Exploring Holistic Wellness: Aligning Body, Mind, and Spirit

Hey, one more thing before you go. Have you ever wondered how to align your energy and master your mindset to reach your highest potential?

What if the key to clarity and healing lies within you, just waiting to be unlocked?

You're in luck because today we have an extraordinary guest whose expertise in journey will answer these questions and many more, as well as inspire you to unlock your own inner power and transform your life. I'm your host, Michael Herst. Welcome to one more thing before you go. My guest today is Jennifer Pilates.

She's a renowned intuitive medium empowerment coach and a holistic wellness expert.

For over two decades, Jennifer has been a leading voice in the health and wellness industry, helping clients around the globe achieve their goals and unlock their full potential. Her mission is to help you discover your own truths, gain self empowerment, and transform your body, mind and spirit.

Jennifer's approach to both practical and spiritual.

Combining her expertise as an intuitive medium with her deep understanding of the body, the mind and the spirit, she has an innate ability to see things that others can't. And her work has made a significant impact on the lives of countless individuals.

As the host of the top rated podcast, Empowered Within, Jennifer continues to inspire and empower her audience with insightful discussions and transformative sessions. So get ready for an enlightening and transformative conversation that might just change the way you think about healing, growth and empowerment.

Welcome to the show, Jen.

Thank you so much for having me. Michael, it's so great to be here with you.

What a wonderful journey.

I mean, I know it started off with a few bumps, which we'll talk about, but a wonderful journey in your life to come to this point where you have become an inspiration and a motivation to many, many, many people. So I'm happy that you're here.

Thank you. Yeah, it's been. It's been a blessing. It's been a wild road. And you know what? What good story doesn't come with a wild road.

Exactly. I mean, it's our journey.

Each time we take a journey, our journey brings us the pop opportunity for us to either gain knowledge, to gain experience, and we use that as stepping stones to hopefully, at least from our perspectives, we use those stepping stones to inspire, motivate, and educate those others. I'd like to start at the beginning, though. Where'd you grow up?

I grew up in a little town on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Was your family like. Did you have brothers, sisters, you know, all that good stuff?

Yeah. No. No brothers, no sisters, no animals. Just me.

Yeah, but just you works too. See, I mean it. Obviously you Know, we are as individuals are. Are still part of the family of the universe, so to speak. Right.

We're all brothers and sisters across this country and across this world and across the universe. I think you still have a family. You got a big family. What inspired you to become an intuitive mentor and an empowerment coach?

That was something that came throughout the last two decades through my Pilates practice, through my rehabilitative program, working with clients. When people were coming in with physical pain, discomfort, dis ease, what I was helping them get to was the root cause.

And we find that every root cause of some sort of disease or pain in the body comes to this emotional aspect, something that has been pushed down, forgotten about, not wanting to deal with. So every pain point, whether it came from a suspected injury or what have you, it still went deeper than that.

And so within my Pilates rehab training sessions, the coaching was born. My intuitive abilities came out greater, my healing abilities came out greater.

So, you know, while someone, I always say, people come to me for one thing and then they often, you know, they get this whole toolbox.

And so while people were coming thinking they were getting a Pilates training session, it really turned into an empowerment mindset, movement, spirituality, realigning body, mind and spirit and healing session.

Yeah, you had, and I can relate to this because I know understand this journey, but you had a traumatic incident that happened to you that kind of set you on this journey of healing and empowerment and understanding, mind, body and soul connection. Can we talk a little bit about that?

Yeah. So back in 1997, I was in a traumatic car accident. I was very much in the corporate world, climbing the corporate ladder, doing all of the things.

I had been in the senior living industry since I was 15 years old and was bred and programmed, I guess you could say, through society to believe that you are supposed to have this career, get married a certain age, have babies at a certain age, make sure that you have your 401k, a pension, whatever, all this stuff. And so that's all that I was doing. It's all that I knew. And I wasn't happy when I started in that industry.

What lit me up was working with residents and being an advocate for them and being advocate for their families.

And the higher and higher that I was getting within that industry, I was getting further and further away from what I loved about that industry and then really also seeing another side of the industry I didn't really care for there, you know, which was very hard for me because my heart and soul was always first and foremost for residents and their families and, you know, just like any corporate situation, you know, you get behind the curtain and you see different things and reality is there, and it's just not always what you thought it was going to be. And so I was incredibly unhappy. And my mentor of many years had said, well, I kind of warned you, like you did.

I don't, you know, I don't want to do this. I was very young. I was only my middle 20s.

So here I had taken this job and had little to no respect because of my age coming in, even though I'd been very successful in other areas. And one day driving home, you know, there was a car accident. And I'll never forget, it was six lanes of road, or what do you call those lanes?

Six lanes in Colorado, on the way home from North Glen to Boulder. And I was at a red light, and I look up and I just see this car barreling towards me. And.

And I look to the right, I look to the left, and there's nowhere for me to go. And so now I see it happening. And so the car barrels into me, and I ping ponged quite a bit.

And I know that I was knocked out unconscious because I remember looking up and being like, wow, that police officer got here so fast. Well, that's who hit me. He was on his way home and he was in his uniform still. And so it became this snowball, very big, pivotal moment in my life.

In and out of doctor's offices eight hours a day, Soft tissue damage from the base of my skull all the way down through my spine. And, you know, the last thing in looking back is that this happened at that time in Boulder, which was the mecca of holistic health and wellness.

And so, coming from Cape Cod, I was calling myself a little country bumpkin. I was experiencing things I either hadn't heard of or I would have never had the opportunity to. So that in and of itself was a blessing.

That's also how I felt Pilates. And I was in so much pain and nothing was really working.

And, you know, thankfully I had really good holistic doctors around me who didn't want to see me drugged up on. On medications and all this, even though that was a little bit part of the protocol.

But they were very proactive in wanting to see me heal, which was really awesome because there's not a lot of doctors who actually really want to see you healing versus numb you out and keep you going on a hamster wheel of a. Of a system. And so in finding this amazing Pilates rehab specialist, I rehabbed with her for a year. I could not drive to work anymore.

As I said, I was in and out of doctor's offices, neurologists, you name it. I was seeing everyone and everything. And at the end of that year, at that point, I had been back to work a little bit.

And the ironic part of it was that at that time, I was specializing in Alzheimer's disease.

And so I didn't realize the severity of the brain trauma that I had, nor did a lot of other people, because when I was at work, I was surrounded with Alzheimer's, God bless their hearts. And so it took some time to really realize down the road the severity of the situation. And that was. That was very impactful.

And so at the end of this year, there had been some things going on with the work and the, you know, the corporation and blah, blah, blah. And so, long story short, they weren't doing well. And I said, well, feel free to lay me off. Which was a very adult decision for a young person.

You know, not realizing one day, all of a sudden, I get the call, let's go to lunch. I'm like, oh, great, let's go to lunch. And, you know, the next thing you know, you're being laid off.

And I'm like, what do you mean I'm being laid off? You know, it was such an ego twist of a moment, but the universe was like, we gotta get this girl out.

And at the same time, I'd received a little bit of a settlement, and that settlement was just enough to go to the Pilates school, which is right there, the Pilates center in Boulder, Colorado. And so it was in those moments when the universe was really laying out a plan and I didn't know any better.

And I just leaned in and there were people around me who said, you know, we think you should do this. You'd be really good at it. And so I just kept leaning further and further and. And so that's really.

I mean, I was always intuitive, I was always gifted. But it was within all of this that so much woke up and completely changed the trajectory of my life.

You know, first and foremost, thank you very much for working with people with Alzheimer's. We took care of my wife's father for 18 months, the last 18 months of his life. He had Lewy Body dementia. And that in itself is a challenge.

So thank you for your contribution to those people's well being. From a personal level, I want to say thank you, but, wow, what an opportunity for you to kind of shape your approach to holistic wellness.

Right from the get go. Because as you said earlier, the majority of doctors, the first thing they want to do is stuff you full of pills.

And you know, if this hurts, well, then here's a pain pill. And if that hurts him even more, here's a, a bigger pain pill. So, you know, that, that must have been.

It was from this perspective, I think it's very, very, very refreshing that you got it right from the get go, luckily in Boulder.

Right.

So, yeah, it's. It's interesting how that did that when you, I know that you, you trained with her for a little bit, the Pilates person for a little bit.

You, you yourself were trained. You. Is it a second or third generation type atmosphere when you were trained?

Right. Yes, it was.

So I rehabbed with Pilates for a year and then I took that settlement money and it was just enough to go to the Pilates center in Boulder. And so that schooling at that time was another year to go through. It was very.

It's very much like a physical therapy certification or program, but you just don't walk out with that. It's one of the most extensive programs. It's the Harvard of all Pilates schools. So it was such a blessing to be able to go there.

And yes, my teachers were second generation from Joseph, so that makes me third generation, which is a big deal in and of itself, especially now since the industry itself has gotten so watered down over the years. So it's. It was so many blessings out of such a horrific, traumatic experience that lined up for me, that one can't not be grateful.

You know, we all want a sign from the universe on the direction of our lives and how we want to go there. But that was a pretty big. That was a pretty big sign.

It was a huge sign. And even out of that, what came was, you know, here you figure, I'm 25, 26 years old, and all my friends are doing whatever right. They were doing.

They weren't. They hadn't been in the corporate, you know, as long as I had been doing and all this stuff. And so now I. I had this opportunity just to be.

And so I was going to the Pilates school. I was a barista at a little Italian restaurant.

I was a wedding coordinator at this incredible foreign restaurant, international restaurant that was there. I started being an entrepreneur. I'd never heard of the word. I didn't know what that was.

I started consulting with other people and helping them with their businesses. So it was like all of this mishmash of things and creativity.

It was really A world going from black and white to white or black and white to color, which was quite an amazing experience.

Well, the integration of society and culture from many culture experiences I think is a beneficial force all. And you were given that. Those were the tools that were given to you. I admire that.

I have to smile because, you know, the universe provided them to you and you were open to accepting them, which I think is important for us all. How did you get involved with integrating energy alignment in mindset and things like this as an individual?

We had a conversation previous to this, to this conversation in regard to, you know, my journey and regard to the same. Similar to what your journey was.

I had been injured in the line of duty, and then of course, I was told by doctors I wouldn't walk again and I'd be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. And I learned that balancing my energy and. You can't see my hand, sorry.

Balancing my energy and understanding the connection between mind, body and soul are important. Important in healing. At what point did you kind of learn that integration in that mindset?

So that too, that all came from the Pilates method. The Pilates method is all about aligning body, mind and spirit and starting with breath work and really getting into your body.

And it was at a time where at the same time I had doctors one specifically looking at me and saying, you've never lived in your body. And at the time, I didn't understand the magnitude of that statement. Looking back, it all makes sense now.

And so here he was saying that, and at the same time, here I was gifted by the universe, the Pilates method, which was forcing me to be in my body and to feel and to move through energy and move through emotion. And again, even though I may not have understood the magnitude of that at the time, it was so imperative for where I was at in my life.

You know, it. It. Can you help us understand? Just. I mean, we all have a perception of Pilates. In fact, my wife has a tape on that she.

Or a disc, not a tape, but a DVD that she had used for learning Pilates in the beginning, which is nothing to the magnitude what you've learned, obviously, but that shows the watered down version of it.

I've talked to a lot of people in my journey with podcasting and healing, and you're actually the first one that I have talked to that had mentioned Pilates in their healing journey.

So I find that really intriguing in regard to that, because obviously we most think of it as an exercise program or a toning program or Something along that line. But this goes much deeper than that.

Doesn't really does. I mean, I remember one of the first sessions and I had gone in and there's a machine, it's called the Reformer. And I had laid down on the machine.

And when I laid down, I put my feet up on what we call the foot bar. And I was laying there and she asked me to breathe. That's all she asked me to do. Didn't move. Don't hold your stomach in. Just breathe.

And in that moment, it still brings me to tears. Literally tears started coming down my eyes because it was the first time that I was releasing and coming out of fight or flight.

And that all happened by just being present in my body and breathing. And it was such a huge, huge moment for me.

And so really, you know, and people don't talk about that anymore so much, I will say on the mainstream when it comes to Pilates. Pilates is an incredibly healing program when. When gone to those depths.

It does strengthen, it does lengthen, it does tone, it does release dis ease from the body. It can release disease from the body. Depending on how you're working, you can rehab with it. Most importantly, you can attune to your body.

You can come back to your body and al body, mind and spirit, which really begins to change your world. And that's the piece that I feel nine times out of ten is missing in a lot of practices. And for some, that's okay.

There are a lot of people who can only be at the surface, and it's important to meet people where they're at, but it's also important to know the deeper aspects of Pilates and be willing to go there.

And even last year, while I have always done that with clients, last year in particular, in the winter, I was guided to record a Pilates somatic healing workout. And I use the word workout loosely because it actually is nothing of a workout. It is such an emotional release, and it was so impactful.

It changed my life doing it. And I shared it with one client first, and I said, just, you know, I've not done this before, but this was what I was guided to do.

I would love to gift this to you.

She was going through a lot, and she called me after her first session, which was 15 minutes, crying, and could not have been more grateful for the release that she had on an emotional traumatic level. And I said, that's all I needed to know. Thank you.

Continue with the four weeks and, you know, came back and had an even more, you know, every Every week there was. There was more of a release and more of an impact. And so, you know, again, it goes back to just listening and knowing.

And every Pilates trainer instructor is going to be different based on whom they learned from and what their mission is. You know, my mission came into it from an injury. So of course that became a niche that I didn't even know I had. Right.

But I was always the fix it girl. And then it was the fix it girl that just knows stuff.

The fix it girl that you go in in pain and you literally walk out and you're not in pain anymore. And oh, by the way, it was also like a therapy session. Like, I don't think I need my therapist anymore. Like, there's just something happening here.

And so it has continued to evolve over the years and my whole business has shifted dramatically because of it.

Well, I think what brings to my mind actually is self empowerment. It allows us to take charge and make a choice and take charge of our own healing, our own well being.

It empowers us to be able to take the steps forward in order to heal. And that release that you were talking about, once you get to that point, I did not get that through, through your process.

It took me a different route to get through mine.

But once I was able to recognize that and take the steps in order to get me out of a wheelchair, to walk my daughter down the aisle, as well as be a father to my other daughter and a husband to my wife and a brother to my sister and so forth, it was empowering. It gave me the ability within myself to say, hey, I do have the strength and the perseverance and the fortitude to be able to move forward.

So, you know, from that perspective, in understanding that, how does self empowerment play into the transforming your own body, mind and spirit the way you just talked about?

Well, I think it comes back to a place of if someone has any sort of dis ease in their body, whether it's emotional or they have been diagnosed with something, you know, where does that come from?

And a lot of people at that point begin to look at it as their body isn't working or their body has turned against them, almost as if the body is separate from whom you are. And I think the moment that people can understand that you are one and the same, that you are your body, your body's not turning against you.

If anything, anytime there is a pain or a discomfort, or you're happy or you're sad, or you're angry, there's an emotion your body Your spirit, your soul is trying to get your attention.

And I always say, you know, the universe will whisper and then the universe will speak and then the universe generally will come in with a fry pan or a 2x4 over top your head to get your attention. And it's up to you. You have free will when you' like to listen. And the key is to listen early on.

The key is to listen to those little whispers and to the nudges. And when you do, that's when you connect with yourself. That's where you begin to embody your power and that's where your empowerment comes from.

Knowing that you're in charge. You aren't what you're labeled by a doctor or by any other person in this world. You are who you decide you're going to be.

And in this moment you can be one thing and in the next moment you can be something different. Because you can change your life at any truly given moment in time. That's up to you. That's the power that you have.

You know, I feel what has happened within society and I will say at least 20 years, and I'm sure it's been a lot longer than that.

But for 20 that I have witnessed, people have been brought up and programmed to be very disempowered to believe that you have to go and check in with your doctor once a year. Well, if you're healthy, why? That's my first question. But that's just me.

You have to have a 401k, you have to do certain things, you know, you should be doing a 9 to 5 or you're considered a black sheep or you're crazy, or if you are one step out of the norm of anything, you are the outsider. You are. And I say be an outsider. Take that path that's less traveled. Follow your heart. Do you.

No one is ever going to understand you and your journey like you. And so just choosing you is so empowering versus staying that road of what everyone wants you to be, thinks you should be, tells you to be.

Well, I think that you helping people align their mind, their body and their soul from those perspectives allows them the opportunity to understand themselves a little bit better.

I love the fact that you call it dis ease instead of just a disease because it allows us to not define ourselves by a disease or what is typically construed as disease or what is projected by the medical field as well. You have a disease, you have an autoimmune disease, you've got rheumatoid arthritis, you've got Ms. You've got this, you've got that.

You know, we're, as you said earlier, we're kind of trained, we're indoctrinated by society and culture to think of disease as a detriment and something that we are just stuck with, right?

And we're never stuck with. In my personal opinion, we're never stuck with anything. But you are stuck with yourself. So why not get to know yourself?

Why not spend as much time getting to know who you are, why you're here, what your mission is?

Why not spend as much time on that as you have in four years of college or medical school, or the magazine that you read to buy the car, or how much you're studying to whatever it is. How about you get to know you and then watch your world open up and change.

I think I have to look at my notes. You talk about Earth School, there's quotes. Earth School is that Earth School.

So you could say that. So Earth School is every day.

So whether or not everyone agrees with this or not, we all have soul contracts that we signed before we woke up here on Earth, before you were born. I always say, clearly, someone got me incredibly drunk, like, so drunk to have had me signed what I signed and I still lived.

It was probably the best champagne ever. And kudos to them because it worked.

You sign the Soul contract, and so only, and I also want people to hear this, only the strongest of the strong choose to come to Earth, which is where we're at, right on Earth. So Earth is a school and we're here to learn.

And part of our soul contract that each and every one of us signed before we came here is we agreed to go through certain things. We agreed to the family members, we agreed to the most amazing love relationships. We agreed to the. The shittiest of lover relationships.

The best jobs, the worst jobs, everything you're going through, you have agreed on some sort of contractual level.

There's also free will that's in there, which means that while there's a road map, you know, you can go rogue sometimes and you darn well know when you've gone rogue. Like, we've all done it, but it's still. You get to where you're supposed to be going. But this is Earth School and we are here to learn.

And it is an incredibly short period of time that we're here. That, I think also is a misconception.

People, you know, they plan for, well, gosh, and I'm going to be 80 in 20 more years, so I don't have much time left. Well, honey child, you could be gone tomorrow. You're not guaranteed those 20 years or 30 years, you know, So I.

I think it's just interesting how different people look at different things based on whom they are and where they are and what they've been brought up to believe. And some people, while they're here, they will stretch their minds, will stretch and grow and, you know, kind of get that.

Yeah, that, you know, I really need to be grateful for every moment that I'm here. This is amazing. I'm not here just to work 9 to 5. I am not a slave.

Like, I am here to experience as much of life and see as much of the world as I can. That doesn't mean you have to be on a private jet flying around the world, but maybe you're studying it.

Maybe you go to Vegas and you see half the world in Vegas because Lord knows they have it projected there. You can do that. It's all in being creative in creating and being a part of your journey.

You are a co creator here and learning along the way, finding your blessings, finding your lessons, accepting them and saying, check. Okay, next, what's the next adventure? Pressure. What's happening next to me?

And I'm not saying that it's easy, and I'm not saying that life doesn't give us challenges, because it absolutely does. But the truth is, is we grow in challenges. We grow from pain. We don't grow from rainbows.

And I want to preface this by saying this is the girl that loves rainbows, unicorns and lollipops. Like, this is always the joke that I've always had with my mentor. And the first thing that shlay is you didn't come here for that.

And the truth is I didn't come here for that. And boy do I know it. Because it has not been all rainbows, unicorns and lollipops. But, you know, it's. It takes a while. But I will say this.

One of the biggest lessons that I have learned along the way is that every moment in life is happening for me. And it is up to me to determine what is the lesson in this moment. What am I supposed to get out of this?

And what is the blessing that's hidden in here that maybe I can't see in this moment? And I'm sure someone's going, well, that's a bunch of malarkey. Jennifer, you're full of. And I'm telling you I'm not. And I'm also telling you this.

I don't have bad days. The first half of my life, I had a lot of shitty ass bad days and I don't have those anymore.

I may have moments that are more challenging than others, but they're just that.

I learned something from some Navy Seals and they give themselves 90 seconds to have a piss poor moment, to gripe, to groan, whatever it is, cry, whatever. They also give themselves 90 seconds to cheer, to celebrate, to be excited, to be happy.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm always perfect on the 90 seconds, but I do make sure that it's a moment. I do make sure that I pay attention. And when I'm feeling uncomfortable and I'm crabby and then I go, wait a minute, why?

And I coach myself and I go through, no, let's go deeper, let's go. What is the, what are you really pissed off about? Because it's not about what's happening.

It's something more and the same thing about the happy moments.

And so when you can do that and step out of the angst, the, out of whatever you're in and you can learn to do that, look at how is this happening for me? This is really crappy. It's gotta be something in here for me.

And then, aha, I see the lesson and there's your blessing because you just grew in that moment in time. Now, I want to say it's that easy, but it's also that challenging all at the same time.

There's still brilliant, brilliant words of wisdom, brilliant, brilliant advice.

I'm happy that you shared that it was shared with you and that you shared it with us because I think we don't take enough time to really understand or really. As my previous career, I can tell you that life can change in an instant.

You mentioned earlier, you may think you're going to last to 80, you may not last to 80 years old, because life can change in an instant. Every time somebody walks out the door, they may or may not come home.

And you know, understanding that watching people's lives slip away from me in holding their hand and they're telling me that you need to, can you please deliver this message? Because I didn't say this or I didn't do this kind of a situation. Life can change in an instant.

But at the same time, through my own journey, I've had to learn to be grateful for what I do have. I have to be grateful for it. And I take every day. It's really important.

I just want to emphasize what you said, if you don't mind it's important to be grateful for what you have and where you are in place. Because what you have and where you are is who made you who you are and will continue to make you who you are.

And you have a choice to make the definition between whether or not you're going to let it affect you negatively or positively, or whether or not you want to change it, or whether or not you want to regress or just flounder in it. And I, I, I can't wait to tell my wife what you said about the, the drunk part, because I know that's what they had happened.

That's exactly what happened to me.

Oh yeah, we were probably the same. We were at the same party. Same party, you know, we just chose to come at different times. I was a little delayed, you know. Absolutely.

We were hooting and hollering it up. For sure, for sure.

Why did I do this? Well, yeah, now I know why. See how I can figure it out. You have been a trusted celebrity trainer and a spiritual advisor.

At what point did you understand or kind of were introduced to your empathic and your intuitive abilities and were able to connect that with what you do in helping people? Did you have an experience? Did something, you know, usually some people will have kind of a light bulb moment or, you know, can we talk about that?

Yes. So I would say, you know, it's such an interesting question for me because some people go, oh my God.

When I was two years old, I was in the crib and I looked up and there was an alien. And I don't have a story like that. My story goes because of the way my childhood was, which was challenging and full of some trauma in and of itself.

I don't remember a lot. I remember some instances of being very empathic, of just knowing things, of always speaking up and no one listening, and it's too bad.

And then fast forward.

I know that throughout my life I was always intrigued with tarot and oracle cards and all of the things, particularly after high school is when it really kind of came up. But before that I just sort of always just knew stuff.

But, but I couldn't explain to you how this was back in the time where there was no such thing as an empath. There were, you know, no one really talked about psychics or intuitive. So I just didn't know.

And it wasn't until later on, and it was pre my car accident where I knew and people knew, like if, if I did a tarot card reading for them, they'd be like, oh my God. That's so dead on. How do you know? Like, but you. I didn't really take it seriously.

What I started to take seriously was when I was guided to start for myself, going and having readings done for me. And this was at a time where my grandmother had had Alzheimer's and what was happening. And it was such a beautiful, beautiful blessing.

I wish I would have understood the impactness of it in the moments, which I did. But again, hindsight 20 20, the one time I went for a reading, and the woman spoke to me, and she said, oh, my gosh, your grandmother's here now.

To me, I'm thinking, she's talking to someone dead. And so I only knew one grandmother was dead. And she's like, this. This woman's coming through. She said, you were a ray of light.

You showed up at the most, like, important time. You came in singing and dancing, and. And you just changed the world and changed the energy around you.

And she loved being with you and all this stuff. And I'm sitting there going, this is not adding up for me.

I was told, based on what I knew from my grandmother that passed, that this woman didn't even like me. And I don't do any of this stuff with her. But anywho, I let the reading go on and on. I leave. I go home.

By the time I got home, which was maybe 15 minutes later, there was a message for me. I think this was like, maybe just one email had come out. Dating myself a bit, and it said, your grandmother is here, and she will not leave.

I'm gonna cry until I let you know that this is your mother's mother. That was my mom. Mom who was living with Alzheimer's many, many states away. And I thought, oh, my gosh.

And so for anyone, if you were dealing in and struggling and caretaking for someone with Alzheimer's, I want you to know that they do this thing where we call. They fly around and they go and check in on people. And so this became habitual.

I started to go and getting more and more readings, and she would show up, and my mother would call me and say, did you have a reading today at this time? And I'd say, why? Because your grandmother just stopped. She did nothing for that hour and just sat there.

And so when you talk about, you just make me cry. The gifts that she was. Yeah, the gifts that she was giving me that she couldn't necessarily give me in person. Those were the gifts she was giving me.

Then again, I was in shock. I didn't quite understand. So she Was very much a part of easing me into a world that I knew nothing about.

Like, why would I not follow my grandmother? Right? I'm not going to not follow her. I'm going to continue to do this. And every time I did, it helped me to learn. And it was like working a muscle.

And so then I got to be in tune with her. And then I started to trust my intuitiveness.

Maybe I didn't call it that at that time, but it was, for me, it was gradual and it was over years and then the car accident that truly catapulted to a whole nother level at that point in time. And that's really when my true healing abilities came out. The intuitiveness came out.

Like, I could just look at you and I can still do it to this day. And I know what's going on in your body and I know what needs to be done.

And you know, I can answer all of the questions that you're not going to ask.

And so it's been year after year that honing those skills in practical ways and not practical ways that very organically for me, I would say going back to my slightly joking about, you know, not remembering too much. There was one instance when I was very young and my parents had divorced and my mom and I went to live with my grandmother.

And I was upstairs in the house and this was back in the 70s. And so people smoked and they smoked in the houses and I was asthmatic. So I mean, it was just, it was just what a hot situation, right?

But it was the 70s, so everybody did what they did. And I remember laying in bed and I couldn't move and all I saw were these three green orbs.

And you know when, like, you're so shocked you can't move and you just sit and you're looking at something, I'm like. And I just remember. It's just a flash that I remember. And I remember screaming downstairs, like, mom, Mom. And I remember telling.

And they're like, oh, it's probably just the smoke coming upstairs and it's the light that's turning it green and blah, blah, like, everybody always had us. Anything that I ever said as a child was always debunked by smoking something that someone would say. Like no one ever listened to me.

And so I would say at that point in time, I, you know, I was very, I was very well protected. Even though I was in a very challenging position as a child, I was very protected and I just didn't know it.

That's, that's amazing. Journey, actually. That's amazing experiences that I, I, I think you should value that introduction from, from that perspective.

I've had, again, numerous conversations here with what you said earlier. At two years old, I did this. At five years old, I did this, or something like that.

But I think that your introduction to, you know, your empathic abilities and your intuitive abilities is a really nice way to understand people and come from a very compassionate and humanitarian perspective. So very cool. You brought tears to my eyes. We won't tell anybody, though.

We won't tell anybody. If I have a podcast and I'm not crying, I mean, it's just not a podcast. It's what I'm learning. Like, I just. Why I don't have the box of tissues here.

I have no idea.

I have one here, but unfortunately, I can't share. How were you introduced to light therapy and, and how you use it?

Yeah. So light therapy is nothing short of. In my world.

I was, I had a Pilates studio at this time out in Scottsdale, Arizona, and my now partner, who, who was a doctor, had come to me and said, hey, can I talk to you about, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, oh, this sounds like a bunch of. Right. Like, I just don't even. This sounds like hogwash to me, but whatever.

He came and he showed me this little patch. Let me think. I do. Yeah, I do have one on. I'll show it to you here. Let's see.

He showed me this little patch, and he goes, I know what's going on in your world, which was incredibly stressful and anxious, and I was a hot little mess at the time. And he said, do me a favor and just hold this. And I was like, I don't have time for this, but fine. So I held the patch.

A few minutes went by, and I looked at him, and I knew he could see it. Like, I could see the excitement in his eye. And he's like, you're feeling it, aren't you? And I was like, do you feel like this right now?

And he goes, yep. And I said, do you feel like this every day? And he goes, every day, all day. And I said, I don't know what it is, but I want as many as I can get.

And so that's how my introduction to light therapy technology came, which is this little patch. It's very tiny. Um, like about not even maybe a little bit bigger than a quarter. Do people still carry quarters? I do. They do.

Occasionally.

I do.

And so what's really cool is the first half of my life I was riddled with prescription drugs, autoimmune disease, anxiety, depression, you name it, and let's just check a box for it. Fast forward to this moment when I met this gentleman and I was introduced to light therapy patches, technology.

Now, the second half of my life, I use this little patch and I use whole food capsules, and that's all that I use. I no longer have autoimmune disease. As a matter of fact, I no longer wear glasses. My cardiovascular health is better than it's ever been.

And there was some hiccups there. All sorts of amazing things have transpired in conjunction with this little patch for me. And so I'm very holistic.

I don't prescribe to the big pharma or doctors or any.

I actually just got yelled at two days ago because I hadn't seen my primary care physician in two years and they refused to give me a referral to my cardiologist. And I'm like, well, what? And they're like, well, sorry, like, you haven't seen him, you need to see him. And I said, but I'm healthy.

He knows I'm healthy. I don't need to see him. Why do you see your cardiologist? Well, look at my chart, you'll see why I see my cardiologist.

That's like, I check in, I don't need a gp, I need a cardiologist.

Yeah.

And so I was very feisty in that moment on the phone because I was like, this is a bunch of hogwash. In my personal opinion, for me, I am not one that follows rules well. I do not play with others well. And I was politely letting them know this.

So back to the patches. Oh, nothing goes into my system. This is 100% non transdermal, so. And non toxic.

So what that means is when you place this patch on your body, you are an infrared being. You yourself are a light being.

When this patch goes on you, the infrared light within you, which is heat, think of like a red light that reflects onto this patch inside that little white piece. Think of it as a snowflake that's in there. It then reflects your light back to you in a specific wavelength to begin healing.

To begin not only stimulating, but regenerating your stem cells, your stem cells from ground zero, not replacing, regenerating. And so truly healing begins at a cellular level.

And because of the work that I do, which is all about getting to the root cause of why you are in dis. Ease discomfort, be that physically, mentally, whatever you think it is, it's important to always go to the cellular level.

So this became one more tool in my toolbox to help clients with. And so I will never be without light therapy patches. They have been amazing. They've been game changers for my clients. I use them on my fur babies.

My fur babies have been wearing them for 10 years now. They too do not prescribe to big veterans pharmaceuticals. They wear patches and they're very happy with their patches.

And I'm very happy with my patches. And so it's been an extraordinary time. I will say here's what's been hard about the patches.

My hair grows so quickly, I had to learn how to cut my hair myself. So I've been cutting my own hair for years now, which is amazing. My hair, all of this, right? All of this coming in.

This is all my natural dark color coming in. What the little bit of sparkles. I like to call them those. Some may say gray. I say sparkle. You have a few sparkles right now.

If I take my hair down, there's still a few sparkles on top, but all of it is growing out.

And that is the regenerative work from your stem cells, which most people will go and they'll spend an absorbent amount of money not being told that if you're 50 years old, we're just giving you 50 year old stem cells. I don't want 50 year old stem cells. I want brand new stem cells. And that's the amazing part about light technology.

Because you're light beings, you want to heal on that cellular level and you want to heal with the light. And when you can get again to the root cause.

Right.

You know, there isn't anything that you can't heal. I'll just say it that way.

That's pretty cool, actually. What an amazing opportunity for someone to be able to connect with their body at a cellular level.

I think that this is the first conversation I've actually had about those in 430 conversations. Yeah, I've never. With holistic a lot. With holistic wellness. This is the first conversation I've had about this. This is really.

I want to explore it a little more from my own perspective.

So, David, this particular company has been around for 20 years. The scientist behind it is also the owner of the company.

And he, in an in and of himself, is just amazing to listen to because he is so obsessed with wanting people to be healthy and how they came to be. You will love the story. I will tell you. It's. I'll make it quick.

He was reached out to from the Military and said, hey, we need something to give to our guys in the submarines to keep them awake. That isn't a stimulant. What can you do? And he goes, I can do that.

So the very first patches that were ever made were called energy patches, and we still have them. And when you place them on, they propel energy in your body. And so when you think about acupuncture, there are certain points on the body, right?

The patches go on. Acupuncture. Not acupuncture. Acupressure. Acupressure points. That.

That's what we would call same point, but you call it acupressure instead of an acupuncture. Acupuncture. And so it's the same thing, but different. And how convenient.

So it started that way, and then the government was like, oh, and you do glutathione and you do this and you do that. And he was like, well, let me dial that in a minute. Because for him, it was important.

His mission is he wants everyone to live well, live long, live young.

And so he said, I would rather get this into the hands of people who can share it than go down a road that does not look like a road that he wanted, that he was aligned with, basically. So 20 years later, we have all of the patents, all of the scientific research. And because he was. He's a very smart scientist.

No one else can make these. So there is zero competition because he's that smart with patents and what he has.

Very cool.

And so recently, this even gets cooler for some people. For some people, they may not like it. There was. There's a gentleman, I do believe his name is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Who is head of our. Our Health.

Head of Our Health Moving Forward. He came out and spoke about light therapy, and he is very.

A big proponent of light therapy and a big proponent of not wanting to push pills on people if it's not needed. I'm not saying pills aren't a good thing or a bad thing, but sometimes it is there for you.

You know, sometimes you need to go that route and sometimes you don't.

And it's important for you to be able to have free will and make a choice versus feel like you're being labeled and being pushed down a road that may not be for you.

I need a patch for a whole bunch of stuff.

What an interesting number one kudos to that individual for sticking with his path and being able to create something that gives us the opportunity to heal within. I wholeheartedly believe in that.

It is something that when I first started my journey with my injuries, with my turning rheumatoid arthritis, which I've no history in my family with it, it was validated. It's not even in my DNA. Through another doctor that's a very holistic doctor, did blood testing. He's got this whole process.

But I have not heard of this approach where the light therapy regenerates from a stem cell perspective and then regenerates new stuff in regard to helping you heal. I love that we have to have another conversation just about that one of these days because that in itself, I think is a. I'm excited. I'm so excited.

I can't come up with words.

Yeah, I mean, it's a. I'll have to have you. I'll send you the link to the Facebook group that I have where there's.

I literally like every day I get so many testimonies that I put up in there because I feel that that's the best thing you want to hear from other people that are wearing them and what's. What's transpiring in their life. And so that's pretty.

That is very. That's awesome. I mean, I believe in acupuncture. I have 38. I don't believe in tattoos. I'm just a stickler about that.

But I do have 32 or 38 little tiny dots. I'm pointing to them. You can see me pointing, right? 38 dots tattooed all over my body. In regard to.

My wife was taught how to give me acupuncture and that's what I use. So I understand the balancing of energy within our body and the meridians and how they work.

And I'm guessing when you mentioned the acupressure, that the light therapy works similar to the acupressure, or, excuse me, the acupuncture and the acupressure meridians that help align the energy within our body and how it flows. What a fascinating opportunity. I mean, look, I don't mind the needles. It's. I'm so used to it now. It's just like.

But how convenient that you can wake up and put a patch on and go about your day and talk about cost effective. I mean, it's. It's just been amazing. Amazing, amazing.

Yeah.

And to help other people has been really, you know, is. Is quite cool too, when, when you're able to share. I always like to say if you, if you've, if you've got something great, you got to share it.

And that's how this company has always Been, it's always been heart to heart sharing. And so that's why a lot of people say, well, we've never heard of this. And they'll say, well, we've always, that's our motto.

It's this, it's sharing, heart to heart, literally.

Exactly. It is better that way because you understand it's coming from somebody that actually believes in it and whole.

From a wholesome perspective from my heart, my soul, my body will tell you that this works.

Just like when I talk about acupuncture and I talk about the herbs that I use instead of the Vicodin and the codeine's and the everything else, the nine different drugs that they had me on years and years and years ago, I have a passion for that. And that passion is easier displayed when I'm talking to you face to face and say, yes, it works for me. Yes, it takes the pain away.

When you live with chronic pain and that chronic pain is every day, when you have a flare, it is hard to put into words that the depth of that pain and how it affects you, everything that you do during the time period that you have that flare and a lot of people who have never experienced it, don't understand it. But when you talk about how to stop that to somebody who is experiencing it and you do it from that perspective, it makes it so much more meaningful.

And you can take that and push it on and pass it on, which I think is. Yeah, I talk too much. Sorry.

No, you're fine. No, it's so true, it's so true.

To know that like one of the patches, literally when you place it on it will regulate your nervous system in under 15 minutes. And so for a lot of the people that I work with that are empaths and highly sensitive individuals, anxiety, depression are big things.

And so to regulate your nervous system is to balance your hormones. It's to balance and align your entire being. Why wouldn't everyone be using this?

Oh, this is so cool. Jennifer, you're gonna have to come back on and talk about a lot about that if, if, if you could come back on. I won't make a commitment here. Right.

While we're live, I can cut this out or whatever. But honestly, I would love to have a conversation in specific to just those modality and one itself. If, if you want to share that.

Yeah, I think it's so important. It's where, it's where healing is going. And I know that people have heard and they've poo pooed.

There's been rumors about Med beds and this, that and the other thing. And the truth is, is that med beds have been around for a very, very long time, especially over in Europe.

When you're looking at light therapy, this has been around forever. So now that light therapy technology is only getting better and better.

So even if you're coming in now, you're still getting the best of the best from where it was 10 years ago.

And I think the progression with it from that perspective is obviously a benefit to us as a society. My daughter gave us, our oldest daughter gave us this red light therapy wand that I use now when I'm having a flare of my own.

So when I'm hanging in front of my wrist, my arms, my shoulders, my hands, whatever it happens to be, I can use that and I use the red light therapy wand on it, and it will take the pain away from me and it will give me more comfort. I can function.

Yeah, red light therapy is amazing and if used regularly, could potentially keep you from flare ups or keep the flare ups from the intensity of which they once were.

See, I hadn't thought about from my perspective. I just, you know, I used it when it. When I flare, I use it and then I put it away. But I may start doing that.

Yeah, absolutely.

I know that you have a practice, and we've been talking about that, where you help people and you can help them align their mind, their body, their soul, and their spirit. You've got a podcast and you've got a book. What got you interested in podcasting, if we can touch on that point for a minute.

So podcasting is interesting. It happened during the pandemic, slash Covid. I was locked down.

I was helping family caretake for my granddad at the time, and I had an opportunity to work with a mentor who I'd always wanted to work with. And it was going to be very immersive. And I said, I really need to do this.

And I was really struggling mentally because I wasn't happy where I was, and there was a lot of stuff going on. And so I went into this immersive experience, and within the middle of it, I heard, you're going to do a podcast.

And I'll be very honest, I had never listened to a podcast. I knew what they were, I knew nothing about them. And I thought, okay, great. And so I came out of those three days. I was guided.

I bought a microphone, I put it on my desk. I went as far as to record the intro, and here's how much I didn't know about podcasting. I recorded that intro. I didn't know it went live. So.

So there was just a random intro sitting out there for a podcast that technically really didn't exist, but did. And so fast forward. That was also a time where there was an app that was called Clubhouse that a lot of people were on. It was an audio app.

And I got onto a stage with a lot of really impressive podcasters. Very popular, very. They knew what they were doing. They were far in advanced.

And this one gentleman said to me, so, how long have you not been doing your podcast? And, well, if anybody knows me, like, that's all that needed to be said.

And so in that moment in time, I got up and I thought, how dare he say that to me? But guess what? That was the moment the universe said, it's time. And so at that moment, then everything, you know, went forward from there.

And so it's been three years later and very blessed. I love it. I've changed it up. Not numerous times, but I've changed up. How about how I podcast? I don't.

Yeah.

I was told how to podcast, how to be a successful podcaster, and I will say the podcast was very successful very quickly. And now I podcast the way I want a podcast.

If I have a message that is downloaded to me and I feel I need to record it in this moment and put it up, then I will. So if that means you get three podcasts this week, awesome. If you get two, great. If you get one, yay. So you just never. It's. It's really.

She's become her own. Her own thing at this point, which is really cool.

Well, it's an involvement. We all have to involve, evolve. And our podcast evolved.

They change and they move forward and they reach out and connect, engage, and grow with our audience as they're supposed to. So you did, you know. Yeah, kudos. It's a great podcast, and obviously we all.

We're going to tell you how to get to that here in a second, but everybody needs to listen to what you do. You've done very well.

And I think that as a podcaster that's been doing this for five years, going on a little more than five years now, you know, I'm glad that you are part of our community. So. Yes. We're running out of time here. I have so many. So many questions to a little time.

I think we should talk about how to get in touch with you and what you offer and what we can do for people.

Yeah. So if anyone would like to continue the conversation, they can Head over to Jennifer Pilates.com you can reach out, ask questions.

That is where you will find the podcast Empowered Within. You'll find my intuitive readings, my intuitive referral program as well as my mentorship program.

You'll also find the Wellness Studio which is all on demand. And so that's where you'll find the Somatic Pilates Healing Program.

That's where you will find Pilates workouts as well as meditation and healing sessions. So it's a very all encompassing body, mind and spirit helping you to align.

And there's numerous ways whether you want to work with me one on one or perhaps on demand, you know the options are there for you. And Again, that's@jenniferpilates.com and I'll make sure.

It'S in the show notes so that everybody has an easy way to find you. You're also on Instagram and several other social media platforms. I put that at the on the screen right down below you.

But yeah, Jennifer at the Jennifer Pilates so they can find you there as well. There's been a wonderful conversation. I really appreciate you sharing your journey with us.

Yes, thank you so much for having me, Michael. It's been a true honor to be here with you today.

I look forward to another conversation with you. But in the meantime, this is one more thing before you go. Do you have any words of wisdom we can share?

I want everyone to know that regardless of what is going on around you, you are in control of what goes on within in you. So just know that in this moment in time, wherever you are is exactly where you are meant to be. And you, my friend, are safe.

Brilliant words of wisdom. I appreciate those very much. I take them to heart. Again, Jennifer, thank you very much for being on the show.

I really appreciate your words, your wisdom, your experience and sharing your life journey with us.

Thank you so much Michael and for.

Everyone, everyone else out there have thank you very much for being a part of our community. Be sure to like subscribe and share. And one more thing before you all go, have a great day. Have a great week and thank you for being here.

Thanks for listening to this episode of One More Thing before youe Go.

Check out our website@beforeyougopodcast.com youm can find us as well as subscribe to the program and rate us on your favorite podcast, Listening Plat.