Trusting The Body's Wisdom
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[00:00:00] Steph: I always say that chiropractic found me. I didn't find chiropractic. I didn't grow up in like a holistic family by any means. Looking back, I think my mom was more of a hippie than I realized she always told us your body's gonna heal itself. Your body can take care of this. It's okay. It's okay if you get sick because it's making you stronger.
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[00:01:40] Kate: Welcome. We have very special guests with us today. Dr. Steph Wigner, we. Are just so honored to connect with her. We've Jeanette and I have both known her for some time personally, and in [00:02:00] our realm of community threads of beautiful practitioners in New Jersey, she's been such an ally in light to so many women, so many children, so many families and such an inspiration.
So we felt that as we lead into summer right now, she. Such a, a beautiful guest to bring into conversation. So welcome, Steph. Welcome. Thank you for being here with us today. Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. I have the utmost respect for both of you. Um, I love that you guys decided to create a podcast together and I'm super excited to be on with you.
Hmm, thank you. And likewise towards you. absolutely. So for those of you listening to paint a picture of who stuff is, she is a woman of many. Talents and soul and gifts, but to share a bit about her background and her journey, she has a [00:03:00] practice called circle of life chiropractic with two locations in New Jersey and Point Pleasant and Avon.
And since then her work is expanded and I'm sure she'll share a bit more, but it was really during her first semester at Palmer college of chiropractic in Iowa, that she fully realized that chiropractic was her true calling. She knew it was her destiny, her time to share the body's innate intelligence with others.
And she also learned that nutrition and chiropractic addressed the many sources of problems rather than covering it up as medications do. And it's been so beautiful stuff to see how, in the very beginning of your education, you, you knew that piece about yourself. and then fast forward to when we both met you years later, as you were budding into your chiropractic career and journey, how much you followed your heart and created a [00:04:00] practice to really invite families, to be part of the journey, a whole body journey in, into what you, you practice for yourself and with your clients, with your patients.
[00:04:12] Dr. Steph: Yeah, I always say that chiropractic found me. I didn't find chiropractic. I didn't grow up in like a holistic family by any means. Looking back, I think my mom was more of a hippie than I realized because We weren't very sick very often. And when we were sick, it was like, oh, rest and fluids, take a nap.
You'll be fine. Kind of pat us on the butt and send us on our way. And but she didn't resort to medications a lot and looking back, she always told us your body's gonna heal itself. Your body can take care of this. It's okay. It's okay if you get sick because it's making you stronger.
And I think that's just so different than the paradigm that's in our face now. And so I realized what a gift it was to grow up in a household like that, where We were taught that our bodies were self-healing organisms and that a little rest, a little fluids, [00:05:00] a little movement. Does your body good?
And so it was really when, , my grandfather's always been super close to our family. , my mom's father and it was when he got sick. , they gave him two. Weeks to live. They thought he was in liver failure and he was 86. And my mom was like, okay, well we're gonna support him the best we can. We had a dietician come in and started making his meals.
We started taking him to a chiropractor to physical therapy and he had a complete recovery. It's actually insane to think about. He completely recovered. He lived to be 93 and it was truly amazing to see. What his body was able to do with the proper nourishment, the proper movement, the proper care just things that he had been ignoring for a long time.
He was an old school cowboy. And so he was very stubborn and he didn't take care of himself very well. And so it's amazing. Even at that age at 86, what his body was able to bounce back from and what his body was able to do when just supported the [00:06:00] right way. And. It was at that point that I had just heard of chiropractic and I was like, wow, this is kind of cool.
I wanna learn a little bit more about this. And I had moved home to help care for him. And I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna apply to chiropractic school and see what happens. And then of course I got in my mom and I went toward the school and I was like, alright, we're doing it. And I'm very much that philosophy.
If I have a gut feeling that I should, then I, then I do. And so when I was there and I started to learn about like the. Deep benefits of chiropractic and how it was a whole body approach to healing and really a lifestyle. I was like, wow, this is exactly what I'm meant to do. This is where I'm supposed to be.
This resonates with me so much. Wow. That is such an amazing Testament to the body's capacity for healing and how resilient we are which is so beautiful. And it almost instills. That experience of what you shared a glimpse into your childhood, [00:07:00] with your mom, and then that application with your grandfather, the power of the body.
[00:07:07] Kate: for you to be able to remind individuals, the people that you cross paths with over and over again, the body's capacity.
[00:07:14] Dr. Steph: Absolutely. And in our practice, we take care of a lot of young families. We take care of women trying to get pregnant through pregnancy, postpartum, newborn babies, the whole family.
And so it's always. Easier to see how self-healing the body is when you're working with a newborn or you're working with a baby under one, you see that they're crawling, they fall, they skid their knees. In a matter of literally minutes, they already have stopped bleeding. Their body has already formed a scab.
That's literally self-healing and it's easier for us to see that, but we don't always apply it to every aspect of our life. Right. We see that. Children get sick. They usually recover within a good amount of time, as long as they're healthy, supported, and [00:08:00] somewhere along the way, as we get older, we become less dependent on ourselves and more dependent on outside sources.
And I think with what you guys are doing with nourish collective, and just knowing what both of your practices are through Ayurvedic, through Yoni, steaming, through education, that sort of thing. We all kind of come from the same paradigm where it's like, Hey, if we support the body, the body can do what it's designed to do.
And I think I've felt the shift. I don't know if you guys have felt the shift in the last couple of years. The more fearful people became, they did start to look more internal and say, okay, what can I do today to make sure that I'm healthier tomorrow? And so I think it's a beautiful thing that more people now than ever are just.
On ways to support their body as best as they can.
[00:08:49] Jeanette: Yeah, for sure. I love that we come from similar paradigms around just honoring the body's natural wisdom and the body's natural [00:09:00] capacity to seek homeostasis and just doing the little things that we can.
Chiropractic through nutrition to help facilitate that process. It's such a gift to be part of that journey and to see all of the changes in beauty that you're bringing to the community in educating and awareness and just. That tender, loving care that you offer. I get to bring my son to your office and it's always a gift.
He loves, loves coming. And our children at this age that, that. not only do they have to create time to care for their bodies holistically, but that it's one of the most important things that they can do is also a sweet gift to be giving on to the younger generations.
[00:09:47] Dr.Steph: Absolutely. I, and I think it's our duty as parents.
To teach them what their bodies are capable of and to show them when supported, when nourished, you do just have this healthier, vibrant [00:10:00] life. And I think it's something that we teach them at a young age and they learn as they go on and it's tested time and time again, because as bad as I remember being in college and not making the best food choices and probably too many Too many processed foods, too much fast food, that sort of thing.
But realizing how my body fell after that too. And so they're going to make their own choices as they get older. And they're obviously gonna sneak a bag of Doritos in whether we want them to or not. But. When they learn about their bodies at a young age, they're just able to really know okay, I can make this choice, but how is it going to affect me and my health?
Okay. I can eat this food, but my stomach doesn't feel that good. And they just become more empowered, which I think is the ultimate goal
[00:10:45] Kate: Empowered and with that stuff, you and your husband, your lives. welcomed in a new being over this past year and [00:11:00] have been blessed to get to know both of you pre being guides, mom and dad, this beautiful light.
And then watching you just support so many families, like we've said, it's really a blessing to know what the two of you have cultivated. what you formed and then to be able to offer. this and share it with your son.
[00:11:26] Dr. Steph: Yeah. It's funny. They, they say that like you have all these ideas about becoming a mom and becoming a parent and how you're gonna parent.
And then all of a sudden you have this new baby to care for. And you're like, oh my gosh, all of my ideas were great, but I don't know if they all apply now. I laughed that I really wanted to cloth diaper. I made sure that I registered for cloth diapers. I made sure that I had watched like all the YouTube videos to cloth diaper.
And then I didn't end up cloth diapering because it's just not realistic for my lifestyle. We are very busy on the go. We travel often. It, it just didn't fit into our [00:12:00] family. And so that's been interesting too, as I've became a mom. Is that Hey, there's these fundamental truth. That exist.
And there are things, the values that I have, I'm never going to compromise on, but these other things that I think are good for the earth, obviously cost I is great for the earth. It's great for the baby. There's all these benefits to the baby, but also giving myself a little grace and knowing that sometimes I don't have to do every single holistic thing that's out there because it's just not maybe realistic for our family at the time.
And really becoming a mom. I feel like it, it's given, it's given me such a different perspective than I had prior to becoming a mom, because it was super easy in my office to teach. And maybe even sometimes preach a little bit about natural childbirth and postpartum and breastfeeding and all of these things.
But until you go through it yourself, [00:13:00] It is it's a whole new experience and there's a whole new perspective that you have. I think that being pregnant and delivery and breastfeeding was like the most humbling experience of my life because I gotta see how firsthand firsthand, how difficult it really is.
And that doesn't mean it's difficult for everybody everybody has their own journey, their own story. But I think as practitioners, sometimes we experience things to make us better practitioners as well, so that we can have more empathy so that we can have better understanding on what somebody might be going through.
And I totally think my, my birth and my journey shifted that and made. Difference for me and honestly, made me a better practitioner for the families that I'm supporting.
[00:13:47] Jeanette: Yeah. I love that. Becoming a mom made you a better practitioner and it really, I think given the opportunity and [00:14:00] deep kind of care during, and after having a baby, it does make us better.
It really. Gives us such a gift of insight and humility and wisdom. So I love hearing about the changes that motherhood has brought you.
[00:14:18] Kate: Steph, if you could share a thread of wisdom to, let's say a couple that's coming to you and you're working on their bodies to support. radiance and vitality as they prepare for fertility
[00:14:38] Dr. Steph: mm-hmm
[00:14:39] Kate: and calling in a being, knowing what you know now as being a mother and a practitioner, what would a Pearl be that you could shed light on?
[00:14:47] Steph: I would share that fertility takes two. . And so, so often the women in my practice, I see that they're doing all this work, they're eating healthy, they're getting adjusted, they're going to acupuncture. They're [00:15:00] doing Yoni steaming. They're watching what they eat. They are exercising, they're being mindful.
They're staying hydrated. All of these wonderful things that we know help support fertility. And they're almost stressing themselves out to a point where it's can be a little much, but then we have. Their partner, not always necessary on necessarily on board with the vision. So not making any dietary changes, not doing that sort of thing.
And Kate cuz you were supporting Kyle and I during our preconception phase and we both very much were on board. We both were like, Hey, we're gonna take these supplements so that we're both as healthy as we can be because the, the baby truly. gets health from both of you. And so the healthier both of you are prior to conception the healthier your baby will naturally be.
And I think Jethro is a huge testament to that. He is just a little ball of love and he is extremely vibrant and healthy. And but Kyle and I did the work [00:16:00] prior to, and we were doing the work prior to us even trying to conceive just because we knew it would be a journey eggs take 120 days to have an effect on the quality of the egg and sperm takes 60 to 90 days.
And so at the minimum, I encourage my couples to really be working on detoxifying, promoting better health at least 120. Before they want to conceive. And so I think it's important just to remember it is. Both parents that are involved in the journey. And as it should be, you both are preparing to welcome a soul into your lives and I obviously think that there is a mindset aspect to that too.
Having the conversation, creating like a conscious conception, like we really want this little soul to choose us. We want to love them. We want to welcome them. We've provided this home. That's going to welcome them with love so that they know it's a safe place to come to. But then also, obviously from the scientific standpoint, there's a lot of stuff that you can do to [00:17:00] better support your fertility.
[00:17:02] Kate: Hmm.
I'm smiling as I just was listening to you and Jeanette and I are, are sitting here together and looking at her and knowing the three of us share so many of the same foundational beliefs with that approach, with what you were just saying, and you you've lived it with you and Kyle with your approach and.
Speaking a little bit for Jeanette with the work that she does and integrates such a beautiful ancient practice of Ayurveda work and, and coming back into the body and bringing. Vision of conscious conception and the work that I do with couples and looking at the Yoni as the seat of a soul, the seat of a woman's soul, but yet the vessel to invite more space, to welcome in a new soul.
And it really is a whole body journey and a journey that is meant [00:18:00] to bring in more nourishment and to bring in more awareness. it's sad in our modern day, how much stress and pressure we put on ourselves because of this? Absolutely. And taking, taking the magic and the, the mystery out of what the potential is for the capacity, what could be discovered on that journey?
[00:18:25] Dr. Steph: Absolutely.
[00:18:25] Kate: Whether preconception or during carrying a baby, and then I cannot speak as being a, a mother of birthing babies myself, but with the two of you with all that you've learned and experienced and witnessed over the years.
[00:18:39] Steph: Yeah. And I think that. As you were saying there is so many outside pressures on us to, oh, the first month that you try, you're supposed to get pregnant and if not, something is wrong.
And that is just so far fetched and for ancient years and. I mean, Jeanette can speak to this too. Like it is okay for your body to take a year [00:19:00] to conceive that is actually deemed normal, but we just live in this instant gratification world where we can Amazon something in two days. And so we want to be pregnant in two days.
And I think that sometimes the journey is part. Part of the journey is you and your partner becoming ultra committed to each other, ultra committed to parenthood, ultra committed to doing work on yourself so that you're ready to become a parent because it's not it's not something that's easy you really have to evolve yourself.
And it's been so beautiful to see Kyle evolve as a dad. And he I personally didn't grow up with my dad in my life on a daily basis, and it's been so beautiful to see that death row gets that gift. But Kyle had to overcome certain health things, SU certain mental aspects that were holding him back.
And so when you are on that journey to parenthood, it's important that you're working on every aspect of, of your mind, body, and soul to prepare to be this little vessel. Everything and [00:20:00] postpartum I wa I wanted to mention too. I truly think being supported postpartum there's a reason they say that it takes a village.
And I think that for me, my birth wasn't the outcome that I had envisioned. But luckily I had Jeanette on my team because she helped support me postpartum. And I truly think the work that she did through IVed medicine and healing helped me recover much faster from my. And it's just the beginning, right?
Postpartum. Like you're truly postpartum for the rest of your life. Once you have a baby and sometimes you welcome in more babies and it's just a whole new way of, you're trying to care for this little one, but you're also trying to care for yourself. And so it takes a balancing act. It takes having multiple practitioners on your team to best support you so that you can have the postpartum journey that you.
[00:20:51] Jeanette: Oh, it's such an honor to get, to have supported you and your beautiful Jethro and family. And I really saw that. [00:21:00] In the postpartum recovery period, the nourishment and the attention and the connection that's established between the new family and through the village, through the support, through the people who are dropping off meals at the front door through.
The person who's providing the body work, if that's possible, it just adds so much nourishment around the new family. I think that it really takes that sacred window and gives it a whole new level of depth and makes it a better experience than we're used to in our culture. We're, we're so quick to try to bounce back, to push ourselves in various ways, push ourselves to conceive, push ourselves, to recover, and the gift as we kind of spoke of in the beginning of really listening to your body of connecting.
Embodiment practitioners going and [00:22:00] getting adjusted regularly and really learning about your inner world can be just the most wonderful thing we can do for ourselves in this journey that we have here in these forms.
[00:22:12] Dr. Steph: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more.
[00:22:14] Kate: So Dr. Steph, how do you
[00:22:16] Jeanette: love to best support women who are going through the prenatal and postpartum period? What do you do for them and how do they benefit?
[00:22:25] Dr. Steph: So initially when they're coming in and they tell us that they're wanting to. We'll look at what they're already doing and say okay, this is working well, this isn't sometimes women are trying to do too much and oftentimes less is more.
And so if they're taking a ton of supplements that we think, do you know, don't really need to be part of the initial. Core supplements that you should be on to get to get pregnant and have a healthy baby. Then we'll recommend they go off some supplements. Maybe we'll trade some stuff out. Of course, we always make sure that they're like high quality, organic non GMO [00:23:00] stuff that they're taking.
Cuz unfortunately most of the products out on the shelf are not that. And so we look at their diet, what are they doing? We'll have a review of previous blood work or maybe order some more blood work and. Take a look at that. And then we also just look at from a mental aspect, how are you doing, how do you feel about this?
What kind of emotions are coming up as you're going through your preconception journey? Have you had other losses or other situations that maybe deep down or causing a block or resistance to concept. And then supporting their body through chiropractic care. Obviously when the body is aligned, everything just works a lot better.
And so focusing on removing any nerve interference that could be causing a negative effect on their nervous system and approaching it from that whole body holistic approach,
[00:23:54] Jeanette: beautiful
[00:23:56] Kate: and less is more, it brings us back. [00:24:00] Simplifying once again, right?
[00:24:01] Dr. Steph: Absolutely.
[00:24:02] Kate: Just use ease on the spirit on the nervous system, less pressure , I've had many clients and friends share as they've been on this journey, how much pressure they end up putting on their partner to the expectations that they want them to be doing the same level of supplementation or the same level of exercise.
And one client even admitted that she turned her whole intimate relationship with her husband into it was more of a factory. Yeah. And. So methodical, she knew her, her fertile window, her ovulation time and sex was not pleasurable. It was really using that time to see is it possible to conceive, but no mindfulness and just so much pressure that takes and I, it takes, yeah, I li I love to say a baby wants to come into an environment of love.
[00:24:52] Dr. Steph: And so you have to look at that from a conception perspective. Are we [00:25:00] being intimate because we love each other. And we wanna share that time together, or are we doing it as a transaction because there's a different field to that. There's a different when we talk about this conscious conception, the transactional sex in turn causes a lot of anxiety on both sides.
there's no, baby, that's go going to want to come into that environment. And I know that if you've been trying for a while, it can really start to weigh you down and you start to feel that pressure. And then you really are only wanting to be intimate during your most fertile windows.
But that also shuts off all the love and enters to me that goes into growing your family.
[00:25:46] Jeanette: Yeah, there is so much to be said around conscious conception and how we come together. Even if we're feeling the press of time. Can we drop that when the two bodies meet and [00:26:00] just become fully present with the love that you originally begin with, that makes you want to conceive in the first. That's a beautiful thing.
[00:26:09] Kate: Mm-hmm, Jeanette shares a lot on this with the work that she does around conscious conception and Ayurveda. And so once again, just how it, it all comes together, right? Whether we're approaching it from your work with chiropractic, from her work, with Ayurveda, from my work and self care and tuning back into our bodies in, in a different way.
it's a beautiful gift.
[00:26:33] Dr. Steph: Absolutely. And I think sometimes women don't know where to look to find that support. They want that support. They're like, Hey, I truly want to get healthier. I know that I'm gonna plan for a baby. After we get married or they're getting ready to get married.
And they're like, okay, the wedding's over. I can take a deep breath. Now I wanna work on building up my own health and my own vitality. And they don't know where to turn because unfortunately. Their OBS, not saying [00:27:00] Hey yeah, why don't you go to a chiropractor? Why don't you look for an Ayurveda practitioner?
Or why don't you look for an acupuncturist? And so what I think's beautiful about the community that we've built is that once they get into at least one of our realms and they start seeing one of us, like we have all of these great resources that we can share with them that can help support them as well.
[00:27:21] Jeanette: Absolutely. And that's the idea of. Community in the first place, building the village and bringing back in this women's wisdom and ancient and modern practices that we've together to fully support the individual from birth through death so that they have the fullest experience of being human that they possibly can.
[00:27:44] Kate: Mm-hmm . and learning from each other too, right? I mean, that's something that we all three of us can attest to in our own journeys, how we just, we learn, we get inspired from our community. We grow together. We're humbled by each other in [00:28:00] that way, too. And, and we evolve it's, it's such a gift to be vulnerable with that way, too, that we, we lean on each other to, to find.
support for ourselves.
[00:28:09] Dr. Steph: Absolutely. Cause I don't claim to know everything. I, I, I know quite a bit about chiropractic in the body, but I don't know everything about IVed or I don't know everything about the Yoni. I don't know everything about nutrition either. And so I think when we. collaborate and join forces then whether it's our own self-healing or the patients self-healing everybody's just better off because it's a collective wisdom at that point.
[00:28:38] Jeanette: Mm-hmm the collective wisdom. Yeah.
[00:28:43] Kate: So. One piece that we've been inviting into this aspect with this podcast and nourishing the community you're nourishing the collective is to ask each guest to [00:29:00] share a practice with the community, a practice that maybe you do for yourself or practice that. Work and invite space within your patient population, around their consciousness, maybe everything that you've been sharing about coming back in and utilizing the body's wisdom.
Do you have any practice in mind that you would like to share with us today?
[00:29:25] Dr. Steph: Sure. So it's Might seem silly, but it's literally so simple. And I, I do live a very busy life. So sometimes this is the only thing that I find myself able to squeeze in, but it's always a non-negotiable and that is either starting the day or ending the day with a walk.
And so. I love walks by the beach cuz you know, we're not too far from there. And so I just feel being close to the ocean, breathing in the salty air allows me to get into a peaceful state a state of gratitude, a state of abundance. And so that's where I prefer to [00:30:00] do walks. But you know, sometimes that doesn't happen sometimes it's just a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood.
But that is one thing that I can tell if I don't do that either at the beginning of the day or the end of the day, my nervous system just doesn't have that permission to kind of go back to a calm place. And I think that it's so important in today's world, that we find something that resonates with us.
I would love to say that I meditate. I would love to say that I have the most beautiful calming space in my home, but I still don't have that yet. I'm not the best meditator but I can commit to doing a walk and just letting my, my thoughts, calm my nervous system, calm and move my body a little bit so I can get into that state.
[00:30:42] Kate: Hmm. I love that. And that's so accessible for. pretty much everybody anywhere we can do by the beach, but it could be a city walk. It could be in, in a small community just around the block, but to be outside and to utilize [00:31:00] the mother earth, the biggest provider of, of nourishment towards supporting us.
[00:31:04] Dr. Steph: Absolutely. Yeah, anytime I'm outside. I find that I'm happy. so I just try to get outside as much as possible.
[00:31:14] Kate: And we are in such a great season right now to, to take advantage of being outside and fueling us up with vitamin sun and, and fresh air. So thank you for sharing that.
[00:31:24] Jeanette: Yeah. I love that. it is the simplest thing, but it's also one of the most profound modern neuroscience is showing that sunlight exposure in the early morning and later in the day.
So it's really around sunrise or within 30 minutes of waking up. And as the sun is going down in the sky, Has so many benefits for our endocrine system. It just regulates all of our hormones. It helps, as you said, calm the nervous system. It's a tonic in so many ways. And it's can we commit [00:32:00] to just getting outside a little bit every single day for a walk?
I mean, what a beautiful practice
[00:32:06] Dr. Steph: definitely.
[00:32:09] Kate: Thank you. Thank you for. Giving us and sharing with us, your wisdom, your time, your resources. It is truly a gift to have you here and to connect this community on an even greater field.
[00:32:27] Dr. Steph: Yes. Thank you guys so much for having me. I love joining you today and I hope to see you both soon.
[00:32:32] Jeanette: Thank you so much. Steph, where can people connect with you?
[00:32:36] Dr. Steph: Oh, you can connect with me on Instagram. That's where I hang out the most. Dr. Steph Wagner on Instagram the office is circle of life chiro on Instagram. And then you could also find me on my website, Stephanie wigner.com.
[00:32:50] Jeanette: Okay, beautiful.
We'll put it all in the show notes. And we look forward to having you back again soon.
[00:32:57] Dr. Steph: Absolutely.[00:33:00]
