Resonance – Episode 27
Verbatim Transcript
Speaker: Viktoria Levenberg
It is okay to get help when you need it, because the thing is most people don't care enough or
they don't have the education or the awareness necessary to take that first step. I was there the
whole time. There was no advice given. Don't settle for that. At the very end of that left hand side
is premature death. I know this can be confronting, my friends, that your symptoms are
inflammation. Awareness is the first step towards change.
Have you ever felt pain, discomfort, or persistent fatigue that just won't go away and you simply
brush it off, right? Take a concrete pill, whatever, thinking that this is just part of life. Today we
will talk about why being in pain, let alone quote-unquote symptom free, isn't all there is to your
health and well-being. You don't need a prescription, a diagnosis, or to be suffering from a major
chronic illness to be taking care of your health.
Together we will unpack a little-known other side of the Travis Illness—Wellness Continuum and
explore what your next right step is so that you can move towards thriving and away from
suffering.
Welcome to Resonance, a podcast for ambitious, heart-led humans craving more balance, depth,
and aliveness in their lives. I'm your host, Vik: health coach, yoga teacher, facilitator, and fellow
high achiever learning to live in tune with my nervous system, not against it. This space is here to
remind you that you can have it all—the career, the success, the fulfilment—all aligned with your
truth. Through honest conversations, expert insights, and practical tools, we'll explore how to
work with your body, mind, emotions, and spirit, not against them. And the best part: you don't
have to stay stuck in survival mode to get there, because true well-being is not about being
perfect. It's about being in resonance. Let's dive in.
Welcome, welcome. Uh, this episode is going to be my last solo episode of 2025. I'm quite
excited—it's quite a milestone, I guess—so thank you for being here. If you've been here from
the start, or you're just completely brand new here, either way, welcome. And, uh, watch this
space because I might have something special for you lined up for next week, which is going to
be our last episode of the year where Resonance was born. So, yeah, just gonna leave you on this
little cliffhanger there. We're just getting started.
But as we dive into this week's episode, I'm not gonna lie: I didn't even know whether I was
gonna be able to record this because I am coming off the back of a really, really intense weekend.
Um, you know, it's interesting—if you've worked with me closely before, you'll probably often
hear me speak about how life gives you lessons, and the more you expand your capacity, the
more opportunities life sends your way to test that capacity, I guess.
And so, um, without getting into too much detail, um, we had an accident in the household. Um,
spent half a day in the hospital. Everyone's okay, everyone's safe. Um, it wasn't me; it was, um,
my partner. He is well and in recovery. But that is really the, um, context that inspired this week's
episode because I got a sneak behind the curtain of what we kind of, you know, see as the
traditional healthcare model. And, um, with the work that I do and the context that I have, it
really kind of brought to life for me the importance and the nature of the work that you and I do
here together.
So what we're gonna cover today is: we're going to really clearly differentiate between healthcare
and sick care. We are going to unpack the different types of care available to you because it's not
just your standard doctors in the lab coats or your nurses—you always get a second opinion—so
more on that in just a moment. And we'll also talk about why you don't need to be in pain or
miserable to take care of yourself or your health and what you can do starting today. She's a juicy
one, so make yourself comfortable. Grab me with you on your walk, on your drive to work,
whatever suits you. Let's dive in.
Okay, so I wanna begin with why our conventional healthcare model is, in reality, a sick-care
model. Um, you know, even in my health coach training program I was taught that, you know, the
traditional conventional healthcare model is really more like a disease-management system
where most of the resources that are spent in healthcare are spent on managing chronic health
conditions and symptoms thereof rather than promoting long-term wellness and prevention of
those chronic health conditions arising in the first place.
And look, don't get me wrong. Um, you know, there is a time and a place for this. It is incredible
for acute emergencies—kind of like the case that we had just this weekend—but in no way is it
suitable in moving us forward as a collective species because, yes, there is a time and a place
where the conventional healthcare model as we know it today evolved from. It evolved from
warfare. It evolved from when soldiers were out in the fields stepping on what, mines, and having
their limbs blown off, right? Yes, of course, like all you cared about at that point is like, is this
person gonna be able to stay alive and, like, do we chop a limb off? Um, and that's just not where
we're at as a collective species anymore.
And so before I get too far into this episode, I really also just want to preface this and be crystal
clear that I think that our doctors and our nurses are so, so important and they should be
respected. Like honestly, after this weekend especially, I'm just like hats off—you are all incredible
humans. You are so understaffed, you are, you know, underpaid, and yet you are here helping
those in need. Um, and yeah, they're amazing people and I respect them and the work that they
do so, so much.
And I want to inform you so that you are well educated, and next time you might be finding
yourself in a position like this that you have the agency, the information, the tools, and the ability
to speak up for yourself, because the conventional healthcare model as we know it today is not
all there is. And so with that in mind, let me share with you the different types of care that are
available to you. And this is just like a little sprinkle, but it will start to plant some seeds.
So what most of us are familiar with, right, it's like our GP, our doctor, the hospital, the
emergency room. That's basically all sitting under the umbrella of conventional medicine, right,
where it's your standard healthcare model. They focus on treating the symptoms, right? So you
come to the doctors—you're like I have a sore throat, aha, aha, help me—here's some medicine;
you are fine or whatever else it is. And of course same goes for, you know, I have had an accident
and I need to make sure that I don't have a brain tumor and please stitch me up—like it's
amazing for these things.
And at the same time, unfortunately, in our modern society, especially with all these authorities
that we have in place, right, like there's almost this unspoken authority of the person in the lab
coat in front of you. And especially as women, but all humans, I find that we have been
conditioned to hand our power over to authorities—be it a policeman, a doctor, a teacher,
parents, whoever, right, the president, whatever. And let this be like your first little nudge to
please stop giving your power away, because not me, not any doctor, not any specialist or
scientist in the history of the world is as much of an expert in you as you are yourself.
Please, if you think that there's something going on with you personally and you feel like you're
not being heard or you're not being listened to or you're not being taken care of or you're maybe
being dismissed like, oh, you're just making up your symptoms or well there's no clinical
diagnosis—here is a prescription and it make it go away—like next patient, please don't settle for
that. Like please. I have seen that happen so many times. I have experienced it myself. I really,
really, really wanna encourage you to get a second or a third opinion.
And like some of my personal examples—I mean, like the most basic one, which still blows my
mind—I was literally talking to my therapist about this very, very recently. When I was little, well,
little, I was like 16—I got chicken pox, and it's actually quite a late time to get chicken pox, and I,
uh, assumed I had chicken pox because, uh, I am a nerd and that just, you know, kind of seemed
quite obvious to me. So I came to the doctor and I said, "Hello Mister Doctor, I think I have
chicken pox, help."
The doctor assesses me and goes, no, you're fine, go home. I go home. I sleep at night. More
rashes, more chicken pox. I send a photo off to one of my best friends who's actually like still
really close in my life and her parents, and yeah, it's chicken pox. Got a second opinion, of course.
It was chicken pox and kind of quarantine everything. Boom. Um, this was like a GP, guys. I came
there with like a self diagnosis, which doctors don't like by the way because again they, this whole
power dynamic does go both ways, right. Someone needs to almost be that wielder of the power.
Um, and yet I was right in the first place because I knew my body. I knew the symptoms I was
experiencing.
Um, you know, another example I have: an acquaintance recently who's been dealing with a
really long term chronic health issue and a similar kind of situation where there's been this
underlying feeling of something being wrong and yet there's been no diagnosis. You know with
these things it's always so hard because it's like you're searching for a needle in a haystack, so a
lot of testing, a lot of effort is required, and the healthcare system is unfortunately under a lot of
pressure—it's really under resourcing. Um, so it's easier to just brush you off and make you go
away than seek the root cause. But thank goodness this person's, you know, been quite um,
forward and proactive in their own health management and, uh, from what I've heard they are
on the upward now and kind of got the right specialist and got the right work done.
And I guess the third example that I have for you is similarly how, um, my story started, right, and
the skin rash that I developed that to this day remains undiagnosed from a clinical perspective.
And at the same time I know that at the very core root of that skin flare up was chronic stress. It
was emotional trauma, it was triggers, mental health—there's so, so much there. Um, and yet no
specialist could put a finger on it. So I say that to encourage you to listen to your intuition, to
listen to your body, pay attention to the symptoms, pay attention to the things that are coming
up for you, because every symptom, pain, everything that seems out of the ordinary, right, like
when the body is out of balance, when it's out of homeostasis, that is your body's way of
communicating with you. And once you identify that and if you—well, I say if you're not
satisfied— I don't think that, um, it's just when you're not satisfied. I generally believe that we all
deserve an integrative approach, which I'll talk to in just a moment.
But so I wanted to share with you the other types of care available to you such as I'm alternative
medicine, and there are so many different, um, avenues of alternative medicine. There is
Ayurveda, which I'll actually dedicate an episode to, um, in a couple of weeks time, so kind of put
a little pin in that one. Um, you know, there's things like traditional Chinese medicine,
acupuncture, um, naturopathy—like herbal medicines, etcetera, and these are alternative views
of medicine that are not taught in traditional med school and often they actually tend to have
much more deeper, much more ancient roots than the conventional medicine system that we
know today. So if you kind of put a different hat on, it's like actually these schools of or and, and
the more you learn about them the more you kind of see how interconnected they are and how
they're saying the same thing in different ways. You may start to realise that there's so much
more to your health and well-being than just meets the eye and what you might read in like the
BMJ or something, which is a the British Medical Journal for those of you who don't know.
And then the third type of care available is functional medicine. So, um, I am a huge proponent of
functional medicine, so, um, it is on the rise and these are doctors who have trained in med
school and they also take a holistic approach where they identify the root cause of your
symptoms and diseases and they treat that rather than just the symptom, right. So let's say for
example like you have chronic back pain and you just keep seeing your conventional medicine
doctor and they just keep prescribing you pain medication and you get hooked on those meds
and that's it—that's kind of here you go, you're just dealing with this for the rest of your life,
congratulations, you have won the popping pills lottery. No. What a functional medicine doctor
would do is they would, a, go through really, really rigorous testing until like finally something
pieces comes together, right, because the thing is like there is actually so many more tests out
there available for you but most common GPs won't tell you about them, a, because they're
expensive and b, because it's like, well, I can just put a little Band-Aid on this gaping wound and
she'll be right and off she goes and if she's about to die she'll come back, right. But it's like no no
no; you really need to stand in your power and advocate for yourself and use your voice and, and
I'll come back to this in a moment. But effectively, um, a functional medicine practitioner will—
let's say like—yeah, you've got that chronic back pain and sure they may give you something to
help you navigate the symptoms in the short term, but they'll also look at everything else, right.
They'll look at your lifestyle as well, right. Let's say you've got a really high stress load and you're
mostly sedentary—you're not moving— you've got really, really poor sleep patterns, um, you're
malnourished because you're eating junk food, you're not getting the right nutritional balance,
and all of these things, like there is so much more almost.
If you think about it as like this, um, the way I was taught in my health coach training program is
to envision it like a tree, right, and in a tree what the conventional medicine system tends to look
at is just the leaves or maybe sometimes the branches of the tree. But then in functional
medicine, as you dive deeper you get all the way to the root. Like if the leaves are like withering
and falling off there's clearly something going on at the root that needs to be addressed. You
can't just snip that little branch off and hope everything else is gonna get better. Um, you can in
the short term, but it generally doesn't work out in the long run. Um.
And then lastly, the fourth type of care available to you is integrative medicine, and that is the
approach that uses all of the above. So that is the one that weaves in conventional, alternative
and functional medicine all together and it is the way of the future. You know, and I was really
appalled at what I witnessed in, um, in the ER this weekend because there's just—I mean to be
honest—and I'm really conscious of understaffing and resourcing, right, so I'm trying not to be
too judgmental, but like you've got someone there with a potential brain injury and it took them
six hours to even get cleaned up, let alone some pain medication. And I could hear so many
different people just like asking for water and being like, I'm so thirsty, no one's coming to see
me, and these are just like absolute basics. Let alone—so this is like survival, right—this is like
warfare level survival. Let alone kind of being sent home with a little pamphlet that obviously the
patient's not gonna read because they're dealing with pain, um, and not informed of anything
else like any lifestyle measures, any other alternative measures they can do to support their
health and recovery. So for example things like, um, nutrition to support brain health recovery or
mental emotional support needed after dealing with a traumatic injury—like there's none of that.
And I, um, feel that really strongly about the fact that yeah, integrative medicine is so, so needed
and it's never become as clear and as evident for me as it has this weekend.
And so with that in mind, let's kind of pivot into why you don't need to be in pain or miserable to
take care of yourself and your health because please don't let yourself land in the ER or at the GP
when you're like barely hanging on by a thread. And I understand—this isn't a judgment, right—
this isn't a judgment or pointing fingers or anything. I see that we have been conditioned in this
sick care model where, you know, it's really, really hard to just get your basics met. I understand
this and where it's come from, but that then ripples out into your conditioning, right, like
especially here in New Zealand—oh my gosh it is so common for people to be like, oh no, I'll just
take a concrete pill and she'll be right, whatever don't need anything like. Please listen: it is okay
to get help when you need it, and it is also okay to seek better ways of being and living even
when things seem quote-unquote okay on the surface.
And this is where I wanna introduce you to the Travis Illness-Wellness Continuum. So I'll include a
link to this below cause it comes with like a really nice visual, um, that I'm gonna do my best to
describe on the podcast. But effectively, um, the Travis Illness-Wellness Continuum—imagine it as
just like this line, right, like this continual line—and, um, Travis says that wellness is a process. It is
never a static state. So throughout our whole life we are somewhere along on this line, and
imagine the middle, right, it is kind of a neutral point. And you see the thing is that most of us
think of health and wellness just in terms of illness, like just in terms of what I've just described to
you.
Like oh, it hurts — I'm sick. Let's go get help. And we assume that just because you don't have
any illness that you are well, right? But the thing is, there are actually so many degrees of
wellness just as there are many degrees of illness.
So what the Travis Illness — Wellness Continuum illustrates is you've got this neutral point in the
middle of it, which is your neutral state. That is where you are basically, like, symptom free. There
are no noticeable kind of health conditions or issues.
And then, as you move down the left-hand side of the continuum, um, you've got — I think the
first step is sort of like signs, right? Early warning signs. So think like maybe that scratchy throat
or, um, frequent migraines, whatever it is. Again, most things that people just put up with in their
day-to-day life thinking that's normal — it is not normal.
And let's say you don't get help, or you just keep doing what you're doing — aka keep
perpetuating this vicious cycle — and these signs start to manifest into bigger symptoms, right?
And then it might get a little bit more serious, and it goes even further to the left, right, where it
goes into serious health conditions and chronic issues. And unfortunately at the very end of that
left-hand side is premature death.
However, there is also this other right-hand side of the continuum that not enough of us are
talking about, which is beyond the neutral point where you are simply just symptom free. You
have stages like awareness, growth — places where you actually learn how to work with your
body so well that you can thrive. And there is no end point on there.
Let me tell you something: the better it gets, the better it gets. And unfortunately so many of us
are living in the signs-and-symptoms paradigm already — too far down that left-hand side of the
continuum — and they're happy with the neutral point. It's like, oh, I woke up and I finally don't
have any back pain today — what a great day — thinking that is all there is to life.
But let me tell you something: that couldn't be further from the truth.
And I'm not gonna lie — yes, it takes effort, it takes dedication, it is not easy. However, once you
finally realise — and I see this first hand, I witness this with clients, with friends, with family
members all the time — that as soon as they begin to feel better, the momentum is there. Right?
Like Newton's law of motion: an object in motion stays in motion. They keep moving forward.
They keep feeling better and better and better.
And then sure, maybe little things might come in and kind of sweep them off to the side a little
bit and knock them off center, but they know how to get back on the bandwagon. And they know
that simply being symptom free isn't the only way to get there.
So here's what you can do starting today.
First of all, never ever ever underestimate the power of your personal lifestyle factors. And look,
this is where coaching comes in, right? Like I get it, the doctors are busy helping patients. They
are highly qualified, they have so much knowledge, and they gotta do what they gotta do. But
people need support beyond the five minutes with the specialist who is just going to send them a
prescription and give them some advice and send them on their way, right?
Like we cannot rely on people to have the grit, the motivation, the ability to build their own
habits and change their life all on their own, because the thing is most people don't care enough
or they don't have the education or the awareness necessary to take that first step.
And a really, really great example that I again witnessed this weekend, right, is like a patient being
sent home with some general medical advice with some general lifestyle advice. First of all that
was just like super, um, top — it wasn't even spoken to, it was just like, oh and here's some
lifestyle advice, but of course you can just do your own thing.
And it was interesting because I went through the medical notes and it had a few kind of, um,
things about the patient and it was like, oh yeah, lifestyle advice given about this and this and
this. I'm like, no — it wasn't. I was there the whole time. There was no advice given. So it is,
hmm, really infuriating, but I'm just channelling my rage for the betterment of society.
So my invitation to you this week is, depending on where you find yourself on the Travis Illness —
Wellness Continuum, right:
First invitation is for those of you that might have signs or symptoms, be it physical, mental,
emotional — whatever they are, right — know this: that your symptoms are inflammation. They
are the underlying issue that you can see visibly of a deeper cause or effect, right? Just like my
skin flare-up was the most visible issue of a much deeper burnout — chronic stress, reliving
trauma, retraumatizing. It was a lot. It was a whole melting pot.
Um, but I'm just kind of giving you an example so that you've got something to go with. Write
them out. Write out your symptoms. And I know this can be confronting, my friends. This is just
— I'm giving you an invitation that you can do on your own if that is the path you choose to take.
However, you don't have to do this on your own. Like I am here for you, and I'll talk to that in just
a moment.
But if you do choose to go the Lone Warrior path, I invite you to write out your symptoms, their
severity, like how you feel when they come up. Really dig into it, because we have this tendency
as human beings to just brush our symptoms to the side and, like, make them wanna go away
and just take, like, a painkiller or whatever to just numb.
However, the more information you can gather about things — like when these symptoms arise,
when they flare up, etc. — gather as much data as you can and keep a close eye on them.
Because from that perspective you can see if you can spot any connections between your
symptoms and other areas of your life. Right? So for example whether it's things like lifestyle or
nutrition or stress load — maybe workload, sleep, etcetera — right, like, oh, I noticed I always get
that little eye twitch when I'm talking to this person at work, or whatever it is, right. You'll
probably already start to form some connections in your brain.
And you've heard me say this before, and I'll say it another million times until it lands: awareness
is the first step towards change.
At this stage, once you've done this little bit of self-inquiry, there is likely going to be one
connection for you that sticks out like a sore thumb, and I invite you to start there. That area of
your life — whatever you've identified — just begin mining that and seeing if you can make small,
tiny, doable shifts. But that's the secret: small, tiny, doable shifts. Don't try and overhaul your life
overnight. That doesn't work. That's why you'll end up back to square one or maybe even five
steps behind.
Now, for my friends who are listening that are symptom free and so to speak at the neutral point
of the Travis Illness — Wellness Continuum, ask yourself the question: what in my life am I
tolerating right now? What in my life am I tolerating? Like what is something that I'm just like,
okay, that's good enough — it's fine. Start there, because the better it gets, the better it gets. And
let me tell you something: you deserve so much more than just good enough. You deserve so
much more than just, oh, I didn't have any pain today.
There is so much more out there for you, and once you begin to thrive and feel great in your
body, mind, and spirit, this is the space from which you create and co-create this incredible world
and new earth that we are all ushering in together.
Now this is brave work. This is hard work. It is work that is much easier done with someone than
on your own.
And so if you've been listening along and you feel like, okay, I think — I think I know I need to do
something but I'm not quite sure how — I would love to invite you to book a complimentary
stress reset session. You'll hear more details about it in just a moment.
But in the meantime I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for
listening. Um, this was an episode that was inspired by a really intense life event, and it definitely
shined a light on many different areas of life, society, and our culture as a whole. And if there's
even just one tiny thing that you take away from this — being the fact that you don't need to be
miserable all the time, that there is a better way — let it be that.
Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. I'll see you next week. In the meantime, have a
fabulous rest of your week. Happy Christmas if you celebrate Christmas. Happy Hanukkah if you
celebrate Hanukkah. All the best — enjoy the holidays. Stay in resonance. Whatever family-life
stressors come your way, remember they are just stressors at the end of the day. You can always
reach out to me if you need a hand to come back to centre. And I wish you the very, very best.
Sending so much love — bye for now.
Okay if you are listening to this and thinking something has got to change but I don't know where
to start, you are so not alone. This is exactly why I offer stress reset sessions, which are free one
on one calls where we gently explore what's feeling heavy right now and what's possible instead.
There is no pressure, no commitments, no fixing, just a little bit of space to exhale, reflect, and
reconnect with what you need.
So if this sounds like something that your nervous system would love, you can book a session
through the link in the show notes below, through my website LVNHealth.co, or through the link
in my socials at LVNHealth. Come as you are and we will take it from there.
The views and opinions expressed by guests on Resonance are their own and do not necessarily
reflect the views of me, Viktoria Levenberg, LVNHealth, or anyone working within the LVNHealth
brand. This space welcomes a diversity of ideas, experiences, and stories, and part of Resonance
is learning to take what aligns and gently leaving the rest.
Also, while I am a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and deeply passionate
about well-being, this podcast is intended for educational and inspirational purposes only.
Resonance does not substitute personalised medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. Always
seek guidance from qualified professionals for any physical, emotional, or mental health
concerns.
