The Katmah Experience

One of my driving passions in my career has been around convincing people that their diagnosis, their pain, their injuries are not something they are chained to.

I had to stop counting how many young athletes (usually female) or just people in general come into my clinic and tell me that they were told that they have an issue (usually postural, and not permanent) that was the reason behind their pain- and simultaneously told that their only options were A) pain medication for the symptoms B) ongoing physio treatments (ultrasound, IMS, TENS) that are another form of pain medication.. they literally work the same way in the body.. temporary symptoms relief. And C) that their issue was just a part of who they are, and there wouldn’t be much long term that could be done about it (either this or some form of invasive surgery to change the structure). Aside to this, the majority of my client base is middle aged or older and has been told at some point that their pain is just a part of their life now (usually told this in their earlier years like the first demographic I noted) and that all they could do was find ways to cope. I refuse to accept either of these scenarios as the only truth.

Almost always, if this patient sticks through some of the tough work of mindset and lifestyle change (often small things), I’m able to offer a different path that results in greater performance, self awareness and pain relief.

Now- this isn’t a pitch on why I am a magician at what I do. It’s a statement of concern for the system we have put our faith in. Just because someone tells you you’re broken and cannot be fixed, does not mean you are broken and cannot be fixed.

We need to stop telling people that just because they are a certain way in one moment, they are destined to have that filter on the rest of their lives moving forwards. As humans we are designed and primed for change. When we lose our adaptability and presence in life, that’s generally where pain, anxiety, and other low functioning states arise. Presence in my mind essentially just means showing up with each new day open to whatever arises, stepping away from a rigidly expected reality.

Upwards of 80% of the clients that come in my door tell me they have tried everything and been to everyone, with little to no change in their wellbeing. I’ve come to realize that the difference in what I’m doing has nothing to do with level of technical skill or knowledge.. rather, it’s a joint effort between their willingness (or sometimes desperation) to make a change alongside my intent as a practitioner to work with them on that project. Maybe it’s just the simple fact that everything they’ve previously done before is clicking into place coincidentally as I add my two cents to the picture. It’s more common than not that people walk out of my doors feeling significant change and saying that that’s a first.

I hesitate to speak negatively about other practitioners because I rarely doubt their skill, intelligence or intent. Unfortunately the system we work within is often not in our (or the patient’s) favor. It’s rushed, based on economy over the people it’s supposed to serve, and overworked purely due to the need in today’s society for healing. Most of us have been raised in environments that neglected to teach us how to hear ourselves amidst the noise of the world we exist in. The wounds of our past generations were never given the chance to heal and those scars have been passed down to us, with new context for the modern age. Only now we are beginning to understand from a Western science perspective how interconnected our inner workings are, and how interconnected we all are. Societal traumas are breaking free to get loud, yet the resources needed to help the healing process are either being drowned with the need to serve or lost amongst the growing wellness industry fixated on $$ over individuals.

The point I’m trying to get across here? Take a healthy dose of salt if/when you are told by someone in a perceived position of authority over your health that you have reached the end of a road regarding a diagnosis. Our bodies are amazing at healing, if we set the stage for them. There is next to no reason that any one condition or set of symptoms is a life sentence.