Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — what did you find most intriguing from our conversation about the connection between the body and mind?
In this episode of The Natural Healing Podcast, we’re joined by a dear friend and wellness therapist, Sean Wolf, in a lighthearted conversation about taking a multifaceted approach to healing the mind and body through techniques like Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), HeartMath, and the incredibly powerful (and simple!) Bowen technique — one of the most unique forms of bodywork you’ll ever experience.
You’ll also learn an empowering stress management practice you can do anytime to calm your nervous system, recenter yourself and find equilibrium in your body and mind.
Sean’s Unique Journey to the Healing Arts
Sean Wolf started out as an auto mechanic but grew tired of his career and was searching for something different. His answer came after he was injured on the job: massage school. After gaining his certification he began his massage therapy in a PT clinic, before moving on to work with clients at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara, CA.
As his practice continued, he began to notice a trend – his patients were still having the same pain, the same body issues when they first came to see him.
Why were his patients still suffering? Because they needed to learn to move differently. With this understanding, he began to explore other options. He turned to fitness training, the egoscue method, pilates, gyrotonics – all different types of physical therapy and message methods that would help people move more freely and with less pain.
However, it became clear as he treated more patients with a variety of problems that his methods could only do so much; because the root of the pain isn’t always the body, it’s the mind. Emotions play a large part in causing symptoms in the body and to further help his patients he also learned hypnosis and NLP.
And later, after a few experiences of clients coming in with a certainty of knowledge about the clients who stepped into his office before, he wanted to have that ability too and began to train in energy work.
All of these different methods led Sean to creating his current program focused on Daoism and Qigong. A combination of nearly everything he’s learned in the past, but at a more complete level to support the health and healing of his clients.
Restoring the Body with Bowen Technique
One of the methods that Sean Wolf discovered to be the greatest asset in healing is Bowen Technique. His first experience with Bowen was at a conference where someone was administering Bowen on random conference goers – simple movements practiced on certain parts of the body — and every single person walked away with immediate improvement.
Curious, and so thoroughly impressed by this process, he began his training in this body work method. He found it to be immensely simple and incredibly powerful.
We are so often taught to believe that pain is normal — that it comes with age. But, often, the crux of the issue is tension that festers within the body as part of the individual’s mindset and emotional states.
Mindset Matters for Healing
Changing the mindset, changing the emotional state can change the tension within the body, freeing the body from that pain.
NLP is a way of training your brain to be aware of your thoughts, and your mindset — learning to change the subconscious patterns that are causing stress, into ones that release it.
There are three questions that Sean asks his clients to snap them out of the stress mindset [20:04] — 1) Is there anything you can do about it in this moment? If there is, go do it. 2) Is there anything that can get me to the life that I want to live? 3) What can I do right now to have fun?
The other important factor to shift into the mindset of healing is to focus on what’s right rather than what’s wrong, because what you focus on expands.
Take a moment to consider what you want to expand in your life. What would you like to have more of?
Now, how often do you allow yourself to create the time and space to attract more of what you want in your life? Creating that time and space requires a mindset shift – stepping away from our conditioned way of thinking and being.
Sean shares a personal story [22:40] about a challenge he recently faced that gave him the opportunity to shift his mindset away from worry and stress and instead apply the three questions above and stay present in a state of meditation.
Life challenges can be opportunities to practice using our tools and resources — simply by having the awareness. The more you allow these opportunities in, the more this mindset becomes the norm rather than the exception.
It’s also important to practice paying attention during anything and everything you do, whether it’s gardening or riding your bike in order to cultivate your awareness.
Heart Math to Deepen Your Awareness
Some people become so conditioned to their stress that they don’t even know that they’re experiencing stress. In these cases, feedback is important.
Heart Math involves using a device to measure heart rate variability so that a person can see his or her response to stress.
Heart Math techniques involve a lot of breathing techniques and visualization.
Measuring the heart rate variability allows the patient to see the shifts when the techniques are employed. This allows one to learn how to pay attention to how they’re feeling.
Having space to process, feel and become aware is essential for any type of healing.
It’s important to recognize how little space we allow ourselves in our lives and how essential it is that we take the time whenever we can.
Sean appreciates Acupuncture for this reason — the space in quietude during the treatment allows him to experience the different things happening in his mind and body.
When you trigger the movement of Qi, you need space to process what that feels like.
The Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Orbit Meditations help to circulate energy throughout your body through the primary source channels of Yin and Yang, known as the Du and Ren Meridians, which are also the Fire and Water pathways of the body. In this way, these meditations also connect the Fire and Water energies, cultivating Heart-Kidney communication, which helps you realize and live out your life purpose. To purchase access to these meditations, click the button below:
Daoism, Self-Cultivation & Healing
Sean Wolf is currently in the 4th year of a seven-year Daoist training program that in 2020 was to involve going to China to become an Abbot priest. With the interference of Covid, priorities shifted, but the Daoist program continues to inspire and empower him with a deepening of the techniques that he already knows in addition to Tai Chi, Qi Gong and self-cultivation practices.
One of the most powerful aspects of these self-cultivation practices is that it provides a practitioner or healer with the ability to transmit the experiences to
As Sean says, “people will always do something to help somebody else, but neglect themselves.”
So it’s important to start doing your inner work first.
As practitioners, our clients and patients are our mirrors so it’s important to heal yourself in order to be able to heal others.
Sometimes it just takes learning to value ourselves to then invest the money, time or other resources necessary to nourish ourselves.
At the end of the episode [48:50], Sean teaches that “where you come from is where you’re going.” In other words, you want to put yourself into a good space when you begin meditation or any type of practice so that you can stay in that good space.
This practice helps you become more aware of your body, shift your mood and move into a more positive space mentally and physically.
At the end of the episode, Sean wants you to always remember “what’s the one thing you can do to have more fun?”
Resources Mentioned This Episode
Sean Wolf is available at www.bodyrestorationclinic.com
Strengthen your immune system, restore your gut health, and improve joint mobility and circulation with our unique line of expertly formlulated probiotics, digestive enzymes and proteolytic enzymes at www.aharabotanics.com.
Harmonize your Yin and Yang energies and cultivate freedom of movement throughout your body and life with the Microcosmic & Macrocosmic Orbit Meditations at www.setarehmoafi.com/shop.
Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — what did you find most intriguing from our conversation about the connection between the body and mind?
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