Dr Shane Krukow and Jennifer Bicknese: Faith, Meditation and the Connection Between Mind, Body and Spirit

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Throughout my own life and fitness journey, I have had the privilege of meeting incredible people who've shared valuable insights on mindset, health, fitness, and spiritual growth. The profound impact of this knowledge on my own life has inspired me to share it with all of you. I'm Erica Sweeney, host and founder of My Fit Tribe Podcast. Join me as we explore inspiring conversations with experts, thought leaders, and everyday heroes who offer their stories and practical tips to help you on your own journey. From nutrition and fitness to mental well-being and personal or spiritual growth, our mission is to empower you to take charge of your health and live your best life. We are more than just a podcast, we are community. Through coaching, a wealth of shared knowledge, and a strong support network, we are here to guide and encourage you every step of the way. Come be a part of our tribe. For this episode, you really should watch the video clip to see the smiles on the faces of my guests, Jennifer Bickney's and Dr. Shane Kruco. It's clear that God has brought them together, and through their shared learnings and teachings, they show us how to live, heal, and thrive through faith and practice. This conversation is a beautiful reminder that sometimes life truly does come full circle. Today on the My Fitch Chi podcast, I am joined by Jennifer Bickneys, a motivational speaker and author of Let God, Let Go, Let's Go. And she is joined by Dr. Shane Kruko, a chiropractor and holistic practitioner with a background in nutrition, acupuncture, and meditation. With over 30 years of experience, Dr. Shane focuses on the connection between mind, body, and spirit, making this a powerful conversation on faith, meditation, and whole person wellness. Hello to you both. Thank you so much for joining me.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Thank you so much. This is an honor.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

It definitely is. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

I'm really excited to hear about your journey. And, you know, Jennifer, I read on you about your book and how you've come to, and you do mention that Dr. Shane has been an important part of your journey as well. So, Dr. Shane, let's start with you and just find out how you got into chiropractic, what your journey's been, um, just to kind of get us familiar with you.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so uh when I was a young boy, I was a very sickly kid. I had headaches all the time, I had all sorts of stuff. I was a farm boy, played outside with dogs and cats and pigs, and had all kinds of cuts and scrapes. And so I was into the doctor a lot, uh, had my appendix out when I was seven, all these things. But the one thing that really stuck out is I always had headaches. And I my mom would take me to the chiropractor, and he would do some adjustments, which at the time I didn't know what he was doing. He was just doing something. And uh anyway, I would come out of there feeling great. I'd be great for a long time. So it got me curious, and I started asking questions like, hey, what what is this? Well, what when you're doing this, what is going on here? And so they would just talk to me and kind of fill me in. So about age 15, I decided I want to be a chiropractor, I want to help people, I want to do this because if it does this for me, then what can it do for others? And so the journey just kept going from there. I curtailed my high school classes to anatomy and biology and all these things, the sciences, and then the same thing through college and then got into chiropractic school, and it just went from there. And I've been in practice 31 years now and love it, love every bit of it. We treat all ages from newborns all the way up. The oldest I've had is 102. I've had a couple of those, and it's just been really enjoyable. But somewhere back in about 2013 or so, I I just knew there was more. Uh, I knew there was more than just the the physical and the nutritional aspect. And we do lots of nutritional counseling, we do uh muscle testing, uh, so we can ask the patient's body what they what the body thinks it needs. And I know that sounds crazy, but anyway, it's uh applied kinesiology, is what it's called. And I knew there was this extra power within the body. And I'm going, hmm, what is this? Uh you know, what how do we how does the body know what it wants by simply asking and then testing a muscle? And all of a sudden the muscle gets strong when it was weak. So uh I had a friend of mine, another chiropractor, that uh we were together and we went to this conference, it's an acupuncture conference up in uh Minneapolis. And uh he was walking, we were walking around and there was all these vendors there. And he looked at me and he says, You know, I've been kind of thinking about doing meditation. And I said, Oh, I love it that you said that. Uh, because if you look right over there, there's a guy right there looking at us, and he's smiling and he's kind of bouncing up and on his feet with his arms kind of behind his back. And I said, He's staring right at us. Let's go talk to him. So we get over there and uh we're like, hey, hey, and whatever, and we're like, we're interested. And he goes, Oh, here. He hands us these little uh DVDs, and we we purchase them and we're like, okay, we're gonna go home, we're gonna learn about meditation, it's gonna tell us all this stuff. It's all it's all great. So I go home and I put it on a dresser next to my bed and didn't touch it for a year. A year later, got it out, I dusted it off, and I played these CVDs. And I'm like, wow, this is kind of interesting. So I went back up to Minneapolis to have this guy teach me in person. And after he did, he told me, like, hey, if you practice this, it will help you to heal in many ways. And this particular meditation, there's lots of kinds of meditations, by the way. There's lots. If you look on YouTube, there's all kinds, and they're all great, they're all fine. This one here might be just a little bit different because it involves our divine. And that to me got my attention. And I'm like, hey, if you involve God, what else is there? And I and then it started clicking like, oh, this is the the other thing that I was missing. This is it. So he taught me the meditations, and I spent, I don't know, several weekends. I'd go up to Minneapolis. We're about three hours away from Minneapolis. We're we live in the middle of Iowa. And anyway, I go up there and I learned all this, and then he said to me, He goes, Okay, here's my challenge for you. Practice this for a hundred days and you will have seen something major change in your life. And I'm like, yeah on. And I said, I'll see you in four months, 120 days, because he he had a class and I signed up for it, and I said, I'll be back to tell you how this doesn't work for me. That's literally what I said to him, because I didn't believe it. I'm like, how does breathing and focusing on some light? How does that fix all of the anxiety, the depression, all the anger and resentment and all the things I was feeling? And I mean, I had them all. It was all there and it was really bad. Well, anyway, so I said, I will do it. I love challenges um year on. So I go home and I start breathing and focusing on some light. And on day 93 or evening 93, this is this is amazing. Jennifer's heard this story a lot. So we we've talked so much and we've done some different classes, and so we we know what each other are saying sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

But it doesn't get old.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Oh well, thank you. So here's what happened. I was in this meditation, and mind you, I'm trying to disprove this. I'm trying to say, okay, you know, this there's no way this is going to work. So I'm in this meditation and I'm doing my breathing and I'm focusing on some light, and then all of a sudden, I feel and hear this. I don't know if you can hear this, but here it goes. I felt a brushing on my shoulder. So I opened my eyes and I look around and I'm like, well, the room is dark. So I went over and turned the light on. Like, what is my wife doing in here? Well, she's not. So I opened the door and I looked downstairs and she's down watching TV. And I shut the door and I'm like, huh. Well, that's interesting. I don't know. So anyway, I let it go. Forgot about it, no big deal. Went on about my night, slept, got up, went to work the next day. The next evening, our neighbors were over for uh dinner. They're in their mid-70s at the time. And I was picking the plates up from the table and I was stacking them in my left arm. And prior to this, for 15 years, I had a shoulder pain. I had a restriction in my shoulder. I had fallen 24 feet out of a tree 15 years prior. I fell and landed on this shoulder, and I was unable to reach to my back pocket. I couldn't tuck my shirt in, pull my belt through my loop. If they were, if the kids dropped something in the back seat, I couldn't reach back and get it. It just, it was excruciating. And everybody told me I was fine. The doctors were like, hey, you're fine. There's nothing wrong with your shoulder. And I'm like, well, there's a knife there. I don't, I just can't move it. So I just accepted the fact that I can't reach in my back pocket. So my wallet was put in my front pocket on my left side because it's it hurt to even reach in my front pocket. Well, anyway, as the neighbors are sitting there and I'm picking up the plates, I had an itch between my shoulder blades. And it's one of those itches you just got to get to. It's like, okay, I gotta go now. So I reach back with my right arm, the one that doesn't reach back, and all of a sudden I'm scratching it, and I'm like, oh, that feels great. And then I look and I'm like, wait a minute, that's the wrong arm. So I threw the plates down on the table. I broke one, and uh, my wife was not impressed. Uh, but I I threw it down and I reached back with my left arm, I reach back with my right arm, and I go, huh. And my neighbors are like, hey, are you are you okay? And I'm like, no, yeah, no, yeah. And they're like, what's going on? And I said, I can reach behind my back for the first time in 15 years, and I'm not crying. There's no pain. And they're like, Oh, well, we can do it too. And they do it and they laugh and they think it's all funny. Okay, so I pick up the plates, gather it. I go into the kitchen. My wife is in there cleaning up, and I go, Hey, sorry about the plate. But I said, Look, I can reach back behind my back and I'm not crying and I don't have any pain. And she goes, Oh, that's nice. Hey, will you get the dessert out of the refrigerator? And right then, there I realized nobody understands your pain or my pain. And I forgave her the moment she said it. And I thought, this is a this is my best friend, this is my spouse, my lover, everybody, my whole world right there. And she doesn't understand what I've been going through for 15 years, even though she's lived it with me. And I thought, so I just will move on from this, no big deal. So that night, when the neighbors went home, I usually meditate at night. You can meditate anytime of the day, it doesn't matter. So I went up to meditate, and now I've got a different feeling. Before it was like, hey, I'm just doing this just to just to prove it wrong or disprove it. But now it's like, I don't even know what's going on right now. And so I'm I'm sitting there and I always invite God or Christ to join me. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, all right, God, uh what was this? I actually said other words, but I won't say that on this podcast. But I'm like, what the heck was this? And I went into the meditation, and somewhere in the meditation, I got really relaxed, and all of a sudden I heard words for the first time in my life. I heard you were holding on to grief that was not yours. And I opened my eyes and like, oh my gosh, I I've never heard this before. This is this is unbelievable. And then my my conscious mind kicks in and says, but what was it? And then I heard another repeat uh to the question was, it doesn't matter what it was. So then I sat back and I thought, well, if I can heal in one split second in 15 years, and I didn't believe in anything that I was doing, then what can this do for other people? So then I brought it to the clinic and started talking about it and saying, hey, you know, can I teach you this? So I do this on almost an everyday basis, where I have some days that I just set aside just for meditations, and then during chiropractic and acupuncture treatments and the muscle testing we do, I'll do some meditations in between and whatnot. And this is basically my what my days consist of from this point forward is teaching it to people so that they can have these experiences.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Oh, there's so much I want to get into. So before I ask all the questions that I have, Jennifer, how did you meet and what was your life like at that time?

SPEAKER_02 13:52

So I probably need to tell you my life story a little bit to understand this. So I introduce myself when Shane and I go around talking. I introduce myself like this. Um, I am married to my high school sweetheart for 33 years. I have three adult children, well, adult most of the time, right? Um, and I am the only person in my family that is not bilingual. In other words, I do not speak fluent sarcasm. So my husband, you'll understand then, when he bought me license plates that say what next, as long as he was not my next project, he didn't care what I did. So my life has been very colorful, um, but it all accumulated into really my being a patient of Dr. Kruko and also writing my book. And so when I was 10 years old, um I was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder. And at that time, that many years ago, it was something that was hidden. You didn't talk about. And I tried every treatment in the world. Um, if it wasn't for my grandmother, I don't think I would have survived my childhood. And in my book, I tell quite a few stories about her, and I'll explain some of those today. But I remember sitting in church one day wishing I had a broken arm because somebody could see my pain and somebody could fix it. And so when when Shane talks about pain, I do understand that. And I and I, you know, and I think that's our mission is to help people with that pain because everybody has some. And so I my life went on, and my grandmother would come get me in the middle of the night where I was a farm girl and she was about five miles away, and she would come get me in the middle of the night when I was having a panic attack or whatever you wanted to call them. And she'd take me to her house and we'd sit around her kitchen table and we would talk, or we would shell peas, or do something farm garden related. And then we would go upstairs to bed. And my grandfather was up there, but grandma had a little bed made next to hers, and it had a little pillow and a and a blanket, but she slept with her hand on my back. And it was the only time in my childhood that I truly felt safe. And that's really important, I think, to remember as I talk to you about my meditations with Shane and what he has taught me. But I became a very high-functioning young adult with anxiety. I was very accomplished based. And so um getting good grades at that point when I graduated from high school, it was either medical school or law school. Don't like blood, so went to law school. Again, I I think it's important to remember that as my story goes on. Um, I did that for eight, nine years. Worst experience of my life. My anxiety was triggered. I probably was a very good attorney because with anxiety, those people can do the what-if scenarios very well. So my contracts were very thorough, but it was very hard on me. And so during that time, I had an opportunity to become an administrative law judge and also a magistrate. Surprisingly, even to me, that much better fit my personality. And I didn't understand why, but it was it was much easier. I I enjoyed it, I loved it until I got laid off. Again, I think God works in mysterious ways. It was the best thing that ever happened because I got to raise my three children. So I was a stay-at-home mom. I loved it. It was the hardest job I've ever had in my entire life. But of course, during that time, couldn't sit still, bought a retail store. So I bought a boutique, bought a floral store, bought a Christian bookstore, put those all together, ran that while the kids were in school, became a professional organizer, and then hired a life coach. And this is where things really started to change for me. Because as life coaches, they she would show me the things that that maybe my gifts were, but she also did one other thing. She showed me some things that maybe I should stay away from that weren't healthy for somebody like me. And do you know what the number one thing was? Conflict. So great choice to become an attorney, you know. And I wished I would have known that at the age of 18. Well, during this whole time, I was still dealing with anxiety. And my grandmother passed away during this time. And this is why I call my story my rounded journey of full circle faith. I have a huge family. We were singing to her, playing the flute, and it was it was her day to meet Jesus. And um, of course, she was a center of the party during all of that. And finally, the hospice nurse says, Jennifer, I need you to excuse everybody here, about 30 of us, and I need you to stay and and help your grandma. Oh, I don't like medical things, but I understood my duty. And so I climbed into bed with her and put my hand on her back, and she she passed away peacefully in my arms. And that's right then when I knew that my journey had come full circle. And that safety that I was able to get from her, I returned to her in the end. And so when she and Dr. Kruko started doing meditation, I've always been faithful. I've always gone to church, I've always had a Bible study, I've always done Bible studies. I I try to live by the faithful principles, but I missed that relationship with God. And I think somebody with anxiety and and just in society in general, we're busy. Meditation taught me how to pray, but also to listen. And it taught me to have that relationship where now I feel safe. And that's where let God comes in first in my book. I can't let go until I've let God in. God is always there, He's always available. So we let God in at that point, and then I'm able to let go of some of the hurts. We did a seminar in Monacello a couple weeks ago, and I asked the question I said, has anybody in this room never been hurt, never been disappointed, never been angry? Nobody can raise their hand to that. So we all have things that we can let go and to do that. And and I one of the things, and maybe we'll talk about this a little bit later, is letting go of our ideas of success and what that is and that biblical term, and then being able to let go and use those gifts. And that's my passion project. My passion right now, teaming up with Dr. Kruko, is that we're able to go out there and help people heal, but most importantly, help them find that relationship because we can be the best Christians in the world, but until we have that personal, intimate relationship with Christ, all of the gifts that he's given us, all of the pain that we've endured prevents us from going out and spreading his love. And that's that is where we definitely have reached the point where my message, his skills are incredible. And we have gone around teaching this message and then actually doing a meditation session with these people. I've never been able to watch a meditation session. I'm I'm absolutely flabbergasted every time we do this to watch the people that come through this seminar. And we're at we're being asked to come back and continue to do that. So Dr. Kruko is amazing. But I will tell you, you know how I met Dr. Kruko? I'd never been to a chiropractor in my entire life. And my sisters were good volleyball players, and they had gone to his office, and on the ceiling, there was a sign that said, Do your children have ear infections? And I'm like, wow. And so my sister told me this, and we were on the verge of getting tubes in our one-year-old. And I was in that waiting room for the pre-op surgery, and this mom came up to me and said, Oh, honey, don't worry. We're on our third set of tubes. I'm like, uh-uh, I am not doing third set. I got in that day with Addy, and uh, we've never had an ear infection since, and we've never, we've never had surgery. And now I take my family for attitude adjustments.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

For everything, full stop. A lot of what you talked about resonates so much with me. So I had a meditation session that I did. We were offered an opportunity to sell our business, and I really struggled with whether it was the right time, the right decision, couldn't went back and forth all the time. So couldn't sleep. It was one o'clock in the morning, so I put on a meditation. Meditation app to try to calm my mind. And I was fortunate to have a very mystical experience where I prayed and I had a voice come to me and tell me that it was it was time. I needed to do that so I could be there for my parents. Well, at that time my parents were relatively healthy. My dad had COPD, but I I woke up bawling because I knew that I that something was going to be happening in the near future where I would need to be present for my parents. And I couldn't do that if we still maintained the business. So I talked it up to all of your imagination for a little while until everything started to fall into place. And so fast forward into 2023, I lost my dad. So when you talked about being with your grandma at that moment, it took me back to the hospital room. And so many of our listeners know this story. But when my dad was in the hospital, he had on his ambulance ride to the hospital. He had stopped breathing. And so when he came back to the hospital and he was aware, he said to me that there was nothing. There were no angels, there were no bright lights, like there was just nothing. He was very afraid. And I told him, well, clearly it wasn't your time to go. Like, duh. Don't worry about it. So I told him, Let me send you a sign. So the very next day, I had prayed about it. I went to the hospital and I said it must be a hummingbird. Don't know where that came from. It was a voice that came to me. Fast forward 10 days later at the end of his life. I'm at his bed. There's a chaplain who I never met before alongside me. And I remind him to send me the hummingbird. And at that time, the chaplain shows me she has a hummingbird necklace on. And for me, it is one it is one of many gifts that I have learned too, where it's not just the praying, it's the listening. And it's very hard to do the listening because the brain goes crazy and there's so much to think about. Yeah. And then it's funny too, because you mentioned your shoulder. So after my dad passed away, I ended up with a frozen shoulder, which I then in turn looked, and it is it's known for grief with your shoulder that holds it in there. Um, and you know, again, I did all the work on it physically and ended up having to have surgery, but that was a whole process too, and in trying to really, you know, you do all the things to heal your body physically, but we don't do the things to heal our souls. And I think we need to spend a little bit more time on our minds and our souls in order to heal the rest of us and be in a better place.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Yeah, that's a great story. Thank you for sharing.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

It's uh, you know, it could my whole life changed at those moments. You know, everything changed. What I'm doing, how I think, and I'm I have a default mode, which is the hustle, right? So that's why I love having these conversations about the slowing down and the meditating. I recently started reading the book Becoming Superhuman by Dr. Joe Dispenza. I don't know if you've read it, but it's a it talks a lot about the meditation and the healing of the body through that. Yes. So, what types of things, um, Dr. Cuckoo, have you seen with meditation, with people being able to slow down and heal their body? Can you give examples of that?

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Yes, yeah. Um, there's many things. Um, I have seen this is an extreme case. Um, but I met a lady this way back when I first started, 11 years ago or so. I was doing a class at one of the local churches. And after the class, this uh man and this woman came up and he was like, Hey, my wife is dying from cancer. She's staged four. Uh it's in her lungs, both lungs, breasts, sternum, ribs, spine, spleen, and pelvis. She has three weeks left to live. Is there anything you can do? And she was so weak she couldn't even speak. And I said, Wow. I said, you know, I can show you um how to get in touch with God, but uh, you know, maybe we can help ease your journey. I don't really know. And they said, that's fine, that's good with us. We'll we'll do this. So she came in three times a week for those three weeks that she had left to live. And by the end of the third week, she was whispering to me. And then we continued on, and then we went twice a week for several weeks. And six months later, she's smiling, laughing, talking, and driving herself, which she hadn't been doing. And she brought back her uh MRI scan, and she goes, I want you to look at this, and I want you to look at the one that I had, and I want you to look at this one. And I'm looking at all these tumors everywhere in the body, and they were a third less. She said, My oncologist is like, and and I got I forgot to say, she's doing no chemo, no radiation, no medicine, zero. The only two things she did was she started taking some supplements that we had out front, and then she did meditation. So throughout this process, uh the oncologist just wanted to have her come in every six months to do an MRI just so he could watch. He goes, I don't understand this. He goes, I'm not very spiritual, but there's something more because you're better. Two years into this, I'm driving home and I had no idea where this lady lived. And I see this woman out on the lawnmower, an old cub cadet lawnmower, and they're really rough, and she was bouncing around. And just because I'm a chiropractor, I always make these little jokes to myself. I'm like, aha, she's gonna need a chiropractor when she's done mowing the lawn. And when she turned around to come back towards the road, it was her. She had six compression fractures in her spine because the cancer had eaten the bone in her spine so poorly that just a hard step would fracture those vertebrae more. Well, she's out there bouncing around. I almost took out two mailboxes because I was looking at her as I was going by. I'm like, whoa, I had to get back on the road. Oh my gosh. Anyway, so I saw her the next week and I go, What were you doing? I said, You were mowing. She goes, Oh, she goes, I can do everything now. And I said, Oh my gosh, you should wait till you see your next MRI because now I'm kind of freaking out a little bit, thinking you're like getting crazy. Well, anyway, she did another MRI, and there was one teeny little spot like on her sternum, and the rest of it was gone. And so she flew out to California, saw her grandson graduate in the Naval Academy, and she went to Florida to see her other kids. She had a huge family, and she actually lived seven more years, and then she died of a heart condition. She was in her mid to late 70s. But what she said to me is that she had some guilt that she had been dealing with, and she shared it with me and everything. And then she she actually met Jesus and in her meditations. And when he gave her forgiveness and he told her, Hey, stop worrying about all this, it's okay. And that changed everything for her, and it changed everything for me. And I mean, she was my teacher. Uh, I'm not the teacher in this situation. She was teaching me through Christ, and so I just went, Oh my goodness, I I think you should share your wisdom with everybody. She did with her family, but she wasn't um one to get up in front of people on that, so she didn't really do that. But that kind of started the whole thing. That was early on when I first started doing this. And I thought, oh my goodness, well, um, I guess we can take on anything. As long as I got God and Christ in my corner, bring it on. Let's see what we can do. And, you know, I'm just the the helper in this situation. I don't, I don't really have a part in this. I just help them to connect. And like Jennifer said, it's the listening, it's all about listening because we do, do, do all day long out our mouths, out our hands, in our mind. We're always doing. We're never just being. And when when we get into that being, that stage where you're just kind of like in La La Land, where you can't like hear anything or see anything, and you're just kind of in this space. I call that the oneness. It's where you're one with your divine. And when you get there, that's ultimate healing. And it's phenomenal. And so we see things happen. I mean, I would say these last, oh gosh, three, four years, I've been attracting a lot of suicidal people, people that have either attempted or are thinking about, and they're open with me. I mean, they flat out say it. I had a guy here two years ago. He he came in and he's 44 and he has a business and a wife and and daughters, and he's like, Yeah, I'm kind of ready to get out of this world. And I'm like, hey, can will you give me? I said, practice this for a hundred days. Just I gave him the same challenge I had. And he looked at me and he said, I'll give you two weeks. And I said, Oh boy. I said, I that's a lot. I said, Can you come in three times in two weeks? He goes, Yes, I will do that. I said, Okay, let's let's do that. And so, of course, I'm praying to God and doing all this, like, hey, will you help this? This is a very nice, very intelligent man. He needs to be here. Well, anyway, that two weeks came up, and I'm really nervous, by the way. I mean, I'm nervous. And I'm like, So, how's things going? He goes, you know, I see some value in this. I'll give you two more weeks. Well, that was two years ago, and since then, he has reconnected with his wife, which I think is just beautiful. He has connected with his daughters, he's doing more with his daughters now, he has expanded his business, he's hired new people, and he's doing more things, and and then he came into when he was coming in. Uh oh, this is a while back, he started cracking these dad jokes. I love dad jokes. I'm sorry, they're just they're corny, but they're funny. And he was giving me these dad jokes and he started laughing, and I saw his teeth, and I stopped and I said, Hey, I said, This is the first time I've ever seen your teeth. And he looked he goes, What? And then he laughs and smiles, and we laugh so hard. Well, anyway, I see a lot of that.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Yes, and and I think this is this is where meditation really helped me with my book and and putting it into words because when you meditate, first of all, Dr. Kruko reads everything. And so I joke around that you just read that book and give me a little cliff note because then I can be educated too. And so um, I trust him with my physical, my mental, my spiritual health. I mean, that is that is the level of trust that I have in Dr. Kruko. So when he talks about this, it's very important that you understand that you have to let God in. Another verse that just hit me in the same church that I was when I did my elbow was I've listened to the to the Easter story. I'm 56. I listened to it at least 56 times, right? But one day it just hit me that you know, this the same Holy Spirit that resides in us is the one that rose Jesus Christ from the dead. And when you stop and actually think about that, that is so powerful. God is never lost. We are the ones, you know, and we live in a world where we want Instagram, instapots, insta everything. He is always there. I mean, James 4.8 is very clear that if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. It doesn't say maybe tomorrow. And I think that's what meditation did. And so when when Dr. Kruko first explained it to me, I was leery. I'm like, that sounds sounds weird. How is that going to help me? Well, he said, you know what? If nothing else, here are the scientific reports and what breathing does, breathing habits, slowing your breath. If nothing else, slow your body down and let it recover with the scientific physical part of it. So once that happened, I was able to let God in. And that is just asking him. That is that daily relationship. But the other part where he just explained is some people don't want God to see all parts of them. They're ashamed, they're guilty, they're, you know, afraid. Well, he already knows. So I tell the clients that I counsel, particularly young people, he already knows. He's not just going to judge you on that. Let that part of it go. Let him into that. And I tell this story about my grandmother again. I lived at her her house one summer and she had me walk beans. And when I told my editor for my book that, she's like, What is walking beans? And so as a farm girl, we went out into a quarter section of land and we would walk through the bean field and we would pick the weeds and just toss them to the ground before chemicals. Well, my grandfather did not like button weeds, and he said, Jennifer, if you bring back every button weed, I'll give you a quarter. And I said, That sounds great. I'm 10 years old. It took me two months to walk this all by myself. So I'd go out in the morning in my little overalls and I'd come back and my grandma would have lunch for me at the kitchen table, and she would um we'd watch Sound of Music, and I'd go back out and do the same thing, and I'd bring every button weed I could find. And we got to laughing so much about it because I looked like a buttonweed. I had that many in my stuffed into my pockets and overalls. Well, when she died, I had a hard time going out to her gravesite. And after three months, my husband Todd said, It's time. And so you need to go say goodbye and and uh just just check on her. And so went out there. Of course, all I could see was the black dirt, things had not grown, except for one thing, and that was a buttonweed. And and so I picked the buttonweed, gave her a quarter, and that's when I kind of just realized that God wants to know. He he does laugh, he does cry with us, he ecclesiastics 3.4 says there's a time to weep and a time, you know, and a time to laugh. And let him in, because when we do that, he can take some of that things that we're hiding and let that go. Those things are holding us back. Anger holds us back. And I think for me, meditation with Dr. Kruko has been letting go some of those hurts. And I can't forgive on my own. I need God to step in there and help me. And so that's the first part of disappointments. And and when you're ready, I do my passion project, Erica, is I so believe that God gave us all gifts, and it's our duty to use those to help others and serve. And I think one of the things that meditation has clarified for me, and what kind of my speaking platform is right now, is that we need to redefine success biblically. And that is very clear with God, and that is to use your gifts for the glory of Him and others. And that is what this book for me has done for people and what meditation has allowed me to see. And I think that has been the greatest gift that that meditation has given me is the strengthening of my faith, that ability to sit still, because when you're anxious and tend to be busy to curb the anxiousness, I didn't sit long enough to hear.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

I I find it interesting. I'm just gonna piggyback just a little bit, is that people test meditation just like I did. People will come in. So last September, I had this lady come in and she's like, Hey, I just want to de-stress. And I'm like, hey, that's easy. We can we can do that. That's great. So we teach her this and we do some meditation, and then December comes and she comes in and she said to me, Can this help heal organs? And I go, Well, absolutely yes. You involved your divine. And I said, Yeah, you can heal anything if you just practice. She goes, Well, I have to tell you, uh, when I came in in September, I was in stage four liver failure and I'm on a transplant list. And I've been doing these meditations with you for two months. And I just went in to get my, I don't know, recertification to see how high I am on the list. And they told me to go home and you're off the list because your liver is working. And I said, Oh, and she goes, the only thing that I've changed was meditation. And I go, really? And she goes, Yeah. And I just thought, wow. Now I said, um, why? Why didn't you just tell me? And she goes, Well, I didn't want you to think that if it didn't work and you you knew that I had this liver failure issue, that you would be upset if it didn't help heal me. And I said, No, I I have all the faith in the world. I said, I'm with him. I just, there's just nothing that you can't do. And she goes, Well, I'm just gonna keep doing this so we can maintain what I have. And I said, Great, let's do that.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

Isn't that amazing? You know, we talk so much on this podcast about the the fitness and the the nutrition and business and the mindset. I mean, it's all very important, but sometimes that quiet and that meditation and the spiritual growth just can be difficult for people again because of the noise and the guilt and the shame and everything we carry with us from the time we're born, right? So for people that are are intrigued listening to this and they're intrigued, which I think everybody should be, when you start with meditation, when you did your first hundred days, how long like I I've heard that you need to meditate way longer than you think you do. Because me would like you mentioned, Jennifer, my busy brain, like I I would step out of it after like, okay, that's three minutes and 35 seconds, I'm out. You know, so so what advice do you give to people who know that they need to grow their spirituality and want to spend time in meditation for that growth? Like how does that how does one start?

SPEAKER_02 40:07

I'm gonna I'm gonna beat you to this one. Okay. Because I'm a good, I am a good patient and I'm a good student of Dr. Kruko's. There is no time. There is no time limit. Um, in fact, I I have learned so much from Dr. Kruko that if I'm driving in the car and I feel I need to have a conversation, I can, I can do that even when people are with me. And a lot of times now I will just do let God let go, let's go LG times three. And that that's enough to send me into that. Now, when you first start, it is very beneficial to have a teacher, to have a doctor that teaches you that. Dr. Kruko is very modest. He is in the process of making some meditation, like not tapes, but meditation sessions and recordings. Yes, so that we will have that access because sometimes all of my family, my kids do this. It's much easier to start with somebody that's there guiding you. If you don't have that, you still can do it. And and I think the other thing, there is no time limit. Um, what you will find, however, is that once you start and you really get in the hang of it, you wish you'd have more time to do this. So that's the lay person, the doctor's perspective.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Well, I always say good, better, and best. Two minutes is good, 10 minutes is better, and more is better. There, there's no time limits. The I think the big key is consistency, is to practice it daily. And that's the one thing I notice and with people is they all come back and tell me it's so much easier, just like what Jennifer just said. It's so much easier when you guide me. And that's what's prompted me to. I'm trying to get this website developed to have these guided meditations on so then people can connect. And then I'm just going to keep making more and more and more. And then there'll be other videos and tidbits of things that to help people kind of just spiritually grow, physically grow, nutritionally grow, whatever it is. But morning, noon, or night, it doesn't matter what time of day. It's it's really a personalized whatever you want to do. And so when I first started out, uh, this is no joke. I'm not even making this up. I would sit down and I'm all about time. I I wear a watch. If I could wear six watches, I would. I watch time. I've just, I don't know. It's it's kind of crazy. But when I meditate, there's no time. I don't I don't do that anymore. But when I first started, I'd look at the clock I had across the room and I'm like, okay, there's the time. And I'd sit there and I'd move around and I couldn't shut off, just like you said, Erica, you couldn't shut off. And I'd look at the clock and it'd been like three minutes. And I'm like, oh, I'm dying. I gotta do five minutes. And I'd get through five minutes, but it was, I mean, I was everything but upside down in the chair. Well, anyway, somewhere along the line, it just happened. And this is what I tell everybody uh don't be afraid that when you get into that oneness mode where you feel nothing, you hear nothing. As a matter of fact, when I first got there, I couldn't even feel myself breathe. I couldn't feel it. And I'm like, I think I died. So I shook myself and I was in the same position I was 45 minutes before. And I'm going, oh my gosh, uh, that was the oneness. And then I was upset because I got myself out of it. Well, anyway, uh, so anytime, it doesn't matter, it's your time.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

And I think the other thing that we tell we really caution people is that meditation, there are no expectations during a meditation session. And and Dr. Kruko is very good about reminding me of that because I am a seasoned meditator, I know how to do it. I will come oh every month or so, every other month, and and do a session with Dr. Kruko because he's continuing. Learning and it kind of checks me up on what I'm doing. But a lot of times you'll do your meditation session, and later on, something will inspire you, or you will hear that nudge, or you will feel you'll you'll have the answers to whether you sell your business or not. You know, it it's not necessarily this life-shattering event that happens. It can be, but the expectations are really the very baseline is you're connecting with God and you're giving your body a chance to heal. And that is that right there, it was the kind of the catalyst that made me just believe wholeheartedly in this.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

It's so beautiful. Jennifer, how has it been for you writing the book? What type of experience was that for you?

SPEAKER_02 44:44

That is an interesting experience, to say the least, especially when it's personal. I wrote it for my children. I wrote it because I wanted to teach them the lessons that I had learned and maybe they could learn it sooner. And I was a dance team coach here, and I did a lot of life coaching with them as well. And so I kind of wanted kids to know that they have gifts. This, okay, this is live testimony here, right? Dr. Kruko has had to help me see my gifts. I have no problem seeing other people's gifts. And so I have had to learn how to be able to do that for other people. And that has been a joy. But the feedback that I've gotten from this book in terms of how people have redefined their success in life has probably been of the most joy-filled, non-expected outcomes of this book. And when I say that, I write in my book that when my dad died, who was also a huge influence in my life, full of joy, full of just absolute comedy all the time, I found a handwritten note from him and it said, Man's greatest thought was God. And it really stuck with me because he lived his life bringing joy to other people. Even when he was during radiation treatment, an hour treatment took us six hours because he had to meet the volunteers at the gift store. And then the second shift we had to see, and the physicist who did his radiation we had to go visit, and the homeless man that was there. And so he made me really look at what success is in life. And I think the worldly vision, and there's nothing wrong with the worldly definition of success, of fame, power, riches, whatever it is. There's nothing wrong with that. We can achieve those things, but I don't think you find that contentment and joy until you figure out what God's purpose is for you. And that's where I have struggled. That has been my life mission is trying to figure out my purpose. And so I meet with a lot of younger people trying to figure this. But my my true example of this is my grandmother. And I talked about that kitchen table. That was her legacy. That kitchen table healed me. That kitchen table did not know a stranger to a cup of coffee, to a meal. And I always wondered at that time, doesn't she want more than that out of life? And I was too young to understand that. Didn't she want a maybe a bigger table, maybe a nicer one, or you know, something more outside the home than just serving people there? And as I redefined this, that was her gift. That was truly her gift that she gave people, gave me, gave hundreds of people that came through her house. And it just made me realize that, and I wouldn't have realized this without meditation and sitting still, that everybody's success is defined differently. And that gives room for everybody, everybody to be successful. And I find that so exciting. I I just I just can't quit talking about it. And so I tell people, I challenge them, find your kitchen table. Make sure that when you leave a legacy, that mine is I loved my children, and and that when people met me, maybe they felt just a little portion of God's love and felt that hand on their back, that safety net that only God can truly provide. And and so the writing the book, it was hard. I did disclose some things that were that were difficult for our family, but in the end, it has been the absolute best thing. And it brought Dr. Kruko and I together and doing this and helping people here. So it's been a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

I can relate to so much of what you say. Um again, I'm one of those who I can talk to people and listen to their story all day long. But when it comes to me talking about my personal stuff, I'm terrified and want to go crawl in a hole. But I have realized that everybody with their story has those moments of impact that may seem insignificant to one person, but will dramatically affect somebody else's life by hearing things. And part of our gift is really to embrace our entire journey and share it so that we can help others to live that truest, most authentic alignment of ourselves. And that's that's a process I think that we go through up until the day we die, trying to become an alignment with who God has meant us to be. Because we're always like for myself, I'm always questioning, you know. But it's good to, it's so healing for me to see people step into who they are because of their journey. And it's the sharing of it that is the gift.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

It is, it's full circle, full circle faith on this rounded journey. And and my whole house is decorated in circles because I just love it. I mean, today, today's journey may not be tomorrow's. And, you know, it things have to change and we have to be adaptable, but the the thing that remains the same is that relationship with God. And I think that is such a powerful addition to already being a Christian is having that daily time with Him with meditation.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

And and I feel like uh the way that um Jennifer and I do our classes and and such, and the reason we've had so much, because we just started this not too long ago. But the the reason we are attracting attention and people are loving it is I I I keep telling her, I said, it's because we're real.

unknown 50:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:05

We we actually we admit, I mean, we have done things that we aren't proud of, and we have guilt and shame and anger, and we both have suffered from anxiety terribly.

SPEAKER_02 50:17

Our kids aren't perfect. Did you know that? Did you know our kids aren't perfect either? But we are real.

SPEAKER_00 50:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:25

We are so real. And and and in fact, I I just told somebody yesterday, as much as I want to tell you that I have my life purpose figured out and I'm I'm content and I'm joyful, I have to work to maintain that. I have to go back to God and say, hey, you know what? Here's a blank piece of paper. Would you like to write down the lesson you're teaching me? Because I'm I'm apparently I'm not learning it today. And so it's it's a process. It's not some miraculous moment where life is perfect. It's a process. And and I think that you watch people when we say that to them, and they just there's it's such relief, you know, that we're finally talking about the fact that, you know, as much as we preach this, we still have to work every day. Oh, he made me cry during one of the meditation. I'm supposed to be speaking after this meditation, and I get done and I've got tears and mascara. And I'm like, okay, this is not working when you want me to present. So even during those things, I'm still learning and and still, you know, understanding what God's plan is for me. So it has been a remarkable experience.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

And to be able to look back again as and see those pivotal, as you call them, the divine timing is really cool because that just for me affirms everything when you see those moments where you go, okay, I see exactly why I was going through what I was, and can step into your gift a little bit easier despite those doubts and those moments where you're a little unsure. Like you said, if you could put that piece of paper out, but I guess you know, being able to meditate kind of as doing so and being able to listen and have that conversation is a beautiful idea.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 51:59

Very cool. So we're running out of time here. So before I ask you both my last question, can you let our listeners know how they can find you? I know you guys are just starting your speaking engagements together, but I'm sure a lot of people would love to follow your journey. So how can they find both of you?

SPEAKER_00 52:12

We have a website, it's IwafallsCairo.com. And all of our information is on there, phone numbers, um, they there's an email contact and that. And then there'll be eventually we'll announce when we have this new meditation website done, which I don't know. I'm hoping sometime this spring or early summer it'll be done. So then we will put that on the website as well. And basically it's meditation-therapy dot com. There's nothing there right now, but that's what it will be uh when we get there.

SPEAKER_02 52:51

And our classes, we generally run them through the um clinic. So when they do that, if we have classes set up, we will do. We're gonna try to do some Zoom. We're we're just we've been a little overwhelmed um with the response. And so we we're we're pretty new at this and trying to figure those things out, but a joy. And with me, if people want to reach me, um I have an email, roundedjourney at gmail.com, and also I have a rounded journey uh website page. And if anybody is local, I have copies of my book that I'm just giving out. That's I just want people to feel God's love. If they're not, it is on Amazon. But if they are here, I'd love to give them one as a token of my appreciation.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

That's wonderful. I just, I just love your journey. I think it's again, those moments where, you know, life is so can be so hard, right? Like for everybody, there's different moments, and a lot of people are really struggling in many ways. And I think being able to find that faith uh and that hope, you know, it's one thing I've said recently. Like the there's one thing that I could give to people who listen to that podcast, to this podcast, it's hope. Because many people need it in whatever chapter they're in in their life.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

And that is this. This is this is hope, and that's something that I thrive on is hope. Hope that, you know, we can we can change the world with people and and their faith and hope that life is just easier because we've got, you know, a father that that takes care of us and wants to be a part of us. And so this is this is the epitome of hope and and what Dr. Kruko has created with his meditation classes.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

I love it. Awesome. Okay, so let me wrap up with my last question. So, Dr. Kruko, I'm gonna start with you. So, you today can have a conversation with your past self, maybe the one who's just starting to be curious about meditation. When you said times were tough where you had the anxiety and you just kind of were a little skeptical about it, what advice would you give your past self?

SPEAKER_00 54:40

I would say don't sweat the small stuff. Uh I I did. I worried about everything. And I think it'll that'll resonate with everybody because we can create our own anxieties and our own problems on the smallest things. And I see this with everybody who comes in. We all have our own things. And I would say, let's not worry about those things.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

Okay, Jennifer, I'm gonna before I do that, second half, I'm gonna go to you with the first question then. So you can have a conversation with your past self, maybe the little girl who's with your grandma, or maybe someone in your adult life who is just really struggling. What advice would you give yourself?

SPEAKER_02 55:19

Oh, one of the advice I give to all young moms, particularly, is take the time to take care of yourself, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. I thought I was too busy and that my kids would not, I I had to be there 24-7 and I didn't do it. And and even back at 10 years old, take the time to take care of yourself. And and I think that would have been a huge game changer for me, and it can be for other people.

SPEAKER_01 55:49

Yeah. Okay, so now the second half of the question, Dr. Kuko, if you today can have a conversation with your future self, you can pick five years, 10 years. Maybe you just got done with the meditation in your favorite place. What would you ask your future self and what do you think he would say back to you?

SPEAKER_00 56:05

Ooh, that's a great question. Um, I would ask myself, uh, what what is it do I want from this life? What what do I want? What is my goal? Uh, why what is my purpose of being here, uh doing what I do, and what what's in it? Uh, what what am I going to get out of it? And what am I going to give?

SPEAKER_01 56:32

And what do you think your future self would say back to you?

SPEAKER_00 56:35

My future self would say, I want to help everybody. This is what I say in my prayer every single day. I always ask Christ and God to join me, and I say, please guide my heart, my hands, and my words, and allow me to help you to heal everybody spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally, including myself, with ease.

SPEAKER_01 56:58

I think God's already answered that prayer for you.

unknown 57:02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 57:03

Jennifer, so your question then, if if you could talk to your future self, what would you ask her and what do you think she would say back to you?

SPEAKER_02 57:10

I think my I would ask my future self is did you enjoy your rounded journey of full circle faith? I would say yes. And I would tell my future self or my past self, thank you for taking the time to stop and listen, not only to God, but to your body and and surrounding myself with people like Dr. Kruko that just believe in the good of people and finding the best in everybody, because it's there, it's really there.

SPEAKER_01 57:42

Yeah. You know, I love it when the question to our past self correlates with the answer to our future self, because you told your past self to make sure you take time for you. And then your future self, you know, is reminding you to make sure that you take that time for yourself in your journey as you help others. So just a little reminder for you. Well, thank you both so much for this conversation today. You know, it just the spiritual episodes for me just hold a special place again with the journey of my last few years and the the reminders that we're here to help other people through our journeys and through God and through our strength and our trials and tribulations as well. So I appreciate you being sharing all your insight. And I look forward to future downloads and meditations as well. So please keep us posted on that as that grows too.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 58:28

And thank you for your wisdom and and your strength and your voice on these podcasts. Um, going back and listening to them has been a joy. Um, you're incredibly talented, and I wish you only the best because this is definitely a gift that you have.

SPEAKER_00 58:44

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 58:44

You give me goosebumps and tears. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to the My Fit Tribe podcast. Tune in weekly for our latest episode for more health and wellness insights and inspiration. For more information, visit myfittribe.org. Don't forget to share, like, and download this episode, and thank you for your support. Please know that the opinions and comments presented here are those of the guests and do not necessarily constitute medical advice or the opinions of MyFitTribe. Copyright 2026, all rights reserved. This podcast is recorded and produced by Jay Johnson at Paradigm Productions in Madison, Wisconsin, and is a production of MyFitTribe LLC.