The Body, Mind & Soul Connection: Body Talk With Christina McKenzie

In this episode, I, your host, Dr. Tomi Mitchell, had the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Christina McKenzie

Biography:

Christina McKenzie is a Certified Body Talk Practitioner, handmade business owner, and teacher. She has studied music & the arts for the better part of 30 years and holds double degrees in both Music & Arts Education. She enjoys the creativity that comes with teaching and creating handmade products for health and wellness. She is an active course coordinator for the International BodyTalk Association and works with instructors and students from all over the world in addition to running her BodyTalk practice for the past 2 years in Regina, SK.

Christina's top priority in life, other than health & wellness, is her family, and the time she spends with her 2 young boys & partner traveling to the mountains, hiking cooking, reading, and playing the piano is what fills her heart with joy. 

Contact Info:

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/wholeheartedwellnesssk
Website
https://whole-hearted-wellness.com/

Transcript

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  00:08

Hello everyone, this is your host Dr. Tomi Mitchell from the Mental Health and Wellness Show. Today I have the pleasure of introducing Christina Mckenzie. She is a Certified BodyTalk Practitioner, handmade business owner and teacher. She has studied music and the arts for the better part of 30 years and holds double degrees in both music and arts education. She enjoys the creativity that comes with teaching and creating handmade products for health and wellness. She is an active course coordinator for the International Body Talk Association and works with instructors and students from all over the world running their own Body Talk practice in Saskatchewan, Canada. Christina's top priority in life other than health and wellness is her family. And she spends time with her two young boys and partner traveling to the mountains, hiking, cooking, reading and playing piano and other things that fills her heart. With no further ado, I would love to introduce Christina. Christina, welcome to the show. Can you let the listeners know a little bit more about you? 

Christina Mckenzie  01:14

Hi, Dr. Mitchell. So nice to be on here with you. Yeah, so hello, everyone from near and far. I'm happy to be here. So thank you for that introduction. I'm going over some of the highlights of my life. It's hard to condense yourself into a few sentences. But yeah, no, I'm so happy to tell you about myself and possibly a bit about my journey and my perspective. So I am actually in the same city as Dr. Mitchell and Saskatchewan, Canada. So we are so happy to be on the same team as each other. And I'm so happy to be in her circles. So thank you for having me on. I am many things. And what I'd like to talk to you about today is my work as a Certified BodyTalk Practitioner. So that's a practice I found about 10 years ago as a very young and stressed out and overwhelmed mother. So at the time, my oldest was my only child at that time, he was about 14 months old. And I was just at the end of my rope. I was doing everything right on paper, I had a great counselor that I could talk to you about my mental health concerns, I had a good support for my physical concerns with chiropractic massage therapy, and of course, my wonderful family doctor, Dr. Mitchell. All on my team, but life was just not good. I was not in a place where I was happy. I was constantly overwhelmed. And I really did not have any ability to manage my stress long term. There would be brief, like rays of sunshine coming in where life would feel good and balanced, but it would not stick. So I was so fortunate to hear about Body Talk from one of my friends who actually was my massage therapist at the time. She said okay, well, I know you're working so hard. I know you're doing everything right. But why don't you see my friends who does Body Talk, he works out of this building. Here's my experiences with BodyTalk. And it almost sounded too good to be true. So because I trusted her, I went and booked a session with this certified practitioner. And I don't remember much of what came up in my session because I was just so relaxed and so peaceful. But I do remember how I felt after and that was like my wholesale to this. So the name of my business is Whole Hearted Wellness, because BodyTalk allows me to feel like a whole hearted person. So the beauty of Body Talk is it's reminding you of how to heal yourself. But you need that neutral observer, you need that certified skilled practitioner to be that detective for you to listen to your body's yeses and noes and then figure out what needs to come first. So for me, I thought chiropractic does the spine, get the tension out of my muscles talk about my family problems, I'll focus on my priorities. And they were some of them, but they just weren't in the right order. And there were so many things on a subconscious level that I was not able to look at not willing to look at. And frankly, with BodyTalk, I really didn't need to go into that much detail. They just needed to come up, they needed to be brought into my awareness. And they needed to be pieced together with the right thing so that I could leave actually feeling better and continuing to feel balanced and well for anywhere initially from two to four to six weeks after my session. And then I would go back when I would feel with my whole self that it was time to get some more priorities and looked at.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  04:27

Wow, that's pretty impressive, two to four to six weeks because I know for most of us who's done like massage therapy. Most people think they can feel really good on the table usually unless you're getting like that deep like, get your butt kicked massage and feel for good for two days. But you're saying clients typically feel better for longer. Why do you think that is? And please tell the listeners what exactly is getting better means to you and to your client.

Christina Mckenzie  04:51

That's such a great question. Thank you. So speaking from my own personal experience as someone who has been to Body Talk as a client on the receiving end of it for 10 years, that's over 100 sessions. So far the thing was Body Talk is that it sticks. So that wellness what that feels like, to me it's feeling centered feeling like I'm home in my body, feeling like the outside world just does not have that effect on me of wearing we might layer of protection stuff doesn't get through to me as easily after I've had a session. And when I first started receiving Body Talk, I did go back probably about once a month or more if I needed it. And then the periods between sessions and my overall feeling of balance and wellness just extended longer and longer and longer, until I really was able to just go when I felt I needed it. And actually, that's what led me onto the path of becoming a practitioner. Because for the most part, I could offer this to myself, I could offer it to my children who have both parts of body talk. My son when shortly after I found it. So he started about two years old, and my youngest went when he was in the womb. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  05:59

Wow. 

Christina Mckenzie  06:00

First, yeah, his first in person session when he was four days Earth side. And it's just it's such a beautiful service to anyone at any age. But again, that extended period of feeling good and feeling centered and feeling like you are in your body and you have control over your mind. And those circular thoughts, stuff doesn't seem to wear through you as easily. And then you can take practical action instead of reactive action. So it's the whole shift in your nervous system from being from a place of fight and flight to pleasing people and freezing when you don't know what to do to, oh, okay, well, this is not something good that's happening. How am I going to take practical action to just see myself through this? 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  06:46

Wow, and you know what I really like the idea that your clients are becoming more mindful of what's going on. Because for me, as a coach, I really talk about this mindfulness, self aware. And sometimes when they're going through a situation, we try to disassociate ourselves from it. So look from the outside, look in and be more objective. And from what I'm hearing, you're the one who's more so looking for the outside of the client's vantage point and looking at is that correct? 

Christina Mckenzie  07:14

As a practitioner? Yes, I am that completely neutral observer that has all the classes and all the practicing and all those qualifications in place to be designated as certified. So I am like the detective, and we are going through any body part organ, endocrine, body system, we're going into the energy centers, we're even going into your family relationship. We are going anywhere that the body says yes. Do we need to know more? Yes. Do we need to go here? No. How about here? Yes. And we just follow that until we reveal the thing? Yes. And anything we need to know. And then we piece together everything else after that. That's a yes. So what that allowed me to feel as a client is on a deep subconscious level. Like I was truly seeing things that I can't access or just notice there was no need to talk therapy yet there was no need to go into the story. There was just that awareness because in BodyTalk we understand that the innate healing we have that heals our cut fully get it that constantly is doing those millions of processes every day to keep our body mind well in motioning all it needs is awareness to heal. But when we are stressed when we come into this world with bright lights and medical instruments, and stressed out mommies, and clueless fathers, we do search to shelter and protect ourselves. And we sometimes often stay stuck in that sympathetic branch of the nervous system and that fight or flight and we can be stuck there for our whole lives and just not know us. But when you're there, when you're in fight or flight, you're not in rest and repair. So body talk gets you into rest and repair so that you can catch up on all the priorities that need to be healed, perhaps even back to fetal life. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  08:59

Yes you know, you are speaking my language so because you're talking about the whole lifespan from conception pretty much inside the mommy's womb to right, right now. And you know, when I talk to clients, and I talk about like mental health, for example, and wellness is not just where you are right now, so many people have blinders on. They think that the problem in front of them like their job is the cause of their stress. That could be a contributing factor but it's much more than that. And it just opened their eyes and heart and mind to like what happened before their perceptions of beliefs identity and put that together then we can have a really comprehensive full body full hearted healing process. And the second thing you said that I just love is that our bodies are powerful, make and heal. And honestly coming from a doctor MD might be thinking that sounds crazy chemical signals adopted I am because our bodies are amazing. And we have given so much potential to heal ourselves. If our bodies weren't amazing. How would we have survived this millennia, to the point of no antibiotics, no surgeries, no nothing, we would have been extinct long ago with so many other birds and other animals. But we made it this far. And that's a testament to the human resiliency, but in our power that we can tap into, and then also nourish with healthy lifestyle choices, you know, food choices, like mindset choices, environmental choices do you got what I mean? And services like yours. And obviously, one thing I noticed about you, and I've told you, you are, then you really are I know, even when you're dealing with stress or being a busy mom of kids, there is a piece about you, that is you. And I've known you for a number of years now, probably most of that, I would say eight years, not more, there's a piece in you, but doesn't mean that those of you listen, that she's not worried about life or family work, etc. But there's a calmness as a resolute in me that you know what I'm going to figure this out, I'm going to do this. 

Christina Mckenzie  11:01

Thank you, that's so kind of you to say.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  11:03

Yeah it's a god knows, in looking back at it now. And then when I compare you to most people, in similar situations, you don't have these tools, you're a night and day different. 

Christina Mckenzie  11:12

Thank you. And the way I view that, it's often hard to look in the mirror, right? It's hard to look in the mirror and see ourselves truthfully. So Body Talk has given me that truth. So that practitioner and I see a number of practitioners still hold in person and distance, which is something I'd love to mention later on. I love doing body talk from a distance, each one of those people shows up in such a neutral way and beautiful way for me and just reflects back exactly where I'm at. So what that gives me every time is that extra layer. And what I see that as I see that as my very small self, that small self that felt last for a very long time, that small self that had to be the great top a student, the people pleaser, the oldest the golden child, the golden egg, do everything right. And 30 years in that wasn't getting me anywhere. Because on top of that small beautiful core of me, I had tired pile belief system, I piled filters on how I should speak how I should listen what I should say what I should do. And so I was just sticky and coated in all of these layers that had nothing to do with my true self. So Body Talk has helped me one by one to peel those away, whether that's beliefs that my family had, that I felt I needed to carry and wear and act out, whether that's societal roles, like for me what it means to become a mother, that was my game changer because that broke everything open, because I didn't want what everyone else was telling me or showing me or expecting of me. And it also allowed me to just be more of who I am honestly, without actually finishing that sentence. So rather than becoming so attached to mother, teacher, wife, provider, healer, I could just be who I could just be, I am with nothing after that. And then wear those hats when needed. I can wear the teacher hat for the five hours to get through a teaching day, I can show up as a healer with my full heart and my full self for my clients for their session. And we can take that hat off afterwards. So those hats don't stay piled on. So my true self shines through because of Body Talk. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  13:21

Wow, I literally have goosebumps. I love how you describe those hacks and how you're able to take them off and they're not piling on. Because again, this is something that so many individuals i think especially women and moms as a subset of women feel working moms and feel like they have to be everything for everybody at the same time. And that is humanly impossible.

Christina Mckenzie  13:46

Impossible. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  13:47

You have to pick and choose what you're doing right now. And then once you're done with that right now, then put another hat that being said, you might be Mom, that's your hat. I'm doing that right now. You've got the laundry, washing dishes, put in the oven, doing the kids homework, what's your being mom. 

Christina Mckenzie  14:05

And we forget that we live from the brain, the head brain all the time and body technically understand there's three brains. So when you say wearing the hats and doing the things and being the thing, that's all head brain, and that's super useful, because especially as women, we're allowed to multitask. And we're allowed to juggle those parts as long as it serves us. But if we're not living from the heart, which has none of them, it has no filters, it should have no beliefs, it should be completely open from the front and the back in the sides. Such a big electromagnetic field that it can reach 7, 8, 10 feet and even beyond outwards. If we're not living from that heart, we're always going to be out balance. Because we think the head can solve everything. But when we live from a heart and body tuck when we get in touch with our heart brain and get in touch with our gut brain which has nerve to nerve communication like the head brain. It has all of those nerve cells in that lining of the digestive tract so that's where we get the yes and no from because feeling in our gut goes to the heart. And then it actually tells the head brain, yeah try this but don't do that. So life has become for me just so much more simplified because of Body Talk. It's slower. There's effortlessness, there's simplicity. And with BodyTalk, we read the clients yes or no response. Because every cell in your body expands there's 70 trillion. They work together to expand for a yes, or they contract for a no, not how we build the session with you if you're coming for a session as a client, but everyone's yes no response is the key to living a life that is centered and peaceful and whole. And it's listening to that yes and no, even when it's hard to speak up for that no, or when it's hard to choose the no and it just gives you more ease to move through your life. So those environmental factors like the job like the in laws, like the bill, they just float in and load out because you might make a practical decision. But that doesn't mean that external factor is going to throw you so off balance that now my left knee sore all the time. I'm having heart palpitations, because I can't say no, I'm having constant headaches, because I can't stop thinking about all the things I need to do indeed. So we let those external things float in and floto. And we just see those people who receive that session just become balanced. And life just becomes more simple things don't have their charge. There's no electric cart for those things that fold up so much in the you know, right in the belly. That just bother us, you just find that it really doesn't. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  16:34

Yeah I, like I said I love this. I love how you talk about the brain connection, the heart and the gut. It's so important talking about the piece when a situation happens, it's almost like a duck of face of water just kind of falls off. It's like no big deal you just keep on no and for me, whose mission is make healthier individuals who have healthier families, healthy communities, healthier world, I just thought wow, imagine if everybody was in tune how it will be different. What do you think? What would you see different road you see, feel, touch, smell that, can you share your perspective? 

Christina Mckenzie  17:11

Oh, yeah, I sure can. And I'm so passionate about BodyTalk. I do wish that for everyone in the world that they could experience that in whatever way they're called to, I think we would all realize immediately that whatever we're looking for is not outside of ourselves, but inside of ourselves. So anything you think you can amass that's making to make you feel better, whether that's a promotion, wealth, a big circle of friends, a better house, and anything that's taking away from how you feel criticism, um, the things in the news, what other people do and choose, none of that will actually matter to you anymore, because you will know that it's all from within, and that you will just be living in this place of such deep peace and harmony. Because when we see those things that are environmentally we here about it, we read about them, they trigger us because they reflect something in ourselves, we haven't healed, whether that's someone who knows how to say no, or sort of saying yes, all the time, it triggers us because we haven't healed that part of ourselves. And if we were able to listen to that part with such deep compassion, which is what I have for myself and my, my children, and my current and former students and colleagues, I have such deep compassion, because I do understand that when you're in a place of heightened nervous system, fight, flight response, everything from the outside is painful to you, because it's like having a sunburn. So I, I understand that it, we need to shift into this place where that stuff really isn't bothering you anymore. And that we can do that one step at a time. So it's like standing on one end of a teeter totter, you're not going to get back to the center to find that balance unless you take the steps towards the middle. And then sometimes we take a step back, but every step towards balance is a service for you. It's a service for your family. Because when your nervous system is regulated, those mirror neurons in your children are going to reflect that if you're regulated, they're regulated, if you're regulated in center your partner is, because that's the energy you give off your workplace will emanate that because whatever's going on in your environment is a reflection of what's going on in you. So if there's a lot of toxicity or a lot of reactivity, heightened emotions, that's all in you. And it's a beautiful call to look at that and do that healing. And imagine what can you imagine what kind of world we'd be in knowing parent who voted for who and how much this cost or there was no qualitative or quantitative assessment of each other because we forgot that we're all just actually under the same umbrella together. We're all in this life together. None of us are getting out of it alive. Spoiler alert. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  19:51

Yeah, love it. 

Christina Mckenzie  19:54

We're just weird. We understand in BodyTalk that to heal one part of the body is to listen to the whole body, when you look at that in the environment, in your family, in your work in your community, if one person does their healing, they're doing it for everyone at the same time. So, Body Talk doesn't just work on that mic, like that microcosmic level, it works on the macrocosmic level. And that's where I found the most healing for myself personally, is for my children. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  20:22

Yes.

Christina Mckenzie  20:22

It's been for my parents who never have these tools. And it just extends both ways. Because as I do my own healing, I'm showing them how to do theirs and leading the way. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  20:33

Yes, you're practicing and our children, our family know watching us, right?

Christina Mckenzie  20:40

Every moment of the day, even if you realize it or not. There's subconsciously picking up on all the things we do and say any, you know all the things behind our actions and our words, because that's how we stayed safe as caveman you're sensing into what was there. And what we don't need to be so caught up in this hyper vigilance anymore. And I know this pandemic has brought to light all the places in the shadows and the nooks and corners that are dusty that we haven't looked at that suddenly we're all still going to leave where there's no distractions. No, what do you do? 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  21:15

Yes. And you know what I have to say this before I forget, the pandemic has brought out what was already there. 

Christina Mckenzie  21:22

Oh, yes.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  21:23

Spoiler alert people, the pandemic brought out what was already there, the stuff we swept under the rug, those uncomfortable conversations of social justice, education, equality, whatever, it was already there. So I was how people, don't blame COVID. It was already there. It just accelerated what the exposure rate or because that's all we're focused on. You just, it was front and center, because no, people weren't really going out, especially at the beginning when the whole world was quiet. And then they had a woman coming out, you know, they're like, oh, let's go. But the thing would just breed wildlife was happy. They were like, well, I can breathe now less pollution, like.

Christina Mckenzie  22:05

Oh, look at that, as I look at the irony in that statement, we can actually breathe now. We can all be and I understand that can be a scary place to be in that stillness. You can't stay ahead of whatever's there. And those deep needs you can only stay busy for so long before they catch up with you. And the last place they do land as a physical body. So when everything is trickling down, maybe spiritfull, I don't feel like I belong, I need this connection. And then it's mental. I'm supposed to do this. I'm not supposed to do that. And then it's emotional. There's grief and sadness and anger and worry and fear. And then the last that lands, the stress call is the physical body. And there's so much beauty in that in that pain we can be in is that oh my gosh, look at how much your body loves you look at how much your whole body mind loves you. It's speaking to you so loudly. Are you ready to listen to that foot? Or to that diagnosis to that arthritis? Are you ready to listen? 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  23:11

I love this because you spend your life. speaking my language. I say this whole mental health mindfulness experience is the foundation of life of health. It even trump's physical health because as you said, it spills into your physical, it first starts in worse, and then it comes out. 

Christina Mckenzie  23:31

Oh yeah, like when we experience an emotion and we don't get to cycle through that it becomes a neural peptide in our body, those gets stuck in the heart, they get stuck in the gut, Crohn's disease, all of that. It gets stuck in your body. If you can see it through and process it and integrate it out. It goes to the intestines bye bye thanks very much. But think of all the things we haven't processed, all the things we haven't digested that are now digesting us.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  23:58

Yeah their digester eating us. 

Christina Mckenzie  24:01

They are bless from, but yeah, so the power of Body Talk is to even work with those we call that a Body Talk active memories because those memories have an emotion or many emotions tied to them. Well we think about it, it feels like it just happened tears come to our eyes because we haven't processed it some of those experience can be 60 years old. And it feels like it's happened yesterday and the more of those the pile up the the larger the backlog becomes the more we start to need the external world to distract ourselves and make us feel good and the more we need things to go right so that the the boat isn't rocked so that and we can stay busy and stay ahead of that pain and stress but to be still in to come home to yourself is to look at it with so much compassion and the beauty of BodyTalk is that practitioner is looking at you through such a neutral beautiful lens and leading you through. You know the variety is very simple, pain free, non invasive techniques to release that like working with the heads working with some ice circles, working with the breath just to tap into your body's innate ability to heal itself. It's like that reminder, hey, man, the knees not the problem, that memory of when mom and dad dropped you off at grandma and grandpa's, and went away for two weeks it was after then when your teacher humiliated you in front of the class, because you were talking out of turn, all those times you didn't get picked for the sports team that was in there too. Do you really need to work with your circulation and you're having some lymph issues that I can that feel like a yes. So it's not really diagnosing. It's just piecing together the priorities of the body, what needs to come first, in what order and then we can just watch healing in the shifts roll out like knocking over a domino. And then the after effects are you test you feel I keep using the word better, but you feel cool, you feel grounded, you feel warm, and centered, and just at peace, because that pain from all those level levels, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, that pain is just gone, we've heard it, we've heard the message and we've let it go. And then as other priorities come up, we deal with them. Or, you know, you could tap into other modalities, which is the beauty of Body Talk, we have this amazing safety hatches, we work through the session, you can't even start a Body Talk session unless you have permission from the body mind, ask the body mind, every single start of the session, do we need to work with a permission, sometimes you need to say it out loud, again, myself permission to relax, I give myself permission to receive, I give myself permission to be and whatever that is. And then along with all the other beautiful priorities that come up, if there's something that that specific client really needs to say, they actually really do need to go for an x ray because of that chest pain, we have a safety hatch built into our protocol that asks, actually, is there another modality that this person needs to do? And then we listen to what the body says sometimes it's actually after this, you should think about seeing your chiropractor, maybe think about reflexology, sometimes it doesn't even come up. But I know for people that have questions about that there's this beautiful part we have built into every session will be just see like, is there something else this person needs on this whole body level to support them with healing whatever this is, which I think is so beautiful and generous, because you don't often go to another practitioner and get them usually referring you to somebody that's lost themselves. So bodytalk understands that anything is of service to that person will come up. And it's because the body is saying yes, yes, yes, yes, that we share that with compassion and love and neutrality. And that way that person can really feel that full shift. And then that afterwards, that place of peace and balance and wellness can just stick around for weeks and months. And that's not often the case, this isn't really a rinse and repeat. But you know, Body Talk is always there. Whenever anyone needs it. We do actually ask as part of the end of session like, you know, when can we do another session and the body answers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 weeks, or it just says whatever. So I love that there's that clarity with Body Talk, I love that it's based on priorities, your body's telling you what it means it's so innately smart and wise, you know, you didn't have that head brain around when you were only two cells vague, your innate wisdom told you to go from 2 to 4 to 8 to 16, and 32, and so on. So that innate wisdom is always looking after you. And that's what we tap into for BodyTalk for that beautiful, yes and no. And then we just see what comes up, we observe it, we tap over those three brains, those few centers of awareness, so the head, the heart and the navel to disrupt that electromagnetic field to say, hey, gotta make some changes got stored these changes. And now it's time to actually live them. Beautiful. It's gentle, and it's really cool health care.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  28:57

Yes. And one thing I definitely heard that it's collaborative, because like you said, you listen to the body and see what other modalities your client needs, which is amazing. And the other thing that you mentioned at the beginning, was the fact that I want to give you the credit, you deserve these flowers here, like you are educated, you are certified, you have a background, you know, you're an educator, right? So you're used to listening, you went to university, you took courses, and then you went ahead and took certifications in BodyTalk, right? And then you continue to educate yourself. So can you maybe let's let the listener kind of hear your journey and how you came to be a credible source of wisdom, not just your own personal experience, but you also backed it up with training. 

Christina Mckenzie  29:43

Yeah, yeah. And I am definitely my personality is that of a lifelong learner. So have, right, I work kindred spirits in that and my double degrees in music and arts education allowed me to be a teacher. And to really engage in that right brained, open minded paper and pencil free way of instructing students, which is really teaching them how to be in the world to do the arts and learn about yourself and how you are in this world. And what I just, I felt like it wasn't enough to be in a place of creating and singing and moving there just felt like there was always more to me there. And once I branched out and found some resources I love to read. So I'm very well read in polyvagal theory in trauma theory, I love the works of Dr. Gabor Ma Tei, the beautiful Canadian, he's such a national treasure. And the more reading I did about the mind body connection and experiencing Body Talk, just the more I wanted to know, because I felt like once I had that knowledge base, it's what would support me. When I was in states of overwhelm, or stress, because I would have is just another tool in my toolbox. So the learning Body Talk was life changing, because it taught me to be even more vulnerable, if that was possible, but that there's such power in that stillness, and that listening. And as someone who is busy and active and multitasking and always putting on a show, always putting on a show proving my worth, I needed to go to the opposite end of that, and just find that deep peace and stillness in that place of listening. And I continue to build that education. So doing all the steps to be certified and submitting your coursework in your sessions to a trainer. And then another beautiful thing that I'm still thankful for that I never thought I'd be doing is working with the people that instruct all these different modules and Body Talk, I do their coordinating. So I do the administrative work. And I sit in class and I help and we do practices together with the students that are learning. And that's something I do every single month. So classes that other BodyTalk practitioners have taken maybe once or twice, I've taken 6, 7, 8, 9 times. So I'm always getting the material I'm learning every time, I'm making notes, I'm growing my understanding. And I'm so lucky to work with several instructors from all over the world and to benefit from their dozens of years of experience as instructors and practitioners themselves. So that when I pick up on those really juicy nuggets that I feel like I can distill those to my clients, because they do have that teacher mindset of just giving just enough so that it makes sense. And also being able to be in that place of listening and paying attention and being able to be aware of okay, maybe this person needs less talking than the one before this person needs a lot of hands on, and this person needs violence, so the flexibility of being an arts education teacher for all those years has given me that ability to pivot when I need to. And the stillness of that Body Talk training has given me the ability to really look and listen and see where each client is at. So that the session can honestly become whatever they needed to some people like to it's like a conversation almost. And that's beautiful. Some people fall asleep, some people drift in and out or they have an epiphany, and it could be emotional, it can be physical, am I additional training and supporting that polyvagal theory. I have training and things like resources, so internal and external resourcing when you're feeling overwhelmed away to bring you back to your five senses in your body. And I have started some very preliminary work training in breathwork. So the ability to tap into the breath and the nasal breath to get you back into the branch of the nervous system that's going to allow you to find that stillness and to receive everything you need from the session. And I do love to give a little bit of homework to my clients. If it comes up as a priority. Because we need a little bit of homework, we need to read a certain book, I will come up as always beautiful. And sometimes it's connected to BodyTalk. Sometimes it's connected to a physical practice, like field or meditation. Absolutely anything under the sun can come up. And I'm always surprised and delighted about how different each client session is. And it really just reinforces for me that this is so customizable. This is whole health care for every single individual that walks through my door. And I truly feel lucky that I was able to shift into this career path, and yet still keep my toe in the teaching world, which is lovely, because I feel like Body Talk is teaching. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  34:28

Yeah, I resonate with everything you have shared today. And I been honestly could talk for hours. But I have to, you have to make this relatively not too short, but still.

Christina Mckenzie  34:38

Palatable. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  34:39

Yeah. Palatable. Yes. Yes. So for the listeners, how can I get a hold of you if they want to learn more about your services if they're local or they want to learn more about BodyTalk.

Christina Mckenzie  34:49

For sure my website is wholeheartedwellness.com. So you should easily be able to find me through that hyphen in between each word and you can find I'm actually on the International BodyTalk Association. So Body Talk is in over 30 countries all over the world, we have certified practitioners and instructors. And that main page will lead you to all of the instructors and practitioners that are certified in your area. You can find me under Saskatchewan there, Canada, and then through Facebook, you can find me through Instagram, and the best place to land with me my website wholehearted wellness.com, you can learn about my journey, you can learn about what a session looks like and feels like and sounds like and the beautiful ability actually to do body talk over a distance. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  35:36

We don't actually need to be physically in the same space. I can send you an email and you can answer me back. It's like the same thing. Your body can answer me from a distance. 

Christina Mckenzie  35:45

As long as I am in that neutral, aware space. And we can do it over zoom, we can do it fully remote, there are so many wonderful possibilities for receiving that if that's something that cost you. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  35:58

I love it. We are definitely in a virtual world. And I believe that connectedness using like zoom or internet, social media has just been accelerated because of COVID. So that's one of the blessings. So yes, anywhere in the world. You are accessible as long as you have internet. 

Christina Mckenzie  36:14

Yeah, absolutely. Or we can even do body talk over the telephone. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  36:19

Oh yeah, that sounds like we forget telephone. 

Christina Mckenzie  36:20

It's like we're not using a telephone anymore to communicate each other. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  36:26

Yeah, yeah, I forgot, telephone. 

Christina Mckenzie  36:28

So many beautiful talking instrument.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  36:30

Even the landline. 

Christina Mckenzie  36:32

So literally anywhere in the world. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  36:35

Yeah that's Awesome. Awesome. All right. Well, thank you again, you are a joy. I am honored to be part of your team in your circle. I appreciate everything you do. And I know our listeners learn a lot because this is a fairly not new but most people are not aware of this modality, right? So we're here to teach, to educate and to know that our bodies are leaving and we are capable of so much more than we likely give ourselves credit. To our listeners, thank you so much for sharing your airwaves with us. This is Dr. Mitchell from the Mental Health and Wellness Show, till we meet again. Bye!