencies end up having the chronic illness, the chronic pain, and I think, like you said, we have to break down that idea of having to do things perfectly on schedule, very rigid, because we think that the harder that we try for something, the easier we'll get it, but it's actually the
Opposite. The harder we try, the harder it is with these symptoms. It can be really hard to, to get, to first of all, get that point across, but also lean into that trust because it's the energy in which you you're approaching something, like if you're clinging onto the outcome, really push, push, push. I know for people new to these concepts, it might, um, I'm trying to put it in a simple way, but it kind of drives a stress response in the body. If we're doing it out of my mind.
EFX team, I must do this. Uh, so yeah, it's the energy in which we do something can, can have a huge impact on the nervous system. Yeah, exactly. Cause it's not pressure. If you put too much pressure on yourself, it just shocks your body. It makes your nervous system feel like. There's a threat, like it's something that it has to figure out, especially when you're dealing with illness. You're always trying to figure something out, like you're trying to figure out what's the cause of this.
Like, am I going to make it worse? Is it like you're constantly in your head? And that just creates more fear. Yeah, more hypervigilance and more fear. Yeah. So many things that you're saying I'm resonating with.
So another thing I would love to, look into a bit more as you're saying, like the grief and other things at that time had impact on the state of your health, perhaps in the symptoms that were coming up, which is, um, TMS, like I'm not a Uh, practitioner and TMS, but as far as I'm aware, the concept that our emotions and unresolved emotions are impacting our physical health and how when we express that can really change the way our nervous system works.
So although I work those principles, um, it sounds like you had a TMS practitioner or you had support in that area. What realizations did you make around. Perhaps grief and other things going on and how that actually, drove your nervous system to the point where symptoms were occurring. Yeah, no, that's a great question.
I feel like for me, like with grief, it's been A long process of me discovering, you know, how I process the grief initially, how I continue to process it because as we know, things lay in our subconscious, our subconscious is like always working on the backend. So even if we're not consciously aware of what's going on, our subconscious can be triggered by literally anything in our environment. So I feel like for me, holding on to grief looked like the idea of.
I would needed to be sad all the time. And that wasn't something I really processed. Like I knew that like my dad would not want me to be sad, but I just felt like, because it caused me to be so sad, like my nervous system got used to being so sad and it didn't know how to handle even good situations because consciously I'm like, okay, my dad wants me to be happy. My dad does not want me to be sad all the time.
My nervous system got so used to sadness, so used to fear, fear that something else could go wrong, that the carpet could be pulled from under me, you know, and so I really had to process that fear around, like, it's okay to move forward. Like, you won't forget your dad. Like your dad doesn't want you to sit in this, in this sadness and hang on to this.
And I think my symptoms were a manifestation of me being like, well, life is just sad now, you know, allowing yourself to feel, to trust life again, excuse me. And allowing yourself to embrace the good moments, which can be, we both know really hard after grief, but that's really helpful that you could pinpoint that now as well, because we do it neurologically and with our physiology, we get used to states like condition in our nervous system. So that makes complete sense.
Yeah. And it's almost like scary. To, like, feel happy again, or good again, or even after dealing with pain and illness, it's even scary to be normal again. You know, like, you kind of sometimes don't even know what's normal because, you know, you're never perfect because if you were perfect, like, you wouldn't Be alive like the brain is always sending you signals, even if they're just millisecond signals because that's its job.
So you're never just like, not going to ever like, have pain ever again in your life, but you don't have to have those chronic symptoms. But it's hard to know. Sometimes it's hard to know the difference because you're so in this pain perspective, this pain life. Um, it's hard to know what's normal. Yeah, I mean, I think I told you, I, I moved through chronic pain 10 years ago now, and I do remember at least for the year after having the surgery.
Not chronic symptoms, you know, like I was comfortable day to day. I would still go through that period where I think you even put something on Instagram where you were driving the car and you stopped and it Yeah. And you felt dizzy. Mm-Hmm. I had a lot of those moments because I also had a lot of dizziness alongside my pain. And it was that constantly having to reassure my nervous system, like I still do it now, but especially we're moving through the other side of chronic symptoms.
You're recalibrating at your normal, like if you go to the gym and let's say you get sore muscles, it's reminding yourself, this is, this is a normal person pain. You know, we all have a headache from time to time. We all get tired from time to time. And it's actually learning to trust that, like you said. Everybody is having symptoms and feedback, whether they actually persist as a different story. So I, I definitely don't think people talk about that enough.
Like that whole questioning, is this normal? And just really, I think the more that the more time after you have say overcome or moved past chronic symptoms, the more time that goes past, the more you start to really lean into trust of your body, but also start trusting life again as well, that they can be those moments of joy and nothing's coming. I know a lot of people from living in that fear tend to be in that state for a while. Yeah, exactly. Exactly what you said about trust.
Like, it's, it's so hard to trust again, but also, like you said, it's, it's a process. You have to practice this. You have to reassure yourself. You have to tell yourself that you're safe when you have those symptoms again, and it's normal to have a headache when you're stressed, but it doesn't have to last for 5 days. It doesn't have to come consistently, um, yeah.
So I think it's really important to decipher that and take the pressure off of yourself to be perfect and never have a headache again. Like that's not, that's not realistic. And I think that was a big turning point for me too. When I was like, okay, I'm going to stop striving for perfection. And when, once I did that, like my symptoms improved even more. Did that just look like you reminding yourself to stop a task when you were trying to get it perfect?
Did it look like those little things daily that you were spending a lot of time and energy and trying to get right and just you coaching yourself and bringing yourself back to prison? Yeah, that's exactly it. Yeah. You said it, you said it exactly. Yeah, no, I'm definitely showing up like I've seen consistently on this podcast, showing up and constantly pushing yourself out of your comfort zone with doing things like I think about how far I've come with.
The perfectionistic side, because I've moved through so much of actually just showing up and putting stuff out there. We not, we know nothing's perfect. We know that logically, but to move through that, you constantly have to be seen as a beginner and also just change your relationship to learning and failure. Especially when it comes to productivity, because it is something that I see a lot with my clients trying to get things right and trying to do things to such a high degree and name.
And eventually getting themselves into that phrase response and anything at all, you know? Yeah, yeah. That freeze response is so common with perfection because if you try to be perfect, you get so overwhelmed. Like I know, like my brain will literally shut down if I am trying too hard to be perfect. And I'm overthinking every move. Like my brain just shuts down. Like I can't be creative. I can't get my words out straight. I can't do anything.
Because I'm putting so much pressure on myself to do things, right. Totally. So, um, yeah, I'm curious about your, on reflection, looking back now, your main aha moments, the things that really helped you the most or the biggest realizations you had, you have already talked on some of them, but were there any more that really stood out to you? Um, I think that the biggest is that we have more power. over our health than we think. And that's not to say that there's not a role for medications.
Like, you know, I'm very big on science. I love my holistic remedies, but I also love science, but we have to realize that we have so much more power over our health and our ability to regulate ourselves and stop ourselves from going down the spiral, whether it's an emotional spiral, mental spiral, or a physical spiral, spiral of these health issues. So just knowing that, wow, I have the power in this moment.
If I'm feeling head pain to just notice it, not try to change it, describe the quality of it, just picture it as a symphony symphony, and it can actually get better in that moment. Like that feels so empowering. So I think that's so important for people to know that. Knowing that your brain and knowing that you have control over your health in a way is very empowering. You know, that was, I think that's the biggest, biggest thing for me. I agree.
I love the word influence because it takes away this is your fault. It's your responsibility. but I have more influence over my health. We all have more influence over our health. Then we are lead to believe we've both been through the medical system and there's so much conditioning growing up around, like, listen to people that have the answers. And like you said, there's such a place for that.
Especially when it comes to acute conditions, chronic conditions, it's actually just really opening up to the fact that maybe you do have. Influence over your nervous system state, and when you really find ways to harness that, things can shift completely. It's still, it's still so. Crazy. Even though, you know, I've been well for a while, I'm constantly seeing amazing results with my clients that you can still get blown away by some stories sometimes. Yeah. Of the mind body connection.
Yeah, definitely. Like it still amazes me too, even with myself. Like sometimes I'll think back, like, wow, I'm really doing this. Like I did not know. Yeah. Like, is this real? Yeah, I know. It really can get like that sometimes. And I always like to remind my clients, you know, having been so far out At the other side of symptoms, chronic symptoms, at least, um, you know, there, there is a point where you look back and it does feel like a blip on your timeline.
And I know through it at the time, you're like, when is this ever going to end? I'm going to be stuck in this river. There's no hope. And so I just right now thinking that I really want to reassure people that you can get to the point where we're at or even further down the track and look back and, you know, Yeah, the, you'll always remember what you go through, but you can be living such a full life when you're open to this type of work. Yeah, exactly. And that's what everyone wants.
Like they want to have a full life. They don't want to feel like their body is against them. They don't want to feel like their conditions are stopping them from doing what they want to do. So it is so important to remember that like, this is just a blip in time. This is just a moment in your life. And even though it feels like it's forever, It's not, it is temporary. And with the mindset shifts and the right tools, like you really can get your life back. Yeah, definitely.
I know that you have recently put out a course, a mind body course, which is very exciting. And I guess, you know, through your own journey, through your studies and It's been something that's been. Really sounds like very relevant to you and you wanting to help others in this area. So do you want to just explain a little bit about what was behind you putting it out and what is inside?
Yeah So it's called the mind body reconnection course and it's all about overcoming chronic pain chronic illness As well as anxiety And so obviously the course was sparked by my own journey through chronic pain and illness. And I just felt like I wanted something accessible to people that was a substitute for coaching.
If people weren't able to do an entire coaching program, right now I don't do one on one, but eventually I will, but I wanted something That felt like coaching, but it was accessible. You know, I can't coach hundreds of people at one time. So, you know, I would love, I want, I really wanted to have something that could be as accessible as possible to get the word out and to get people really healing.
So. I created this course and it's eight video modules and I am teaching in the, in the videos about the brain, the mind body connection. Um, I talk a bit about trauma, self limiting beliefs, and just overall nervous system regulation. And then I teach brain, uh, brain retraining techniques like thought, redirection, somatic tracking, reframing, um, and other mindfulness techniques.
So, um, I have 8 modules, there's a video per module, and then the entire course has 25 worksheets and 8 different meditations, which also includes systematic tracking, visualizations, and it really is a go at your own pace. I really focus on not having pressure. Like, we talked about, like, no pressure on yourself. This isn't school. You don't have to get an a, you don't have to do it perfectly.
Um, so that's a really big thing that I focus on, um, but it can be completed in a minimum of 8 weeks because each module is released per week. Um, so I designed, designed it 8 weeks because that was how long it took for me to get back to work. Um, so I do the principles of brain retraining and then. I also add in my psychology background.
So we do talk about trauma and the inner child and the way that things lay in your subconscious, as well as breaking down those self loathing beliefs and living in your core values. So I really added what I learned in my practitioner training as well. And just the wisdom that I've received throughout my own life, working through grief and, um, working in, you know, creating this business and feeling really aligned in the work that I'm doing.
I do talk about that in the course, too, because that really does play a big impact on your symptoms, both mental and physical symptoms. So, yeah, I really wanted to make it really well rounded, accessible, and I'm always available. For email, um, support for questions or anything when you're taking the course as well, because I know this can be really new for people. So I have a lot of clients check in with me daily. Like, is this is, are we sure this is TMS?
Are we sure this is mind body syndrome? Like, what do you think about this? So, you know, you still do get that coaching element with the course as well. Yeah, I was just thinking as you were talking through the modules, I think you've covered every single base. I also believe how good chronic illness in terms of, you know, in a child trauma work, um, belief work.
Living your authentic truth, finding out what that is along the way, uh, incorporating joy, uh, brain retraining, all of that is also what I teach. And I think for anyone starting on this journey, like, obviously Chandler's put it all into one for you, but, uh, sort of moving through thinking like we, like, what, what are the components? They are all the components. And if you at least one of them, like you're on the right track, because it's a really holistic.
Um, approach to overcoming chronic illness. And I think sometimes people like to head in one direction, which is awesome, or they might get while doing a particular thing, but there are so many things we can discover about ourselves, like you said, around living in our purpose, it goes so beyond just getting rid of symptoms. Right. Right. That's really powerful. Yeah. You got it all there.
And, um, yeah, I think well done on doing it because I know how much effort and time goes into creation and just so much and helping others. I think it's amazing. So I'm assuming you see yourself in this area, like you really want to stay in this mind Continue to do this kind of work. Yeah, definitely.
It's it's really has fulfilled me so much because, you know, it helps me understand, like, why I had to go through this because I didn't feel aligned working as a therapist and I would like I wanted to do more coaching because I could. Build my own brand, build my own business, you know, really, really get creative with it. And I just feel very aligned. And if I wouldn't have gone through this, I wouldn't have this business. You know, that's what I built my business on.
So I'm excited for it to continue growing. I would love to do like in person events and other workshops and just really spread my Awareness, like that's my biggest thing. I just want people to know that healing is possible and be able to see me who dealt with such severe symptoms, which I didn't even know, like what I was going to do, you know, and even overcoming symptoms that I didn't even like, think about, like, I just thought that was normal.
I'm like, Oh no, this is like, you know, this is, this is not normal. You shouldn't be having these symptoms. No, it's funny. Actually, kind of. Gone off here, but like, if you look back at your, the course of your life and these things that you were dealing with when you were little or young girl, your teenage years, and I can look back and there's certain things now, like heat rashes and IVs, just things that were never like a huge issue.
But looking back, I'm like, that was so, that was my body. Yes, that's exactly me. I was actually thinking like. One time I got dental work done that was like, it was, I think it was like my, no, not my wisdom teeth, like a dental crown. And it was such hard work. Like they just like couldn't get the tooth and it was, it felt traumatic to me. And for like a week after, a week or two after, I had vertigo like every day.
And I didn't know why, like, there was like, nothing was wrong with the tooth. And this was like years and years ago. And I'm realizing now, like, Oh my gosh, that was my body because of that dental procedure, I was so scared of it. And it just caused so much pain. Like even after the pain was gone, I was still having symptoms. And it's like those things that you don't even think about until you do this work. I know it's, it's so interesting. So where can people find you and.
What socials is that your main point of contact? Yeah. So mainly on Instagram. So it's at mindfully chic, M I N D F U L L Y C H I C E. Um, also building my Tik TOK. I feel like I'm not the best Tik TOK girly, but we're trying. I get on there and then I post like six weeks later. It's not good. I'll, I'll, I'll be on that train. I didn't even know you're on the yeah, I know. I'll have to add you because I'm, I'm trying and then my website is mindfullychic. co and you can find the course on there.
I also have an introductory ebook that has, um, A few educational guides. It has four worksheets and it has one medic meditation. So if you want to start there, there's the ebook there as well. Um, but those are my main points, Instagram, and then my website. Thank you so Chandler. It's been all of you guys listening. I really inspired and just, just to know what is possible, you know, coming from the depths of literally pain and moving through it, it's amazing.
So yeah, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. It was so great chatting with you.