Back in Control with David Hanscom, MD

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Janet Huehls a clinician, coach, and educator.  She discusses her approach to wellness, emphasizing the interconnectedness of nutrition, exercise, and rest. She describes her coaching process, which begins with a "core why" call to identify internal motivation. Her coaching approach combines movement, mindfulness, and motivation, which she has personally applied to navigate challenges like grief and emotional pain. She emphasized the importance of a whole person approach and introduces the concept of the "big 3" factors—eating, exercising, and managing stress—and the innate energy management system that includes nourishing, moving, and resting well. Download the transcript Janet Huehls is a clinician, coach, and educator transforming exercise from something people feel they should do into a resource for whole-person well-being. For over 30 years, she has guided individuals with medical conditions to use movement in ways that support healing, function, and quality of life. Her evidence-based method blends movement science, motivation science, and mindfulness to reduce pain, stress, and low motivation so people can Be Well Now. She holds a master’s degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology and is a national board-certified health coach and certified yoga teacher. For more information visit:  https://exercisingwell.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Janet Huehls a clinician, coach, and educator. She explains that current weight loss approaches focus on calories in and out rather than addressing underlying physiological issues. She describes two scenarios where people's physiology is either functioning well but being incorrectly labeled as unhealthy due to weight gain, or where they genuinely need physiological intervention due to high body fat and inflammation. She emphasizes that exercise often becomes a source of stress in these situations, particularly when people are told to "exercise to lose weight," which can worsen their health rather than improve it. Download the transcript Janet Huehls is a clinician, coach, and educator transforming exercise from something people feel they should do into a resource for whole-person well-being. For over 30 years, she has guided individuals with medical conditions to use movement in ways that support healing, function, and quality of life. Her evidence-based method blends movement science, motivation science, and mindfulness to reduce pain, stress, and low motivation so people can Be Well Now. She holds a master’s degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology and is a national board-certified health coach and certified yoga teacher. For more information visit:  https://exercisingwell.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Cynthia Austin, a board-certified health and wellness coach.  She discusses the role of emotions in healing, and notes that learning to feel emotions is part of the healing process. She emphasizes the role of personal agency and lifestyle changes in recovery. She explains her treatment approach which includes: sharing her own story with clients as a way to build trust; a hybrid self-paced course that educates them about pain neuroscience and the importance of restoring balance with self, and regulating thoughts, emotions and behaviors and coaching sessions to help them integrate this learning into life. Download the transcript Cynthia Austin is a board-certified health coach who helps people change their pain experience.  She created her business, My Pain Coach and her programs, to support those living with pain. Cynthia blends professional coaching and pain neuroscience with nearly five decades of lived experience with chronic pain and illness.  Having overcome conditions like migraine, fibromyalgia, back pain, and other debilitating challenges, she now guides others through the complex, often confusing process of changing the pain experience.  For more information, visit: https://mypaincoachllc.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Cynthia Austin, a board-certified and wellness health coach. She shares her background of transitioning from accounting to helping people manage their pain experiences after dealing with migraines since childhood and encountering limitations in traditional medical systems. She describes how her own research and legislative advocacy work led her to understand the role of the brain, nervous system, and behavior change in pain management, ultimately leading her to become a health and wellness coach to help others navigate their pain experiences. Download the transcript Cynthia Austin is a board-certified health coach who helps people change their pain experience.  She created her business, My Pain Coach and her programs, to support those living with pain. Cynthia blends professional coaching and pain neuroscience with nearly five decades of lived experience with chronic pain and illness.  Having overcome conditions like migraine, fibromyalgia, back pain, and other debilitating challenges, she now guides others through the complex, often confusing process of changing the pain experience.  For more information, visit: https://mypaincoachllc.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with writer and spiritual teach Regan Caruthers.  She discusses her approach to healing, which combines spiritual practices with HeartMath techniques to help people regulate their autonomic nervous system and access a state of love and gratitude. She emphasizes the importance of a disciplined practice and the power of love to heal, both physically and emotionally. She also shares her own miraculous recovery from emergency open heart surgery, which she attributed to divine guidance. Download the transcript Regan Caruthers is a writer and spiritual teacher whose life has been shaped by an early education rooted in contemplative practice, including daily meditation, tai chi, devotional singing, and direct exploration of the human energy field. From a young age, she learned to attune to divine guidance—an embodied intelligence that has repeatedly proven life-saving. She is the author of Tragic Magic and the founder of ASET Yoga Center, where she integrates the original heart-centered teachings of Jesus, the yoga tradition, and heart-based science. Her professional background includes corporate leadership in Silicon Valley, management of academic innovation initiatives for the California State University system, and work on staff at the HeartMath Institute, where she taught HeartMath programs to business audiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with writer and spiritual teacher Regan Caruthers. She shares her early education in meditation and contemplative practices, influenced by her unconventional mother and her own spiritual awakening at age 27. She talks about her personal experience of overcoming a traumatic childhood event through spiritual practice, highlighting the importance of bringing love to unhealed parts of oneself. Through these experiences and her work at the HeartMath Institute, she learned that reprogramming the brain through awareness and love is essential to healing for those in severe pain. Download the transcript Regan Caruthers is a writer and spiritual teacher whose life has been shaped by an early education rooted in contemplative practice, including daily meditation, tai chi, devotional singing, and direct exploration of the human energy field. From a young age, she learned to attune to divine guidance—an embodied intelligence that has repeatedly proven life-saving. She is the author of Tragic Magic and the founder of ASET Yoga Center, where she integrates the original heart-centered teachings of Jesus, the yoga tradition, and heart-based science. Her professional background includes corporate leadership in Silicon Valley, management of academic innovation initiatives for the California State University system, and work on staff at the HeartMath Institute, where she taught HeartMath programs to business audiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Executive Director of the Empower2Recover Foundation, Jay Barnard.  He discusses his the evolution of his nonprofit, Empower2Recver, from focusing on addiction prevention to addressing trauma and recovery in a more inclusive way. He explains its mission to bring people together to share stories and access resources for various forms of trauma and recovery. He also talks about its plans to introduce the Global Recovery Community (GRC) project, which aims to create an online directory to help people find appropriate support services. Download the transcript Chef Recovery Jay Barnard is a keynote speaker, culinary professional, and person in long-term recovery who uses his lived experience to inspire hope, healing, and transformation. As the Executive Director of the Empower2Recover Foundation, Jay leads a National movement delivering trauma-informed mental health, addiction, and recovery events across communities and Indigenous Nations. Blending his journey from addiction to recovery with his passion for food, Jay shows how purpose, culture, and connection can change lives. Through storytelling, service, and the kitchen, Chef Recovery continues to turn pain into purpose and recovery into action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Executive Director of the Empower2Recover Foundation, Jay Barnard. He shares his personal experience of struggling with substance abuse, including multiple arrests and a year-long sentence in Penetang Penitentiary, which he served for driving under suspension. As part of his release, he entered counseling, which resulted in his enrollment at the Salvation Army Anchorage Boost Center in Ottawa, Ontario, where he achieved sobriety on February 11, 2008. He went on to start and run a nonprofit, the Empower2Recover Foundation, which works with individuals to help them deal with trauma, addiction and recovery. Download the transcript Chef Recovery Jay Barnard is a keynote speaker, culinary professional, and person in long-term recovery who uses his lived experience to inspire hope, healing, and transformation. As the Executive Director of the Empower2Recover Foundation, Jay leads a National movement delivering trauma-informed mental health, addiction, and recovery events across communities and Indigenous Nations. Blending his journey from addiction to recovery with his passion for food, Jay shows how purpose, culture, and connection can change lives. Through storytelling, service, and the kitchen, Chef Recovery continues to turn pain into purpose and recovery into action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with retired psychotherapist and author Jake Eagle.  He discussed the SAGE process, which focuses on subjective awareness and genuine expression to help individuals cultivate inner security and personal agency. He explains how taking responsibility for emotions, rather than blaming others, can lead to personal growth and healing. He shares success stories from his work with couples and highlights the effectiveness of the SAGE process when individuals commit to it fully. He also talks about the challenges of breaking ingrained patterns, especially when anger is involved, and the role of metacognition in overcoming these obstacles. Download the transcript Jake Eagle is the co-creator of the S.A.G.E. process — Subjective Awareness and Genuine Expression — a framework for helping people cultivate inner security, personal agency, and healthier relationships with themselves and others. For over twenty years, he and his wife Hannah worked with individuals and groups exploring how language, perception, and meaning shape the nervous system and human experience. Jake is a retired psychotherapist and the author of The Power of Awe, a book about how moments of awe can help people shift out of threat, reconnect with themselves, and feel more alive and at ease.His work invites people to move beyond reactivity and self-blame into clarity, self-regulation, and genuine connection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with retired psychotherapist and author Jake Eagle. He discusses how the work of John and Joyce Weir, who developed a unique psychological approach called Percept Language in the 1950s, led he and his wife Hannah to create the SAGE process. It focuses on understanding people's internal subjective experiences through present-tense language. He explains how the SAGE approach (Subjective Awareness, Genuine Expression), has significantly improved his professional work and led to a better understanding of how language perception and meaning shape the nervous system and human experience. Download the transcript Jake Eagle is the co-creator of the S.A.G.E. process — Subjective Awareness and Genuine Expression — a framework for helping people cultivate inner security, personal agency, and healthier relationships with themselves and others. For over twenty years, he and his wife Hannah worked with individuals and groups exploring how language, perception, and meaning shape the nervous system and human experience. Jake is a retired psychotherapist and the author of The Power of Awe, a book about how moments of awe can help people shift out of threat, reconnect with themselves, and feel more alive and at ease.His work invites people to move beyond reactivity and self-blame into clarity, self-regulation, and genuine connection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Rick Olderman, a sports and orthopedic physical therapist. He discusses his approach to treating chronic back pain by identifying and correcting three fundamental patterns: extension, flexion, and side-bending problems. He explains how these patterns are often caused by repetitive movements and compensatory behaviors, and how addressing the underlying issues can lead to significant pain relief. He emphasizes the importance of looking at the whole person and considering factors such as walking patterns, fascial tension, and reflex patterns. He also shares insights on how stress and emotional factors can contribute to pain through chemical responses in the body. Download the transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Rick Olderman, a sports and orthopedic physical therapist, about his journey from discovering that conventional approaches to chronic pain management were ineffective to developing a unique systems-thinking approach that combines elements from Dr. Shirley Saruman's research, fascia studies, and Hanna Somatics. He explains that his new book, Pain Patterns, outlines how these three approaches can be combined to identify and correct the underlying causes of chronic pain, which he believes are often related to patterns of movement and activity. Download the transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Grant Elliott, a chiropractic physician. He explains his online treatment approach to treating patients with chronic back pain which includes: unlimited patient communication, a detailed history and movement based evaluation, exercises to help patients regain the activities they have stopped due to pain, and helping patients “unlearn” their pain. His practice emphasizes the whole body biomechanics, nervous system desensitization and customized pain management programs. He has found that most patients experience a significant reduction in pain after the first visit. His non-traditional approach has created the largest chiropractic practice in North America. Download the transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Grant Elliott, a chiropractic physician who transitioned from a brick-and-mortar practice to offering an online program focused on non-surgical treatment of back issues through evidence-based methods. Grant shares his personal experience with back pain and discusses his approach to treating spine-related pain through comprehensive rehabilitation plans and personalized exercise programs, emphasizing the importance of thorough evaluations and patient education. He also talks about his work in training other healthcare professionals to adopt similar holistic approaches to managing back pain. Download the transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Rachel Garfield, a therapist specializing in chronic pain and trauma.  She discusses the principles of healing, which she calls The Equina Way framework. The framework involves reflection, repetition, and release, which are based on the training principles of horseback riding. She highlights the significance of perseverance and having something to live for, which helped her overcome pain and achieve her goals. Rachel Sydney Garfield is both a therapist specializing in pain and trauma as well as a competitive horseback rider with an amazing story of her own. She had a miraculous recovery in the aftermath of her back breaking horse fall in which she broke three vertebrae. She went on to compete as a jumper 18 months later, wrote a book called “Stay the Course” (which will be published soon) about the pain management framework she discovered during her recovery process. Her framework is based on the methaphor and training principles of horseback riding which she titled “ The Equina Way.” Rachel has a rich full life and  continues to ride, compete and live largely pain free” Follow her at Rachel Sydney equestrian on Instagram and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Garfield, a therapist specializing in chronic pain and trauma, shares her journey through intense pain, and the healing principles she learned that helped her recover. Rachel Sydney Garfield is both a therapist specializing in pain and trauma as well as a competitive horseback rider with an amazing story of her own. She had a miraculous recovery in the aftermath of her back breaking horse fall in which she broke three vertebrae. She went on to compete as a jumper 18 months later, wrote a book called “Stay the Course” (which will be published soon) about the pain management framework she discovered during her recovery process. Her framework is based on the methaphor and training principles of horseback riding which she titled “ The Equina Way.” Rachel has a rich full life and  continues to ride, compete and live largely pain free” Follow her at Rachel Sydney equestrian on Instagram and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Miriam Gauci Bongiovanni, Pain Coach and MindBody Practitioner.  She explains her approach to treating patients with mind-body symptoms, emphasizing the importance of shifting focus from symptoms as enemies to understanding them as messengers. She described her initial strategy of building confidence in the mind-body connection and exploring emotional factors contributing to symptoms. She discusses the challenge of convincing patients of the non-structural causes of their symptoms and the value of open-mindedness and curiosity in the treatment process. By challenging their expectations of pain, patients can begin the healing process. Download the transcript Miriam Gauci Bongiovanni is a Trauma-informed Pain Coach and MindBody Practitioner. She made a remarkable recovery from a range of chronic symptoms by tapping into the mindbody connection. Today, she educates individuals on how to overcome a myriad of chronic symptoms by working with emotional release, mindset shifts and neuroplasticity. She is the author of The Pain Secret: Unlocking the MindBody Connection to Overcome Chronic Pain and Symptoms. For more information, visit her website at: https://www.painoutsidethebox.com/my-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Miriam Gauci Bongiovanni, Pain Coach and MindBody Practitioner.  She shares her journey with chronic pain, which began with a shoulder injury while rock climbing at age 28. Despite being diagnosed with a lesion that required surgery, she chose not to undergo the procedure after learning the surgeon couldn't guarantee a pain-free recovery. Her pain eventually spread to her legs and arms, leading her to discover TMS through online research. Using a combination of journaling, mindfulness, and relaxation techniques, she recovered from her symptoms within 6 weeks, though she experienced occasional anxiety and insomnia that she managed through TMS principles. Nine years later, she remains pain-free and has returned to rock climbing. Download the transcript Miriam Gauci Bongiovanni is a Trauma-informed Pain Coach and MindBody Practitioner. She made a remarkable recovery from a range of chronic symptoms by tapping into the mindbody connection. Today, she educates individuals on how to overcome a myriad of chronic symptoms by working with emotional release, mindset shifts and neuroplasticity. She is the author of The Pain Secret: Unlocking the MindBody Connection to Overcome Chronic Pain and Symptoms. For more information, visit her website at: https://www.painoutsidethebox.com/my-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Michelle May, LPC, chair of the Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) Core Training program at the New Washington School of Psychiatry. She shares her journey into Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) and how it helped her overcome chronic intense migraines caused by adverse childhood experiences. She explains that traditional therapies like CBT and mindfulness-based approaches didn't address the root causes of her issues. ISTDP, however, helped her uncover unconscious processes and deal with underlying causes of her problems, including perfectionism, self-criticism, and redirected anger. Michelle also discusses her experience with chronic pain, which was partially resolved through medical intervention but fully addressed through ISTDP therapy. She emphasizes the importance of understanding how one relates to emotions, particularly anger, in managing both mental and physical health. Download the transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Sachit Egan, an avid outdoorsman, runner, and weightlifter.  He talks about the physiological and psychological aspects of his pain and emphasizes what he learned about the body's ability to heal and the importance of maintaining a positive outlook. He also discusses the process he used for overcoming pain, including the role of persistence in healing, and the significance of challenging one's beliefs about pain management. Download the transcript Sachit Egan is an avid outdoorsman, runner, and weightlifter. In his early twenties, Sachit was diagnosed with spondylolisthesis and bulging discs that caused him severe low back and sciatic pain. A half-dozen doctors recommended that Sachit get immediate multi-level spinal fusion surgery, but a visit with Dr. Hanscom convinced Sachit to reconsider the surgical route. Today, Sachit resides in Seattle, WA where he and his partner enjoy backpacking, rock climbing, and cliff jumping in the beautiful Pacific Northwest outdoors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices