Casey Berglund:
So, Teri, I think I just had one of the biggest releases that I've had with you on your table. Yes. Right before recording today. Yes. My body was in pain, like actual pain, tension, constriction. I could perceive it as like up in my neck and my back. And you did your thing, which you've been doing in support of me for almost a year.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Yes, it's been a little while.
Casey Berglund:
To support my body as a chiropractor, and then of course, as I've gotten to know you, there's so much more to you. Obviously, you've done your master's in neuroscience, and I have chills coming to me already. Like energy is coming through right now. The intuitive parts of you and the really attuned to energy. I don't know if you would refer to yourself as a healer, but in my perception, you are a healer and you have a healing touch and you have an awareness of what the body, the spine, the nervous system, the human, the being in front of you needs to create a supportive outcome. Maybe I want to start by thanking you for that.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Thank you.
Casey Berglund:
Also, by asking you, what is it that is actually happening when you're adjusting someone like me? What just happened up there? What are you doing that is creating a shift in my whole being? In my nervous system? In my sense of myself? In my... I had an emotional release. What is it that you're actually doing when someone is lying on your table?
Dr. Teri Meyer:
That's a great question. I think when it comes to adjusting someone, there's so many different layers to what you're feeling. I think the biggest thing that I personally want to come into the room with is openness , because when you're wanting to work to heal somebody, when you're wanting to elevate their state of being and their vibes and their emotions and their state of being in their body and their physical entity, there's this kind of spaciousness within that desire. So there's a need to be open for me. So that means breathing slowly. That means feeling the openness within the spaces in my body. So in my stomach, in my chest, in my throat, and being willing to hold some space for the person who's coming in, but not just for their emotional state, because it's quite interesting. Sometimes the emotions are in one part and they're blocked somewhere , but the body's also telling a story. So when you touch somebody and when you touch their feet, I always start with the feet, which is really interesting because you're looking at the structure of the body, the infrastructure, the way the skeleton is holding itself, and all of the connections that exist between the nerves, which cover the whole body and between the brain and the body and the bones and the muscles, all of those connections have such a story behind them. So even when the person might not know where this is coming from, what's going on, the body does. So I think a huge part of adjusting someone is listening , but listening with your hands and listening with your sensations that you feel when you put your hands on an area, what it tells you, listening to tension, to whatever comes into your body, trying to be really fluid and flow with that. And I think that's a huge part of adjusting because your body naturally guides you through the body of the other person to what needs to be released. And it's always such an honor because you feel like you've gone through this journey with somebody and it's so powerful when your body's in harmony again. And I think that to me is a huge purpose of getting adjusted is to be back into harmony.
Casey Berglund:
I feel it. I feel like I've entered into a parasympathetic nervous system state. So like the rest and digest. I mean, this is also the context of podcasting and being in this space. So there's other factors at play. And at the moment that this is recorded, it's August 8th, the Lion's Gate Portal. So I feel like I'm tuning into that energy as well. But I can say from other moments over the last year where I've received an adjustment from you, I also drop into what I would define as like an opening of my own channel. Like I can access creative flow, which makes sense to me because my nervous system is in a different state for receiving. So what I'm really hearing from you is that you set an intention of being open in your own channel and in your own body for the work to flow through you in a way into the body and the nervous system and the being of the other person. And you said something earlier that really stood out to me that even if someone isn't aware of what's happening for themselves or what the source of their contraction or tension is, the body is telling a story whether they are sort of mentally aware of it or not. And so it sounds like you are attuning with your whole being, including your body to the story that the body in front of you is telling you. And then I'm just imagining like a, I mean, you are a scientist, too, right? Like I'm imagining like just fiddling with little like knobs and you know, like it's like we could pull, we could do this like muscular release and then the spinal release and then there's an emotional release and then there's the breath, like there's different parts of what you bring to the table versus just cracking someone's neck. Yes, which I think is what sometimes people who maybe haven't ever been to a chiropractor before, I mean, I didn't go to a chiropractor for a very long time because I was scared of having my neck cracked and that's what I associated with it. Yeah. But there's so much more to it and you specifically have a gift of attuning to the story of the body.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Thank you, Casey.
Casey Berglund:
I think it's really beautiful.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Thank you. Yeah. And I think it is something that people do say they have a fear of being cracked or maybe they have the opposite, they really want to be cracked. And so it can be a bit of a love and a hate, but actually it's really interesting that I feel that neither of those outcomes are the point where you love it or you hate it or you're afraid of it. The cracking is just something that really in scientifically what happens is the gas is escaping the joint. So it's as simple as that. It's a little sigh from your joints and it can make a sound if you do it fast enough. So really the cracking is just an exhale from the bones and your body, from the structure of your body, from all the tension that it's been holding onto. And whether you have a crack or not, or you use a different way of listening to the body, some people don't need that and some people, their body's not looking for that. So that's another part of, I think, the listening is what does this body need? What is it? What does it want? And then understanding that you're not trying to force an outcome , because sometimes if you're looking for the crack, you feel that's a sign, an end goal that you've adjusted a joint well. But that might not be actually what the situation calls for. So I think with chiropractic people practice in different ways, of course, but for me, what's been really important is to be, it's not my ego that needs to be on the stage and say, "Okay, I cracked this. I did this." It's actually know what does the body want? What does it need? And what's going to create an adjusted harmonious system? And I think that's really important.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah. And you must have to have a level of deep trust and surrender to, well, yeah, believe that the body in front of you is going to do what it is required to do for harmony or for healing. And that if your ego's out of the way, you're just attuning to that and facilitating that natural healing process. Does that feel true for you? Yes.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think sometimes you have to work with the fact that people don't always come with their barriers down. I mean, actually come on more often than not.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
We're blocked up. We're hurt. We're scared. Exactly. And I think there are some gems, a bit like you, who come in with less of the barriers. And so then the work you can do can go faster and it's deeper and it's more profound. I think though, sometimes you need this introductory period, right? Where someone's also learning to trust you. And there's something really interesting and quite sensitive on people who've had a lot of trauma, especially if there's had, you know, there's been a physical element that somebody else touching and working with their spine can be quite scary and there can be a lot of resistance to that. So just knowing that that might be the case and then, okay, let's, let's work with this because you have to peel it back. You have to see that maybe the body in front of you really wants to express something, but there's a lot of noise and self-protection and let's not put this on the table for my chiropractor to see for anybody, any other human to see right now. Let's keep it inside. Let's lock it away a little bit more. So the body does that and the body protects and the body guards, but it takes the, the trust session by session to eventually open it up. And then there's kind of an exhale and then the body is like, by the way, this is what I want. And it's just so clear. So sometimes you have to work with the process a little bit in it and it's a different timeline, but it's, when it happens, it's always a very beautiful and noticeable thing.
Casey Berglund:
So like a slow down to speed up.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. We, we, we arrive on the starting line together and kind of on a blank page, I guess, if you like where the body's saying, okay, I'm ready to, to share. I'm ready to tell you something.
Casey Berglund:
I know that you were, are a dancer. Yes. And that part of your story around getting into chiropractics had to do with pain in your own body that, you know, maybe dance contributed to, or I'll let you share that story, but I'm really curious about that entryway or that interest in chiropractics to begin with. And then, you know, if you're in the flow, you can add on where the interest in neuroscience came and how they're connected. Because I think that intersection is super interesting.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Yeah. Well, yes, exactly. I get very excited about these things. So I might note out a little bit here, but I think when I started, it was such a physical, I really wanted to be a dancer. It was a lot of physical demand. It was a physical ball game that I was playing. Sometimes it was eight hours a day of dancing. It was extremely demanding. And I remember in the first few months, the pain in my body was unreal every night, you know, going to sleep, feeling aching and all of these places that I didn't know existed. And also all of this tension in my nervous system. And I could feel that. And I was also having to drive a lot to get to the university where I was studying dance. And then on the weekends, we would have rehearsals for whatever auditions we were doing.
We had shows and troupes within the degree. And then I think it was about six months in and I started getting really intense migraines. So debilitating migraines, it was awful because you can imagine you're at a dance school and the music is so loud. And one of the key things to a migraine is this auditory sensitivity. And so it just felt like someone was hammering on my head with the bass that was playing and there were lights and I was, you know, hoodie and sunglasses and feeling like I was going to throw up. And yeah, it was really hard. So I had to put a pause on the classes, but I still had to be there because I didn't want to miss anything. And probably about a week later, we started our auditions.
So in a way, it was the worst timing possible because your additions are when you showcase what you've been doing. You know, this is your time to get a job. This is your time to get into a group. This is when you want to bring your A game. And my body was like, how about I bring my Z game? So that was fun. Wow. Yeah. But let's have a look at that. Luckily, I was seeing physios three times a week and they were amazing. They were so good for all of our musculatics and pains, our calf muscles, our quadriceps. My migraines weren't being helped. They were doing a lot of work on my neck. It just, nothing was cutting through. So they actually had the wisdom to call on a chiropractor, got somebody to come along. He adjusted me and I had such a drastic change. I didn't have a migraine for, I think about three years afterwards. It was just one of those lightning bulb slash bolt moments. And suddenly I found myself able to move again, to see again. It was really night and day. It was so dramatic.
And not everybody has that story, but for me it was really quite potent. And then fast forward on a year or so. I also went through a period of deep fatigue after my dancing degree. So I was trying to work full time as a dancer. It was also quite tough emotionally because there's a lot of rejection. There's a lot of needing to bring your energy day in, day out, knowing that you might not have any result come of that. Going to different castings, being told no, sometimes being told yes. Maybe it's not what you wanted. It was a lot of needing to be flexible. And I think there was a moment where my body after pushing itself for a while just felt extremely tired. And so I had fatigue. So this was also the beginning of this thinking, well, what's going on in my body? Why am I going through these? Why is it trying to stop me? What's happening? And I was always someone who wanted to push and to go and to make things happen. And so I think my body was just saying, no, I don't feel the same way.
Casey Berglund:
I feel like that deserves like a little pause. Like how often do you listener like push and you like it's like a part of you just wants to keep going and push through. And it's and it feels like the body is what's holding you back. And sometimes I think we can resent our bodies for not being able to achieve our goals as quickly as we want to. But then there's a wisdom in that too. So you're in this place where your body's like we can't we can't keep going like this. So what happens next?
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Yeah, I mean, that's such a good point and such a good part of the journey to emphasize , because I think working with your body can be very humbling and it can really slow you down because you want to use this great powerful brain of yours to surge through in every part of your life. Some of us do not all of us the same. But if you find yourself that way inclined, it's really hard to surrender, as you say, to the feeling, OK, well, maybe this is actually not what I need and it's OK. I don't need to get to whatever age and have done all of these things. It's just something that, you know, I'm pushing myself towards because that's what I've been conditioned to do, perhaps by parents or by society. So I think that is a big part of it. But I did have to surrender because I didn't have anything more in the tank to give. And so that was a process.
And I actually started learning neuro-linguistic processing.
Casey Berglund:
Oh, I didn't know that.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Yes. If you're starting. Yes. Now, this is something that happened for a short period of time. But nevertheless, it was the entryway, the gate to learning a bit about the nervous system and how it impacts our language of processing, connecting to our belief systems. And I think that was a huge, aha moment, a huge doorway into, wow, so if I program my brain and I program not just this guy up here, but also the whole of the nervous system that connects, because I think sometimes we think about nervous system as the central nervous system, which is the brain. And we forget that, OK, we also have the peripheral nervous system, which goes out into our hands and our toes and all parts of our bodies. So it's not just my brain who needs beliefs transformed. It's my whole body that needs to learn a new way of being. And if I do that, so this little idea started forming, well, if I do that, if I learn how to speak to my body, work with my body, then maybe I can affect the way my body feels. And then this process started.
So I did a lot of neurolinguistic processing, was very dedicated to it. And it was so fascinating. So I knew I wanted to do neuroscience as my core papers when I went to, well, in my future. So I went to university, I think it was the next year or four months later, not long. And I decided, OK, this is what I'm going to do. And I was starting off with the genetic element of how, you know, genes affect our bodies as well. And then I met some chiropractors while I was doing these papers and we started talking and it was just such an interesting reading of minds. They all had done physical things. Some of them had done taekwondo or racing or run, you know, sprinting hurdles, dances, circus performers. And so it was just OK, well, here we are.
And so I took this idea to a life coach. Should I be, you know, should I be doing chiropractic or should I be doing medicine? Because those were my two options. And one of the big things on the chiropractic side was that chiropractic had a higher number of papers in neuroscience. And I thought, OK, well, that's a big tick for me because I want to be studying neuroscience. So I want to be doing chiropractic because it's going to give me that that in to understand how the brain and the body connect and how the body and the nervous system connect and how it all works together. So that was really the beginning.
Casey Berglund:
That's so interesting. I didn't know that for you, the interest in neuroscience was the gateway into chiropractic. Yes, I thought chiropractic was the gateway into understanding neuroscience. But it makes sense that that was also kind of fluid in a way.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Yes, yes, exactly.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah. So then what did you discover after becoming a chiropractor? Because obviously there's the theoretical wisdom and then you do your training and then you start to really like work on people's bodies. I'm curious about your embodied wisdom through experience, what you discovered about people's nervous systems and the neuroscience of people through working on their bodies.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
That's a great question as well. When it came to adjusting, I think part of the way into this was that we had some really great lectures. And so the lecturers at the university would explain some things to us about how you can set the tone of what you're doing. When we're looking at the nervous system, there's also, this is quite a conceptual element of chiropractic, but nonetheless, it was a really good starting point that when you start adjusting somebody, you set the tone. So you don't just start by adjusting, you set it at the tone, not just in a tone of voice or a tone of mannerism, but a tone of the nervous system. So you feel the fascia line, which is what I do with the feet or with the ankles, you feel what the nervous system is telling you as a whole. You zoom out, you look at something very detailed and very sensitive and you, almost as if you can imagine a bow, a bow and arrow.
And when the nervous system is tight and tense in this stress, the base of the head, the occiput and the base of the tailbone, the sacrum, they pull like the two ends of a bow and the bow string becomes tight and taut. And you can feel that. And so when you touch the feet, that's one of the connections to the fascia, which connects into the base of the tailbone. So you can feel there, okay, is this body screaming? Is it tight? Is it tense? Is it under? Is it being pulled? And so then that's how you set the tone.
You gently tell the body that you're going to be releasing its tension. And that was what some of the lecturers would impart to us, that this is how we start. And there'll be people that you don't tell that to because they would think, well, this is very strange and that doesn't sound very black and white scientific in the way that I would understand it while it is. And years have gone by and now we know that this is actually backed in science. But having that moment where you set the tone, I think, is where you can then start to connect with the body of the person and the experience that comes with all of these different bodies.
I mean, people who were trapped in different cycles of emotional pain, of trauma, of the feeling of pressure of doing too much, the feeling of pushing, all of those different bodies, they started to notice they had a different pattern. They had different misalignments in their spine. They had areas where things would build up that the other person over here who struggled with something different wouldn't have. And so I started to notice, wow, there's this pattern going on. There's this grouping going on of these different bodies and these different struggles and these different tension points. And I think I've always liked people, I suppose, for the most part, you know, no saint, but I genuinely quite like people. So I think that feeling of just meeting these people, okay, well, there's something going on. Let's work. Let's see what we can do. Let's, I would like to see these people happier for you. It would be nice. It was kind of a simple, it would be quite nice. And then we work together and I hear more of this story and you realize that there's different things that the body's telling you that it's struggling with that might not be anything close to what somebody else is struggling with. And so the nervous system is really talking through their patterns.
And I think that also helped me to see how the beliefs that we have, I don't know if you know Bruce Lipton, but Bruce Lipton was a lecturer at my college. And so he was incredible, super inspirational. And I think that his influence as well helped us to look at our belief systems because he talked about that. He lectured us in immunology, which was fantastic. And he gave his classic Bruce Lipton side. So he just opened up a whole new way of understanding some very specific scientific facts around immunology, which is a lot of names and a lot of processes. You could think it's quite 3D and quite heavy in material. And then he bought in so much impactful material on, well, actually, you know, yes. And your immune system listens to your belief system. And if your belief system is like a squashing your body and your creativity and your openness and your nervous system, then this is how your immune system is going to respond. And this is how your life is going to look. And this is how your body is going to learn.
So then realizing that the body is being listening to our patterned and ingrained and habitual thought patterns and that it needs a little bit of help to get free of that. And when you start undoing the physical entanglements that are the physical entity of what we believe in and pushing down our own throats every day, some of these deeply rooted subconscious beliefs, it can also open up to change the belief system. And that was why neuroscience was so fascinating to me because you could start to see it in our pictures and photos of what's happening on a microscopic level in the neurons in the brain when you start giving it new information, when you start sharing some belief system or a pattern or a new idea of reality that you can see these little growths. So the neurons, the little cells in our brains, little parts of our central nervous system, they start to grow out like trees. And so we call those parts the dendrites and they actually grow towards the new information. So they're really lighting up and listening and dynamic. So every moment they're taking on this idea. And if it's an ingrained idea, if it's an old idea, it just means that the branches of the dendrites are more and more linked together. So it creates this kind of mesh of this belief system and it has this physical entity in our neurons.
So it takes really changing that information, that input over and over and over again to create growth in a different direction because all that's going on in our brains and all that's going on in our bodies is the result of these different associations that we have based on our beliefs and what we do every day. Whether it's a physical habit of, "Okay, I'm going to pick up my glass with my left hand if I'm left handed for me. I've realized that this is something that I want to change." So all the time we have these habits that we do and that's another physical part of how we create these bodies that are certain about some things and how are stuck in habit and pattern. And then our beliefs become part of that and the way we speak becomes part of that and the way we hold ourselves become part of that. So as you undo these hooks, as you say, I'm going back to that little analogy that you had at the beginning of putting little puzzle pieces together and unhooking things and I think that's really what we want to do even in ourselves with our own bodies, with our own systems to have a much more fluid approach that neuroplasticity is the term for this growing and changing nervous system that we all have that even a 90 year old has.
Babies have so much of it. They're learning and growing and developing and listening all the time. But we all have it. So we can all change the way our body expects our lives to be, our days to be, our postures to be. And when you combine your beliefs, your physical body and your habits all together, you change your whole life because your nervous system is saying yes and it's just a big expansion and I think that's, it's lovely.
Casey Berglund:
I feel like that could have been a place to end on and we're not going to end there. But like what you just did was tied the body, the mind, the nervous system to basically what we experience in the external. It's directly connected to what's happening in the internal. And as you're speaking about that and we're talking about patterns, it's like you just adjusted me and I had this pain intention in my neck and it's so clear to me, I always sit on this side when I'm podcasting in person and I turn my head because we're facing toward the camera, but I'm turning my head and I'm like, oh, I feel that tension start to build. So this is part of a physical pattern that is creating an imbalance in my system. And that's like one part, right? Like there's so many different inputs. This is one input, the way that my posture is when I podcast, like I want to turn this way.
Next time I'm going to sit in your seat and turn the other way. My water glass is on my right side and I'm right handed. So I can move this over here and suddenly I'm creating a new pattern, a new neural pathway. If you're listening and don't see the video, I just moved the water from my right side to my left side so that I pick it up with my left hand. And what you're sharing is also reminding me actually of my coach training. Like, well, what's occurring to me is we do the same thing through different means in a ways, meaning like you said, you love people, like you're here to help. We're both here to support the flourishing of another human being, them creating their most radiant, alive, expansive life.
And I'm thinking about how one tool that I learned in my coach training through iPec coaching is a tool called energy leadership. And the premise of it is that there's an underlying energy that drives certain thinking patterns, emoting patterns, behaving patterns. And one thing I noticed was a big gap in that training was missing out on the body. There's an embodiment pattern to each of those levels of energy as well. And so it's been interesting in my work, how guiding people through interoception, through being inside of themselves into the sensations that they feel in their bodies and noticing the thoughts or the emotions or the behaviors that are connected to that pattern. That that's a way of like self-awareness to do something different. But I'm not touching anyone's body. I'm not like physically working the body. So it's sort of like we can work top down, bottom up, like from all angles, we can change the physical body to change the brain. Absolutely. And change our thinking or our brain in a way that changes the body.
And of course, I say brain, it's like a mind body system. It's all one whole system. And that's so fascinating. So then, to me, it's obvious the role that now it's obvious the role that chiropractics and like understanding what you do plays in the bigger picture of, you know, living a fulfilled, aligned life. And I'm curious if you could, I don't know, like crystallize that. Like what role does chiropractics and like kind of what you've explained so far about the nervous system, like how can anyone take the wisdom and apply it in a way that actually like changes their life for the better?
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Yes. The wisdom of chiropractic do you mean? Yeah. The body wisdom. I think that with the body and with chiropractic, I really believe that it's about empowerment. And I think that's a big passion of mine is empowerment. And you know, when you said energy leadership, just even those two words side by side, I think is a fantastic combination because when you lead, really your desire, hopefully, is to lift somebody up, right? You lead to go forward, you bring people with you. So I think that's really what you're doing with the body as a chiropractor. You're hoping to bring the body with you as you go forward. You're always pushing a little bit more to go into more freedom, more expansion, more limitlessness, more energy.
I just had a patient send me a message and that was really lovely. And she started with a lot of restriction in her body and not a lot of energy. And so as you can imagine, when your body's processing all of this old outdated systematic combination of beliefs and physical being, physical habits, it's tiring. It's hard because the brain has to work really hard to be connected to the body and the body has to work really hard to be connected to the brain. And they're just on different pages and they can be quite a big disconnect and it's tiring.
So she used to have to take naps every day just to get through her day. And she messaged me to say, "Oh, I don't do that anymore, by the way." And my nervous system feels so much more energized. And she went from not having energy to get through her day to one of her passions being dancing, which really resonated with me, to going to dance classes three times a week now.
And I think that's the thing is, okay, where are we living small? Because we're restricted by all the things on our shoulders, physical, mental, and all of the things that are squashing that life force within us. And where can we just start to throw them off? Where are we taking it off? Where are we going to get more and more in the flow of who you're meant to be, your authentic self? And I personally think that self doesn't need to be an identity. It doesn't look like X, Y, Z. It's just a radiance within you that takes you where you want to go. You're drawn naturally, you're magnetized, you're attracted to where you want to be, what you want to be doing with that energy.
But I think that's a big request of mine when I'm working with people, when I'm asking the, well, kind of daring the universe almost to work with me. Let's go and just open it up and just keep taking away more and more layers of limitation. So I think that's, and the body, the person's body is wise to know, okay, well, this is what I want to do with it, and this is where I want to go. And so I think that's a big part of it.
Casey Berglund:
There's something that I teach inside of my work that are the three embodied stages of your ultimate success solution. Ultimate success being whatever defined by the person, right? So if it's flourishing or expanding. And the first one is honoring the contraction. The second is embracing the expansion. And the third is integrating with aligned action. And so when you talk about like, removing the limitation, you know, that's sort of like the transfer or the shift from being in the contraction to being back in the expansion.
And it's occurring to me when you talk about how you set the tone for another body in a chiropractic session, how you're like, you're feeling into and you're co-regulating with that person's nervous system. It seems to me that that's a way that you're honoring the contraction , like you're meeting it and where it is like there's, there's a subtle nuance where yes, I think the point is to remove limitation and lean into more freedom and more expansion. But we don't do that through like slapping the contraction out of the way, like, like just being like tension go away. Yeah, there's a softness to it. And I guess having experienced your energy and your touch and the way in which I every single time I meet with you, including today, I move from a constricted or smaller state into a more expanded, expanded state every single time. But it's not because you are in a fight with my body or encouraging me being in a fight with the tension. It's a encouragement to deepen my breath and to like wiggle my fingers and sort of let that release.
And so I'm just thinking of the person who is, I don't know, I feel like, like us, maybe even former versions of us who were probably even harder on ourselves, you know, and even more judgmental of ourselves when we're actually in pain and tension. Like what would you say to that younger version of you who just wanted the pain to go away so fast? Like, how can we remove those limits and continue to expand without being mean to ourselves?
Dr. Teri Meyer:
That's such a great question. I mean, what I would say to the younger version of me that was going through that pain and what I would say to somebody, somebody else to you or to somebody who feels in a place where they're really surrounded by the knowledge, perhaps in their conscious mind that the resistance is there. Yes, I don't want to be here in this pain state. I don't want to be tired anymore. I don't want to be listening to this nameless grief. I don't want to be here with this sense of frustration. And I think this is such a key and such a hard key, but I would like to go back to that younger version of me and say, just let it go. And that's it. That's it. It's that simple. Just feel everything. If you feel tired, if you feel like crying, if you feel angry, if you feel like you want to scream, I think now I try to move through all of those emotions.
And I think that comes back through to embodiment, right? So there's things that I do now that I didn't know how to do before, like screaming into a pillow. I'm a big believer in doing anything that my body needs rather than trying to hold it because I did for a long time. And I think for those listening who feel stuck in that place of energy depletion and chronic pain, it's because you've been holding onto that state for so long, it's built up a pattern. That pattern is there wanting, you wanting to get out of it. Your life force is wanting to come out, but the only way out is through. And that's sometimes the hardest thing because it's not easy, but you have to let yourself be tired, let yourself feel all of those things that you need to feel. And screaming into a pillow is a great way to deal with fear. And punching a pillow with anger and with frustration.
I do a lot of crazy dancing, so put on a song and just when I'm feeling like I've been humiliated or I feel like my ego took a blow or I feel embarrassed or stuck, I just dance. And it's usually the crazier and the better because then my body lets go again and all those little restrictive thoughts and connections I have, they have to open up. I work with the physical to let some of that out. And I think the tiredness too, I think for a woman when you have a cycle and you go through that period before you menstruate and while you're menstruating, sometimes some of us feel really exhausted, really tired. And I think that's another thing that we have to surrender to is, okay, well, if I feel this tired, if I feel so fatigued, how can I support myself by doing whatever it is that I want to do? Simple things.
I think another aha moment that I had was something so simple that I really like hugging a pillow. And I never used to do that before because I thought, well, what's the point in hugging a pillow? It's not going to change anything. It does. It's just kind of a bit indulgent. I mean, there wasn't any, it was just a thing in the back of my mind. I'm not going to do that. I don't need anything. I don't need that support. And then I thought, no, I'm just, every time I feel like holding a pillow, I'm going to hold a pillow. And so I'd be sitting, maybe eating my dinner or eating my food and just wrapping the pillow around myself. And that was like, oh, I can do that. And that's kind of okay. And actually that helps me to feel the support that I need right now. And so becoming in a way a child again, and also then realizing that that helps me to be the wisest that I've ever been.
Casey Berglund:
Ooh. Yeah. You said, I don't need that. Why do I like you shared some of the thoughts of the resistant part of you to hugging a pillow. And that really stood out to me because it's like, how many times do we push through doing things on our own or doing things in a less comfortable way? Like why? Why not be more comfortable and feel more safe in our body? And if we were five years old and there's something, a blankie or something that would make a five year old feel more comfortable, why not give the five year old the blankie? And like to your point that serving your being in your body in a physical way, as if you were a child, I think softens you into compassion.
And I love that you said that you've, you're the wisest you've ever been as you in some ways like nurture the, the child in you in a kind and compassionate way. And I just love the way that you answered that question because what I'm hearing there is that when we're feeling tense or there's resistance, it's like, literally how kind and caring and compassionate can we be with ourselves like we would a small child. And it's like, there's a true wisdom in that. Like why not give yourself what you need? Yes. Why do we resist giving ourselves what we need? Yes.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
And I think that the hard answer is that sometimes we don't even hear the question. Yes. And it's so deeply embedded again in those beliefs and those stories that we tell ourselves that we, we don't see the story. We don't see the belief because it's, it's normal. It's again, like we didn't realize, you know, you didn't realize that you put the glass on the right side until we talked about it. And I think there's something to that that again, comes back into the chiropractic physical release, also the embodied work that works with the mind to body release and the emotion to body release. And I think that's how we start to realize what we have been doing. And when we see the question, Oh, why have I been resisting this? I didn't know that I needed this.
Casey Berglund:
I didn't even know that I was resisting this. I feel like I knew it. Right. And so it's like an awareness game. Yes. Yeah. So I'm curious as we wrap up, because obviously you have a deep personal practice , like you, you are here to help support others expansion and remove their limitations physically and otherwise so that they can flourish. And you also have a strong personal practice. Like you've mentioned dance, you've mentioned screaming into a pillow. You've mentioned the ways in which you gently move through constrictive sensations in your own being. And I also know that you have a meditation practice and you like attune to the energy and the consciousness you're on a, as we all are, I can say like elevating our consciousness journey. And I'm curious about one thing that has come through one nugget of insight, if you're comfortable sharing that has come through maybe one of your altered states. And I think like just being in the body is altering your state. But like being in meditation is an altered state. And when you're open to receive what insight or wisdom do you receive like from your intuition or however you define it? What have you received recently?
Dr. Teri Meyer:
I think something that's been coming through, which is really interesting, just how you frame that question. And it's quite funny. It almost feels like a little joke from the universe. But one of the things that I've really been feeling and actually, you know, funny enough, this has been something I've been working with for a while, for maybe a couple of years now. Sometimes be one of the slow processes where I've needed to go deep and unhook a few things and set myself free in a few ways and be open to the downloads that I'm getting. Because sometimes you can have an intellectual realization, as we know, right? And then it needs to drift down everywhere that it needs to go to become a part of your new belief system. And one of the things that I struggled with is receiving.
So that was really funny how you framed that. And also allowing myself to not have to fight for everything, just to sit back and to let it come to me and to surrender. And I didn't feel like I was someone who would go out there and pull and yank and grasp, but also someone who I felt like when things would be offered to me, I'd really struggle to take them. I'd kind of, I could almost have started to see a pattern in my body where my body would close up and my facial expression would change and I'd look over in the other direction and my insides would feel like they'd become a ball of knots. And I started to feel like, wow, I really don't want to need anything. I don't want to accept help or accept, especially from other people, or to be vulnerable enough to say, yes, thank you. But I would rather keep myself safe and over here and not go into the exchange that comes with receiving something.
And of course it has to start with the spiritual, with the divine, with the universe, if you like. So when I'm in a place of meditation, yes, it's a place of receiving. And sometimes the universe really wants to give you a lot, a lot of energy, a lot of input, a lot of support. And so learning to be open to receive that as I'm meditating and then taking that into the rest of my life, being open to receive energy from other people, opportunities from other people, hugs from other people, whatever it is.
Casey Berglund:
Compliments.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Compliments, all of those different things where you have to, for me, I have to take a little breath and okay, I'm safe, I'm okay to receive this. And so that was something that I've been working on recently that in all of the different ways I saw that coming in. And so another little link that I do in my own practice is when I realize my body's okay to receive or to help myself be okay to receive. And something that I teach as a chiropractic maneuver, I suppose you could say, or an exercise, is to put my weight back on my heels. So I put my weight back on my heels and I feel the openness and expansion of all of my organs, my room, my stomach, my chest. And I feel, okay, I'm here, I'm okay. I'm on my heels.
I can feel my body saying, it's stable, it's grounded, it's fine. And then from there opening up to receiving and I think around this Lions Gate portal, around 88, I asked, "Well, what's one thing that I need to be doing right now?" To my high self, to, I do believe in ancestors and my team, my guides. And I asked, "So what do I need to be doing to embody the next version of myself that's looking to come forward now? What are we looking for? What's the switch? What's waiting to happen ?" And again, become the receiver , become someone who receives , become the beloved who receives from being loved. And that was again just, okay, wow, how can I let that blow apart all of the parts of me that want to shut it down? And how can I move through my body and move through the fear and sit with the fear and let it all happen, let it all come to me and then still decide, okay, I'm going to pick it up again. I'm going to start again.
So I think there's also a determination and a persistence that comes with all the softness and the compassion of not judging how long it's taking. I mean, all of that is just irrelevant, I think. There's no one watching to say, "Oh, you've got another 10 minutes, let's go." No, it's just a release system of, "No, this is going to take as long as it takes until I really feel this because it's my gift and I'm going to receive my gift."
Casey Berglund:
In many ways, I feel that that is the perfect integration of our conversation. In many ways, I feel that this whole conversation is actually about receiving. Like when our bodies go from being constricted and tight, like literally this is our physical container, and if we're constricted and tight and holding tension or constrictive belief systems or patterns, we have a smaller container or capacity for receiving. Yeah, that's so true. When we're in contraction or we're in resistance or we're pushing through, we talked about that. Yes.
When we're pushing through, we're leaning forward to go out and get, and we can't be going out and getting and receiving at the same time. Yes. And so we've been talking about how we can alchemize some of the pain and constriction and limitation into a space of more openness and more freedom and more expansion. As I speak about this, I'm opening up my body, my hands are getting wider, my physical container is widening, and my capacity to receive is greater. I think especially for women who have been conditioned to keep up with the men or just going in this like masculine system that we've been in, I think this is all of our work. I tell me listener, if you're someone who's like, "Oh no, I've mastered this already." I doubt it, right? I literally think every single woman in my world is finding her way back to the body , back to a more relaxed parasympathetic nervous system state, back to a leaning back on your heels. I just told you when you taught me that because I was in a forward oriented stress state when we met, and you just told me to move my physical body back.
And like what happens then? We want the partner to come in, we want the money to come in, we want our dream home. We are hugely expansive as women. We have these desires, we want to flourish. How are they going to come in if we haven't opened ourselves for them to land? Our bodies, our nervous systems, our minds. I don't know, one thing I've learned through falling in love with Eric is he wasn't who I thought I wanted. And it took grief kind of cracking me open. And there's something there too. The pain can, the contraction leads to the expansion. Like it can open us in a way to let those things that we truly desire to land.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Absolutely. Yeah. Wow, there's so much in that.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah. So receive. I love that you mentioned that. I feel like it really brought our conversation home. Any final words to like land the plane, if you will?
Dr. Teri Meyer:
I love that. I think something that came to mind when you said that is sometimes we need to know that we don't just need to receive things or a job or a partner or sometimes we just need to receive space. And I think that idea, that visual that stands out for me when I think about space is, and this can be, some people might find this resonates, some people might not. But sitting in the space, you know, shame is one of the emotions and the things it keeps us very contracted, constricted and shut off. And often it means that the childhood version of ourselves or our inner child is stuck on their own in some kind of maybe a black room in our bodies, feeling lonely, feeling also probably claustrophobic because there's a lot of pressure pushing on the shameful child.
But as you receive space for yourself, what that looks like to me is me as adult me going into that little room, opening the curtains, putting the light on, whatever that looks like, letting the sunlight in and just sitting there and receiving the space that my inner child.
Casey Berglund:
I love this. Yeah.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
My inner child is heard and has all the space it needs to go through every emotion that it needs to feel. And she will never be alone again. And I think sometimes that's what we need to receive is all the love that we didn't let ourselves receive when we were children, even just from ourselves.
Casey Berglund:
Especially from ourselves.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
And I believe in ourselves that the space to accept that things have changed and that you're not this lonely little child anymore. No, the light's on , the light's here and you have space to be full of all the emotion that you need to express in that moment. And when you do that together, the old and the new, the shameful and the wiser adult, you go past it. That's just a moment that you sit in and then you link arms and you walk out together. And I think, yeah.
Casey Berglund:
That's the truth, truth. That's it. That's it. That's what we're all actually after. More than the partner and the money and the external things. That is the work of the inner, that's the inner love journey. Exactly. Thank you for bringing it back to that. And thank you for the... Not just the truth in your words, but the truth in your energy. Obviously this is the truth for you. It's also the truth for me. And I think it's a universal truth that that's what we're here for, is to bring light into the dark spaces and be.
Thank you for being here today.
Dr. Teri Meyer:
Thank you for having me, Casey.
Casey Berglund:
I love you.
