Rewiring Your Mind for Lasting Change: Healing and Resolutions with Dr. Elisa Peavey

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:00:00

Welcome to Healing In Spite of Me, the podcast where we journey together through life's challenges and triumphs, reclaiming our stories and reigniting our purpose. I'm your host, Dr. Alisa Peavey, physician, healer, and fellow traveler on this path of self discovery.

Here we explore the tools, stories and insights that empower you to reconnect with your true self and find healing even in the face of life's toughest moments.

Each episode is designed to inspire transformation, whether you're navigating a life transition, rediscovering your identity, or simply looking for practical ways to embrace joy and purpose. So if you're ready to dive deep, heal from within, and create a life that reflects your authentic self, you're in the right place.

Let's begin this journey together here. Joining me today is my good friend Jodi, of over 15 years I've known this girl.

She is a prior journalist and she is here to talk with me today about New Year's resolutions. Welcome, Jodi.

Jodie: 00:01:13

Hi, Elisa. I'm so glad to be with you today.

And I think it's funny because it's almost the end of January and a lot of us can have kicked those resolutions to the curb, right?

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:01:24

Yes, yes.

And that is the whole, you know, I was actually looking up information about resolutions in terms of how many of us stick to them, and I found some interesting facts. Actually, there were several, I guess, studies or papers that were done that kind of talk about this.

So interestingly, in: 2016

And this is just a couple of, you know, sources, of course, but honestly, we can talk to person after person who will essentially tell us the same thing. Why is it so hard to stick to these resolutions that we want so much to have as a part of our life?

Jodie: 00:02:32

So here it's what, January 20th, right?

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:02:37

Yeah.

Jodie: 00:02:37

And this morning I sat down intentionally with my journal and I was like, dear Jodi, you can go to exercise class this morning. You can do it. Just go. Just go. It's like you just want so badly to stick to it, you know?

And so I think the question for a lot of us is, why do we become so unmotivated? Why does that Something is resisting. There's some kind of resistance against what we want to do. Right. And our will.

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:03:04

Yes.

Jodie: 00:03:05

We gotta will ourselves out of bed, will ourselves into our leggings will ourselves to our yoga mats. But why is it so difficult?

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:03:14

Yeah. So I think that really is the exact question that we should be asking, and that's where we should be focusing a lot of our attention.

The reason why it's so difficult is because most of the things that we do from a day to day, on a day to day basis, are patterns that we've developed from the time we were little kids. And so we have certain neural pathways in our brain that say, no, this is how we need to do it.

So stretching from that, going to that exercise class that we've never started before, or changing our diet to a completely different way of eating, our mind is saying, this is pushing me outside of my comfort zone. I'm not okay with this. And it actually pulls you back the opposite direction of where you really want to go.

And subconsciously, 90% of what we're doing every day is in our subconscious. We're not even aware of these patterns that are pulling us back and saying, nope, this is totally different than what we're used to.

And so it's really not our fault.

Jodie: 00:04:32

It's like, take a load off. That feels so good to hear. It's not your fault. Your neural pathways need redesigned.

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:04:41

Yes.

Jodie: 00:04:42

Come up with a new transportation system.

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:04:44

Yes.

Jodie: 00:04:45

So how is that. Like, how do we take, you know, maybe some of that struggle that we've been in and change it into developing new pathways?

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:04:56

Yeah, so that's. That's the next part. That. That's really where I feel like we need to kind of shift and transition. A lot of what we're doing in medicine is.

Is focusing on that subconscious piece, because changing those neural pathways is really where we'll find the biggest ability to stick to the resolutions. And so there are.

There are several therapies, treatments, modalities out there that go straight to the subconscious and help us rewire, if you want to call it that, rewire our brains to do and have these new behaviors become a part of our everyday. And so let's talk about some of those different therapies that we have.

Jodie: 00:05:49

Yeah, I would love to do that, because I know not only am I your friend, Alisa, but there was a time in my life just a few years ago where I called you as a doctor. I've known you since you graduated from medical school, but you've taken a different path. And it's a fascinating path.

It's a path that not every doctor has taken. So I'm curious about that. But I know we need to talk about the. Therapies too. So wherever you want to start.

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:06:14

I've been in attending since: 2013

And, you know, I've really seen that a huge, huge part of health, honestly, is our emotional link behind it and those patterns and behaviors that are just commonplace for us that we have had since we were kids or that we developed over our lives for whatever reason.

And so as far as, you know, this, this turn that I've taken, I guess if you can call it that in medicine, I've just seen that, that emotional piece, that mental health piece, we're kind of like hitting a brick wall.

We're just, we're not really getting very far because we're trying to willpower our way into changing something, when in reality we really should be doing that neuro emotional connection.

And you know, instead of a patient coming in and just sitting down and talking for 20 or 30 minutes, we can actually learn techniques that we can help them release some of these beliefs that they have or some of these connections that they have to addictions or whatever it might be. We can help them actually release the emotional attachment to that which is going to fare.

Help them even more so getting to where they want to go, because otherwise it kind of just, it holds on to us. It keeps us from actually moving forward.

Jodie: 00:08:00

Well, we get stuck, right? I remember calling you because I was stuck.

And the last thing that I thought you were going to talk to me about was trauma, childhood trauma, for instance.

And in the scenario where somebody is really struggling with motivation and, and their mental health and all those things, you expect a doctor to say, okay, let's talk about your prescriptions. Where are you at? What are you taking? Okay, how much do you weigh? What do you do every day?

And instead I felt like you came at it a whole different way and recommended some of these therapies, which have worked in my life. But what is your favorite? Like, what's your favorite way to approach that appointment?

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:08:45

Favorite way to approach. If someone's coming in, they're feeling stuck, they're feeling, you know, why. Why am I just feeling so sad, I can't get out of this space?

Or why am I. Why is this how I react to certain situations? You know, honestly, one of my go to therapies, it's called rapid eye technology.

I believe it's one of the leading therapies, honestly, for ptsd.

It is incredibly help for just releasing that trauma that so Many of us have gone through at various times and whatnot in our life, and it's releasing and letting go of the emotion that we hold from that trauma so that it's not quite as impactful. It's not.

Every time we come into a situation that triggers the memory of that rapid eye can actually help to distance, put some space between how intense that feels. So it's not recreating that moment over and over again. It's. It's amazing.

It helps to clear childhood ages, beliefs, things that we develop because we watch our parents and we watch how they communicate and we watch how they are doing things, and that's how we build those belief systems. And so it goes through and actually helps clear all of that. That is not necessarily for our best.

You know, our mind tries to protect us when we develop those belief systems, but it's not always for our best interest long term.

Jodie: 00:10:29

Well, I think it's interesting because one of the topics that we've talked about in the past maybe have been, has been like quick to anger. Like that's an example of maybe somebody's New Year's resolution was, I don't want to lose my head today. I don't want to lose it.

I don't want to be quick to anger today. Something like that personality trait, for instance. How can you dig deeper and figure out, okay, it's a new year, it's a new me.

I really want this to work this time. I really want to be more patient.

Is it digging in like you've said, in trying to figure out what is that underlying issue that's going on and how do we even begin to uncover it and solve it?

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:11:15

Yeah, it's a really, that's a really good question.

So there are several therapies that specifically go in and help to try and address and find that key piece, that key link that is established or the reason why that anger or that reaction is the way that you are. So what we do essentially is your body knows subconsciously, even if you can't consciously say your body knows what's going on.

And we use different techniques, like muscle testing, where we're asking the body to tell us what is the emotion here. So I'm just going to kind of give you an example.

Let's say someone comes in, they have a hip, lower back and a hip injury or pain that they've been dealing with for a long time. Maybe they had an accident several years ago, and this is where all of their stuff keeps happening, all their pain. Right.

Well, in that accident in and of itself, your muscles have memory of the accident, so they hold on to that. Let's say the accident itself produced fear because of the accident. So you're holding onto fear in that place.

And for whatever reason, when anything stressful in your life occurs, this is where it seems to flare up. Your lower back starts to hurt, Your hip starts to hurt.

Well, if you were to come into an appointment, we would start asking muscle testing and asking what the emotion might be linked to that hip.

And maybe it is fear, or maybe it's something else, but just that emotion, being able to realize it and then saying, okay, we don't need this here anymore. Just that simple. It sounds very simple, but just that realization and aha.

I can't tell you how many people will often have immediate improvement in their pain. It may not be completely gone, but at least it has improved exponentially. Just saying, oh, my gosh.

Yeah, I have fear that I've just held here because of the. That I was in and things like that.

Tools like that that we use, we're actually on an energetic level and an emotional level, releasing the emotion behind that experience so that we don't have to hold onto it and continue to play it over and over again.

Jodie: 00:13:59

You know, a great example, I think, of somebody taking something emotional and it coming out in a physical way. Right. Like hip pain. You wouldn't think hip pain.

Maybe a way to relate even better is if you are really worried about something and you end up in the bathroom for two hours of a morning, it's like there's a connection there. And, you know, for. Even for kiddos as parents, you know, when my kiddos get nervous, they end up in the bathroom for a little bit.

And I'm like, it's okay. It's okay that your body is reacting and you kind of have to educate them.

But I think it's fascinating that you came from an osteopathic background, right? So you got your degree and then you have really morphed into new medicine in this way. Why is it so important for doctors to balance the two?

The energy that comes from the emotion and all of those things with the actual physical taking care of the body?

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:14:57

Yeah, it's so important because it's focusing on the entire person. We are energy beings. That's exactly who we are. Anything that manifests on the physical first starts in the energetic.

So if there's imbalance in the energetic aspects of ourselves, then it's going to manifest eventually in the physical form.

And we need to address that part as well, in medicine we do amazing with incredible surgeries and we have life saving medications and life saving abilities.

But when we leave out the energetic aspect of ourselves and we're not actually treating that piece, we're leaving out like a third of importance in terms of what medicine really should be focusing on. And we're not, we're not able to be as effective as we could otherwise as physicians and as healers.

And I feel like that's our aim, you know, that's really where we're headed.

Jodie: 00:16:09

It's interesting because I feel like you are someone who's at the forefront of that and I appreciate that as a friend and patient because I know you don't see me regularly, but thinking back to, you know, giving you a call and getting that insight, and I don't know if it's because, hey, I'm in the Midwest, you know, I don't know if we're just not thinking about this, we're not talking about it yet.

It hasn't come from the coast inward as heavy as we would like it to, but man, to think about how you can't just take a physical problem that you're dealing with, like anger, motivation, even the physical sickness part of it, and just treat that solely. I don't know. It's life changing. It's life changing. Life changing. To listen to you.

And I just know that, I know that a lot of us gain hope from it because I love what you said in the beginning. You said it's not our fault that we would lose resolve. It's not your fault. It's a subconscious pattern and you can make changes.

So if you were to give our audience like one tip to take into the weekend or into this next week to try to like get back on the horse from maybe that New Year's resolution that's, you know, been thrown out.

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:17:30

The window, you say, you know, I mean, just from personal experience, I think the biggest thing that, or the most difficult aspect of it is the shame that we, that we take on when we don't complete something right. And so, so then it's actually becoming this cyclic pattern of, of these low emotions.

And we continue to recreate similar circumstances just based on how, you know, the universe works. And so I would say more than anything, number one, give yourself some grace because we're human and we really are.

It's a hard job changing belief systems and patterns that we've had for so long. So that's number one. And number two, I would search out and seek a practitioner or physician who Utilizes and does neuro emotional medicine.

Because that is truly where you're going to find the biggest benefit both in changing things that you don't like in your life as well as just becoming healthier and just really being more authentic. You really that that true self as far as who you are, it takes you to authenticity.

Jodie: 00:19:03

I love that.

I want to ask you quick a little bit about your retreats and things that you've experienced, things that you're looking forward to because your life, you know, reading your book, your life really took a turn when you experienced a retreat, specifically one where your whole family was involved. So what can these kinds of experiences do for our families?

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:19:29

Yeah, well, I mean as families we come in with a whole bunch of generational patterns and behavior. So already we have as family units things that can change energetically for each family depending on, you know, where they're wanting to go.

with Stamina. Gosh, the early: 2013

One that helps them feel better in society, helps with anxiety, helps with them knowing and being more confident in who they are. In addition to that, teaching them how to meditate, teaching them how to really look within and get questions on the inside.

You know, instead of feeling like everything has to be coming from somewhere else, you know, really empowering them, showing them how powerful they are as well as just the family dynamic.

Like you know, we have so many modern families now today we even just families that are traditional families because of everything we bring in and because of everything we face, they get assaulted. You know, our families get kind of hit from all angles.

And so what this does is it really helps to energetically bring our families more into harmony and balance and better communication, more empowerment and just everything we wish for our kids. Right. But we're getting it as well as them. And so we've developed an incredible what's called family camp this summer.

It's a week long camp in beautiful Idaho, close to Yellowstone National Park.

And we also have a couple of smaller retreats just for the adult aspects or just for the adults prior coming up in February, February 21st, 22nd, 23rd and then another one in May, mid May I believe it's the 14th, 15th and 16th, 16th as well. So because we want to help support families as well as adults who are stuck and looking for something new.

Jodie: 00:22:11

And at the end of January, we're all feeling like we must be stuck back to our old ways.

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:22:18

Yes. So these are just good, these retreats are good ways of taking care of yourself. Yeah.

You know, letting everything kind of be set aside for a couple of days. You're going to be pampered, you're going to have good meditations. There's just some incredible healing processes that we do.

And then, of course, just that community support. I can't really even tell you how invaluable that is as well.

Jodie: 00:22:47

So that's amazing. Well, if you're listening to the podcast and you tuned in to hear from Dr.

Elisa Peavey, you may be wondering why she's talking about meditation, why she's talking about peace, why she's talking about all these amazing concepts that you're not hearing about from your doctor. And while we're not here to give medical advice or anything, we love hearing your perspective, Elisa.

Like, I love being able to sit here and talk with you and hear your different perspective than maybe what we're getting. I think it's clear that, you know, in this country we are definitely in a mental health crisis. Something needs to change.

And I love the ideas that you bring to the table. I love that you recommend try to find a functional medicine doctor.

Find somebody in your area that, that you can connect with and grow with and heal with. So it's all just so life giving. So I appreciate that I get to talk to you in this format. Yeah.

Dr. Elisa Peavey: 00:23:56

Thank you. I so love having you here, having the conversation. I feel like it's really important. So thank you so much for being here and doing this with me.

Jodie: 00:24:07

Thank you for listening to Healing in spite of me. I hope today's conversation inspired you to take a step closer to healing and rediscovering your true self.

Change takes grace and self compassion and you're not alone on this journey. If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who might need it and subscribe so you never have to miss an episode.

For resources, retreats and more, visit inspiteofme.org or connect with Dr. Elisa Peavey on social media. Until next time, keep reclaiming your story and reigniting your purpose.