What's the Word?

Transform Your Health: Perception, Stress Relief & Proactive Aging with Dr. Nick Athens

• Jaime McFaden

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 Jaime McFaden sits down with Dr. Nick Athens, a seasoned chiropractor with over 40 years of experience and 750,000 adjustments. Featured in American Chiropractor Magazine, Dr. Athens shares how perception shapes health, offers actionable stress relief techniques, and discusses proactive aging. Whether you’re a busy mom or professional, this episode is packed with tips to help you prioritize your health and vitality.

Key Takeaways:

  • The importance of perception in health.


  • Managing stress and finding calm.


  • Movement and simple daily practices to improve health.


  • How to age proactively and stay vital.


  • Building a supportive community for better health choices.


Episode Highlights:

  • [0:00] Intro to Dr. Nick Athens: Over 750,000 adjustments and counting.


  • [2:30] Perception & Health: Why how you see the world matters.


  • [7:00] Stress Relief: Simple practices for staying calm.


  • [10:00] Proactive Aging: How to stay healthy long-term.


  • [15:30] Building a Community: The power of support in health.


Giveaway Alert!
 Win a signed copy of Dr. Athens' book, To Health With You!
To enter, share this episode and tag @JaimeMcFaden and @betterfromwithin on social media with the hashtag #ToHealthWithYou. A winner will be announced on social media!

SPEAKER_01:

hi welcome to what's the word i'm your host jamie mcfaden i'm so excited to have you here this podcast is all about faith self-care and the journey of parenthood i will be interviewing some of the most inspirational people i know so join me and let's grow together on what's the word okay friends welcome back to what's the word i'm your host jamie mcfaden i am so pumped after A long hiatus. We are back. And not only are we back, but we're back. We've elevated. We're now in person. Look at this. I have Dr. Nick Athens here with me. So pumped to share with you. Not only is he featured on the American Chiropractor Magazine right now, he also has one of my very favorite books to help with you we're going to talk about today. And Dr. Nick Athens is somebody who's been in practice for over 40 years. He's had over 750,000 adjustments. Is that number correct?

SPEAKER_00:

That's correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. And I get to be one of them and my children. So he is all He's also someone that inspires me to live healthier, to focus on taking care of myself from the inside out. He's someone that's inspired me my entire life. So here we are with none other than one of my favorite heroes here on Earth, Dr. Nick Athens. Hi, Nick.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for having me, Jamie.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for

SPEAKER_00:

being here. Let's get some people well out there. Let's get some people well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So full disclosure, everyone, we had some really fun technical difficulties this morning, and it's one of those things in life where I think it goes into the word that Dr. Athens chose today. Perspective, is that your word today?

SPEAKER_00:

Close, perception.

SPEAKER_01:

Perception, okay, so let's talk about this. Let's dive into what is perception and what is that word resonating with you right now? What does it mean?

SPEAKER_00:

Man, you know, in 42 years, Jamie, you learn a lot from patients, you know, with all these patients coming in as a last resort doctor. They come in with a lot of pain, discomfort, ailments, and they're not themselves. It's kind of like they've, in essence, become their own healthcare coach. You know, athletes have coaches for a reason because coaches give a realistic opinion to the athlete's performance and they call timeouts and they recalibrate or reset the game during these timeouts. Well, you know, People don't have a coach. They don't have anyone who oversees their decision making. And since the brain really doesn't know fantasy from imagination and perception, it's all the same to the human brain. That's how you can manifest and you can visualize. You could think that these things are happening. The brain actually thinks it's happening. So perception, how accurate is people's perception? Do they have realistic voices in their life to manage the perception, to give them better statistics than them thinking on their own because it may not be as good as someone giving a realistic voice. And you can imagine the chaos to prove that correct. You can imagine the chaos in pro sports without coaches. It'd be chaotic. It'd be a gambler's nightmare, a gambler's nightmare who wouldn't know what to bet on because the athletes think they got this, but the coaches timeout, timeout, timeout. And I've never seen a sporting event without a timeout or a halftime adjustment. And they try to win these games and they do that by reevaluating what's going on in the game compared with the athletes think compared to the realistic voices of the Right. people around you, the stats will be better on that. And you're going to have better outlook on your health care trajectory.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. So you've been a big coach in my life, really. And so you're talking about coaches. And for those that are watching and listening right now, this is all about really seeking wise counsel in different areas of your life. So Dr. Nick has been somebody in my life that I've been fortunate enough to know literally my entire life. And he's someone I could go to not just for an adjustment physically, which is something I do love. And he's also somebody that's been able to give me some really great insight into parenthood, into health and wellness from a holistic perspective, and so many different things. So when it comes to the perception and what you're talking about today, let's look at our world right now. I think so many people are really stressed out, feeling isolated. Five years post-pandemic, we're still in high-stress states. We're not functioning optimally. What do you feel like some of the easiest things people could start doing today to feel better from the inside out.

SPEAKER_00:

OK. We talk about that in the book. And I explained stress and anxiety and calm like a hurricane. And so most people live in the outer bands of the storm. And if you're in a hurricane, every decision you're going to make if you're on a boat in a hurricane is going to be reactive. You're just trying to get through the hurricane, get through the storm. And your decisions are just reactive, whatever it takes to survive, whatever it takes to deal with the situation and the craziness of these outer storm bands. And we all want to get to the eye of the storm. And why is the eye of the storm important? That's where you reset, recalibrate, restart, so to speak. It's kind of like one of those days where you just had a tough day and you go, all right, I'm just going to kind of chill. figure out what I want to do here, and then you go forward again. So people need to kind of reset. And so you can't do that in a reactive state. So in essence, you've trained your brain that this is your normal. And if you believe your own thoughts, like I said, your perception, you're going to think since the brain thinks about it, your brain is looking out for your best interests. Well, your brain just sends off bubbles of thoughts, thousands of thoughts every day. Every thought isn't a real thought. Some of that is imagination, perception, like I said. and some of its reality. So how do we filter this force through the trees? Well, that's where you need these realistic coaches or voices in your life. Your yoga instructor, Pilates instructor, your therapist, let's say, your family members, your hiking partner, your Tai Chi class in the park, your swim club. So there's ways you can kind of get to a calmer state. Movement, we all need movement. Your body recovers, repairs while it's moving. And it's your body, I call it an adaptive waste management treatment plant. nutrients in, waste products out. So if you could help the pump work better, it's just going to work better. The brain doesn't want to stay in the moment. The brain is always looking to protect you. So it's looking to go to the future, which can cut stresses from the past, anxieties in the future. So this brain wants to go to the future and the past, and the future and the past, and the future and the past. It doesn't want to stay in the present moment. And so if you could do present time activities, I'll give you some examples, swimming, rock climbing, dancing, singing, You know, it doesn't have to be physical activity. I'm like, wait, are we going to get a song right now? You know, Sudoku, crossword puzzles, right? You know, playing an instrument. So there's things you can do to keep your brain in the moment. And if you do a lot of these present time activities, you're teaching your brain to be in a calmer state. We just laughed a little bit. I was just going to say, one of my very favorite

SPEAKER_01:

from you, my entire life I think about is you have always been so good at telling jokes. You have always been the king of of wisecracks, literally like making just funny jokes. And even I think that's one of the greatest things. When I go to see you while he's doing an adjustment, he's literally telling a great joke where you're really wanting to pay attention to what he's saying and then it's

SPEAKER_00:

like... Well, you know, I have a lot of one-liners in there. Yeah, you do. After 42 years, you have to learn to, you know, make it fun for people when they come in. So, you know, they're in a stress state, so you try to calm them. And, you know, laughter gets more nitric oxide through the brain through endorphins and opens up blood flow. And so if you want better lung flow and brain flow to prevent dementia and Alzheimer's, just get more circulation to the brain so it can recover, repair, and get oxygen and the proper nutrients and it's going to help you sleep better. And sleep is a big part of our immune system. And, you know, this whole cycle of life, if you could do these proactive aging, as I say in the book, things to help you age more efficiently, you could change your aging curve instead of aging off a cliff and you can't get time back. And I tell patients, time exposes your decisions. Time will expose your decisions. So, you know, you can't be 85 years old saying, you know what, now I want to start pumping iron. Now I want to start doing yoga and I want to start getting more flexible. Well, you kind of should have done that 40 years ago, right? So What can we do to change people's mindset now? Lifestyle choices now. So when they're 80 and 90, they're still kind of like enjoying their life. They're going on hikes. And, you know, your grandma is a perfect example. We were talking about earlier how she's able to still travel. She's 95 and she's able to move and she's moving. And she has a better quality of life than most people in 95. Right. So she has a better

SPEAKER_01:

quality of life than most people. I feel like my age, like she's going and going. And she always says movement. Yeah. It's kind of the things you're saying right now. Her perspective and perception on... She focuses on the good things. She chooses what she's focusing on. Can you talk a little bit about that? Cause I think that's, you know, you're someone every time I've gone to see you my whole life, not just in the office, but as someone that I've looked up to as a mentor, um, you know, you're always focusing on realistic, but also taking action, like not just sitting around and waiting for things, but I'm sure your life hasn't always been butterflies and rainbows. Like there's probably been some trials and tribulations. How do you keep that? kind of state of mind?

SPEAKER_00:

That's a good question. You have to make it a habit, first of all. It takes about four to five weeks to change a habit. But if you have all the people around you who keep guiding you in the morning. So, you know, I'll get up at 4.30 in the morning. I'll get to the gym by 5.30. I start working out. People go, how do you do that at 4.30? Okay. I'll tell you what happens is you kind of just change your sleep schedule, take some time, not overnight. And I get used to doing 4.30. And the hardest part is not even, the hardest part isn't the gym workout, it's getting to the gym, you know. But once I get head up and I get my circadian rhythm going in the right direction. Then I go to the gym and I'm using the other people in the gym who were there too. And everybody else is grinding, you know? So, you know, they're trying to figure it out too. So I'm not the only one. So hang out with these people who are also trying to figure it out. But if they're, you know, I would probably do business with anyone at the gym who works out five 30 in the morning. I don't care if they're an accountant, a contractor, you know, uh, you know, a chiropractor, a doctor who, whatever trade they're in. Why? Because you It takes so much discipline to get up in the morning on a regular basis. It's just hard to do. But those people usually would carry that discipline onto their everyday life. It carries over, right? So, and you want to hang out with people who are disciplined because you're going to get typically a good product out of them. So if you could change your, and when I get up in the morning and you talked about, you know, how do you change the habit and visualize and manifest? Well, you get up in the morning, I turn on the music. So it wakes my brain up, right? What kind of

SPEAKER_01:

music?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, like ACDC.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that your gym?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. All right. Now we get a little peek of inside what's going on at 4.30 in the morning at your house. I'm rocking out, yeah. And much like you do, I know you do. And yet my brain will say, it's time to go to the gym, right? And you just train it. And now after a while, what's crazy is after these four to five weeks, I tell you to change your habit. It's not like I have to grind the rest of my life. It's kind of like this subconscious brain, which is 90 to 95% of our life, is kind of taking on and absorb this habit. And now I'm implementing the habit because it's now part of my life and I don't have to fight the thought of going back to bed. So certain days I'll sleep in, but I choose to have the days I sleep in, right? And the other days, you know, I like getting in the morning. I don't have to fight crowds. I get to a gym within five, 10 minutes. It's convenient. Do the workout. I leave, I get back, get to the office. I see patients usually on certain days at 6.15 in the morning. So, and a lot of people go, why do you start at 6.15? Well, because there's a whole world out there at 6.15, right? It doesn't go from eight to five. So you get electronic contractors, plumbers, the trades people come in because they're up and ready to go out there. And so what you see is that you learn a lot from, you know, people's disciplines and their trades and what they do and their bad habits. Should we

SPEAKER_01:

talk about this? I feel like we should talk about, I feel like we should, because I'm going to say, I went in to see you the other day and as a mom of two and you know, I love Dr. Athens. You have two sets of twins. You are an amazing dad. And you've always been someone that will remind me, look at you're on the treadmill right now, Jamie, you just got, you got to just keep going. You know, it's this time of year. in this phase when the kids are little, where I get the aches and pains from holding so much, whatever else, but you also have these amazing ways of not making someone feel bad about where they're at, like meeting yourself where you are. Because when I come to see you, I don't walk out. Well, I walk out feeling great because you've adjusted me, but I don't walk out feeling like, oh man, I've done all these things wrong or I don't focus on these are my bad habits. You help me to remember to add things in. So can you talk about that a little bit instead of just like the bad habits? It's like we all have them, but what are they?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I mean, people go to coaches for guidance and people come to see me for guidance, right? And give them ideas and raise their awareness, heighten their awareness of things they can do, you So with two young children, I know you're grinding every day. Every day is Groundhog Day. You're going out there. You're taking care of the kids. You're trying to fit in your podcast, your day-to-day activity, your workouts. So I get it. It's a tough day. So I tell people, I get that. That's the time of your life right now. So just stay within striking distance. Don't gain 15 to 20 pounds. If you gain 5 to 10 pounds, you're within striking distance when you do get your life back to lose that weight. Right. It's a lot easier for you than 25, 30 pounds. You're going to feel more sluggish. It's harder to change the habit. You're going to have to really make some changes in your life. So, you know, don't eat, you know, try to have blueberries, raspberries, you know, green tea, you know, a better diet. Don't stay off vegetable oil. Stay off the sugar late at night. You know, these are choices you can make and you could have carrots and hummus. You could have things that, you know, you can actually, if you get stressed, because typically people use food to calm themselves, right? And so we're all looking for calm. And so the more high stress life you are, you're looking for anything that will, you know, the people in the Chick-fil-A line aren't the calmest, right? They want to get in, get their food and get out. So, you know, if you look at their minds and I like studying people's minds and how they think, you see a lot of, you know, you see patients who come in who were, they're in pain and they're stressed, right? They're not themselves. It's like an alien took over their body. Now they're totally different than they would be if they weren't in this pain and discomfort. And if they have a stressful life and and they're in pain, now they're cranky on the phone calls, they're cranky at the front desk. But what's amazing is once you kind of break that pain cycle, it's like they get a chance to reset, recalibrate. They're different when they come out. You know, they're different. You've reset them and you improve their quality of life. And now they can move on making better decisions. And our decisions matter because time is our currency, right? And time exposes our decisions that I said earlier. And if you can make better decisions with your life, you're going to have a way better outcome. And those decisions happen in a calm state. If you look at the blue zones, right? The blue zones, people who live 100 years old, they have calm because there's not in traffic jams. So they're calm. So they make better decisions. They have community. Their friends are there to support them. And then as a result of that, they're making better decisions. They have their own gardens and food and they make better choices. So those three things, that calm community, making better decisions, moving forward, that's what we all need. But how do you put in this 24-7 stress world and how do we remove the stress? Well, you don't remove the stress. You just add calm to your life. Right. Okay. So if you look at scales, if we could not remove the stress, but if I added calm, I'm automatically reducing the stress. See, people don't see that. But that's what it's like being in the trenches with people and what you learn from them. Right. And the foxhole in the street fight with patients. And you learn how they deal with their days. And if you add them little tips and little ideas that might work for them. I don't have time to stretch, doctor. Well, maybe... Can you stretch 15 minutes before you go to bed? Have a yoga mat, foam roller right next to the bed. Decompress from the day. Maybe if you turn off the electronics, maybe you can listen to some waves, oceans, chimes, waterfalls, streams. Put a diffuser in the room for some lavender, anything to calm you. And so do some stretching then before you go to bed. It's going to calm your mind. Journal before you go to bed. Write down what your day is tomorrow so you don't have to spend your whole brain trying to remember. See, the calm mind is going to change the aging trajectory. I really feel that the calm mind is the key to proactive aging. And if you could add calming techniques to your body, you're not looking for the fast foods. You're not looking for the reactive packaged foods. You're making better choices when you go to the grocery store. You're not overreacting to things, right? And so if you can take care of your body physically, like we talked about, if you're doing, I think, physical care, whether it be massage, chiropractic care, stretching, yoga, Pilates, foam rolling, these proactive things, then you could slow down your aging. You could have more time to enjoy your life with less health breakdowns, enjoy your kids' kids, and you could go travel and do things you'd like to do, see the world, whatever, you know, situations come in your life at the time. But I think if you do these things and you hang around the right people to give you the guidance, and I want to be one of those people from being a channel, I've seen myself like as a vortex of just energy from, I've learned from people, those 27,000 people, what did I learn from them to pass on to other people? You know, So everything is just coming through me as a channel to guide people, to give them good ideas. And that's how you change and make people's health and to take their health to another level. So I was able to do that and write in the book. It took about three and a half years to write. It's

SPEAKER_01:

such a good book. You need to go order this today. In fact, I'm going to ask you this right now. Can we offer to one special listener a giveaway of a signed copy of your book?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no problem. Okay,

SPEAKER_01:

so you're going to be able to get this. So listen to the whole podcast. And at the end of this, you're going to share and tag both of us. Let us know. That's how you can enter to win a signed copy of To Help With You. This book is a bedside book. I literally have this at my bedside because you can flip open. Look at Stress-Free Foods. Like right away when you open it, more stretching, more flexibility. Dr. Nip will give you a tip on each little thing. So it's just so many gems that you drop. It's

SPEAKER_00:

so great. Gems and nuggets. I want people to absorb, digest, and implement things. I wanted to win the Implementation Award, not just a book that, oh, that was a good book and I forgot about it. He's so smart. I'm going to take the stuff and I want to have you stretch it. before bed or, you know, not use, don't watch the news for two weeks and watch your stress levels go down. You know what I mean? You know, maybe, you know, do some workouts. Why you want to be strong, you know, present time activities, you know, how to calm your mind, you know, all these things that are easy to take, absorb, and doesn't cost a lot of money to do. And so, you know, give you guidance. I don't want to tell people what to do. It doesn't work when you tell them what to do, but if you guide them where they can go, now you can make an impact, you know, and that's from being with enough patients and you guide them, give them good ideas And what I wanted out of every chapter in the book, Jamie, three words. And those three words were, that makes sense. That makes

SPEAKER_01:

sense.

SPEAKER_00:

That makes sense, right? And so if those three words came out of people's mind or their mouth while they're reading it, that makes me happy because now they understand it. Now it's more easy to implement, right? Because now they could get something from it to change their aging trajectory. Because we're all dealing with stress. Most people are in a 24-7 stress life. They're trying to figure it out. They're trying to go through it. Everyone's going through it and people want to be heard. They want to talk about it because they feel like they're being heard and that helps calm them, right? I had to go to, I don't know if I told you this, I had to go to counseling to learn how to listen because I wasn't listening to people. I got so busy after seeing athletes and professional people coming in. They would say, Doc, I got the neck and shoulder pain and I'd say, okay, let's get you on the table. I'm going to start working on you. But you don't understand, Doc, this neck and shoulder pain is at night. Okay, well, let's get you on the table so I can work on you. But Doc, then it wakes me up at night and you know, comes with me in the morning and I don't know what it is. Okay, let's get you on the table. And doc, you know, it's one other thing, you know, it hurts me when I'm sitting there reading, when I'm driving. Okay, let's get you on. So I say, how come this person is getting on the table? So what am I not hearing here? So I go to the counselor and I go, these people, I'm so busy stressing me out because I want to help them to get them on the table to give them chiropractic care and help them. But they just, you know, they just don't get on the table. I don't know what it is. He goes, well, I know the problem right now. You're not hearing them. I go, what? He says, yeah, you're not absorbing what they're saying. People want to be heard. People want to hear what you're saying. So now when patients come in, okay, Jamie, neck, shoulder, left side. Okay. Wake you up at night. Okay. Got it. Anything else I should know? No. Okay. I got it. Let's get you on the table. And it was much easier to get them on the table. So work with them instead of, again, telling them what to do, guiding them where to go. Right. So, and that made me even more powerful listening. You know, if you could hear what people say and understand what what they're saying, what they're going through, because pain changes their personality. Let's face it. And I found the brains like this dimmer switch. It doesn't give you the dopamine, the endorphins. We're all after the feel-good hormones, the serotonins, the oxytocin. We want all these feel-good hormones spewing from our brain every day. But unfortunately, there's brains like this dimmer switch. And when we hurt ourselves and we have an injury, our brain doesn't want you to hurt yourself more. It doesn't trust that you might hurt yourself more. So it's going to give you pain with a cranky mood. Because you're not getting the dopamine hit. And so people then, they They don't realize the mind body is connected. So they go out and they drink more coffee. They take more sugar. They smoke more cigarettes. They drink more alcohol because they're trying to wake up the brain, not realizing that the brain's reducing the amount of these feel good chemicals because it doesn't want you to hurt yourself more and you're in pain. But then you set up the craving mechanism in the subconscious brain and now it owns you and people lose the tug of war in their own brain. So how can we win the tug of war, conscious decision-making, calmer brain, go to people who could help you use other people, build a healthcare team. Build those people in your life to help guide you, give you ideas, to keep you going in the right direction. And once you have this team in your life, you know, I talk about in the book, a geese fly in a V formation for a reason. There's 40% less energy on their wings. And if they were flat wings by themselves, they're working harder. So why not set up your life so there's less resistance in your life? Life is hard anyway. So if you can kind of set up a resistance that's easier for you, less resistance with great outcome, you know, build those people in your life. people around you and don't be afraid to use others because they're grinding too. I mean, go to people say, Oh, I'm too heavy. I can't do yoga. The yoga instructor could care less. You're getting in your own way right now. People can care less. The yoga instructor, she's just happier in the class trying to make a change. The alternative healthcare community is all happy that you're trying to improve yourself. We know you're going through it. We know you're struggling. It's a whole community family of people who are no, you're it's a, it's, that's why you're coming in. because you're looking for guidance and advice. So, you know, go to people who are out there who could help you and you're going to be in a better mood. Your brain wakes up, you get the dopamine, you get the endorphins, you get the better quality of life, you're having fun, you're laughing again, and you kind of get back on a better path. And that's what we're all looking for.

SPEAKER_01:

So, OK, I love this. And now we're going to get a little deep, everybody. We're going to get a little deep, Dr. Nick. OK, so I had a really big moment, aha moment about two years ago, which prompted me to relaunch this podcast. We took a hiatus for a while. And initially it was called What's the Word? Then we changed the name because I kept getting companies reach out to me that wanted to send me Bibles thinking it was a like scripture. What's the word kind of podcast? Oh, no, no, no. That's not what this is. This and that. I grew up Greek Orthodox, went to Catholic school. I always have had belief and faith in something greater than ourselves. However, I was very confused and conflicted for many years of what that is. Right. And just hearing what you're saying right now, that's the path that we all want. I'm so curious because this is why we're relaunching this podcast. I have had a deep, beautiful awakening, let's say in my faith and believing in something outside of myself and trusting this life and trusting God. And I'm not afraid to say it where I used to be like, Oh, I don't want to say that's going to make people feel weird. It's going to ruffle feathers. I don't know if somebody has a different perspective than me or perception than me. Um, maybe I shouldn't say something. And, And I'm here now to say, you know what, I'm going to speak on behalf of what I believe, not to shove it down someone's throat, not to like in your what you just said. It's like I'm not going to hear to tell somebody what to do. I'm here to guide or to open that door or to, you know, listen. So I would love to know. How has faith or any kind of belief system impacted your life in a positive way?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you know, I look at it this way. So your five senses, hearing, touch, taste, sight, smell, they protect you and they calm you. That's how you get the outside. The brain takes the outside world. So faith is... one of those five senses that aren't down on paper. It's one of those things that you have to take in the universe. You know, life is odds. Just put yourself in a position that, you know, if you keep doing the right thing, you know, God, the universe will reward you, you know? And so, you know, if I'm going to, if I want good things happening, coming back to me, then I have to do good things for it. I have to give, you know, like my idea is every day I go in and it's not I'm looking for money I'm looking for ways to help people right and I'm looking for ways that I could learn from people maybe I could kind of even get a little better you know it's the little things that that help you get patients better the little details you know you know working with athletes they look at the you know Joe Montana had to hit Bill Walsh said on the numbers don't hit him throw it behind him so he had to stop running you want to hit him in the numbers so he kept running so you get more yards it's the little details the little things so you If you do these little things on a regular basis, what does that mean? Meditate before you go to bed. Stretch before you go to bed. Go out there and be positive. Don't honk the horn and get angry. Stay away from the anger, frustration things. Not so you don't get these days, but use calming techniques to manage yourself better. Give to other people. Try to make people better. I mean, the number one thing that turned me on with working with athletes, Jamie, is I love the athletes that make others around them better. They took the Joe Montanas, the Michael Jordans, the Tom Brady's, they took these average players who would be just average, but they made them better than they would be without them. So are you making people around you better? And so if you make people around you better and then the faith, chances are, and have the faith that the universe will reward you and things will come back your way, you know, you're doing things to help humanity. You're doing things to help make people better around you. Now they're more productive. The world's more productive you're going to make a better decision making less breakdowns so all these good things so I would say faith is something that you just do the right thing and faith takes and you have good faith that the universe is going to reward you yeah and you know life is kind of just odds and if you just keep you know I tell my kids you know you if you if you want to hit the seven you got to roll the dice you can't just but chances are if you keep rolling the dice rolling the dice rolling the dice you can hit the seven but a lot of people just don't want to roll the dice They just are afraid because they get in their own way. So, you know, when I first got a chiropractor school, I sent out 85 resumes. I didn't get one reply. I kept going. In the book, there was a lot of... Can you share the

SPEAKER_01:

story?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. The famous story. There's a lot of over, you know, and, you know, back in the 80s, a chiropractor was a quack, a pseudoscience, which doctor, you know, didn't give the credence of a doctor. And so, you know, working with athletes over time, you know, I was just frustrated because the team staff didn't see chiropractors at the same level as what they were, even though I was having, you know, fast forward, 35 of the 49 players under care. So, you know, in the book, I go into it where, you know, I, I pretended I was a press guy at a Superbowl. Such a good story. And, uh, you know, anyway, so I pretend I was a press guy asking questions and it worked out well for me, you know, and ended up getting a few million dollars worth of free PR for the profession and it launched the profession into the sports world. So I don't want to give away the book, but that's how the book gets started out, you know, You have to read this in the book. It's so good. It's the way the book launches and all the resistance that, you know, if you look at it this way, if you build muscles in the gym, you have to go against resistance, do curls and squats and weights. Well, what about that develops a callus and that's how you get stronger, right? Your body adapts to stresses. But how about the mental callus, the mental resistance, right? And it makes your mind stronger. So, you know, you can't just sit on the couch every day and expect to have muscles and you can't just sit around and not try to better yourself and, you know, do the things you need to do to have things come in your direction. The odds are now going to start working more in your favor, right? So, you know, you just maybe haven't knocked on enough doors. Maybe you haven't talked to enough people, but the more you do that, you know, you're going to have better odds to have a better outcome. And that's what we want. We want to be happier and we're all looking for peace. You know, we all want peace. We want calmness. We want to be able to have good conversations and not be so stressed out and overwhelmed. We just, it's hard to live with Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and I think you are somebody that's always made me one of my favorite people that really I dove into when I got into fitness was Jack LaLanne and just loved just immediately everything about his presence, his energy, his gems, his, you know, the way he was with his wife and his kids working out and just everything. he was someone that really didn't care what was the quote unquote statistical normal, right? Like he was the person juicing and they're like, why is this guy juicing? Or he was doing all the supplementation or all these different things that were looked at as quackery. And then all these years later, fast forward now, there's juice stores. Like there's things that you can go do that he had preached really about and pushed that he had so much resistance with. And I feel like in our generation, you remind me so much of him in terms of you spend all day, every day doing what you can to help people you work so hard you are like when you there's a saying of faith without action is dead like you have to put in the work and you clearly put in so much of the work so I want to just say thank you, first of all, because I feel blessed. I really do feel blessed that I get to do what I love with people like you. And I know that not everybody feels, and this is where I talk about faith, and I want people to have, I want people to listen to this podcast and walk away feeling like they can start to believe in themselves, in humanity. And I'm not here to tell somebody, you need to believe in God, and you need to believe in Jesus, and you need to read this. I'm not here to say that. I am here to say, though, to whoever's listening, if what Dr. Nick is saying is resonating with you, which I'm sure it is to please take a deep dive and maybe you can talk about this for a moment of how do we start to get that inner belief when we're feeling so down, blah, or disconnected? Like how can we remember we're all connected?

SPEAKER_00:

One of the things we could do is breathe better because in a 24-7 stress life, we breathe in our mouth. So a lot of people who are breathing incorrectly, it's kind of like having an apple. It turns brown out if you leave it, right? So to calm ourselves, it's in the nose, out the mouth, in the nose. It stimulates what's called the vagus nerve. It's the main calming nerve of the body. And people don't realize this. They huff and puff. They huff, huff, huff. And they do this mouth breathing where, you know, when I do my HIIT training, my workouts, everything I talk about in the book I do and the HIIT training to, you know, just breathing, just in a meditative state or a zone state. If you could do breathing better, you can kind of learn to, you know, it's the stress. Everybody's going to have stress. The question is, is how do we manage the stress? Is it so overwhelming where it kind of pushes down on us and compresses us? Or do we do some proactive steps to manage our stress better, right? So just know when you're stressed, you're breathing incorrectly and just take some time to kind of step off to the side, reset yourself You know, I get it, you know, in the nose, out the mouth, take five, 10 minutes, breathe in the nose, out the mouth. It gives you the nitric oxide, calms the body, right? Uh, you could do that before bed and just make that part of your life, right? If you need to do more of that, then go to a yoga class, go to a breathing class, go to Tai Chi in the park. There's things to help you manage your stress better, right? And what's crazy is a lot of people don't think they have the time, but you do have the time. The reason you don't have the time is because you're so stretched. You don't think you have the time because you taught your brain that's so overwhelming, you can't make the decision to calm yourself. So that's what I'm saying. If you do the calming activities, it's amazing how much more time that you can schedule your day more efficiently in a calmer state because now everything's not overwhelming you, right? You're realizing the stress is there, but you're handling it differently and that's going to give you a better outcome, you know? So breathing is a good start. Movement, talk to your friends. I'm sure you want to be heard on whatever you want to talk about. So talk to a close friend of yours. Say, this has been bothering me. What do you think? You know, Have those conversations. I get it. And go to the people around you who can get... Don't be afraid to use other people to help you break the cycle.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I like that. Yes, I think it's so great. And leaning on other people. And speaking of other people, look at this beautiful magazine cover that you're on. How does that feel getting the cover with Joe Montana?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I've never had AI make me look good. Oh, anyway. You look great. This is such a good... This article is so great. It's going out to 50,000 chiropractors. 50,000

SPEAKER_01:

chiropractors.

SPEAKER_00:

and their patients. So hopefully they could turn them on to their patients. So anyway, so it's my way of extending my mindset to more people to get the word out and how to take care of their bodies more efficiently. And, you know, I want it to be one of the people who, like I said, taking all the knowledge you've learned over the years and share with the world. And like I said, I'm just want to keep doing that on a regular basis and even learn even more little things that I could help change the world with. And, you know, as long as you keep learning, even at 66 years old now, you know, so I'm considered Medicare and

SPEAKER_01:

I'm

SPEAKER_00:

supposed to be immunocompromised. I'm supposed to do all these things. Right. But maybe I'm a freak of nature. I don't feel that way. So no,

SPEAKER_01:

you've been putting in the work. He's been putting in the work diligently day after day. So as we wrap this one up right now, what would be the one final thought that you have that you would like to leave with anyone listening or watching right now that is the most important thing you want someone to take away from today's chat?

SPEAKER_00:

Man, I would say don't get in your own way. Do not get in your own way because remember the perception It's not real, it's a mirage in the desert. Okay, so who's managing that thought for you? Maybe you're believing it because you could manifest, you could visualize like it's happening. Like, you know, sprinters, they visualize. Some sprinters, I think Edwin Moses, sprinters were warming up around the track and he was there on the ground visualizing his sprint. He wasn't even running and warming up. His brain thought he was actually running. That's how powerful the conscious brain is. So, you know, a lot of these thoughts aren't accurate. And so if you realize they're not accurate, who's going to manage that for you? Well, athletes have coaches for that. So you're going to have to use other people around you and say, you know, have someone hold you accountable. Let's say you want to join a gym or something like that. Have that person say, hey, I thought we were going to the gym tomorrow, Jamie. I thought we were going to go on a hike tomorrow. Remember, we were going to go do on a bike ride. Remember, we were going to go on a walk. We were going to do that. Yeah, you're right. Now, if that person wasn't there, you probably would have talked yourself out of it because your brain's thinking that way. You think it's accurate. It's totally inaccurate. And now you're building up a bad habit for And now that's your life and you're depressed and you're not moving and your body's going to be depressed as a result. So if you want

SPEAKER_01:

last thing, sorry, it just, it just

SPEAKER_00:

don't get your own way and use other people to help you guide you to help keep you to change your habits. It's going to take about four to five weeks. So it's not like a lifetime. And once you have these habits set up like an autopilot system in your brain, it just makes it easier to handle life and conquer your day to day. You win the day, you win the week, you win the week, You win the month, you win the month, you win the year. So kind of just have these wins. And that's how you win in the game of life, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. No, thank you so much. And it was interesting because when you were saying that, I thought, oh my gosh, but I also have discovered in my life that I'm so blessed I have people like you in my life. And I know now, and I never really knew this before for myself, that when I pray, and this has to go to Yaikitsi, My grandma, Kitsie, she prays every day and she's always said prayer has been, and that's like her meditation, right? She thanks God for another day. She thanks her body for this body, for being capable. And that has sat with me so strongly. And I swear, like if I could, If I could share with anybody today, I actually got told at an office, I'm not allowed to say the word prayer, but I can say meditate. And I thought, okay, well, this is a funny world where in that you can't say prayer, but you can say meditate, but they're essentially very similar, right? Since I have been leaning more into prayer and connection with the conscious universe, with God, with trusting myself and my intuition, and also knowing that even if there's not a person here that I am always connected and I'm always, I'm always guided. And I think if we could in our world learn that sometimes it's not just about us making all these decisions and whether it's God, whether it's the universe, whatever it is that you believe in, whether it's your best friend, whether it's Dr. Nick, whether it's me, like we're not alone. And so I love that you just said what you said about don't get in your own way. So don't get in your own way, everybody, okay?

SPEAKER_00:

Don't get in your own way. And stay calm, right? Stay calm. Calm is a big superpower. Bruce Lee once said it, you know? So if you can manage your calm, you're gonna go to another level mentally and it's gonna help you physically and you're gonna just live a happier life. And that's what we're all after, happiness and peace, right?

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. Okay, so remember, if you made it this far, You're going to go ahead and share this with somebody. Tag us in a post. You can tag Dr. Athens, better from within, right? Okay. Better from within. Everything will be in the show notes. You can find him on Instagram. Please go follow him. Give him some love. And Dr. Athens, thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. And hopefully we help some people out there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yay. Okay. We'll see you soon. Bye. Thank you for joining me here at What's the Word. Follow us on social media with the links on the screen and don't forget to like and share with your friends. Your support helps us grow and continue to make inspirational content. See you next time on What's the Word.