Podcast: Beyond Survival: Transforming Health Challenges into Life-Changing Wisdom with Tatiana Miller

Introduction

Prepare to be inspired! In this eye-opening episode, health counselor Tatiana Miller shares her extraordinary journey from a devastating paralysis diagnosis to becoming a beacon of holistic wellness. Discover how she defied medical expectations, rewired her body and mind, and emerged stronger than ever in her 40s. Tatiana's powerful insights on self-care, mindset, and the true meaning of health will challenge your perspectives and ignite your motivation to prioritize your well-being. Don't miss this transformative conversation that proves it's never too late to reclaim your health and vitality!

Connect with Tatiana Miller

Website: https://mentalhealthsolutionsonline.com/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatiana-miller-howtobeahuman/ 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/RX4LifeMovement/?locale=zh_CN 

Transcription of Podcast

Dr Orlena: Hello. Hello. Hello. Welcome to Fit and Fabulous with me, Dr. Orlena. I am super excited to welcome a guest today who is going to talk to us all about her amazing story and also going to give us some amazing lessons that I'm looking forward to hearing about. Tatiana Miller. Welcome. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Dr Orlena: So happy to be here.

Tatiana Miller: I am a health counselor. I studied holistic medicine. I'm also a psychologist and I've taken sort of my life lessons and my career experience and made it into a holistic approach to helping people shift from surviving and struggling and suffering to thriving. Because one of the things that I've learned in my health journey and with my fitness journey is that.

Tatiana Miller: We cannot let outside circumstances dictate how we feel or what we do for ourselves.

Dr Orlena: Perfect. I love it. And before we started recording, you were saying you were in your 40s and you have never felt healthier. And I thought that's amazing. And I feel like that too. However, I don't have quite such a dramatic and amazing story that you have to share.

Dr Orlena: You have some amazing things that have happened to you, or perhaps amazing isn't the word. I guess it depends how you look at it, but would you like to take us back to the beginning and really just tell us some of your, the big things that have happened in your life?

Tatiana Miller: I guess it's important to start on the influences that i've had and that's that my father was a professional athlete My son now is a professional athlete.

Tatiana Miller: He's a professional soccer player. Football, you know The rest of the world calls it. I grew up in a family that was very much Like fitness was just our lifestyle a part of our lives. It was expected. It was what we did So I grew up very much using exercise as a way to be well. And I thought I was in tune with my body until around the age of, it was around the age of 15 when I started having some significant health issues at that time.

Tatiana Miller: You know, we're talking about 30 something years ago autoimmune disease was still very much an out of the box thing that doctors didn't want to touch or didn't even recognize. And so I got bounced around, told I had cancer, told I had bone problems. They didn't quite know what was going on. I spent a lot of time on bed rest when I was in high school, but nobody really knew what was going on.

Tatiana Miller: I was forced to, when I was a teenager, spend a lot of time sitting by myself learning to be by myself and learning that we cannot take our body for granted. And I think that was. something that really cemented my desire to, always want to know that there's another way. And I remember always asking my dad, like, there has to be another way.

Tatiana Miller: My life can't just be about suffering and hurting. And later on in my twenties, I was finally diagnosed with lupus. And that really took a toll on my body until we could figure out what I was, You know how I was going to take care of that, but I always continue to do yoga. I always continue to to walk I always continue to do pilates I never gave that up because it had always given me from a very young age a sense of like Clarity in my mind and a sense of feeling strong right feeling that power inside of me and in my late 20s, I had a horseback riding accident and I severely hurt my back but You I didn't know at the time.

Tatiana Miller: I have a very high pain threshold. I kind of ignored it. That's for a whole other show, not to ignore what your body's telling you. But it ties into my fitness because what all of these obstacles have taught me, and this comes to the moment when I ignore my injury. I, I don't follow up with the doctors like I'm supposed to.

Tatiana Miller: Then I'm in my thirties, I'm teaching a yoga class. I'm showing a twist. That's where you take your body, you know, around your spine. My, my left leg comes out from under me. And as I'm falling, I know exactly that I can no longer feel my legs. And I fell on the floor and I immediately knew that I couldn't feel my legs.

Tatiana Miller: And at that time, I worked as a clinician in a hospital and I knew that that was, You know that I was having some paralysis, so I was paralyzed. I had four doctors. Tell me you know you've lost all the reflexes on the left side of your body and you just need to like get used to the fact that you're not going to be mobile and We can try to do all these surgeries Maybe two surgeries, maybe three surgeries Maybe four surgeries But we don't know one if you're going to be able to walk and to how many surgeries you're going to be able to need And I think that was the moment in my life when my mind, body and spirit just kind of melded together, which is what we talk about right in mindfulness and wellness, like, behold, we're one.

Tatiana Miller: And I went, No, I don't accept that. And everything that I was told. About my ability to move my body was just accept the fact that this is it for you But my soul and my brain and even my body were like, yeah, you might not be able to feel your legs now But this isn't it for you. I really had to fight What the external world wanted me to accept But at the same time create a peace within myself so that I didn't feel defeated and I didn't give up I found a doctor in Mexico city.

Tatiana Miller: All this happened in the U S I went back home. I found a doctor in Mexico city that was like, I think I have this experimental surgery. I think I can help you. I had to leave my family. I had two young kids at the time. For a while I had to, I went, I had the surgery. I had to relearn to walk. So when I relearn to walk, it's this really impactful moment in my life where I realize that Like, like, like I've heard some of your podcasts, everything that we choose to do, every habit we choose to have can add up to how we're going to feel and, and, and the outcome of our fitness.

Tatiana Miller: Right. And rehab very much is the hardest fitness anybody will go through because I had to rewire my neurology. Like I would, my right leg was, was like bent for a really long time. I couldn't straighten it all the way. I couldn't walk because my legs weren't hitting the floor in the same place. I had to use a cane before I learned to walk.

Tatiana Miller: I went through this whole rehab journey where I really had to use all the tools that I had taught people for a long time and implement them in myself, within myself, cement them in my neurology to go, okay, I'm sending the signal for my brain to my leg to straighten and nothing's happening, but I'm not going to give up.

Tatiana Miller: And I feel like for a lot of people, you know, they go to the gym three times or they go to a new workout three times and they're like, Oh, but nothing's happening, you know? So why should I keep doing it? So I really, really, really learned that fitness and wellbeing is about Our thought processes. It's about where we put our attention.

Tatiana Miller: It's about why we're doing it, not the results, right? Not the outcome, but really more the process. And I also learned a really, really hard lesson, which is hard to swallow. And that, that's that you have to do it for yourself. And that's what we're That's it. Nobody can do it for you. My parents, you know, who were helping take care of me, they couldn't learn to walk for me.

Tatiana Miller: They couldn't take my pain away. My husband couldn't do it. You know, I had to do it for myself. And that's really when I started my life passion project, which is to help empower people prioritize their self care. Because I learned that I had not prioritized my self care. I was doing all these things, right?

Tatiana Miller: Like teaching yoga and learning meditation. And I studied holistic medicine, but I wasn't applying them to me and my body and my self care, there was this mismatch, this disconnect. And so although that was probably the hardest thing I've ever experienced in my life, my, my, my paralysis and my having to learn to rewalk again, it really was the biggest gift in my life because I now in my forties, you know, 15 years later can meet myself where I am and say, it's okay to be tired.

Tatiana Miller: Or, Hey, I have all this energy today. I can go for a run, you know, or I don't like weight training, which is a big truth for me. I do not like it. I like Pilates. I like yoga. I like dance, you know, but I've learned that if I do not do what I don't want to do and what I don't like, I hurt my bones degenerate.

Tatiana Miller: it's been this whole process of my body really forcing me and giving me this opportunity to, value my body as my sacred space as, as, as my most precious vehicle to operate in the world. That's an amazing, amazing story. I'd like to congratulate you because I think you really embodied this The power of belief, like if you hadn't believed that you could get back and walk, you very well may not have done.

Dr Orlena: And having, my son was unwell last year, he had something called functional neurological disorder and he couldn't walk very well. And to you talking about the rehab bit, it's really difficult. He did not want to do it. And for me, it was really difficult trying to make him to do it, going, you can get, you can do it, you can do it.

Dr Orlena: I totally hear how difficult it is to do that and to motivate yourself to do that. It's an amazing, an amazing thing. I'd like to take you back to, you know, your message. Yeah, sorry, did you have something else you wanted to say? Oh, I was just going to say that the emotional aspect of rehabbing your body, I think is harder than the physical.

Tatiana Miller: We, we focus on the physical. So I worked in a, in a as a part of a pain team in a hospital. And I would partner often with the, with the physical therapist, because most of the time in rehab, the reason people don't heal correctly is because of that mental block. It you're like, my leg won't move. And so you become depressed, you become frustrated.

Tatiana Miller: And your body responds to your emotions. Your, your, your body doesn't know the difference between, I think I can't do it and I can do it, but don't want to do it or don't think I can do it. Your body's just responding, like you're programming your body.

Dr Orlena: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that message is true.

Dr Orlena: Whether you're doing rehab or wanting to make a significant change. So the people I work with. They want to lose weight. And for a lot of people, it's really difficult to make that jump from, I am somebody who's struggling to lose weight and none of this is going to work for me to, Oh, wow, look, I'm leading my most healthy life.

Dr Orlena: And before you start doing these things, you have to take that leap of, well, I'm going to do it. I'm actually going to put myself out there.

Tatiana Miller: And I have to do it, right? Like it's not, you, you can have, like, I have, I do not like weight training, like I told you. I've learned that I need a coach. I need somebody that is going to push me because I've learned that this is my weakness, right?

Tatiana Miller: It is my weakness that I will do, you know, five reps and I'm like, I'm good. I did wait. And the coach is like actually no, come back. You're not done. You know, I, you, we have to allow people that we can lean on to push us in the right way for us to be our best. And, but you have to want to within yourself and you have to be willing and committed to do that.

Tatiana Miller: And I think with rehab and with weight loss, it's, it's, it's about your commitment. It's about,

Dr Orlena: yeah, absolutely. And I think for me, when I take a step back and look at anybody who's making changes and bringing this back to habit, We have a place where we are, where we're not satisfied with whatever is going on.

Dr Orlena: And then we have our vision of where we want to get to, which is we've got all these healthy habits and I'm just doing it. Now, when you're there, you're doing it without thinking. It's so ingrained in your mind. body and your mind and your emotions that you can't imagine doing things in a different way.

Dr Orlena: For example, when COVID hit, I just carried on eating healthily because that, there's no other way for me than to eat healthily. But there is what I call this rickety bridge, the chasm of despair, if you like, which is when you're making those changes. And it feels really, really difficult at that moment, Because you're putting in all this effort, and that's, at that time, that's when you're thinking, Okay, I don't want to do it, and part of your brain is saying, I have to do it, I don't want to do it, I have to do it, But once you get through that, you get to that space of, yeah, I'm just doing everything and I love it.

Dr Orlena: It's amazing. Yeah. I think that the more you do things that benefit your health and your wellbeing, the harder it is to do those things that are hindering your health and wellbeing. You know, like it, I, I used to, with my autoimmune, one of the things that really accelerates my any sort of imbalance in your body is sugar.

Tatiana Miller: And I grew up in a culture where we eat a lot of bread and we consume a lot of sugar. I had to make that change to not have any flare ups, you know, and, and, and, and not have pain. And it was really difficult for me. And I think anytime we have to make changes, In our life, the, the adjustment period is very challenging because we are, we go to what we know, like neurologically, we go to what we know.

Tatiana Miller: If I'm used to eating a piece of bread with every meal and now I don't do that, well now I don't feel satisfied, but it's not that my body's not satisfied. It's that I have this emotional relationship with this habit. Because it's what I grew up with and I think a lot of our health habits. I do a lot of research on behavioral health because I'm, I'm also a professor.

Tatiana Miller: I teach general psychology and lifespan development and we look at like cultures and their habits around fitness and around health and you see how much that impacts people's emotional relationship with eating and with fitness but also their habits. It's not things that we're choosing, right?

Tatiana Miller: It's, it's what we're taught to do. It's really hard to un teach ourselves and then re teach ourselves and that was part of my journey, too. With my rehab and with my health issues is, is so important. Me thinking, well, I have, I'm doing all these things, right? I do yoga, I meditate, you know, why is this happening?

Tatiana Miller: And I think that happens often too, with people that are not getting the results that they want, or they're not looking how they want. They don't realize that it's like these layers we have to shed and we have to create space for the actual change to happen. Absolutely. Going back to when you were in, in that depth of thinking, I'm paralyzed and I can't, and everyone's telling me this is, this is it.

Dr Orlena: What were some of the habits that you built up at that time that really got you through that, you know, motivated you to keep going? That's when

Tatiana Miller: I thought, I thought I was a meditator before I went to meditation training to be a teacher. I taught meditation, but not until I felt the impact of it changing my biology and my neurology.

Tatiana Miller: And my ability to hold that piece because I was terrified. You know, I, I, before I really went into that place of like, I'm going to believe I'm not going to accept this. I got really depressed and, and I even told my mom, like, if this is how it's going to be, I don't want to live. And that's when my parents really stepped in, even though I was an adult, you know, I mean, I had kids of my own, but that's when my parents really said no, no, no, no, this is not, this is not what's happening.

Tatiana Miller: This is not what we're doing. And they were really a catalyst and kind of shaking me up and going, we know you and we know how strong you are. And we, this, this is not the end. And that really allowed me to go, okay, I got a shift. I have to move away from this. This, this, this feeling of, of my life is over to how am I going to make this work?

Tatiana Miller: Perfect.

Dr Orlena: And what would you say to people who perhaps don't prioritize their health and wellness right now? And I think when people don't prioritize their health, most people have this little niggle of, okay, I really want to prioritize my health and wellness for whatever reason. It might be because you want to lose weight.

Dr Orlena: It might be because you want to lead what I call a vibrant rest of life. It might be because. You're scared about a family history of diabetes or some other horrible illness. What would you say to those people who are not currently taking action and a little bit concerned that none of it's going to work for them?

Tatiana Miller: And what I want to tell those people is that that is a choice. Because you're choosing to not prioritize your functionality. So my view also changes from it being about looks and sure, I wanna look good. Everybody wants to look good, right? But my view changed from it being about looks to it being about, can I move in my everyday life without pain, without aches?

Tatiana Miller: Can I bend down and kiss my nephew on the floor? Who's crawling can I? Pick up my son if he needs me to pick him up. Can I, you know, jog like the other day I had to chase my dog. Can I sprint and jog and catch my dog, you know, and it not cause this huge uproar in my life. Like my family and I, we just went on vacation and we went to see beautiful places that you can only get to hiking.

Tatiana Miller: And I hear all of these people that say, Oh, I to go hiking. You know, when I'm young, because when I'm old, when I, when I retire, I won't be able to do it. Well, yes, you can. I've met, my grandfather is 87 years old and spends two hours at the gym every day. I mean, you know, these are choices. These, these, these are things that we have to choose to feel good.

Tatiana Miller: Nobody's going to do it for us. And my biggest mistake was that I always thought, Oh, I'm I'm healthy, quote unquote, right? Because I thought I was doing these things, but I wasn't doing the things that I needed to do to take care of myself. Everybody thinks it's not going to happen to me. Everybody thinks I'll do it tomorrow.

Tatiana Miller: Everybody thinks. And here's my, the thing that I get the most with my clients is, well, I don't have time. And let me tell you, I said that so often because I had a job that I loved. I had two vibrant young children. I had my family. I had, I had a life, right? We all have a life. But I had to stop my life completely.

Tatiana Miller: I had to quit my job. I had to leave my family. I had, I mean, the tower crumbled, right? And that's what happens. Health crisis is there's an author that I loved, Gaber Matei, and he's done a lot of research on, and he's actually an MD. As well, and he's done a lot of research on what do health crisis is actually mean, right?

Tatiana Miller: Most people live their life from symptom to crisis symptom to crisis symptom to crisis And your mission and my mission in life is to go. Hey, we don't have to get to symptoms We can be proactive we can have preventative health And if you don't get to symptoms, you won't get to a crisis, but crisis has only happened with your body You Because we're not listening to the signals our body's sending us.

Tatiana Miller: And an ache, and a pain, and a headache, and a stomach ache, all of those things are your body going, Hey, can you please stop for a second? And like, just listen. You know, it's like a child crying going, Please help me, please help me. Your body's always trying to help you. Your body's always trying to get to balance.

Tatiana Miller: But we don't give it the tools and resources that it needs. I 100 percent agree with you. And I think one thing is. Our body is amazing in its capacity to heal itself. And our body really just wants that its default state is to get back to healthy. And yet we live in a society, we live in modern world where we actually stop that happening a lot of the time.

Dr Orlena: But yeah, like I've got a cut on my foot. I go swimming every day and I managed to smash my foot against a rock by swimming too close to it. But I look at my foot and it's gone. It's busy healing itself. I don't have to do anything. It just fixes itself. It's just amazing. Like, if I had to meditate and make it happen, it would take me months and months and months to get there.

Dr Orlena: But, yeah, our bodies are just absolutely amazing. Tatiana, thank you so much for spending some time with us. Would you like to tell people where they can find you on the internet and what services you provide? Sure! You can Google Tatiana Miller, how to be a human. That's my weekly radio show that gets sent out to be a podcast as well.

Tatiana Miller: And, and I'll pop up if you want to listen to more of the things that I talk about, I call it how to be a human because I feel like what we're discussing right now, for example, and, and, and a lot of different topics, we're not teaching our youth. And the adults that are trying to raise our youth don't know how to transmit these ideas to our youth or don't know how to do it for themselves.

Tatiana Miller: It's topics about anything that has to do with how to be the best that we can be so that we can thrive. My website is also available. I just changed it. So this is hilarious. I have to look it up to remember, remember what it is.

Tatiana Miller: My company's called RX for life because of my life experiences Prescriptions for life are exactly what you and I are discussing, right? Like these habits that we have that prevent us from having these symptoms.. I am a psychologist. I work with companies as a consultant on a lot of mental health issues with, with corporations like giving trainings or doing assessments.

Tatiana Miller: But my favorite thing to do is work with individuals to help them shift from a place of being stuck or a place of surviving and help take them to thriving. Because I have seen it, In so many different ways. I just had a client that was on a jog, very fit, about to become an a pilot finishing a very hard program.

Tatiana Miller: You know, becoming a pilot is very strenuous physically up in the air. They're very fit. They're on their jog to stay healthy. Got hit by a car 47 miles an hour. They, are in belief that they're going to be fine. They have the strength that they're going to make it through. So I, I never want anybody to take what people are telling them or what circumstances are coming at them to dictate their wellbeing or their outcome.

Dr Orlena: Perfect. Perfect. Thank you so much. Once again, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you.