TRANSCRIPT - 153 - Body Burnout: know the signs and what you can do

Filipa: [00:00:00] but essentially functional medicine is looking at the interconnected systems of the body, and what are the deeper root causes. So, like, who are you being, and what is, the internal tiger inside of you that is actually manifesting as physical symptoms, but also manifesting in the way that you think, feel and behave. 

Because essentially that's the deepest root and that's what not a lot of practitioners are doing from a functional medicine, naturopathy, nutrition. State.  

Melissa: As I shared with you in one of my earlier episodes, my own body burnout journey and my health journey, I wanted to bring the lovely lady, Filipa Bellette onto today's show. Now, Filipa has been [00:01:00] at the core of my healing journey to help me understand what is burnout, what's Happening within my body, why it's showing up, and then of course, how to work through that to begin to heal myself. 

So I really wanted to bring Filipa on to the show because she has a wealth of knowledge to share. And as I said in the previous episode, it is a conversation that I don't think is happening enough out there. I think that there are a lot of us who are experiencing. of some description of some type of some scale, and we are either not acknowledging it, we are working and pushing through it, which is what I did, or we're going and we're exploring those GP routes, but we aren't getting the answers that we know. 

We need to be getting because we're told that there's nothing wrong with us, but deep down in our hearts, we know that there is something more sinister at play. And so [00:02:00] I wanted to bring Filipa on to share her wisdom and her experience of why she started working in functional medicine and the metaphysical side of body burnout and healing, but also what she sees in her clients, how that's showing up for them, some of the experiences that they've had and what it really means to look at. 

Healing body burnout. So introduce you, Filipa Bellette is the co founder along with her husband, Chris, of the multi award winning health practice, Chris and Filipa Functional Medicine. She is also the author of the book, Ending Body Burnout. She is an accredited clinical nutritionist, functional medicine practitioner, coach, and trauma therapist. 

She is also a PhD scholar and regularly featured in the media, such as the today show nine. com. au Forbes and body and soul. So together, Chris and Filipa have worked with over two and a half thousand burned out clients in the past combined 25 plus years. Their [00:03:00] practice is best known for ending body burnout for good. 

In busy people with energy mood and gut issues with their root root cause approach. They were awarded as the Tasmanian state winner and national finalist for the Telstra Business awards in 2022, as well as the winner of the Australian women's small business champion awards in 2022. So Filipa really has a passion for helping busy people to have more energy, productivity, and connection. 

And this came from her own personal experience, which she's going to share with us in today's episode of what body burnout looked like for her after juggling all of the demands of a business, a family, and her failing health. So I've also shared my own personal story of my experience with body burnout. 

That was in the earlier episodes. If you haven't tuned into that one, please do. It's a kind of a very open and vulnerable share of my own personal experience, but it was with the help of Filipa and her husband, Chris, that I navigated that. And so. Today's conversation is really going to take you behind the scenes [00:04:00] of how Filipa and Chris do that for their myriad of clients. 

And if you're feeling that pull of body burnout and the weight of it on your shoulders, this is going to be a great episode for you to tune into and understand a little bit more about why you might be feeling that way and what your options are to go forward. So let me introduce you to Filipa So I'm joined by the lovely Filipa Bellette here today. Welcome, Filipa.  

Filipa: Hello Mel, I'm very excited to be here. 

Melissa: I'm so glad that you're here. as well, because as you very well know, I have been on my own little healing journey from body burnout over the last sort of 12 to 18 months, and it's been quite a revolutionary awakening for me. Let's put it that way, but I wanted to get you on the show. To share what you have to share with my audience, because I believe that this is a conversation that isn't being had often enough. 

[00:05:00] I've already recorded and released my own solo episode explaining my health journey. So if anyone hasn't listened to that, they can jump back and tune into a bit more detail around that. But today I really want to get into a deeper conversation around what. Is body burnout? Why are we experiencing it? 

What does it look like? How are we going to solve it? So we've got a bit of a broad range of topics to cover today, but to get us started, I would love to know your own personal journey, Filipa, with getting into this position because my Belief or experience with this is that typically those of us that have ended up into this healing and, you know, sharing the wisdom kind of journey have been there before and done that ourselves. 

So I'd love to know where you started and what brought you to where you are today.  

Filipa: Yeah, it's always an interesting question. Where did this start? I mean, I could go back to, I was six years old, which you'll probably get there later, but probably the big, so over a 10 year period, [00:06:00] I would say I had three significant body burnout. Experiences, after baby, number one, baby, number two, and then COVID 2020. 

And the first one, so I would have been late twenties when I had my child, but a little bit of backstory. I was running a lot of perfectionism overdoing overworking patterns. I was definitely now in hindsight can say I was in nervous system, dysregulation, chronic states of fight flight And so by the time I gave birth to my baby, my system already was, was running 110 miles an hour. 

So I don't actually think it was the birth that then was the trigger that led to everything else. But it was almost like the last straw of the camel's back. So I had quite a traumatic birth. he was like a three day labor.  

Melissa: Oh,  

Filipa: Um, yep, the pushing, I can't even remember how long the pushing was for, but it had all the interventions minus the C section, so did the suction cap, that got stuck inside my uterus, the forceps, [00:07:00] the epidural, and I had quite a lot of damage, so I had a lot of tearing up The bladder, the bowel, and sorry, tearing up the bowel, but my bladder just stopped working. 

Like it literally just said, I am not peeing anymore. So I was retaining urine and I was in the hospital and it was days later. And one of the midwives just said, have you, have you gone to the toilet? Or they were asking me that. I said, no, no, no, no. And they were asking me if I'd gone to the toilet to do a number of poos. 

And they weren't concerned because you don't do a poo straight away after having a baby. but then when they said wees, three days later, I'm like, no, I still haven't done a wee. And so my bladder was like blown up. There were liters and liters of urine. And then I couldn't, had no sensation to urinate. 

So I was. I had an internal catheter for about three or four months, to retrain my bladder to wee again. And during that time, I was on heaps of antibiotics. I was in and out of [00:08:00] hospital with IV antibiotics. So my gut health was just like getting ruined. And then month by month after I had my first baby. 

I just had more and more weird health symptoms pop up. So there was definitely postnatal depression. but then I had a lot of gut issues, hormone issues, chemical sensitivities, histamine issues, chronic pain in my body. And by the time she turned one, I felt like an 80 year old. I literally felt burnt out. 

and that's really was the pinnacle of, I got to sort this out because I'm going to my GP and They're running the tests, everything comes back as fine, but I'm feeling crappy. And they really just said, Oh, it's part of being a mum, a new mum. I'm like, better other friends are getting better month by month. 

I'm getting worse. There's something going on. So that dove, then I dove into the field of nutrition and holistic health and lifestyle. And then later on functional medicine. And then later on, after my third body burnout, really getting into the deeper [00:09:00] metaphysical reasons why I got into that position in the first place. 

Melissa: Wow. that's a lot. You were really put through the ringer on your first birth. I'm surprised she went back for number two after that experience.  

Filipa: Whoa. Yeah, I'm surprised too. I was actually so traumatized that I elected for a c section, even though by the time I had my third baby, I was very well and truly into the holistic health, do everything natural. Um, and it, actually was Soul destroying the decision at more of like a soul level. But I was just so like, there was obviously a lot of unprocessed trauma from the past that I didn't realize was really there and didn't understand the impact it was having on my body. 

Melissa: Yeah, And I mean, that sounds like a highly traumatic experience. Absolutely. And I could only imagine what your body was carrying and we'll get to that and how that's then played out. so with what you do now, Filipa, you support both men and women with body burnout. [00:10:00] Can you tell us a little bit more about what that looks like? 

Yeah. Yeah. 

Filipa: Yeah, so we have our, it's called our ending body burnout method, which is a six month holistic healing transformational container. and essentially we're working on both the physical part of you, but also all the other bits and pieces that make up who you are in. We call it metaphysical. So the physical parts of the things we can run lab tests on, and we can actually see what's happening at a body systems level. 

Metaphysical is what's happening deeper below the surface in the unconscious mind. So the beliefs, the patterns, the programming that you're running. And we do work with a lot of people who are running those burnout patterns. So busy, overwhelmed, um, perfectionism, people pleasing type patterns. And the first step is to. 

Get clear on what's happening with the body system. So you can't have symptoms without there being some sort of body system imbalance. And in functional medicine land, we go beyond testing what GPs and medical specialists test for, and it's a common narrative. And I [00:11:00] think it was the same for you, Mel, too. 

It's just like, I don't know, like a Done the tests with the doctors, but like not really getting anywhere. I can't remember if I said specifically to you, but I have said it definitely to a lot of people with the same story that it's like, don't worry, we'll find something.  

Melissa: Absolutely.  

Filipa: There's gotta be something functional going  

Melissa: While we're on that, can you explain to me why that is? And I know I've listened to a number of your podcast episodes and you cover it off beautifully in. 

that, in a whole episode, but if you could kind of concisely explain to the wider population, why, when we go to the GP and we say, we're just feeling like crap and things aren't right, that we could go and they do the tests or they send us a specialist, but we can still come out with, there's nothing wrong with you, which was what was happening in my particular case as well.  

Filipa: Yeah, well, essentially they're looking for diagnosable diseases and things that can kill you. so standard medicine, sorry, it's very good in an emergency situation. Like it will save lives, absolutely. But when it comes to chronic health issues, the [00:12:00] tests that they do, I mean, they're looking for things like fatty liver, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune type conditions. 

And even then like. There's not a lot of like solutions, even once you get the label, it's like, cool, what do I do? I don't know, take a medication and  

just like learn to live with it, manage your symptoms. and also the thing with standard medicine is that it's not looking at the person as a whole or even the body as a whole. 

So, um, like for someone who has gut issues, for example, you'll see a GP and they're like, go see a gastroenterologist and they'll run some tests. But they're not looking at how your adrenal glands, for example, or your neurotransmitters that are secreting stress chemicals are impacting the gut. So you might get a label, um, you also might get a medication, but you're not really looking at how all the other body systems are interacting with each other. 

And yeah, it's crazy. Look, I hope in the future that the functional medicine lab tests will just be part of like a GP workup because there's so much research now to [00:13:00] show that they're valid, they're reliable, and they can help people, heal. Like we can actually do some lab based protocols around them and get some significant results. 

Melissa: Yeah. So this is interconnectivity that's not being considered or looked at. And you know, I know from even my own experience working with you and there was some medications that you suggested that I should go to my GP and get, and they wouldn't have a bar of it. Like they weren't up to speed on it, weren't across it, so therefore wouldn't prescribe it. 

And I think that's on one side, extremely responsible. Great, but not having that knowledge and not understanding and then not being able to support your journey through this. That's also really quite, disappointing because you kind of at at a point where you're like, I've got no options left. 

Like I feel like rubbish all the time and you just keep telling me to go home and there's nothing wrong with me. It's all in my head.  

Filipa: Yeah. Yeah. And a little bit of gas lighting can happen to where you might do your own research. So like, I fully believe that all the answers are inside of you. [00:14:00] Yes. you know, actually 95 percent will say, so 5 percent might be a guide or like some extra tools or knowledge, but essentially you have your intuition that will guide you to where you need to be or go or think or feel. 

Or heal in order to get the results. So if you're doing research and you're like bloating, Oh, SIBO. Oh, okay. I'll talk to my doctor about that. Like a lot of doctors will be like, doesn't exist. Don't even know what you're talking about. Yeah. 

Melissa: doesn't exist. don't bother. Don't waste your time.  

Filipa: Yeah. When it's like, actually it does and it's real  

Melissa: And it's not very pleasant. It's not pleasant.  

Filipa: and it can cause a lot of issues.  

Melissa: So I think that's, I think that's firstly one important thing that I want people to take away from this conversation is that if you're not feeling great, look up alternative solutions because I was that person going down that route of kept going back to the GP, kept getting told there's nothing wrong, there's nothing that we can help you with here. 

Go home. You know, take a panadol and [00:15:00] it was only by chance that I ended up stumbling onto you because of two independent friends referring me to see you. That's another thing that you kind of talk about in the work that you do is we can be taking these sort of, more, even like more alternative or holistic type approaches, but it could be, we're looking at the acupuncture, we're looking at nutrition or, you know, we're talking to, The naturopath, what makes functional medicine different in terms of how you approach the wellbeing of an individual?  

Filipa: so look, even standard functional medicine has its limitations as well, which is why go deeper, but essentially functional medicine is looking at the interconnected systems of the body, but also what's happening in your life and what are the deeper root causes. So, the limitation with standard functional medicine is that often practitioners will look at kind of like the things that they can see. 

so are you eating healthy? Are you sleeping? Are you moving your body? is there mold or toxins in your [00:16:00] environment? Now, all that's really important because if you're eating McDonald's every day, it's going to be really hard to heal and be like your optimal self. similar, if you have genetic mutations and you're susceptible to mold and you've got black mold on your walls, then again, it's really hard to heal. 

so that's all important. And that, you know, is the work that we. Are doing with our clients to looking at the missing pieces and what hasn't been addressed yet, but even deeper than that is like, who are you, who are you being, and what is, the internal tiger inside of you that is actually manifesting as physical symptoms, but also manifesting in the way that you think, feel and behave. 

Because essentially that's the deepest root and that's what not a lot of practitioners are doing from a functional medicine, naturopathy, nutrition. State. 

Melissa: And so that's what you're referring to as that metaphysical state. It's that getting really deep on your behaviors, your belief systems, you know, how your brain has been wired over, you know, your entire life. And I [00:17:00] suppose that brings me to my next question. It's like, well, what are you seeing as, some of the ways that. 

Burnout is showing up in people, or what are you seeing as some of the root causes of burnout for people? You know, you've seen a lot of it now. is there anything that's a bit of a theme or something that you see raise its head more often than others?  

Filipa: Well, The deepest root cause is the deepest fear you have about yourself. And that is, Blanket across every single human being who is in body burnout, or even where there's dysfunction in whether it's health or life. There's a deep fear that essentially acts as a tiger. So when I talk about a deep fear, we're talking about unconscious core beliefs that one has about themselves and they're created before the age of seven. 

So a lot of human beings and adults are carrying these into their teenage adult life. A lot of people are dying as children because. They've never looked into these childish beliefs that they've created about themselves. but they're massive. So we talk about the deep beliefs as the machine that drives [00:18:00]everything. 

so we're sense making creatures. Things have to make sense. Otherwise, like if we have no map, then that's where people get really lost and confused and stuck and, you know, want to leave this world. So we're sense making creatures and how we're making sense is based on the beliefs that we have and specifically about ourselves. 

So for all clients, there will be some sort of I am identity based belief that's driving a lot of dysfunction and tied up with that belief is going to be distressing events. In which you created them and then created more evidence along them. So these beliefs and the events, literally get held in your body. 

So if they get stuck in the unconscious mind, they haven't been processed, then your unconscious mind lives in your body. And it can show up somatically in the body as well. So that's where people are starting to show up with physical symptoms that do have a body system, physical component to it. But again, [00:19:00] the deeper solution is to. 

Clear the baggage from the unconscious mind so that your body no longer needs to scream at you. 

Melissa: And why is it some people end up in body burnout and some don't? Because no doubt we've all got these beliefs that are sitting there lurking under the surface. But for some of them, some of us, it doesn't seem to get activated. Whereas for others, we can have multiple bouts of this.  

Filipa: Yeah, look, it's going to show up somewhere is what I'll say first. So if it's not your health, it'll show up in your relationships or your finances or your business or your work, um, or your self care. but in terms of The people who, where it shows up as burnout and physically and mentally, emotionally in a burnout presentation, generally there's, there's patterns of, like I've mentioned before, the overdoing, overachieving, overwhelmed, people pleasing, perfectionism type patterns. 

It's all coming from a nuanced belief that's different for [00:20:00] the individual, but the way that they're coping with it is they're trying to hide it. Or they're trying to run away from it. They're trying to hide it from themselves or from other people. So it's like, if I say yes to everything, then everyone will think that I'm like a good human being and I can put my head down at night and like, know that I'm okay as well. 

Or if I can achieve all the things, then look at me, like my worth is attached onto what I can do. So that's. That's a really common theme that shows up, and it might show up differently. So people who don't end up in body burnout, but it might show up in a different way. It's just that their coping strategies are different. 

Melissa: Yeah. 

so they're not putting that emphasis on for me, it was the overworking, the overdoing, the people pleasing, the saying yes to everything. So there's a few layers there, that we've had to untangle. but so other people are probably coping in different ways that aren't as taxing, I suppose, in other ways on their, physical body.  

Filipa: Yeah. Like the opposite extreme. And I've had some clients [00:21:00] actually reach out to us. They're like, Oh, look, I'm not your typical client. Like, you know, I actually, I'm not, I'm like a low achiever. I actually don't do a lot. Like, you know, I just want to like hang out at home and I don't want to go out. 

It's like, cool. You could have the same belief. So for example, my deep core one. was weak and incapable. So it showed up for me as burnout patterns because, you know, I was overachieving, overdoing, couldn't ever rest, running away from it, trying to hide it. Someone else could have a similar unconscious core belief, but they actually become a hermit in the world. 

And so they don't get burnt out, but they get really depressed. or they don't actually achieve, they're not very successful. They are poor, they don't make money. so  

Melissa: themselves into a situation where they could be exposed or could be seen, for being weak and incapable. So I just never try.  

Filipa: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. The thing is, like, it's all coming from the same place, though. 

Melissa: So interesting. What else have you seen show up in terms of body burnout and [00:22:00] that interconnectivity? Like do you see any typical patterns between those sort of metaphysical type, beliefs and systems and structures and the way that the body symptoms show up? Is there a, a direct relationship there?  

Filipa: Yeah, definitely adrenal fatigue is a big one. and the brain, so neurotransmitters, like the neurotransmitters we can test for with the functional medicine tests, uh, serotonin, dopamine and adrenaline. So, both your adrenal glands and your brain, when you're running these fight flight patterns, or even freeze patterns, then it's very. 

It's very stressful, like, and it's stressful to have those chronically occurring in your body and in your unconscious mind. and this is a thing with the metaphysical and the belief. So if you have, again, like a deep belief that you're broken, there's something wrong with you, not lovable, it's stressful. 

Like it's not safe. It's not safe to be you in your body. And so therefore you're going to have your stress hormones and stress chemicals on [00:23:00] high alert. a lot of the time, regardless of what's actually happening in, in your world, it's all happening inside of you. so definitely adrenal fatigue is really common. 

not for everyone. Actually, I just got a test back from a new client yesterday and we were both like, don't know how, but your adrenals are good, but your brain's toasted. 

Melissa: So there's overcompensation in different systems then.  

Filipa: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, so for her, she had really low dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin, very burnt out. so it's going to show up somewhere. And so they're two really common ones. Also, sex hormones can get suppressed because when you're running these high stress patterns and you're producing cortisol and then it's depleting, your cortisol and DHEA, which are your stress hormones that your adrenals are producing, convert into your sex hormones. 

So if they're depleted, then often sex hormones are depleted as well. And then that can show up as hormonal imbalances, conditions, and diseases. and then you've got your gut [00:24:00] system. So you. In order for your gut to function at its best, you need to be in the parasympathetic nervous system state. So that's rest and digest. 

If you're over in sympathetic, um, with chronic stress patterns, it's very hard for your gut to function well. So your digestive organs stop producing juices, your immune system gets suppressed, and then that can lead to pathogens overgrowing. even stress alone can kill off your beneficial bacteria. So quite common to have. 

Gut issues. and then the follow on effect is then your detox pathways start conking out. so one of the major ways we get rid of our toxins is back through the gut, out through the poop. If your gut's not working very well, then those toxins can recirculate back into the system. And then you start having nutritional deficiencies because now your body's like, Oh my gosh, we're really struggling. 

You can't do the things that we need to do. And now there's inflammation and pathogens we need to fight off. And then you start burning through nutrients. Big time. And then your body's like, done. It's like, I need to have a [00:25:00] rest. I'm burnt out. 

Melissa: yep, I relate to everything that you've just said, because I basically had a tick in every one of those boxes and  

something going on.  

Filipa: I. 

Melissa: They're all there. you know, I know from my own experience, like what led me to, you know, reaching out to you in the first place. What are some of the typical, physical symptoms that people are experiencing so that they can start to identify when they're in that burnout or ideally when they're starting to notice some of these things so they don't reach burnout. 

Like, do you have some concepts there that we could share?  

Filipa: Yeah, so the three big symptoms we see in our practice around body burnout is energy, mood and gut issues, and there'll be earlier stages of that and then later stages. So the earlier stages might be, I'm not waking up perky like I used to, or I'm getting that 3pm slump, or it might be getting 7pm and it's like, oh, gosh, I need to I need to go to bed. 

Like, am I a child again? What's going on? you might notice your brain not [00:26:00] being as sharp or creative as what it used to be. sleep issues, but you know, you can go to sleep, but it's just a bit harder or it's more restless. To sleep. So it's kind of like earlier stages of energy issues. 

Later stages would be full on chronic fatigue. so chronic fatigue syndrome, can't get out of bed, or maybe you can now, but you're really pushing yourself through the day. 2 out of 10 energy, brain fog, where it's just like, I can't remember. where did I put my keys or what was the thing I had to do today? 

And it almost feels like you're swimming through fog. insomnia is a really big one as well. So it's no longer just those sleep issues every now and then it's like literally every night when I try and go to sleep, my brain is, on fire and I'm struggling to fall asleep. So that's kind of like the energy side of things, the mood side of things. 

If it's earlier, a big one is you're just not coping with stresses like you used to. It's kind of like the kids that you're irritating or your husband's like annoying, or, you know, that person at [00:27:00] work or your client is just like, Oh, that email, you know, you start noticing patterns where you're not as resilient or tolerant with stresses. 

Um, it might be mood swings. It might be, irritability. And then further down. The track there. So later stages of body burnout and showing up as mood would be anxiety, depression. even things like bipolar. it's almost like you might have gone to the GP and actually got a clinical diagnosis at that point and then there'll be. 

spectrum in between that. And then the third one will be gut issues. So earlier stages would be like, Oh, used to be able to eat all the things. And now like anytime I have bread, it doesn't feel so good anymore. So you're just starting to notice early signs of food sensitivities. maybe you're noticing changes in bowel motions and then later stages would be bloating all the time, constipation, loose stools, especially if you're noticing a stress component. 

To it where it's just like, Oh, you know what? Like it's not all the time, but definitely when I'm stressed and need to go to the [00:28:00] toilet or I'm getting the bloating or heartburn, um, autoimmune conditions are really common as well. So autoimmune conditions are very steeped in the gut, but also the other body systems that I talked about. 

And the more you, Irene body burnout in the later stages, and autoimmune condition is essentially. Screaming at you that you're not safe. It's like, it's not safe to be in my body. And there's all these nasty things happening inside of me and around me. And your body starts attacking healthy tissues. 

because like, it's basically on high alert and it's like, we're not solving the issue, so I don't know. We need to attack more things and it starts eating away at tissues. 

Melissa: So There's a lot that can go on. 

Filipa: There's a lot could  

go on yet.  

Melissa: some of that stuff we might just put down to old age, you know, the aging process. What's your view on that? Like how much of that is actually like the aging process weighing in or is the aging process as a result of this, like chicken or egg?  

Filipa: yep. [00:29:00] So, well, most of our, clients are kind of like the middle age type population. Occasionally we'll get some like younger people or older people. Now, this is a while ago, but we had a client. He was like, well, I reckon close to eighties and he had a almost. he was diagnosed with Parkinson's, but him and his wife weren't quite sure if that was the correct diagnosis, but he was exhausted. 

after we worked on body systems, he was like 10 energy. He's like, Oh, this is the most energy I've had since my forties. So I do believe that, you know, there's a seasonal thing that's going to happen as we age. At some point, we're going to decay and die. so it is a thing and biologically and things will slow down, but like if you're 40. 

Even if you're 50 or I you can feel great. You can feel really good. 

Melissa: What about a woman in their forties, fifties, [00:30:00] perimenopause, cause some of the symptoms I think can kind of overlap. What's your thoughts on that?  

Filipa: Yeah. So perimenopause, well, here's the thing with perimenopause is if you've been pretty healthy and symptom free and then it's like, dang, you've hit perimenopause and everything flares up, it's not because you're about to lose a period or cause you've lost a period. It is clearly. a sign that previously there were imbalances anyway, whether it's physical or metaphysical or both, they can't actually separate the two. 

that now the drop of hormones is now bringing those to the surface. don't think the best way to think about it is, is it just perimenopause or is it burnout? It's actually like, the two coexist and perimenopause can actually Magnify what's happening inside of you. 

Melissa: Okay. So the way that we kind of recover from body burnout, you've got your ending body burnout method. Which requires both [00:31:00] supplements and sort of consultation, sort of more, uh, I suppose, applied medicine. And then you've got your metaphysical side. Can you. 

talk us through what that looks like? And I suppose what the benefits of doing the whole thing are versus just sort of taking the supplements and sort of topically applying the medicine.  

Filipa: Yeah, I will answer that. I was also going to pre frame, or contextualize that yeah, I used to just practice standard medicine and this is part of my journey of, having three major body burnouts by the third one. It's like, nothing physically is going to address this. so I'm going to answer the question by talking about what I did personally and then also lead into what we do with clients. 

So the first body burnout after that horrific birth, I really just tidied up lifestyle. Like I really used lifestyle medicine. So I changed my diet, didn't realize that eating packaged food was causing issues. And it's [00:32:00] just like, Oh my gosh, if I eat healthy, I can heal. And then, you know, cleaning out toxins from my environment, changing up my skincare, doing all that sort of stuff. 

And it was helpful. But when baby number two came along, my symptoms split up again. And so this time I had to go deeper. So deeper into beyond just lifestyle support. And I kind of knew intuitively anyway, that I still hadn't got to the root. And so I discovered functional medicine, ran my own lab test, because by this time I was a practitioner and I started specializing it, or learning about it underneath the mentorship of Dr. 

Daniel Kalish. and yeah. So that's when I discovered all these things in my body and started doing the lab-based protocols, which is very heavy on the supplements. Um, I'd already done a lot of the lifestyle work, so in my mind I'm like ticking all the root causes. I already done that. Just need to add in some subs, 

I mean, there were some things like I remember Dr. Kale said to me, I mean, he, his mentorship was more [00:33:00] around lifestyle and supplements. He actually didn't go into the metaphysical side of things, but he did say to me, so how are you living your life? How many things are you saying yes to? 

And I was like, I say yes to a lot of things. So I did change, like I did some behavioral changes as well, but it still wasn't enough because when COVID came along. Massive amounts of stress, uncertainty, the whole world was experiencing trauma, like collective energetic trauma. All my health issues came back, including insomnia, which I'd never experienced in the past. 

And that was just the worst because if I don't sleep, nothing is good. and that's where I realized. And I also saw a pattern with clients as well. I saw a patterns where the old clients coming back during this COVID period with the same issues, it was almost like, hang on, weren't you better? Like, didn't we? 

Didn't you heal yourself? Didn't we  

do the like whole thing and didn't we fix that? And so I noticed this pattern in me, noticed patterns in clients as well coming back. And [00:34:00] then I realized that there's something deeper going on. And so essentially that's what our ending body burnout method is. It's, it's looking at the body systems, it's providing. 

therapeutic supplement support because it fast tracks things like it heals the body systems, and it can speed the process along and, you know, if there's anything toxic happening in the lifestyle environment, then, you know, it's hard to heal in a toxic environment. So let's work on that, but deeper below the surface is again, who are you, who are you being, And the benefit of doing it as a holistic approach is it's holistic, so we're treating all parts of you and it's also deep root cause, as opposed to did some tests, took some supplements, did a diet, yay, my symptoms are gone. I guarantee that they're going to pop up again sometime in the future, or it's going to show up as a different issue. 

Melissa: And that's because of the behavioural change. We're not changing in essence who we are or what we believe in, or [00:35:00] potentially not even aware of the mental narrative And 

the dialogue that we've got running, which is causing us to do the things that we're doing, which leads us to. The physical burnout.  

Filipa: I wasn't aware. so I've got my book ending body burnout and I was writing it. The first draft, right. The first draft there's four parts in it. One party is on healed my mind. I still hadn't done that work on myself, like that deep work. So I was just piggybacking off my husband who, you know, he's, he healed his burnout. 

Um, he was pretty much like 90%, 95 percent mind in a mind work, um, he was pretty hopeless, actually taking supplements and like doing other things, ADHD brains, I couldn't remember to take things, but he was very good at like connecting back with himself. This draft of my book, and I'm like, okay, I'll gather all like Chris's expertise, but it just didn't feel right. 

It's like I can't put my name on this and this method until [00:36:00] I embody it myself. and the reason why I hadn't yet is because I didn't think there was anything wrong with me. I'm like, give me a diet. Like I can go no sugar for six months. I can do that. I thought in practice clients who struggled to implement things were the ones that needed to do the inner mind work, not the ones that were great at doing They're great at succeeding  

Melissa: would have been fine. Like,  

give me a list.  

Filipa: when you first. when you  

first started, I mean, like the whole way through you were wholehearted and, and did the things and then became the woman, but do you remember right at the start, it's just like, I think you're a little bit even suss around the metaphysical, but it's like, give me the hard stuff. 

Give me the protocols. I'll do those. Hmm.  

Melissa: And that was my thing. Like I was reflecting on this. It's like, I tried to work my way out of body burnout as ridiculous as that sounds. It was like, you know, Filipa said, you've got adrenal fatigue, you've got this. So the first thing I do is start researching and going, well, what does this look like? 

What do I need to change in my life? [00:37:00] And I remember having the conversation with you is like, does this mean I don't have to, I can't work anymore? Like, am I doing too much? And, Trying to do all the things and well, yes, some of that was in fact true. It was more about what my mind and the story I was telling myself in the process of doing those things, like that it was busy and that I was stressed and that I was doing too much. 

And that was us hard. And this person was annoying me. And that was, you know, and it was all of these things. And because you mentioned before, like you can get, angry. It's probably a good way of describing it,  

Filipa: Yeah. 

Melissa: it as it is. And so you're just constantly feeding that. Whereas once you take all of that away. 

The same amount of doing is possible, but without. the, I suppose the overwhelm and the pressure and this feeling of contraction and constriction around what needed to be, what you actually need to do.  

Filipa: and the crux of that is the energy in [00:38:00] which you're doing. So when you deeply love, trust and accept yourself, then you can choose to do what you want, when you want and how little or how much you want. Using your body as the compass. So it's always going to tell you if it's like a little bit too  

much,  

Melissa: So it's resentment. That's what I really realized. It was, I was doing a lot of things out of resentment and that was really pissing me off. And  

Filipa: Yeah, and that came back to the people pleasing and then the people pleasing came back to the beliefs and the beliefs came back to the environment in which you grew up and the programming, yep. 

Melissa: Yeah, it's incredible. And I suppose you just kind of answered one of the questions here, but it's not a one and done thing. Like even Chris, who's kind of healed 90 percent of his 95 percent of his, you know, metaphysical mind work. It's a constant thing. Like it's something we need to work at. It's not like we do it, we tick the box and like go and park that over there and go, okay, I did that now. 

I'm, I'm good. I think it's a daily decision and daily choice.  

Filipa: Yeah, well, it is. So I like to break it [00:39:00] down really practically with the example of you're in a relationship with yourself. So just like if you have a relationship with a partner or like a best friend that you really, and you really want to have a lovely, nourishing, wonderful relationship with them. It's not like do a little, um, you know, Six months of counseling, and then for the rest of your life, everything's going to be great. 

Well, it's just the same as yourself. So you're in a relationship with yourself and self. I kind of think about conscious unconscious or like your monkey brain and higher brain, you know, however you want to think about it, but you are in a relationship with yourself. So if you think it's a one and done, did the course, did the program. 

Or better feeling great, but you stop having a conversation with yourself like that wouldn't work in a marriage. So why would it work for self? 

Melissa: This is coexisting. The other thing that you talk about is that our bodies are not broken and I think I came to you going like, I'm just broken, like [00:40:00] it's falling apart, I'm not working, like I'm broken.  

Filipa: Yeah.  

Melissa: to that?  

Filipa: Yeah. So we work off a presupposition that you are not broken. Your results you have in your life, including your health results and the way your body is behaving, has been created by your system. So you've created it and you've created it out of love. And as a protection or you're trying to serve or meet a need. 

So it does like, if you are in a pretty nasty state of body burnout, it does feel like you're broken. I even use that language too. Like, I feel like I'm an 80 year old. I feel like I'm broken. I feel like I'm way for thin and I'm just like blowing around everywhere. But when you can see that you're not broken, you created this, then now you can take your power back and you can start taking radical responsibility that you created this. 

Melissa: Yep. Ouch.  

Filipa: Not everyone's ready for that. [00:41:00] 

Melissa: No.  

Filipa: Like it is, it is easier. it is, easier. And that's why, that's why there's a lot of modalities that give a band aid and management approach, both in the natural and the standard medicine world, because it's easier. It's like, just give me the thing, take the test, give me the supplement, tell me what to do. 

Melissa: can still play the victim. 

rather than taking responsibility for the choices that you've made that have led you to this and then choosing differently. And I played out that for a really long time.  

Filipa: So do I. yeah. And so then If someone's listening and they're like, Oh,  

I don't know, maybe I, maybe I hold on to the I'm broken story because it also means that if you try a bunch of stuff and it doesn't work, then it's not your fault. It's their, their fault. Or it's that  

Melissa: done everything that the GBA said and they said, you know, there's nothing wrong with me. So  

Filipa: yeah. So I guess I'll just live with it. I'll live with it. And then therefore I can use my Get out of jail free card whenever I don't want to show [00:42:00] up. so yeah, so taking back your power. I actually found it like it was a little bit of a dagger to the heart when I. Actually lent into that presupposition. 

It's like, Oh, I created this. What? I don't want heartburn and anxiety and histamine intolerance and chronic back pain. Like I didn't choose this. I don't want this. It's horrible. I hate it. But then it's like, Oh, but I created it. Because I was trying to protect myself, and my body was trying to return me back to who I truly am. 

So I wasn't listening. I was running away from the deepest fear. My body was in a state of panic and stress and, you know, showing up as symptoms, but essentially, like, at a deeper, more spiritual level, the body was was fighting for me, not against me. It was actually, yeah, it's like, you will listen to pain. 

Human beings listen to pain. When it gets painful enough, you do something about it. And Filipa, I can see that over the 10 year span, you've done lots of lovely things, but you still haven't, learned to trust and love and accept yourself.  

Melissa: Yep. [00:43:00] 

Filipa: And so the pain was high and I went in. 

Melissa: Start screaming until the point you have to listen. You can't continue to ignore it.  

Filipa: Hmm.  

Melissa: Now, one of the last things I want to talk about is trauma, and I think Trauma is a word that gets used a lot lately, but there's big trauma and there's little trauma. And some people can say, Oh, but I haven't experienced trauma because of their understanding of what trauma is. 

Can you talk to a little bit about what are the different types of trauma that we could potentially be carrying and how that shows up in our body and what that can do to contribute to body burnout?  

Filipa: Yeah, so everyone on this planet has experienced trauma at some point in their life. I think about it as big T and little t, so big T trauma, little t trauma, big T are the big things. It's like the natural disasters, the terrible accidents, um, domestic violence, rape, sexual abuse, that sort of stuff. [00:44:00]Like the big stuff that we just know is trauma. 

And that's where people's brains usually go when we think about the word trauma. Then there's little t trauma. So there. Essentially little t trauma, the things that have happened that you haven't yet processed and it's now stuck in your system. So there's a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is the part that stores memory and it will only store neutral memory. 

So when something happens, it's just like, put that away. Put that away, put that away, or, you know, can store happy memories. But if there's something traumatic that was distressing, and I'll talk about examples of that in terms of little t, your unconscious mind wants to hold onto that to protect you in case it happens again. 

So it's not going to just file it away back into the abyss. It will actually hold onto that as a form of protection to alert you when the same thing happens or something similar happens. So that you can be on high alert. So you don't get hurt. and this is why when we [00:45:00] work with our clients, we go back before the age of seven, because before the age of seven, children have limited capacity to make sense of things. 

and this is where a lot of trauma is created. or stored. It's not necessarily created. It's more the meaning that that child or that adult has placed on it. Uh, so for me, for example, like I had traumatic experiences of being up on the stage as a 6 year old and not being able to remember the words of my talk and being completely humiliated. 

So humiliation, embarrassment is a really common Big emotion for a child to experience that can end up as trauma in their body. then there can be neglect, like there's a lot of clients where, you know, how, what was your childhood? Like, Oh yeah, it was pretty good, pretty uneventful. But when we dig in, it's like, there was no emotional intelligence. 

conveyed or taught or exposed or given to that child. And so emotional neglect is a huge one that creates trauma in the body and that's stored [00:46:00] in the body. yeah, so essentially it's not like the event. Or what happens, it's what that person makes it mean in that moment. So some other little kid could have been on the stage and forgot their talk and just, you know, laughed it off. 

It's like, oh yeah, I forgot, sat down, stored in the hippocampus, neutral memory. Me on the other hand, I had like big emotion around it and so that was stored very somatically in my system. 

Melissa: And I think you, you know, a lot of people do associate that big T trauma and so they'll go, Oh, well, nothing like that's happened to me. So therefore I haven't experienced trauma. But how does that trauma then build over time? And, you know, particularly when we get into our 40s, like I have a theory that. 

You know, we've been basically smooshing all this stuff down to the point where our bodies can't enough and that is it. And like the lid blows off and it's kind of in that 40 zone and it shows up in different ways as we've sort of talked about, like you said, you create this belief and then I know that we go out [00:47:00] and we. 

Constantly searching for, reaffirmation that that belief is true. So we're constantly on high alerts of, to see events or behaviors or people speaking to us in a particular way, or, us showing up in a particular way that constantly reaffirms that belief. How is that then impacting us with the body burnout and how does going through the process of dealing with burnout. 

enable us to remove that from our systems.  

Filipa: well, I think you just said it perfectly.  

Melissa: Okay.  

Filipa: It's kind of like, yeah, it's this accumulation of events and the events that you're choosing to make traumatic meanings around will be based on the beliefs that you have about yourself. and not always though, sometimes it might actually be. Like just a really horrible, fearful thing that, you know, like you got bit by a snake or something. 

Um, but even then, like some people might get, well, actually this is a really, really good example. Maybe not the snake example, but some, some people can go to war, come back and they're fine. You [00:48:00] know, maybe they have a bit of a debrief and, you know, they reset, recharge and they're fine. Other people go to the same war, experience the same things, come back and have PTSD. 

so I actually am going to. Disagree with what I said before, that it's still based on the meaning that you're, placing on that stressful experience. and then what happened? So it is, it's kind of like, you know, we can think about it as a cup with a lid on it and every trauma distressing event, is building up in this cup. 

And if it's not getting stored in the hippocampus, it gets stored in the unconscious mind, which. Lives in the body, like the unconscious mind is everywhere. It's not just in our brain. It's everywhere. And so over time, you've got all these little stresses, all these little traumas going round and round, like a broken videotape loop as if it's happening now. 

And then at some point it's going to get too much. It's almost like trying to keep a basketball down in a pool. And at some point it's going to flip up and hit you in the head. 

Melissa: Rather dramatically. [00:49:00] Yeah. Look, that is fascinating. as someone who has experienced the burnout side of things, knows what it feels like, and then has worked with you through the process of. and as we said, this is something that I need to work through every day and continue to make those choices. Is there anything that you would like to leave our listeners with as we wrap up our conversation today?  

Filipa: Your body is your compass. it's so intelligent and it's also a language like the way that our body and our unconscious mind communicates to us. It's a language that we're born with. a really simple example would be a baby doesn't care about Farting and burping. It just lets it out. That's kind of like, or as you know, we become kids and then teens and then adults, and it's just like, it's not acceptable anymore. 

So we hold, we hold a lot of things in and we, and essentially like that's when we start losing the way that our [00:50:00] body communicates to us, we're holding things in, and in just the same way. That we push on, we suppress, we lose touch of the sensations that our body is sending us, which is essentially always going to keep us in alignment if we listen. 

So every time I've listened to my body and my deeper self, only good things have happened.  

Melissa: Yeah.  

Filipa: So if someone's listening and, you know, even if you're not ready to like go into a big journey, I just start by just. Being aware and just asking, like, it can be as simple as, Oh, I've got heartburn right now. What for? 

And always go beyond the physical. It's like, you know, because often the brain will be like, Oh, I guess it was that tomato pasta that I just ate. It's like, okay, yeah, but, but why else? What for? What's the deeper reason? 

Melissa: Yeah. And I think it's sitting in that stillness for a while, which is something that I've found recently, is just, we're so busy that we're on the go all the time that we never stop long enough to actually tune into our bodies and take [00:51:00] the time to pay attention to what they're trying to communicate with us. 

And I think. That in itself is one really good first step.  

So if people have been listening today and they're like, Oh Yeah, this sounds familiar, or I can see some of these signs here and, you know, I've done the GP route. How do people find you and how do they work with you, Filipa? 

Filipa: Yeah, awesome. Probably best place to go is our website. So www. chrisandFilipa. fm. I'm pretty sure you pop that in the show notes with the spelling.  

Melissa: in the shop notes.  

Filipa: we've got heaps of resources on there as well. So I've got my book, doo doo doo doo, Ending Body Burnout. That is essentially our method in a book. Like obviously it's missing some pieces because it would be like, maybe like 10 volumes worth, 

Melissa: but  

it's really good stories, that book, because it gives you the experiences of three women and the different body system burnouts that they go through, how they've approached their healing journey, those that finished, those that didn't, and what kind of results [00:52:00] they end up with as they traverse their own journey.  

Filipa: Yeah, so it's pretty common. I'm pretty sure you'll identify with one, maybe even two or three of the women  

if you read it. and we also have scorecards as well. So one of our more popular ones is the ending body burnout assessment. So if it's kind of like, okay, like, wow, Filipa talked about a lot today, do the scorecard because it rates your state of body burnout. 

So are you in the earlier or the later stages? And it also looks at the three main contributors. So it's looking at the mind, the body, or the habits that you're running. Uh, and it also looks at the environment. Yeah. So there's some, there's lots of other free resources and then we've got our ending body burnout method, which is the best way to work with us. 

Melissa: And, uh, I'd highly recommend following along on Instagram too, because you're regularly running like free masterclasses and events and things along the way. So even if you're not ready to dive in yet, or you just want to check out and explore what is on offer and their approach, that's a really good way to kind of.[00:53:00] 

Dip your toe in the water and see where it lands.  

Filipa: Yeah. Awesome. 

Melissa: Yeah. Well, look, Thank you. so much for joining us Filipa today. It has been an absolute pleasure having this conversation with you. And I just want to say a huge thank you to for all that you've done to help me on my own personal healing journey. I just certainly would not be feeling as good as I do without the work that I've done with you. 

So thank you. Oh, 

Filipa: you. It is my pleasure and I've just adored my experience of you.  

Melissa: thank you.