Ep. 19: Zuzka Light – How to Adjust Your Mind and Identity to Be Pain-Free

00:00 – excerpt from the episode
01:27 – intro (listen to discover a little more about your host. Martin will tell you a new lesser-known fact about Dr. Maya)

02:06
Dr. Maya Novak:
Injuries bring all sorts of challenges. I remember a few days after the surgery of my broken and dislocated ankle, when I was already at home, I woke up at 4am and my body, unused to being still for such a long time, was growing really restless. So for those people who are used to be very active and that also use physical activities as an outlet for dealing with any mental or emotional challenges it can be really hard - because you’re really kind of forced to deal with unpleasant things by being still. I was very active before my rock-climbing accident and I’ve been a part of my today’s guest community since 2009, if I remember correctly, and in the same way as I’ve grown, changed, developed, blossomed, it’s been amazing to watch her transformation as well. So today I’m joined by Zuzka Light who is a movement and mobility specialist, RTT therapist, health & fitness coach, and so much more. She’s the author of the book 15 Minutes to Fit, and her ZGYM program has been helping countless of clients for many years now. She’s passionate about holistic health, fitness, and healthy lifestyle and I’m so glad that she’s here today. Zuzka, welcome!

03:36
Zuzka Light:
Hi, Maya. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure talking to you today.

03:42
Dr. Maya Novak:
I am so excited about this conversation because as I said, I've been around you for 14 years and even though we've known each other personally for a way shorter period of time, I have a feeling that we are almost like best friends in my eyes. So for those listeners who don't know you - even though I think that those who are in the fitness world it’s almost impossible not to know about you, and everything that you brought to this fitness world - can you share a bit about yourself and how and why did you get into fitness and wellness?

04:28
Zuzka Light:
Okay, well, that's a long story. I'm not going to try to shorten it or bore anyone with it. So, you know, I started with fitness about sixteen years ago in the Czech Republic, where I'm from. I was a fitness instructor there for a short period of time, and then I moved to Canada. I didn't have a job, and I didn't even have the money to join a gym. However, I knew a blogger who was doing pretty well with blogging, and that's when blogging, vlogging, and YouTube started paying creators for videos. So, I thought it was a great opportunity to start blogging and vlogging about fitness because that was my passion. I was stuck at home anyway, so I couldn't really go to the gym, and Canada is really cold in the winter. I was at home exercising, so I started sharing that on YouTube, and it became really popular. Back then, it was called Bodyrock.Tv, which was the first company I started, and the first YouTube thing. Then, life happened, things happened, and I lost the company. I had to start over and create my own YouTube channel and company. Since then, I've been in it, and I keep evolving and learning. I'm still loving it as much as I did the first day.

06:06
Dr. Maya Novak:
And you are very generously sharing everything that you learn. I mean, with all the content you are putting out and with the programs, there are so many golden nuggets inside of each program. That's really amazing. I remember Bodyrock.Tv very well because that's how I found you on YouTube. I remember back in 2009 when people were asking me what kind of workouts I was doing, and when I said I was doing HIIT at home, they were like, "What's that? What do you mean?" So, in 2009 and 2010, it was not well-known. But now, I don't think there’s any fitness coach or aerobic coach who doesn't know about HIIT training.

06:58
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, I have to say, not that I want to be tooting my own horn too much, but I do remember being the first person out there on YouTube doing this type of training with bodyweight and kettlebells, doing 15-minute high-intensity workouts. I took a little bit from CrossFit back then, which was just starting at the time, and I loved the idea. I was like, "Okay, well, how can I do that at home without all those heavy weights, flipping tires, and all that stuff?" So, I took a little bit from Charles Staley, who was doing EDT big then, and I loved his ideas and all that stuff. I knew that people were getting results from short, intense workouts, and I thought, "Who has time for these long workouts every day?" So, I focused on that, and it turned out to be quite successful. People loved it, and there are still so many people who love those short workouts.

08:09
Dr. Maya Novak:
Absolutely, because otherwise, you always have to think about, "Okay, I'm going to the gym, and then I'm gonna be there for 1 hour,” and it's going to the gym and going back and everything. I mean, it can take you about 2 hours, the whole thing, but at home, 15 minutes and a bit of warm-up, and you're done.

08:30
Zuzka Light:
I mean, that's good if you're bored and have nothing going on - you can go to the gym and be social. But if you run your own business, have a family, or kids, you just have things to do. You have life. Then you just don't have time for this kind of thing, you don't have time to go to the gym, drive, spend an hour there and then, you know, I don't know if you've noticed, but if you've ever been to a gym and went for a while, from what I remember, I remember seeing people who would go regularly, like those locals that would go regularly to the gym, but you wouldn't see any difference on them even after months, right? That's what happens with a lot of people because they just feel like, okay, I'm just going to the gym, but the results are just not there because it also depends on what you do in the gym. And there are certain limitations because people feel awkward pushing themselves in the gym. Of course, there are people who really do the job there, but I was someone who was like, “I don't really want to push myself because I don't want people to see me sweat in person like this.” You know, I don't mind it on camera, but in person, I feel awkward.

09:52
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, well, my first student job was actually as a receptionist at a gym. So I know exactly how it goes. January comes and a lot of people join the gym. Then in February and March, it goes down slightly and stays that way until May. But then May comes and people start thinking about swimsuits and everything, so the numbers go up again. I know exactly how it works, and you know how frustrated some people get when they go to the gym and don't see results.

10:32
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, yeah, and the other thing is if you're a woman and if you're a beautiful woman just like yourself, you probably have encountered people trying to approach you and bug you and you are working out and that's annoying. [laughs]

10:50
Dr. Maya Novak:
[laughs] Yeah, there’s that, and I also worked as a receptionist at a gym where there was a big bodybuilding scene, so there were all sorts of things happening. You know, there were also other substances involved and how they affect the mind and so on and so forth. So, yeah, we could definitely talk a lot about this kind of world. But how about we move forward and talk about how to stay motivated and determined when doing any kind of workouts or healing from physical injuries or trauma? Because it's such a long time, at the beginning you are very motivated and think "I can do it!" but then after a while, you lose that motivation and determination. So, how are you guiding your clients and helping your community in that regard? How can we stay motivated even if we are talking about a period of a few months, a year, two years, and so on?

12:05
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, that's always the most difficult part, right? The motivation that people lose, and it's about really finding what drives them. What drives people to stick with the program and stick with the diet. That's the most difficult part, and everyone is different in this regard because everyone has different values. Everyone has different goals. Sometimes you can tell people, "Okay, imagine yourself wearing skinny jeans and bikinis," but that's not everyone's core value. Not everyone cares about that stuff. So then you have to dig a little bit deeper and find what they truly care about. If you do, then you find out some people want to be really fit for their kids or engage in some sports activities that they've been avoiding because of their fitness level. So you really have to dig a little bit deeper with each person and see what really triggers them, what really makes them tick, and that's the hard part.

13:24
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, that's the hard part. So if someone is right now injured - a lot of our listeners are injured or they are medical professionals who are also looking for some tips for their clients and their patients - how to actually figure out what is that trigger that will keep you motivated so you don't lose that motivation, that determination that you can do it? How can we figure this out?

13:53
Zuzka Light:
Well for coaches I would say the best thing you can do is just to keep asking questions and really listening. But listening for the little words that you know might give you the hint what people are saying. And try not to project your own ideas onto people because for me, for example, I am keeping myself in shape because for me, it's very important that I stay active. I Love skiing. I Love horseback riding. I Love going on the lake and doing paddleboarding and I love hiking. For me, being active is so important. I imagine you're the same kind of person, so for people like us ,we have a very clear why we want to stay in shape, but a lot of people don't. They don't even know themselves, so they need help by coaches, and being asked a lot of questions. And the coaches need to help them to trigger their imagination of what would it be like. What could they actually do with a body that is strong and healthy and pain free and active. And then once you trigger that imagination, a lot of people were like, “Oh, I never thought I could actually imagine myself doing this or that, and feeling like I could enjoy that.”

15:20
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, so it might be also a very good thing if someone is just listening now but not thinking of having a coach, to perhaps do journaling and just be their own coach and ask questions. And then figure it out.

15:36
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, and I would say don't try to put any limits on yourself when you're doing it. It's just a mental exercise. A lot of people, they immediately stop themselves when they think about something a little bit out of their comfort zone but I would say don’t limit yourself. Just let your imagination run wild while you're doing this, while you're imagining yourself doing certain things, because putting these restrictions on yourself is not doing you any favors. You need to just kind of imagine yourself and use that. Spread your wings and then who knows what comes out of it and you don't have to be worried. It's just imagination, but it can reveal a lot of things about yourself that you had no idea about.

16:19
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, you really have to be curious about yourself. And get to know yourself in that regard. Now before we started recording I did ask you if you have any personal experience with injuries, and you said that you have. So what kind of experience do you have?

16:40
Zuzka Light:
So, I suffered from chronic lower back pain for about five years, and it got to the point where, about a year and a half ago (maybe two years ago, I don't remember exactly), I couldn't sleep at night because of the pain. Then, I developed neck pain on top of that, and I couldn't move my hair or look behind my shoulder. I didn't know what to do anymore, even though I had been doing so much for my mobility and posture. In fact, because of that pain, I became a postural therapist and mobility and movement specialist, and I took all these courses to help myself. I'm not saying it wasn't working at all; it was definitely giving me some relief, but it didn't completely take away the pain. Eventually, I got worse, and it was shocking because I was doing everything I could, using every single device at home that helps with lower back pain. Every commercial I saw on TV, anything on the internet, any little device, I bought it, thinking it would help me get rid of the pain, but nothing was helping.
Then, I started learning about hypnotherapy and RTT therapy. I was in the process of learning when I decided to go for an expensive decompression treatment and visit a chiropractor. The decompression helped a little bit, but it wasn't until I started doing the hypnotherapy on myself that I started feeling significant improvement. I thought, "I'm learning these tools. Why not try them on myself?" I'm not certified yet, but I've been learning these techniques, so I gave it a shot. It really helped, and it helped within a month. Since then, it has been getting better, and it's been incredible. I'm pain-free after all these years, after all that I've been through. All these hours every day, I've been spending on mobility, and as you know, doing all these postural therapy exercises, and suddenly, what I'm doing is calming my body and mind. And telling my mind what I want. Then I realized, "Oh my God, I've been hurting myself this whole time by complaining constantly about my pain." This is a big thing. A lot of people don't realize it, and I didn't realize it until I started learning RTT that your mind always listens, and your mind doesn't have a sense of humor. It doesn't understand the nuances in your tone either. Just like if you keep saying, if you keep telling other people and yourself, "Oh my God, I'm in pain, blah blah blah," your mind will be like, "Okay, you're in pain. This is what you want because this is what you're saying." And we've all heard this: You have to change from the inside out, right? But a lot of people don't actually practice that, and I haven't for a very long time until I realized this is what it means. It means that you have to become the person that you want to be first on the inside, and then it's going to manifest on the outside. And you know, it is very scientific. Actually, it's not just like some woo thing. It's very scientific. The mind does listen and the mind does react and creates chemical reactions based on your thoughts and imagination. I have prepared the hypnotherapy for you, your limbic center, so that we're gonna do that today so that you guys can get a taste of it and really see how that works. But you know, the point is that I had to stop telling people that I'm in pain, especially to my husband because he would hear it all the time, and he would ask me every day, "How is your back? Are you in pain, right?" And then I had to tell him, "Please don't ask me anymore about my back and about my pain,” because then I was in pain, but I didn't want to say it out loud.
I didn't want to be reinforcing it, you know, by talking about it. Like, “Please don't ask me anymore, I don't want to talk about it. You know, if I say I'm not in pain and you know I'm lying, then I feel bad.” So it's better to just say, "I'm good, I'm fine. Everything's good. Let's not talk about it anymore." And then through hypnotherapy, relaxation, and stuff like that, it slowly subsided and now I'm feeling pain-free. But every time I'm stressed out about something, I can feel the pain start to come back, and I'm like, "Oh, it's like my body is telling me to chill, calm down, right?" Like, do your meditation, don't stress, because otherwise, you're creating tension in the body and the tension stops blood circulation. And then your cells are not getting energy, your cells are not getting nutrients, and the thing is, the body cannot rejuvenate itself if it's under stress. So I listen to my body, and the moment I feel any kind of pain, I notice that I'm stressed, I go into relaxation, and I focus on that the most. Because without that, any other modalities that you do, whether it's mobility work, physical therapy, or other stuff, it's not going to work, or it's going to be a very slow process because what you're doing is fighting against it by creating stress in the body and your mind.

22:49
Dr. Maya Novak:
Thank you so much for sharing this story. Because I have a very similar experience. I had a broken and dislocated ankle in 2012 and then a few years later I developed hip bursitis, so I had really big inflammation in my hip, both hips and lower back. So I know exactly what you were saying when you couldn't sleep at night. Yes, it's exactly like chronic pain when it's really in the worst stages. It's like trying to get comfortable on a cactus sofa, and you're just like, "I'm gonna lay here," but actually, anything that you do is painful. And then you are in this cycle of not being able to sleep, of not being relaxed, and it's just horrible. I know exactly what you're talking about, and I'm also glad that you shared how you went from all these gadgets and tools and trying to do all the exercises, and in the end, you actually came to a solution because the body is really talking to us and giving these signs and guiding us into what we actually need. So, thank you. I mean, I'm very happy for you now that you're not in pain, but that you also realized how to get out of this.

24:18
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, I think now that I am actually looking back, it was an uncomfortable process, but I'm actually very grateful that I went through this experience, because first of all, it gives me the ability to feel empathy towards other people who are in chronic pain and trying everything they can to get rid of it, but also I'm able to hopefully give you the understanding or share with you and hopefully make you listen and understand that it does have to start from the inside. Because your body is just like this incredible genius tool. Your mind is such a genius tool, but we are misusing it. Nobody taught us how to use it correctly. How to use it for our advantage. And so people are not using it the way they should because when we feel pain, we're all looking from the outside help. Like what in this world outside of me can help me with this pain. And I'm not saying there are no amazing tools out there. There are, and I'm happy to use them. But the first thing I would ever suggest to anybody is to just look on the inside and look what you're doing on the inside and how you're creating stress with your thoughts. Mainly with your thoughts and your behavior, your habitual behavior patterns like complaining about it constantly and stuff.

25:52
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, so your pain actually came “out of nowhere”, right? You didn't have an injury such as I did - like a car accident or something. It was just like out of nowhere.

26:04
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, and the funny thing about pain, scientifically, the pain itself has nothing to do with the location of the pain. There are people like my father-in-law, his spine is completely off. His lower back on an X-ray looks just scary, like horrible. It's completely off, way worse than mine, and he gets no pain. There are people like that that have a completely crooked spine and have zero pain, and there are people who you cannot find anything on the X-ray and they are in excruciating pain. So explain that to me. It has everything to do with the nervous system first, and I'm not saying that pain cannot come from postural imbalances. It can, absolutely. But again, if you're fighting against it, if your nervous system is in that sympathetic mode and it's just trying to survive, if you're in that survival mode, if you're in chronic stress, it's going to be very, very difficult for you to get well and get rid of the pain.

27:16
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, and you know, it's so easy to look on the outside for solutions because this is also how we've been raised. I mean, our parents, medical system, society, whenever something was wrong with your body, you went to the doctor or someone else who would tell you what you need to take or what kind of exercises to do. So, it's very easy for us to slide down this slide, right? And it's just like, "Oh, I'm going to look for the solution outside," because it's also easier than if you have to look on the inside and figure out what you have to change. Because we don't want to change, because if we have to change, we have to change our identity. And this is a challenging thing.

28:04
Zuzka Light:
This is an identity thing. You have to actually change who you are, right? Because when you have chronic pain for a while you start to identify as someone who has this chronic pain. It starts showing up in your language when you're talking to other people. “Oh. It's just me. I just have pain all the time. It's just who I am.” You literally start to identify as someone who is almost crippled because you have lower back pain. That was me before. I was like, “Oh, I can't do that because I have this lower back pain.” I mean I did a lot. I was still exercising because I did strongly believe and I do still strongly believe that pain shouldn't stop you from exercising. Because if it does then you're not doing yourself a favor at all. It's only gonna get worse, right? So if I stop exercising it would get worse. So you still have to exercise and all that. But the thing is that some people when they identify with that situation, it's just a life circumstance. It's not you who you are. It's just your life circumstance. But if you identify with that you become that and that's the hard thing to overcome.

29:25
Dr. Maya Novak:
So how was that for you in regard to identity change and what you said you were learning through RTT and when you started doing other things? If it's not too personal. What was the thing that you needed to change in regards of identity?

29:44
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, so you know over the years I told you I was doing everything I could to fix my back, right? And I’d be like, “Okay, I have to do this posture therapy for an hour a day, and then I have to do all this extra mobility work. And I have to use this inversion table.” You know how you go upside down. And all these other gadgets. And then I started asking myself what would be my life, or what would my life look like,
what would my day look like if I was already that person that feels comfortable in their body. That is free of pain. How would my day be like? How much more time would I have for other things instead of laying here on the ground to do this posture therapy thing for an hour, you know. And how would I talk to other people. How would I talk about my body. So I just started imagining myself as that person and then I started implementing it as being that person throughout the day. You know one thing is to imagine it in your visualization or meditation. But then you have to also bring it into your everyday life. That's the whole purpose of it, right? So I was slowly starting to change and I would let go... and it was really hard for me actually to let go of those habits. It was like, “Really, if I'm not going to do my posture therapy today what's going to happen to me?” But I let go of it. I was like, “Well if I'm deciding to be a person that doesn't need that, I am really trusting my mind that my mind is going to do the job. And then let's see how it goes. I can always go back to it if I really need to.” So I started to ease up on that work. I would still do mobility work because I still feel like it's important. But only as a person that is doing it for prevention. As a person who feels good and just wants to really have really good mobility and that's it. And of course I got better from it and I don't have to do all of this extra work anymore on my back. All I have to do is to really just calm down. Maybe do my hypno therapy, do my meditation. I do my meditation every day. I can do visualization, and I have all types of visualizations that I use for that. But that's all I have to do. Just the classic mobility stuff that I do every day anyways for my workouts and just my overall well-being, but that's it.

32:20
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, but it's challenging to let go of something that was kind of working, even though it didn't work. “But who am I without this?” So, you know, for me and when I'm guiding my clients, I share a lot about identity. It's scary because, “Who am I without this painful neck? Who am I without this limp?” That's one part, and the other part is, “Well, you know what? Because I had this limp, it wasn't necessary for me to do X, Y, Z.” So now, if I don't have this limp anymore, or if I don't have that pain anymore, that's scary, right?

33:11
Zuzka Light:
And it sounds ridiculous, right? When you listen to it. It's like, “What do you mean, scary without it?” Everyone wants to be pain free. Well, you think that you want it, of course, it may logically make sense. But the truth is that the mind always pulls you towards what's familiar and if being in pain and being immobile and being not active is familiar to you, then your mind is going to do whatever it can to keep you that way. And you don't consciously even realize that that's the case. But that's why you have to use your imagination and imagine yourself doing other things than just doing all these modalities to help your back pain. Because if you're the person who doesn't have to do that do all of that extra work anymore, what else can you do with your time? And really see yourself doing that, and then slowly start moving towards it in your day-to-day life. Don't allow your mind to pull you back into the old habits and really language is a big thing. Really stop explaining it to other people. Really stop bumming people out and stop bumming yourself out about it. You don't have to lie to yourself, but stop, just stop reinforcing it with the language and constantly focusing on it.

34:34
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes. Oh, language is so important. One of the things I did when I said, "Okay, enough is enough, I'm healing this hip and back pain," was to talk to people around me and say, "Look, until I tell you it's safe for me to talk about my pain, do not ask me anything about my pain." That's one thing. Then on the inside, I also needed to talk to myself regarding when I had those thoughts that were so convenient. It was like, "We're not doing that anymore." Choosing a different kind of thought, choosing a different kind of image in my mind, because that's also the thing - language, yeah, one thing, but the other thing is, what kind of images are you putting into your mind? So, if you are seeing that injured body part as being completely crippled and inflamed and so on, it's hard for the body to change, and I think you would agree.

35:39
Zuzka Light:
Yes, absolutely. One thing you notice when people talk about pain or illness is that they say "my pain," "my injury," "my illness." It's like the ego thinks, "This is mine." One thing I learned to stop saying is, "Is this worth mine?" It's a pain. It's not mine. It has nothing to do with me. It's just there. But it's going away. I can feel it going away. It's a pain, and it's not mine. I don't want it. It's not mine. [chuckles] But the mind will hold onto the things that you accept as yours as well. It sounds crazy, but that's how it works.

36:39
Dr. Maya Novak:
Absolutely. So you mentioned RTT and how RTT helped you. Can you share a bit about what this is for those who potentially don't know what you’re talking about. What kind of modality it is. Can you explain what RTT is and how it works and why potentially to look into this kind of healing technique?

37:03
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, so RTT was created by Marisa Peer, who is a world-renowned therapist and hypnotherapist. It's a form of hypnotherapy, but over the past thirty years, she has been combining different therapies or modalities to create this unique hypnotherapy technique that works with your subconscious mind. When I take my clients through the session, we regress back to the past so that they can learn. It's not like you're out and don't know what's going on. You're in a state of relaxation, in the alpha brainwave state, where your mind is accessible, and you can retrieve childhood memories that you have completely forgotten. If you come to me with any kind of issue, I can regress you back to the root cause since it's usually something that was conditioned in early childhood and reinforced over time, and it's still affecting you at this age. And people when you show them that connection, they often have a profound “aha” moment.
And when they have that "aha" moment, they are able to start disrupting patterns because they realize it's the child's decision, thought, or belief. And now I can interrupt it. It’s not me, but that of the child who didn't know any better and began to believe that he or she was not good enough for whatever reason. The crazy thing is I wanted to help people with musculoskeletal pain when I started doing RTT, but all of my clients are presenting with anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and confidence issues. I was almost looking forward to be helping people with pain but nobody comes to me with pain so it’s just a little disappointing. [chuckles]

39:19
Dr. Maya Novak:
But you what? So maybe they are not coming to you primarily with pain and muscoskeletal pain but anxiety and depression and all of this is connected to physical pain. So either they don't completely share, or they don't actually remember that they have pain. Because I also had such clients in the past and I always ask a client if this is their first injury or if they had other injuries previously. Because a lot of times we have those signs from life or from ourselves or the universe, however you want to call it, and if we don’t listen, the injuries can get worse and worse and worse and worse. I remember one client when we were way into the coaching program. And then all of a sudden she said, “Oh yes, now I remember. I had these other wrist injuries.” But people sometimes don't even remember some of their injuries. So whatever you're doing, even if it’s “just” anxiety and depression, you are helping them on the physical level as well.

40:31
Zuzka Light:
Yes, yes, I absolutely agree, and I have witnessed such incredible healing, like a miracle on this lady. I met her in person, and she was working with Marisa Peer. She had a brutal injury where she went for surgery, and she was missing a piece of meat on her leg from that surgery. She couldn't walk. The doctors told her that she would never walk again and that she would always be in a wheelchair and in pain. Marisa regressed her, and she realized that she was holding on, on a subconscious level, onto this pain and inability to move because of whatever belief she created in childhood. She also went through child trauma, which contributed to this issue. It seems like the accident had nothing to do with her childhood, but it does; it has everything to do with how the person actually heals from the accident. Marisa regressed her and gave her a recording to listen to, and she decided to listen to it every single day and twice a day, and she did. And that's what really helps - repetition. With constant repetition the mind will start to hold onto to those suggestions and it will start to change and start to create chemical reactions in the body that will start to react to it. Marisa gave her a recording where she was saying, “Okay so your left leg looks exactly like your right leg, and your left leg is being healed.” And because she said your left leg looks exactly like your right leg her leg actually recovered. Even the meat started growing back. It grew back and she would have the same birth marks on the left leg like on the right leg that she didn't have before.

42:28
Dr. Maya Novak:
Really? Our minds are incredibly powerful. That's for sure.

42:35
Zuzka Light:
And I saw her when I started with RTT - she was still in a wheelchair. She was getting better and she could stand up from the wheelchair at that point. She could stand up and then she would have to sit down, but she could at least stand. A year later I saw her in person and she was like, “I'm like exercising and I'm pain free.” It was incredible. And when I hired the RTT therapist for myself when I was starting and she was somebody who's been working for many years and she said, “I love working with clients that come with me with pain because it's the easiest thing to get rid of in the hypnotherapy like like this.” This is incredible and I have other things that happened to me. I had issues with my teeth- I had this abscess that you know, here's the thing; if you start meditating or using Hypnotherapy, it's not that you never get stressed. It's not that you never get sick again. It can happen. But you have a modality that can really help you deal with it in a better way. So I had this abscess in my gums and I went to the dentist and he was like, ”Okay, well, we probably have to do a root canal.” I'm like, “Great. Awesome!” Nobody wants to hear that. They gave me antibiotics and the swelling went down, and I was like, “Well, maybe I don't have to go now, because and you know I like I really don't want to go to the dentist and and deal with a root canal.” And they were showing me on their x-ray; “Okay, but see the dark part? That shows that we probably need to do the root canal.” So I had that in my mind, the dark spot, and I decided I'm going to use hypnotherapy next time if that happens again, if that swelling happens again I'm going to use that and I'm going to imagine that dark spot being filled with healing white light.
And so sure enough, two months later the swelling came back. The pain came back and with a vengeance. It was really brutal. I was like, “Oh my god. I'm not going for another round of antibiotics. That's just not good for my gut health and I just don't want to do that. So hypnotherapy it is.” And before I would go to sleep I would just keep hypnotizing myself into it. A void of healing quiet where nothing hurts. Everything's great. My cells are rejuvenating. And I went through the whole thing, I wake up in the morning and it's much better. So I do that again. I do that in the morning and I do that again in the evening. It was probably two to three days of work like that and it went away completely. Didn't come back since. So I am such a big believer in mind over manner now that nobody can convince me otherwise. And the other thing that I started... I know that you are a big fan of Stephen Porges and vagus nerve work. I am too, and I took a course called Stop Chasing Pain from Dr. Perry Nicholson. He's really awesome in that. And so what I learned from him was something really incredible for my neck. The way I got rid of my neck pain... a neck pain [laughs]

45:56
Dr. Maya Novak
[laughs]

46:03
Zuzka Light
It’s so easy to say. So the neck pain. I couldn't get rid of it. I went to a chiropractor and I felt worse after. So then when I did the course with Dr. Perry, he was like, “Okay, there are a lot of nerves in your ear. There are a lot of nerve endings that are actually connected to your cervical spine.” And that's something that I actually wanted to now share with you and your viewers...

46:31
Dr. Maya Novak:
Please.

46:31
Zuzka Light:
And it’s that if you have neck pain - and I had a really bad one. Really bad. I couldn't really look over my shoulder and nothing was helping. So I started massaging my ear and you start rolling this part, the top of the ear. This fold, you start unrolling it like you wanted to make it flat. Like unrolling that part and then also massaging the inside of the ear and around the earhole. And pulling on - what is it called this thing?

47:14
Dr. Maya Novak:
Earlobe.

47:15
Zuzka Light:
Earlobe. Yeah I completely forgot. So pulling on that earlobe. Pulling down on it and away from the face and when you start doing all this work, because your ears never get any attention. How many times do you massage your ears, right? [chuckles] Nobody does that. You go for a massage, you lay on your stomach... “Now I'm gonna start massaging your ears.” Nobody does that, you know.

47:43
Dr. Maya Novak:
It's just a bit... [shows how quickly they stop massaging the ears] …and done.

47:46
Zuzka Light:
But once you start rolling out your ears something happens with the nerves. I don't know how it works, I just know it works and you start to feel more loose in your neck. You start to be, “Okay, I feel better. And I shared this strategy, this tool with my followers and my clients when I started the eight pillar program, and there were ladies that had neck pain, and they started massaging their ears and they were like, “Oh my god this is working!” And everyone is at home massaging their ears and husbands are like, “What are you doing?” [chuckles] “Getting rid of my neck pain.” But it works. I don't care how it works because it works and I am pain-free. That's all I care about, and it shows just how the body is connected in different ways, in really mysterious ways to us. The nervous system is so powerful. You start massaging your ear, your neck pain goes away. How is that possible? It's incredible. Or when you have tight hips, if you start massaging around your jaw, suddenly your hips become a lot more mobile and less stiff. So it's something that I want to go deeper into, I want to learn more about it, but just knowing these basic things makes a huge difference.

49:25
Dr. Maya Novak:
Oh absolutely. It's really what I find is the best combo. Doing the physical things and helping, and at the same time doing the internal work, so that it's really this combination. Because otherwise if you are just doing something on the outside, or something physical, or looking for new gadgets, it might help in that moment, but pain will come back. Because what actually is causing that type of pain was not resolved.

50:00
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, and a lot of times, what happens is that we're causing a lot of tension in our body just by our thoughts, because we're either worrying about what happened in the past or creating a horrible future that hasn't even happened, and that we don't have access to. But we're using our imagination in the wrong ways, instead of not clinging to anything and not resisting anything, just accepting and being more in the moment, that's the key to living more and just having a better life. Having a better quality of life makes a huge difference.

50:38
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, absolutely. So, what would be your number one piece of advice? I mean, you've shared quite a lot of things, but if you had to choose just one thing, what would you suggest someone who is recovering from an injury should start doing right away to see results and the desired change?

51:01
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, I would say really focus on calming down the nervous system because it's going to help with the recovery. First of all, your body is not going to heal if you don't get rid of the tension, and the way to get rid of the tension is to calm your mind. Really start focusing on calming your body with your mind, and you're going to start to see that whatever modality you use afterwards is going to work much better and much faster. Also, when your body is in this chronic stress response, your cells are in that same fight or flight response as well. Your cells cannot rejuvenate or create new, healthy cells if they are in survival mode. This is scientifically proven, and it's physically impossible for your cells to thrive in this state. So, the first thing I would recommend is doing a lot of meditation, hypnotherapy, and vagus nerve work. Do all of these things to calm down your nervous system first or simultaneously with other modalities that you choose to use.

52:30
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, can we briefly touch on the vagus nerve? You mentioned it before and I know it's such an important topic. Why are you placing so much emphasis on the vagus nerve?

52:44
Zuzka Light:
Well, because, as you know, it's such a huge part of your nervous system. It's a communication highway between your gut and your brain, and really, it's a nerve that goes from your brainstem and goes down to your gut and then spreads everywhere and touches everything. And we already know that if the vagus nerve is not firing properly, if the communication is stuck because you have so much tension that the nerve is not sending proper signals to the brain and out of the brain, then it's going to affect every single thing in your body. It's going to affect your gut health, your digestion, your brain health, and your cognitive function. It's probably going to cause some chronic pain because suddenly everything is scrambled, and the communication is not happening very well. Your neurotransmitters cannot reach the brain in the proper way. So, it just affects every single thing, and the science has been showing us that there is so much research on meditation. For example, research shows how meditation helps to increase vagal tone and helps to put the body back into coherence and balance. It shows how much that nervous system needs to be balanced and needs to be in that parasympathetic rest and digest mode as much as possible because the moment we become stressed, we tense everything up. It stops the blood flow and communication between the brain and the rest of the body, and it's really hard to fix anything or even see any results from physical therapy and other modalities if we're in this state.

54:46
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, so I almost hear some of the listeners right now going, “Zuzka, that's all great. But I don't have time. I have a family. I have so many things that I have to do. So how can I actually relax and just slow down if I don't have time?” What would you say to that?

55:10
Zuzka Light:
I mean, you know, if you don't take the time right now to make yourself better, you're going to have to take the time later to be really sick. It is about preference first of all. Secondly, it really doesn't take that much time. 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes before you go to bed for meditation or some sort of hypnotherapy, and also becoming mindful throughout the day, reminding yourself to be aware of how you're acting, what you're thinking about, and if you're stressing out about stupid things. I don't think it's that time-consuming, but if you think about it, if the pain gets worse, then it's going to become really time-consuming for you because you won't be able to do a lot of things and you'll end up doing things that you didn't want to spend time on.

56:05
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, I had one client who was kind of fighting the pain. She wanted to get better, but she didn't really want it to get better. So, there was one question that I asked her, and that was, "What would need to happen for you to actually stop and change?" Because sometimes, I do feel that things are not so bad. So, if things are not so bad, people have a gazillion excuses and a gazillion reasons why they don't have time. So, for you, probably, it was the same. You needed to get to that point when you said, "Okay, you know what, that's it. I cannot anymore."

56:52
Zuzka Light:
Well, actually I wouldn't say that with me, because I was over it…

56:57
Dr. Maya Novak:
Okay.

56:57
Zuzka Light:
…but I was really, really motivated to resolve that and I did spend a lot of time on resolving them. It was just not working. I just didn't do it the right way. At the time I would just be stressed about this and didn't realize what I was doing. So once I started studying RTT, and studying hypnotherapy, it just started to come together for me and I started seeing results.

57:32
Dr. Maya Novak:
Mhm.

57:32
Zuzka Light:
But I know what you're talking about. There are some people who are just like it feels like they're lacking the motivation to get better. And to me it's something that I see even when people purchase my program and they’re like, “I want results but I don't want to do anything.” Or “I just I don't want to change this I don't want to change that. I want to stay the same.” The thing is that it's just not how it works. There will always have to be some type of sacrifice because you will never have the time to do every single thing you want to do in life. Just think about all the things that you could be doing in life. You can't do them all. Just all the books that you want to read, all the places that you want to visit, you have to make choices, right? You have to make choices and choose what's most important to you because there is never going to be enough time to do everything that you want to be doing. So the choices that you make are incredibly important and you have to make priorities. That's the only thing. Just accept the fact that there will always be some type of sacrifice when you make these choices.

58:55
Dr. Maya Novak:
And we get back to identity where we started. So you can be as you are right, now but you can be in pain or out of shape, or if you want to have those results, there needs to be change involved. It needs to be an identity change. It needs to be so many things and it is scary.

59:23
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, and it's really hard to change something when you keep identifying as someone who loves eating sugar or loves eating whatever sugary things... cupcakes, ice cream... I'm just making stuff up. But basically, if you're somebody who really loves sugar and you're telling yourself, "I just love it, I just don't want to stop eating it," then you're identifying as someone who just doesn't want to change, right? That's going to be very difficult for me. Sometimes I do get cravings for something sweet. I'm a person too; we are wired to crave sugar and carbs. But I already identify as someone for whom health is more important. I know what these foods do to my body, so I have this picture in my mind: this is what it's going to do to me. It's easier for me to say, "Okay, I can satisfy my sweet cravings by reaching for just a cup of blueberries or something that's healthy and actually brings some really good benefits," and I focus on that. When I focus on food, I focus on what type of foods are going to bring me all these benefits - beautiful skin, a nice, slender, strong body. That's how I look at food, and of course, I care about the taste. I do want to eat yummy foods. But there are many delicious foods out there that are healthy for you and that you can actually enjoy. The problem is that people have been focusing on TV dinners, junk food, and all that stuff for way too long. It's just a habit and their taste buds haven't adjusted yet to healthy foods. But I want to say to everyone who's listening that your taste buds will adjust. It's not like when you think, "Oh, these blueberries are not sweet enough for somebody who's been eating candy." For the most part, once you stop eating candy and start eating more healthy foods, your taste buds will adjust. Eventually, when you taste candy, you're going to think, "That's too sweet. I can't have that anymore." For example, I love chocolate, but I can't eat any store-bought chocolate because it has so much sugar that it gives me a headache. I don't eat sugar anyway, so I don't really care for it. But people who have been eating junk food for the most part are not sensitive like that yet. However, if you start eating healthy, you will become sensitive, and your body will tell you when something doesn't taste right.

01:02:26
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, and it's not just in regard to the taste. Sometimes people don't even realize how crappy they feel after eating this type of food. Only when you cut out all the junk and all the processed food and you have a month, two months, three months of eating healthy, if you eat something else or if you go back to that you will actually start to feel like it’s really weird. You know, that it doesn't feel really good.

01:02:58
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, and you mentioned before we jumped on this podcast that you want to touch a little bit on weight loss and I just went to mention that my program that I put together, the 8 Pillars of Weight Loss program is all about how to address your health as a whole if you want to start to see weight loss. Because if you're just thinking, “Oh, I just need to cut down my calories and just exercise more,” that's not gonna cut it, especially if you're older. If you're a woman and you're older... I don't know how old you are. But I'm turning 41 this week right?

01:03:41
Dr. Maya Novak:
I'm one year younger than you. 40.

01:03:44
Zuzka Light:
Like, this is not genetics, right? My body is not fit because of genetics, it's because I've been eating healthy for the past fourteen years, and I've been exercising on a very regular schedule. Like exercise every single day. I don't know anybody else who eats and exercises the way I do. And I don't exercise for hours a day. I stick to my short workouts but I am consistent and I just don't see this consistency in a lot of people. Most people are not like consistent like that. And most people can't resist the French fries in the restaurant, right? And it's not like I never allow myself to eat something in a restaurant, like a nice pasta dish, I will have that. But for me, I have my bar very high. It has to be a very nice restaurant, I'm not going to eat some crap food just because it's pasta. It has to be a high-end restaurant where they make their pasta with quality ingredients. Or it has to be some incredible treat that is made by an experienced chef or somebody that put a lot of effort into it. It's probably going to be worth it and this kind of indulgence happens every once in a while. Yes, enjoy your life, but eating junk food all the time is not enjoying life in my opinion, you're just hurting yourself. That's not enjoying yourself, right?

01:05:22
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, we're very similar in that regard because if I know that I'm not going to feel good after eating a certain kind of food, I won't eat it. It's easy for me to say no to things like cookies or other foods that I know will make me feel bad. If I have a bad experience once, and feel sick after eating a certain type of food, I won't eat it again. It's not worth it to feel good for half an hour and then have problems for two days. For me, it's just really easy to say, “Nope. Thank you!” [laughs]

01:06:06
Zuzka Light:
[laughs] Exactly, and it's like people who are used to eating healthy for a while are so sensitive to these foods. I totally know what you're talking about. Like, my husband and I, if we go to a restaurant and we're like, "let's indulge in something," the next day we're like, "what did we do? I didn't even drink alcohol, but I feel like I'm hungover. What is happening to me? I feel like I lost the whole day because of that dinner we had last night." That is so not worth it, and then we always have these conversations like, "there are people who eat like that every day, can you believe that? And worse, they even eat worse than that." And we're just like, "I couldn't do it, that would just destroy me. I wouldn't be able to do anything right."

01:07:00
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, well, you know, weight loss is such a big topic that I'm going to suggest something here. Please take your time to think about it, but maybe we can do another interview in a few months just about weight loss. It's not just about calories in and calories out or exercising. Especially for those with long recoveries who can't exercise the way they would like to, losing weight can be challenging. Perhaps this is something we can discuss in another episode if it feels aligned to you.

01:07:46
Zuzka Light:
Yes, because that is a lot to talk about. Definitely.

01:07:50
Dr. Maya Novak:
Exactly. Okay, so we're going to put this on the side for next time, and before now we go into the hypnosis that you prepared, I have 1 last question. And this is a fun question and out of the box question and it is, if you were stuck on a desert island with an injury and you could bring only one thing with you that would help you heal amazingly, what would that be and why?

01:08:19
Zuzka Light:
Okay, that's a really good question. What I will say is that I would take either my husband or at least my two dogs. For me, the most important thing, as I said before, is that the things that make the most amount of difference don't cost a thing. Those are the things that we already have, tools within us that can help us heal. One of the things is also the connection that we have with our loved ones, because it creates oxytocin, a little hormone that helps heal injuries much faster and makes us more resilient.
And it helps to reduce pain as well, and we know how detrimental it is for us as human beings to be lonely. To feel lonely or to feel isolated. I mean the worst thing on a desert island is that there is nobody and that you are alone. And so having your loved ones around you when you're injured is, in my opinion, very, very important, because you need that connection with either another person or even with a pet. somebody that you feel love towards, because it's just something that we need for proper healing.

01:09:58
Dr. Maya Novak:
Absolutely! Now, Zuzka, where can people find more about you or join your programs or anything like that?

01:10:05
Zuzka Light:
So people can find me on my website, zuzkalight.com. They can sign up for Z Gym and work out with me every day, and join my program 8 Pillars. It started as 8 Pillars of Weight Loss. But now I'm changing it into 8 Pillars of Ultimate Fitness. It's gonna probably launch within the next few months, but I'm also trying to get into a certification course for coaches, because there's so much that I feel coaches are missing. So many puzzle pieces that they are missing when they're coaching their clients that I'm 100% sure is gonna help them. So that should be launching in January, but you can find all of the information on my website zuzkalight.com, and it's all there on my Youtube channel. I have a podcast as well, Cheers to Progress, and I hope to see you there on my podcast. I would love to interview you.

01:11:01
Dr. Maya Novak:
I would be very happy to be on your podcast. Yes.

01:11:05
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, I love talking to people that we have something in common. We obviously have a lot in common. So it's gonna be fun.

01:11:12
Dr. Maya Novak:
I told you at the beginning that I feel that we are like friends already, so over this one hour we realized that we have even more in common than I thought that maybe we had.

01:11:26
Zuzka Light:
Yeah, we definitely have good vibes. Good energy. Yeah. [laughs]

01:11:30
Dr. Maya Novak:
Now, Zuzka, can you guide us through the hypnosis?

01:11:34
Zuzka Light:
Yes. So I want you to just…

01:11:37
Dr. Maya Novak:
We’re continuing with the hypno meditation with Zuzka right away and I just wanted to take a short break here and say thank you for tuning in, especially if this is your first time. If you’re enjoying this episode, please make sure you subscribe to The Mindful Injury Recovery Talks on your favorite platform, and leave a review, because that helps us reach even more people with these important talks. To access show notes, links, transcript, and video of today’s conversation go to mayanovak.com/podcast and click on episode 19. And now, let’s meditate and heal...

01:12:17
Zuzka Light:
… find a comfortable position and relax. You can have your back supported, that would be best. Now, allow your body to settle down, take a slow deep breath in, and then slowly exhale all the air out. And now I just want you to look up with your eyes. So keep your eyes open and just look up at the ceiling. This is a great technique to put you into that alpha brain wave faster and induce a state of relaxation, and every time you blink, there's relaxation already happening in your body. So I want you to just take a deep breath in. And just exhale out, and on the next exhale I want you to keep your eyes up and just close your eyelids down. And you might feel a slight fluttering in your eyelids because you're keeping the eyes up. It might feel a little uncomfortable, but don't worry about it because your body is actually relaxing. So just breathe now. You can allow your eyes to go wherever they want to go and relax your body. You can scan your body from head to toes slowly. Just look for any tension that you might need to relax, and if you find any tension in your body, just gently tell it to relax. Your mind is very powerful and if you use it to relax your body will follow. Okay, so now , we're gonna do a little test and it's a suggestion test to see if we're in that suggestible state. So I want you to imagine that you're holding a fresh juicy lemon in your hand. Focus on the texture of the lemon, on the sizen and I want you to imagine that you cut the lemon in two halves. You have two halves of a lemon, so just pick up one half of the fresh juicy lemon and see that pulp how it’s glistening because it's so fresh and so juicy. And you can bring it closer to your face so that you can really smell that fresh scent of that lemon. You can notice that scent, everything about it. Now I want you to imagine that you just open your mouth and you take a big bite out of that juicy lemon and now you can really taste that sour fresh lemon juice in your mouth. You can really taste it. You took such a big bite out of that lemon that you have a full mouth of sour, juicy lemon juice. So now if you are experiencing salivation in your mouth, if you feel like you just bit into a fresh lemon even though there's no lemon, it's just in your imagination, then that's a good sign that you are in that suggestible relaxed mold. And it shows you how powerful our mind actually is because your mind doesn't care if it's real or imagined. It will change the chemical reactions in your body and so it's really Important we use our imagination for the right purpose so that we don't allow it to run wild, imagining some horrible scenarios for us. But we use it to create the future that we want. So now I want you to imagine that you are traveling in time, and you're traveling into your future. And in this future you are absolutely free of any pain. Your body feels like the most comfortable place to be in. Your body is like a warm blanket. It's your home. It feels so good to be in your body right now. And you can feel yourself move freely. You can sit down and feel comfortable. You can lay down and feel very comfortable. You can get up very easily, move around and feel comfortable in your body. It feels so good to be in your body because you're completely free of any discomfort, of any pain. So now I want you to feel yourself moving around and feeling absolutely amazing and energized. And now I want you to engage all of your senses. Be in that body that feels comfortable. Feel what you're feeling. How do you walk in that body? See and feel exactly what it's like to be in a body that's completely free of any discomfort. Now I want you to see yourself doing exactly what you want to be doing. With a body that feels so good, strong and energized. I want you to see yourself doing exactly the type of activities that you want to be doing because there is nothing that's holding you back anymore. You're absolutely free. I want you to imagine what your day looks like. What is your perfect day when you're free and completely comfortable in your body? How do you talk about your body with other people? How do you feel about that comfortable strong energized body? What does it allow you to do? I Want you to keep that picture in your mind and remember this feeling. This feeling of comfort and freedom. Freedom from any discomfort or pain. Of feeling comfortable, energized and absolutely amazing. And you will remember this feeling of comfort and energy for the rest of the day and it's always easy for you to connect to this feeling and this picture that you hold in your mind. So now as I count from 5 to 1 you can easily come back to full awareness. On the count of 5 you can start moving your fingers and toes slowly. On the count of 4 take a deep breath in. On the count of 3 you're becoming aware of your surroundings. On the count of 2 you're feeling amazing, energized, confident , better than ever before. On the count of one you can open up your eyes. How is it feeling now?

01:21:55
Dr. Maya Novak:
Thank you.

1:21:58
Zuzka Light:
How is it feeling now?

1:21:59
Dr. Maya Novak:
That was amazing. Absolutely, but I would say, oh please give me ten more minutes in this state. [laughs]

01:22:09
Zuzka Light:
Yeah [laughs] That's exactly what happens. And that's when people stop complaining how they don't have time, because it's like, “Oh no, I'm good, I can stay in this feeling forever.”

01:21:22
Dr. Maya Novak:
Exactly. That was beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this and for sharing everything else. I so enjoyed our conversation and I know that listeners are getting so much out of this. So thank you for being on the podcast.

01:22:39
Zuzka Light:
Thank you so much for inviting me. I enjoyed it as much as you did. I very much enjoyed our conversation and I look forward to seeing you, talking to you soon as well.