Welcome to The Autoimmune Wellness Podcast Season 1! We’ve created this podcast as a free resource to accompany our upcoming book, The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook: A DIY Guide to Living Well with Chronic Illness.
Episode #11: Step 5: In-Depth with Jason Handler, L.Ac is an episode about managing stress with a board-certified Acupuncturist and Chinese Medicinal Herbalist. Jason discusses his approach to managing stress with a very unique approach of seeing it as simply the raw material for a journey towards reaching our greatest potential. Jason chats with us about his philosophy of “cultivating a daily practice,” approaching wellness as an investigation, and how mindset affects biology. We also get into a surprising discussion about where Jason starts when teaching his patients to manage stress, as well as his tips for managing the stress of chronic illness itself. This is a deep episode with a deep guy!
If you want to go deeper, take a look at the “What Can You Do to Manage Your Stress” section in Chapter 5. This section touches on many of the approaches raised by Jason during our discussion, specifically the steps of “practice” and “reframe.”
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Show Notes:
0:00 Intro
1:59 Introducing Jason
Jason’s Bio
Jason’s website
2:54 Jason’s experience with chronic illness
Collapse of his health first year after college
Eventually met a healer, who became his teacher, and told him, “Patients transform into students. Students transform into teachers,” which lead to his career.
6:40 The unique perspective illness at a young age imparts
Jason sees it as humbling and an opportunity to understand your relationship to suffering.
8:26 Jason explains his philosophy of “cultivating a daily practice”
Qigong
Importance of repetition
12:10 Jason discusses keeping things simple and focusing on just starting
12:42 Jason’s definition of self-care and why it’s important
He approaches it as an investigation
14:16 Approaching wellness without a sense of desperation
15:30 How our mindsets affect our biology
16:53 Jason talks about the Nanjing (a classical Chinese medical text) and it’s steps toward treating illness
Intention
Cultivation
Technique
Diagnosis
17:40 Jason’s unique approach to teaching beginner’s to manage stress
Define the stress
“Mindcare” (Jason’s term for focusing on the ideal frame of mind and physical feelings)
Awareness of breath
20:38 Importance of placing parameters on our mind
Talking back to our thoughts with “yes” or “no”
Thought training
24:02 Mickey shares the tips Jason gave to her at her sickest point
Concentrate on lymph flow
Qigong standing meditation
24:48 Jason shares his transformative experience with “stance training”
Stillness in the body helps create stillness in the mind.
26:47 Tips for managing the stress of chronic illness itself
Seek support from inspiring people
Eat nutrient-dense foods
Focus on gratitude
Frame the experience as an opportunity for growth
30:00 Angie shares how the depths of illness turned out to be one of the most incredible periods of personal growth she’s experienced
31:00 Jason discusses commitment to small steps
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