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Episode 111: Pain Relief Without Pills—Njideka’s Holistic Approach to Healing
- 14 minutes ago
- 19 min read
Introduction and Host Welcome
Autumn Carter: This is episode 111.
Speaker 2: Welcome to wellness in every season the podcast where we explore the rich tapestry of wellness in all of its forms I'm your host autumn carter a certified life coach turned wellness coach as well as a certified parenting coach dedicated to empowering Others to rediscover their identity in their current season of life My goal is to help you thrive both as an individual and as a parent
Guest Introduction: Njadika's Journey
Autumn Carter: Today I have with me, Njadika, and she is going to be talking about wellness and pain and how to overcome pain, most of you should know by now. I was in an auto accident on October 1st, and I'm still struggling, and we're now in January.
This will be going live in, March or April, but hopefully by this time I will be over it. But I know so many of you struggle with pain and I know how hard it is. I know that you will throw anything you can at it to get that relief. So I'm really excited to have her on. Tell me the name of your company and a little bit about your journey.
Njideka Olatunde: All right. First of all, I want to say thank you for having me and I'm looking forward to this conversation about relieving pain. The name of the company I am, I call myself the creative visionary. It's focused on healing wellness institute. what I do, I'm a naturopathic healthcare practitioner.
And my practice focuses on relieving pain first before treatment. To give you a little kind of a quick overview of my journey to get to this point. It all started, as a child, I grew up on home remedies and back then doctors kind of lived in the neighborhood and they did home visits. They would come to your home.
And as a child, I said, Oh, wow, I want to be a healer. That's what I want to be when I grow up. But when I got to college, I got a rude awakening that. What I thought doctors were was not what they were teaching doctors to be. So I said, Oh, no, let me change this. So my career path changed and I became a social worker.
And while as a social worker, I covered the whole gambit from infants to seniors, everything that relates to social service. I did it. But one of the things that really concerned me the most was that everybody was going to the emergency room for their health care. And I said, something's wrong with this picture.
And so that kind of sparked up again in me. I want to be a doctor. But at that time, the doors were opening up for natural and alternative therapies so I went back to school and became a naturopathic doctor. And during that process, I said I wanted to add a service. To my practice, and I did what was called a vision quest because I was dealing with the connection with my ancestry, and I have Native American ancestry.
So I spent some time on what they call a vision questions where you get placed on a mountain spot out in nature. And you're just you in nature, and me coming from an urban area being sitting on a mountain spot in nature that was. Quite an interesting experience, but the end result of that, you know, you did your journaling and writing all that down.
So when I went back down and the Native Americans gave you a translation of your experience in that spot. And it came to me with saying, you need to do something with your hands. So I thought it was going to be massage. I didn't like massage, but it became reflexology. And from there laid the foundation in terms of how I've been doing reflexology.
The whole gamut of reflexology, basically looking at reflexology as I've, my practice has evolved now to the point that I focus on reflexology and its connection in relieving pain.
Autumn Carter: Wow. What a journey. I grew up in Arizona, so I'm used to the Navajo Nation and.
Native Americans are more prevalent in that area of the United States. And it's amazing how much our cultures, can blend because they are so close by. Of course, there's so much I don't know about them because I didn't grow up on their nation, but that is amazing.
Understanding Reflexology
Autumn Carter: Can you tell us what is reflexology? I know what Ricky is, but what is reflexology?
I've just only heard bits and pieces.
Njideka Olatunde: Love that question. Okay, reflexology is the art and science of working specific reflex nerve ending points that are found on the hands, the feet, and the ears to relax the body, relieve pain, reduce stress. improve circulation and remove toxins and impurities from the body.
If you ever look at a chart of the nervous system and you look at all your nerves and they begin in your head and run straight through your body, ending in your hands and your feet. So reflexology, I like to give the analogy in terms of.
When you think about, electricity in your house. And all of a sudden, because you're too young, you don't know about this, but when the electricity goes out, back in the day, they had something called a fuse bulb and you had to screw the fuse bulb in and then lights would come back on. Now today we have what's called a circuit breaker, so you just flip the switch and electricity comes on.
And that's so much easier.
Autumn Carter: I remember it was green, white and
Njideka Olatunde: green and it looked like a light bulb, it
Autumn Carter: has a little, yep. I remember those.
Njideka Olatunde: And so what would happen is that say none of that works, then you'd have to call electrician in to come in and the electrician would say there's something wrong with the wiring, you know, the wires are not connecting to produce the electricity to give you the light.
So, a reflexologist operates the same way. The nerve endings are the wiring system to the body. So when there's a blockage, what a reflexologist is doing is looking for that blockage because it's blocking the energy flow, the current, the electricity. In other words, the nerve endings are connected directly to the brain, because that's your communication center.
So if there's a blockage, which means that the message that flows through the nerve and it's not going to the brain, so the brain can do what it needs to do to alleviate pain. And that's what a reflexology does is open up that blockage way, so that the body can start moving in the direction it needs to in terms of the healing process.
Autumn Carter: That makes sense to me. Bring it up to the computer, the first ever computer. And when I think of reflexology, I knew feet, but that's all I knew. That makes sense. So feet and hands and ears. One massage place that I go to, she was just getting into it and had little bead things and she would do reflexology on the ears with these beads.
I never tried it, but I saw them on the desk.
Njideka Olatunde: Let me share something too that I think is real important for your listeners to understand. Reflexology is not massage. It is often connected to massage. What it is, we are kin to each other, but we're not the same. We're relatives, but we're not the same.
Massage works the muscular system and the muscles. Reflexology works the nervous system and the nerve endings. So that's the difference between the two of us. Massage covers the whole body and reflexology only covers the extremities, the hands, the feet, and your ears.
Autumn Carter: Do you also Manipulate the way the hand is going.
Njideka Olatunde: You said a bad word. We don't massage.
Autumn Carter: So you don't massage the hand and feet. No, we
Njideka Olatunde: don't do anything. Remember now we are working the nerve endings. So what we do is we do a thing like walk. We take our thumb and you do a bending of your thumb. It's a walking motion and you are walking the nerve endings.
So each nerve ending, you don't massage it. Massaging works good for muscles, but for the nerve ends, you have to go directly to the point.
Autumn Carter: Okay. It sounds like it would be a shorter session than a massage.
Njideka Olatunde: Yes.
Autumn Carter: It is. Okay. It is.
Njideka Olatunde: It is.
Autumn Carter: And the one demographic that I think that would use you the most would be diabetes.
Okay. Diabetes.
Njideka Olatunde: We cover all gamuts, everything, because remember now you're working the nerve endings that are connected to the brain. See, the situation is when you're talking about, think about it like this, when a person goes to a doctor, they're only going to the doctor for one thing and one thing only relief of pain.
When you think about that, one of the things that health practitioners don't. Focus on is the business side and the business side of their service. When you go to the store and there's something you want to buy, you know exactly what it is you want to buy and you go buy it. When you go to the doctor, you want to be able to go in there and buy relief from pain when you go in there.
There's a missing piece to that.
The Power of Touch and Healing
Njideka Olatunde: And I have put together what I call reflexology touchology approach, which is connected touchology is the art and science of connecting the power of touch in the healing process. And when I say touch and talk, I'm not just talking about physical, I'm talking about mental, emotional, spiritual, and even financial.
Those are the all four avenues that relate to optimum health and wellness. And the reason why I'm saying that is because when you look at allopathic medicine, you go to that doctor for pain, and you say, okay, My back is bothering me or I'm having tightness in my chest and it's real painful. Okay.
What is the doctor going to do? The doctor's going to, the first thing they're going to say is we got to do some tests and until we can do the test, here's a prescription to take care of the pain, but we don't know what the pain is, but I'm giving you something to take care of the pain. Now, the missing piece is called touch and that touch missing pieces.
In our practice, why I say medication free is because the first thing I need to do is I need to listen to you. You need to talk to me about your pain. You need to tell me about your pain. We need to talk all about, because in that conversation, I can understand that there's a stress factor that is the contributor to why you're in pain.
And once I identify the stress factor, now I can introduce reflexology as the pain relief in terms of relieving pain. Once I relieve the pain, now we're going to look at what's going to be the treatment. Integrative therapy approaches based on what I found out in terms of what I listened to you telling me that connected me with the stress factor.
That's the cause of your pain. And if you don't address the stress factor, which is nothing but something outside of your body that you bring inside and internalize. If you don't release it, it then manifests into what is now known as an illness with a definition of a diagnosis. Because 95 percent of all illnesses is a result of stress, but we don't focus on the stress factor.
Autumn Carter: I love it. And oh, where do I even go from here? It's so true. We are such a stressed society. And thinking about this time of year, with it being winter, this is the time when people got the chance to unplug and relax and not feel the stress because it was winter, they're bundled up with blankets, they were in drafty homes, thinking of farmers.
And you can't do anything with your crops during this time. You've done everything you can to prepare, so this is our time to rest and unplug. Think how much less stress they probably had during that time compared to us, where we're go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Oh, we have pain? Alright, let's pop that and leave.
And I was also thinking when you were talking that it would be so different. If people went to you first, instead of going to that doctor and then getting that narcotic and then before they know it because it is such a slippery slope, they're addicted to it and they never got to what the root of the pain is.
They never, and for some that are on those heavy narcotics, it still doesn't take away the pain.
Njideka Olatunde: See, to the front, everything serves a purpose. Allopathic medicine is excellent when it comes to diagnosis. But it's not good at treatment. So, when you get your diagnosis, see, this is where we have to start understanding that the body is designed to heal itself.
And we've got to start remembering that. What a doctor, or what a practitioner, what a therapist, or what a consultant does is assists the body. In the healing process, we don't heal the body. We assist the body. And the way we assist the body is with the patient and client connecting with the practitioner and becoming in oneness.
See, this is the piece. This is the missing piece because the practitioner. And the client have to be working one in one with each other so that the body can align itself to get back to healthiness. And I always like to use the terminology. There's a word that probably no one ever talks about or even thinks about today as it relates to health and wellness.
Back in the day, there used to be a thing called preventive health care, health care prevention. Now prevention is nothing but, oh, it's a word. What does it mean? We've got to look at being more proactive and being proactive from the standpoint, when I say take back control of your life from pain. That Means connecting with my body, becoming in oneness with my body.
That's how you take back control. Also, by understanding that your body is made up of systems, organs, and cells. And each of those systems and organs and cells has a specific function and they get their information from the brain via the nerve endings.
We all know about the automobile. We know about our cars. And when we buy a car, you get a directory that says it needs to have maintenance at such and such a time. And we make sure we're on schedule with the maintenance at such and such a time.
But understand that the automobile is an exact replica of your body. And just like the automobile needs a maintenance, your body needs a preventive maintenance as well. Operate from that standpoint, now you're taking a stand for taking back control of your body. You are understanding it.
And I'll give you an example.
Practical Applications and Techniques
Njideka Olatunde: Say, for example, somebody was having difficulty breathing and the diagnosis came up to be, Asthma. What body system is being affected?
Autumn Carter: The lungs, the airways. And that's important because everything functions from the oxygen that goes throughout your blood.
But if you talk
Njideka Olatunde: about the system, you're talking about the respiratory system where the lungs are located. So, we're talking respiratory system, we're talking lungs, we're talking the bronchial, we're talking that whole area. So, if you get a diagnosis, what you want to pay attention to is what system of the body is that organ or is that area in.
When you think about the system, what does that mean? Does that mean it needs cleansing? Does that mean it needs exercise? Does that mean it needs nutrients? Which means this is how you put together your treatment plan. Now you're looking at what are the services that address that particular need to get my body back in a line.
See, that's how you have to look at the process. We've got to move away from the quick fix, which you talked about earlier about pain relief. The quick fix is nothing but numbing the nerve ending. So if you're numbing the nerve ending message, it's not going to the brain to be about delivering what it needs to deliver to relieve that area.
So what happens? I'm none of that. I don't feel pain. For a particular period of time and then what the pain comes back again, then I got to go do what get me another quick fix. And then what happens. Now, we have created a dependency. And when you create a dependency, you've now broken down some other areas of the body because the body's defense mechanism became overwhelmed and could not block that foreign substance that's coming into the body.
It's basic. We've got to put our thinking caps on and look at know that you are a miraculous entity that walks the face of this earth and is designed to be able to take care of itself. All you have to do is assist it and understand that when you are in pain, know that that pain did not happen overnight.
The first time you felt pain, oh, it's not this bad, you don't pay no attention to it. Then it may come back again, a little more intense. Mm, it's bothering me a little bit, still don't pay no attention to it. Then the body's going to say, okay, I gave you a few warnings. You're not paying attention. Now I'm going to take you down.
That's called focusing on our bodies and connecting with it.
Autumn Carter: That reminds me of somatics. We are so disconnected from our bodies and what's going on and we're so connected to anything internet related, screen related, not ourselves, what's, what's going on in here?
What do I need right now? And I've been thinking about that a lot lately, even just with nutrition, if we really are in tune with our body, we will know what nutrient we are missing and we will naturally go for that missing nutrient.
Njideka Olatunde: Exactly. And
Autumn Carter: if we are paying attention, so for me. Through the all that I've been learning since my car accident, it's that I need to massage out this area because it flares up right here.
So it's walking my fingers along here and helping to release it
Njideka Olatunde: so you're doing it. Yeah, that see that's the other piece. You got some techniques that you can do. And that's in conjunction with your practitioner. See, this is the thing you've got to learn how to do things that can be supportive.
That's like what we do when I do my reflexology sessions with my clients, we're talking about five sessions. And the reason why we send them saying five sessions, because In that process, I'm teaching you how to do those basic techniques for that particular problem. So now, you have your pain relief 24 7 anytime you want it.
That's the key because now we're talking about, you can even teach a family member how to do it. So now you got your own reflexologist in your family, which is why, like I wrote the book back in 1987, reflexology today, a family affair, and I reissued it, came back out.
Which is available now, but it's designed to be a self help guide in you believing pain medication free using the power of touch that's inside your hands. That's what we've got to get back to because all of us have the power in our hands to heal we were born with it, you're designed with it, but you just don't know how to use it.
Autumn Carter: That is amazing. Knowing that we have a book that can help us. Where are you located? If people are like, I need more than a book, I need her. Where are you located?
Njideka Olatunde: Okay. I am virtually available. You can reach me through my website, focus on healing. com. And by all means, if you go to my website, In the contact section.
If you have any questions, write it down. I'll get back to you. Write down any questions that you may want to know about that relates to pain. This is how we help each other. I'm available to help you, you know, in terms of because it's important that we get to the point of knowing how to help each other in relieving pain, be it mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
We got to get back to that connection. The sad part about it is because of the pandemic and the two and a half years of being on lockdown and my unscientific study as it relates to the number of people that made transition during that time period was because of the lack of touch. People not being able to see family members, people not being able to touch family members, that was a big contributor that has spread to the point that now we no longer want to touch anybody, and we don't even know how to touch anybody.
And that's a big problem because we are a touching people.
Autumn Carter: I, when people want to shake hands with me, I'm like, let's fist bump it. I don't want your germs on my hands. I have little kids, their germ factories is all of themselves. We have our own Petri dish.
Njideka Olatunde: We don't understand that touching doesn't necessarily have to be physical, say for example, and let me kind of tie this in to show you how it works with reflexology.
When you are receiving a reflexology session. It's not just the practitioner, doing the techniques. And you're receiving. It's about a give and receive. It's reciprocal. As the practitioner is doing the steps, they are receiving just as you are receiving through the techniques. That's a form of touch. And I'm not talking about the physical.
I'm talking about the exchange because the exchange is, as I'm working on someone's feet and hands, and I discover a particular area that's in stress, I activate the nerve ending so that it will send a message to the brain to relieve the stress and pain in whatever area. That's an exchange.
When we talk about the power of touch and I connect this with reflexology, just being able to say two most powerful words that you could ever say is one of the most powerful touches somebody can receive. And that's called, thank you. Those two words are powerful in terms of touching someone. The next one is to be able to give somebody a smile.
That's a form of touch. Think about if you're driving in the car, we'll see, because I'm here on the East Coast and everything's real, real fast, fast. You're driving in the car and somebody lets you over. You need to get over and they let you over and you raise your hand up as a form of gesture to say, thank you.
That can make somebody's day. They may not even know it, but just that may change and turn their whole day around. They got touch. And so we've got to understand that touching is the essence of what reflexology is really all about. It's about touching to put the heel back in health. ,
Autumn Carter: yes, and that's a great way to heal the world. There's so much negativity out there, but if you want something that is bigger and brighter, you can also spread positivity.
Njideka Olatunde: Yes.
Autumn Carter: Get rid of your negativity. Spread that positivity. It's amazing. And we should be willing to share that glow and to receive it from others.
There's so many times where I'm giving, giving, giving, and it's like, okay, I need to be willing to receive and not just blocking it. So
Njideka Olatunde: that's true. That's the foundation of healing because the body is giving to you 24 seven in some form of fashion. It's constantly giving and we've got to understand. So if the body is constantly given, we need to give to the body as well. That's the replenishing process. Like, you know, we've got to know how important we are.
And that's the other thing, because when you understand how important you are, guess what? You're going to be about, I want to maintain my health and my wellness. One of the things I talk to my clients about, you have to make a decision about your body. Is your body a temple or is your body a warehouse?
Now, warehouse, you don't care about. You just store anything in a temple. It's something sacred and special. You've got to see your body as that. You've got to see it as sacred. You've got to see it as special. And when you see it sacred and special, you take care of it. You honor it. You value it. And, and with that comes other entities.
Into your world that provide and reinforce that energy that you are so freely given and that you are protecting as well.
Autumn Carter: We can talk about that forever. It sounds like you have your own podcast. Speaking of talking about forever, is that correct?
Njideka Olatunde: Yes, I do. I host a podcast called the wellness experience and on the wellness experience, what we do is we provide information on, topics related to medication free.
pain relief, as well as bringing in innovative healthcare practitioners and even people who have utilized medication free approaches in their lives to be about healing themselves. The whole thing is to introduce the community to What you can do to take back control of your life.
We give you information. We connect you with practitioners. We provide you with people who you can connect with, who can be very supportive of you. If you are interested in taking the road that they've taken to relieving pain without medication.
Autumn Carter: Oh, that is perfect.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Autumn Carter: Are there any last thoughts as we close out for today?
Njideka Olatunde: The thought that I would like to leave everybody with is. To understand that within you, you hold the key to your health and wellness and don't let anybody take that key away from you and use it. It's fullest in terms of becoming healthy and well understand that the key that you hold is called the power of touch heals all and you have it.
And in conclusion, there's an African tradition that when you come and visit someone's home for the first time you bring a gift. And because I'm visiting your home for the first time, I have a gift for you and your audience. I have put together. A medication free pain and stress relief poster that I'm sharing with your listeners, and all they have to do is they can download it at touch ology reflexology.
com, and the poster will give them ways that they can use. To relieve pain medication free. Thank you for having me and I have enjoyed sharing during this time.
Autumn Carter: Thank you so much. I know so many people who are struggling with pain. They want out of this vicious cycle. This is. Perfect, and so needed, and so timely.
Thank you so much for this conversation. I really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed the things that I learned that I didn't know. I knew, as you could tell, some about reflexology, but I was missing a lot of pieces. So, thank you. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt the same way.
Speaker: Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode. I am your host Autumn Carter, a certified life coach dedicated to empowering individuals to rediscover their identity, find balance, miss chaos, strengthen relationships and pursue their dreams. My goal is to help people thrive in every aspect of their lives.
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