7/7/2026 Missing Piece in Modern Healing Pocast Rita and Christy
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Christy: [00:00:00] Welcome back everyone. In our first conversation with Rita, we explored her journey through nursing, through whole person healing and modern ways healthcare can sometimes lose sight of the human spirit. But today, we're gonna continue that conversation by turning towards the practical and personal.
So with Rita, today I wanna talk about what patients can ask for if they want more holistic care. How people can reconnect with their spiritual roots during seasons of illness or uncertainty and why inner calm may be one of the most overlooked ingredients of healing. So Rita, I'm so glad to have you back here again.
And, uh, so I. Stay tuned you guys so you can hear what she wants to give us as far as insights into these topics.
[00:01:00]
Rita: Great to be back. Thanks so much for having me back, Christy.
Christy: You're welcome. All right, Rita, so last time we really did talk a little bit about how you got into nursing and what your background is there.
I really, we were left craving some more insights from you. Right. And I wanna know, for patients who want to have more of that whole person care, what would you say are some of the most important questions that they should ask their healthcare practitioner? I,
Rita: well, that's a powerful question. Um, I think, yeah, obviously the basics they're talking about, um, but I, I [00:02:00] like to know a little bit about them, maybe somewhat of their.
Belief system in me getting healthy, because a lot of times that is not the case. That is, you know, they're following their script. I, but you can get a sense if they are working to your benefit and that they believe that you can get healthy just as much as you do. And sometimes you need a little, little boost like that.
You need someone to be their cheerleader because where you're at right then and there, you are not there yet. And I, I think about that. I think about having, if you will, energetic cheerleaders or spiritual cheerleaders, because sometimes you have to hold onto them. So those kind of questions, the obvious as far as, uh, the progression and the journey of this health issue, whatever that may be, what's our plan?
What really kind of got me a lot into holistic health, because a lot of times we may have to do a little bit of [00:03:00] revising of what people think about when they think about medicine because sometimes they want to get the pills or this or that and the other. But I'm hoping that that caregiver or the healthcare provider also tell them how they could be particip participatory in that situation as well.
Because yes, you can take the pill for that, but. This is your journey and what is the things you're gonna do or to change in order to be a support in your healing journey as well. Not just taking the pills or are are you doing exercise? What's going on with your thinking? So those things as well is that you are not just wanting me to fix you, that you wanting we to fix you.
Christy: I love that you're not wanting me to fix you. We're wanting we to fix you. That's a great, a great, um, perspective there, Rita.
Rita: Yeah,
Christy: and you know, I think in my experience too, patients. Or, you know, who are, when we're entering the healthcare [00:04:00] system as a patient, it does become challenging to ask those questions of our practitioners if they're not offering them right away.
Right? So how do we, how can we kind of stand up for ourselves or be like, Hey, I, I want that energetic cheerleader. Like, you know, like, um, uh, because I think so often our medical perspective is oriented towards, um. Risk management, right? Instead of really tapping into what you just said is like the whole person or patient led care and being in kind of a conversation about that.
Right. I think some practitioners probably do it far better than others.
Rita: Yeah.
Christy: And so if you're a practitioner listening, like there's opportunities to grow if that's not your style, right? Mm-hmm. There's opportunities to really, and it doesn't take away from, um. Your your time. Right. I know that. So, so many people are afraid, like, if I start down that path, I might be stuck in the [00:05:00] room for another 15 minutes and I only have X amount of time.
But truly, if you start the conversations with what's important to them, you're going to get some insights that will. Actually help you in the planning part of what you need to offer that client rightly, when you just listen to what it is they need, you can design, um, your plan. So it actually is something that makes sense to them, that feels good and they can see themselves operating in.
Right?
Rita: Absolutely.
Christy: So we did highlight in, in a little segment of our first talk that you, uh, you've actually studied and, um. R by by just your birthright have some medical intuitive capabilities, right?
Rita: Mm-hmm.
Christy: And I'm so curious, how do, how does intuition and your nursing experience and whole person healing really [00:06:00] come together for you and your practice?
Like if a client were to work with you, how does that intuition, that nursing experience, that whole person healing, really weave together? What is your secret recipe, if you will?
Rita: Well, it. You can say it's my secret recipe. But the whole thing is, is that I'm empowering the client to have that recipe as well.
Because again, it's that making that shift from somebody else, fixing you to what are you doing for yourself? And one of the big pieces of medical intuition is simply listening. What are you saying? What are you saying to what is being said to you? Do you hear a lot of that? It's so much in, um, we don't trust those things.
We don't trust the feeling that we got from that person. You were talking about doing this in just a medical world. 'cause it is very clinical. It's not usually, uh, kind of energetically driven or those things that don't come to my mind. But, uh, what's the field that you get when you get to the doctor's office [00:07:00] and the, the people that are taking care of you?
The doctor. Their, their assistance. That is valuable information. That's gonna tell me a lot about how they're gonna care for me. Are they looking in my eyes? Are they attentive to my questions? Yes. I realize you only have a small window of time to be with me, but sometimes it's not a matter of, uh, quantity.
Do you see quality when you're there? So I'm having you to think about those things because you have them within yourself. You don't have to get, get that from somebody else. That you are very powerful. You've made those dec those decisions using those same tools with when you wanted to buy the car or go grocery shopping.
So they're embedded in you. Mm-hmm. So you using the same things that you already have in you.
Christy: Yeah. You know, one of our colleagues recently, Hannah, wrote a couple blog posts on how, um. [00:08:00] Hypnosis, if you will, um, specifically is a compliment to the medical system. And what I'm hearing you say too is like by listening and using your intuition and your nursing background and whole person healing, this isn't to displace where medicine belongs, right?
Rita: No, not at
Christy: all. It's really to work in compliment too, right? Mm-hmm.
Rita: Yeah, absolutely. Is being a team approach, and I think we forget that or how it's been presented to us so long that you forget that you are a big part of this team. You are the team. Yeah. You actually, because of you, we have a team.
Christy: Right.
Rita: So
Christy: the party, we're the party, but are you're bringing the party? Is that how it goes? Right.
Rita: It's,
Christy: I love that because I know in a lot of the work that you do, especially when we are focused on, our first conversation was around your work in the. The confines [00:09:00] of the surgical realm of a hospital setting. But you also, you do these long 12 hour shifts and then you come home and you also help people over zoom.
You have a private practice that offers these experiences to people. And some of your, uh, some of your clients have then become, uh, you know. Patients, they, they, then you've seen them in the surgical space, right? Mm-hmm. So how do you take what you do and really help somebody prepare, whether it's by reducing their fear or anxiety or emotional stress?
What does that look like if somebody were to hire you and, uh, work with you on those topics?
Rita: Ideally, I would love to, I mean, sometimes you don't have the luxury of, uh, spending a great deal of time with people. It may be one session and they call you and so you do what you can for them. Ideally, I would love to be able to [00:10:00] meet with a person before their surgery or their procedure because you wanna address what their fears are.
You can never assume, um. Asking the right questions. It just, it was making me smile because I remember interviewing, again, one of my patients in the surgical suite. I'm going out to talk to him where I work primarily doing head ENT, which is, uh, ears, nose, and throat surgery. But this gentleman, you could see that he was wired up.
Uh, very, very anxious. And then finally, I guess because, uh, hopefully he felt relaxed, he could ask me a question. He said, okay, when is it gonna happen? And I'm like, when is what gonna happen? And his friends had told him that he was gonna have a Foley catheter, a catheter put in his bladder for this surgery.
And that was the thing that wicked him out. Mm. And I, we made, I made him laugh. I was like, no, we are not doing any surgery beyond your [00:11:00] back. But he brought that in, that that was his, his issue. Mm-hmm. So it's a matter of having a conversation beforehand. I would've loved to have that with him before he came with all of that, uh, anxiety.
Poor guy. Yeah. But as we unplug that. He was so much better. So that's just a small part. So if I could do that in a more formal situation by meeting with them prior to their procedure or their surgery, and we can address any fears that they may come up with that, then we can have a session with, um. Being able to put those things to rest and doing some imagery around those things that they can see that whole procedure and whatever they're going through in a different light.
And I, and if I can even do go as further in that, is that after it's all over, let's put you on the road to recovery as well.
Christy: Yeah. I love that. [00:12:00] Um. Because we, we do know that when people are aware of what's gonna take place, right?
Rita: Mm-hmm.
Christy: Um, there's a certain amount of. Calmness that just happens by just knowing what's gonna happen, right?
Because the alternative to that is we start to fill in the blanks. Mm-hmm. Our mind will fill in the blanks. Oh, I'm gonna have a Foley catheter or X, Y, Z, and then we really start to get more amped up or stressed out about that. So the beautiful part about working with you, Rita, is that especially if somebody's getting ready or preparing for a surgery, right?
Mm-hmm. Is to get their nervous system in a state where they. They can talk to somebody who's seasoned and experienced with having that be their day to day, right?
Rita: Mm-hmm.
Christy: You know exactly what's gonna happen in the OR and what's not. So you can help their nervous system just start to know what's going to happen, what to expect, right?
Mm-hmm. And even that [00:13:00] expectancy helps to reduce that stress. Then you can really teach those, uh, I know we talked about it the last session about anchors, right? Mm-hmm. About now, if you're, if you're, um, facing a, some rough seas, your boat's just gonna rock a little bit because we've done some anchoring for you in those sessions too.
Rita: It can happen even in surgery. You just reminded me of that because, uh, part of my interview process, when I talk to them after, we kind of make sure that we're all on the same page. I tell them what to expect when they come in there, that the room is gonna be cold, that the bed is gonna be narrow, that I'm gonna put a safety belt on you.
And so. You have an idea of what you are walking into and hopefully that alleviate your fears. Mm-hmm. And then when it happens, you can see 'em. I said, and you remember this was the same conversation we just had five minutes ago. No surprises.
Christy: Yeah. Right.
Rita: So it's reinforcing we had this conversation.
Christy: Yeah.
Rita: So yeah. Yeah, I remember that. I could see it in their face. So that's a [00:14:00] huge piece that people know what to expect. That can, yeah. Not be afraid that somebody's gonna do something to you. 'cause again, that safety is the beginning of healing. And healing starts even before the, uh, the doctor makes an incision.
Christy: Yeah, I think I've heard it be said before too. Healing starts when you make the decision to say, I'm going to go forward with this. Right?
Rita: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Christy: I mean, just that decision being made, okay, this is, this is where I am. I'm gonna accept this. And you start to already start to heal, right? Mm-hmm.
Um, okay. So when somebody is facing, uh, some uncertainty, like a upcoming procedure. Um, so we talked about some of the practical things like helping to reduce their fear around the day of, but I know also you are so skilled at helping people reconnect with their spiritual roots, with some of their inner wisdom, getting their sense of hope.
So what [00:15:00] does that look like? Because some of that can't be done in those. Three minutes in the operating room, but you have the skillset where you will work with people outside of the medical space. What does that look like for you, Rita?
Rita: Well, again, I like to talk to them about what their fears are. Um. Of course the obvious is their spiritual understanding of what they believe.
And a lot of my clients are of a particular faith where they do look at the Bible or they look at some kind of spiritual reading. And sometimes I'll even ask them, can you tell me about a particular, maybe a passage of something or a book that was very profound to you? And I incorporate that in our sessions.
Those, some powerful word that they heard that uh, that kind of sets them back to their North star.
Christy: Yeah.
Rita: So it is a matter of incorporating those into our times [00:16:00] together and that it becomes a very personal, as well as hopefully a healing experience for them.
Christy: I love that you gave some voice to that, Rita, because so often when I get calls for, with a client that wants to work with me and do hypnosis, they often think that I'm going to, um, tell them exactly what to do.
Right. And I know we spend a lot of time talking about hypnotic ears. Right. And part of, um, what we're highlighting here is that that intuition, that nursing expertise and whole person healing. Is oftentimes a lot of listening. Absolutely. And when we can listen, we can craft something that really speaks directly to that person, whether it's a particular scripture or or something else.
And that is really important because oftentimes as humans, we do a lot of talking, but we don't ever listen to ourselves. Right? And so to have somebody listen and then feed [00:17:00] that back is pretty important because. Oftentimes when we are talking, we are spilling out our, our inner wisdom.
Rita: Absolutely.
Christy: We are spilling out our sense of hope or sometimes our sense, our lack of hope, right?
Mm-hmm. We are connecting and being able to verbalize what our, our spiritual wishes and desires are, and, but we do that and we don't really piece it all together. But what I'm hearing you say is that that's where your genius is, right. You, you sit there and listen to people and can really then filter it through the lens of, of science and nursing practice and whole person care, and then really deliver them back in their own words.
Right? That's so important because. We hear, when we hear our own words. It's like people are speaking our language. They're in the same dialect, in the same, you know, geography with the same [00:18:00] slangs, and then that really helps us to feel connected to that. It's really powerful.
Rita: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Absolutely.
And to have them to hear that they have their own medicine to their problem as well, because they do. Yeah.
Christy: I know,
Rita: I think it's just about empowerment. Uh, that
Christy: yeah, it's really kind of letting them have their power back, because especially in healthcare, we feel pretty. Uh, disarmed, right. Our, uh, in some cases in surgery even, you know, our, our breath and our heartbeat depends on somebody else beating our heart and breathing for us, right?
Um, so we're giving that power back. I was recently working with a physician, um, who is a client, and it was pretty marvelous that like very insightful at the end of our hypnosis session. She got a big smile on her face and I, and I just had to ask him like, what is that about? And she said, [00:19:00] it was really interesting to hear my own words reflected back to me, right?
Mm-hmm. And I was like, oh, yeah. What does that mean to you? She's like, what it means is that I actually know the answer.
Rita: Wow.
Christy: You know? And that was, that was so giving to her. Right. Um. Two weeks later, I followed up with her and she's like, I've just, I've noticed now my own language in a different way. And if that is like, I'm like, that is gold for people to have that aha moment.
Right?
Rita: Absolutely. And, and to have confidence in themselves. Again, it's about they have the power within themselves. We may, we may need a guide, we might need, uh, you know, someone to kinda walk with us, but it's about empowering. And so that's, that's totally cool.
Christy: Absolutely. If we're going to a new place for a hike, we're gonna look at the map, right?
We're going to, um, or maybe have a guide with us, depending, we're going to have our [00:20:00] backpack filled with, uh, enough snacks and water or clothing. Right? So there's nothing different about being guided into this space, right? Yeah. Sometimes we do just, we can look at a map. Sometimes we need somebody to hike along with us, right?
Rita: But you're doing the work.
Christy: You're doing the work. You're still having to walk and the backpack's on you. Right.
Rita: Exactly.
Christy: So for our listeners, Rita, who might be curious, or even shall I say, skeptical if you will, um, what do you wish people understood about both hypnosis and intuitive healing as supportive tools for wellness?
Rita: That for, for one thing, maybe because that was, um, a, I won't say a roadblock, but a little situation I think I, I encounter is that people have weird, um, what is it? Weird ideals of what hypnosis is and with me doing, um. [00:21:00] A faith base in hypnosis. Sometimes I would get people look at me funny, like, what is that?
And as well as even medicine, very educated people and kind of looking at that. So that whole piece about, um, realizing that it's so natural. We do it all the time. We do it every day. Um. In our own personal lives and don't even realize that. Again, I, I, it's about empowerment because as you were saying before, people don't even see theirselves.
Yeah. And this gives them a, uh, we get to be maybe a mirror for them, but we reflect them back to themselves.
Christy: Yeah. I love that. I've heard that recently somebody was describing, let me be your magic mirror. Right. And basically that was just an invitation to, um, let me witness what you're saying. Right. And so I can reflect it back in a way that you can maybe see it differently or hear it differently.[00:22:00]
And I know we talked a little bit, albeit briefly about reframing, um, in our last episode. Mm-hmm. But that gives you an opportunity when you can have somebody do that magic mirror, if you will, to allow reframing to happen. Is it true? I think that you, you know, you're the one who conned that phrase, is it true by Rita Nelson?
Right. Is it really true? And really kind of, um, challenging that, right? And, um, I think that's so amazing. So I really appreciate all of, um, the work that you do and. After everything that you've witnessed in nursing and in healing, what do you believe, like maybe if there's one word or one phrase, what do you believe that most people need in order to truly take that power back?
Rita: The first thing, and I always, sometimes the first thing is the right thing is [00:23:00] to have a childlike spirit. Because, uh, sometimes we kind of get a little too much in our head and be willing to play because you find, if you look at the children, they don't get caught up with all the inconveniences and distractions.
And as you go back into just be willing to play, you may find that your playfulness is also very powerful in your information.
Christy: I have to say, you know, obviously I'm, I'm seeing you on this Zoom screen and I just love that your face just lit up the second that you got that information right, and you're just like, I'm just gonna go with what is coming up first.
You know, that childlike play, that is what we need. I love that. So, so it is, so it, Shelby, right? Um, so if you're just, if you're on YouTube watching, just go back a little bit and watch [00:24:00] Rita's face. It was like that. She got that informa. It was like, that's the answer right? I, I love that because this is being playful, right?
That, that intuition just trusting what comes up first. Because, you know, I'm, our audience doesn't know, we didn't really script this out ahead of time, right? We're just, we're just kind of going off the cuff and having a conversation, right? So you didn't have time to prepare for that. And that's sometimes where the juiciest things come up is like, what is the answer?
So I love that. So. People, if you're listening, what you need to really take your power back to really maybe truly heal and be the in the driver's seat for that is, what is it Rita?
Rita: We're just gonna play.
Christy: We're gonna play. That's right. Find that inner child. I love that so much. All right, well thanks again for this episode.
I am gonna. Well, we'll keep talking, you know. This is great.
Rita: Lovely. I'm looking forward to it.
Christy: All right. Thank you so much, Rita. [00:25:00]
Rita: Thank you.
