This is the InHarmony podcast. Real conversations with the people living and working with our technology. How it's changing their days, their families, their practices, and their communities. Posted by our co-founder, Craig Goldberg. Let's get InHarmony. All right. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Melinda, I am so grateful that you are here. The smile, the energy, all of it. It's just fabulous. I appreciate you. How are you today? I'm good. I'm good. How about yourself? I am absolutely spectacular. I absolutely love this series and these conversations have been amazing and so fulfilling on so many different ways. Melinda, you've been using our technology for three years, a little bit more. Yeah. I am. I remember many of our conversations. I remember many of the back and forth, the exchanges. You're so supportive of our community. And I am, like I said, very, very grateful for you to share and open up a little bit on our technology. I want to go back. I want to go back to what was happening in your life before you found InHarmony. Your practice or your personal life. What were you looking for? If there was something you were looking for or what problem did we solve or what solutions we bring? If there was one, what was going on in your life before you found InHarmony? Yeah, so it's been it's been a crazy journey. And I met actually Kate the Great at something back when I lived in Las Vegas. And she we went to a some seminar that she was having. And I had never heard of vibroacoustic therapy, knew nothing about it. And she had a sound lounge set up there. And so my husband and I both tried it. And I was like, what in the world? You know, and it's wild when there's so many people around and you can still get out of your head a little bit, even if it's for five or 10 minutes. I'm like, usually that doesn't happen because you're very aware of everything going on around you. Yeah. And it just took us to a different place. And during that time, I was going through kind of a lot of grief in my life. I had recently lost my parents. And so when I was seeing Kate, I started seeing her kind of privately in her studio in Henderson. And she, she used the technology in a way that helped me process some of the grief that I was carrying. And I was like, man, this is different, you know. And during that time, I was kind of making the move from traditional healthcare as a researcher to opening my own practice. During that time, I finished my PhD, moved to Alabama and opened the Wellness Institute. And I was like, okay, well, unfortunately, my sound lounge that I have in my house is now going to be moved to the clinic. And my husband's like, wait, what? You're moving the sound lounge? And so yes, it's here now. He has to come here for, for therapies. And it's been such a great addition to the practice here. Tell me a little bit about the Wellness Institute. So the Wellness Institute is focused on bringing people back to kind of their natural state. But I focus on the systems underneath everything. You know, it's like the symptoms are just kind of your ways that your body is telling you that something needs attention. So I focus on the systems, primarily the nervous system, because that's your master communicator. That's what is directing traffic. And allowing things to happen, whether it's digestion, or sleep, or pain response, things like that. Nervous system is your key to all of that. And so the Wellness Institute focuses on I developed a method called the restore method. And it starts with regulation first, then we rebuild, and then we restore the body. So it's not keeping you dependent on a provider, it's giving you the tools that your body needs so that you can take care of yourself. Warms my heart to hear you saying these words. You've been talking about this for 10 years. And, you know, we're watching this conversation and these keywords come up now nervous system regulation. And I don't even know if a lot of people even know what that means. And we talk about it a lot. And we've we've talked about it here. But I'm so grateful to hear that being a part of one what you found to what you're sharing as a as a baseline for like, hey, first, let's re regulate your system. Let's get you back into a regular balance and cadence. And yeah, circadian rhythm or relaxation or, or anything that's rough around the edges. Let's soften that a little bit. And, and I'll also just take a moment to shower Kate with with some gratitude. We've already recorded her podcast. So you can go back and watch that if you'd like. And yeah, Kate has been a longtime support. I spoke with Brian yesterday, as I was driving back from the desert yesterday morning. And they're just absolutely incredible, dedicated to our technology. And much like me. Kate was like, this is great. We need to tell more people about this. More people know about this. We need to get this out. And, and look, Kate, Kate leveraged her proximity to me here in Vegas, and, and did just that and still does. She's coming in for L&T success group in in December, and she's going to run that entire show on her own. Oh, that's great. Absolutely. And we do have a Chris Cunningham podcast on YouTube and on our website. So if you can just check out the link in the description, we have a Chris Cunningham podcast. So be sure to check that out. And yeah, we've got a lot of great people on the show. So he got, well, we both got very used to it being there. But so for me personally, you know, it's like if you're in nervous system regulation, you know the cues, right? You know that, ooh, it's a bad night of sleep. It might be a headache, things like that. And as I pay attention to myself, I know when I need to get on it. I try to make it a part of my daily life. For a client coming in though, it's pretty special. So you can either book a therapy individually and come in and use it. And there's a great description on the website. Or if someone is looking for a total look at their health, we look at sleep, we look at supplements, we look at nutrition, we look at everything. And what's funny, a lot of people will either A, know that their stress level is high or B, say that they're not stressed at all. And then we start talking about sleep and digestion and all of these things. And they're like, well, I really don't sleep well at night. And I'm like, hmm, okay. So maybe your body is interpreting stress internally, even though you've now become accustomed to living in that heightened stress response. And you think it's normal. So- This is the new normal. Yeah, and that's the thing. They're like, oh, well, I don't really feel stressed. I have them rated on a scale of one to 10 and they're like three. But yet they're not sleeping and they have stomach issues and all of these things. And so they get part of their primary therapies, especially early on is vibroacoustic therapy. Yeah, it's such an important baseline. And look, even in just hanging out, just talking to people about what I do and the impact. And of course I share the technology as often as I can. And sometimes I'll tell people about the experience. Other times I'll just say, hey, why don't you lay down and just listen to music and enjoy yourself. And it is, so many people get up and the most common reaction that I hear is, wow, I had no idea how unrested I was or what it feels like to truly rest or they're just completely flabbergasted by the experience. And there's just no words. You can see their mind working and the relaxation and the feeling that they had. And they're just trying to call up words and they're not coming because they're so relaxed. And it's like, hey, that's what it feels like to relax. That's not like your evening, watching the news and drinking a glass of wine or two. This is what relaxation really feels like. And yes, you can have this as often as you need it. And some people are quite uncomfortable with being relaxed. They're uncomfortable kind of tuning it off. And when I ask about how they relax in the evening, they're like, oh, well, we watch TV and I'm scrolling through my phone. And I'm like, that's not really giving you what you need. But they think that that is their form of relaxation. To your point, there's no restoration there. You have to move out of the beta brainwave into alpha, theta, delta, up into gamma. You need to get yourself into that relaxed state instead of a stimulated state, which we're constantly being stimulated in so many different ways. You hit the nail on the head and it's really quite beautiful. Was, as you think back on those first few months using the technology, or maybe it happened when you were right there with Kate, but was there a moment where you thought, okay, this is different? I feel different. Yeah, so I remember the first time I went in to see her in her Henderson studio and she had a box of tissues next to the bed. And I was like, she's like, some people, everyone feels the response a little bit different. Some people get emotional. Some people release in a different way. She knew what I had been going through. So she made sure that she knew that there were tissues right there next to me. And I was like, I'm not gonna need any tissues. I'm just laying on a bed, listening to music, right? And she came in afterwards and I was like sobbing because of everything that had come up. And I'm like, okay, this is a little bit different. And the calm that I felt afterwards and then the clarity. So for me, when I'm on the bed, I get very relaxed, very like deep, almost sleepy when I first get off of it. But then 30 minutes later, my focus and clarity is so crazy that I'm like, okay, well now I can get a whole bunch of stuff done. And I remember that first experience with her and needing to use her box of tissues. That's for sure. Tissues are great. Look, even our grief music meditation, people ask me a lot, like, what should I listen to for this? What should I listen to for that? And we try and name the music meditations as best we can and the intention that goes into creating these music meditations. That grief music meditation, the intention is simply to create a space for us to grieve. And I can speak for myself, I'm really good at compartmentalizing things. I'm really good at tucking something under the rug or in a corner. And I'm like, we'll deal with that later. And I know I need to, but life is just lifing constantly. And there's always something in front of me. There's always somebody around me. There's just never a space for me to sometimes like pull up the rug and just be like, what can we process? What can we tend to? What's going on in my internal garden and temple that needs attention instead of me focusing outward on other people's gardens and other people's attention. And that music meditation comes up more often than many others. There's a lot that come up regularly, but that's one. And that, look, we're all grieving something at some time. The loss of a loved one is obviously happening on a regular basis, but it's also the, maybe it's the loss of who you were or a version of yourself that's no longer there or a friend leaving or somebody moving away or a cat or an animal. Or as my puppy is sitting in my lap, right? Like it creates an opportunity for us to feel the feels around grief, which is a very healthy thing. It's something that we don't often give ourselves space and time to do. And it's one of my favorite music meditations specifically for that purpose. And many of our music meditations will offer that. So when we're go, go, go, that endless to-do list, that endless processing of people, places, and things that is constantly coming into our field, we're too busy to allow that to happen. But when we relax, usually it's one of the first things that come up. We think about a loved one. We think about, I think about my grandfather and my grandmother on a regular basis, dad's parents. Frankly, I think about my mom's parents also. My parents live with me. So I have a multi-generational household. And I think of my grandparents on a regular basis. And I don't know that it's grief at this point because it's been years, but it's still just paying homage to their sacrifice, giving them gratitude for the existence and the hardship that they went through. It was a different time. I mean, it's still tough. I think life is still lifing hard today. I'm not calling it easy, but it's certainly easier than it was when my grandfather was living on $50 a week in a tenement in downtown New York. And I just think back to that experience that they had and what they went through. And again, just creating that space to think about that and give their soul some energy, right? Like it's not necessarily grief for me at this point, but instead it's turned and shifted into that gratitude and appreciation of, hey, thanks for paving the way for me. I really appreciate it. Thank you for the lessons. Came up last night telling stories about my grandfather and my wife, who I'm with 18 years, and the beginning of that relationship and what that was like and my wife's engagement ring. Anyway, just again, telling that story and going back to revisit that, not in a grieving way, but instead in a, and it makes that shift. And that shift happens for everybody. Does it happen in a week, a year, 10 years? What does that look like? And I love the Sound Lounge and the Sound Lounge session as an opportunity to relax the mind enough to create the space to have that experience and that recognition of like, hey, I get that you're not here right now. That's the cycle of life. And now it's time for this version of myself to accelerate, move forward and not forget, but not feel, again, just pulling up the rug, flattening it out and being like, okay, cool. I've processed this. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And the cool thing about the Sound Lounge is, so many people that are trying to get healthy, they think they have to do more. So they need a different supplement regimen or they're gonna do sauna or cold plunger, high intensity interval training or something. And I always tell people, if your nervous system is already maxed out, all those things just add extra stress. So let's use this therapy where you actually don't have to do anything, right? I don't like to tell people they have to relax because that just causes more stress. It's like, just lay down, listen to music, feel it and let the bed and the sounds do the work. You literally have to do nothing while you're laying here. And then once you're regulated, then we'll talk about supplements, then we'll talk about sauna, then we'll do all of that. But it has to start, this is the foundation to everything. So there's two sides to that. I actually recorded, there's a demo, several demo music meditations and my favorite is the seven minute demo. And in it, I tell people in the music meditation, exactly what I tell everybody for the most part when they get on and off our technology. And that is, you're not supposed to be doing anything or not supposed to be doing anything, right? There's no right way to do this, there's no wrong way to do this. You're just a guy or a gal laying on a sound lounge, listening to music. And I usually pause and I usually look up and be like, okay. And then I'll usually follow up and say, just enjoy the experience, right? Just lose yourself in the music. Try not to overthink it. And they immediately smile. And I'm like, hey, if your nose starts to itch, it's your nose. The last thing I wanna do at the end of that experience is ask you like, hey, how was it? And you're like, oh man, my nose is so itchy. I just wanted to itch it the whole time. And now you're just thinking about your nose itching, right? And it's itching on your nose the entire time. It's like, no, if you wanna stretch, stretch. If you wanna move, you wanna wiggle, wiggle. Like there's no right way to do this or wrong way to do it. And I think that that is so key, so, so key. It's one of the reasons why we're so dedicated to customer service and tech support and standing behind our product and making ourselves accessible and being here for people. Cause they call us with these horrific past experiences that they bring to ours and buying from various things, from various companies. And it's like, hey, that's not, look, delivery can be the bane of our existence. I love you, FedEx. I love you, UPS. But like, it's not always the best experience. And it's like, hey, you're covered. Let's figure it out. There's a hole in the box. No problem, open it up. Is it damaged? Is there an issue with it? If there is, you're covered. Like, we'll figure it out. We have the best warranty in the industry as far as I'm concerned. And it's lifetime on amps and transducers. It's just covered. We're gonna help you, right? And I think that that's really part and parcel. Like, so many people call in and they're stressed about the buying experience or they're stressed about something. And I'm like, that's not what we're about here. Like, the whole purpose is for relaxation and not to agitate the experience. So it's like, hey, how can we help? And let's get to the bottom of this together and let's figure it out. It doesn't happen that often, but when it does, it's like, we're focused on relaxation. So let's keep this a nice relaxing experience and we'll figure it out together. Exactly. Yeah, I think it's a very beautiful part that I get to show up that way in some of these somewhat stressful situations, right? You make a big investment, there's a problem. Like, it's all good. Let's just get it fixed. And I hear that sigh. I hear that, okay, yeah, let's do that. Thank you so much. And then that gets reflected back to me, that cool, calm demeanor, which I now have because I have regular SoundCloud sessions in my life. Yeah, exactly. Right? So Melinda, if somebody were in your position now and they were thinking about InHarmony, and you've already answered this in a few different ways, but if somebody was like, I'm just thinking about whether or not to invest with InHarmony, what would you tell them? What would you say to them? So, yeah, for me, it's a no-brainer because I've been in it for a while. But for somebody that hasn't experienced it, I would let them know that this is a completely different tool. If they're in a wellness clinic or if they're an integrative doctor or whatever, and you want to actually move the needle for nervous system regulation, everybody's talking nervous system right now, right? It's like the latest buzzword, but nobody, like you said, nobody understands truly what it is. But if you want to move the needle in the space of nervous system regulation, this product will do the work for you. You don't have to do anything except get people on the table. You just have to plug them in and let them go. And then the product does the work. And the experiences that I see from clients after they have used it, I mean, better sleep, less headaches, less pain, better digestion, all of the things that, you know, as a natural medicine practitioner, we're all wanting, but nobody quite knows how to get there, starts here, starts here. Look, that baseline nervous system response, sympathetic or parasympathetic. Sympathetic, stressed, anxious, aka survival mode. Parasympathetic, rest and digest, aka maintenance mode. We want to get the body into maintenance mode as often as possible. And music is specifically through our delivery system or our app. Good set of headphones, Bluetooth speaker, our Viber Acoustic Tech, awesome. It's a beautiful pathway of how do you feel? How do you want to feel? Because most people are going to tell you they feel stress over something for some reason, whether they know it or not. And how do you want to feel? Oh, I want to feel rested. I want to feel relaxed. I want to feel restoration, right to your point. I really love that word. Melinda, thank you so much for sharing some time with us. I am so grateful that you gave us a piece of your morning here so that we could record. And I'm just so grateful to have you with us and so grateful to have our technology in the Wellness Institute. And I hope you have a spectacular day. You're welcome. Thanks for spending time with us on the InHarmony Podcast. If today's conversation resonated, share it with someone who needs it. And come find us at IamInHarmony.com. Until next time, stay in harmony.