Ep 116 - Success & Holistic Medicine with MN Vikings Sports Acupuncturist Dr. Hilary Patzer

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[00:00:00] Cynthia: You are listening to the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast. I'm your host, Cynthia Shockley, and I'm here to learn alongside you through meaningful conversations with health and wellness practitioners. This is your time to experience some mindset shifts, learn practical tips, and get excited about what is possible.

[00:00:22] We want you to own the power of choice in your personal well being journey. Let's discover what's possible right here in our Twin Cities community.

[00:00:33] Hello and welcome to the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast. I'm your host Cynthia Shockley and today I'm speaking with Dr. Hilary Patzer. I am so excited for this conversation because Dr. Hilary Patzer has been known to be called. the trifecta. She is a doctor of Chinese medicine, licensed acupuncturist, Chinese herbalists and certified health coach living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

[00:01:02] Hillary is driven by empowerment through growth, health, authenticity and movement. Along with coaching, she currently serves as the official sports acupuncturist for the Minnesota Vikings and treats professional elite college and high school athletes from various sports. Hillary has had a very successful college athletic career and raced with the U. S. Cross country ski team for three years. She continues to compete in ski races, marathons and triathlons. She competed in the Ironman World Championship and multiple Boston marathons. Her competitive experience provides her with a unique understanding Of what pushing the body to its limit means and how acupuncture and coaching can exist as a competitive skier Hillary over trained and acupuncture and coaching were the two things that brought her back to a whole healthy person and athlete She pushed too hard too often for too long and her body paid the price The hardest thing to do as a peak performer is to take a step back Breathe, relax, and be patient.

[00:02:05] Mentally, she was watching her dreams, goals, and passions evaporate. She knew that there was something profound happening, she just needed to pause, be intentional, and receptive. Little did she know that this experience was setting the stage for her exceptional professional career. She knows what it takes to find and live in alignment with her authentic journey, and she can help others do the same.

[00:02:30] Here we are with Dr. Hillary Patzer. Hi, Hillary. How are you doing today? 

[00:02:36] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Hi, Cynthia. I'm doing great. It's really an honor to chat with you today. 

[00:02:40] Cynthia: Yeah, I'm, gosh, just reading your bio and then also meeting you at one of the Well Connected events where we were you know, just hands on each other's bodies, grounding each other.

[00:02:52] It was just such a beautiful experience. So I'm glad that we came back together and we get to have you on the episode. 

[00:02:59] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah, I'm excited to be here. And that was a really fun and interesting and uncomfortable and just a really cool experience. And yeah, when you're like, didn't we work together?

[00:03:12] It was just like, yes, I thought so. And 

[00:03:15] Cynthia: didn't I touch your chest and like touch. 

[00:03:18] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah. So it's really fun to be in this setting as well, with walls down too, but in a different way. Those were more, those were a lot of emotional and physical walls and that was very cool. 

[00:03:30] Cynthia: Yeah.

[00:03:31] That's amazing. I know those unconventional networking events. Love it. Yeah. Oh I wonder just to kick us off. I've been really enjoying asking people about their rose and thorn at this point in their lives. What's something that's been maybe not so great, maybe bothering you poking at you.

[00:03:51] And then also what's a rose. What's something that's been going really well. 

[00:03:56] Dr. Hilary Patzer: So I love that question. And for me right now, I think my rose and my thorn are the same thing. And. In thinking through that question, I am an introvert. I like to have a lot of quiet time. I'm very independent. And so I really need a lot of time by myself to, and that's physically too.

[00:04:20] I can't just be in the same house, but a different room. I really like to have my own time alone. And so I haven't had that. As I work for the Minnesota Vikings as their official sports acupuncturist. And so we're in camp now. And so my life gets really hectic this time of year, but also my husband works for the Minnesota wild.

[00:04:41] And so we can't really plan too much until kind of. The end of June time. And so I've had a lot of trips sort of work trips prior in, May and April, and then some trips with him. And so I think I had one weekend at home and nine weeks and I love being in the yard. I love, doing my tasks and my chores and then seeing friends and just having a quieter weekend.

[00:05:06] And I haven't had that. And so that's a bit of something that's like irking me. It's just, it feels wrong. It feels like I'm swimming upstream. On the other hand I just got back from this amazing trip, this mountain biking experience in the back country of Iceland and with, six other people and two guides besides my husband and I, and.

[00:05:29] It was amazing. We had social hour, like all the time, because we were staying in little cabins together. We were on the trails together. We were rooting for each other in this like incredibly difficult and amazing mountain biking trip where you're hiking up these peaks that like mountain goats shouldn't be going up and you're carrying your bike and you're crossing rivers.

[00:05:46] And then all of the other trips as well, very social. So my social battery. I have 10 of them full right now, so I'll be good for a while, but it also feels so good to me in that way. Where I just, most specifically just got off this amazing trip with these people that like changed my life and in the way they view world, they're all super successful and educated and fun loving and supportive and just really amazing.

[00:06:13] And so I think it's both like I'm really ready. To have some time alone and some time at home in Minnesota to reroute. But I also, I'm like, okay, when's our reunion? Like when do we get to see each other again? So yeah, they're together. 

[00:06:27] Cynthia: Wow. That is incredible. Just everything that you do, it sounds like you just bring so much.

[00:06:36] Passion and heart and to find like your people on this trip, right? People who are also going at life full force really taking advantage of everything. But yeah, you could, you only have so much steam in your tank. So I hope that you get that time to reconnect, reroute. I love that phrase of just rerouting into just daily life.

[00:06:57] Oh, yeah. 

[00:06:58] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Something of. Having a weekend at home to do things and catch up, sounds really lovely to me right now, but I'm heartbroken that trip that we've been planning for a while is now over. 

[00:07:09] Cynthia: You'll have to make it annual. Definitely. Reunions. 

[00:07:12] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah. I

[00:07:14] Cynthia: know. Professionally speaking, you started with your training in traditional Chinese medicine and then you really focused in on sports medicine using that skill set.

[00:07:29] And for me, I know that's just something that doesn't click automatically in my brain. So what brought you into the world of sports medicine after your training? 

[00:07:39] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Okay, so Traditional Chinese medicine or TCM for short. I'll be using those kind of interchangeably. I found it because of my athletic endeavors and my athletic passion.

[00:07:52] I had a lot of success as an athlete starting very young with swimming, with dance, with running, with. , cross country skiing. And so I had, all of this passion and this steam inside of me to be a really high level athlete.

[00:08:08] And unfortunately, maybe too much steam. And I over trained training for the Olympics. And so I started under my mom's suggestion to start seeing a acupuncturist in my hometown who had also been on the U. S. ski team. And so she understood what had happened because She had experienced a similar thing.

[00:08:28] And, through those treatments, I was just fascinated with everything that she did and talked about. And, I look so forward to my sessions with her and the way I felt after, and I knew it wasn't going to be a , magic wand. But I started to feel myself getting stronger from the inside out and, really when you close your eyes and you think about how big is your pilot light, mine was very dim.

[00:08:51] And, but I started to feel it, growing through this connection with her, but also through reconnecting with my body in a different way, instead of using it as use it or lose it, go as fast as you can do what you can. And then I'll try to take care of you so that we can recover for the next one.

[00:09:06] And really just. Diving into that nourishment when I had really broken myself. And so that also brought me a lot of pain. So when I started to fall down the ranks in cross country ski racing, I had to figure out who I was as a person. Who was Hillary versus who was Hillary, the skier who had been told they would be the best in the country, one of the best in the world.

[00:09:29] I really had to change my thought pattern. And so I wanted nothing to do with sports or athletics because it was painful for me, you don't normally dive into what makes you sick, like what makes you feel broken, you don't, if you've had food poisoning, you don't go eat the food the next day.

[00:09:45] Sometimes you never eat it again. And so it took me a few years and all of my professors. And my master's telling me like, you really need to dive into this and really hone in on it. And I wanted nothing to do with it. And then it became pretty blatantly clear at one point, about four or so years in that I just needed to hone in on athletes of all levels, all skills, all sport, because that's really who I am at my core is an athlete, no matter what I'm doing.

[00:10:16] My vacations are mountain biking in Iceland and things like that. So that movement is what makes me and to be able to dive into that with others who understand that. And it's like we see each other we can communicate on a certain level. I feel what they're feeling just because I've probably been there.

[00:10:35] And so that's how I started to, go down that path versus, just a one stop shop in general. acupuncturist TCM practitioner and into really that sports medicine acupuncturist journey and hat that I wear. 

[00:10:52] Cynthia: And it's brought you all the way to becoming the provider for the Vikings, which is just mind blowing to me.

[00:11:01] I told my husband, he's Oh my gosh, 

[00:11:04] Dr. Hilary Patzer: those guys are fun. 

[00:11:05] Cynthia: Yeah. So it's amazing that you've gotten to this. This place where you're able to treat, some major players in just our country and the state. Everyone would be like, what? So I know it's easy to immediately think. Of acupuncture when we hear traditional Chinese medicine, and that's was your introduction into the space as an athlete yourself.

[00:11:32] I wonder what are some other healing tools that you might use with Vikings players or your other clients under that umbrella of TCM? 

[00:11:41] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah. So it's funny. And I super appreciate that question because yeah, people really do think that acupuncturists. Are are a stand alone, but we're actually TCM practitioners.

[00:11:53] So traditional Chinese medicine. Those of us who are trained in the Chinese realm, there's also Japanese and Korean. And so this is just talking about traditional Chinese medicine. And under that umbrella, actually acupuncture wasn't the first modality that they. Started to utilize because there weren't needles.

[00:12:12] And so they had really thin rocks. And when they pierced you with a rock, like you bled a lot, they were thin, but you could only do so much, 5, 000 years ago. And so it actually started with moxibustion, which is mugwort. And it's an herb that they burn that helps with a lot of movement and cupping.

[00:12:31] So they had bamboo cups that they would soak in water. I use glass today. So it's called fire cupping. You can, there's a bunch of different kinds of cups. I prefer fire cupping and that's the traditional way that we're trained in school. They would soak it in water and they take a little burning something.

[00:12:47] We use cotton balls soaked in alcohol, but I don't know what they use. And they throw it under the cup and put the cup on the skin and it would cause that suction. And, the lack of oxygen would put the fire out. So we do it a little differently now the fire doesn't actually touch your skin, but those were the first two modalities.

[00:13:04] that were added to TCM. And then herbal medicine, acupuncture, and, later we have electroacupuncture. We have scraping or gua sha, grastins with a tool where you scrape the skin and so any of those are really within the TCM modality, including what we call tuina, which is Chinese massage or any, mobile or manual work.

[00:13:29] So there's a lot. Acupuncture is just one of them. I think it's just the most. Popular. So that's why we're called acupuncturists. I'm assuming I have no idea, but yeah, no, actually traditional Chinese medicine. You could do any of those and still have that same license that I have, even if you never even touched a needle.

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[00:14:48] Cynthia: So it's not just the needle. That's one tool. And so there's yeah. I think that's an important distinction. Cause there, I know there are also people who are trained specifically in just acupuncture, but they haven't had the training you have of all the different modalities as well. 

[00:15:07] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah. I think it's just, it's a big paradigm and it's.

[00:15:12] It's just this huge overarching umbrella of everything that we can do. And then I've added a stretch therapy and I'm doing a manual manipulation course here actually with the Nashville Predators here pretty soon going now with my husband. And so I'm always adding, new tools in, TCM.

[00:15:31] And my understanding of the body and how it works and my athletic background and how that all comes together with the knowledge that I just innately have in the body and innately and book smart wise, right? Both, like I can feel it. I've experienced it, but then I've also studied it makes adding new tools.

[00:15:49] Really fun, including this sports medicine piece which I've, it's not just a name I made up. I'm actually through a certification system. It's called sports medicine acupuncture. So the smack program I've had about 400 hours of intensive training with cadavers with, injuries, how to treat them, what the homework would be, what it's called in the Western world, what athletic trainers would call, all of that.

[00:16:17] So that really beautiful blend of sports medicine and acupuncture together. It makes it really nice to be able to talk to my fellow, sports medicine professionals in whatever realm, because I just, I can understand them better. 

[00:16:34] Cynthia: And I know on top of all of these skill sets you've developed in physically and energetically manipulating the body, you've also been able to build a business as a success coach.

[00:16:50] And so I'm, I know it fits in together, but can you share with listeners, how your background as an athlete influences. Your success coaching work and how that fits into everything that you do. 

[00:17:06] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah. So for me, I was a psych major in my undergrad and I was always very interested, I'm the person who just sits back and watches and learns and absorbs and then remembers the most ridiculous things later on because my mind is always cataloging, what I see, what I experienced, what I feel.

[00:17:26] And so I'm very kind of kiddy that way. And so then I went into the TCM world. And in our profession, we do what we call an interview. And so that's when you sit down with the patient before the treatment, and you really talk through a slew of questions of what's going on in their life.

[00:17:43] And you're trying to figure out like, what's the root, what's the branch, what do you have going on? Am I missing anything? Is it yin, is it yang, is it qi, is it, what organ is involved. And so those are all the terms that we use that I don't frankly use very often with patients because it's confusing, but for the sake of here, like that's what we're looking at.

[00:18:02] We're looking at, okay, this puzzle piece, where does it fit? How does that go in? And I, from the very get go of my practice almost 15 years ago, would get into these conversations about, in, in a coaching modality where people were like, I don't have to see my psychologist anymore. Like I just talked to you and, in my head, I'm going you should keep seeing them.

[00:18:26] I don't want that on my conscience. And to okay, I should be charging more, which. Tongue in cheek. I still don't. But when a coaching program came up in the same school where I got my doctorate in Chinese and Chinese medicine and acupuncture I jumped on and I was like, okay, let's finish what I call my trifecta, my sports medicine and who I am as an athlete, my TCM background, and then that psych side, because the body and the mind and, Any athlete, especially will understand this.

[00:18:57] Like it's not your body doing all of the work out there. It's your mind, right? Like you have to be really strong mentally to be able to push your body in any of these sports, cause your body wants to quit. It's your mind that kind of keeps you going. And so that was a really important piece for me to add in and then have tripped along the way, trying to find out who I am as a coach and what I am.

[00:19:20] And so I just really think. And the success coaching is just because I'm really good at taking motivated, determined, successful people already to that next level, like uncovering all of those fears that we have in that conversation that we're having with ourselves, the BS clearing that.

[00:19:40] And then taking a step forward. I'm a straightforward person. I tell you what I think. I don't beat around the bush very often, but I'm also incredibly compassionate. When you're already at the top, but you know that there's more.

[00:19:53] It's a false peak. That if you keep going, there's more, you need somebody who is going to be a straight shooter with you, not somebody who's going to say, okay, it's okay. Yeah. You're doing a great job. You need somebody to really question that. And so I think that's where I come in where I'm like, okay, yeah, that's really cool, but I'm feeling like you're not content.

[00:20:13] You're not done. You have more to give. And I love working with anybody in coaching, but that's really what gets my engines revving more and more because that's what I look for as well. I made it to the Vikings or I made it as the sports acupuncturist for the Vikings, this is my eighth season.

[00:20:30] And I'm like, okay, what's next? What's more where some people would be like, I'm good. I'm happy. This is where, I'm making a living. I made it as one of the few that could make it to this level. And I'm like, okay what's next? Not necessarily as professional athletes, but just where does my heart go now?

[00:20:47] Cynthia: It sounds like it's not just Striving for the next thing and not being grateful and happy where you are now, but just knowing that's a part of the fun for you. That's a part of the excitement of life is I want to pursue that next thing because I love the journey of it too. 

[00:21:07] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah. I love the challenges.

[00:21:08] I love the fatigue. I love sort of the thought process and how you trip through and it, you could think of it as a race. It's you love the start. You get to that first aid station and that's really exciting, there's more and you're going to, you're going to strip yourself of who you are and rebuild and, rebrand, and then it's going to happen again.

[00:21:28] And then you're going to have a little snack and you're going to feel better and you're going to want to quit and you're going to deal with the weather. There's all of these things, but you're going towards an end goal. And once you cross that finish line, you're like, what's the next race? What?

[00:21:42] Okay. I did that. I'm so proud of myself. Like I did something I didn't know I could do. Now I want more now, in, as you said, in a grateful way and an exciting and a challenging way, you just, you believe that there's more that you can give. You believe you just want to juice a little bit more out of life.

[00:22:00] That excitement out of life, you're not just wanting to go, okay, cool. I'm here and I'm comfortable. It's no, you're, you want more. You're itchy. You're grateful. But you're itchy you're looking, for that next thing, so then I volunteer at the animal humane society and I'm on the Minnesota acupuncture association board.

[00:22:20] As I said, it's not just about, athletes and stuff. It's okay, what more do I add in just even in, in my daily life and what fulfills me. 

[00:22:29] Cynthia: Yes, and that's such an important distinction because I feel like I was on the other end of the spectrum where I was all about the success and I completely lost sight of presence and gratitude, but to be able to merge the two and be able to have both, I think it's like walking a tight wire sometimes.

[00:22:50] But if you can have support in that process, like that is amazing. And so I know for me personally, my coaching program was really transformational for me and it changed how I interact with myself, how I interact with people in my life. I'm curious how your training with success coaching, how that influences now how you interact with even your TCM clients, if it's not a coaching session.

[00:23:18] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah. And I think I totally agree with you, right? Like you can't, I can't take TCM away from who I am. Like what would your answer be if you didn't have, 15 years in practice and four years of a master's, I can't, it's in my cells, right? Like I can't actually decipher my answer without being like I am a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, like period.

[00:23:41] So my answer is going to be colored. that way. My lens is that color and I can't take that off. And the same is with coaching for me. I think, as I mentioned, like I was always focused on that ever since it's, I was a small kid. My mom is a life coach. She wrote a book psychology of success.

[00:24:01] So I also was raised that way, but I think it just fed who I was as a person. So I view. And have viewed all of my patients through that coaching realm of, okay, you've got this going on in your life, but what's the story in your head? What's holding you back? Yes, we've got some physical pain. Is it physical or, is it emotional manifestation or.

[00:24:27] Why are you driving yourself so hard? Why do you have to go to that race? Like why all of this stuff? And so I think I still view the world that way. I still view my patients that way my friends, I'm always studying and I always have been studying sitting back watching absorbing and then being able to reflect.

[00:24:47] And if they want, express, some thoughts, give them an invitation to what I'm seeing from the outside. If I put a mirror on them, and reflected back again, I'm reflecting back with my color of glasses on not theirs, but those reflections, I think are so powerful in any interaction.

[00:25:06] And I think, especially when you're in a really. vulnerable situation in my studio where you're laying your heart on the line, I hope, in hopes that I can find, that end of the yarn ball and start unwinding, what you have going on and how you got here. And so yes, it probably just more solidified.

[00:25:29] The way I view my, my life around me, the, the people on the sidewalk, the people who yell me and things at you, your patients, like all of that. But I think it just, as I said, solidified it. It didn't, birth it. It wasn't the seed. The seed started, I think, when I was a tiny child and just found people fascinating in what they did and how they did it.

[00:25:51] And, again, pushing myself to the limits when I was a tiny child and having to learn, when I was like six. What success was at swim meets and how I was winning and how you keep winning and, all of those things I think just really fed into that success coaching part of me, which is why when that opportunity popped up, I was like, hell yeah, jump on, let's do this.

[00:26:16] Let's really just commit to it. 

[00:26:18] Cynthia: Yeah, like this makes sense. Huh. 

[00:26:21] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yes. Thank you for opening a window and a door and smacking me in the face and it's up to me to then see that for what it is and take full advantage of it. 

[00:26:32] Cynthia: Exactly. Ah, I'm so glad and it's really refreshing to know and speak with you because I think sometimes people really pigeonhole themselves into nope, I am this and therefore this is my career and I don't go outside of that.

[00:26:47] I recently heard the concept of this being a very like specialist society where our success is really. Marked by how good we are at that one thing But here you are being like no we can actually wrap in These other parts of me that I know bring me value that I want to bring value to others and it's really wonderful how you've been able to bring them together under one umbrella of your business 

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[00:27:58] Cynthia: for those out there who are looking for a success coach someone who's looking for a TCM provider.

[00:28:08] I'm curious, what are some things that you would recommend that they look for if they're not like, boom, I'm going to Hillary because she sounds awesome. What are some ways they can vet for, who's the right provider for them? Who's the right coach for them? If you could share some of your insight there.

[00:28:25] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Simply say that. I think you got to listen to your gut. I think referrals are best. Oh, wait, you should go see this person. Then have a look at, as probably everyone you talk to says look at their social media, look at their presence, look at their website. Does what they say seem to resonate?

[00:28:40] Is it consistent? Are they trying to sell something, or are they just giving you their story, or are they being authentic, an overused word, but a true word, and you'll know it. I think we know it. Your intuition will feel it, and if you're feeling like, oh, this sounds really good, but do I really want to put the money in?

[00:29:00] And do I want to blah, blah, blah? Can I commit? I think that those are signs maybe that no you don't. For me, after I graduated in, in psych, I really thought that I'd go into sports psychology. And I just, no matter what I did, I remember, the US ski team is based out in park city.

[00:29:18] And we'd work out in the morning, we'd have the afternoon off and then we do a later afternoon workout. And, during that time you have to rest and I'd be like, okay, I'll order the study books. And I have to, have to apply, I have to get into, to master's program, all of this.

[00:29:32] And I just, I couldn't even order the books. And of course I could have, you just go on Amazon and, you order up, but there was something saying no. And I think it's because one of my true gifts as a TCM provider is my hands and the way that I can feel the body. And so all of the trainings that I've done so often, it's you do this, you test this, you look at this.

[00:29:57] I just need to get my hands on somebody. And yes, all of that is great and all of that gives us a really great picture and to, call it a, an x ray into what the body is going through and what the person is going through. But what I feel with my hands in the body, whether it be energetic or physical, something in the body, a tight muscle, a strain, where it is that I think is one of my true gifts.

[00:30:25] And so I wouldn't have found that if I never went into a profession where I actually work on people, as exhausting as it is to be hands on all the time. I think that's one of my gifts as a healer. We all, you're a healer, we're all healers. And so I really need that physical interaction with people along with the psychological.

[00:30:49] But I think you just, to go back to your original question, look at who they are, read their bios, have a quick chat with them. If they refuse to give you a free chat, if they won't take the time to even call you back or email you back, answer your questions. Like it's a hard, no, for me, I'm offering to pay you some money.

[00:31:06] Like you have to show me that you want, me to come to you. And look at people who, you know, even if it's a small little window into, I think they're going to understand me in this way, look into that. And I say, add a few, you don't take tools out of a toolbox ever. You just add more tools in.

[00:31:25] So you might work with somebody now that really resonates with you, that really speaks to you, that really helps you. And then they get to the end of where they can help you. Then it's time to look for somebody new, maybe. And then maybe you go back to them, so be open for whatever is presenting itself and.

[00:31:46] hold on to them for what they're worth. It's like a relationship. You need to know when you need to get out of it, quote unquote, divorce, somebody like that's true with patients. That's true with, a coach for yourself or a practitioner, for yourself in a real relationship with friendships, all of that.

[00:32:05] You have to be really honest with yourself. Like we are so dynamic and we change all the time. So don't be looking for that one diamond in the rough, be looking for what can help you now. What feels good now? Is that a day? Is that a month? Is that a couple years, and then maybe you have to move on.

[00:32:22] So I think being really dynamic is very important. Is one of the most important steps with finding that correct practitioner and maybe somewhere along the line, I will be that right practitioner for you if I'm not right now. 

[00:32:37] Cynthia: I love that. Yes. It doesn't have to be one and done. It's a journey, right?

[00:32:43] Different characters in your life come in for a reason and then they might be there that next chapter, they might not, but really being able to honor what is true for you in this moment is such a beautiful key in finding a practitioner. I love that. 

[00:32:58] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yeah, and have a few, we do right now we have dentists, we have eye people, we have hairstylists, we have a, a general doctor, like all of these people, like you don't want just one coach, one psychologist, one acupuncturist. Maybe you need people who are doing multiple things for you because we are complex. We need people who can touch on all of those complexities because it might not just be one person. And that has to be okay with the practitioner or the coach.

[00:33:28] And if it isn't, that is also a red flag for me. Like it has to be patient based. It's not, I can do everything. No, I can do what I do and I can do it well. But as you alluded to before. I still have so many things that I'm dabbling in and balls up in the air, and adding more in. I'm not, I am laser focused in the way that I'm a sports medicine acupuncturist and a success coach and all of that.

[00:33:54] But I'm a little bit broad in the fact that I do want still all of those modalities and those tools. To be powerful in my life and to empower me as a human and I think that's how athletes are, we've gotten into this culture lately where every, six year old has to decide that they're going to be a hockey player and then they play hockey, year round all the time and they stopped playing baseball and soccer and recess and all of that, and they're specifying too soon.

[00:34:23] I think I still haven't picked a sport, right? Like I, I was, I did Ironman. So I still had three sports in there. And so I think be broad, be open. You don't have to be the best at all of it. Certainly be the best at one of it, be open to where the journey takes you and what presents itself and don't be scared to jump on board and take a real quick turn.

[00:34:44] Because you never know what's on that other side. 

[00:34:47] Cynthia: Beautiful. Whether it is TCM or success coaching, how do people start working with you if they're interested? 

[00:34:57] Dr. Hilary Patzer: So just go to Jada J A D A studios, that's a plural. com. And then you will be taken to a website that's either acupuncture, massage, or coaching, or just reach out to me.

[00:35:08] I. I always get back to people within that business day. Hilary, H I L A R Y at jada studios. com. And I think you'll have all of this in the show notes and my phone number as well, but, love communicating with people with potential clients and patients. And, I'm really honest with people if I don't think I can help, I, I let them know that I'm maybe not the best, person that they need, but maybe this person would be a really great fit for them.

[00:35:38] Cynthia: Perfect. Yes. Everything will be in the show notes, all the links. So you can, just. Check in and ask your questions. Reach out. I wonder, Hilary, if there was one takeaway listeners were to walk away with from this conversation, what would you hope that would be? 

[00:35:57] Dr. Hilary Patzer: I think that these were threads that were throughout but to be brave.

[00:36:02] Be boundless, untethered and creative, give this life hell we got it, we got to live, we got to live it hard with passion, and honesty, when you need some time alone, go get that. But then when you're going for it just go without fear. And I think to live a full life, you need to wonder about what's around the corner and appreciate everything that you've been given and love.

[00:36:29] Cynthia: Live that life out loud. 

[00:36:32] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Yes, I love it. You walk your talk. I'm not saying you just talk it, but you do it for you with fun, with spunk, with humor, with, that glisten in your eyes. Just that passion, that unboundless passion. 

[00:36:47] Cynthia: Thank you so much, Hilary.

[00:36:49] Dr. Hilary Patzer here, just living and breathing her message. So grateful to have you on the podcast and just really excited for people to potentially meet with you, have sessions with you. It sounds like such a treat. 

[00:37:08] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Oh, thank you so much. That's so sweet of you. Hopefully it all made sense. Sometimes when you're so passionate about things, you just verbally vomit and try to pick up the pieces and be like, what did you ask me?

[00:37:20] Because it's so fun because I just I really do just feel it. It, reverberates in me, but I really appreciate this opportunity to chat with you. You are just such a wonderful soul. And I feel just really honored that you were able to, Have this conversation with me and pull out these fun little seeds.

[00:37:37] Cynthia: Yes. You just keep doing you because you're beautiful. The work you're doing is beautiful and I'm just grateful for our time together. 

[00:37:47] Dr. Hilary Patzer: Thank you so much. Me too. 

[00:37:50] Cynthia: Thank you so much for listening to the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast. Did you learn something new? Did you feel that spark of hope and excitement for what is possible? Because so much is possible. Tell us about it in a review on Apple podcast. Not only would we absolutely love hearing from you, but these reviews help our ratings and help other curious minds like you find this resource.

[00:38:15] We are always better together. Thank you again and see you next time.