The Journey of Self-Care to We-Care: The Art and Science of the Human Experience

By Adrianne Vangool

In a world where society is increasingly divided and the demands of work, life, and family are ever increasing, it can be difficult to stay whole. Add in the experience of trauma and feelings of overwhelm, and the path to healing and feeling well can seem impossible. As a physiotherapist and certified yoga therapist, Adrianne Vangool has worked with people throughout her career utilizing yoga techniques and evidence-based approaches to changing pain and healing trauma. The impact of this approach has been profound. In The Journey of Self-Care to We-Care, Vangool weaves the art and science of the yoga system, inviting the reader to begin a process of seeking to know oneself and better understand the human experience. The often hard-to-understand evidence behind yoga interventions are presented in an accessible way and brought to life through story, poetry, and tangible practices. Vangool shares her lived experience and the experience of others as they've walked the healing path to wholeness. Through the Circle of Integration and Reclamation, she outlines a 5-step process utilizing a bio-psycho-social model to help regulate one's nervous system, reduce pain, and move toward healing, growth, and feeling/being whole.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Dec 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228885443

Adrianne Vangool

Adrianne Vangool is a licensed physical therapist and certified yoga therapist. She is passionate about making the benefits of physiotherapy and yoga accessible to all. This passion has driven her to start Vangool Wellness, a holistic clinic where she focuses on addressing and eliminating the barriers that prevent people from taking part in yoga and from receiving physical therapy services.Adrianne has a podcast, "Awaken To Your Body's Wisdom," in which she speaks with thought leaders and change-makers who are making a difference in their community and fields of study.Adrianne has published a prenatal/postpartum practice guide to support women through their pregnancy and early-days postpartum entitled, "Yoga for the Stages of Pregnancy and Early Days Postpartum."Adrianne has a passion for spreading the joy and holistic benefits of yoga to those who are looking to restore balance in their life, whether that is through her clinical practice, speaking engagements, podcasts, yoga videos, or writing. She continues to lead accessible & adaptive yoga teacher trainings across Canada, in-person, and online. She has been a guest lecturer at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Indigenous Yoga Association Teacher Training.Adrianne lives in Saskatoon, SK, with her Husband, Matt, and their two children, Walker and Nahanni.

Book preview

The

Journey

of

Self-Care

to

We-Care

The Art and Science

of the Human Experience

Adrianne Vangool

The Journey of Self-Care to We-Care

Copyright © 2022 by Adrianne Vangool

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-8545-0 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-8546-7 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-8544-3 (eBook)

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

A Note to the Reader

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Lived Experience of the Nervous System Explained

Chapter 2: Tend-and-Befriend and The Need to Feel Safe

Chapter 3: Nervous System States through the Lens of Polyvagal Theory

Chapter 4: Whole Person Approach to Care: Seeing the person, not their problem

Chapter 5: Loneliness and Our Biological Need for Connection

Chapter 6: Wounds of the Heart: Part of my story

Chapter 7: Healing Trauma

Chapter 8: Mindfulness and Meditation

Chapter 9: Anatomy of The Breath

Chapter 10: Yoga and Mind-Body Movement Therapies

Chapter 11: The Circle of Integration and Reclamation: The five steps to body-system reset

Chapter 12: Dehumanization in Healthcare

Chapter 13: The Tension Required for Change

References

About the Author

Dedication

To my children, Walker and Nahanni, and my husband Matt, for being the inspirations behind my journey to explore the meaning of healing and being whole.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the amazing clients I have had the privilege of working with, whose stories I have heard. It is their journey through healing and my own search to understand their experience and my own that has continued to inspire me to remain curious and open-minded as we explore the healing of trauma, the management of pain, and the rehabilitation of injuries.

To Leslie-Ann Schlosser, who was one of the first people I showed my early writings to. Thank you for being safe eyes and ears to witness this story and help it come to fruition.

To Kylo Vangool: thank you for the weekly conversations exploring these concepts and talking through the ups and downs of creation.

To Shelly Prosko: you have been an incredible mentor, trailblazer, and friend. I am grateful for your support and guidance and our heartfelt conversations about all things yoga, the biopsychosocial model of care, pain care, and the practice of compassion. It is these heartfelt conversations that sparked my curiosity and thirst to explore deeper.

Thank you to all those who engaged in inspiring and reflective discussions with me over these past years.

To my friends and family, who have supported me along this journey of writing and exploring beyond what I thought was possible in creating a manuscript.

To my training partner and friend Kelsie Hendry: we have shared so many joys, challenges, traumas, and moments of resiliency. I am so grateful to have shared it all with you. As we now witness our families growing up, I am reminded what is possible when we allow ourselves to stay open and move through healing to experience the love and joy that life can bring.

Foreword

Shelly Prosko, PT, C-IAYT, PCAYT

November 2022

Physiotherapist, Yoga Therapist, Educator

Co-editor/author: Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Treating the Person in Pain

www.physioyoga.ca

I first met Adrianne at a professional continuing education course I taught on the topic of yoga therapy and chronic pain. I recall her attentive and kind presence. The types of questions she asked and comments she offered were evidence of a deeper understanding, wisdom and genuine curiosity to grow and learn more. For one reason or another, we immediately felt a kindred spirit. Perhaps it was because we were both diligent athletes in competitive sport in our formative years, or that we were raised in Saskatchewan, University of Saskatchewan physiotherapy graduates, and yoga therapists eagerly and tirelessly pioneering the integration of yoga into rehabilitation. Maybe it was that we share a general sense of awe and curiosity and are free-spirited movement aficionados, reflective truth seekers and dreamers that enjoy people, life, laughter and joy. Or perhaps our fascination with humanity, namely human psychology, behaviour and relationships, is what fuels our fun and meaningful connection to this day. It could simply be that we share a similar sense of humour. Regardless, anyone who knows Adrianne knows she is one of those people that is delightful to be around. She sincerely listens, hears and sees you with curiosity, kindness and without judgement, so you feel free to be yourself. Adrianne embodies what it means to create a safe space and be a compassionate guide and witness. These are vital qualities for healing. You will undoubtedly experience this as you make your way through this book.

Adrianne and I have since engaged in many heartfelt conversations on wide-ranging topics, often circling around our shared passion for integrating yoga into physiotherapy to help provide more whole-person compassionate care. As physiotherapists, we are trained to assess and treat the physical body – as if the body were a machine to be fixed in isolation from the rest of our existence and surrounding environment. Thankfully, the value of using a biopsychosocial-spiritual model in rehabilitation is now strongly supported by science and can no longer be ignored. However, guidance and pragmatic frameworks on how to take a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach are lacking. Fortunately, this book contributes to filling this gap and provides a tangible and accessible path forward.

It is particularly refreshing to see a well-respected physiotherapist such as Adrianne gathering up the courage to extensively include the ‘social’ part of the biopsychosocial-spiritual model – addressing the ‘we’ in We-Care. She opens her heart and shares a part of her personal story and explores uncomfortable truths in our society and systems to underscore the profound impact of societal and systems health on individual health. Conversely and equally important, she also demonstrates the necessary role individual health plays in societal health and our capacity to sustainably serve. In other words, healthy biopsychosocial-spiritual organizations, systems and societies foster healthy biopsychosocial-spiritual individuals and vice-versa. In The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture, Dr. Gabor Maté clearly outlines how all aspects of our culture including social, political and economic conditions influence our individual health. Molecular scientist and biomedical researcher, Professor Michael Kobor, emphasizes the veracity of his coined phrase from society to cell.

I would even propose that stating ‘one influences another’ is an incomplete concept, as this suggests each are connected and communicating, but they are separate. I further propose there is no separation. We are sentient beings inseparable from one another and our environment. One of my favourite phrases I use in my personal and professional practice, in my continuing education courses, and in a book chapter I authored on Compassion in Pain Care is:

To serve self is to serve others, and to serve others is to serve self.

Public health is individual health; individual health is public health. We-care is self-care; self-care is we-care. This concept is effortlessly embodied throughout the book and brilliantly translated into practical tools for us to explore.

As you turn the pages, you will experience how Adrianne eloquently conveys knowledge from various fields of science and combines it with her personal and clinical experiences, mind-body-breath practices including yoga principles and practices, poetry and self-reflection practices. She then encompasses it all in a five-step process she created to help us remember who we are, to connect to what we value (including ourselves) and to lovingly and courageously move towards healing and living with more peace and ease.

This book isn’t meant for us just to read. Adrianne wrote this book for us to experience. At its core, The Journey of Self-Care to We-Care is an experience of Love. On this journey, there is a theme of compassionate loving care that is woven throughout. It starts with an invitation to explore the process of loving yourself which includes presence, awareness, deep listening, patience, trust, compassion, discernment, insight, courage, kind discipline and action.

This book is timely. During one of my conversations with Adrianne, she explained that since the pandemic, she started noticing a growing number of people around her personally and professionally were struggling more than usual. People are feeling hopeless, helpless, disconnected and not feeling heard or seen. We are more divided than ever and, for neurobiological reasons explained in this book, we are less able to hear or see one another, to understand and to love. This effects our physiology and our health. We are doing our best reaching for much needed temporary fixes to soothe ourselves in the moment, but we do not seem to have access to the awareness, guidance, resources or tools required to embark on the journey towards the root of our suffering. This book will be a starting point to guide you to heal, thrive and live well and whole, within community. The loving process of cultivating connection with oneself, others and to our surrounding environment is a non-negotiable part of healthcare.

Whether you are a person who is feeling overwhelmed, lost, confused, in pain or curious about starting your healing process, or someone in a leadership position that can influence change, or an individual looking for resilience and sustainability in your advocacy work, or a healthcare professional overwhelmed in your own personal and professional life, The Journey of Self-Care to We-Care will help you get started on the road to becoming reacquainted with yourself and moving towards healing, hope and loving connection.

A Note to the Reader

Thank you for embarking on this journey with me. By picking up this book and opening the pages, you have chosen to spend this time with these words. For that I am deeply grateful. My hope and intention for this book is for it to read and feel like an experience—of coming back to yourself, or greeting yourself in new ways. Of getting to know yourself again and again, and moving into change and possibility in the ways that you need. To find regulation, and moments of ease.

This is a journey from self-care to we-care. For through caring for ourselves we may become more able to show up and care for others, and more capable of contributing to a kinder and more inclusive society . . . from me to we. This book will blend art and science, and outline a process of seeking to know ourselves and better understand the human experience. Throughout I will share poetry to inspire reflection and the infinite seeker in you, encouraging you to find the beauty that still exists in you and in the world when it can feel like the colour has been stripped from life. I will share current evidence that helps explain what is happening in our bodies when we experience suffering, when we become dysregulated—out of balance in our emotional and physical states. I will also share the often-misunderstood yoga system, and ancient practices that can help us regulate and find ourselves again. But, ultimately, the stories and science within are meant for you to integrate in ways that make sense for you. The Circle of Integration and Reclamation (which you will learn more about throughout the book), is a guide to help you find what fits, so that you may fully step into your inner knowing, the sense of what is true for you, as you move toward healing, growth, and being.

The stories shared are based on real-life incidents I have witnessed, with details, names, and facts changed. Some of the stories and people are fictional, created from common and universal lived experiences I have observed, to illustrate and bring to life the concepts discussed. Where permission was given to share experiences, names were changed to protect the anonymity of the individuals. Regarding my shared personal experiences, I have altered certain events and details so as not to identify the individuals involved. Although altered, the truth of the experience is revealed. Some of the topics and stories may be triggering at times. This book is not intended to shock, and does not go into graphic details of traumatic events. But as we hear stories that are similar to our own experiences of trauma, we can often become triggered, or experience the need to pause and perform some of the self-care tools outlined in this book. Ultimately, the stories are meant to bring us a sense of safety and belonging as we face our own difficult and uncomfortable experiences.

One quick note for safety: Please consult with your doctor prior to performing some of the practices mentioned in this book if you have any pre-existing respiratory conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or others. If you feel light-headed in any of these exercises, please discontinue.

Preface

I am a physiotherapist and yoga therapist born and raised in Saskatchewan on Treaty 6 territory, the traditional territory of the Cree Peoples and the homeland of the Métis Nation in Canada. I have always been a curious person, a seeker, and one who loves to move my body, the feeling of being fully alive. I can vividly remember as a child running everywhere I went, just to feel my heart beat and the wind pass through my hair. I still experience joy through physical play and exploring the world around me through my senses and movement. This manifested in me by thriving in sports, from basketball to track & field. I loved training and achieving as a team. Despite being successful in track and winning multiple gold medals in my event, I can see how much I loved the training and just tolerated the competitions. The sense of relief I had when the competition was done is the feeling I most remember. I achieved much as an athlete, travelling around the world representing Canada in various amateur competitions. The joy for me in sport was the process of getting there, the climb, and the relationships I made along the way.

My