Leaning Into the Energetic, Environmental and Emotional Roots Of Pelvic Health

• OT Pioneers: Intro to Pelvic Floor Therapy  opens Sept 16-20, 2024
• Introducing the Functional Pelvic Practitioner Levels and Certification - for OTPs Craving a Structured and Recognized Path to Specialize in Pelvic Health

More about my guest:
Candice Price of Rooted Women's Health

Candice is an Occupational therapist with specialized training in pelvic floor therapy and trauma informed care. She loves to combine her traditional training with her Reiki level II certification along with holistic pelvic care ™ practitioner certification by Tami Lynn Kent to provide Holistic Pelvic Care.

She believes addressing the ROOT of pelvic floor issues, going beyond the physical by acknowledging the environment, energetic, emotional, and spiritual- thus treating the whole person for lasting change on all levels.

She is passionate about bringing awareness + education to the pelvic bowl so women can connect with their bodies, womb cycles, embody their feminine and access the powerful gifts held within.

In her free time, she loves cooking, dancing, Pilates and spending time with her husband, family and friends.

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Transcript

Lindsey Vestal My guest today is Candice Price. She has always been passionate about women's health and was introduced to pelvic floor therapy through her own healing journey with pelvic floor issues. I think so many of us can relate to this and find our way to Pelvic health for that exact reason. She believes that the female body deserves more pelvic care, including preventative pelvic care. Candace believes that women are meant to live a life connected to their root, free of dysfunction and aware of the power and gifts it holds. It is Candace's wish that holistic pelvic hair be a part of every health care routine. Candace recently graduated in the inaugural cohort for the first time Trauma informed Pelvic health certification. It was an honor to get to know her. I think that her reflections not only in this episode, but do you ever have the pleasure to work with her or meet her in person. She's just an incredibly authentic and beautiful human being. I can't wait for you to hear this conversation. 

Intro New and seasoned OTs are finding their calling in Pelvic health. After all, what's more ADL than sex, peeing and poop? Okay, here's the question. What does it take to become a successful, fulfilled and thriving OT in Pelvic health? How do you go from beginner to seasons and everything in between? Those are the questions and this podcast will give you the answers. We are inspired, OTs. We are out of the box. OTs We are Pelvic health OTs. I'm your host, Lindsey Vestal, and welcome to the OTs and Pelvic health Podcast. 

Lindsey Vestal Candice, thank you so much for being a guest on the OTs for Pelvic health podcast. I got to meet you a couple weekends ago in person at our Trauma Informed Pelvic health Certification retreat. I have loved getting to know you these last few months. But then being together in person in that room with our inaugural cohort was just absolute magic. I appreciate it so much of what you shared about your experiences, and I was so inspired by it that I just walked away from my treat being like, Candace, I would die for you to be a guest on the podcast. So I'm just so grateful to get to know you, your work, and for you to spend this time with me today. 

Candice Price Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm really excited to be here and to be on the podcast, and I love that it resonated with you. I had a blast and yeah, it was just such a it was more than I could have expected. So thank you for creating this certification. And yeah, I'm just being you. I'm super excited to be here. 

Lindsey Vestal Awesome. Well, I know that you own your own business and you know, you really incorporate some truly amazing approaches into your pelvic health session, right? So you've got the trauma informed care certification under your belt. You have a background in Reiki, you've done the Holistic Care Practitioner training by Tammy Lynn Kent. I'm just so curious. I know it's a blend. I'm sure at the end of the day it's it's really hard to to tease it out. But I'm curious about which one of the areas of your expertise do you kind of find yourself using the most or maybe you just find it really indispensable in your work with clients? 

Candice Price Yeah, definitely. Well, yes, it's it is a blend. And, you know, as you say, it depends. So, you know, you know, so but for me, really, it really just depends on the client in front of me. I will say the trauma informed care being trauma informed and having that certification under my belt is something like I won't be shy about it. I think it should be mandatory to do pelvic floor therapy personally because the, you know, the pelvic space that men for men and women is such a charged space, is such a sacred space, in my opinion. So to provide the care that I think that, you know, our clients deserve, I genuinely think, number one, trauma informed care is is really important personally. So I find myself definitely using that in a in every way. I think just on a foundational level, just how I how my environment is and my space, how I, you know, is like I'm always kind of looking at it in a trauma informed lens and does it feel safe? Does it feel invitational? Does it feel inclusive? Is it for non-medical but also clean? You know, so I'm always really looking at that and then how I interact with my clients. I really want them to feel comfortable with me and laying the groundwork of like, this is really the relationship that will build, making sure they feel like they have autonomy control. Like in this situation, they can use their voice. All that super important to me and I feel it makes a big difference in just laying down the foundational care personally. Yeah. 

Lindsey Vestal I couldn't agree more. And thank you for for sharing your opinion about trauma informed care, needing to be an approach that we all understand as pelvic floor therapists. I honestly think it should be like the first class we take. I think that it really should be that that foundation of which we see all of our, you know, fundamental coursework through. Because I think once you do that, you're able to be a little bit of a, let's say, a critical consumer or someone who can really think through things like, for instance, if we just learned that the internal exam is the gold standard, like many courses present, imagine if you had gone through a trauma informed course first, you would immediately go. I'm not sure I agree with that, actually. Like, so like we talked about in the certification there, there's a menu of options. There's a way to present it so there isn't a gold standard. So the client truly feels empowered to make the choice that is most comfortable for them, because at the end of the day, that's how their nervous system is going to feel safe. So I do feel like if we could redo our introductory courses and see it through that new lens of trauma informed care, it would just allow us to kind of see it with a more thorough picture. So thank you for saying that. I really do agree with you. 

Candice Price Yeah, no, of course. And yeah, I mean, we all have nervous systems and we're all have stress. And especially in our culture, I think we're all of us have a lot of things going on and managing our stress. So and that lives in our body and especially in pelvic floor therapy, it shows up and it contributes to to our, you know, the symptoms that our body is expressing to us. So, you know, yeah, I definitely feel like if. That lens is really crucial to understanding how to how to care for our patients. You know, so yeah, and like you said, giving them options and, and knowing that it doesn't have to be on day one. Like, you know, I remember my first classes and I remember first couple clients and then, you know, going through what we're going to do that day. And some of them, their eyes get super big, you know, like what you know. And I remember thinking, maybe not me, maybe I should be real that back. So yeah, so I think that would be lovely. And hopefully through talking about it so inputs who are coming now can can put that in there first and teach us and stuff. 

Lindsey Vestal Yeah. Yeah I love that. One of the things that really stands out for me when I think about our retreat together was you really speaking so confidently and beautifully about your visualizations work that you do with clients as well as kind of like the energy work that you do to kind of create that physical change in our client's bodies. Would you mind sharing a little bit about that with us? 

Candice Price Of course, yes. So I like to kind of back up a little bit with because where it really comes from is the holistic pelvic care certification idea with Tammy and Camp and where I really started learning about it and basically how I'm trying to gather my thoughts here. 

Lindsey Vestal Take your time. 

Candice Price Yeah. So, yeah. So with. With her work. She really is very trauma informed, actually. They kind of really flow really beautifully together. But it talks about how trauma and emotions and beliefs and just all of our life experiences can live in our body and be expressed through our body. And so through through these experiences, we have physical tension and we all know what that feels like with with an emotion like you feel anger, everybody gets hot, you feel scared and you know, you can't share your body or your clench, your pelvic floor like it. It manifests in our body physically. And so a lot of times it gets stored in certain places and we don't always get it out. We don't know how to move, move it, move the energy, move the tension. And so with pelvic floor therapy, I find it interesting because there are I've learned that there are certain I want to say guidelines, but I would say there's certain themes with certain issues or platform issues I see or concerns or dysfunctions and certain emotions and certain thought process is really interesting. The more I've worked with clients and seen these and and the holistic pelvic care talks about this and and also kind of gives you kind of a roadmap with it. But basically, you know, we build these fits the it builds physical tension tension in our body. And if we and then we start seeing like pelvic floor dysfunction. And so a lot of times when you go to pelvic floor therapy, they'll work on you on a physical realm, right? And they'll work on the physical. They'll do the manual therapy, whether it's internal or external. And we kind of undo the chaos, right, physically. And then the person leaves and then they come back and it's back and we're like, okay, so we're treating the symptoms, which is wonderful. We need to unwind what's what we're what's presenting what the symptoms are presenting. But it's like, okay, how do we how do we address the root of where these where these might be coming from? And some people truly do have more like physiological, you know, just their posture is terrible. And we just need to look at that. And they're good, you know, and they bounce back and they leave. But there's a lot of us that I feel come to for therapy with pelvic pain and pelvic dysfunction that are rooted in a little bit more of the emotional and stress patterns that we hold. So the visualizations really help with that, not only in the sense of how to how to connect with our body, to move them and move the energy and move that part while we're doing the physical, while we might be physical for treating the physical, but it also gives the client some autonomy in the care. And we're doing we're working together. So I'm not just doing to this person and they're just there and, you know, like it, it just that makes them an active participant that and things that they can work on at home and on their own and realize that it really is coming from them, you know, So and I'm just I'm just there to facilitate it and bring a remembrance back to that and to their body. 

Lindsey Vestal Would you mind sharing just any visualization that comes to mind? Maybe it's one you've used recently. Maybe it's one that you just find yourself using often or just love. But I'd love to just get a sense of of the power visualizations that you use. 

Candice Price Yeah. So I like to layer in the two that I use probably the most, I would say like for dive medic breathing. I use visualizations a lot and that's one to, you know, with visualizations we talk about being comfortable. So with deep breathing, we will go through how to feel it in our body. Like how's that visualization? Like imagine your your vagina is a flower and it's blooming on the inhale or it's an elevator. And so there are those like kind body visualizations we can use. And, and so I'll use that a lot with them to connect to the body because I really feel like, again, like if I'm just saying inhale, exhale for people to sit in their head, you know, So it really helps them sink into the body and connect with themselves. So I do love using the dive breathing. One of my favorite ways to facilitate it is I'll tell them to kind of guide it. Like I'll say, inhale through your nose. You fill up the belly, the the back, the ribs, the chest, and I'll guide it. So that way I'm like, send it down to the room space. And then as you exhale, let your belly, your chest fall and I'll say, exhale all the way down to the ribs face. And they really get a nice empty. And that really sets us up for a wonderful inhale. And then as you inhale, imagine your pelvic floor lengthening, releasing, letting go, and you're filling the spaces with your breath, just letting, like letting your body go instead of what people inhale. They'll force like they'll try to push out the air. And I really tell them to, like, play around with filling all the spaces. And I've already shown them the model and I've already showed them how it works. And I say, imagine you're just you're moving through the ether in your body, all that space and just you're filling it all up and you're it's, it, it's really more of a gentle way of guiding them and bringing them into like more of a parasympathetic state. So I love that with and I'll sometimes I'll say, imagine there's a little butterfly hovering over your mouth and when you exhale, you don't want it to fly away, you know? And yeah, it gives the brain something to chew on too, which is good for everybody. But that one's the dark, my brains by my favor with that. For women, I think specifically, a lot of times just our culture and the messaging, we get around the pelvic ball space and around our parts and around being female. I think that a lot of us don't connect to that space. And so we're we want maybe children if that's what we want or pleasure. And it's not really part of us until we want something from it, you know what I mean? And so I think a lot of the work with holistic Care is remembering that like, this space is a part of us and we want to honor it and have relationship with it. And it's so much more than just like for making babies or for someone else's pleasure. You know, it's it's a part of our body. And so a lot of us just live like belly button up. So a lot of my visualizations are around connecting to this space and remembering like that, like that, remembering how sacred it is really, especially for females, you know. So a lot of the visualizations I'll use just for connection, I'll say, you know, place your hands on your womb space and I'll, I'll just share with them how I feel about the womb space I feel into this earthy energy feel like it's like dark and deep and super earthy. In my opinion. That's how it usually feels. And I remind them, you know, this is your where your first heartbeat was. This was your first home. This is a portal between two worlds. This is where we connect to spirit, like sense into this, like honor, this space. We have the ability to bring things in and receive and we have ability to gestate and hold and then birth them out into the world. And those are whether that be babies are our creations like we are, we are divine, you know, and just connecting to that visualization and connecting to the womb space and then I'll have them inhale and send like loving energy down into it and exhaling for anything that doesn't serve us anything that's not ours. Let it go. And just connecting to it and sharing that. The more you connect to the space and you build relationship, the more we move, we move the flow, we move everything, you know? So that's one. But say, say in that moment I'm having them connect and I, you know, I just don't feel it. And I feel stuck and I feel stagnant. You know, a lot of us that we haven't moved that energy, we haven't attracted to it. So it can feel really full. And I joke that as women we hold on to everyone else's stuff and so we've got to clear it. So another visual is. They shall do is I'll tell you to sit. Sit with your sit bones if you can on Mother Earth. Even better. Close your eyes. Have them do some type of breathing. Really sensing into that room. And then I will ask them to start again. Like I've shown them the pelvic floor because I really want them to, to be able to visualize what it looks like and ask them to really sense into where their perineum or the vagina touches the ground, you know? And I'm like, I want you to root down into Mother Earth. I want you to root down those. I visualize roots moving down into the earth and just anchoring in. And then I love water, so I'll tell them to imagine their pelvic ball and imagine they're in the center and they're there thinking of everything that they don't want to hold on to any more. Any thoughts, beliefs, pain, anything that doesn't serve them. And then I'll ask them to start imagining water just washing around the ball and just clearing the space and moving everything and just starting to clear. And this is this is the beginning. We this happens in layers. We don't have to clear it all at once. We're just starting to get to move, starting to clear and imagine it flowing out and down like a waterfall through the vagina into the mother earth. And I always like, I know she's got you. She can hang. She can handle it. Like she's here to support you. You're not alone and just start clearing and just really focus on clearing. If you can do that when you're on your period, if you're still bleeding, it's a wonderful time because you're already energetically releasing and clearing as well, as well as physically. So that's what. 

Lindsey Vestal I was just thinking. I was just like, Wow, what a beautiful time to be able to do to do that. Also, just because you can connect with that sense of of letting go so much more. I mean, even myself, when I'm using period underwear, I love getting that feedback of, you know, not to get too graphic, but when the light is coming out now, you know, it's just these body shifts, right? When you go from sit to stand like when you, you know, and and so anyway, you're just getting that feedback and I always to kind of take a pause in those moments and remind myself that I'm letting go of things that no longer serve me. And that's just that physical representation of that. That's a mindful reminder to even just verbalize that, you know? So that's, that's awesome. 

Candice Price Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so yeah, have them do that. And then based off the, the the the cycle if you I would say if you don't bleed anymore, you can do this with them in cycles. This would be like the clip of the new moon because it's similar and like energetic like it's the same kind of similar energy to. But and then I'll say, you know, you can whatever we're working on, if they have an intention or something that they really want to hold with them, I then I ask them to like imagine their their womb and they're just planting a little intention seed right there. We've cleared the space and now we're like, we're using that energy. We're going to you're shedding and you know, you're going to start building mining. You're going to start physiologically like building and holding and getting ready to ovulate and release and have more this like X, like outward energy, right? So it's like for the next two weeks or so, hold on to this. You know, hold on to it. Nurture this. How are you going to show up for this intention these next two weeks? And then how are you going to how are you going to show up for yourself during ovulation when you're feeling more like that and you're that you're just supported hormonally. So you're and then you're connecting, honoring and your your body and your hormones and using like your own natural rhythms to support your life and then versus like trying to just get through it. You're like moving through it. 

Lindsey Vestal You're living not just existing. 

Candice Price Yeah, exactly. 

Lindsey Vestal I feel like you read my mind with the next question, and so I believe you just answered it, but I'll just. I'll ask it just in case. Something else. Something else for you? Yeah. What are some ways that you bring awareness and connection to the feminine nature, this sense of cycles to the female body to support public health? 

Candice Price Yeah, of course. Yeah. I think, again, I kind of touched on this earlier about I think in our culture we're very taught, you know, we have masculine and feminine energy and we need the balance of the two. And I think we're much more a lot of us are much more comfortable in our masculine and it's very much needed at times. But we're we know how to do. We know how to produce. We know how to work. We know how to like make things happen. But I think a lot of us get uncomfortable. We're not really sure how it has not really modeled to slow down or just be and be present and be joyful without needing to make you money or have an outcome or, you know, something. Right? So, I mean just like receive things without any in exchange is just something we're not really taught a lot. So I think for me, really just acknowledging that for a lot of of my clients I think can be powerful because it's like, hey, this might not feel natural at first, but that masculine is really great, but we need to be able to nurture it and fill our own cup. And I think that feminine nature in our and especially with women, we have we have just some really great gifts that if we nurture them a little bit more would sustain the masculine and make us not so exact so exhausted. So so I and you know, life's like, you're not I'm not saying it's going to be like this is one thing, but it does really help to kind of give you like, okay, like I can kind of understand where I'm at, you know, So, so I have like videos on this and I do just teach this. I do like women sessions where I teach my clients and a lot of them are pelvic floor like clients too, with like especially pelvic pain or I usually end with it, but I can do it on its own too. But yeah, teaching them how to track and map their cycle and what their hormones are doing. And I think a lot of people call it like cycle thinking because you can really depending on where your hormones are, you can support your support yourself when each phase of your cycle. And then I bring that out to the outer world of like we are cyclical, we mirror that of the seasons, mirror that of the moon. And each phase has a purpose. Each phase creates the whole and and we have to honor each season on each phase in order for everything to be so be working and have good quality of life. 

Lindsey Vestal Really beautiful ways to tie, to tie it all together. I think that's incredible. One of the things that occurs to me as as I'm hearing you talk is that, you know, there's a we all dream of serving our ideal client, right? Like the one that really resonates with our approach. And for me in in New York City, I had a lot of type-A, very driven clients that probably, you know, weren't as familiar. This is over a decade ago now with more of the O.T. approach and even the things that you're talking about now. And the more I was able to lean into in my marketing materials and even like, you know, on phone calls during discovery calls and even my paperwork leaning into my approach, the more I felt like I attracted my ideal client. And this really resonated with me. One time when I, I was doing a ton of workshops in New York City. I just loved getting out to the community and meeting people and spreading this knowledge. And this one person said, You know, I've never been to one of your workshops, but I see that you do them all the time, which let me know that you were really big into education. And I really wanted to go to a pelvic floor therapist that was going to teach me about my body, not just do it. And I remember thinking, my gosh, my marketing strategy is actually really aligning with whether they come or not to one of my workshops attracting my client based on what I'm what I'm already doing. And so I'm curious how you attract your ideal client, because I don't think I don't know that you're me. I mean this in the most beautifully positive, supportive way. I don't know that your approach is for everyone. So how do you how do you make sure that you're getting the client that it will resonate with and that will feel you with joy? 

Candice Price Right? Well, you know, I think the way that, you know, I have an I have an Instagram and I think a lot of my like I love to educate on there. And I do have I do have a certain vibe. So I definitely know I'm not for everybody, you know, And that's okay, to be honest. I'm not trying, you know, I'm I'm not trying to be for everybody. I do. I do. I do believe that the people who are meant for you find you. I do feel like I just end up attracting the not even the ideal clients, but the the clients I do in the sense that I love working with them. But ideal in the sense that like what my approach really is supports them. But I would say that. You know. So, yeah, I think for me, I'm, I'm still learning how I like how I want to, to market, to be honest because a lot of this. It's kind of hard to to just neatly tie up and say, you know what I mean? So to be honest, I feel like a lot of my clients are referrals, you know, because they're like, I don't know what she does, but you just do it, you know, kind of thing. So it's something that I'm working on, to be honest. But yeah, I don't know if I answered your question. 

Lindsey Vestal I loved it. And I do think that a lot of the people listening, you know, have their own unique approach, whether it aligns with yours or not. And so I think this is just a great conversation to have regarding how we're doing it and how and I really appreciate your vulnerability of being like, I'm still figuring it out. But I will say to you that you do have such a reassurance to you and you're very confidently who you are. Candace And I can say that after spending the weekend with you, that I feel like word of mouth is probably incredibly powerful for you. Because even if they're not able to explain it, that vouching from someone that you trust will already allow you to walk into your treatment space with a sense of trust. And I think that's that's such a big part of it. And whether or not we're able to gain that trust through through that referral or if they're just walking in off the street not knowing, I believe that your your presence is that reassurance, you know, and that and that that space that you hold for people around you, I think is probably goes so far for them to just be very open and curious about what your sessions will be like. So that's so cool. 

Candice Price Yeah, yeah. No, it's fun and it's interesting because, yeah, I live in California, I live in Southern California, I live in San Diego. And I definitely, you know, it's easier here to talk about energy and, and, and things like that. Like I, you know, I had this kind of the day and she was 25 and it it was it was wonderful. Like I'm so excited to see where like the younger generation is going. Like I'm 35 but not too much older. But but like she's 25 or 10 years difference. And I remember being 25 and just learning these things. And, you know, we were it was on our intake and we're talking and she's like, yeah, I cycle think I know this like I call womb womb circles. She called her her her moon, her moon and belly. And I was like, well, like this is wonderful. Like, I'm just so proud of like, the young women like. And I know it's not everywhere, but I really genuinely feel like it's becoming we're talking more and we're sharing more. And I was I was really excited by it, honestly. So I do feel like I am lucky being in San Diego in a sense where it is like, you know, it's not a hard sell, but I'm not really I don't really feel like it needs to be a sale, to be honest, because at the end of day, we all have emotions, right? And kind of to your point where you're saying, you know, we live in New York and there's like lag typing and love this the language we call like we will language when it really resonate. It really is just the vocabulary you choose to choose to use. So if I, you know, I have certain clients that really don't really want to dive into like words like spirit or, you know, at first I was like, I don't believe that space is sacred, you know? And that was her belief. And so I'm not going to continue to dive in that way. Instead, we're going to we're going to pivot and I'm going to explain it in a way that resonates with her, because at the end of the day, it's I'm trying to have her have connection with her body and herself in whatever way feels authentic to her, you know, So I think a lot of it is really gauging the client in front of you and and giving them language that resonates and feels aligned with them. And that's another part of that. So wonderful about the trauma informed certification because it really can help you with that and kind of understand how to acknowledge certain things that people are just be able to to sense people a little bit better. I think if that's something that you feel like you struggle with. So I think you can really gauge it that way and be able to to support any client, really. But the other thing I'll say about that is, you know, I make it very clear to the people walking in through my door that this is a collaborative effort and that I want that they need that if they're ready to show up and they want to show up, it's not about perfection, but I want them to show up and us to work together. If this is a time where they are feeling overwhelmed, if they're feeling there's too much going on, that maybe, maybe it might not be the best time. And, you know, I'll share that with them. And like, it's up to you, it's your choice, and I'm here and I will completely want to support you. But these are my expectations for for this to work because I don't want to waste your time or your money. 

Lindsey Vestal I adore that. I think just like we started off this conversation, you saying that trauma informed care needs to be the fundamental foundation of Pelvic health. I also believe in what you just said and I had my own version very some. A or to that, which I think is also really lending itself to that fixer versus facilitator aspect. And also, when was the last time you ever had a health care appointment that someone said that to you? You know, like it is so refreshing. And also it's like saying and I would often do this to like, let's say there is a series of sessions that we had together and maybe they didn't have a chance to try the tools that we talked about. Home exercise program was a challenge even after several adaptations to to fit their needs. I would often say like, do you do you would you like to reconvene? You know, do you want to take a pause and come back? Because I think sometimes, too, there's a sense of obligation there. And I think when we just kind of call out what's there and we are we just speak to the truth of that. It's just also so refreshing. It kind of gives them a chance to realize they have a choice that even though they signed up for eight weeks of therapy, it doesn't have to be that way. And also, one other thing that you had said that really resonated with me in terms of like tools and words. I think the same thing goes with everything from the way they refer to their anatomy, to their. I think just words matter. And so whether it's, you know, being able to say womb is sacred or not or being able to be explicit about what they're referring to as their anatomy, it's all about meeting that client where they are and and not only being curious ourselves, but cultivating the curiosity they have for their own body and their self. 

Candice Price Right? Yeah. And if you can meet them where they are. Honestly, most of the time it's really fun because then they do build that curiosity. They surprise themselves and they come back and they're sharing what they found. And that's that's like for me, that's one of the biggest joys because my, you know, like with the holistic public care and the trauma, all that that I was talking about that layer into what I do. Like my biggest joy is, is them coming home to themselves, them honoring themselves and finding like, like confidence and love and like the female body and the female expression and and just like the whole, the just the whole human expression. And I mean, like, that's my favorite because it just when you can do that and they can do that and connect themselves and build that relationship, then it helps so much with whatever thing they're actually coming to see me for. It really does. It just does so and does. 

Lindsey Vestal I know. I know that you really love addressing the root of dysfunction. Right? So this we talked about it at the retreat, like looking at beliefs, looking at habits, looking at patterns, the nervous system, like socio cultural influences. Right. And how it all does contribute to their symptoms. I'm so curious. Can do you mind sharing like a brief case study or, you know, just like a story that kind of illustrates this approach that you have of doing that versus just addressing symptoms? 

Candice Price Of course. Yeah. So one, I mean, there's a few of like, trying to pick one. But one that really stood out to me was a younger client, about 24. She had just moved to California with her boyfriend, had a like a pretty busy job, but she loved the job. But she came to me for pain with sex and urinary urgency, like strong urge with like leakage at some point because the urge was so strong and she was having episodes at work and at night, like, seemed like everyone. She was just like, what the heck? I'm, you know, I'm so embarrassing because I'm like, leaking all my pants and I have no control over. I can't get to the can I get to the bathroom? And then sex was just difficult because she had very hypertonic pelvic floor. But she had come to me already, had gone to a few pelvic floor therapists. And what she had said, just like I have the dilator, you know, I've done the bladder diary. Like I'm I'm working on those things and nothing seems to help. And and she was just very frustrated, you know, which is fair to say, you know, But she she kind of was just like, you know, I'm doing all the things and it's still happening, but like, what the heck, you know? And that's like and that's the traditional stuff that we are we are taught like, okay, here's the symptoms and we do need to focus on them, right? But again, like I was saying, with that route, it's like, okay, well, let's that's you are treating the symptoms. It's not working. So let's kind of let's kind of unravel this a little bit. So I asked her and here's an interesting because she came in standing, talking to me fast, you know, all over the place. And I was like, okay, you know, you might. And I invited her to sit down and I just asked him like, you know, has anyone ever talked to you about the nervous system before or anything? And she's like, No, you know what? What's that? So I just explained to her about nervous system and, and, you know, with, with urinary urgency frequency sometimes that the nervous system if we're more in a heightened state, can create a more increased sense of urge. But also just looking at her breathing, she was really shallow breathe for her. She had so much tension in her abdomen. It was like this small, tight abdomen where she couldn't breathe into her belly at all. And, you know, and it's like there was no room for that poor bladder. And the pelvic floor was like up here and it was just squished. And then she was anxious and all this stuff, right? And so we I really just kind of in a in, in a very curious, compassionate way, started bringing awareness to these things with her through our sessions and asked her to really just be, you know, like an investigator with me and notice like, okay, when this urge comes or when these things what's what's happening in your day? What's going on here, you know, and and it wasn't so much of like how to fix this kind of gave her permission to just be like, okay well let's let's kind of just like bring some awareness to the situation and to your body and like, what are you feeling at those times? What what thoughts are you having? And she came back and she was just like, you know, I realize that my job super stressful. Like, I'm not taking any time for myself. I'm not sharing my voice and I'm just scared of everything. And something I really see a lot with bladder stuff is fear. I see that show up a lot in anxiety, but she just she really noticed that. So we started, you know, focusing our interventions while treating the symptoms, while doing by retraining, while doing the physical, really basically being in O.T. and just really being like, okay, let's how we want to reframe your day. What do we want to do? You know, kind of all this stuff. And, and she blossomed and she and, and I taught her how to with the trauma form kind of lens, how to use somatic practices and stay in her body. And in these moments. And really what ended up happening is she found her voice. She found her confidence. And she had the sweetest she had the sweetest. Like, you know, you call at the end of the sessions when you finish reading, they give you just a moment where you're trying to say thank you. Yeah. She gave the sweetest testimonial about, you know, where she was at and then where she came from, you know, after. But yes, we she didn't have urinary urge leakage any more frequency. She was able to have sex with her partner, but like she didn't really the testimony wasn't about that. It was like I found my voice, my lips much better. Like, I'm confident. Like, I'm so excited. I'm leaving that job, you know? And it was just like to me, it's you can't have one without the other. Like, addressing that mind. Body spirit is so integral in pelvic floor therapy because this is where our our our Internet. Going live. This is where our voice lives. You know, it's it's so I don't know that's it was but that that would be a case study there. So I was just like, yes, we did. We did it, girl. She did it. Really. I was just I was just facilitating. 

Lindsey Vestal It's so powerful, you know? And I know that we know that there is the facial connection between the throat and the pelvic floor. And, you know, we know there's there's so much there from a physical body perspective. But there also really is this ability to to speak your truth. And I think that what a incredibly rewarding experience to have as a clinician to to have her emphasize what she did in the testimonial, because, yes, of course, the the symptoms cleared out. But it was this bigger, this better, this bigger calling that she was able to listen to, which we know is just going to just draw such a bigger power for her and bigger ramifications, too, to be able to have had that experience. So I think that is truly, truly incredible. Candis And I just can't thank you enough for the work you're doing, the joy that you're bringing into the world and to your clients. You're just a remarkable person. I love getting to know you. And thank you so much for being a guest on on the podcast today. 

Candice Price Yeah, of course. You're welcome. Yeah. And I just want to touch on what you said about the throat and, like, that connection. Right? Because I agree. But on a physiological level, if you feel it when you're not seeing or you there, you're like, you feel that knot in your throat and that not in the pelvic floor. Right? So there really is a tension pattern. So for our speaking, our truth and we are bringing we are opening that space, then we are opening that's based on there. So again, it gets to that root of that. We're not continuing to feed that symptom and we always talk about these negative symptoms, but there's all these positive symptoms that our body, it's only just symptoms are somebody talking to us. So like really those glimmers we talked about, right? Like when we're having positive symptoms, it's like going into that, too. So and that's what she was able to do. So, yeah, but thank you so much. You're super fun. I know there's like so much in each one that you can share more and more more about, but I really appreciate you being know to talk about all. That's great. Thank you so much, Candace. 

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