153- How to Reduce Anxiety and Mental Health Challenges with Carol Garner-Houston

Bryan Carroll: [00:00:14] since the world went into lockdowns, we have seen a huge increase in the rates of mental health conditions, which is expected when we are faced with novel situations that we've never been prepared.

And it's totally okay to have anxiety or depression during times like this. However, when we start to fall into those type of mental blocks or mental situations, we should be looking for ways to get ourselves out of those situations. And lucky for us, there's a lot of help that is popping up to be able to help us help guide us through these situations.

And so that we can start to see light at the end of the day. What's up everyone. I'm Bryan Carroll and I'm here to help people move more, eat well and be adventurous. And today I have Carol Garner Houston on the show to help us to figure out what we can do to. Get past all this anxiety and depression that we might be facing.

Now, she works with a lot more than just anxiety, but we do cover a lot of that in this episode. And she works with her company called brain harmony, where they utilize a bunch of different neurofeedback type of tools to help us to navigate these different types of stressful situations. In, in essence, it rewires our brain to better handle these types of situations.

And. The work that they're doing is amazing. If you go on their website and see a lot of the testimonials, there's some really neat. Things that are happening for their people that they're working with. And I'm just so thankful that there's people like them that are doing this type of work. So if you know of anyone that might be struggling from anxiety or depression or any type of mental health condition, this is definitely an episode you want to share with them because we want to get this information out to them and let them know that there is help available for them.

They just have to look in the right places. And if you want to see any of the resources that go along with this episode, then head on over to summit for wellness.com/ 1 5 3, which is the episode number in, in the show notes. We'll have a bunch of resources available for people that are looking for help.

Now, Carol Garner Houston specializes in connecting clients to optimal brain performance and their highest potential. And in their programs with brain harmony, they have an award-winning tele-health home program that accelerates a rewiring of the brain and nervous system, which helps to treat the underlying central nervous system disorganization found with a lot of these mental health conditions.

And her passion is for achieving neurological. Calm is consistently realized by her clients who achieve outcomes, never thought possible. So let's head on over to my conversation. With Carol, thank you, Carol, for coming onto the show. 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:03:12] Oh, Bryan, thanks for having me, Evan looking forward to it. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:03:15] Of course. And I'm really excited to chat with you because we're going to talk about anxiety and how to support our own brains, especially after the really challenging 16 plus months that we've been going through.

But before we get started with that, let's learn a little bit more about you and your background. 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:03:31] Well, my background is working in the mental health field, helping adults with debilitating psychiatric conditions, as well as working with children to achieve developmental skills in clinical settings, like hospitals, outpatient clinics, and schools.

Over time I garnered the best manual protocols we could find. To bring about the most powerful changes to the brain and the nervous system. We had good outcomes, but it took a very long time and years for some friends. Until I brought my first neuroplastic tool into my practice and within four minutes, a very disorganized and anxious little friend was more grounded, had better eye contact and his handwriting was needed.

After he finished that session, he walked out a different child. I knew what I had in my hands was unique. So I put the tool on everybody's head who came to see me there. And the results and the outcomes just grew. The results were so good though, that we had to find another way to give more individuals and more families access to these outcomes.

So now we've packed up the protocols and the modality. And we ship them to homes across the country. And now we're servicing friends across the world as well. The outcomes are realized that much quicker because the tools and the protocols are in your home. We are training the individual. Like I would have trained the therapist in a clinic setting so that you can achieve this neurological organization at home.

And it's really just been a remarkable journey. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:05:17] So, can you tell me a little bit more about the tool that you're using? What what's going on? You said people put it on their heads. So what does it doing when it's on your head? 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:05:25] We have several neuroplastic tools that working as this accelerant to brain and nervous system organization.

The first tool I started to use was the focus unit from integrated listening. Developed by Ron and Kate Minson. And this tool uses sound frequencies and bone conduction, and it's delivered in a headphones with a little waist pack that you can wear around your waist. You can, there are certain frequencies that impact the brain in very specific ways.

And you can build. Connections to those areas of the brain, say, maybe you don't have those connections or maybe they were lost due to a traumatic brain injury or a stroke, or just to just a lot of stress and chronic stress. All of these things are ways that the brain and the nervous system can become disorganized.

And that's where you see all of these different negative characteristics that may be, even if they're severe enough, will, you know, put you into a category like a diagnostic code. But with these tools, what we found. First we, we sought to soothe and organize the nervous system and the bone conduction in the subtle vibration was a very powerful accelerant to that.

Then depending upon the needs of the individual, we could turn, we could tune which frequencies the individual needs to get to that organization phase. That tool is what started us on this journey. We changed our business model to surround neuroplastic tools rather than to have clients dependent upon coming to a clinic or getting access to that, that very special therapist.

It just. It's just, wasn't a, something that everybody could access across the country. Maybe you found a good therapist, but maybe it was one and they were far away and it was hard to get to. So we, once we started to see what this tool was, we started using it not only with our younger friends, but then the parents wanted the organization.

They had a cousin in Virginia who could use it a teenager. Then we started using them with college students. And now we've worked all the way up. And our oldest client right now is 73. But they're based essentially on the principles of neuroplasticity, which means that the brain can change. Based upon the input that it's getting.

And so if over time, you know, and disorganization experiences, you know, the brain will develop in that way. But now knowing what we know, we can also change it and change that trajectory into the most organized and efficient pathways. Take something like dyslexia or learning disabilities. The connections in the brain may not be very efficient and the information is perceived distorted.

It's stored not where it's supposed to be. And it's very difficult for retrieval. Well, we just go in with that tool and it is fantastic for academic gains, higher cognitive function. Executive function. Elevating mood and creativity. We just go in and we rewire it over time. And the time is like only a couple of months, right.

Where before these types of cathartic changes maybe could happen, but it would happen in smaller increments and over years of repetition of an activity or an experience. These accelerants really. Yes. Just such a reimprint those connections in the brain. You're actually physically building the neuron connections.

It's really quite amazing what we can do. So we've been, we, we that's changed not only my career, but my life path. We use that tool. With everyone in our family, with everyone who comes to us for services. And we're really just giving we're training all kinds of practitioners on using them as well.

Because of what the outcomes can bring. There's a nother sound protocol that was introduced just a few years ago and that one's called the safe. And sound protocol developed by Dr. Stephen Porges. And he taught us about the polyvagal theory and how you can regulate the nervous the system through the Vegas nerve.

And so what's super cool is that, you know, you put this tool on and it's only five hours of listening, but the sound frequencies will exercise the muscles in the inner ear. In such a way that it will allow for the Personicx features in the music to pass through the tympanic membrane and reach the Vegas nerve.

We can reorganize and reset that autonomic nervous system response just by using sound in five hours. It is so cathartic when you're trying to, you know, achieve a neurological, calm, trying to decrease anxiety. We serve all kinds of friends with all kinds of pain points, and we do it with these sound programs because they're so powerful in the way that they tap in to the neurological and evolutionary features of the human system and bring about the outcomes that we're looking for.

So the focus unit is a rockstar tool. The safe and sound protocol as well. Another neuroplastic tool that I originally brought in to that pediatric clinic, but I brought it in for the adults. Right. We were making all these changes with the kids and we're changing their lives. And everybody was walking out with just happier and stronger.

But the parents, right, they've been carrying the conditions of their children. They needed, they needed organization as well. So I was introduced to a tool called the alpha stem by Dr. Mary in new Orleans. And we started this, she just little ear clips and it produces the alpha waves in the brain, which combat anxiety.

Insomnia and depression and so very different from a pharmaceutical in the way that this tool, you introduce it to the brain, you have different timeframes. We teach you how to use it. But essentially the brain says, oh, alpha, well, I know alpha waves. I can produce those myself. So actually over time, you need the tool less and you are retraining the brain to function in a more organized, calm way so that you don't.

Need to be dependent upon an external device or even a pharmaceutical, or just be stuck in this, you know, anxious loop. We have these accelerant tools that can do those, those rockstar things. And then Bryan, I also saw that you're a fan of the Apollo nerd. As am I, that's a great, that's a great maintenance tool.

We would call that. So we would do some deeper work with the reorganization of the brain and nervous system with more of those heavy hitters that I talked about at first. But then we can introduce a friend to something like the Apollo neuro that can keep giving them a little input during the day.

You can change whatever mood you're looking for and really push your nervous system in that direction. Really giving that neurological resiliency and control back to the individual. And those are the types of neuroplastic tools that we've been playing with. And we're always looking and listening to our friends and family members.

They're bringing to us so much information of different tools and different protocols they're using. But right now, these are the main ones that have brought the greatest outcomes that we've seen.

Bryan Carroll: [00:13:11] It's really neat that there's more and more electrical options, because it seems like a lot of times our electronics that we play with, like our phones are causing a lot of just unnecessary stress and emotional responses. And so we're kind of combating that by utilizing other electronics too.

I rewire the brain, like you mentioned now one of my questions is the different protocols that you're talking about for different sections of the brain. Are you with the devices? Are you getting some sort of feedback to know whether it's the protocol you're using is working well for your friends or.

How do you check responses 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:13:50] to that? So we have we where every friend with a trained therapist and this therapist hand walks us through, setting up the tools beginning to use it. We start with weekly phone calls and we say, okay, Based upon what we did last time. How did you do, how did you feel? We give our friends some tracking sheets so they can tell us where they are in the program and some positive shifts.

Maybe if there were some bumps in the road that we need to adjust. And then on those phone calls, we can fine tune that. We also do a very in-depth intake. Process where we get the pain points and we can really, we do a questionnaire to get a good baseline of where your skills are. And we will always be looking back at your goals, your baseline, where you're going, and we can fine tune.

So say you've achieved a bunch of goals, but we still have a couple of these other ones that still need to be achieved. Well, all right, let's adjust our protocols and we can get into that part of the brain to achieve that specific goal.

Bryan Carroll: [00:14:59] Perfect. Yep. That covered exactly what I was hoping you would cover. Now obviously we're going through a pandemic and we've seen a lot of people struggle with all sorts of different mental challenges. And one of those challenges is anxiety and it seems like a lot of people have anxiety now.

Before the pandemic anxiety levels were rising. What percentage would you say of people had anxiety or were dealing with anxiety and how has that changed since the 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:15:31] pandemic? I love how you phrase that question. Because it really gives us an in-depth look of, of what's happening with anxiety over time in this unique circumstance.

That we're all we've been all experiencing. We've served thousands of clients. And before the pandemic, about 70% reported anxiety as a comorbidity, right? Since the pandemic we have about 90% of our friends have anxiety as a pain point, as well as the severity of the anxiety has increased. And so, but the good thing is.

Is that we have these, you know, rockstar tools that are such accelerants of organizing the brain and nervous system that really we can change that trajectory, you know, very specifically. So it makes sense though, on why there's so much anxiety with the pandemic, right? The pandemic has been chaos to our nervous systems with anxiety, you know, just bubbling to the surface.

And it's understandable with, you know, unprecedented isolation. Separation from family and friends, fear of disease dependent upon screens, right. For education and replacing socialization patterns, unpredictable schedules. And to me, the worst part was the physical movement restrictions, right. Where people telling us where we couldn't go and what we couldn't do.

That's a lot of chaos for the nurses. And quite honestly, you know, it reminds me of those experiments in the fifties and sixties that we learned about in like our psych 1 0 1 classes where they took the sweet baby monkeys and the scientist imposed sensory deprivation environments by removing the baby monkey from their mother.

They were isolated in cages. And given dolls made out of wire to replace the mother when these little monkeys were raised in isolation, away from their mother. Away from peers away from snuggles and safe touch. They presented with well-documented and predictable neurological changes, crippling withdrawal, agitation.

Self-mutilation cognitive decline stagnation. Regression and function and starving themselves to death. Isn't that? So similar to what we're all experiencing now, and when we're exposed to these, you know, sensory deprived environments over long periods, let's say just like you mentioned a 16 this past 16 months, it begins to change the brain and our ability to function as intended.

But it's not that bad because it's the same principles of neuroplasticity can apply. If we can change the brain into that disorganized state, based upon the environment and what we expose ourselves to, then we can change the brain in a positive direction, just by changing what we feed our nervous system.

And that's what we get excited about teaching our clients and our friends. Is how that process can be done. And how you can take control back over, you know, how you're feeling and functioning.

Bryan Carroll: [00:18:42] Yeah. That 70% to 90% increase. Or that 20% increase after the pandemic. That's quite a few people coming in with anxiety. But 70% you said before the pandemic or coming in and expressing anxiety. And so I'm curious what that number is. Talking about anxiety becoming more prevalent or are we just becoming more anxious as our civilization 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:19:08] is evolving?

Yeah. And I love this question as well, because we pick up on trends. Right? We have access to so many friends and so much medical history. And so much progress that we can pick up on trends that are contributing to the different things that we're seeing. So in regards to anxiety, we saw a lot of anxiety in regards to when you have a disorganized nervous system, you don't have a lot of memory.

You have social anxiety, or maybe even sensory processing. Maybe you're sensitive to sounds and touch, right? All of these add an extra layer of disorganization to the nervous system and what bubbles to the surface. One of the things is anxiety. And so by organizing the nervous system, then you can. The, the, the anxiety reports are less.

And then the nervous system no longer needs those those behaviors or characteristics because it's functioning at a higher level. But since the pandemic, everybody was isolated in their homes and then pushed on to technology, right. For any. Of stimulation or connection. And just like you mentioned before that dependence upon screens and what software and technology for some, for some of it is intentionally set to, you know, create a chemical reaction in the brain.

Like the dopamine response, which is an addiction chemical. And with all of us spending, you know, adult. You know, over eight hours a day on screens. And then you pair that with the situational circumstances of lockdowns, you know, it makes sense why we see more anxiety. I've also recently written an article about the trend with the side effects of different pharmaceuticals and how interesting that different friends.

For different reasons we'll reach out. They might feel like they have no other options and they're reaching out to, you know, see if the medication can treat their anxiety, their depression or their inability to attend. But if you look at those side effects, so many of the side effects of those medications are some of the problems that you're trying to resolve with anxiety, being very common with SSRI re-uptake inhibitors.

Right. For antidepressants. The benzodiazepines that may be prescribed for anxiety over time can actually pull friends into a depression and they just feel like they're, they're more stagnant than before. We also see lots of friends who have attention deficit and take come to us. On a lot of stimulant medication.

Well, the stimulants are essentially pushing the nervous system into like an artificial sympathetic nervous system response. And we're all about going in and organizing the brain and nervous system so that you don't need those pharmaceuticals because essentially they're a compensatory strategy. They.

Training the brain to function without them. It's actually teaching you that you need to keep taking them. And so that's been very fascinating to get that information and educate our friends that, you know, take a look at your pharmaceuticals and see if it may be causing some of the things that you're trying to decrease and then look at other options because those can be absolutely beneficial, especially when you feel like you are drowning.

There's just, you don't have a lot of options. If it can get you stabilized so that you can reach out to find other options like us, we frequently organize the brain and nervous system so strongly that that individual can then work with that prescribing physician and decrease any pharmaceuticals, which are no longer needed.

Another interesting thing, which you might not have put together is that We have found a link between anxiety and very sensitive or weakened vestibular systems, which is your sense of balance and knowing where you are in space. And so we originally in children, little friends who had cling to their mother's legs, or they're always clinging to the parent and they don't want to, you know, reach out and talk to anybody or they pull away from hugs and talks and even communication.

Even further, they wouldn't go down a slide or get their feet off, off. Cause it was all very disorienting. But as we started to work with older friends, we found that those sensitivities were pervasive for some or arose out of we've seen a trend with an overuse of antibiotics with some friends, having a strong and negative impact on that vestibular system.

And when that vestibular system isn't working right. Feeling, right. You're not feeling secure. You just, it's just heightens your level of anxiety. So it's a very interesting question. And that's just such an interesting perspective that we have learned through time and the trends of all these friends that we're seeing.

Another, another reason why I think anxiety has increased as well. Well, as it's the way I've been thinking about this, the way that we get our news. Has changed, right? Way back, you know, you would get, you know, an old fashioned newspaper and then you watch the news for about an hour, you know, you had a specific time and you changed your day, so you could be there to get the information.

And then that was it. But now, right, we've got 24 hours, seven days a week, we have commentary and drama cells. And so that it's, it's too. For their benefit to keep putting reactionary, keep telling you things about how you are not safe and what could be of harm to you all pushing us further into that sympathetic nervous system response, a protective response, and that anxiety is linked to that.

But I have. Definitely taken some control over this artificial intelligence. And I have an old fashioned newspaper that is delivered to my house. I get to read it on my own terms. I pick which ones I want to read. I discuss it with my family members. I discuss it with friends. I can process it. Speed.

That is good and valuable to me. And that way I'm not overwhelmed by all of these notifications or all of these perspectives that really aren't helping me maintain my organization and control. They're just kind of spiraling out. So those were my top indicators on why the anxiety has increased recently.

Bryan Carroll: [00:25:37] That's a very good point about the news. Because like you said before, you'd have like an hour of your day where you paid attention to the news, and then you had the rest of the data process, whatever it is you wanted to process out of what you read. And now, like you said, we're getting hit with news every second of the day.

And it's news locally, it's news and your community, your neighborhood, your school districts, you're just getting hit with everything. And yeah. So it gives you a no time to sit there and process. And on top of that news, like you said drama sells, so headlines are dramatic. The stories can be dramatic.

Depending on whatever news source that you're looking at. They're, you know, leaning certain different directions too. And a lot of the news becomes more opinion-based instead of just fact-based cause facts are boring. So, you know, that definitely can play a huge factor. Yes, absolutely. 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:26:37] And adding another layer of complexity to an already complex circumstance and world.

But again, this is about taking that control back and making small shifts that you can do every day. Just in your perspective of, you know, your environment. And what you're feeding your nervous system through your vision system through what you're experiencing day to day. So getting out more right, and getting into the environment, making sure you're prioritizing communicating with humans face to face.

Right outside of a screen, all of these things that can continue to feed our nervous system, that you are safe and you are okay, and you do know where you're going. And when you are neurologically safe, then you can access that sparkly social side or that jolly side of yourself, which really, you know, allows for you to have a better quality of life and to live more of the life that, that you think of yourself as wanting to live.

Bryan Carroll: [00:27:36] And another thing that you brought up too was the fact that if you're in a really deep hole and you could utilize medication to help stabilize yourself enough to get the other help that you need. However, a lot of times the other help that you need, it is never pushed. You know, it's, here's a medication you're probably gonna need to be on this word, you know, the rest of your life, instead of here's the next steps.

This is just to help you out for now. Here's the next steps go do that. So I think that's another thing that needs to have more focus on is what people can do to help themselves, 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:28:11] or get the help truly what that medical model is providing you is here's this compensatory strategy of a pharmaceutical, and you're going to need.

Perpetually continue that cycle. You're going to need to come back to see me so I can write you another prescription refill, and you're going to need to take it if you get any better, you know, and then they're, they really don't provide any real life experiences so that an individual won't be dependent upon that.

And so we specialize in absolutely. It's just been, it's remarkable. Some friends say, well, can I start your program if I'm already on pharmaceuticals? Sure. It happens all the time. But what we do is we provide such organization that it is so measurable that that individual can then start talking with that prescribing physician to say, Hey, you know what?

I'm at a different juncture. I'm feeling stronger, you know, can we start to decrease that? And then as they're able to function without those pharmaceuticals, that's where that neurological organization of. Building the connections in the brain, the highway paths that allow for you to function, we are actually making those changes and then it's sustainable as you move forward.

So that it's, it's really important that friends know that because they're not given that option many just don't know about it. That's why I appreciate so much you having us on because these, these outcomes are remarkable. And all of our friends usually say, gosh, I just, you know, Feeling the shifts and gains.

They're like, how come everybody isn't doing this? And I said, we're trying as hard as we can. You know, we're getting out there on our podcast and sharing it with as many people and word of mouth has just been remarkable. And we're growing exponentially because clients are looking for things outside of that, you know, restrictive pharmaceutical model.

Bryan Carroll: [00:29:58] Perfect. And To make sure that we're helping ourselves and helping other people in our lives. What are some early signs of anxiety or other mental challenges that we should be aware of? And that we can 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:30:10] catch early anxiety responses are considered a fatigue, restlessness, difficulty sleeping, impaired concentration.

Just excessive anxiety and worry. We have some friends with the increased muscle aches and soreness, right. And just all over the body from that tense posturing, from that sympathetic nervous system response. Right. If you can begin to look at those how you're feeling, how you're feeling is one thing, but look at them and how they're related to, you know, nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system response.

Because once we can understand that, then we can begin. To accelerate our maturity and our control of our, how to move ourselves out of that sympathetic state and into more of a parasympathetic one, which is that rest and digestion, the state that the part of the Vegas nerve that can put the brake on that sympathetic response.

And so if you're struggling with anxiety, And it's interfering with your ability to live the quality of life you want. If it's interfering with your ability to maintain, to hold a job or to advance in your job. If it's interfering with your relationships at work or at home, then absolutely. There's just no reason to suffer.

And there's just some lovely options for us to really gain some, some wonderful neurological strength. And then the anxiety is decreased and our friends just start living forward with much more robust and full development and more access to different aspects of the brain and nervous system because you have.

You know, suits and organized it on a neurological level. Yep. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:31:54] And I like how you brought up the sleep fact there too. If you're anxious and you might lose sleep well, if you lose sleep, then that's going to reduce your mental capacity as well. And so it's just a loop, the whole cycle. That's just messing with you.

And especially like kids, kids, teenagers, they're staying up late, they're playing video games or on their phone. They want. Snapchat with all their friends. They're losing asleep that, that way. And then they come in and they have anxiety 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:32:24] in college. Lots of friends are having a really hard time. Cause then they're, you know, they're let up for college and they're trying to study, but trying to balance that technology and the AI.

Consumes them that they're just really having struggles, even completing, you know, some, some things that used to be just every day tasks of, of going to class in college. But there's even something I was recently been educated on, which is called the failure to launch epidemic really. And it's for our friends that have been born in the technology age and they've been using devices since they were idiots.

And that, that that's what ends up happening, right. Is that that dopamine loop has been built very securely and it just keeps going over and over. And then they are essentially just responding to the screens or to the, to the reward. That is put into the screen to get them to do this next thing. And they failed to participate in those, you know, cathartic, archetypal human experiences that give us purpose that give us, you know that, that develop questions that we then see keyer education to solve.

Right. When you're, when the friends are in. Pattern you can get stuck in it. And there's actually a term it's called failure to launch, but absolutely all of these ways are ways to change out of that trajectory. If you find that's one you're headed towards. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:33:52] So what would you say is a safe age to introduce someone to.

These screens and technology. And is there a safe age, or is it a limitation on these electronics that 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:34:07] you would focus more on? And there are some schools like in the Waldorf schools and the Montessori classrooms where they are not. Bringing technology into the classroom until age 14. And that may seem like a very, very long time before they started introducing it.

But it was essentially based upon knowing what the science and now having a lot of some like the scientists who. Built some of our social platforms and built some of these things are actually saying it was intended to raise your blood pressure. It was intended to increase your heart rate. It was intended so that you could not look away making it very difficult.

And so, you know, these things are all factors that play, but you can really by, by taking notice of it, you can really change. You know how you look at these tools and that we can now use technology actually to ch to pull ourselves out of those loops. But the, the, the 14 may sound kind of old but essentially.

You can't prevent the chew. You can't try to take a while way from the children or the teenagers or those in college or us as adults. It's too much a part of our life and for us our work right now. So it is very much so about the maturity of looking at this tool, not as artificial intelligence that is here and we're just responding to it and being controlled by.

Through our notifications and our scheduling and all these different things instead, how am I separating myself from this and how am I using it to make my quality of life better? And I actually have a, you know, different protocols on how to actually limit your notifications, different ways to take that control back so that we're not held captive to these devices.

Bryan Carroll: [00:35:59] Yeah, I was going to ask if you have some sort of app blocker or anything on your phones, or if you recommend those, once you reach like 30 minutes, then I'll. Well, I went for that. 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:36:11] I have a 13 year old son and, and he has a lot of difficulty separating himself. So we have different, you know, no tech zones.

We have different times of the day where we don't, you know, where we turn off the modem. So for us, you know, 10 o'clock at night, we actually turn off the modem so that nobody, you know, it's just cuing us that, Hey, this is a time where our brains and our eyes and our bodies are starting to shift down.

We hopefully try to get outside when the sun is going down to start queuing the brain and the nervous system. Then another day has passed, even if. Staring at a screen all day long with the light, you know, your brain doesn't know where it is because it's just being told, you know, it's just being fed what you see being fed through the screen.

So if you can get out and, you know, trick that, not trick, but. Let that nervous system and brain know, Hey, the sun is going down. We are starting to wind down. And by taking that modem off at 10 o'clock, it can help that to facilitate that process. But we are working now on some nice classes and a webinar.

Better control of it, real concrete thing. So I can't wait when I have that developed, I'll I'll reach out to you again. So, cause I think we can talk about that for days. It's very exciting, different options of how to erase yourself from the internet. Right. I find that very, very soothing. I like walking away from my phone.

I like my little defender shield where, you know, if I put my phone in here, it won't receive or send anything. My nobody's. Find me, I disappear just into the regular world. And I find that relieves a lot of anxiety for me. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:37:52] Yep. And I think a lot of people forget that these companies like Facebook they have hundreds of neuroscientists that work for them and their job is to keep you on the platform.

That's how they make their money. So, I mean, It's very common to find people just scrolling through their newsfeeds or whatever it is. And it's because that's how it was designed. It was designed to keep you hooked and the algorithms changed too. So that you continue to see the things that either causes you to continue scrolling or your friends or something like that, but whatever they can do to keep you on their platform.

So once you recognize that and you find yourself, oh, I've been scrolling for 20 minutes. Then hopefully people can start recognizing maybe I should put my phone down or start using some of the tools. Like you mentioned to break 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:38:41] free of the internet disappear. I actually remember when you would scroll, you would actually get to the bottom of the page and then it would cue you.

Okay. Yep. I'm done. I've been doing this for too long, but then they took away the bottom of the screen. So you can scroll forever. So after that 20 minutes where you would have been cued that, Hey, you've been doing this for 20 minutes now you're totally disoriented. You have no idea where you are in space and it's been intended to do that.

And so as we learn more about it, more people are wanting to take more control over our, you know, over, over our existence and not be so dependent upon these devices. And I think more and more people are having these conversations and you just know it and, you know, Over time, you begin to feel these shifts and in a negative direction.

And we pick up on these trends, we communicate them. And when we start making the changes and taking the power back, 

Bryan Carroll: [00:39:37] I would love to just ask you this question. Is there anything about anxiety and brain support that you think we missed in that you definitely want to know? That is 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:39:45] absolutely something that you can change and you don't have to be a victim to the physiological.

and there's things you can easily do to change how your nervous system is experiencing the world. And that, that gift of first providing calm and safety to the nervous system is at the base of all other skills that you can then act. And more robust parts of the brain better speech and language and communication.

All of these things are cut off when you have that sympathetic response and that anxiety fight or flight mode that so many of us can get stuck in. And it's just very much so that if you are struggling, please reach out. There's just no reason to suffer on the light on the level that so many are. And if you can click on the consult link, you'll can connect with my business partner and my sister she'll listen to your pain points and then lay out for you these different options.

And then we ship them to your home, pair you with a therapist and can start getting to work.

Bryan Carroll: [00:40:56] Perfect. And that is at brain harmony.com/consult. If people are looking for consults, you also have a guide for people creating calm through chaos. Can you talk about that a little bit, 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:41:08] some more details on those strategies that I talked a little bit about today? They're very, well-defined. Four pages.

And so you can actually print them out and say, okay, this is I'm taking control over what's happening. And I'm starting to fine tune what I'm hearing in my environment. What I am exposing my brain to through my eyes. You can start listening to how your nervous system is responding and then provided activities to either elevate it or to better organize and grounded based upon how your nervous system is responding.

And then from there, we can learn how to take better control over our brain and nervous system. And then that's where that wonderful mastery and success of, you know, a higher quality of life can be achieved. So I put together a special perspective for your friends. And I'm looking forward to sharing that it'll be a free download and that way you can start getting control.

And then as you start to use those tools, if you find that, okay, I feel like I'm making some shifts, but I really need some deeper work. That's the cue that yep. Give us a call and we can, we can get a lot deeper work done in a really short period of time. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:42:25] And then my final question for you is what is your vision of what healthy looks like?

Things you do daily to reach that vision. 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:42:32] I love your, your motto of, you know, to move more, to eat well and to be adventurous. And so I was answering, I can answer that in that regard that Those three ideas are just very elevating to me and I, it resonates very much so, so of course, right. I'm a, I'm a, a clean eater and supplement user.

I like magnesium at nighttime for my muscles, for my gut, for my sleep. I like to use some of the, the MCT oils. Functional mushrooms that have in the morning and really just gets that nervous system going, sets you off on a good trajectory. But I do make sure that I get outside for sunlight. First thing in the morning, right before 10 o'clock.

So it cues my nervous system. I am a human and you are in this world that has a son that goes up and that's how we control our circadian rhythms. So I get out with my dog and the sunshine when I can, and the first thing in the morning, and I do. Out there at nighttime to cue my brain through my eyes when the sun starts shifting downwards, really to help ground me into this human world, with human people outside of the technologies.

So eating well allows me to get more adventurous and get outside more as well.

Bryan Carroll: [00:43:56] Awesome, Carol. Well, thank you so much for coming on and chatting with us about anxiety and brain support. This is very valuable information that everyone should hear about because everyone's going through something right now. And especially the last 16 months, we're put into situations that we've never.

It's novel for all of us. It's brand new. None of us have ever been prepared for this. And all of us are going to have something deep down that we can improve upon and work through. So and again, people can find more about you [email protected] They can reach out for a consult with you. And then you also have that creating calm through chaos guide over there.

So thank you. 

Carol Garner-Houston: [00:44:36] Thank you for having me and, and helping us spread the message that there's just no need to suffer as much as people are. So there's many things we can do. Like 

Bryan Carroll: [00:44:46] I had mentioned, if you are looking for help for anxiety or depression or any other mental health condition, then definitely go check out brain harmony.com and see if they can help you.

The type of neurofeedback tools that they're using is really neat. And it's definitely groundbreaking. So you'll be able to find the help that you need if you reach out to them. And. Go ahead and pick up that free document that Carol is sharing with us, called it, creating calm through chaos, because that'll give you some actionable steps that you could get started with today to help you out.

And again, all of this information can be found in the show [email protected] slash one five. Now, if you liked and enjoyed this episode, then it would be awesome. If he could go into your favorite podcast app of your choice and leave us a quick rating and review and subscribe to the show. The more that we can help people out with these types of situations.

The more that this information can get spread to the people that need it. And so your ratings and reviews and subscriptions definitely help the channel out. So go to whatever app that you love to use and help us out a little bit. Also, we are now on YouTube. We're doing a lot of different stuff on YouTube.

So if you want to more visual stuff to help you move more, eat well and be adventurous, then head on over to youtube.com/summit for wellness. And you can see all sorts of different adventures that we're doing. You can see these podcasts and video format and the more people that are checking out the podcast on YouTube.

As slides and other things that I'll start adding in as well to provide more visual feedback. So again, head on over to youtube.com/summit for wellness, but that is it for today. If you know anyone that can benefit from this, please share this information and let them know that there is help available for them.

And that they shouldn't feel bad if they feel this way. We all have moments in our lives where we feel down and out, and that's where we need to reach out to people to help be lifted back up. So again, share this with the people that you know, and love that can benefit from this. And until next time, keep climbing to the peak of your health.