0:44

Welcome to radically resilient

0:46

health with Dr. Carolyn Dolan. I

0:48

am your host, Connie Ray , radically

0:51

resilient health is a podcast about how

0:53

you can change your health. And it's not

0:55

necessarily a radical change.

0:58

There's small things that you can do to

1:00

continue on that path. I'm very much looking

1:02

forward to our guests today. MENA

1:06

alky is the owner of evoke fitness

1:08

in Reno, Nevada. She is

1:10

a fitness guru here

1:12

in our town, and she is quite

1:14

loved by so many women. I think what makes

1:17

her so unique and special is that she

1:19

is constantly sharing her health journey.

1:21

And that means the good and the bad.

1:24

So we're here to talk with her today , along

1:26

with Dr. Carolyn Dolan MENA . It is

1:28

so great to see you and be with

1:30

you and podcast with you today. And

1:33

I just wanna personally say, I'm so

1:35

glad that you and Carolyn have met. I've

1:37

known the both of you now for several years, and

1:39

I've just been talking both of you up.

1:42

And I think it's wonderful that you're here

1:44

to be a part of this podcast because I really

1:46

see you as living those same values

1:49

that Carolyn talks about in radically

1:51

resilient health. So welcome to the podcast.

1:54

Well, thank you so much for having me. I

1:56

am very grateful to be here and , um

1:58

, admired both of you ladies for a long time.

2:00

So this is really great.

2:03

Yeah . So MENA and I finally officially

2:06

met , uh , we've met maybe a

2:08

few years ago at some events here

2:11

locally, but we finally started working

2:13

directly together recently as I was pulling myself

2:15

out of the COVID funk and

2:18

realizing how important it was for me

2:20

to have , uh , a fitness community

2:23

and somebody who made sure

2:25

I was showing up and keeping me

2:28

on track with my fitness health.

2:30

Um, and so that's how we reconnected most

2:33

recently. And I really admire what

2:35

you've been doing with the

2:37

community and women who are going through some

2:39

really challenging times with your evoke

2:42

warriors. Um, we have some mutual

2:44

friends , um, in

2:46

that community L and how

2:49

you really just glow

2:52

with this, this energy of

2:54

connection and empowering

2:56

, uh , particularly other women in

2:59

taking care of themselves, even through difficult

3:01

journeys , um, both using fitness,

3:05

you know, as your primary vehicle, but really

3:08

holding onto a community and the

3:10

importance of that connection. And

3:12

you have a personal story that you're gonna share

3:14

with us a little bit about your own

3:17

health journey , um, that we're really

3:19

looking forward to that, but it's just been a real pleasure

3:21

and we look forward to sharing your story

3:24

with others, cuz it , um

3:26

, and your connection. We, this

3:28

is totally perfect. Actually we

3:31

share a love of

3:34

little four legged creatures we

3:36

do

3:37

Do , and you know, somebody just came to

3:39

the door , so they're , they

3:42

protect me at all costs .

3:43

Yeah . So we have our, our

3:46

dog , uh , we are a lover of dogs for

3:48

sure, but , um, anyways, welcome to the

3:50

podcast and I'm really thank you . Um , excited

3:52

to have you , um, so

3:54

why don't we start with, you've given a little

3:57

bit of background of who you are and

3:59

then you can share a little bit about your most

4:01

recent health , um, journey.

4:03

Okay. Well, I'm just gonna tell you why I

4:06

got into fitness in the first place. Um,

4:08

I was one of those , uh, people

4:11

who did not enjoy exercise. Um,

4:14

I hated PE you know, I didn't

4:16

do any sports in high school and

4:19

as I got older and had children, I

4:22

realized how , how hard it was to

4:24

get that weight off. You know, I

4:26

stopped nursing, but I was still eating like I

4:28

was nursing and wondering why I couldn't

4:30

fit into my clothes anymore. And part

4:33

of my, my mom's side of the family, I

4:35

there's some heavy , uh, people

4:37

in it , um, with some

4:40

genes that, you know, really affect their

4:42

weight. And I just did

4:44

not wanna be that person who needed help getting off of

4:46

a couch or who couldn't play with my

4:48

kids or my grandkids, or , um,

4:51

you know, not putting my help first. So

4:53

I decided, you know, in my thirties

4:55

to start exercising and

4:58

I absolutely felt in love with it . I

5:01

was like , felt so empowered

5:03

and felt so good. And

5:05

I thought, I want everybody

5:07

to feel like this, like first

5:10

off, what the heck was I waiting for? Why

5:12

did I wait so long to do this? Um,

5:14

so as I started losing weight and feeling

5:17

good , um , you know, other moms that

5:19

drop off would be like, what are you doing? And what's going

5:21

on? And that's kind of how my fitness

5:23

journey started. So I started , I

5:25

got certified. I started teaching boxing classes

5:27

, um, started teaching some group

5:29

fitness classes, absolutely fell in

5:31

love with it. I , I just loved the

5:34

whole energy and the vibe of it all. And

5:36

, um, at the time

5:38

I was looking at gold gym and they were like, you have such

5:40

a great following with your group fitness classes, you should become

5:43

a trainer. So they, it

5:45

paid for my certification at the time. And

5:48

, um, I started training and that's kind

5:50

of how my journey began. Um, and

5:52

I would just take on, you know, moms from the

5:54

school and , um, you

5:56

know, sometimes we go to a park and just work out after we

5:58

dropped off our kids. Um, and

6:00

that's kind of how I started and

6:03

then fast forward three years and I get this up

6:06

to buy a gym and I'm like, what?

6:09

Buy a gym. That was totally not

6:11

on my radar. It wasn't, you know,

6:13

like the dream that I wanted. Um,

6:16

but I've always been a

6:19

believer that everything happens for a reason. And

6:22

, um, that if you're paying attention,

6:24

God always gives you signals. And I felt like

6:26

that was one of the signals.

6:27

So it's only been three years since you've owned.

6:30

Um,

6:30

No, I own it for nine

6:32

Nine , and

6:32

It was three years after I got , uh , certified

6:35

that the community came. Yeah.

6:37

And I was scared to death about doing it, but my husband

6:39

was like, you're looking at it

6:41

the wrong way. You're thinking, what if, what if, what if,

6:43

you know, what if it fails? What if people don't come? What

6:46

if the insurance is too much ? You know, that, that

6:48

was my thought. And he's like, what

6:50

if it's successful? What if people like it? What if,

6:52

you know, you can affect all these people's

6:54

lives. And I'm like, okay. Yeah, I like

6:57

that. And you know, now we're nine years

6:59

in and it hasn't been an easy road.

7:01

There's a lot of ups and downs being a small business

7:04

owner. Um, and

7:06

even just being a woman too, you know,

7:08

people definitely , um, some

7:11

of the corporate corporate part of it definitely

7:13

looks at women a little bit differently. Um,

7:15

even though they say they don't, but there's

7:18

been a lot of up and down, but I wouldn't

7:20

change a lot . I've

7:22

been doing this for 13, 14

7:24

years now. I wouldn't change those last

7:26

14 years for anything. Um, not

7:29

only have I gotten to meet some amazing human

7:31

beings, but I've gotten to touch a

7:33

lot of people's lives and have a small impact

7:36

on them. And in turn, you

7:38

know, like evoke warriors , um ,

7:40

And tell, tell people little bit more about , um

7:43

, evoke warriors, cuz we , we just mentioned

7:45

it, but that I think the

7:47

, the story of these women is really

7:49

powerful.

7:50

So evoke warriors is a program that we launched

7:52

last year in February. Um,

7:55

it's a program that I had been thinking about for a

7:57

little bit over a year after I had finished

7:59

with another program, I, I felt like something

8:01

was still missing and I still wanted to be a part

8:03

of something like that. So, you

8:05

know, with the COVID I had a lot of time to think and

8:08

put things together. And so

8:10

we developed , uh , evoke warriors to

8:12

help , uh , anyone who is battling cancer

8:15

or has battled cancer , uh

8:17

, take back their lives after what they go

8:19

through with the treatment and even just the

8:21

mental aspect of what cancer does to someone

8:23

. Um, so we take men and

8:25

women through a six month program where

8:28

they learn to eat healthy and they learn

8:30

healthy habits and exercise the

8:32

importance of exercise to avoid

8:35

a cancer recurrence, more and more researchers

8:37

coming out about that. Um, and

8:40

comradery and community. And , uh,

8:43

we were super excited last year we had,

8:45

it was our very first year we had 28

8:47

people apply. Originally.

8:50

I had said, I was only gonna take 15. We

8:52

ended up taking 21. Cause it's really hard

8:54

to say no to people. Um , especially

8:56

people who you just like, they need this

8:59

so badly. Um, so we ended up taking

9:01

21 people for our first program.

9:03

We had male participant, everybody

9:05

else was women and it

9:07

was remarkable. It really , um,

9:10

you know, we learned a lot of things that we wanna do differently.

9:12

Some things that we wanna change, but

9:15

overall , um , it was life

9:18

changing , um, for them it

9:20

, uh, it

9:22

was just this amazing bond that was created

9:25

in the gym. And that's the

9:27

best thing about fitness and exercise is

9:29

that you're like in this space that you find

9:32

comfort and safety and

9:34

in that comfort and safety, you're

9:36

more willing to share your experience

9:38

and your stories. And some

9:40

of these people who didn't talk about their cancers

9:43

or talk about the effects it had on them and

9:45

their families, you know, when they're

9:47

exercising, when they're squatting and doing pushups

9:49

and suffering together and sweating together,

9:52

they share these stories and

9:54

it's really remarkable to watch

9:57

their cough and grow

9:59

and for them to start making connections with each

10:01

other , um, that they wouldn't

10:04

have otherwise had

10:05

Each individual has such an interesting

10:07

story, but this challenge

10:09

of both being healthy and

10:11

struggling through an illness like at the, at

10:14

the exact same time is something that

10:16

as far as where my journey was radically

10:19

resilient health is

10:22

not the absence of struggles or even

10:24

illness or injury, but rather

10:26

using all those fundamental tools to help

10:28

you through , um, those challenging

10:31

times. And so then it

10:33

, you had a successful evoke

10:35

warriors season, first season, amazing

10:38

, um, story with

10:41

them . And you can learn more about them at , at your

10:43

website, is that correct?

10:44

Yeah. They can go out evoke lawyers.org

10:46

and have all their bios

10:48

and all their stories and pictures of them working

10:50

out in the gym and community things

10:53

that we did together for bonding. So yeah,

10:55

if you're interested in learning more about that, visit

10:57

the site and , um , and find out

10:59

about the program.

11:00

That's what I think is so important. You

11:03

know , uh , during the pandemic you saw

11:05

a lot of people, myself included

11:07

when the gyms were shutting down and that was

11:09

our outlet. This was our exercise. This was

11:11

something Caroline , uh , Carolyn and I talked quite

11:13

a bit about it was what are we doing

11:16

to still keep ourselves going and staying active?

11:18

And it really dawned on me how

11:20

much the , the gym was, not just a

11:22

workout place. It was a community

11:25

for me, it was this group of people I've been

11:27

working out with the same people for, you know, 12

11:29

years. Now these are my, these are

11:31

my tribe, right? This is my group. And

11:34

you know, I had friends say to me, oh, well, everyone's getting

11:36

a Peloton or doing this. And I'm like, I

11:38

need community. Like we started

11:40

doing things where we were working out,

11:43

outside and getting together because

11:45

that is what we needed. And I think

11:47

that is going

11:49

back to what radically resilient health

11:51

is. Sometimes it's not so radical,

11:54

it's friendship, it's community, it's

11:56

bonding. It's having a group of people that

11:58

are supporting your journey along the

12:00

way.

12:01

Exactly.

12:03

Which brings me back to your personal

12:05

journey. So you finished a , you completed

12:08

a very successful, meaningful first

12:11

season of this abor evoke warriors. Um,

12:14

but tell us a little bit more about your most recent

12:17

journey. Um, as far as health in

12:19

recovery.

12:20

So, you know, like a lot

12:22

of P people during the pandemic, they

12:24

put off their , um, you

12:27

know, visits and their doctor's appointments

12:30

and , um, their screenings. And

12:32

I was one of those, you know, I had had my last

12:34

, um , gynecological , uh,

12:36

visit early 2019, then

12:40

go in 2020. And then this

12:42

year I'm like, oh my gosh, it's the middle of the year. I need

12:44

to go, you know, to the doctor. So I

12:46

went in for my typical exam and, you

12:49

know, thinking there's just, everything's gonna

12:51

be fine. And my doctor says,

12:54

Hmm . You know, I noticed that you've got some fibroids going

12:56

on. Have you had problems with that before? And I'm like, oh

12:58

yeah, like 17 years ago, you

13:00

know, I went in, they , uh , did a DNC,

13:02

cleaned the everything out and it was fine, you

13:04

know, in and out of the , um, surgeon's

13:06

office. And , uh, never

13:09

thought about it again when

13:11

she said, well, you know, I think I , we probably ought

13:13

do a sonogram and just see what's going on in there. It's

13:15

been a while since you've been in here, let's go check it out again

13:18

. I'm oblivious . I'm thinking, oh yeah, it's just, you know, normal,

13:20

no big deal. So , um,

13:23

she calls me back into her office after the sonogram.

13:26

And she's like, so you've got some

13:29

pretty hefty sized

13:31

fibroids in there. Have you been having,

13:33

you know, she talks over all these symptoms and

13:36

yes, I have been having all of, of these symptoms,

13:38

but I was attributing it . I'm 52. I'm

13:40

thinking I'm going through menopause. That's why

13:42

I'm having heavy periods. That's why some of

13:44

these periods are lasting two weeks. That's

13:47

why I'm always tired. Um,

13:49

everything's kind of sporadic. That's

13:52

why I'm all , you know, I used to get up five times at

13:54

night to go to the restroom. Well , I drink a lot of water and

13:56

I'm getting older. Maybe this is all you just

13:58

part of the deal. And

14:01

it turned out that that wasn't really

14:03

part of the deal. I was having some very extreme

14:05

symptoms. Um, and

14:08

she found out that I had about five or

14:10

six fibroid tumors that were the size of oranges.

14:13

Um, so pretty huge. Your

14:15

uterus is about, is supposed to be about eight

14:17

, uh , milligrams. And mine was about

14:20

400 . She said I had the uterus

14:23

of a four month pregnant woman.

14:25

So I had been lugging this around. She's not

14:27

sure how long it could have been a year. It could have been two

14:30

years. Um, and it

14:32

was putting some pressure on my , um , bladder

14:34

, uh, taking, you

14:37

know, fibroids grow from just

14:39

taking all of the blood supplied to grow.

14:42

And so she said, you know, that's what was causing

14:44

all the fatigue. And , um, she

14:47

said, let's get that out. So

14:49

I'm like, I'm still at this point thinking, okay , so

14:51

I'll just go into the office. They're gonna clean me out. Everything's

14:54

gonna be great in and out. No problem. And

14:56

the word, it still like chokes me up a

14:58

little bit, because then she said you to have a hysterectomy.

15:01

And it's kind of like when they

15:04

just, somebody tells you something and

15:06

, and , and you hear it, but you don't hear it.

15:09

That's kind of how I reacted. I was like, she's talking

15:11

about the hysterectomy and how she's gonna do

15:13

it and what it needs to be done. And the whole time

15:15

I'm like, wait, what

15:18

is she talking about? Like what

15:20

happened to just the D and see her? Like, how big of

15:22

a problem is this? Like, can I just not move

15:24

on with my life? I I'm not , I don't wanna have surgery. And

15:27

, um, I

15:30

go, wait, did you just say, I need to have a Hyster ? Like

15:32

I need to have a hysterectomy. And she goes, yes,

15:34

you do. And I'm like, well, you

15:36

know, I mean, I can handle the periods

15:38

and I can handle getting up at night. I've been doing this for

15:41

so long. It's not a big deal. Why don't

15:43

I just wait, let's just wait and see

15:45

what happens. And she goes, they're only gonna get

15:47

bigger. Your other organs can

15:49

stop becoming affected, and then you're gonna have a bigger problem.

15:52

So let's get this out now. Um

15:55

, so I , you

15:57

know, that's kind of how the whole thing started

16:01

and , um, I got a second and third opinion

16:04

and they all agreed that that was the best route

16:06

for me. Um, so

16:09

yeah, I just went through, I'm going four

16:11

weeks on Monday. I just went through that

16:13

whole surgery thing I

16:15

have had , um, you

16:17

know, I'm kind of, I've had a couple of surgeries in

16:19

my life, but nothing like what

16:22

I always hear from my warriors and other cancer

16:24

, uh , people and even friends and family

16:26

, um, I've been very blessed that

16:28

I've been healthy. Um, I take

16:30

good care of myself. And so this

16:32

was just something that I'm like, could I have done something different?

16:35

What did I do you like , did I

16:37

need to eat better? Did I need , you know, what caused

16:39

this to happen? And there's really nothing. It was

16:41

out of our con my control, but having

16:44

surgery was a big deal. And it

16:46

was , um, just a really

16:48

hard thing for me to wrap my head around that

16:50

I was gonna be down and out for six

16:53

weeks and, you know, not be able to

16:55

work for two to three weeks . I was like,

16:57

what are you talking about? Um,

17:00

so it's been a little bit of an adjustment.

17:03

What are the things that you feel like , um,

17:06

you've used during this time

17:08

to really get you

17:10

through it? You know, we, we talked with , um,

17:14

Mike Fraley , we interviewed him, he's one of the,

17:17

of yoga pot . And he had had a shoulder

17:19

surgery. And so yoga was all yoga,

17:22

mountain biking stuff. Those were all really big parts of

17:25

his life that he could not do. And

17:27

, uh, he mentioned he , he just

17:29

found ways to make

17:32

whatever he needed to be a part of his life. So he would

17:34

do the, what was the class

17:36

called Connie restorative yoga, where he

17:38

would just,

17:39

You know, it was more breathing. It wasn't just

17:41

The breathing work.

17:43

It was really just focusing on breath and, and,

17:46

and mind which ,

17:47

And have more meditation you

17:48

Need, right. During that time when you're

17:50

going through some sort of traumatic surgery

17:53

or recouping. Yeah .

17:54

So what have you found, man ? Um , it

17:57

most recently, so, and you're just coming out of this

17:59

sort of acute phase that you feel like has been

18:01

supportive, cuz it's a major change for you.

18:03

Yeah. You know, the biggest change was that you're

18:06

not allowed to really move a lot or do

18:08

a lot of mobility things. And so

18:10

, um, although I really wanted to

18:12

, uh, you feel, you

18:14

feel okay, you feel good, you know, and

18:17

what the doctor said is because you

18:19

don't have a gaping hole that you can see on a regular

18:21

basis and you're feeling good. You

18:23

think you can do all these things, but you can really have

18:25

a lot of setbacks if you do too much,

18:27

too soon. So I found that reading

18:30

was really , um, great. You know, I

18:32

would sit and read a lot, caught up on

18:34

a few, you know, fun shows that

18:36

I watched played a lot of card games with

18:39

my family. And I really

18:41

just tried to just

18:44

chill out, you know, let my

18:47

body do what it needed to do to heal.

18:49

Um, I tried to avoid any kind of narcotics

18:52

and anything that , so , um , did

18:54

some ibuprofen , uh , the first week,

18:56

the second week I did the vital , the VI connect

18:58

, uh , vital con

19:01

Oh, MYTA VI kinetics

19:03

, vitamin

19:04

Vis . I kept wanting to say vital. Yeah ,

19:06

Well they are vital. Yeah , they

19:08

Are . They're

19:10

They're vital. And um, you

19:12

know, lots of liquids , um , trying

19:14

to eat lots of really healthy foods. Um,

19:18

and just avoiding anything that would cause

19:20

me a setback. I no alcohol,

19:23

no, anything that I felt that was gonna possibly

19:26

to deter me from getting back to my life. I've

19:28

really tried to avoid that.

19:31

Yeah . I would. I'll tell you what. I would have a hard time.

19:33

If someone sat me on my butt and said, don't move, don't

19:35

do anything. I like to come . I'm a comfort eater.

19:39

So that would be , um , I tend to manage it

19:41

pretty well, as long as I stay active and you

19:43

know, I avoid buying those things and

19:45

having those in my house, but that would probably be my first,

19:48

my first go-to I'd have to really work towards,

19:50

but you really have , um, a lot

19:52

of good connections with than this community

19:55

that we're sending you lots of love. And I'm

19:57

sure you weren't, people

20:00

were really keeping check on

20:02

you to make sure you were taking care of yourself

20:04

from what I was observing. Yes.

20:06

Making sure you're not doing too much. Um,

20:09

yeah , so that was pretty amazing, cuz that's a

20:11

really hard task for someone who really is

20:14

in the Connie

20:16

can speak to this too. Somebody who's

20:18

really thrives on serving others.

20:21

It's really hard to be told to sit still.

20:24

It is . And it's really hard to take help,

20:27

you know , um , that too , one of my

20:29

trainers, Lisa put together a meal train

20:31

for me. And I remember when she first said that I was like,

20:33

I don't need a meal train , like say that someone

20:35

who needs it and you

20:36

Said that to me, I offered to bring you some

20:38

food and you were like, I know how to meal prep.

20:42

Yeah. I'm like, I don't need it. It's fine. But

20:44

you know what? She's like, no, just let us do

20:46

it. And I tell you, it was just

20:48

a huge help because I wasn't allowed

20:50

to cook. I wasn't allowed to empty the dishwasher.

20:53

I wasn't allowed to do any of those things. And

20:55

she sure , you know , I'm used to food prepping

20:57

, uh , for the week and I could have easily

20:59

done that, but it was so nice. And

21:02

just so kind of people to come

21:04

and drop off something and some people

21:06

would come in and say hello for a few minutes. Some

21:08

people would just leave it on the doorstep. But

21:10

just to know that people wanted to help and

21:13

were willing to, you know, do

21:16

something for me. Um, that

21:18

first was hard to, to take that, but it

21:21

certainly was , um , a wonderful

21:23

thing to have, you know,

21:25

Was it a struggle for you? It seems

21:27

like the shoe was on the other foot. Right?

21:30

You have these evoke warriors that

21:32

you're mentoring and you are really

21:34

helping them find that connection and that

21:37

rebirth, so to say of from after

21:39

their illness and then it was like the

21:41

shoe was on the other foot, you know, this was a

21:43

traumatic experience for you. Like

21:45

you're , like you said, you know, you've been so healthy and taking

21:47

care of yourself. Was that,

21:51

how did that play out for you? That kind

21:53

of on the other foot?

21:54

Yeah. You know, I'm

21:56

used to, yes. I mean, I'm used to like

21:59

being the helper and being the one

22:01

who gives to people and

22:04

um , and I love that. I love to give to

22:06

someone and I , whether, you know, it's a

22:09

kick workout or whether it's make me

22:11

a meal for someone and I was just listening to them. That's,

22:13

I've always been that person. And I, I love

22:15

that. I love that role that I play. Um

22:18

, so it was really hard to

22:20

be on the other shoe. And because

22:23

I've worked with so many cancer , uh,

22:25

survivors and knowing what they've

22:27

gone through, I

22:30

had guilt feeling that

22:32

I needed help or a feeling that I

22:35

was the invalid or the one that was,

22:37

it was my turn to take it easy and be taken

22:39

care of. That was hard. And

22:42

I would feel like a , oh, you know, I mean, mine,

22:44

wasn't that big of a deal. I really shouldn't complain.

22:46

Or I really shouldn't be, you know, nervous

22:48

about my surgery when they had to have mastectomy

22:51

or they'd had to have all these things

22:53

that they've gone through in chemo. Like this

22:56

is nothing. And actually it

22:58

was one of the warriors that said, this is

23:00

your journey and this is your battle.

23:03

And it doesn't make it any different from someone who

23:05

has stage four cancer to someone who has stage one,

23:08

it's still traumatic. It still changes their life.

23:10

And you start to wrap your head around that. So

23:12

she said, don't, you dare compare your journey

23:15

to ours. And I've always told people

23:17

that. And I'm like, why is that so

23:19

hard for me? Like, I need to listen to

23:21

what they're saying, because that is true.

23:23

Like we all have

23:25

our own journeys and our own battles. It's

23:28

not right for us to say that mine is

23:30

harder than yours or yours is tougher than

23:32

the next per . So it's been

23:35

a little, you know, to sit

23:37

back and let other people take care of you and

23:40

check up on you. I I'm so

23:42

grateful and feel so much love and

23:44

support. Um , but you do need

23:46

to take that in too.

23:48

My , um, we interviewed a very dear

23:50

friend , uh , Leah Quinta

23:52

and she's a single mother of four now.

23:54

And we often talked about as

23:56

she was going through her divorce, you

24:01

know , everyone's pain is

24:03

their pain. You can't compare pain,

24:05

pain is, is pain. And, and I'm

24:08

mostly speaking towards psychological, emotional

24:10

pain, but you know, even physical pain is physical

24:13

pain. I mean, one's

24:15

a little bit different about what that

24:17

story is, but it's

24:19

still, it's still a challenge. And

24:22

we recently , um, my husband had

24:24

to have surgery and he's an orthopedic surgeon and

24:26

he's in the , he, he

24:29

is in the similar

24:31

to you. He's very much a giver in trying to

24:33

help people. And so it was a real challenge for him

24:35

to have to be. I

24:38

mean, I , I actually think it was really positive

24:40

for him in the end. First of all, I

24:42

was really worried about him psychologically, what

24:44

was gonna happen when he had to stay home and not

24:47

do anything. Yeah. Um, but

24:50

we ended up working through that, you know, him

24:52

accepting help from others and

24:55

me helping take care of him during that time,

24:57

but as a healthcare provider and , and

24:59

particularly for you, this gives you

25:01

an entirely new perspective and maybe empathy

25:04

towards the people , um,

25:07

you're working with. And I know for Chris,

25:09

it really has, you know,

25:12

how people manage what

25:14

they're going through in recovering. I mean, it , it

25:16

can be the right thing to

25:18

do for whatever your health condition is

25:20

and still be difficult and challenging.

25:23

And just having that connection of empathy

25:25

and understanding of what someone's going through.

25:27

I think for him as a, as a healthcare provider

25:29

, um , is invaluable. Um,

25:33

and something you just don't get, unless you've

25:35

kind of gone through your own process, whatever

25:38

it is. Um, well,

25:40

we've just, I love what you're doing for

25:42

our community. And I'm so honored

25:44

that you were willing to share your story. Um,

25:48

and we mentioned the evoke warriors dot

25:50

, um , website

25:52

, if anyone else, at least locally is interested

25:55

in that program, but where else can people

25:57

get ahold of you?

25:59

Um , they can email [email protected]

26:03

and I am happy to answer any questions about

26:05

the warrior program or if they wanna

26:08

start their own fitness journey. Um,

26:10

even they have some questions about what has

26:12

worked for me with, you know, healing from

26:14

the hysterectomy. Um, just

26:16

reach out, I'm happy to help and answer any

26:19

questions that they may have.

26:21

I just wanna say , uh , MENA , thank you so

26:24

much for your honesty in , in

26:26

the way that you approach the , the job that

26:28

you do. I don't think of it as a job for

26:30

you. I feel as the , it's just this

26:33

passion that you have. And that's

26:35

, uh , one thing I think the three of

26:37

us share is that we see

26:39

the value of fitness and taking care

26:41

of ourselves. And when we find those

26:43

bumps in the road or things are kind of out

26:46

of order , uh , we, you

26:48

know, that is what radically resilient health

26:50

is. It is that you're gonna have these bumps in

26:52

the road. How do you handle those things? And,

26:55

you know, I , I can tell you in my experience,

26:57

when we lost our daughter to suicide,

27:00

we didn't go to the gym for that first week.

27:02

And I remember it was more just trying,

27:05

we were in a very dark place, but

27:09

asking our trainer who was

27:11

also a dear friend of ours, you know, we

27:13

wanna come back, but we're , we felt nervous.

27:15

And I can't tell you how

27:17

powerful it was to just get on the bike,

27:21

just get on the bike. We got on the bike

27:23

and we looked at each other and we were just like, this

27:25

is what we needed, like we just needed. And

27:28

it was great to be back with that community. We

27:30

understood that it , you know, they were gracious to

27:32

us, but it was just that fitness

27:35

for me is also a , an outlet for

27:38

stress in my life. And when my

27:40

most stressful moment was happening, it

27:42

was taken out. And then I realized

27:45

how important it was to put it back

27:47

in there, even though it was like, at

27:49

that point, I couldn't even put one foot foot

27:51

in front of the other, but I

27:54

knew that this is what we needed. And

27:56

that night after we left the gym, my husband and I

27:58

said, we gotta go every day . We're just gonna go

28:00

every day for a while , cuz this is it's

28:02

helping us. And I see

28:05

what you do with the evoke warrior is

28:07

that, you know, every day can be a

28:10

challenge when you're coming off of cancer

28:13

or struggling with it. Now every

28:15

day is a challenge. And when you have something that

28:18

just takes away, that's

28:20

what it did for us. It took away that

28:23

real deep darkness that we were in at

28:25

that moment. And it was perfect.

28:28

I have to share , um, this

28:30

past , um, or two weekends

28:32

ago, I participated in a pain

28:35

symposium where , um, uh,

28:37

some expert speakers talking relating

28:39

to pain and I gave a talk on macrophages

28:42

and nutritional components for healing

28:44

and that acute inflammatory pain state.

28:48

And there was a speaker who spoke

28:51

about fitness. I mean, obviously

28:53

this was physical therapists and , and

28:55

people who were professionals in this

28:58

industry, but she was speaking

29:00

to some of the most recent research

29:02

related to pain and

29:06

in fitness. And I

29:08

think when you are going through

29:10

these struggles, anything

29:13

is better than nothing. And

29:15

you know, you and Blaine, didn't go to the gym and

29:17

do your like total normal workout. During

29:19

those phases of times you, you really

29:22

were just functioning and

29:24

same with MENA . I mean, I know you said you sat

29:27

, sat down and you were playing cards game, but

29:29

we, you know, you were up walking and as soon as

29:31

you could walk with your dogs , you were doing like something

29:34

you were doing, whatever it was that

29:36

was going to be able to be safe

29:39

in that moment. It , um, a lot

29:41

of times people ask me, well, what's the best thing. What's

29:44

the best exercise you can do. And, and

29:46

, and the research is showing, honestly, it's whatever

29:49

you will do that brings you

29:52

joy or what absolutely . It , it doesn't

29:54

have to be tennis. It doesn't have to be CrossFit.

29:57

It doesn't have to be Pilates yoga. It

29:59

can be any, and all of those things or

30:01

whatever, it could be walking the dogs if

30:04

that's what it is. Yeah . You know , and

30:06

that alone has so much value.

30:09

Even everyone's looking for the perfect, the

30:13

, we were talking about the spin

30:15

bikes at home, you know, that wasn't

30:17

gonna be, what's gonna work for me because

30:20

I needed something more than sitting at

30:22

home in front of a computer screen. But

30:24

for some people, if that's what's gonna

30:26

work for you, do it, please do

30:29

it.

30:30

Yeah. On day three, I

30:32

went for a five minute walk and

30:36

it became like every day, like

30:39

that was the best part of my

30:41

day was getting to go for my five

30:43

minute. And then my six minute in it . And my seven minute

30:45

, that was the best part. You know, it was

30:47

just like going to the end of the street and

30:49

back and, you know, and , um

30:52

, I looked forward to that cause I felt

30:54

like I was doing something good

30:56

for myself. And it's

30:59

like, you're saying just one little step

31:01

and just find the one thing that brings you joy.

31:04

And if it's a walk around the block, if

31:06

it's walking your dog, if it's getting

31:08

on a spin bike , if it , whatever it

31:10

is that brings you that joy and

31:12

takes you out of that sadness

31:16

or that , that moment that is causing

31:18

you stress and pain, that's what you need

31:20

to do . And whether it's five minutes or

31:22

half an hour, like just, just

31:24

do it.

31:26

I really loved that piece of research cuz I was like,

31:28

this is what the best exercise is . The one

31:30

that you will do my colleague. And I always say

31:32

that whatever you will do, I mean, yeah,

31:34

weight lifting is important and, and it

31:37

certainly has some added bonuses. Sure.

31:39

But like, if that's really not your gig going

31:41

to a gym and lifting weights, then that's

31:43

also, okay, you do something else. If

31:46

it's tennis, you know, my mom, we

31:49

interviewed my mom, my mom's is tennis. And

31:51

she was riding a bike through

31:53

the whole interview, you

31:55

know? So she she's got her things too. But you

31:58

remember,

31:58

You talk about never sitting still that's

32:00

Carolyn's mom. She was riding a bike,

32:03

like a little spinner under her chair while

32:05

we were interviewing while

32:06

We were in a ,

32:07

Oh my goodness.

32:09

I'm like , she's

32:09

Not, she has some

32:12

time time too .

32:15

You know, I want , I wanna kind of wrap with this by

32:17

saying, you know, both of you are

32:19

really unique because I know Carolyn's

32:22

a little more of an introvert as men

32:24

and I are more outgoing. And,

32:27

but I think we've all found how

32:31

fitness plays a role in

32:33

our lives. We all have found that

32:36

a stress reliever for us is, is

32:39

fitness it's and I,

32:41

I just adore men that you share with people.

32:43

Like I didn't even start working out till I was in my thirties.

32:46

There's no excuse there's is no.

32:49

Yeah . If you're 60 and have never done

32:51

anything and you're tired of not being able to

32:53

get off the couch, try

32:56

that walk around, like you said, is

32:58

it , if it's just you walking with a friend to

33:01

, to talk with around the block, finding

33:04

those moments that you, that

33:08

bit a physical fitness, I think is

33:10

far more beneficial than any

33:14

mental health drug or

33:16

Oh, absolutely.

33:18

Drinking a bottle of liquor or a bottle

33:20

of wine. It's it's, there's

33:22

just something about that. It's a mind

33:25

body connection that is

33:27

, uh , so imperative I

33:30

feel, and I know that, you know, even

33:32

with my do and my younger daughter, it's always like,

33:34

you know, we've always gotta be moving. We

33:37

have to be in motion. It's it's good for

33:39

our mental health. Absolutely. And as we

33:41

move forward in this world that

33:43

we live in, we're realizing that it

33:45

all starts at the brain. It

33:47

really does. And you have to

33:50

engage. That's what fitness does.

33:53

I think for people is it , it awakens the

33:55

brain. It gives you that those endorphins.

33:57

And we know that we know that it stimulates

33:59

the things that our body is craving.

34:02

Absolutely. Um, so I'm just

34:04

, uh , I'm excited that you were able to

34:06

join us today to , to share your journey and

34:08

your commitment to helping those through

34:10

their journey as well. And

34:13

again, it's a Testament to what radically

34:15

resilient health is. You don't have to run a

34:17

marathon today, but you can walk around the block.

34:20

Absolutely. Absolutely.

34:22

Well, thank you for having me . You guys , it's

34:25

been so wonderful and I hope that, you

34:27

know, we just can continue to touch people and

34:29

, and , and just make a small difference in people's lives.

34:31

I think that that is really for

34:34

me anyway. I think that that's what life is about.

34:36

Thank you so much for sharing your story.

34:39

Thank you.

34:40

And I'll see you Monday.

34:41

I will . That

34:44

is of my sleeve

34:47

Mead . Alki is the owner and founder

34:49

of evoke fitness. And again, if you wanna find

34:51

out more information about the evoke warriors,

34:53

visit [email protected].

34:56

You've been listening to radically resilient

34:58

health with Dr. Carolyn Dolan. I'm your host,

35:00

Connie. Ray . Thank you so much for joining

35:02

us. We'll talk with you soon.