On Episode 46 of the Arthritis Life Podcast, Unity Schmit shares her journey from a juvenile idiopathic arthritis diagnosis at 15 months old, through becoming a mother to two children and serving as a “Wounded Healer.” Unity and Cheryl discuss many alternative paths to healing and Unity shares how she finds balance and wholeness while managing a chronic health condition. 

Episode at a glance

• 1:00 – 7:30 Unity’s shares her diagnosis story at 15 months old and details her young childhood experiences growing up with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)
• 7:30 – 15:00: How Unity became more active in her care management as an adolescent and explored alternate ways of managing JIA including nutrition, reiki, shamanism, and meditation.
• 15:00 – 23:00  The importance of meditation and managing stress in Unity’s JIA journey, including a discussion of some of Unity’s favorite books.
• 23:00 – 30:00 Unity explains what it means to be a “wounded healer” and what “healing” means to her. She also explains her Seasons of Self Energy Report framework.
• 30:00 – 37:00  Unity explains the importance of addressing mindset and mindfulness while living with a health condition.
• 37:00 – 40:00 Unity explains the inspiration behind S.O.S. Energy Report: A Survivor’s Guide to Self-Healing Breakthroughs
• 40:00 – 43:00 Unity shares about her experience becoming a mother and now parenting two teenagers while managing her JIA.
• 43:00 – Unity & Cheryl discuss the many cost benefit analyses they do as patients, and when it’s worth it to do an activity even when it causes pain

Speaker Bios:

Unity Schmit: Born into a near-death experience, and diagnosed with chronic childhood illness, in the form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), Unity awakened to seek self-healing growth and the powerful meaning behind her unusual life start. On her path, she sought to understand how to bring pain to purpose, and how to follow her inner calling to experience her dreams, even though she was told they were unattainable. 

By studying self-healing, energy work, reiki, psychology, world religions and shamanism, Unity reached her dreams, and studied with healers and shamans from Canada, the United States and Australia. Through her experiences, Unity has become an author, teacher and ‘faery godmother’ life coach who seeks to help others awaken their own self-healing breakthroughs to reach their dreams, no matter the storms present or ahead.

Cheryl Crow is an occupational therapist who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis for seventeen years. She’s passionate about helping others with rheumatoid arthritis live a full life, by using effective tools to manage physical, emotional and social challenges. She formed the educational company Arthritis Life in 2019 after seeing a huge need for more engaging, accessible, and (dare she say) FUN patient education and self-management resources.

Episode Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Rheum to THRIVE, a 6-month education and support program Cheryl created to help people with rheumatic disease go from overwhelmed, confused and alone to confident, supported and connected.  Join the waitlist today for the next group which starts in Spring, 2022! 

Episode links:

• Unity’s Links: 
  • https://www.instagram.com/unityschmidt/ 
  • ‘S.O.S. Energy Report Experience – this is a special link Unity created for Arthritis Life podcast audience members to allow you to access her “Survivor’s Guide To Self-Healing Breakthroughs” for free. As a health provider I am not endorsing any claims from this website but am passing along the opportunity for you to experience it if you are interested, in hopes that it will be helpful.
• Books Unity Recommended in this episode
  • The Power of Myth – Joseph Campbell 
  • The Brain that Changes Itself – neuroscience book
  • Barbara Brennena – Hands of Light
  • Mindfulness, by Dr. Ellen Langer 
• Cheryl’s Arthritis Life social media pages:
• Arthritis Life Podcast, Practical Tips and Positive, Realistic Support – Facebook group 

• Cheryl &  Arthritis Life on Instagram
• Cheryl’s website: Arthritis Life
• Arthritis Life Tiktok: @ArthritisLife 
• Arthritis Life Facebook Page
• Cheryl’s Twitter: @realcc 
• Arthritis Life Youtube channel
• Arthritis Life Program Links
  •  Join the waitlist for Rheum to THRIVE, a 6 month empowerment program and support group Cheryl created to help people with rheumatic disease go from overwhelmed, confused and alone to confident, supported and connected. 
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis Roadmap, an self-paced online course Cheryl created that teaches people with RA how to confidently manage their physical, social and emotional life with this condition.

Medical disclaimer: 

All content found on Arthritis Life public channels was created for generalized informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Full episode transcript:

Episode 46 with Speaker 1 (Cheryl Crow) and Speaker 2 (Unity Schmidt) –

[Introductory Music]

Hi! My name is Cheryl Crow, and I am passionate about helping people navigate real life with arthritis. I’ve lived with rheumatoid arthritis for 17 years and I’m also a mom, teacher, and occupational therapist. I’m so excited to share my tricks for managing the ups and downs of life with arthritis. Everything from kitchen life hacks, and how to respond when people say, “You don’t look sick”, stress, work, sex, anxiety, fatigue, pregnancy, and parenting with chronic illness — no topic will be off limits here. I’ll also talk to other patients and share their stories and advice. Think of this as your chance to sit down and chat with a friend who’s been there. Ready to figure out how to manage your arthritis life? Let’s get started. 

00:51 Cheryl: Hi, Unity! I’m so excited to have you on the podcast today.

00:55 Unity: Oh, thanks so much, Cheryl. It’s a pleasure to be meeting with you. And thank you for having me here.

01:00 Cheryl: Yes. So, can you start off by telling the audience just a little bit about yourself and your relationship to arthritis?

01:07 Unity: Yes, sure. So, my arthritis journey began — I basically was born into a near death experience. I had like a traumatic birth experience and my mom was a nurse, and so she recognized like really early on that there was something going on with my health. So, she saw like when she dressed me, she noticed that I seemed to be in pain, and she would tell the doctors but they were like, “You know what? It’s a first time mom, you just have a colicky baby. You’re just being over protective,” you know. But then when I started to walk, they saw my gait was different so then they put boots on me and they thought, “Oh, she just needs boots,” but I would scream when they would put the boots on. And my mom’s like, “No — it’s like, this hurts her when I’m putting them on.” They were like, “No, no, you’re just over protective,” and then one morning, I stopped moving half of my body. And so, when I stopped moving half of my body, that was when they were like, okay, there’s something going on. And so, I ended up seeing different specialists, they did like different videos with me, different brain scans; they thought maybe cerebral palsy. It was, you know, it’s hard when someone is so little. Like, I was diagnosed just after my first birthday, around 15 months of age, and that’s a tricky age because you can’t really have a dialogue with what’s going on, right? 

02:16 Cheryl: Right.

02:17 Unity: It’s all based off of what they physiologically can see. And it was a rheumatoid factor blood work that ended up being able to give them the diagnosis after a lot of, you know, false ideas and on the way just trying to figure it all out. So, yeah.

02:33 Cheryl: Wow. Wow. So, it’s good that your mom was so proactive with noticing what was going on from a young age and, you know, I know it’s hard to summarize in a short period of time, but can you share some of the highs and lows of growing up as a young child with such a misunderstood condition?

02:52 Unity: Yeah, sure. I would say that, you know, because I’ve had it as long as I can remember, at first I didn’t really realize immediately like how different I was until, you know, people would go to play — for example, hide-and-go-seek, and I was sometimes sore, you know, like my knees would be sore to move or I’d have swollen joints. Like, I had it and I still do in different joints in my body. And so, you know, realizing that things weren’t as easy. Like, other kids would, especially with sports activities and things that were more of a physical nature, that they would go for it and I wanted to but I would realize, oh, you know, there’s limits here. And then I also had like splinting, a lot of doctor’s appointments, and blood work. I was offered to live at Toronto Sick Kids Hospital, and basically do schooling from there and live at the hospital, and then come home for like holidays and that. But I was like, I don’t want to do that. And my parents, they were saying that they, you know, they listened. They let me stay home with them which I was grateful for. 

03:52 Cheryl:  Wow.  

03:54 Unity: I would say one of the scariest moments was being in a wheelchair. I was seven-years-old, and what had happened was I’d been playing hide-and-go-seek and I’d been kind of like curled up in a ball, you know, had this really great hiding spot. But then, my knee locked up. And it locked out so bad that I like, I couldn’t move it. And so, my parents had to basically carry me to the car and then — and then they said they were gonna have to do surgery for my knee. And I was being wheeled around in the ER and I said — I just had this, um, whether you call it like an inner voice or inside of my heart, this calling like, “No. You’re gonna be okay, just have more time.” And usually, whatever medically went to happen, I just did it. Like, I was, you know, quote-unquote ‘good kid’. So, whatever blood work, medication, you know, testing, no complaints, but I was — I really stood my ground. I just said, “Please give me time. Just give me time.” And so, my parents, they advocated and they asked for the time and the doctors were kind of like, “Oh, like, I don’t — I don’t think that’s a good be enough,” but they put me under, and then when they put me under they were able to like move my knee into a straight position and put a cast on it. And so, I was carried up and down the stairs in elementary school for a while because I had this big cast and they couldn’t — crutches, like with my wrist and my fingers and everything was so arthritic, I didn’t have the strength to use crutches, you know. And so, I was basically praying and hoping that when that cast came off, that I’d be able to walk. And, you know, fortunately that I was. I was able to do that. So, there’s lots of like, you know, different stories but I would say that would be one of a pretty big story from my experience. Yeah. 

05:41 Cheryl: Your childhood, yeah. And if you don’t mind sharing — you don’t have to if you don’t want to — but, what time period was this? Was this in like the 1990s or the —?

05:50 Unity: Yep.

05:51 Cheryl: Okay, in the 90s?

05:52 Unity: 90s, yes. I would have been — I believe I was around seven or eight-years-old and so it would have been — or no, not 90s, sorry. ’87.

06:00 Cheryl: ’87 — oh, right, because we’re the same age.

06:03 Unity:  Yeah, yeah.

06:06 Cheryl: Or around the same age. I was born in ’81. 

06:08 Unity:  Okay, yeah, ’79. November ’79. 

06:11 Cheryl: Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah. Math is hard. But yeah, similar. And okay, so, because one of the things that people who are newly diagnosed don’t always know is how different the treatments are now for both juvenile idiopathic arthritis and adult rheumatoid arthritis. And that, you know, that these — the severity that people experienced who are diagnosed prior to like the 2000s, you know, like I was diagnosed in 2003, the severity and the rate of progression was a lot just ‘worse’ for lack of a better word than now. So, I didn’t — I always want to put that caveat in, you know, but there’s still many children and adults who don’t respond to the Western medical current treatments, but many of them do. So, yeah. And then, you know, another thing I’m always fascinated by is that period of adolescence. Like that transition from being a child to more like wanting to be an adult, and also being a young adult and maybe a college student with balancing juvenile arthritis. Do you have any memories or wisdom to share from those periods? 

07:25 Unity: Sure. So, I would say that when I was adolescent, that was the hardest time. Physically, I was really unwell. I was in a lot of pain. I’ve been on a lot of different medication having arthritis so young, so they started out with baby aspirin like when I was really little and then that grew into — they tried sulfasalazine on me, they did prednisone at one point, and gold treatments as well, and cortisone injections. The gold treatments I had a bad reaction to, so like I had a breakout of hives and they had to like cut a sample to understand what was going on with that. And the prednisone, you know, like a lot of people have experienced, it’s a tricky drug. You feel a little bit — like for myself, I just felt kind of funny and in my mind just tired and just not like myself, not fresh, you know? And also weight gain. So, I was like poofy from the steroids but also just seemed to like gain weight super easy. And so, that was really hard, you know, because of course I couldn’t participate in gym the same way too. minus a full minute up to next quote) And I didn’t know anyone else with arthritis at the time, so I was also afraid for the future. You know, afraid like, ” Oh, is this just going to get worse? Am I ever going to be able to do the things that I want to do like other kids?” or, “One day, you know, can I get married and have a family,” and that kind of thing. So, that was that was a pretty tricky time period for myself. And then in high school, I ended up — I think I was around 16 years of age, 16 or 17, and that’s when I started to have a dialogue with the doctors, more of a questioning everything. So, when you’re a child growing up with arthritis, you know, mom or dad say, “Take this,” or the doctor says, “Take it,” and you do, right? 

But once you’re a teenager, you know, you start to kind of find your own voice in a different way and be your own advocate. So, I started to say, like, “Okay, well —” I think it was methotrexate at that point, and I was saying, “— well, why do I have to get blood work, so much blood work? Like, what are you guys exactly looking for, and what’s going on with that,” and then I started to understand how intensive that medication was at the time, form my ‘Why’, you know. And also told, because I was a teenager, that one day, you know, when I want to be active or have a family, and I was still on that medication in my future, that you can’t do that without medication. And I thought, “Oh, this isn’t gonna work then.” Because I said, “Even if this ends up working —,” and at the time, it wasn’t working for me, like nothing was giving me a breakthrough — I knew I wanted to be a mom. Like, that was a huge driver for me. And I thought, well, even if this does work, this isn’t going to be my answer because then I can’t have my dream. And my dream was, you know, have a family. There’s other ideas I had, like writing and teaching or counseling, but I knew for sure ‘Mom’ was my number one dream, you know. So, I actually walked away. I said, “I’m not going to do this anymore.” And they’re like, “You can’t do that,” and I said, “There’s got to be something else for me.” Like, if this was working for me, then that’d be different. But I’ve been on this path for my whole life. And it was 16 or 17 years at that point, and like, I’m sharing, I just — I know, you know, for some people, maybe they’ve got that progress. And then, you know, then it’s a different story, a different journey. But for me, it just, it wasn’t helping me, you know, and it was only — and there were so many risks involved because of how strong the medication was. So, yeah.

10:50 Cheryl: Yeah, I know, it’s fascinating to talk to you because it’s like, I always like hearing people’s stories that are so different from mine, right? Because I, having this platform, I want to make sure to give a voice to people with different experiences, you know, and I’ve had other people on here who’ve taken alternate paths. But yeah, I was on methotrexate. I’ve been on it since the very beginning, and except for my pregnancy, it worked. It’s worked pretty well. I mean, I’ve always needed to take something else in conjunction with it. So, I’ve never just been like methotrexate, what they call monotherapy. But yeah, I mean, but that doesn’t mean that other people all have a great time with it. This is your journey and as a teenager, that’s your right to kind of, you know, like you said, advocate for yourself. So, yeah, what happened next? 

11:33 Unity: Okay, so, you know, I kind of — I was nervous, right? Like, I didn’t know for sure if I was making the right move. But, you know, I didn’t have anything around me to really understand like, what the right move would be, but I thought there’s got to be more to this, you know. And the good news is, is I was a reader, you know, I like to self-educate on different topics that I would be interested in. And I ended up having different people instrumental in my life who kind of would show up at the right time. Sometimes it would be an author, sometimes it would be like a person, like a friend or even a parent, you know, from a relationship that I was in. And I started to be introduced to other, you know, different ways of approaching wellness. Now, I also had known growing up with arthritis that there was a lot of different ideas that people give my mom, right? Like, “Oh, you know, get her on rice cakes,” or, you know, “Try this,” there was like a horse cream at one point someone gave us, and all sorts of things. And, you know, my mom would try it with me and nothing would happen, right? So, I understand the letdown of trying different approaches, and kind of you can get burnt out by that thinking like, “No, no. None of that — all this is a sham.” But fortunately, I got guided to be introduced to different natural therapies. So, for example, naturopathic medicine, like a naturopathic doctor, learning about that approach. I also started studying about how nutrition can play a role with inflammation in the body. And so, kind of experimenting and learning more about that. So, at one point on my path, I actually was raw vegan for a while.

13:01 Cheryl: And if people don’t know what you’re saying, you’re saying raw-space-vegan, right. I just want to make sure because if people aren’t aware, then they might be like, “What’s rawvegan?” like as if it’s one word. Sorry. I’m just always trying to think of — because people ask me questions sometimes afterwards and I was like, “Oh, shoot, I should have clarified.” Yeah, so vegan with only — not just vegan but raw food, like uncooked. Yeah. Wow, that’s intense. 

13:22 Unity: It was intense, yes. It was gluten-free raw vegan. So, you’d make like your nut cheeses and you’d use like a dehydrator to do baking or if you want something warm, you know, so that way you didn’t — basically, the concept is you don’t want to kill out any of the nutrition or like the helpful enzymes in that. And, you know, honestly, that was really helpful. Like all of these different tools were. Like, I saw a difference. I was noticing, like, oh, I’m more comfortable. I’m waking up more comfortable. I’m moving better. There was nothing that was like a cure, but all of it gave me more progress than anything else had before. And I also started studying energy medicine. So, I started learning about Reiki and other forms of energy medicine, from sound medicine as well as even shamanism and a different form of natural therapies. And I just had so much progress with that. And then two other fundamental things that happened to me was when I was a little girl, there was this one physiotherapist who came into our home. And she actually did a meditation tape for me. And the meditation tape had me visualize pain evolve, like these colorful balls in my body, and had me like, kind of play with them and move them out. And I remember thinking, wow, like, it made me feel like I had some kind of power over the pain. And that was really good for me. And I also felt like a little bit of a difference from that, like, as a child, and I thought, “What is this?” you know, like, “How is this possible?” So, it made me open minded about things that maybe would seem more magical or more unbelievable, right? And then the other experience that I had was when I was in high school, I saw I believe it was an occupational therapist at the time, or someone doing that pain management, and they hooked me up to a neurofeedback machine. And so, I could hear like that beep-beep-beep-beep-beep, right, and all these noises. I thought, “Wow, I don’t understand what’s going on. But okay.” And then she said, “Okay, I want you to try something. I want you to try to just quiet your mind, take a few deep breaths and just, you know, find a space inside of you that’s just really still.” And so, I thought, “Okay, sure,” and so I did that. And because I’d use that meditation tape, you know, when I was little and tried different things like that, I had progress. And the machine went really quiet, and then I got excited, because I thought, “Did I do that?” And then as soon as I was excited it was like beep-beep-beep-beep. [Laughs]

15:41 Cheryl:  Oh, my gosh. 

15:42 Unity:  Yeah. And then she explained to me that what she was trying to show me was that stress has an impact on the disease and had an impact on my pain. And that if I could learn to go into a space within myself, then I could, at the very least, you know, help to relax like my muscles around my joints. And by doing that, that would thereby alleviate some of the discomfort that was there. And so, that was another one of those kind of magical moments. But that was grounded in like science and modern medicine as well, as well as later, you know, historical medicine too, that helped me have that open mind to see I need to keep exploring these ideas and these concepts, because there’s something here that’s working for me. And so, I have to find out what this is all about, you know. 

16:29 Cheryl: Wow, really — it’s really — it seems like a journey of understanding the power of your own mind and that mind body connection, which it does seem that the Western medicine is catching up, or that Western science is catching up with some of these — and that’s just a gross generalization — but I know that like biofeedback is an example, or doing functional MRIs of people. I know they’ve done ones of people meditating and shown, you know, how powerful it is. So, I think that’s incredible. I mean, I feel like when I’m in a lot of pain — sorry, I’m just projecting here — I don’t have a lot of energy to like, mental energy to learn new things. So, I’m trying to imagine you as like, you know, a teen, and then maybe, you know, early 20-something, you’re in all this pain, and you actually expended the energy which is so hard to do to learn these things. I’m just — my hat’s off to you. 

17:21 Unity: Thank you. I think what helped with that is that as an only child, you know, and as someone who also couldn’t participate in activities that my peers were doing, that meant that storybooks were huge for me. Like, I always had my nose in a book and in those imaginary worlds, you know, that I could enter through the imagination and sometimes through my writing is well. That was like an escape from the pain, you know. I wouldn’t think about my pain when I’d be reading or writing stories. And so, I think that that helped be a natural crossover for meditation, because meditation, for the ones I experienced, was basically like going on a journey within myself, but I wasn’t in my body where I had all these limits at the time, right, these limits of pain, and I was able to go somewhere different. And so, I think that helped me to, you know, to get into that space. 

18:10 Cheryl: Wow. Yeah. I’m sure some of the listeners will be wondering like, what were some of the books? Do you mind sharing them that you read about these different practices? Or maybe, did you visit — I know you mentioned naturopaths, you know, any specific resources? That would be awesome. 

18:25 Unity: Yeah, of course. I would say that one book that I read at one point was Barbara Brennan. And I’m trying to think — I think it was, was it like the ‘Healing Hands of Light’ or — I’m trying, there’s so many books, honestly, that I’ve read. But remember that that one was really interesting. Like, it went into more about like the chakras in the body as an energetic field. But also, a huge teacher for myself as well was Dr. Joseph Campbell. He wrote ‘The Power of Myth’ and so, basically, he was this amazing teacher and philosopher who, you know, he had a moment in his childhood where he saw a totem pole. And he thought, “What is this?” like, you know, something lit up for him the way that it did for me with like meditations and he wanted to explore that. So, when he became an adult, he started to learn more about all the different stories around the world, like the mythologies and the stories and the themes, and how there was like a commonality in all of them. And he called it ‘The Hero’s Journey’. And so, I would read books by Joseph Campbell because I love learning about other cultures and I loved like studying, you know, learning about different spiritual beliefs and different concepts. 

Because, you know, my spiritual — that part of myself as well, that gave me a lot of hope, like I had a lot of faith. But I was very open minded so I, you know, I wanted to keep understanding what other people believe too, and what else is out there. And so, kind of learning all of those different ways and how there is these common themes and this common narrative and archetypes that showed me that there’s something really magical and so much bigger going on that’s connecting everyone. And so, that was part of my path too. And I also, you know, met some different people who some of them did like Reiki, some of them did like shamanic work. And I traveled with my husband’s career. We ended up in Australia at one point because he was in the digital effects world, he was working on the movie 300 and Happy Feet. And we were we were there at one point, pregnant in Aus, and I talk about that more in my S.O.S. Audio Stories. 

20:29 Cheryl:  Yes. 

20:30 Unity: Happy to have, for your community, I want to give them free access to all of this.

20:34 Cheryl: Yes, that’s your book and video journey as well. Yeah. So, sorry, you went to Australia, and did you get to do — because I’ve been to Australia too and studied Intercultural Studies there as part of my anthropology minor, but yeah, and so there’s such a rich history there, the Aboriginal traditions, did you get to learn any of that? Or is that where your head was going? 

20:57 Unity:  Well, when I was there, I actually didn’t know anybody except for, of course, my husband, and I was pregnant with our son. And so, I was careful where I was going, what I was doing, and there was someone that I ended up meeting at a street market and she invited me into this meditation circle. And so, I joined that and then I found out that it was also like, you know, doing like, intuitive work and mediumship. And they were professionals. And I was just, you know, this person that was interested in all these things. And then I ended up, you know, but I love meditation and so that was a natural bridge for me with all that work. So, I started sharing, you know, things from that experience with the people in the room. And then they were like, “Oh, how long have you been doing this for?” I’m like, I don’t do this. [Laughs]

21:40 Cheryl: [Laughs] You’re like, “Let’s see, about 30 minutes? How long have we been here?” Yeah.

21:44 Unity: Yeah. And so, they said, you know, “No, you do do this.” And so, I felt like, well, it makes sense because of, you know, the path of pain and being an only child, there was a lot of time where I would, you know, I would practice meditation, or would just go into like those imaginative spaces within myself, or really think deeply about spiritual ideas. And there were different dreams I had that would come true as well. But those are — there’s a lot to talk about there. Anyway, so I realized, like, okay, there’s, you know, there’s something more going on with this. So, I felt like, Joseph Campbell has this saying, where he basically says, you know, “If you follow your bliss, then the Universe will open doors where there were once only walls.” And so, I felt like that’s what was happening, that when I would do things that felt right in my heart and that felt right like in kind of like soul alignment, or consciousness, mindful alignment, whatever, however you want to, you know, see that, that suddenly, I would be in the right place at the right time with the right person to learn the next thing. It’s almost like this toolkit that was growing within me, these different experiences that I got to have. And that really shaped me, you know, into becoming. And still do, you know, because every day, I think, we’re all learning and growing from each other and the world around us, right?

22:51 Cheryl: And what were you studying at the time? 

22:53 Unity: So, when I did, I was originally doing a double degree, so I was studying English and Psychology because I thought I either want to be a teacher, a writer, or psychologist. So…

23:02 Cheryl: That’s so similar to me! Sorry, we’re talking about you today. But yeah, I studied Psychology and I wanted — I was gonna get my Master’s in Special Ed because that was my passion at the time. And anyway, but then I became an occupational therapist. But yeah, that’s — and you’ve written so much. So, that’s so cool that you — and you’re doing psychological work, of course. So, that’s amazing. 

23:23 Unity: Thank you, thank you. It’s funny how it all comes together, right? Like, I ended up, you know, it’s coming — it came across in a whole different way than university, right? But it all connects, you know, and I love that you are part of that path, too. I think that when you come from like the wounded healer path, there is, you know, when you look into like being empowered by it and really learning and exploring more, it’s interesting how we can kind of meet or share commonalities there, right. 

23:48 Cheryl: I have never heard of that phrase, ‘The wounded healer’. I love that. Oh, my gosh. Sorry, I just had to write that down. It’s just — when I took a class in college called ‘From shamanism to biomedicine: The anthropology of healing’ and it was so fascinating, but it was the only like, medical anthropology — medical-focused anthropology class at my school. So, I was like, really wishing there was more because, you know. So, it’s funny how, yeah, I’ve ended up learning a little bit over the years. But yeah, for my own medical journey, it’s been more on the traditional Western medicine. Again, just because that’s worked for me. But if it hadn’t, then I would be seeking more of this because it’s fascinating. Yeah. And so, I know, one of the words — I’m just gonna be self-reflective about myself for one second — and one of the words I have a funny relationship to — is that right, or with/to maybe — is ‘healing’. Like, because I guess I feel a little defensive, because even though I haven’t, I feel like I’m already a whole person, like a healed person like in terms of my being. I know my physical body isn’t in an ideal situation, you know, because I need this medication to function. But I’m like, I don’t need to heal. I’m already healed. I’m cool. But then, I know that for most people, healing is such a powerful concept, and like self-healing. So, can you explain what healing means to you? Almost like on the ‘Tell me like I’m a kindergartener way so that I understand better’ because I have a comp — I’ll just say I have complicated feelings about the word ‘healing’ for some unknown reason, right?

25:14 Unity: Well, it makes sense, you know, and I think that there would have been moments in my life where I would have as well. I would have even been sometimes even angry about that word. Like, God, don’t tell me that word. Because I would feel worried, like, oh, that’s something that maybe is unattainable. That’s how I would have felt, how it felt. And so, the word ‘healing’, it’s interesting. If we think of the word ‘healthy’, we actually see the word ‘heal’ inside of the word healthy, right? And, you know, and it’s heal-thy. So if you think of like a healthy body, it’s ‘heal-thy body’. Or, if you think of a healthy mind, it’s ‘heal-thy mind’, or ‘heal-thy soul’, right? So, if we want to be healthy, then we want to be focused on that word, heal and healing. And so, to me, healing or self-healing is about always seeking that wholeness, and that harmony, and that balance. And for myself, I feel it’s a lifelong goal. Like, you know, there can be moments in my life where I feel like, oh, like I’m really on top of this, you know, this space, like I’m really energetically here; mind, body, emotion, soul. And then there’s other times where, like everything in life, there’s cycles, right? 

So, I think of it in my book, ‘The S.O.S. Energy Report’ — spoiler alert, but S.O.S., I make it stand of Seasons Of Self. So, it’s about the seasons as an analogy for ourselves and for our life path. And that, just like all the seasons in the world, you know, there’s different phases. Nowhere is it always summer, or it’s always winter, or fall, or spring. So, it comes around again, and to think of healing as basically understanding the cycles of life and the cycles of like energetic wellness and wholeness, and striving towards like harmony and balance, whatever cycle you’re in. So, if you’re in a real challenging time, it could be in the season of winter, you know, everything can feel kind of frozen and stiff especially with arthritis, and blocked, right. But if you’re in a really incredible harmonious and uplifting place, and it’s like the summer, everything feels like moving, and fluid, and organically growing, and fruitful. And so, the other thing with healing is it’s not about — sometimes when people think of healing or self-healing, they think, “Oh, you can only do it, you know, on path A or path B. So, it’s got to be only the natural way or only, you know, modern medical,” but to me, it’s whatever weaving is meant for each individual, you know. So, for example, you know — so, for example, maybe one person, they’re going to get everything they need from nutrition; maybe someone else it’s modern medicine, and that’s exactly their path for healing. And maybe someone, you know, there’s another person who it’s a weaving of complementary medicines and complementary practices for healing and wellness. 

But it’s interesting, because like that course that you talked about, I really see that it’s all similar things, but with different words and different ways to approach the same subject matter, you know, and it’s exciting with like neuroplasticity and the study of the human mind and, you know, positive psychology and even rogue psychology. They’re really realizing, you know, spiritual concepts and spiritual breakthroughs that were talked about for thousands of years are now lining up with more of the modern medicine and modern biological perspectives, and prove that, you know, they can kind of recognize each other and there can be that harmony. And I think it’s because when there’s a fundamental truth, it’s true whatever way you look at it, you know. If it’s true, there’s no like, “Oh, but if I flip it over here, it’s not true anymore,” right? And so — sorry to be a bit long-winded. 

28:45 Cheryl: Oh, no. No, I’m always saying that I go on like, soap boxes. You were on like a soapbox, and not in a bad way at all. But um, no, I think this is fascinating. Personally, I find it very, very fascinating. And like, I think, when you have anxiety about your health, which almost anyone would have anxiety, it’s a normal response to getting the diagnosis, you know. So, I think when you when you feel stress or anxiety, which I think anyone would as a normal response to getting a diagnosis like juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis, there’s a — what your brain wants is a really simple answer, right? The simple answer is ‘You have to only do Western medicine’ or the simple answer is ‘You only do alternative paths’. And the reality is that for many people, it’s going to be a complex situation, and it will evolve and change over time. So, I liked that how you were saying, you know, you weave it, the solutions for you, out of whatever’s working at that moment, is that correct? 

29:46 Unity: Exactly, yeah. And it can change, right? Like, there might be some things that stay consistent and that there’s a consistent flow, and there might be other things where suddenly you have to adapt. And I think it’s so important to stay open-minded, and just really see what works for you and to keep open to just, you know, explore that and discover that, right? 

30:05 Cheryl:  Yeah. Yeah. And I know that you’ve done a lot of work on mindset and the power of the mind. Do you want to share a little bit more about that before we delve into your book? 

30:16 Unity: Oh, sure. Yeah. So, basically, the one thing with mindset is our mind impacts us. Like, it really affects so much of how we’re going to do energetically, right. So, for example, the placebo effect. That’s a good way to tie in, you know, a spirit — more of a spiritual or ethereal concept, like how our mind impacts us. So, the placebo effect was discovered by accident, but I say by synchronicity, and it was during World War Two, and Beecher discovered it, because he — they’d run out of morphine. And so, you know, there’s the soldiers, they’re in pain, they need help, and he didn’t want to let them down. He didn’t want to be like, “Oh, well, we don’t have any painkiller left.” So, he did injections of saline instead and he just pretended it was morphine, because he didn’t have the heart to say, you know, like this, I don’t have anything for you. And then, you know, the miracle was that they were having pain relief. They were actually acting as if they’d receive the morphine. And that was how the placebo effect was — you could either say accidentally, or I like to say synchronistically — discovered. And the modern medicine really understands this as a real phenomenon, and they’re interested in it so much that they actually have to rule it out. So, if there’s a new medication or treatment that they want to make sure, you know, is genuinely effective, they have to rule out the placebo effect by doing like a sugar pill, like a pretend treatment and then they have to see like, okay, well, is it the placebo that is making this happen? Or is this truly this new treatment plan? But I think that is such an important thing to understand. Well, why is the placebo effect even possible, right? Like, why is it even possible that by just having someone’s mindset to have the expectation that they’re going to experience healing, or wellness, or comfort, or pain relief, that that happens? And, you know, and so that is, you know, one angle of that. There’s a lot of different angles and layers. 

So, mindset, you know, we realize — and also like through neuroplasticity, and through like Dr. Ellen Langer’s studies on mindfulness, that our mind has so much power and whatever we expect, we actually start to create. So, if you’re coming at this from like a spiritual angle, then you might think about the law of attraction or manifestation. But if you’re coming at this from more of a like a scientific level or modern medicine, then you can think of like neuroplasticity, you can think of the quantum field, or that maybe like the holographic universe or string theory; it really depends on which way you’re reading it. But once again, it’s one of those fundamental truths that no matter which way or which discipline you’re approaching it, that we see that the mind is powerful. And then there’s a lot of, you know, famous books and literature where it talks about that from centuries ago and all different cultures in the world, different voices that say that. Like, Hermes talks about ‘As above, so below’ and he’s not just specifically speaking about the mind, but he’s speaking about how, you know, what something is in one way it isn’t always. And if you think about it, like if you are watching a movie, right, and it’s a horror movie, your body will respond as if it should be, you know, be ready to do fight or flight. Your stress response will be triggered. And you can actually, you know, you’re going to have that happening in your bloodstream and your body. Your pupils are going to dilate, your heart might go up, you’ll (gasp) if someone you know comes up to you unexpectedly even though you’re safe and you know it’s just a movie. The same thing happens with oxytocin and like feel good hormones and, you know, stimulation that if your mind is around things that are beautiful or peaceful or harmonious, then that’s actually the energetic field that we start to build and create. So, it’s really important that we have consciousness over our thought patterns, and that we put practices into, you know, putting time into mindfulness so that we can empower our mind to gravitate towards the direction that we actually want it to go, you know?

33:54 Cheryl: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that I was — I always bring everything back to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which is a mindfulness-based therapy that has worked really well for me. I just, I laugh because I always talk about it, but um, yeah, like I think one of the hardest things for me when I tried to apply this to myself as somebody living with chronic illness or chronic pain is that to try to be truly present in the present moment when the present moment is not physically super comfortable. Can you explain like how you — how do you do it? 

34:28 Unity: Yeah, so, I would say that I think it’s not too often that everything about someone’s present moment is comfortable. So, I know when we have chronic pain or chronic illness, it’s very easy to see like we are not comfortable in different, you know, places or, for example, the body. But really, there’s always things going on around us or within us that could create stress, or turmoil, or be distracting; however, the same goes with everything that is harmonious and everything that is balanced, you know. So, looking at the simplest things and seeing well, what is comfortable? What is beautiful here? How can I have — you’ve probably heard of like ‘An attitude of gratitude’, right? 

35:02 Cheryl:  Yeah.

35:03 Unity: And so, you know, even if you’re in pain or if there’s challenges, kind of saying, “Okay, well, what can I focus on that I’m grateful for right now?” like, that’s one pathway in. And then another thing is the Seasons of Self and that energy book that I did, it’s about single — I’m in the winter right now. So, you think of it as, you know, so if we’re in a really rough place maybe in our body, or mind, emotion; maybe it’s all of it, maybe it’s just physical pain, right? Then we can say, “Okay, well that’s — this is our winter season. Right now, things can feel cold, they can feel bleak, everything can feel really desolate like a frozen spell. But I know that winter doesn’t last forever, you know. It can be long, some winters are harder, but eventually spring will come and in the spring, you know, just like a seed, we break through, right? The spring is where breakthroughs are born. And that’s where new growth happens, and possibility.” And so, by having, you know, thinking of things as like the seasons of self or the seasons of self-healing, it can help you when the world around you or within you is really challenging, to think of it that way and go, “I’m in a cycle. Right now, it’s a cycle of winter, of challenge. But if I hold on, and I work through — and I love to weave in whatever healing I can within me and around me, then I can make it to spring. And spring will happen, and from spring comes summer, and so forth.” And that’s one of the things that I do with my book, as well as the quiz where people can kind of understand and rate their energy centers and see where they’re at, and get some, you know, some ideas for that, you know, dealing with that pain body or that pain perspective, to put it into a healing place. 

36:32 Cheryl: That’s so powerful. Yeah. And I like — it starts from a place of acceptance, which I like that you’re saying. I accept that — all right, maybe I don’t want to put the word in your mouth, but though I know, winter is where I’m at. I’m not going to like, pretend that I’m in summer or that if I just tried harder, I would suddenly fast forward out of winter. Like, maybe just accepting that like in the present moment this is what I’m dealing with, but what is still possible, you know, or what is — what can I still attune myself to in this moment? I think, that’s been for me, the most powerful thing because I always in the past, was like such a problem solver. Like, I just — I wanted to just, you know, find the solution, fix it, fix it, fix it, you know, instead of being present with what’s just actually there, you know. So, but yeah, I want to ask more about the — okay, so tell us a little bit more about the ‘S.O.S. Energy Report: The Survivors Guide to — A Survivor’s Guide to Self-Healing Breakthroughs’ that you wrote. 

37:28 Unity: Yes, thank you so much. So, in a nutshell, I did it to be really fast. So, I designed it as a really fast read and it teaches people about some of these concepts that we’re exploring today. So, basically, how does modern medicine and science approach ideas like healing, right, and how does ancient ancestral practices or ancient belief systems approach healing, and where is commonality there, common ground. And then I also explore like the energy centers, specifically through the chakras and learning more about that. And then there’s a questionnaire in there that people can kind of rate an assess their energy through their own self-assessment and self-reflection and see like, okay, where are some of my body strengths or my body challenges or weaknesses, as well as mind, and emotion, and soul, and then they can get a number through that. And there’s also an online quiz so that you don’t have to do all the math yourself, you can just pop it into a quiz and have it do it for you. And then you’re given a season for each energy center in your body and in your field, so you can see like, “Okay, this makes sense, I have a lot of winter happening right now,” or maybe there’s some areas in your body where there’s some spring and summers, and then there’s some other areas where there’s like a fall or winter season. And then there’s basically some, you know, some suggestions to help you, like to help anyone, the reader, read it and think, “Okay, I’m gonna think about this this way.” And then I also have six audio stories that are self-healing stories. It’s like some, you know, basically a sneak peek into how did this, you know, take shape, right? How did this framework come into existence, how was it grown, and so I share some six stories from my life path and also through my own winter, my own seasons of winter and struggle, and, you know, and coming into finding this harmony and finding this approaching, you know, approaching this through a healing perspective. And so, that is what, you know, the book is designed to be really quick. I have other books on the go, but with COVID and that, I wanted something fast so anyone who’s stressed out, or they’re in pain, or they’re just feeling overwhelmed, that they can have a bit of a breakthrough, a few breakthroughs, and feel a little more hope and really look into healing possibilities for their life path. 

39:31 Cheryl: That’s — that’s incredible. And I think, I almost wonder if you could find those old — the old physiotherapists, occupational therapists, that planted some of these seeds, and kind of go back and say, “Look. Look what the seeds you planted now have grown into,” this, you know, incredible journey that you’ve had.

39:50 Unity: I would love that. I would love to do that, for sure. 

39:52 Cheryl: I’m sure they would love it. Because I — like, I’ve worked in pediatrics before. And like, I can almost forget that, you know, something that I taught a child might have, you know, actually stay with them. But anyway, I’m trying — sorry, I’m like always interrupting my own train of thought. And also, the other thing was, you mentioned earlier that when you were young and you were on methotrexate, you were really — or, you know, as a teenager, you were worried because you had this dream of being a mother. And they were telling you, the doctors were telling you that you wouldn’t be able to if you, you know, staying on methotrexate, but now you’ve mentioned that you’re pregnant. But can you — can you tell the audience a little bit about the family that you have? 

40:27 Unity: Sure, thank you. So, you’ve heard a little sneak peek with my husband. We’ve been together, it’ll be 20 years next week, and we have two teenagers. And, you know, I’m really grateful that, you know, they’re thriving and they’re well, and it’s been, you know, my dream came true, right? My dream to be a mom and to have family, and I feel really grateful for that. And yeah, and actually, we homeschooled for quite a while too, so that was such a gift to be able to have them right there, you know, and they’re off into high school now and they’re doing awesome, and I’m super proud of them. 

40:59 Cheryl: That’s so great. Yeah, and I’m curious about how active your disease has been, like in the last, you know, was it active when you’re pregnant at all, or postpartum, or —? Summarize the last 15 years. [Laughs]

41:14 Unity: Basically, you know, like everything in life, I have different cycles. So, sometimes it’s quieter, and then other times, you know, I can still have flare ups. But it’s a lot better than when I was a child. When I was a child, I would wake up and sometimes I couldn’t walk, you know, and I would have consistent joint pain, I would always feel the weather, like a walking barometer. And I know that the more that I put into practice all these different things that I help other people explore within themselves, that I see huge progress, you know. But if I’m off and I’m doing all the things that I shouldn’t be doing, right, like if I’m — for myself, and I know it’s unique for everybody, but for me, if I have like too much gluten or sugar, or if I’m not putting that time into my meditative practice and into like energetic work, energy medicine, and I’m not doing what I need to do to take care of me, then I do see that the arthritis, you know, it’s still there, and it can start — it will impact me, right, in a negative way. But it’s so much more — like when I see — I still see a rheumatologist every few years. Like, I see him. And he doesn’t know what to do with me because, you know, like, “Okay, so how’s it going? Any —?” He has to do my movements with my joints, and then he writes down his notes, but that’s it. I do that because I respect modern medicine and I respect his perspective, and if he ever has something and I feel it’s in alignment with what my personal path is and, you know, I’m always open-minded about it. But for me, I’ve had so much good progress. You know, like when I was pregnant, I didn’t have a remission, like I know some people said during pregnancy they didn’t feel anything. But I had a really healthy pregnancy, and I didn’t have a lot of joint pain. And with the weather, you know, once in a while if I’m doing things that I shouldn’t be doing then I do feel it, right, like I can be like a barometer. Like, “Nope, the weatherman is not right today!”

42:58 Cheryl: [Laughs]

42:59 Unity: But as long as I’m applying all those best practices then I really have a lot of comfort in my body and a lot of peace, but I also do have some — what would you call it — contractures and that in my body from when I was little, like because, yeah, from arthritis doing the damage it did in the past, right, so. 

43:18 Cheryl: Yeah, yeah, no, but that’s so powerful and I think something that my colleague — I’m laughing at myself because she’s far above me — but Dr. Bronnie came on the podcast long ago, and she has a PhD in Psychology and she’s an occupational therapist, and she lives with fibromyalgia. And she made this point from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, but it’s that like we — when it’s worth it, we can do — we do things that we know can cause us pain. Like, once you get to know your body and know your triggers, you might say like in your case you mentioned gluten and sugar, if it’s a really special event like a wedding or a birthday, you might say, “You know, I know that this action I will — later on, I’ll feel a little bit stiffer, but it’s worth it because I want to enjoy this moment,” or, “I want to just enjoy the sensory experience of eating this cake,” you know, so I think with healing sometimes it can become this very myopic focus of like a perfectionism — nothing that you’ve said sounds like that. But I’m saying about other people I’ve talked to like, you know, there’s this orthorexia, which is basically like an unhealthy obsession with — it’s a psychologically unhealthy obsession with healthy and clean eating, you know, that can happen. So, I love that you’re embracing this very like, you know, peaceful, balanced approach. 

44:34 Unity: Yes, thank you. And yeah, I think it’s so important to, you know, do whatever that means, right. Like, so there might be some people, and for them it’s, you know, 100% and they’re, you know, they’re hardcore. If that works for them then, you know, like, woo-hoo, right? For my own life path, I just find that, you know, kind of navigating that terrain and making those choices and making them as best as we can, right, and yeah, but everyone has such a unique life path and there’s places where we all meet. But no, I appreciate what you shared there. Yeah, that’s an interesting way to look at it as well. 

45:07 Cheryl: Yeah, I hadn’t thought of it that way before because I think, again, I was kind of like an all-or-nothing personality I guess. Because I was like, well, of course, your goal is to just not have pain. Or I shouldn’t say — I was like an avoidant — I would want to avoid pain. My goal is avoid pain, you know, at all costs and she made a really — I thought she just made a really good point that like sometimes we do things. Or like, yeah, pick up my child, you know, when in postpartum when I knew, “Oh, my hands are a little sore today,” but it’s like, I want to pick up my child, you know, I don’t want to ask someone else to pick them up for me right now. So, I’m going to experience a little pain to have that joy of picking them up myself and holding them to my chest, you know, something like that.

45:46 Unity: Yeah, I think that’s a great one, you know, like it’s — I think it’s really important to make the best choices and some, you know, some things are worth the risk, right? Like, picking up your child and having that mother moment. I know there’s some things that I did too, like being a mom, that I pushed myself physically in different ways. Even just something as simple for everyone else, riding a bike; like, for me, that was a huge thing. And I learned because I wanted to bike with them when they were kids. I thought, “I don’t want to miss out on bike rides with my kids, so I’m learning,” and it was scary because I didn’t want to damage, you know, you don’t want to fall and take a hit to my joints. But, you know, it was intelligent risks with pads too. I put like knee pads on. [Laughs] You know, being protective, but taking intelligent risks where, you know, where you see that there’s a greater good, like greater reward that can come out of it, right? And everyone, that’s going to be a little bit different for as well. 

46:40 Cheryl: That’s so true. The cost benefit analysis for each individual is really different. Well, this has been so great. I wish we had like hours and hours to chat. But before I have to wrap up, do you have anything else you want to say the audience or any messages for maybe, um, my favorite kind of people to talk to these days are the newly diagnosed — there’s no favorite, I love everyone — but, you know, like, that’s, you know, my heart goes out because that’s such an overwhelming time. Do you have any — anything you’d want to share? 

47:08 Unity:  Yeah, sure. So, I would say that just, you know, stay open-minded and open-hearted as much as you can. This is a challenging life path to be on. But the more that you stay open, the more that you can see, you know, what’s going to work for you, right? And follow that and really explore. Like, don’t be afraid to ask questions, and don’t be afraid to investigate different modalities and different pathways to weave whatever is best for your journey. And I call it your own hero or healer’s journey, and that’s what you’re on. And I wish you much success. And I also am going to give you a link, Cheryl, for your own community so they can now have access to this book for free as well as the online quiz and the stories to hopefully give them some more hope and some ideas for healing and balance as well. 

47:50 Cheryl: That’s phenomenal. I really appreciate it. Yeah, and I think that, you know, the more tools in your toolbox, you know, the more empowered you are a lot of the time. Thank you, and I’m sorry we don’t have a longer but this is gonna be so helpful, I know, to so many people. You know, I just really appreciate your time and your energy. I can feel your energy through the Zoom, through the power of the screen, so thank you. 

48:16 Unity: Thank you so much, Cheryl, and I appreciate your time and I feel your energy too. You’re so genuine, and you’re so caring, and giving, and generous, and I love sharing with you. And the link, I believe, is going to be that SOS — I think it’s SOSaudiobook/alpforarthritislifepod —? 

48:34 Cheryl: Oh, okay, great. And I’ll make sure to get it for the show notes. And you’re on Instagram @UnitySchmidt, S-C-H-M-I-D-T, right? 

48:42 Unity:  Yes, that’s right. 

48:44 Cheryl: Okay, awesome. No, I really appreciate your perspective. I think I’ve mentioned this before but I sometimes get a little stressed out when I think about like all the different treatment options. And like, again, that part of me that just wants — I still have that part of me that just wants the one path for everyone. I’m just a little stubborn about that. So, I think it’s — I think it’s just so important to, for many people including myself, to get out of that mindset that there’s only one path, you know. There’s so many different — like, you and I are similar ages. I mean, we’re diagnosed at different times; definitely affects it a lot because I was immediately put on biologics which makes my prognosis different. But still, you know, we’ve different journeys, and we’ve both achieved our dreams of being a mom, you know, both of us achieved the dream of being a wounded healer. I’m just like, going to call myself that now. I love it. So, thank you; again, thank you so much. 

49:33 Unity:  Thank you. I love spending the time with you today. And thanks for all you do. I love how you help out the community and empower everyone with tools. 

49:39 Cheryl: Oh, thank you. Oh, my gosh, mutual appreciation. Okay, bye-bye for now.

49:45 Unity: Bye, Cheryl. Thank you.

[Ending music]

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. This episode is brought to you by Rheum to THRIVE, a membership and support community where you’ll learn how to develop your own THRIVE toolbox so you can live a full life despite your rheumatic disease or chronic illness. Learn more in the show notes, or by going to www.myarthritislife.net. You can also connect with me on my social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even TikTok. Check out the links in the show notes.