EP:55 Jen Esquer (@DocJenFit) - Using Instagram To Help Others Be Mentally and Physically Fit

SPEAKER_00 0:31

What is happening? Party people hate. My name is Sebastian Rusk. I'm your host as always. Welcome to the show. My guest this week, Doc Jen Fit, aka. Dr. Jen Esker is a top 40 physical therapy influencer. She's got a doctorate in physical therapy. She's ranked as one of the best fitness trainers on Instagram by Shape Magazine and has been featured in Stealth Magazine, Men's Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, as well as a select interview guest on CBS and on the Rise podcast with mogul CEO Rachel Hollis. I met Jen not too long ago via Instagram regarding a very transparent, very raw, real post about going through a breakup due to infidelity. I thought this individual gets it when it comes to actually being real in an unreal world. I gotta track her down, sit down, have a conversation with her, and get to better understand what's going on with Doc Jen Fit. So, friends, if you could please help me welcome to the show. Doc Jen Fit, what's happening?

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

That name just like it just, it just it just jives. It's like it does, right? Who are you, lady? I am Doc Jen Fit.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

A lot of people just end up calling me that on a regular.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

I almost like when you when you call me, I almost answered that. I'm like, is this is this really Doc Jen Fit? Great name on the uh great great uh great job on the name uh name choice here. So so uh so great to finally connect with you. Um I've been following you for um for quite some time now. Um 10 years ago, if you said you were following me, I would call the police, but now it's pretty normal to just follow people all over the place. Exactly. And um I I remembered following your content, but not as in in intent uh in um not intentively. Is that the word I'm looking for? Yeah. As I did when um I guess earlier this year, when you'd posted um a very, very raw, um authentic and just real post about where you're at and how um you know a breakout impacted you and really where you're at from that. I can only imagine um that that spoke um volumes to the people that follow you because I unless you don't have a pulse, you've probably been through a breakup umce or twice or or you're on your way. You'll have one one day there. So um I guess we can kick things off um right now with I I want to know what I don't want, I don't want to say what inspired the post. That's probably the obvious, but when the word started to, you know, started to wrap your head around this and said, you know what, I'm gonna talk about this in a public space because I'm sure that it can impact and help other people. Where where did that kind of originate from? Because it's not easy when life shows up to go, you know what, let's just bust out Instagram and uh and and tell everybody about it.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Yeah, definitely not easy. Um, you know, it was just something that I was, as I was going through the process of the breakup and everything, everyone was reaching out to me and saying, like, oh yeah, it happens, like, oh yeah, me too. Like it just, it's it's almost like a regular thing. Um, about like infidelity and unfaithfulness and stuff. And I was like, well, why? Why is that such like a rampant big thing that it's just like, oh, that's everyone experiences it. Because I don't think that has to be, especially in our day and age where you can have any kind of relationship that you really want to nowadays. You can design it however you want and you won't be judged for it. So why don't we bring in more truth and authenticity in something rather than just going behind someone's back and adding betrayal? Because I think what comes with that and what the other person might not even realize is that yeah, you made a mistake and think like people mess up, obviously. But you you mess with someone's psyche when there is that level of betrayal and lies and manipulation. And so for me, it was like I want to bring this to the surface and have this not be a conversation that I'm I'm gonna say, just especially a woman gets shamed about for bringing up and and have it be a voice of how can I look more deep into me? How can I look and not take this and make it like, oh, I wasn't good enough, I wasn't pretty enough, I wasn't this enough. But what was it in me that wasn't even seeing the signs that we weren't aligned? What was it in me that wasn't listening and trusting my own intuition? So that's where I wanted to really take it and say, it is okay to come out and talk about your own personal story. We all have our own stories, and it's those things that actually shape us and make us into who we are. It's life lessons. And granted, that was the greatest life lesson I've ever learned because it truly brought me back into me. But it really was just me wanting to rip the band-aid open on this conversation and say, it is okay to share your story, it is okay to process, to grieve, to and to experience and to come back into you.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Well, yeah, I mean I think you could envision there's a fine line between um you know being a victim and then actually being an advocate.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Um I just made that, I just made that up, but that's that's exactly what I was trying to do. That was exactly my point on there. And there's a lot of victimy. I I love to say that all the time. I my daughter's 18, and she'll say something like that. Oh, I just don't like that. That's kind of victimy. Um so yeah, and that's that that's that's fantastic that you did that. And I I um I I commend you for your for your courage. Not everybody can do that. Um, I know that um you and I talked a little bit before we got at the start of the show here, but I went to a breakup about three years ago, and I I have never experienced more pain in my entire life ever. Like I was in bed for a month, like me, Mr. 5 a.m. Roll call, don't sleep till seven ever, like in bed for a month, yeah, uh, with a level of pain that cripples you. It literally cripples you. And the people that really gave uh uh you know cared about me. Um of course I was in the middle of a personal development program, so you've got your team and the whole nine, but uh you know, even the people that are in my in my in my tribe and in my circle and in my family, um, you know, just said you you just gotta be with it. And I thought, oh, that's warming. And I'm like, What yeah, you gotta lean into it because the only way out is through. And I'm like, that's not what I'm looking to hear. And every day, and I my sister's my roommate, she helps me with my daughter and whatnot, and we're really tight. She came home one day and or it was one morning or something, and I've just nonstop, like all I would do was I never forget, I ate double, I was I was so healthy too. I ate double cheeseburgers once a day, like for McDonald's, one double cheeseburger. That was my only like happy time. And I chain smoked cigarettes like a just like a banshee. It was just uh it was just terrible and destructive. And then I would go back to bed, right? But when I was up in between cigarettes and cheeseburgers, my sister was here and I would I was I was looking for, you know, a lot of people look for pity parties. I was definitely looking for one. And I said, uh my sister said, We're not having this conversation anymore. And I'm like, first, I I go back and I'm like, okay, cool. So yeah, you're my sister, I can talk to you, I can just listen to me. I love you. And and and there and and there's nothing that you can ever do for for me to stop loving you because you're my brother and we're tight. But this conversation doesn't serve either of us. And until this conversation changes, you and I are not gonna have a conversation about this topic. I love you, I've got to leave for work. And she walked out the door. And I'm every ex, you know, every single bleep of a bleep you could possibly think of after she's gone thinking, my gosh, betrayal. My talk about victim mode, right? I look back and I go, I'm so glad that she never she would say, gave that conversation legs because um it was a tough time. I I I I got to a place where I would, I I Googled how to mend a broken heart.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

And I came in crazy, let the wheels.

SPEAKER_03 8:30

No, I mean, this is a real thing, and I think people don't admit that enough.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

No, I've like literally, I don't I've never even spoken about this public. I've never even told the story publicly uh to this day. Maybe, maybe I should. Um, but I um uh I specifically remember the uh article popping up, the first search result on how to heal a broken heart or how to mend a broken heart or whatever variation you want. And it was from the elephant journal. And uh and it was a letter to the brokenhearted. And that is when a lot of personal development happens after the class is over, after the course is over. It's that implementation time, it takes as long as it's gonna take. But that is when I that's when it clicked about the self-love, because a lot of the the the summary of the post was that it was if I and if I can find it, listeners, it'll be in the show notes because it's an outstanding post. But it was, you know, you you are enough, and you have everything you need within you for love, and you're and you you are you're you're worthy of love, you deserve it. Um, and another friend said the reason your pain is so intense is because your love tank is unlimited. There's no cap. It's deep and it's wide. I'm like, well, that's refreshing. So there's a lot of things we don't, and the last thing I wanted to do, and people say, Well, you meet somebody else, it'll be, you know, it'll be all, you know, uh I said, you know what? I I not that I'm uh, you know, bitter and and I don't want to, I don't want to find someone. I just want to figure me out first.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

Yeah, you can't think about that when you're going through everything. That's why I for me as well. It's like I I couldn't necessarily be around the people who were like, Oh, you're fine, you're better off, it's great, it's good, move on, move forward. And it's like, okay, I will. I'll get there. I'm just not there yet. And so if you can't hold space for what I'm going through, like I'd I love you and I'm in a distance myself right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yeah, that's a healthy oh, that's that's that's really I've had to do that with family members um through personal development is is is loving people from a distance. Not a lot of people talk about that either, because it's always so final, right? We just everybody wants to cut people off. And that sometimes that's appropriate too, right? But um, yeah, loving people from a distance. Wow. So through um so let's let's let's back up a little bit and talk about how you became DocGen Fit. So your uh your degree is in physical therapy. You are you are uh you've got your doctorate in physical physical therapy, is that correct?

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Yep, doctorate physical therapy, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

So grew up in growth grew up in gymnastics and had never gone to physical therapy, but was obsessed with human anatomy and how it all works and can rehab, etc. Um, walk us through how how you decided, you know what, this is the direction that I'm going.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Yeah, I mean, similar to what you said, I after gymnastics, I coached gymnastics and I loved that, but it still wasn't like the thing that was filling me up. And I liked taping an ankle more. And then it was like, but why am I taping an ankle? And what is this really doing? And really questioning a lot of things, even you know, teaching Pilates. I started teaching Pilates after I coached, and that as well. I would get a lot of people in that had different injuries, and I could work around injuries fine, and I can modify so we could still get the workout done. But for me, it was still like, okay, but what can I what can I do more for this person? Like, why are they injured and where is that coming from? And what like, you know, it was always this continual search of why. I loved anatomy, I loved biology, I loved all these sciences. So for me, once I got into undergrad and I was studying kinesiology, which is the study of human movement, it was really from there that I started working at a as a physical therapy aide, and I just decided like I love watching a physical therapist work. I love how they feel movement, how they watch movement. I love seeing what their brain is going through as they're helping someone along their journey. And that's definitely where I want to be. I don't want to be on the surgery side. I don't want to be on the nursing side. I want to be the person that's helping someone come back to who they are.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Love it. That's it, it reminds me of I my I had a guest on a couple episodes ago, uh, Kelly Tennant. You know who Kelly is? She uh she was the one I was telling you about that used to be on uh uh Fox affiliate and covered the the LA sports in town and just one day was like, I hate this job. It's not fulfilling. I you have to talk to miserable people that are miserable that just lost a game. I don't want to do this. And she became very, very sick uh and they couldn't diagnose what it was. They gave her everything under the boob. She's like, this isn't it. And she eventually set out on the on a journey to to heal herself. Yeah, Ayurveda and all, and then her she created an entire brand around that she's completely healed and restored now and has a whole entire brand about helping other people. So I I uh when I hear you say that you know you you you want to help people, you know, heal and to be their best of potential, it's kind of comparable. There like I'm on this whole like healing kick here. We've we've only got a lifetime to figure this whole thing out, right?

SPEAKER_03 13:14

And that's the that's the thing. It's about going along the journey because it's always ever changing. And especially even after getting out of PT school and learning how, oh, actually healing a person and helping them through their journey, like that's not about me. I can facilitate the journey, but nothing I do hands-on literally is going to help you. It is everything that you do for yourself, and it's not just about the physical body, but it's everything within your environment. And I mean, even same for what you were just talking about with Callie, for her leaving her job, that came into a healing process because if you're in a toxic environment, that's going to breed all of these other things that are underlying in our system. So that can bring up autoimmune diseases, that can bring up pain, that can bring up all these other things within our body. Our body talks to us. And so, unless we're lit willing to look at our external environment and how that's acting on it as well, we're never going to get down to the underlying cause.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

I love it. So, yeah, it's like we live in a world where it's, you know, it's so masked, right? Just take a pill, you'll be fine. Yep. Yep. Um, it was for it was funny. For years, um, I started doing chiropractic care back when my daughter was like two because uh and and I started bringing her because she was having ear infections and they wanted to put tubes in her ear and the whole night. I was like, time out. And I brought her to um my chiropractor, uh, who's a total badass. She's she's skydove, her shoot didn't open, she landed in a retention bond, broke almost every bone in her body, and lived to tell about it, became a chiropractor. Um, I'll never forget her. I couldn't tell you her name right now because it's been so long. But um anyway, she adjusted my daughter and the ear infections went away. So I was hooked on chiropractic care for forever and a day. Well, I'd also have lower back pain constantly. Like I don't know if it was my mattress, I didn't work out. And I always think, well, it's time to go to the chiropractor again. Lower back's out of whack. And yeah, sometimes that's what's called. Now I've realized after working out uh consistently for the past two years um at Equinox that stretching is actually, and following you on Instagram, of course, stretching is actually um what loosens everything up. And as my trainer would say, okay, cool, wouldn't anything hurt right now? I'm like, yeah, my groin's kind of sore, etc. Okay, cool. Let's as she was saying, let's mobilize it. And I'm like, you can mobilize it. Next thing I know, I'm doing all these weird movements with a with a foam roller on here and some stretches. And next thing you know, we're actually able to do leg day because I'm thinking there ain't no way I'm doing leg day today that my leg hurts. Um, but you're right, the body, the body heals itself. So it's I always thought it was chiropractic here. And chiropractic, I'm I'm sure you agree is is important, but it's not the end all. Like stretching for 15 or 20 minutes a day is a total game changer.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Yeah, I mean, it all depends, and everyone's symptoms can come from different places. So, I mean, even the foods that we put in our body increase our inflammation. So it could be that, it could be what we're saying to ourselves increases our our own sympathetic response, which then increases our cortisol levels, which then places more sensitivity on our nerves, which then initiates more pain. So it's it's a whole environmental aspect. And that's why I can't be in the typical physical therapy clinic because they don't give you enough time to actually see what's happening with a patient. Like to truly dive in, you need time. And I need to hear your story, and I need to hear what you're doing in life in order to truly get back into okay, how can we help? How can I truly help you walk this journey?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

That's awesome. I love it. You're doing right, I mean you're you're doing work that matters, Jen. That's that's that's the that's the amazing part about it. And you're being fulfilled at the same time. So that's a win-win. So when did this whole social media thingy um start to become relevant in your life where you actually said, you know what? I think I need to give this a solid focus because this is where we're headed and it's an opportunity for me to build my brand.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Yeah, it was never about that. Um, it was actually in physical therapy school, I would do workouts and things outside. Um, and I would do a lot of stuff on like the bars or just outside, like, you know, when you're running through a park and a lot of body weight stuff. And I would tag like the calisthenic pages and stuff because I looked up to them and I admired everything that they posted. And one day one of the calisthenic pages reached out, and he had like, I mean, this is like four years ago, so or maybe a little bit more by this time, and he had over 300,000 followers. So back then that was like a huge deal. And I was like, oh my God, look at this guy reaching out to me. And he was like, you know, we all work out in Venice, like you should come down and and train with us. And so I did. And once I started like getting into that and really coming down to Venice, he started posting me as part of the community, and naturally I started getting followers to my page. So I was like, oh, okay. So I guess I just do handstands and that kind of stuff now. And so I just kind of and then he asked me to compete. And so I started just showing my journey of like what were my workouts that I was training for, and how was I training and what new skills was I learning? And I noticed that the more that I kind of shared that information, the more people came to my page and actually were inspired by what I was posting. So I just continued in that, and it became like this fun little side hobby from grad school, because I was in grad school this whole time.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Um, and so once I graduated, I kind of put Instagram on a back burner. I had over a hundred thousand followers, but I was just like, oh, okay, that was a fun hobby. Now I'm a PT. I want to be the best PT I can be. So this is where my focus is now. And then a friend, um, actually Vinnie Vinnie Rehab, he's big in the rehab world as well on Instagram. And he, you know, I he was a good friend, went up to Toronto to visit him. And he was the one who actually kind of reframed my mindset around what Instagram was doing for me. And so he said, you know, a lot of people follow you that do fitness or yoga or all these other things. Like, why don't you just start like speaking into different poses and how you can actually help the body either increase that pose or get out of a pain, like if it's a will pose, like how do you get out of low back pain and all these kinds of things. So he actually convinced me to kind of start following his model of using an anatomy photo with a video and start talking to my audience. I was like, ugh, this is like a fitness audience. I really don't know how that's gonna go, but let's give it a shot. So I did, and I had a lot of hang-ups about, you know, who am I to put this stuff out there? I'm a new grad, I don't know enough. I have a lot of people that I look up to on this platform as far as chiropractors and physical therapists, like so there was a lot of insecurity and worthiness conversation just about that. And then, but the moment that I posted an educational video, it did way better than my fitness videos. And I was like, what? People actually care about this stuff. Like, I thought it was so basic. I thought no one would care. And so it was that that was like, okay, let me try this again, let me try this again. And the more, and I got even I got an influx of followers, like truly grew huge just from posting educational stuff. And it made me so happy because it was, oh my gosh, people care more about learning about their own bodies than what I can do in my body, and that is truly inspiring to me. So it was actually something that just empowered me to want to post for other people and learn for myself so that I can share it with other people because people were learning and coming to my page to get educated. And so that is what kept me consistent. That's what kept me motivated to continue. It had zero to do with thinking I was ever going to build a business out of it.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

I love that. Imagine if everyone did that.

SPEAKER_03 21:11

I wish that everyone would. It wouldn't be about like status and money and power. It was more about like your passion and what you actually feeled, like fueled inside to share with other people.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

And people can feel people's authenticity through whether it's through pictures or video or your content that's on there. Um, I was listening to a podcast episode yesterday about a blogger that launched her brand, and I couldn't listen to the whole thing because it was like, but I was just totally thinking that oh my God, I can like talk about what I'm interested in. And I'm like, I can't do this anymore. So I turned it off. But um, you're like the polar opposite of what I experienced yesterday on there, which is, you know, like my buddy Scott Eddie says he's a travel blogger. He's got the best job in the world. He travels around the world uh constantly in his home like 10 days a year and gets paid for it. But he says, I try as hard as I can, Sebastian, to be as real as I can in an Unreal world. It's true. And I think it's there's a lot of that needed. And I think that as time progresses, as everything else gets ironed out, there will be an e you know, a little bit the the playing field will be evened a little bit more with the whole influencer, I guess, space as far as who is, you know, in a fit to authentically talk and represent a a brand or a product, etc., or or your own business or product. So it'll be interesting to see uh to see how it all unfolds. So I see that you're you you've got a private practice um now in in Los Angeles, and is that where people come and you work with them, or do you go see them, or how what's your current you know day look like with your with your clients and what you're doing offline?

SPEAKER_03 22:41

Well, um I've actually been seeing less and less clients. So I do treat kind of one day a week, but I really have been pushing clients off to other um physical therapists that I trust in the area. And the reason is because I'm just so focused on really trying to get people back into their own bodies for my programs because it's been able to help so many people. And I think continuing to spread that message, even if it's a baseline message, like I'm not saying don't go see your Cairo or your PT. I still think that's important to get assessed. But if you can do the work on your own and help prevent a lot of these things and a lot of these injuries, and just start to learn your body, that's the most important key. So my focus right now is really how can I get people into taking control into their own hands and refocusing and rethinking the way of that we've been taught to think about pain and injury and all these things. Like pain is not a bad thing, it's actually a beautiful thing. We need pain. If that if we don't have pain, we don't know where to like what to address. If we don't have pain, we don't know if it's coming from a referred organ. We don't know if we have something deeper happening within our body. We need that alarm system to tell us, hey, something's not working right. And that's all it means. It doesn't mean that's the cause, it doesn't mean that's the that's the injury, it just means it's speaking to you because low backs, especially, they light up a lot. And we have a lot of actually a lot of nerve endings in that in that place. So it's common, obviously, we know, to feel low back pain there, but that's obviously where your nerves are going to be more sensitive. So is that because of stress? Is that because of what you're putting in your body? Is that because of all these other things? We need to take a look at the environment because it's not just your back. Your back is just your signal to your body or whatever pain is happening in your body is your signal to say, okay, where else is that coming from? I mean, even for me last year, I got shingles. That was my signal to say, okay, wake up. Something is not right here.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Wow. So you've you've created so you're working mainly with you with clients um remotely or as you're as part of your brand, or kind of walk us through what it looks like for as far as what you're currently focused on. Is that through um call online coaching and and in in courses, or what does that look like?

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Yeah, so I have my two courses right now. So I have the mobility method, which is a whole self-assessment. So it's the ability for someone to come in and learn where all their mobility restrictions are, because we will be surprised mostly to find out how like your big toe isn't even working very well, or your shoulder actually is lacking more mobility than you thought, or your upper back, or whatever it may be. Like, so it takes you through this whole self-assessment. Then, based on that self-assessment, then it says, okay, here are the exercises that would be great for this mobility restriction. Pick one. Like you don't have to go through this whole exercise, but pick one. Tried to do that in the morning. Okay, where's another restriction? Pick one exercise that would be great for that. And and my goal is to have people design their own programs. Because unless you know why it's important for your own body, you're not going to implement it into your life. I know I wouldn't. If I don't know why this is important, I'm not implementing it into my life. And the reality is mobility is the underlying foundation that we need besides breath. Like breath is our, we come out of the womb, our first breath is everything. And from there, you look at a baby and their bellies are moving, their rib cage is moving, and it's natural. Then we age, we get older, we get into stress and jobs and life and kids and all these other things. All of a sudden, your chest is dominating, your rib cage below is barely moving, and we're not even breathing right from our foundation. Then stack on top of that. Now we've gone from sitting on floors as kids and learning on the floor to sitting in desks, sitting in chairs, sitting at work, sitting in your car, sitting at home. Like then we've completely shut off, you know, this ability to move into our full joints. And unless you're taking a workout class that makes you get on the floor, you're probably not. So we're losing our foundation. We're losing our breath foundation, we're losing our mobility foundation, and then we're told and expected to go into a hard workout class and not get injured and be just fine. You know, it's it's a joke. So, unless you understand why your foundation is so important and how this is literally going to propel you into a longer life, like literally, one of a study that kind of went popular is like assessing getting down on the floor and getting back up as a risk factor for how long you're gonna live. So if you can't sit on the floor and get back up without using your hands and your knees, it's gonna take off some life from you.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 27:57

Um, and that's a basic thing. But I even have friends in 20 in their 20s who can't get off the floor because their hips are so immobile. So it's really starting to get back to this foundation matters. And it literally is a thing that keeps us living longer in order to be able to work out hard, in order to be able to lift, in order to be able to just go through life. So that's why this mobility program is something that I bring into people's lives. And and I my goal is to get you creating your own program because everybody is unique. I would never have created a 12 steps to mobility because I don't believe in that.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Right.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

Um, you have to do the work and you know that your body is unique and beautiful enough to assess and to find out.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

I love it. For those of you uh wondering, my goodness, this sounds awesome. I want to create my own plan. I want you can totally do that. And uh, if you're one of those weirdos that just tuned into the middle of the podcast, we're chatting, we're chatting with my friend DocGen Fit. Uh she does have a real name, uh, but we call her DocGen Fit. Um, or Jen for short. Uh, you can go to DocGenFit.com and uh find out all about the mobile mobility program and um everything else she's got going on, docgenfit.com. Don't worry about writing that down, especially if you're driving, because all this information will be in the show notes. So I was as I was checking out the mobility program, I see a testimonial, pretty, pretty, pretty, uh, pretty uh um what's it called, testimonial from uh Brendan Bruchard that you uh relieved his hip pain. How did that happen?

SPEAKER_03 29:34

Um I mean, again, something that I didn't even realize. He was talking about it at a mastermind class, and he was just saying, oh yeah, like I I you know used one of her videos and I and I implemented it before I went on stage every time. And all of a sudden I'm not having pain as I'm walking back and forth on stages and afterwards, and I was like, what?

SPEAKER_00 29:56

I had no idea. You were so you were an attendee at at the mastermind and he and he brought up one of your videos.

SPEAKER_03 30:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

That's always fun.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

Yeah, it was really, and then it it was just very grateful and incredible, and and he very, very mindful of his body, and he's taking ice baths between every um like every night before he goes back on stage, and he's doing mobility work, and he's got his balls and his foam rollers and his trainer, and like he is set up. Tony Robbins backstage right there, yeah, and what he needs physically in order to perform to perform. And I think that's so incredible, and people don't take the care or the attention to that. You know, it's easier to just sit on the couch and not do anything, it's easier to complain about the pain than to and to take a pill, hoping it's gonna go away, take a shot, hoping it's gonna go away. And and granted, like I'm not gonna lie, it could go away for a little bit, it's gonna come back. And so, unless we start to take action into our own bodies, like what are we doing with our body? There's one of the greatest lessons I had through PT school was working with individuals who don't have this as capable of a body as we do. Who I mean, there was a young man who had cerebral palsy and lived in a wheelchair, and I bring up the story over and over again because it's just so important to be able to remind people. You know, watching him get down from his wheelchair and get back up, and knowing that he lives completely on his own, and he has contractures in his body, and it looks painful and it's hard, and it takes him a long time, but he does it. And the moment it got he got too big to lift himself back into his wheelchair, he started swimming so that he can lose weight and still continue to live on his own. Like that is fully living into your body, that is fully living into your capabilities of what your body is able to achieve. And yet most of us are not doing that even a little bit. And so really coming back to the gratitude of what I have within my body. I have the ability to do so much. Why am I why am I not using it? Why am I not moving into it? Why am I letting myself waste away?

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Yeah. I think about that all the time. I every time I've I'm tempted to even take a pill or whatever, I'm like, there's a better way.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Always. There's a better I've been doing a lot of breath work lately.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

Oh, that's key. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Yeah. So for this is uh um a fi Effiji breath work. Did I say that right? Is was the name of it. I don't know. We hyperventilate for 45 minutes, people. Um so yeah, no, so I I funny story. Um I know it wouldn't seem like it, but I have a huge problem talking to women in public. I clam my hands clam up, I'm a nervous wreck. If we're talking about a podcast, I'll talk to you, no problem. Um but uh if it's if it has anything to do with anything like on a romantic side of things, I I like clam up and I'm like, I can't talk to people. So I've been like throwing myself into um into you know these spaces where I'm stretched and I'm uncomfortable. So real easy though, like the grocery store, right? I talk about the kind of like avocado green avocados or the other avocados, right? Simple stuff, or I'll make a recommendation about something that's on a shelf just to get myself out there, and I'll probably never see the girl again. No problem. So I've been doing that at the gym, too. Not that the gym's the best place to do that, but equinox is a little bit different of a space. You've got a really cool like vibe of people that go there. And there was this one girl that always smiled at me all the time, and I'm like, well, you know, if I'm gonna talk to a stranger, like you start start with the ones that smile at you because it's not very common that you get females to smile at the gym because they're there to do one thing, not to smile at you, work out, right? Well, she always smiled at me. So one day I went up to her and I and I introduced myself and she's like, My name's Gina, and I'm like, Oh, I'm Sebastian, and we just had a quick conversation, and I started following her on Instagram, and I started to see that she was doing these breath work classes. And um, I would just high by and then I would ask her about her class, and she's like, Yeah, things are going great. I just, you know, I sell medical robotic equipment to hospitals as my big girl job, and then on the side I do breath work because I'm really passionate about it. And I'm like, awesome, I'm gonna have to check this out. But I never really gave it a thought. It was always a high-bye thing. Well, one Saturday morning I see her walking her dog not too far from the gym. Um, and apparently I live around the corner from her. So um I'm driving around this like roundabout circle, and then I'm thinking, and there's a park in the middle of it, and I'm like, how many times can I circle this park with before you just park the car and go say hello to the girl? So um ended up not being a romantic relationship by any means at all. But I was I discovered the world of breath work. So I finally got out and I talked to her. And the very first thing that we started talking about was was being conscious as a as a human being, as an entrepreneur, as a business, about every how we go about our lives, being really conscious, because I really set out to really, you know, up my conscious game uh in 2009. And you know, breath work's a big part of that, etc. Anyway, so we continue to talk about it. And she's like, hey, you know, um, have you are you familiar with um with what did she call it? She's um Riki. And I'm like, I I am, I am, but I'm a I'm a devout Christian and I love Jesus. I'm not religious, I just love Jesus and I think that he's the ultimate healer, and I don't want to like like discount anything he may do just just because I'm gonna say I'm gonna go to some local healer here. And she's like, I totally get it. I've actually thought about it for a few days. I don't want to do Riki on you. I'd like to just do a mini breath work session. And I'm like, okay, cool. Had no idea what to expect. She comes to my house on a Friday afternoon. She's like a goddess. She's just gorgeous. I mean, just inside and out, right? So she shows up. I really don't know her that well, but she's like, okay, you're gonna need a mat to lay down. I'm gonna need room to like get around you, like wear something comfortable, um, you know, have some water, etc. And I'm like, all right, this is like two o'clock on a Friday afternoon. So anyway, she comes in and she just walks me through the park. Like, this is exactly what to expect. This is how you're gonna breathe. And I'm like looking at her like she's got 10 heads when she gets done explaining this. I'm like, for real? She's like, Yeah, she's like, listen, it was the same thing, kind of like I relate it back to yoga instructors because I struggle with that too. And they say, you know, hey, we're already here, so let's do the work. And uh, so she cranks up all these crazy jungle beats that were like like it just like it went with the whole process. And uh I began my breath work journey that afternoon in my living room and um then moved then graduated into going to the classes because I was like, wait a minute, people people do this in public, like with other people. And she's like, Oh yeah, it's way better. The energy moves and tons of more like you know, healing and bad energy gets out and the whole night. I'm like, all right, let's go. So anyway, I've since got my sister hooked on it, my daughter hooked on it. Now my 72-year-old mother's like, I want to go to a class. So anyway, that's my breath work story. I got on a little bit of a tangent there, but something that calms my crazy ass down. I'm like, if this is good for me, it's good for everybody.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

I mean, it it really can tap you into places that you didn't even realize. And even people who do things like psychedelics have said, like, oh my gosh, this breath work and these kind of techniques have taken me places similar to what you know some of the psychedelics have done.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

You have it all within you. You don't have to do the psychedelics. I mean, not that I'm against it or anything, but you utilize what you have with you first, right? And come back to that more often.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Right, right, right. Yeah, I've learned a lot a lot of that through self- personal development. I almost missed the firewalk at Tony Robbins' um Unleash the Power Within one time. And um, I had a coach tell me, You're nuts. If you miss this, um, I've done it 14 times. If you miss this, you're gonna regret it for the rest of your life. Go back there and finish what you started. And I did it, and I came back and I called her at three in the morning, and she's like, Well, I'm in, I'm an hour, I'm an hour difference. I'm in Florida, so it's 4 a.m. here. I feel like it's like first thing in the morning because I'm so amped for you. But I want you to remember that next time your back's up against the wall and you have that bullshit excuse of I don't feel like it, uh, that you have everything that you need within you to actually get to the other side. And it was so true. That fireworks powerful, powerful stuff. Um, so so what's next? What are you what are you working on um for for for the remainder of 2019 and for and for 2020? I see you seeing you've been doing some some some speaking engagements as well, too, which you're really good at, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

Thank you. Um, yeah, I love speaking, I love sharing, I love getting people back into the why and breaking down some myths that we've been taught about our bodies. Um, but really also it's also expanding um my membership site. So if you don't want to self-assess and do the work and really create your own program, I have created something that allows you to kind of tap into all areas of what you would think is quote-unquote PTs. So um functional HIT workouts, so getting you moving, modifications for everything, progressions for everything. Um, there's also uh core stability workouts in there, like what is the core? How do you activate pelvic floor and breath with your core? Because it's not just about the six-pact. Um, and then getting people into movement. So there's mobility flows for every part of the body in there, and it continues to build every month that you're in it. So I really am passionate about that one. I'm also adding in little mindset tools to that one, because if we're not connecting our mind to our body, our breath to our body, we're not doing ourselves like justice. So really encompassing all of that. I'm so excited. Um, there's awesome people in it, and it's just continuing to grow. So I'm really excited about that, coming out with an app on that pretty shortly as well. Um, and really just getting people back into their own bodies. That's always my goal. Like connect you back into you. I always say in conversation, you know, we always listen to someone else and say you're worth listening to. Now I want you to start saying that to your own body too, because you're worth listening to. Like not only physical pain, but intuition as well, that gut feeling, that that reaction. What is what is it talking to you, even about the people that you're around, even about the relationship you're in? Don't be afraid to speak your mind, to share your truth, and to know that you're worth trusting, you're worth listening to, and your body is worth listening to physically as well. What do you need to move into? What are you neglecting, putting into your body?

SPEAKER_00 39:54

I love it. I turned down a big deal a couple weeks ago just because my gut was like, uh-uh. And I told my sister about it. And she goes, you know, that gut feeling is God's whispering.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

It's so true, and it's it's everything, it's huge. It's why I got shingles last year because I wasn't listening to myself.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Life has a funny way of slowing us down, doesn't it? To get us to listen. Well, well, Jen, you um again, I I can't uh I can't commend you more on on the work that you're doing. You're you're literally doing stuff that matters, stuff that uh that is uh that is changing people's lives, and again getting them back into them. And it's so, so important in a world of unconsciousness. I if you look around, even go to the grocery store, you can just see that it's almost like a sea of zombies that we live in. And and you being able to do the work that we're doing, that you're doing right now is is shifting that and it is changing that because I think everybody has a desire to to have a clearer mind and to be into better shape and to feel better and to get rid of that ache and pain, etc. And it's you know, everything you're doing right here helps them do just that. So thank thanks for what you're bringing to the table for the world.

SPEAKER_03 40:56

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you having me on and letting me share.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

I was gonna I it's it's it's it's that's what that's what uh storytelling and podcasts are all about, really you know, helping people um find out about, you know, maybe somebody that's listening didn't know about you, but they know about you now, and that's really the goal, or somebody that's already a fan. I know my friend Stephanie's a huge fan of yours, and uh she just text me. Um, are you still doing the interview? I want to hear all about it. I can't wait to hear you. So uh and my train and my trainer too. So I got some I got some diehard fans over here in Miami for you as well. Well, uh, it's been an absolute pleasure. I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to uh to hang out with me and to share your story and to continue to be vulnerable. Um don't don't stop what you're doing because it's clearly making a difference.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 41:36

You have to come back sometime uh uh sometime again and and keep us updated on what's going on in the wonderful world of DocGen Fit.

SPEAKER_03 41:43

I would love to.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

That'd be great. All right, listeners, all the information you need to connect with uh Jen is on or in the show notes, rather, DocGenFit.com, DocGenFit on Instagram, and uh just a great human being to connect with, super smart, her content's awesome, and she does these crazy like circus sole exercises with this dude that's like, whoa, I was a cheerleader in high school. Like that's the most mobile that I got. Well, Jed, hey, listen, have a uh rock and rest of your week. Thanks so much uh for being on the show, and uh, we look forward to have uh having you back on.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

Hey friends, Sebastian here again. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the Seb Rush Show on SocialBuds on Air. I sure do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to hang out with me. I sure do hope that you are leaving with exactly what you showed up for, which is more valuable information about how to get your podcast inside the iTunes Store. Listen, if you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you're gonna get updates when a new episode drops. If you feel so inclined, leave us a four or five star review uh and uh whatever you want, actually. We love you either way. See you next time.