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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Jennifer, for agreeing to do the Project interview today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Jennifer Hicks: Sure thing.  Thank you very much, Toni, for having me.  My name is Jennifer Hicks, and I live in Toronto, in Canada.  I spend my time practicing as a Speech Language Pathologist as well as a Nia fitness instructor.

A lot of people don’t know what Nia is.  Nia is a 25-year-old cardiovascular fitness practice that brings in movements from dance arts, martial arts, and healing arts.  It combines elements of things like jazz and modern dance and Tai Chi and Taekwondo, yoga, along with other movement forms.  The best way for me to describe it is a joyful, really energizing and fun type of fitness experience.  It’s not like a class.  It’s more of an experience.

In my work as a Speech Language Pathologist, I work with adults who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, usually as a result of a motor vehicle accident.

I also spend a lot of my time volunteering and writing for a local newspaper called Good News Toronto.

I really enjoy participating in projects like these, so again, thank you.

Toni: Oh, you’re quite welcome.  Thank you.  When you think about the word inspiration, Jennifer, and what it means to you, let’s start with who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Jennifer: Well, you know, it’s really important to me to do my best to inspire everyone that I meet so whether — as you know, I do a lot of different things — and whether it’s this Nia student that I’m teaching, my clients with brain injuries, or anyone whose reading or writing that I’m doing, I really hope to motivate others and specifically to motivate them to take responsibility for their wellness.

What I mean in that is that I guess I’m a very open person, and I’m quite up front about the fact that I have bipolar disorder.  And because of that, I kind of found myself in a position where I need to live in a creative way to live a healthy life in spite of that.  So in fact, it’s really Nia that has been the best medicine for me in response to dealing with bipolar disorder over the past four years.

I’m pretty honest with my students — with my clients where it’s appropriate — in that Nia is really what helps me keep my moods stable, and it really nourishes my soul.  And I also feel when my students see me moving and I’m also open about the fact that I don’t have a dance background, per se, and that they can give themselves some permission to move a little more freely than they might be accustomed to.

Toni: When you are working within any of the professions that you do talk about — whether it’s the exercise, working with the brain injury patients, students — where do you see that how you inspire them by being honest with them and helping them be responsible for their own wellness, how does that then work to help them explore their own potential?

Jennifer: Well, you know, as I say, I’m very open and honest about Nia and it being part of my wellness plan.  And one thing that I really emphasize and, in fact, this is just a guiding principle for Nia, is that we encourage people to follow the pleasure principle.

So it’s not the “no pain no gain” kind of mantra of the past; it’s more we want people to feel good.  And if it does feel good, then continue along that path, and if it doesn’t feel good, then the responsibility is each individual’s to kind of modify or tweak the movement or what’s happening to make it work for them.

And that really … I mean, I’m talking from a movement perspective, but that really applies to other facets of the way I work with people.  So you know, with my clients with brain injury, I’m also encouraging them to really be mindful and engaged and active in terms of their treatment process; involved in the decisions that need to be made so that they’re directing their own treatment.

Essentially, my message is — no matter what I’m doing — is that we as individuals are all experts on either our bodies, our minds, emotions, or spirits, and that we do have the wisdom within to make choices.  It’s just all about sort of respecting ourselves and following our intuition, if you want to put it that way.

Toni: That’s really powerful stuff.  When you look at inspiration for yourself, what do you need to be inspired?  What inspires you?

Jennifer: I look to everything around me for inspiration, but particularly I think because of the fact that I chose to become involved with Nia, I’m surrounded by a lot of positive people; a lot of people who might have explored other realms of fitness and experienced injury or discomfort or so on and so forth and then are really open to coming to a new experience and looking at it from a different perspective.

So being with people who are like-minded, people who are positive, people who, you know, have done a lot of reading about spirituality.  I’m looking for teachers.  I’m a learner, and I’m constantly looking for teachers.  So I also — from a professional point of view — I want to be inspired by my Nia teachers.  I want my professional colleagues to challenge me.

I also am part of a creative women’s business group, and we get together and share our struggles as being in creative professions and also, you know, issues surrounding money and finances and products and so on and so forth.  I think I just need people who are sort of walking the same paths to feed me.

Toni: Are there tools or methodologies or things that you reach for when you know that you’re looking for a little inspiration here, you need to fill yourself up, or to be inspired?  Are there things you reach for?

Jennifer: Yeah.  I kind of go to music.  I go to books.  I look towards my friends.  I look towards my husband who is very supportive.  And I’m very sort of open about wanting to continue to develop and learn, so I’m always asking for feedback, asking for mentorship, and just ways to continue to improve.

Toni: And has it been — using the like-minded people and being positive and that’s what you’re saying inspires you and, you know, being around all these like-minded people — was that something that you always knew you needed to be inspired?

Jennifer: No, absolutely not.  I think I struggled in my growing up years, in my university years.  I was very, I guess you could say, type A, very much a perfectionist.  And I ended up being around those types of people which created a lot of stress because it just fueled the fire.

For a long time, I didn’t realize that achieving and accomplishing and getting the best grades really is not what life is all about, and it’s not important.  So it took me a long time to learn that.

Toni: I can imagine, then, having to be able to have that that frame of reference and to know what types of people weren’t doing the best for you, to be around like-minded people that inspired you to be able to do the work you do, that must have been an amazing journey then.

Jennifer: Yes.  Really, it’s a blessing that I became ill and that I now have bipolar disorder, because had I not, I wouldn’t be in the position that I’m in doing work that I love, having flexibility in my schedule and just being exposed to all these different, you know, lifestyles and creative businesses and so on that I had no clue even existed.

Toni: So how does that then help you to continuously explore your own potential?  What do you do with all of that to move in that direction of potential?

Jennifer: Well, you know, I think it feeds my curiosity.  As I had mentioned, I do like to learn, and I like to find out what other people are doing so that it kind of validates.  Not that I need validation, but it does just make my journey a little bit easier when there are difficult times related to the business that I’m in, when I’m not receiving a steady income, when I’m not getting as much work as I’d like to get.  Just knowing that others are going through the same thing really helps me to stay on my path and stay focused and stay positive.  I just feel like I have some camaraderie around that.

Toni: And the learning that you do in order to continuously explore the potential to help others, are there certain things that you reach for for that?  Certain books or studies that you do in order to stay focused and explore the different potential that you have?

Jennifer: Yeah.  A lot of my studies right now are related to the Nia technique.  So whether that involves reading, or communicating with the Nia community of teachers online, or learning new routines, watching DVDs, learning new choreography, getting exposed to new music, that’s where a lot of my learning comes from.

That creates in me a sense of accomplishment when I feel like I have something new to share with people and that I can just deepen my own understanding of the practice and what it’s all about.

Toni: Before I let you go, is there a way that you can help draw the parallel between what you do to stay inspired yourself, what you do to explore your own potential, and how that drives what you do in your day-to-day life with others — with the brain injury patients, with the people that you work with in the exercise — how does that all relate to that?

Jennifer: Well, I feel like what I need for inspiration creates a certain balance of energy and then that energy I can use to give to my clients and to my Nia students.  The inspiration is like food for my creativity and, as I said, it comes in the form of music, of books, of reading, of connecting with people online.  And then I think that that kind of fuels me so that I can give some of that, recycle it back out to my students and my clients.

Toni: So it really is a give and take, isn’t it?

Jennifer: Yes, it is.  Absolutely.

Toni: That’s what I’ve heard throughout this whole interview, that everything — even though there are so many different facets to what you’re doing that you have shared so eloquently with us in this interview — there’s all of these different paths really are intertwined with what you do, what you need in order to do and serve others.  That’s what I heard in this interview, and that’s awesome.

Jennifer: Yes.  And I promised myself that as soon as I wasn’t experiencing joy from any of the things that I’m doing, that I need to look to other things.  I don’t want to continue doing things just because someone says I should do them, because I’ve learned that that’s not what’s important in life.

Toni: What a fantastic message to leave the interview with.  Thank you so much for everything that you taught us in this interview, and we will put a link on how to get a hold of you at the end of the blog post.  We thank you so very much,  Jennifer, for being part of the project.

Jennifer: Thank you so much for including me, Toni.

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For more information about Jennifer Hicks:  www.jennhicks.ca

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Toni Reece: Marcy, thank you so much for joining us today.  And before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Marcy Rubin: Thanks, Toni.  My name is Marcy Rubin, and currently I am a life coach working specifically in the bipolar community.

Toni: Okay, with the work that you do and even personally, professionally, we’re talking about inspiration.  So who do you inspire, Marcy, and how do you go about that?

Marcy: Well, the people that I work with, I have been inspiring just tremendously.  I take people that are at that point where they want to transition back into, you know, a regular life.  The ups and downs of the bipolar have kind of mellowed off, and we talk about how they get back and get their relationships and their jobs and all those things that you do when you’re at a stage that you’re willing to go back into the real world, as we call it.

Toni: And how do you go about that?

Marcy: We look into things that excite them for jobs; you know, what are the kinds of things that you like to do?  Do you like to work around animals?  Do you like to be in an office?  And we kind of gear your senses towards that and then choose, finding careers that fit your values and what you desire.

Toni: So you really work with them on identifying what the core values are and desires and trying to match their options to that?

Marcy: Yes, absolutely.  I am bipolar, and when you deal with the illness, you kind of lose the sense of who you are for a while because you don’t really have control.  So, you know, we’re back at that place where you are starting to get the control; we start really looking into, okay, who are you again and what is it that made you happy?

Toni: When you’re working with people — and again it can move out of the job as well and the clients that you work with into your personal life — but when you’re working with people and inspiring them to look at the possibilities and options for their future, what do you do then to help them explore their potential?

Marcy: Well, first of all, I use myself as an example of someone who still goes through the mania, still goes through the depression, but lives a happy, fulfilling life going after my dreams and doing the things that I like to do.  So we look into their personal dreams and desires and the way they want to feel, and we really explore what they did before, what made them happy, what worked and what didn’t work.

Toni: Okay, and when you try to understand what worked and what didn’t work, and then what steps might you take in order to have them realize that potential?

Marcy: That’s a good question!  Everybody works a little bit differently.  I kind of go on personalities.  People that like to, you know, make lists of “I need to get out and join a support group”, “I need to do my resume.”  We’ll do lists for some people.  Other people kind of need to be baby steps, well-rounded, maybe mood charts; “How am I feeling today?”  Kind of track how they are doing so that we can step forward in a progression that’s best for them.

Toni: So you really kind of keep them focused on being aware of what’s happening now so that they can move towards that potential in the future?

Marcy: Absolutely.  Being mindful — which a lot of people don’t do regardless of an illness — but really paying attention to the present.  When you coach, you’re really working from now, this point on forward.  We’re really not going back into what was.  We just kind of use that as a strengthening; this is your foundation.  We’re going to take today and we’re going to think about tomorrow.

Toni: When you are working with others and just dealing with life in general, Marcy, what do you need to be inspired?  What do you seek for your own inspiration?

Marcy: I’m very simple in that I’m a people person, and just listening to people’s stories regardless of whether it’s illness or just talking about their children.  I get inspired listening to other people and seeing how they’re doing and what are their conflicts.  Because someone’s big conflict could be another person’s easy day, and we all deal with things differently.  And I get inspired by how people really work through their days and deal with life, you know, consistently.

Toni: Consistently is a good word there, isn’t it?

Marcy: Yeah.

Toni: When you’re listening to stories as part of keeping yourself inspired, are there any kind of tools or resources that you reach for or that you seek in order to help with your own inspiration?

Marcy: I just as myself try to be mindful and find the validation in each person’s life and goal and what makes them move forward.  Coming from the background of being bipolar, you lose a lot of that.  You get hopelessness and depression.  And during the mania, you think you can cure the world.  So I kind of take everything that they are doing and inspire myself to be like, you know, everybody has their own problems, their own roadblocks, and I’m inspired by everybody’s everyday … what they do.  I love to talk to people.  There are so many different people out there; I just get inspired by all of them really.  It’s very simple for me.

Toni: When you are looking to continuously explore your own potential, Marcy, what do you do?

Marcy: I take the challenges that I see other people taking and bring them back on myself, even within my own career.  I’m doing well, I’m going forward, but I might see someone else needing to take, you know, what’s that step to make you happy, and I’ll put it back on myself like what’s going to make me happy.  For me, I join my own support groups and meet new people, and I get on the internet and do the social networks and amazing people open up over the internet.  So I’m constantly trying to find people that are willing to speak out about the stigma about bipolar, and also that never thought about doing it before and now, after talking to me, feel like, “You know, I can stand ground and I can make that step.”  So it comes all full circle for me.

Toni: So looking for that sense of community, whether it is a physical support group, or the virtual support group is what I’m hearing, and also being inspired by other people’s challenges, and in order to do the work that you do.  Are there other types of resources that you need to tap into to stay strong yourself and other tools that you might use to help you continuously explore your own potential so that you can stay inspired to help others?  Are there things that you know you’re consciously reaching for?

Marcy: Yeah, there is.  Part of the stuff that I do with myself so I transfer it to my clients is, I believe, in having a complete support group when you have an illness, especially like bipolar.   So I want them to have doctors, have their family, have their friends which are issues that can be very hard with bipolar.  Join support groups, have a coach, eat well, and I take all that and I use it to keep moving forward.  The drugs and the medications change over the years.  Healthy eating changes over the years.  And I put that into my own practice of there is always something new and something better that you can try that may help you get even healthier for a longer period of time.

Toni: So you basically have to stay on top of what’s happening in that industry and in that world, that community.

Marcy: Absolutely.

Toni: And then do you take those on and try those on yourself before you pass those on to others?

Marcy: Yep, I talk about things with my doctors.  I go to different groups, or I’ll listen to a lot of telecalls and just kind of see.  Because there are two sides to everything, you know.  Everybody has their opinion, and kind of see what people are saying and how it works.  I’m always willing to try anything.  Over the years, our body changes and my medications and my treatment has changed, so you gotta kind of keep up with the knowledge that’s going on.  And even within coaching I’m constantly taking classes on different ways to coach people — whether it’s more intuitive or more tool-based — just so I can keep up.  And, you know, there are all different kinds of people that are out there, need to all work in different kinds of ways.

Toni: How do you see that the way that you seek inspiration — by listening to people’s stories and wondering how they are doing and being mindful, and also the way that you explore your potential by being a member of this community and staying on top of what’s happening in this world — how does that then translate into you moving forward with these people that you are helping?  How does that happen?  How do you use what you learn to keep moving them forward, to help them find out who they are?

Marcy: That’s a great question.  A lot of what I do is trying to educate people to help them educate their families that mental illness is not what we see on TV all the time.  With bipolar, there are 5.6 million people just in America, adults, meaning 18 and over, that have bipolar.  And that many people having it, it’s still hard for people to reach for help.  There’s that stigma.   So I take all that information and I speak up.  I’m like, look at all these people that are doing well that are surviving, that are doing great.

There’s hundreds of famous people that are well known for having bipolar, and we need to break the stigma.  So what I’m really trying to do is speak out on behalf … and other people are starting to speak out, like you know, “I can do this, it’s true.”  So the goal and the intent is to help people feel comfortable in their own skin and be able to make the stigma go away because they are comfortable in their own skin.

Toni: So the work that you do is really all about educating yourself, keeping yourself mindful, staying within that community, and also providing that community for others when you’re working with them.

Marcy: Absolutely.

Toni: Thank you, Marcy, for sharing your story with the Get Inspired! Project.  Your insight and this snapshot you’ve given us in this interview will be beneficial to others that will read and listen to it; and for that, I thank you so very much.

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For more information about Marcy Rubin:  www.marcyrubin.com

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