Meet Your Health Heroes: Dr. Randy Michaux on Connection, Purpose, and Creating a Practice with Love

There are moments in practice that remind us why we do this work. For Dr. Randy Michaux, it's when he finishes a call, places his hand on his heart, and breathes in the gratitude of truly connecting soul-to-soul with another human being.

"If nobody else hears you, I do."

In this heart-warming conversation, Randy shares what fulfillment really means to him and it has nothing to do with protocols or perfect outcomes. It's about connection. It's about being present enough to notice when someone says "I'm fine" but their body language screams otherwise. It's about giving someone permission to be heard, seen, and held in their suffering.

Randy's journey to his heart-centered practice wasn't linear. He opens up about losing his father and recognizing how little he actually knew. About standing at a conference, unable to look his future coach in the eye because he couldn't trust himself. About the day he sat at his desk and released massive weight through the emotion code, learning for the first time to trust his intuition.

You'll hear how Randy rebuilt his definition of success from the ground up. For years, his bank account dictated his worth, creating an exhausting rollercoaster that left him depleted. Today, he measures success in love: how he receives it, how he gives it, how it flows through every patient interaction.

Randy shares the practices that keep him grounded: morning meditations filled with divine love through breathwork, daily walks where he simply listens to the wind and birds, and learning to honor his need for intentional rest instead of pushing through like a generator when he's actually a projector.

This conversation will remind you why you became a healer. It's about the sacred exchange that happens when two souls connect. It's about trusting yourself enough to step outside the box. And it's about remembering that your value isn't measured in dollars, it's measured in love.

Connect with Dr. Randy Michaux:

• Website: https://www.totalbodywellnessclinic.com/
• Podcast: Restore the Real
• Facebook and Instagram @dr.randymichaux

Get my book The Fulfilled Practitioner for FREE: www.rbrar.com/tfpbook

Follow me on instagram: @fulfilledpractitioner

Follow me on Facebook: @drrickybrar

Set up a strategy call with me here: Schedule Here

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Welcome to the Fulfilled Practitioner Podcast. Today we're doing one of our favorite segments, and that's Meet Your Health Heroes. Here we're going to talk about spotlighting practitioners who are not just creating impact, but they're doing it with fulfillment, purpose, and authenticity. I've met some of the most brilliant minds in this space, and they're truly changing the world. And I don't want them to stay a best kept secret much longer. Today's guest is somebody I've been inspired by, I've admired, I've uh thought of him as a role model uh for many years now, and I'm so blessed to have this opportunity. Hey Randy, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Thanks for having me, Ricky.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Excited to be here. Oh, I'm so excited for this opportunity. And uh again, like I mentioned, you're somebody I've I've uh admired from afar, and I know we've connected uh over the years as well. So before we jump into it, I'd love for you to kind of give the listeners a background. Who are you and and what do you do?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

So I'm I'm a husband, I'm a father of five, uh, a Spartan racer, I love outdoors, love backpacking, just all things outdoors except fishing, not a fisher, but uh love nature. Um and and I'm a healer, right? I could say that I'm a functional medicine practitioner, but it goes so much further than that. And um and I'm a lover of learning. I love learning, I I'm passionate about that. Um, in whatever form it comes, and I try to be open to different ideas, different perspectives, different mediums of learning. And uh yeah, I guess at the heart of it, I I love I'm a lover of life. I really do love life and I try to seek for things that bring love into my life.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

And it's evident in everything you do. So, from my first impressions of meeting you, the energy in person, to everything you post, uh I could uh see that through all of your work as well. Uh, anytime I do interview a health here, I want to go back to like what is their origin story? So I know like Spider-Man got the spider bite. So that was kind of a lucky one, but I know our journey is often different. We don't have that same luck. So, like, what drew you into this uh health world?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Uh so by training, I'm a chiropractor, right? And you know the the short of that was I had hurt my shoulder, went to PT, thought that was really cool, and was gonna go down that route. And then my mom was like, you got to go meet my chiropractor. And I was kind of turned off by that, but I did, and you know, had like the miracle adjustment where everything just turned on in my body. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is incredible, and pretty much on the spot, decided I was gonna be a chiropractor, and then shared that with my wife, her family. They kind of thought I was nuts. And then and then that was the beginnings, right? In terms of transitioning from chiropractic to this space, uh, it took my dad dying. Um, it was 11 years ago uh in September that he passed away. And you realize how little you actually know. You think you know a lot, and then you realize, oh, I really don't know anything. And through that process, I had met Todd Watts, and he shared some things with me. We were conversing back and forth. Um, and then I always had an interest in nutrition, but it was just very basic, right? It was it was the basics. I had a great professor in chiropractic school that that I would say at the time was probably on the forefront of connecting inflammation with chronic disease, with even some things in terms of like mental illness. Um he was teaching us things about what did he call it? Um psychiatric inflammation. Like he was he was in that realm, and we would get this. And I and I had him as a professor probably five times during my my chiropractic experience, which really paved the way to understand the inflammatory process in the body. But I didn't know how to bridge those two things together chiropractically. I could only kind of do one thing at a time. Um, and then when I met Todd, eventually he said, Hey, come work with me. And and that really I had to dive right into this world of functional foundational medicine. And and that was my intro to parasites and mold. And I think what drew me to it again was my dad, was this desire to, I don't want people to not understand and not know what to do about complex health problems. He'd go to the doctor, they tell him stuff, and it was really me then trying to help them interpret what that was as best I could. And but there was so much complexity to it. And I'm like, this is not, it shouldn't be that complex. And uh so I feel now I I really try to help make simple out of complex and bring that down into like what's actually happening and maybe the 30,000-foot view instead of the finite, like one minute detail that doesn't really make sense to people. But it was really my dad. It was him passing and me recognizing I just don't know a lot of stuff. And how do I start learning and why did I miss it?

SPEAKER_00 7:20

And I love that you started, and and I'm sure all the listeners and the viewers can can see it, but we can see your purest intention. So I talk about this concept in my book, and uh I find uh practitioners who have a very strong why, and it's their purest intention behind all of the work they do. They take a beginner's mind to everything that they've learned. And you also very early in your career seem to have recognized kind of the limitations of what you knew. And then it's uh always that perfect moment, as you know it happened in my life, where uh when the student is ready, the master appears, uh, and it looks like you you had an absolute great mentor in uh Dr. Todd Watts. Shout out to him, and I know he's been a distant mentor of mine uh from a distance as well. So, like that's an amazing journey. And like the one thing that I've learned about you since I've known you is you do have so many skills. So, this is when I have a discussion with you, and you'll be talking about one thing, and then the next time I talk to you, you'll be talking about something completely different. I'm like, I didn't even know you do all of that. So it's it I know it's kind of a tough thing to even like define yourself. So, like on a on a call like this, uh, we uh we ask you to kind of box yourself in and tell us like what do you do? And it's actually my next question is like, like, who's the best person to work with you? Who who do you feel is the the best candidate that that you love working with?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

That's a great question, and it morphs, right? It changes. Um I think the best person you need to be open to because we we pigeonhole ourselves into like this is what I need. You think you know what you need, you think you need a protocol, you think you need um things that are outside of you. So I would say the person that I work with, they definitely have chronic illness, right? They're suffering from kind of mystery illness. It's hard to tell people about what their symptoms are because they don't even understand. They look at them, they're like, You look fine. What's wrong with you? Like, just get up and move and exercise, and and they're like, I can't, you don't understand. And it's that person. And what's driving that? Well, I mean, that's where we we dive into mold and and parasites and viruses and and trauma. And a lot of people they kind of bristle when I say trauma. I didn't have any trauma. And I'm like, really? Like, you don't have any baggage? Like, well, no, I have baggage, right? But I didn't have trauma. I said, Well, how did your body interpret that? And they don't know, right? That's I didn't know for a long time. I didn't understand that. So the best person really is that person that's open and that they are willing to step outside of their own box of what they think they need and be willing to dive into things that may create a little uncertainty, a little like pushing maybe up against what they're what they think they've known all their life. And just be willing to accept that there's more out there because it's not all about supplements, it's not all about protocols. There's energy, there's frequency, there's just connection that that is healing, there's trust. And so that's the person that I think I work best with. I have found that those that are not willing to look outside of that box of even functional medicine in terms of protocols, and they're really not open to looking at how does energy and frequency play a role in their health, uh, we kind of struggle. It's hard. It's like you're you're asking me to help you and you're saying, but I want you to tie like both arms behind your back and just use what's up in here in your brain. And it's like, wait a minute, like there's so much that's going to come from my heart and intuition. And if I can't use that, then like this probably isn't a good fit.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Yeah, and I love that distinction because uh I feel just reflecting back on Micro, that's exactly the big pattern that I noticed is it it's more important to ask who is this not for than who is this for? And if people have those certain criteria that would be blocks, like we all know it from the the research world, there's the placebo effect, and that's when you feel that there's a modality or treatment or intervention that uh you have belief in will work, even if it's a sugar pill, it's actually going to produce a result in your body. But the opposite of that is the nocebo effect, right? And I feel those are the circumstances where uh people might take quote unquote the right thing and they get no reaction or or a posit uh a negative reaction and kind of take a step back. And I feel like a lot of those blocks, and I I feel like that's the trajectory of the space as well, because I know just even reflecting back 10 years ago, if you think about it, almost nobody was talking about the nervous system. So if you were talking about the nervous system at that point, uh, you were kind of somebody talking about a concept that a lot of people knew nothing about. And it was kind of hard to actually tell them, like, dude, this trauma is playing a role in your life. Like it actually might be the root cause of all of this you're experiencing. But I feel now in in at the time we're reporting this in 2025, it's uh it's becoming more the forefront. So I love that. And I love that you're acknowledging that. So I can see if if somebody works with you, they're gonna get this very comprehensive approach that kind of knocks out multiple birds with one stone and uh addresses these things that they've probably never addressed before. And often transformation is in those moments that we've never we've never actually explored, though those areas of our health we've never actually explored. So even myself, I'm I'm I'm diving down the trauma rabbit hole pretty deep right now. And uh it's been uh probably the greatest exploration of my my career. And I've I've come very far without doing it, but once you kind of start unraveling that, you're like, oh man, I I wish I I'd started a little bit earlier. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah. Yeah. So this is called the Fulfilled Practitioner Podcast. So uh I would it be right if I didn't ask you, what does being a fulfilled practitioner mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 13:43

So many things. Um and I think this this is the question that that I had thought about that I'm like, this was hard, this was hard to answer in in some ways. Um I think that it's knowing, believing that what you are doing has value, right? Because if what we're doing doesn't have value to us, to the person that we're serving, then then there's no joy for at least for me in that. And so I think the value, the fulfillment that I get is when I finish a call with somebody and I know that the connection was, I know that there was connection there, right? That's fulfillment is connection because we heal, we don't heal in isolation, we heal in community, we need each other. And when I able when I able to connect heart to heart, soul to soul with someone, when they know that, dude, he hears me, he gets what I'm saying, it's like wow, that was that was amazing. Um, yesterday I had I finished two calls and I just paused and just kind of sat back and I was like, man, this is really amazing. Like they're not easy calls. Like, I'm not saying that these are like easy, sometimes they're very deep. There, there's a someone on the other end that's there's a lot of suffering going on, and yet you make that connection and it's beautiful. And so I just sat back, kind of put my hand on my heart, and I'm like, can I just breathe in just the gratitude that I have that I can connect in this way with another human to let them know that, hey, if nobody else hears you, I do. And I remember one time, I think this story really is kind of cool. There was a lady that I really, I mean, she was a she was an older lady and a beautiful soul, and she made the comment. She said, All my friends, all my friends that I truly like connect with, I'm paying for. Right? And that kind of like, I'm like, okay, that kind of hurts a little bit. Yes, I mean, where there's this, there's this relationship here, and there's exchange. And then she stopped and she's like, No, that's not true. She's like, Yes, I am paying you, but the level of connection is so much more than what the ex than than what like the the monetary exchange has been. And and she said, and this is how I've experienced that. And it was really cool to to hear that from her. And again, it kind of helped me to know, okay, value, you are delivering value, right? That's fulfillment to me, is is that connection. And it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Wow, and that's uh that's one that like it gave me some goosebumps as we're speaking, because I know that's uh it's so tough on the practitioner because you're literally giving your your blood, sweat, and and soul to the people that you work with, and you're building that connection over time. But it's so important, and that's where uh I know like coming from a chiropractic background and more of a structural background, like a lot of us do, we focus on kind of the end result being, okay, if they're coming in with knee pain, a successful case would be, uh, their knee pain disappears, right? Like it's it's it's often black and white that way. But when you get into this life story, people's journey, how intertwined, deep-rooted, chronic mystery illnesses are, uh, that's where all of these variables are. They need to be entangled, and you can't do that without trust, right? So I love that definition. I know being a chiropractor and going from that point to now, has your has your definition of success changed much?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Um, I would say that uh I think my definition of success is uh very, I mean, how do I even say this? I want people, obviously, people want to be better, right? And and so I think it's on two levels because I can grade myself for what is success in business, what is success in practice, what is success with the person. And they're all kind of different, right? The the success in terms of the the patient care is did they see improvement, right? And that improvement doesn't mean healed necessarily, right? It means was there improvement? Did they did they get better? And again, there's gonna be a gradient on that. Um, I'd love to say that everybody that I work with, like, hey, they're healed. That's not the case, right? They're better, they're improved, um, but there still may be steps on their journey that they need that that I'm don't fit that role. So success for me is when there's been improvement, they've seen it, they recognize it, um, and the value that they've received is like, wow, this was more than what I thought, right? This was this, I I came into this program because of this reason, but actually what I got was this. And what that turns out to be for many is I came in here thinking that this was going to be about protocols and it was gonna be about just all about mold and parasites. But what I learned was actually how to how to get in touch with my own being and on an energetic level and greater awareness and being able to change what I focus on and have the ability to manage and change my state. If I've done that, then their success in terms of the person. In terms of success in business, this has been a real challenge for me because we look at what's the bottom line, we have to run a business, right? You have to keep it afloat. And I think in my family, my immediate family, uh in and generationally, success has been built out in money, right? But money is just what I what I've come to recognize is money is just an energetic exchange, right? Does that really dictate my success, my worth, my value? And maybe I'm putting, maybe I'm superimposing success with value here, but for so long, I did view the bank account as my value. If it was low, then am I really doing anything good? Am I a good practitioner? Am I helping people? And when it would increase, I would be like, oh my gosh, I'm doing like I'm great, I am helping. And that up and down, oh my gosh, like that roller coaster is exhausting and and very taxing. And recently that view of success has been shifting to I view my success in love, right? The bank account does not define who I am, so my value is not going to change, and I don't need to be on that roller coaster. Yes, money can cause stress in different ways, but I can be more steady and more grounded if my success is based in love and how I receive that for myself, how I receive that from my family, how I give that. And so, again, success means so many different things and it's different, but that that's how I view that on both of those spectrums.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Well, that might be the best answer I've I've ever got for a definition of success. Like it's uh like even my mind was really turny because I I think all of us struggle with that, and because like the vast majority of us, and if you don't, it's no problem, it's not a negative, but a lot of us we came into this world because we had a personal health journey. So when we go back to again our purest intention, it's to help people, to prevent them from going down the same path that we did, and then taking everything that we've learned and giving it to them, right? So on our heroes' journey, we're we're trying to help all of these people on their hero's journey. And like it's it's really interesting because it's almost a cliche saying, but it almost always comes down to love. And that's like the top thing that that kind of makes the world go round, and uh that's where fulfillment comes from as well. And I think like practitioners struggle with that, especially new practitioners. If you tell somebody whose bank account is near zero, a new practitioner that um, hey, let's let's put put some numbers, fake numbers on a screen and let's make you believe that that's yours. Like they probably would initially feel better, right? They would feel more relaxed, that stress would go away, but ultimately, like you said, for someone someone who's had that experience, it's a roller coaster ride. So most likely they'll be right back to where they started, unless that definition of success changes. So I absolutely love that. And it absolutely shows in in the work that you do as well. Uh, I know like like that was uh that was a very powerful definition. Is there any single lesson that stands out to you in your career that you kind of had to learn the hard way?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

I mean, it's been more recent, right? That that it's funny how things happen. We can look back and and you know, there were things that helped me grow. Um there are a couple of them. Can I share a couple of them? Yeah, absolutely. So I think one of the first ones was I was early in practice and a colleague of mine, a friend. Invited me to a conference. And at the time, like I was really struggling, right? I could be a chiropractor, but I had no idea how to run a business. And I thought, well, hey, maybe I can just learn something here that will help me to like. I don't even know why I went. Honestly, I was so low. And I heard a guy speak, not on chiropractic. He was a coach, but it was everything that I was dealing with, not being able to communicate. It was hard for me to look people in the eyes. It was hard for me to ask for money. It was hard for me to even present a plan to somebody because whether or not they accepted or rejected that, I had that so tied up in if they do, then I'm good. If they don't, then I suck.

unknown 24:27

Right?

SPEAKER_01 24:27

And that's really what it came to. It was that black and white. And I remember listening to him speak, and I'm like, I need what he has. And it wasn't the words, it was the feeling. It was there's there's confidence, there's there's something behind this. And so I went up to him on the desk, couldn't even look him in the eye. I mean, I was literally, you know, just kind of shuffling back and forth. I was not grounded, I couldn't stay still. And he recognized way more in me than I did in me at the time. And so he began asking me a couple questions. Again, I swear at one point I kind of like turned around and was answering because I just couldn't look at him. And he said, you know what? Why don't you take these tapes? Listen to this. And you know, and I and I began to, and I began to apply the things that he had shared. And then I ended up um becoming a client of his. And what he taught me was trust yourself. What is your purpose? Why, why are you doing this? Always lean back on what your purpose is, and that you are not your thoughts, you're not your mind. You have a thought, you have thoughts and a mind, but these things just pass. That was one of the beginnings things that really helped me is that okay, I can have all these thoughts coming in, but I don't have to believe all of them, right? Um, that was that was big. I think the next one was learning to trust myself. And this was shortly before my dad died. They were gonna have to, my parents were gonna move into my house, and I was trying to learn to love him again. Like we had a very strange relationship, and now you're gonna move into my house and bring that energy in. And I'm sitting at my desk in Virginia, and a patient had had brought up the emotion code, and I kind of totally rejected that. I'm like, that's ridiculous. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And as I'm sitting at my desk, I swear like this chart of emotions just appeared. I'm sure it was already there. To me, it just really did seem like it appeared. And I'm like, what the heck? What's it gonna hurt? Just muscle test. And I did that, and this massive weight was just released from me as I released all these emotions and energies. And and believe me, I had been doing a lot of things to help do that. But what that taught me was trust. Right now I've had to learn that lesson again, again and again and again to deeper. But it was it was trust. And if you trust yourself, trust your trust your intuition, then things will be good. And then I forgot that lesson, and now I'm relearning it again. And I would say most recently, and this has probably gone back now a year. I've learned more about myself, I think, in the past year and how I process and how I um find clarity. And a lot of times we get into our head, right? And we just try to, and some people can do this, they can mentally work through things and and and recognize the direction they need to go. When I get into my head, I spin. And it's like this cloud, this whirlwind that's going around, and I can't focus on anything, and it's so maddening. And what I recognized was through some different things that I learned that I need to trust my voice. Like to me, my voice is clarity. And yet, there's been so many times in the past where I haven't trusted my voice, or I haven't had someone to talk to that would let me talk long enough to be able to find the clarity and be like, oh my gosh, that's it. And so over the past year, as I've learned that about myself, my wife has become that for me where she knows, hey, he just needs to talk, don't interrupt, or ask questions that'll bring more out instead of like kind of bristling with, oh my gosh, what direction is he going? What's happening? Now she knows, hey, he's looking for clarity. It's okay. And then I find the same thing that it's okay to find clarity, and it may be messy, but it's coming to a point. And so like trusting has been such a huge part of my development, of learning to trust myself, my intuition, um in the midst of opinions and and others, that that is critical.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Wow. And through those experiences, you've uh you can only track these things looking backwards, right? So I think you you you hit on something really big there that I feel uh new practitioners would everybody would benefit from, but especially new practitioners, and like we almost saw this happen with you in real time just now, where where you're reflecting. And I think that's one thing we we never do, uh, especially when we're in kind of the go, go, go busy practice, wake up, get to the office, or virtual office. And it's reflecting, and you can only piece these pieces together when you reflect backwards. You can't really do this going forward, right? And you also were uh very vulnerable there in sharing that this is a lesson you learned, but then you had to learn it again, and then you had to learn it again. And and the one part that had me smiling, uh, because I feel this is a story that it's kind of disappeared. People don't really get the same uh experience anymore, and that's that somebody gave you some tapes that had like something to learn off of them. And now we're in kind of like TikTok culture, right? Where everything has to be 10 seconds or less, and people are just over-bombarded, and we could double speed podcasts and audiobooks and do all of that. That nobody just like goes quiet and listens to an audiobook or a tape or something like that. So if you're a new practitioner, please like save yourself years of trial and error by reflecting, having a partner to see clarity from, bouncing questions from you, talking these things out, that don't just kind of jump from one thing to the other. So I think that's gonna be very powerful for the practitioners listening in. So thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

You know, something something along, and I and I wasn't gonna share this, but I think I will know is one of the things that my wife introduced me to was human design. And and at first I'm like, oh geez, like where is she going with this? And and I and I kind of again, similar to what I said with emotion code, I kind of rebuffed it at first, like, whatever, that's ridiculous. And then you get to a point where you're like, okay, I'm open. And as I said, with with the person that I'm looking for, hey, be open. And this is a lesson to myself that I'm actually like reiterating reiterating right now, is that she shared this with me. And at first I'm like, no. And then I came back around to it, and she's like, you may just want to take a look. She's like, I've looked at your chart, there's some interesting things in there, and so I'm like, sure, why not? So I took a look at it and I'm like, wow, and this isn't for everybody, not everybody like grabs onto this, but for me, it really helped me recognize why I feel like I'm failing in certain things. But it helped me compartmentalize that into like, okay, what does that then compel you to do? And this is where the whole recognition of my voice came into play. Where so in this human design, I'm a self-projecting projector, which means that I find my clarity through my voice, and other people can find clarity through my voice, which is really interesting. So I like to talk, right? But but when you're told, hey, that's stupid, don't say that, just figure it out on your own. Well, to someone that needs to process, that doesn't work. And so I feel like much of my life I was just trying to figure stuff out in my head. And and so if you are new to practice and you're trying to figure out, maybe look at human design and see like how do you process? When do you work best? Um, through the reset program and through this as well, I learned that I need more rest. We're not in a place where society doesn't reward rest. They're like, you're lazy, get up. But I'm finding ways to rest and to pause, and it doesn't have to be go, go, go. And that's still something that I'm working on. It's not a not something that I've perfected by any means, but I have the recognition and awareness now. I'm like, you know what? You just need to take a few minutes. Maybe it's a half hour, maybe it's maybe it's more, but I recognize that. Um and it's really cool. So I hope that helps somebody new that maybe look at that as a way to understand you and how you process and how you can better interact in this in this world.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

It's one of the most important things you could do. So absolutely thank you for sharing. And uh, it's interesting because um, even in a lot of my programs, one of the lessons that I have in there is you have to first know yourself before you kind of go any further, before you start dissecting your relationships, you got to kind of understand like what makes me me and human design. Interestingly enough, I only discovered it maybe a year, year and a half ago. And admittedly, I haven't dove into it as deep as I probably should. And I think that'll be the first thing I do after this call. Uh, but I was a generator, so I found out uh a lot about myself there as well. And uh it's interesting, even going back, I'm reflecting, and uh, one thing that we would have every single person that came into our office do was fill out a disk score. So that's uh a kind of a semi-personality scoring type index. And then I would also have them do a personality index. I would have them do love languages uh as well to see what kind of ways they'd like to receive love specifically. And uh when you start to learn these things about yourself, that's when you're able to piece together what you also need, right? So it's kind of like when you go out on the road, there's there's like so many different cars, right? There's vehicles, there's there's SUVs, there's there's uh EVs, there's yellow ones and red ones and white ones, and like we're all different in ways, and they all need different types of approaches, and and they have a different perception about themselves. So I feel all of those factors make such an important detail. So uh the second thing you said there also was huge because I I've been prioritizing that more, I would say, over the last 12 months than I ever have before, and that's engineered rest. So that's kind of the term I like, uh, where it's intentional. You put it in there when we think about our ancestors, uh, their stress was much different than our stress. Their stress was more of the survival variety, right? So are we gonna find food? Are we gonna get attacked? Things like that. But then once they kind of dealt with that stress, there would probably be a long period of time where they could just hang out and conserve energy and kind of reflect and sleep and do all of that. And we often don't give ourselves that same luxury. So you have to engineer that into your lifestyle, uh, or else uh that's something that uh down the line you're gonna regret. And I think I speak to too many practitioners who have that as a cautionary tale. Big time, totally agree. So if we head into your practice specifically a little bit and your practice style, I'd love for you to just give us an idea of like, like, how do you kind of blend everything you know into an approach? So, like the science, the intuition side, the mindset side, like all of your training, like are there specific techniques? Have you coined a specific program or uh a methodology that people experience when they work with you?

SPEAKER_01 36:39

I don't know if I've coined a specific approach. Um, I I would say that I'm very good at listening, and I can piece together the words, the words that they use specifically, right? People people talk, and how much do we actually listen to what they're saying? But there are certain words that people will say the way that then they say that, that for me I begin to piece that together, and I'm like, wow, okay, I see your story. And they're like, What do you mean I didn't say anything? I'm like, Oh no, you said a lot. And I'm trying to think of a specific example. Oh, here's one. And then this will kind of bridge that gap to your question. This goes back to chiropractic. And we know that tone is really important, and we can ignore someone's tone and not, you know, address that. Maybe maybe we're too afraid inside to like, hey, their tone was different, but I'll just keep going on. But this lady that I got in a developed a pretty good relationship with, she came in and she's like, and I said, Hey, how you doing? And she's like, Okay. I'm like, man, no, she's not. And everything in her body language, her tone, everything exerted. There is major stress going on right now, and I don't know what to do. And as a chiropractor, you know, you're you're not spending a lot of time with people. That was not my style, which was probably why I struggled. I probably spend, you know, too much time with I didn't. I never spent too much time. It was exactly what was needed. Um, but she came into my adjusting room and and I put my hand on her shoulder and I said, So what's up? You're not fine. And she's like, How did you know? And I said, Your body language, your tone, like everything suggests that you're not. And I'm not gonna ignore it. I'm here to help you today. And man, she just broke down in tears. And it was, I that was very powerful, um, recognizing that when we pay attention, when we're listening with the intent to listen and not to ask a question or not to comment on it, we pick up a lot. And and and that's something that I would love to be able to like coin that and say, hey, I but you know, but um, but so as I as I talk with people, whether it's over Zoom or in person, I'm looking for what is their body language, what are the words they're using, specifically about themselves, right? When I ask them about themselves, their childhood, you know, words, if if they're saying things like, I should have known, I could have done better, maybe if I didn't do this, I'm like, wow, there's a lot of guilt, a lot of shame, versus somebody else that may say, you know, I went to this person and they just didn't help me at all. And I was so frustrated and like, oh wow, okay, there's there's resentment there, there's bitterness towards, and and do we acknowledge that? I think that is the first step in how I approach somebody is just let's listen to what they have to say. And if we're not willing to listen to their story, then how can we ever piece that together? And it's just then no better than a lab and you know, an individual. You're not seeing them as a soul. So we start to bridge that and and recognize, wow, these patterns are probably deep-seated. These proud these patterns probably started as a kid, and I'll I'll explore that. Like you said this. Why did you say this this way? And some people will be like, no, I didn't. I'm like, yeah, you did. This is exactly what you said. Why'd you say it that way? I don't know, it's just the way I am. I'm like, oh, okay, belief patterns now. Now we get into that psychology of, oh, hey, here are my beliefs about myself, which is really fascinating as well. And you can't help but see like there's someone hurting behind that, right? Um and so, and so then you start to blend in, okay, well, what's changing physiologically? If I know that there's all this stress there, then you know that they're in more of this heightened state of alert. Maybe they're past the sympathetic state, maybe now they're into freeze and they're just stuck. And then that brings into play all of the science. Is there a cell danger response going on? What impact is happening with their mitochondria? How depleted are they? Is their body able to digest food? They're probably not sitting down and having a meal in which they are smelling their food, salivating, talking, conversing, pausing. It's probably not that. It's probably something very different. And usually, if they're a woman, which most of my patients are, they're trying to do everything for everybody else. And it's just, do they even sit down to have a meal? And what is the level of conversation and how distracted are they because of their own issues, and then their kids or their spouse or whatever might be going on. And so you begin to like see all that from a very it's blended, right? It's it's science, it's soul, it's and you and you see, I begin to see those patterns, and and it's like, okay, where do we start? Right. Um and whether that's in person or on Zoom, like that's my approach to somebody. So often when I start working with them, they're like, Well, why are you doing that? Why do you want me to just breathe or be? That's uncomfortable. And it's um, it's like, well, this is where we got to start. This is what I'm seeing, this is why. And what about the protocol? I'm like, hey, you know what? Let's just pause. We're working together for six months or a year, we got time.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

So, does that answer that question? Absolutely. Like you could see it on this podcast and the way you answer questions is uh you give so much. So, so you're a really good listener, you you take in information really well, but then you give out more than you take in. So, this is uh it's a I can see why people get amazing results working with you. Uh, the one question I do have, however, is how do you protect your energy in practice when you're giving out so much in those visits? Do you do you do anything specific between visits or like are there any like non-negotiables that are part of your day that keep you energized, clear, grounded going forward?

SPEAKER_01 43:40

This has probably been the hardest for me because early on in chiropractic, I I my health, I tanked my health. Um, I took on everybody's stuff. I felt responsible for their health. I felt responsible if they weren't getting well. And I I personally I lost 35 pounds. I was, you know, you you I mean, you've seen me. I'm 6'4, 6'3, I weigh about 190. I at the time I was probably 185, and then I just dropped down to like 150 pounds. Wow. And couldn't couldn't digest anything, couldn't really like make I had I suffered from migraines for years, decades, actually, from about age 12 to 31. And um I didn't even share that in the beginning, but um so now, and this goes a little bit back to human design, right? If you understand chakras and energy centers in the body, um and and before I even understood human design, I knew that I absorbed energy, I didn't know what to do with it. And then as I went into human design, I learned that oh, I have an open sacral chakra, I have an open solar plexus, and they're not defined. So I absorb, right? You talk about like empaths, and I wouldn't say that I'm like that in terms of empathic, where everything hits me, but I do pick up energy, and what I've learned is that you know what, you don't have to hold it. You can receive it and then just allow it to transmute and and remove out of you. And when I say transmute, that's taking that energy from a lower form to a higher form. And maybe I can even transmute that back to that individual through. What I'm saying through a pause, through touch. Um and there was a really cool example, actually. And this is this is I'm still learning this. This is still very like new. I'm 49, and I would say in the past five months, I've really come to recognize this because I would be exhausted at times, right? Um I've always been the one that's like trying to live as a generator, trying to live as I can go, go, go, but feeling exhausted. And now it's like really beautiful to recognize, you know what? If I don't want to exercise today, I that's fine. I don't need to go out and push. And so my non-negotiables have become, I do meditate in the morning. That's been one of the one of the most beautiful times, whether it's five minutes or sometimes it's an hour, um, through breath work, through um meditation, guided meditation, sometimes listening to sound bowls. Um, I love that. That that fills me. And every time I do a session with breath work, and not everybody gets this with breath work, but I feel this massive amount of just divine love. It's so palpable and beautiful and amazing. And and that's not every day, right? Don't get me wrong. I don't wake up every day and I'm like, oh my gosh, I had this amazing experience. That's not, but it's taking that time and giving myself the the ability to rest. The other thing that I do is between um not between everybody, but definitely once a day, I go outside and I walk about two miles. Sometimes a mile and a half, sometimes two miles. But I walk and I don't listen to, I have no device with me. It may be in my pocket, but I'm not listening to a podcast, I'm not listening to a book. It's just, let's just listen. Let's hear. What are the what do I hear? What are the sounds? Is it the wind? Is it is it squirrels? Is it birds, whatever? And just to appreciate that, because that is so grounding for me and necessary to like allow that rest, that intentional, engineered rest, as you said. I love that word, that's awesome. Um and then, and then I'll do things with frequency as well, where hey, I know I need to work on myself. Like there's something that I picked up from a patient today. Um, this happened a couple of days ago. Really felt off. I I gave a webinar to a few docs on on a test, and it was great. I had a lot of fun, but then I just felt empty afterwards. Came home and shared that with my wife, went to bed, and then I woke up the next morning. I'm like, I've got to clear this stuff. There's stuff on me, and I knew who it was from, knew the patient, and not anything that she did, but I'm like, I just need to let this go. This is not mine. And so having that awareness that you're susceptible to other people's energies, and you're not impervious to it. And it's not weakness to say, I need to pause and allow myself to process this, to acknowledge, you know, that it's there, and then to say, I can let it go as well. And maybe that's through meditation, through breath, emotion code, frequency, tones, whatever that might be. But that those things now I have such a greater appreciation for that rest and for the necessity that that plays in my life.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

Wow. I I learned so much uh from listening to you there. And uh you said one of the most powerful words there, and it was kind of what was in the back of my mind as you were speaking is uh you've worked really hard to cultivate this high sense of awareness that this energy exists. So you can only change things if you're aware of them. And I think like when we work with people, even in the functional medicine world, for example, like a lot of functional medicine practitioners, they will make people aware of certain toxins and certain nutrient deficiencies that they weren't aware of. But that day-to-day, 24-7, from moment to moment exchange of energy that you have, and you take on energy and you give out energy. I think finding a way to transmute that would be one of the most powerful things practitioners can learn to do early in their career so they don't have to learn it the hard way. And I think that that might be an epic masterclass for you to lead. It's kind of cool. I mean, I love the yeah, I love that idea.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

I'll have to like kind of flesh that out and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:16

Amazing, amazing. Well, I have uh one big last question for you, and it's one I like to ask because it puts people on the spot a little bit. And I know like with you, the the difficulty might be only getting it down to a single thing, which is if you can go back and talk to to young Randy, let's say 18-year-old Randy, what what advice would you give him?

SPEAKER_01 50:38

Oh man, one thing. Okay, this may sound really weird, but I'm gonna share it anyway. Um how will this land on people?

SPEAKER_00 50:58

Oh, I this is uh causing some suspense right now. I don't I I don't know how this will land on people.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

Um can I preface that with what has been, I think, the greatest thing that's brought me out of my own shell? Because this is what I would want to go back and and say, hey, look into this. Wow. That may be shocking to you as well from me, and and maybe from people hearing this. This has had in the intentional use, right? This is not a party, this is this is very intentional, very specific use to bring about change and to allow to give me a greater ability to work through my stuff, right? There's so much in myself, fear, little tea trauma. I wouldn't say big tea trauma, I would say little tea trauma that my body held on to, um, self-limiting beliefs, um, and the use of these has helped me, is helping me currently, is helping me break these old patterns and repattern and develop new pathways that that now, like in real time, I will honestly recognize like, oh my gosh, okay, I could go down this pathway right now, but that's gonna lead to exactly what I don't want. I see it, and so let's shift into this. Before I was not able to do that, there was mass, I could see where I was going, but I couldn't stop myself because there was too much fear to try something different or to ask a question or to question something in general. And that limited me in practice. That has limited me in life, this fear of if I step outside of the box and ask, and it could be a simple question. Like this, these aren't like complex questions, but it could have been a very simple question that I was afraid to ask. And then questioning certain things as well that I thought they didn't quite resonate with me. But there was again fear. If I question this, how will I be viewed? So I just won't. And now you're suffering in silence because you're incongruent with certain things. Psychedelics are not the magic pill, but when they are used intentionally, oh my gosh, such power to open up your heart, to work through limiting beliefs, to work through all of your stuff and allow you to see yourself, I think divinely, to see your to see your soul, honestly, and to embrace that. And this is an ongoing process, right? And so if there was one thing that I could go back, not that that younger self of mine would do this or my family would actually allow me to do, or that I could get a hold of, it would be be open to this, because it can open you up in a beautiful way. That why do you then have to silently suffer for 30 years of your life wondering are you valued? Are you worth anything? Can you help people? Are you going to be of value to other people? That's what I would go back and say, hey, let's look at this.

SPEAKER_00 54:55

Amazing. Yeah, definitely wasn't expecting that to be the answer, but uh I I I heard that answer from a lot of people. So you're not alone. And I think um, like because there's been a stigma around those for a very long time, and I I feel it's only in the recent years dissipating, uh, people are more open and vulnerable to share that. So thank you so much for sharing that with everyone. And it seems to be a very promising area, right? So it's um it's something that's gaining more and more steam. And I think like anything that allows us to connect deeper, but the intention has to be there, the the right person to guide you has to be there, just like anything else in life, uh, whether it's health or finance or literally anything that you do, um, that's so, so important. So thank you, Randy, so much for sharing that. Um, I'd love for you to let the listeners know like where can we learn more about you? Where can we find you online?

SPEAKER_01 55:45

So online, uh I've uh totalbodyguanosclinic.com is our website. Um, Facebook is Dr. Randy Michau. And no, Facebook is our my group, Empower Actio, and then Randy Michou. Um where else? I have a podcast, Restore the Real. Um, I love doing the podcast, so fun. Have really awesome speakers on. People, not speakers, but people, and then I've done a lot of solo podcasts. Um that's those are all different ways to get in touch and in contact with me.

SPEAKER_00 56:17

Amazing. Well, I'll be the first to say, like, I know everyone's gonna enjoy this episode, and uh, I'm sure you're uh going to notice more listeners on Restore the Real because uh I I could listen to you all day and I've learned so much. So thank you so much for your time today. I so appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Hey, thank you, Ricky. I appreciate you and and just who you are and what you're doing for practitioners. It is so needed, and you're just a perfect person to be doing this.

SPEAKER_00 56:43

Oh, you're too kind. Thank you. I'm following in your footsteps. Awesome. Well, have a great rest of your day. Take care.

SPEAKER_01 56:50

Thanks, Ricky. Blessings.