Ask The Expert: Pain Relief & Stress Management for Entrepreneurs with Ani Papazyan

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Hello hello everybody family Michelle Abraham your host here stay and have I got an amazing ask the expert interview for you say I have Ani Papazyan a pain resolution specialist with almost three decades of experience. She's dedicated to empowering individuals to take control of their health and live pain free. And what any night we're talking about would be most valuable for our entrepreneurs who are listening today is how we really get bogged down with stress and how stress can also be a good thing could also be a bad thing, and how stress plays a really big role in entrepreneurship. So any handless want to toss it over to us and say hi, first, how are you doing today?

Hey, Michelle, I am fantastic. Thanks for having me. Here.

So welcome. Well, let me tell you a little bit more about me guys. She's got a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and certifications in medical massage therapy, functional nutrition and events translational nutrigenomics, which is super fascinating. And he founded last stop for pain she focused on pain resolution, self help techniques, education and personalized lifestyle inspired by specialist training and advanced pain relief techniques. And he developed the precision pain method resolution method. Her goal is to help people live pain free lives and achieve their health goals regardless of the challenges they face. And his extensive experience and commitment aircraft has established her as a sought after expert in pain relief. So anyway, I want to start off with the pain relief pirate first because I know it's not we were going to dive into the the stress part. But I think the pain, the pain part really is fascinating to me because I knew so many people living in pain, like so many as I'm do as I'm sure you do, too. What's the deal was paid and like why so many people are just, you know, succumb to the fact that it's normal to live in pain, which I think is crazy.

That's the, you know, that's what got me into this industry. frustration that so many people, you know, the doctor says, Oh, you're in your 40s 50s 60s. That's normal for your age. Or people if their pain is, let's say a 10 that bring it down to two, three delicata can live with this. It's like no,

Why are they not aiming for zero?

Because it requires work. Sometimes, you know, sometimes it requires work. And as in our main your podcast is mostly addressing entrepreneurs, business owners. We are busy people. Yeah, like my first zoom session today was at 6:20am i Oh my gosh, you're my last one today. So I reached out to young kids, my computer. But it's you know, people are busy. So a lot of times they're looking for fast solutions. And they're thinking, Okay, what I can do with less involvement. That's why a lot of times they go for just give me a pill, it's easier. Instead of how should I change my lifestyle, my dietary choices, my exercise by those habits may be medication and shoot for zero pain. And that's one of the reasons a lot of times. First of all, I see patients only when you're in pain, if you don't have I don't take you as a client. But my goal is yes, your goal to see me is for me to get you out of pain, right? My goal is not that my goal is what is your pain preventing you from doing. If you're you know your goal is I don't know I'm going to Europe and I want to be able to walk 510 miles a day without any pain and enjoy it. Or this morning I spoke with a gentleman. He's gonna climb Kilimanjaro. Elka I want to do that or I want to be able to pick up my grandchild without holding my back, you know, or throw a ball to my kid, right? So when you have that call, your motivation will never go away until you reach that goal instead of your pain is 10 I bring it down to two and then I will never see you again. Right. In and out.

Yeah A different kind of different kind of goal. So do you have a personal story that led you into like the pain into the pain field that's like the that was like really pivotal for you.

My personal story is my frustration. You know, I was the college I finish was my Bachelor's is in kinesiology but I also was no professional athlete, I played volleyball or Armenia national team back home. So I know what it takes to be in pain, like I've had twisted my ankles, both of them several times, you know, but you have to walk work through the pain and the training, especially if we were getting ready for Soviet Union championships, that would take us to our resort, that would were stay there and train like three, four times a day. Oh, no pain. So we decided to get into medical massage and specialize in pain relief. He was like pure passion to helping people and also a frustration. Why people, like you said succumb is that the proper words to live with pain, and that he sets me off, like literally pisses me off when I'm on like, agrees to live with pain, right?

I remember like, I've had family members that had pain, and then they would take the painkillers. And the painkillers would call us an ulcer. And then also, we're constantly like, it was just this like, spiral. It's like, oh my gosh, like the pain fixed pain.

Yeah, it turns into a visceral vicious cycle. And also, like, sometimes when I go to networking events, and sometimes I would ask question, and most of the time between 30 to 50% of people. If they speak up, they're in chronic pain. Wow.

That's not acceptable, is it? Yeah. Do you find that entrepreneurship there? Especially like we're, I would, I would imagine, like, because we're sitting in a desk, usually in a computer, usually not ergonomically correct. People over time will develop those like hunched shoulders, which could cause pain or lower back issues from sitting in the chair all the time. Do you find that entrepreneurs that you work with also a lot of pain, just from the way the lifestyle was sitting? I went from becoming a fitness professional, to a entrepreneur sitting in a chair all the time, which was

Constantly constantly and you know, sometimes they say, oh, that's just my body. I'm like that it's normal. That's normal for me. I'm thinking, you know, that's so sad that that's your new norm. That's normal for you. So yeah, regularly. Oh, my

Gosh. So let's talk about stress for a minute. Stress is something that I see is becoming a major problem, major, major problem, and it's all something that's new, but I think our lifestyles and our businesses really contributed to that. So how else can we manage our stress these days?

Well, one of the first things is how do we see stress? Do we see it as a positive thing or as a negative thing? It's all about first of all, it's all about reframe, right? If I see stress as it's a part of a growth, it's part of me becoming better. It's part of me. I'm sure you've heard of Jim Rohn. One of the things by love with Jim Rohn talks about it goes down wish for things to be easy wish for you to have the skills to deal with those stressful situations. And that's the thing, it's like, oh my god, this is so difficult. It's like now you know what? I got to get better. So whatever was difficult. It's like, you know, riding a bicycle with to like a tricycle and then taking those extra wheels away is the same thing.

Yeah, same sort of thing. You shouldn't we can go down around. Exactly.

So it's, first of all, it's how do we view stress? And then the second thing is yes. How do we approach it? Because with stress, yes, a lot of times you know it, our heart rate goes faster, people are breathing changes. And then we start getting this tightness on our neck because our neck locks up. You've seen sometimes it's like a cartoons when animal stress their eyes pop out of the socket, right? That's what happens, our vision becomes like our eyes, just focus on the subject, whatever. And everything's tight, hands out. So in my practice, when I'm working with NGOs, sometimes I have very high profile a businessman or I'm in Los Angeles, so I get fortunate enough to meet a lot of industry people like movies and music industry, people work with them that they're extremely busy people. And one of the things is I see no, I like to teach them self help techniques. So when they feel that stress calming down, they can use it to calm their body down so they don't get to a place where everything locks up. You know, like, let's say the neck locks up. And I'm sure you have spoken with a lot of Lego practitioners or people in meditation industry in the yoga industry. In mindfulness. It's all about you know, the breathing. Taking in a, you take inhalation, but and then when you exhale, your exhalation is longer than your inhalation that comes down your nervous system. That that's one of like, the simplest thing to do. For me as a pain pain specialist is, okay, how can I take away your neck locking up of the muscles tightening up here is, as soon as you feel in, you're in a stressful situation, I feel the stress coming up right away, turn your head to the side of your dominant hand. So let's say you're right handed person, you turn your head to your right. Okay. Just take a couple of breaths. What that does, that blocks that Hotstar have Naik locking up.

Oh, interesting. Yeah.

So you just turn your head and take a couple of deep breaths. I have a client when I told her that techniques, she said every time because also whenever you need stress, you clench your jaw, you grind your teeth, right? So my thing is, the added bonus of the technique is once you turn your head, and

So when you are in your head, you can clench your teeth, as

I said, Well, no, actually, as you turn your head, they put your thumb behind your jawbone. repeal that softer part there. Yeah. And I suppose that gently you push tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. You'll feel under your fingers, it becomes hard like rubbery, right? When you do that, so when you turn your head, you press your tongue to the roof of your mouth. And wait there for about 30 seconds. Not only your jaw one tie down. Your neck one tight and also. Oh, that's good. Yeah. And one of my clients since I told her this technique, she says she had jock doesn't get tight anymore. As soon as she feels that she does that technique, and it's done.

Yeah, very five years ago, my job. I had my first baby. I was like, my jaw got so locks. It's like I couldn't open it very far for like a week. So it was so weird.

You know, it's funny. I have several of them because I do a lot of TMJ intra auto release, when I put my bomb going inside the mouth of release, release the tongue, all the muscle muscles connected to it. So I have some dentists who will refer me patients. This dentist referred me this one patient. After they did some work on her. Her jaw laptop. She couldn't. So he sent her to me. And her whole goal was I want to be able to open my mouth and bite into one hamburger. So after I worked on her Sham, two sessions, per text, you text me operation hamburger was a success. Yeah.

Hey, yeah, I know the frustration of that. I mean, I can't even open up wide enough to get a sandwich in there. Yep. Oh my gosh, that's so cool. Very, very cool. So do you have any other tips for us as entrepreneurs to prevent that stress coming on?

Well, yes. So one of the biggest things I'm sure entrepreneurs hear again, vagus nerve, you know, stimulate your vagus nerve, which is relaxes your heart, or you know, heart beating relaxes your digestive system, because your it starts it's one of your 10 cranial nerve and starts in your brain and goes all the way down. innervates, you know, passes your heart and innervates into your gut, in your diaphragm in your gut. That's why when you're a lot of stress, your digestion gets all messed up. Some people overeat and some psycho I can't eat, I'm too stressed. Right? So there are so many different techniques to stimulate the vagus nerve, because it's a very calming, relaxing. So there's a few really simple techniques just by out loud singing, evaluate your vagus nerve. And really, that's fascinating. I mean, when you have that stimulates your vagus nerve. Sometimes when I'm working at an office with a client, I don't even tell them what I'm doing. Because when laying on my table, I go palpate their body to see where it's tight. Sometimes they go or no, I'm ticklish or they have this withdrawal reflex. I go to palpate around The diaphragm like, and I'm like, Oh, awesome. And I do this technique. And sometimes I'm like, I'm not even going to touch it, I'm gonna walk you through a technique, you're gonna do it. And I'm gonna try to palpate again, and you'll see. So the technique what it is, it not only relaxes your sympathetic your fight or flight, but it also relaxes your diaphragm. So really simple technique, you can do it standing up, sitting down, laying down, you know, all you do is you turn your head, we're gonna start with the right side. Okay, turn your head to right, reaches down towards the floor. And you're gonna do about four or five deep belly coughing like. Right? Okay. And then you turn your head the opposite direction. So let's say you turn to the left, your right arm reaches down towards the floor, and you go calf calf calf. That's it. So when I do that, and then I'll go back and palpate you should sit face to look, are you? Are you touching the same spot? Or are you pressing putting the same pressure? Because not only they're not ticklish anymore, but they're not withdrawing anymore?

Oh my goodness, that's so fascinating. It's

So it's and it works every single time. Oh, that's so cool, though. Yeah, that's another easy simple technique to do.

And does that stimulate the vagus nerve to you or no, that's just another technique. Yeah. And then, is it the the tapping of the vagus nerve, that's the one that activates it really? Well

You can do that too. You can do that. vagus nerve, the most superficial spot or your vagus nerve. It's almost like behind your ear. Yeah, it's that's the most superficial area, but just the act of just swallowing. Yeah. Like collecting some saliva in your mouth swallowing that act would stimulate your vagus nerve. Oh, interesting. Yeah, I have a 10s unit hom 10s unit where I connect to my ears and like eight hertz, that stimulates the vagus nerve. Interesting.

I was just noticing even just after doing it a couple of times there and the other exercise you did had a bit of like afternoon brain fog, and it feels like God.

Yeah, it's just neat. Yeah, it works. Amazing.

So now I'm gonna hijack the conversation for a personal question. And so what 12 years ago, 15 years ago, I was standing on a on an ice skating rink at a ski resort and somebody jumped on me like they're gonna pretend to jump on me and I turned like this in he jumped on me and landed in the snow and a bulge two discs in my lower back. And so I've done a lot of work to try to like, you know, correct it, but when I find when I'm sitting in a chair for a long time, that lower those lower discs still bugged me a lot. Is there anything that you would suggest that I do as something that can kind of release the pain there?

So couple of things? Yeah. First of all, I have you had an MRI down is there any disc herniation this compression, bulging disc or reverse vaulting, how many millimeter

There was a couple of ball two discs and then sign.

So it could be from the trauma could be that muscles over there are tight because of the protection and your quadratus lumborum is the one of the muscles that I see tied in almost most most people. Yeah, I see it. So a couple of things you can do is if you have an exercise ball at home, the big exercise ball, then you can lay face down and roll that word gently because you'll feel that gentle gear action. That would be really good. Then is again depending there is a foam roller not a regular foam rollers because I'm not a big fan of regular foam roller because it compresses your spine. I know people like oh I like it because it cracks my spine. I don't like it there is a special form roller where it has indentation. So your spine goes inside that that indentation. So when you're laying on it, both sides of your spine all your muscles are actors of spiny. Then the foam roller get those into those connected nation you get it when you roll. Oh it feels amazing. Just ink on it and jam that is like the best self massage you can do

Because of that. I've only ever seen the ones that are like the one dimension. You know,

I'll I think I can email you the link to it. It's amazing. Yeah, there are some.

That's great. Yeah, I remember Remember that exercise at the exercise ball in the fitness, in when we're at work in the fitness industry, we see like, raise the alternating legs and arms up with while you're over the ball like that it was so such a good stretch. But also such a good

Literally balances your opposite muscles. It's great for your core, because strengthening your core, you know, a lot of times people like, well, I'm going to strengthen my core and they do crunches. That, again, I'm not a huge favor of that because it puts so much pressure on your lower back and your neck if you're not doing it properly. Right.

So those quick crunches at the gym aren't necessarily the best.

I say if you want to work on your core muscles, and slang is when the PST side plugs, you know elbow planks and balancing balls like I'm also when Dad Yes, I this down flight side is up. You know, I stand on it with one leg and I do sidekicks. Oh, yeah, that's great. Yeah. You know, working does that strength is your poor? Yeah,

Absolutely. And you know, there's so many better exercises than in crunches. And there's not funny though. All right. I love that. Well, thank you. That was a really helpful. Oh, my gosh, so many great, so many great techniques, and so many great things. What is your hope in the world, Annie, that you can help people overcome their pain? And what's your big goal? What's your big? What's your big, hairy goal?

I know I love I love this question. Because I have so much passion to like teach people or educate them, give them resources, enough information for them to get excited about I need to do something about my pain, that living with pain is not an option. If I can bring that across to people and teach you few self help techniques or show you what are some of the stuff available out there. Because most of the time people try. What's one of my favorites. People say, Oh, I've tried everything. And I'm looking at a client. I'm like, You've never seen me. So you've never tried what I will try a couple of things. And I understand sometimes it's frustrating, because by the time some clients end up in my office, they've already been to doctors, they've gotten some injections, they've been to different practitioners. And they're still in pain. And it's frustrating because they're thinking, Oh, I was referred to I was referred to her. She's just gonna be one of the others. And I'm not saying I can help everyone, because that's just a stupid thing to say, I can't help everyone. But at least I can say, okay, you know what? I'm not the right person for you. But this person that I can refer you to or try someone else that does this, they think that would be best fit for you.

How much of the pain stuff do you think is mindset?

Some of it? Some of it is definitely mindset and saying that, sometimes not often. But sometimes I do come across people that they don't want to get better, because that's a crutch for them at, oh, I don't have to go to work or I don't have to have the response holidays. So when you feel that you just kind of you know, it's not my place. I'm not a therapist, I can do you know that stuff? But yeah, unfortunately, that happens.

I would imagine the way you work with people, though, because you're giving them tools, they can start to see the hope they can see that it's possible to get out of pain. I'm sure that alone helps a lot with the mindset.

It's a huge motivator. You know, it's like, sometimes when I see clients that just the other day again, this dentist sent me a client and she literally cried on my table. And, you know, in my Of course, I'm not gonna show up, but in my head, I'm thinking, What did I do? No, he was like, Oh my God, I've been in pain sheet assumption regarding gait, she started getting all this pain. And then she's planning a wedding, but she's in constant pain, so she's not doing that process. So, and I followed up with her two days later, she's like, My pain is almost 100% gone. And I've seen her like once. Like, imagine how long she thought she was gonna leave with that pain. Yeah. Wow. That's so yeah, I mean, that's why I was like, sometimes they get more excited than they do. Yeah,

exactly. Well, that's awesome. So any where can we find out more information about working with you and getting in touch with you?

So the best place would be my website. It's last stop for pain, which is in Corona. were tears for his numeric code, per the last stop for pain. That calm I have some free resources that people can download. But they can also if they have any questions, they can book a complimentary 30 minute session with me some session with me to answer their questions. And if there's any way I can help them in any way, I'd be awesome.

Awesome. Well, I appreciate you being on today. Thanks for ice even answering my personal questions as well as the ones that relate to our entrepreneurs out there. That's awesome. Thank you so much any take care and guests make sure you check out Amy's website last stop 4 wishes the number for pain.com And that's where you can find out more information about any and how to work with her. And until next time guys, go out there and have a fabulous week and play family. I'll see you again next week.

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