Dr. Amy Novotny is a highly trained physical therapist who has committed herself to helping people with varying medical conditions, including multiple sclerosis, learn how to manage and overcome the pain and discomfort their conditions cause. She is the creator of the PABR® method, a holistic approach to restoring the body to its full potential using its own nervous system. PABR (which stands for Pain Awareness Breathing Relief) is a combination of breathwork and body positioning that calms the nervous system, and on this episode, Geoff Allix dives into this fascinating and transformative practice with the creator herself.   We hope you continue to tune in to more episodes of Living Well with MS, our Coffee Break series and our brand new limited series Ask Jack, featuring professional holistic chef Jack McNulty answering food-related questions generated by you, our community. Watch this space as well as the OMS website and social channels for more updates.   Questions:   Welcome to the show, Dr. Novotny. May I call you Amy? Can you tell our audience a little bit about your background? You’re the creator of the PABR (pain awareness breathing relief) method and its main practitioner through your work under the PABR Institute. Can you give our audience an overview of this technique? How can PABR be helpful for people with MS? Why does a combination of body positioning and breathing calm the sympathetic nervous system? What are the types of pain or discomfort specific to MS that PABR is especially well suited to helping people manage? Are there specific types of MS your technique is better suited to than others, like primary progressive vs. relapsing remitting? Can you share any case studies or success stories you’ve had working with people with MS? How do you train people to learn and apply this method? What led you to create the PABR method? Has PABR helped you personally in any way to deal with pain? What’s your vision for making the PABR method accessible to more people with MS and beyond? Given we are still emerging from 2020’s Covid tunnel, what’s the light at the end of the tunnel you see in 2021?   Bio:   Dr. Amy Novotny founded the PABR® Institute with the mission to provide pain, stress and anxiety relief to those who seek a naturalistic form of treatment when other treatment methods have fallen short. Her unique approach comes from her experience treating in a variety of settings and with a wide range of patient populations over the past 12 years. Her background is in orthopedics, sports, geriatrics, balance disorders, nerve injuries, and most recently, chronic pain; and her influences from coursework at the Postural Restoration Institute gave her the foundation to develop this treatment method to address a wide variety of painful and restrictive conditions. Her methods have helped countless people reduce and eliminate pain, stress, anxiety, orthopedic surgeries, sleep issues and the need for medications. She co-authored two Amazon #1 Best-Selling books Don’t Quit: Stories of Persistence, Courage and Faith and Success Habits of Super Achievers, which share her journey on how and why she developed the PABR® Method. Her ability to speak French and Spanish has allowed her to communicate with and help various clients from all around the world, including France, Mexico, Central America and South America. She has a variety of interests including running 40+ marathons, running 10 ultra marathons (including two 100 milers), completing an Ironman triathlon, photographing wildlife and landscapes all over the world that has led to several of her images being chosen as Photos of the Day, most notably National Geographic Your Shot World Top Photo of the Day.   Links:   Learn more about Novotny See Amy’s photography portfolio Check out Amy on Facebook Check out Amy on LinkedIn Check out Amy on Instagram Check out Amy on Twitter Schedule a free 15m consultation with Dr. Novotny   Coming up on our next episode:   On our next episod