Tarnie Fulloon, PT MA, is the creator of Body Centered Medicine®. A method to uncover the messages and trauma held in the body holding how you think, what you feel and who you are.
Tarnie’s expertise lies in transforming the over thinking anxious mind and body pain by empowering your inner self mastery. She is a mentor, healer, speaker (Tedx Presenter) and author. She is also an Australian trained Sports Medicine Physiotherapist (Australian Olympics 2000) and holds a Masters in Applied Psychology and a certified Somatic Movement teacher .
Tarnie partners with those who are ready to heal on all levels - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

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I am looking forward to sharing this episode’s industry expert with you. We're going to talk about mind, body, spirit, balancing of all of those, and how it’s going to affect your life and your business too. Let me tell you a little bit about our guest because she is brilliant and amazing. I can't wait to share her with you.

Tarnie Fulloon is the Creator of Body Centered Medicine®, a method to uncover the messages and trauma that's held in the body holding how you think, what you feel and who you are. Tarnie’s expertise lies in exploring the inner landscape for answers to body pain, symptoms, anxiety and stuck places that one feels in life.

She is a mentor, healer, speaker and author. She's also an Australian-trained Sports Medicine Physiotherapist, holds a Master's in Applied Psychology, and is a certified somatic movement teacher. Tarnie partners with those who are ready to heal on all levels, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I'm going to tell you and I dare to say that this probably all does affect your business too.

I encourage you to read wholeheartedly to think about how many things when we're under stress, dealing with our business and trying to balance all the things that we do, there are times that we get stuck. Thinking that maybe those things are connected might open your eyes to something maybe you had never thought of before and maybe even a solution. Tarnie, thank you so much for being here with me.

Thank you, Patty. It's delightful to be with you. I'm so excited.

I am excited too because experiencing this full-on myself and hearing what so many people have shared with me is why I wanted you to be here. I never even realized how those things are connected. What I know is I work with lots of clients, because I'm in the marketing and media space, that are stuck. I hear them a lot talk about things that don't have anything to do with their business but it affects us.

When people say, "I'm a life coach or a business coach," I don't know about you but I've never seen a business coach who wasn't dealing with people who had life issues or a life coach who didn't affect their business. All those things are interconnected. Let's share a little bit about that. What do you think about that? How connected are those in our life and business?

They're so interrelated. Men too but particularly women are often trying to balance home, family and relationships. I want to say it a little bit differently. We were handling all these things and juggling but if we haven't dealt with some underlying issues or things that we're holding in our body or mind, they get in the way. They stop us from success, making money or maybe bringing in the clients we want. These things that we hold in our body, thoughts or feelings stop the flow of energy and allow what needs to come through or the figurative offering you a gift.

I have always believed that whenever there is something in your life or business and you choose not to deal with it for whatever reason, it keeps coming back. It's not going to go away or there's not going to be a solution. You're not going to get unstuck until you deal with it. One of the things that I have often thought about you in the time that I have known you is that you're the solution for somebody tired of having a Band-Aid. They're ready to skip the Band-Aid, get to the root of the problem and find that solution so you can stop buying Band-Aids.

Often people turn up and say, “I'm done and sick of this pattern. I need to move forward, make money, more clients, a better job or a different relationship.” If my relationship is not working, it does affect my business because there's something there. I've had several businesswomen come in who have had issues with their children. They recognize that they have children's issues because they’ve got issues they're not dealing with. They come to work with me. Like one client, we did this beautiful work and her child blossomed. She got a bonus that was the same amount as the pay she got all year. Her team was voted the best team in the organization. That was beautiful with the work we've done.

That's important because when we talked about juggling, I know that as a mother myself, what's going on with my children and my family affects that. Family first, I'm a firm believer in that but those things affect us. We do have to juggle them. Sometimes it's not even what's happening at work but if something's happening at home, maybe with one of your children or a relationship you have, whether it's your spouse, a friend, whatever the case may be or somebody else in your family, your anxiety over that is like this umbrella over your business where it affects you.

All the beautiful things you're out there manifesting is like there's a shield in there that's stopping that from coming to you. It’s like I say in my business, “Yes, you still have to do the work.” Think about this. All the things that people spend money on, we do and the people we hire, “I want to learn how to do courses or launches. I need to do social media better or get on more podcasts,” whatever the case may be, people are willing to do the work for that.

Yet, they don't even realize a lot of times that some of the work that they could do is on themselves, getting them unstuck and opening up those money flow blocks. If they did that, how much better is that? The best investment I always say you're ever going to get is when you invest in yourself. When you invest in yourself with somebody like you that can unblock that, it’s an investment in yourself, your family, relationships and business. It's a big thing.

It allows for a much more satisfying life and a lot more freedom, vitality and joy. It makes you a great “leader” or successful at what you're doing. I find it interesting that people will put money into maybe going to $20,000 or something and yet they’re like, “I haven't got time or money to invest in myself.” If you don't unblock or see what those maybe childhood traumas or that issue that you're holding inside of yourself that's blocking and you don't deal with that, it doesn't matter how many courses you do. That's not going to change.

We always have to do some inner work but let's back up a little bit. You didn't wake up one day and decide this was your life's work and what you were passionate about. I like that in your bio when I read it. It’s all these different things you've done. You're very knowledgeable. It's not like you're selling vitamins. You are truly an expert and an authority on this topic but share a little bit of the story of what was an a-ha moment or was there something that happened that made you realize that this was your calling and what you were meant to do?

It's been a process. I was very clear when I was young that I wanted to do some medicine. I eventually got my Sports Medicine Physiotherapy practice in Australia. Someone would come in with an issue and my hands would be doing something not related, not on the part of the body they've come in with. I had to make up stories while I was doing that because I didn't know. One thing led to another and I started realizing there was this whole energetic part of the body. People were sharing issues of that themselves. This physical pain had these underlying emotional feelings and thoughts.

I came and did my Master's in Spiritual Psychology and put it all together. I created another business, which is called Body Freedom. One of the big a-ha moments of me moving into service of what I'm doing, which is my calling and gift is I did a fundraiser in 2011 or something with a hospital. I made lots of money. I had 150 people organize it under us working. There were two of us who did the fundraiser. At the end of it, I thought, “This is not what I'm here to do. I'm here to do this deeper work.” I created Body Centered Medicine®.

Let's talk a little bit about myths. Before we're going to deep dive into what you do, what the value is, how you serve and who you serve, let’s talk about what it's not. This is an opportunity to debunk some type of myth. A lot of times, people have preconceived ideas of what inner work is and what working on some of these things is. They poopoo it and feel like, “I can handle that myself. That's why I have a best friend and I talk to my mom,” or whatever the case may be.

Not to say those aren't great things but the reality is like anything else, you wouldn't go to somebody who owns dry cleaners to say, “How should I market?” The bottom line is you need to hire an expert. What are some of the most common myths you hear about what people think it is and the outcomes they think it will or will not do?

The work I do is under the category of somatic therapy and body-centered therapy. It's about working by listening to the messages held in the body. When I start talking about it, people think, “You do Reiki or massage. Get a therapist.” There's a piece of all of those in some way. People don't understand how important it is to listen to the messages of the body. We often think the mind is king and the body follows the mind. The shift or paradox is that the body has a very deep, wise and strong awareness of the wisdom that is way beyond the mind.

That's something very new for people. People have all sorts of interpretations of what this is because the mind wants to connect it to something. It's not taught and understood. When we're children, we're very body-centered, natural and present in the body. As we get older, we disconnect from that. We get numb and distracted. We have trauma and issues that come up. We lose that vital connection.

When I start talking about it, people want to put it into a box and they can't. It doesn't live in a box. It's very experiential. It's learning how to live yourself differently. When you debunk the myth, it is energy work or bodywork but it's about listening to that and learning to trust your true self. That sounds a bit esoteric but be grounded in yourself. It’s not what people understand very well because we're not taught that.

That's why we have experts but one of the things from a business point of view and even in our life too is I hear it and even say it that a lot of times it's about shifting your mindset. I teach all the time about having a CEO mindset. Sometimes, it's a mindset shift but what we never talk about is how do you shift that? There are one million personal development books out there that will talk about mindset. I read 3 to 5 books a week. I'm a huge reader. I do it every single day. That has been important in my business and life.

When I read personal development books, I don't expect the end of the book to be solved or be like, “Here's a mystery. I read this book and at the end of the book, it’s magical whatever reason I was reading that book.” No. The book is to open up your mind to possibilities you might not have ever thought of before and then take action. I'm in the marketing business and I believe the same thing too.

True Healing: If we haven't dealt with some underlying issues or things that we're holding in our mind and body, they stop us from success.

I can do all the great marketing work for you but you still have to take some type of action. You have to implement and execute. The same has to be for mindset too. I wish everything could be that you can read a personal development book and all the trauma we've ever felt in life would go away. We know that’s not true. The question here is whether those things all work together, mind, body and spirit, the reality is if you have someone like you when we have these things, who should we go to?

You have this type of thing where you’re like, “I'm going to go to the chiropractor. I need to go get antibiotics and do this. I want you to go see a therapist,” whatever the case may be. The reality is one of the things that people don't think about is how connected those things are. We don't realize that maybe some traumatic thing that happened to us when we were five or something could be showing up over and over again that they're connected. You have years of all of this knowledge that you have because you have all these degrees and done all these things. It's not like you don't go buy a book. You got to be able to do something so do it.

Somatic is the body. The Body Centered Medicine® could be Somatic Centered Medicine. You talked about mindset. I do work with the mind. It is mind, body and spirit. Let me explain that. There are the thoughts that go into the mind. A lot of us have over-anxious minds. We're overthinkers and got lots of information but the shift needs to happen. This is what I see. This is something that differentiates me. The work that a lot of other people do is the shift that needs to happen. It's not just a thought or something that I've read in a book and think, “There are some good ideas.” You have to have the experience with the shift in your body.

Let’s say you've got this over-anxious mind or you're feeling low self-esteem, body pain or digestive issues. You've got body symptoms going on that keep reoccurring. This reoccurring pattern keeps coming back. You’re dating or marrying the same person. You've got this pattern going on so we're going to take that path in your mind and give you an experience of another possibility. That must happen through the body. True shifts do not happen unless we take them through the body.

Thinking about mindset, it has to go through the body. That’s a big differentiator right there. Can you expand a little bit on how that differentiates you and what you do from all the other people in your industry?

Several people are working with this somatic therapy. Most people want to sit and talk about what their problem is or they have emotional feelings. They keep getting angry or always sad. You get pulled into that feeling state down the rabbit hole or mentally, they talk about an issue tormented by the mind. It's busy and quick. It keeps you awake at night. You've got lots of thoughts. My path is recognizing that the physical body is showing things that are holding feelings and any irrational thoughts that are not serving you. You are going to get stuck.

When we talked about being stuck, it's emotional feelings and thoughts. You get caught in a certain way of being. You're going down a pathway or a river flying down. This work opens up new possibilities. You’ve got new pathways that you can go down. You can start connecting to yourself more. It opens up new possibilities. That's the other thing. A lot of people feel disconnected from themselves or others. They feel lonely. A lot of people feel fatigued.

Several different symptoms turn up that show you that you're not living through the body. What differentiates me is I have this dialogue with the body. Let me give you an example. I had a client who had a frozen shoulder. As we dialogued and went into the body, what the frozen shoulder was about was her longing for a relationship. She's got four sisters and has been responsible for her aging parents. Her mother passed in 2021. We went through the grief of that. She wants a partner to do life with. The shoulder wants to open and expand. She got caught and shut down. There's wanting to be expansion. The shoulder indicates that.

I could see how these things were showing up. I remember one time, many years ago, I was talking to this woman who I believe was a doctor of some sort. She was putting on this thing that she was putting on my wrist. It was supposed to tell her something. I don't know what it was. The point that I'm making is in the middle of her calibrating, whatever that machine was, she said to me, “Patty, you can go ahead and scratch.” I was like, “What?” She's like, “It's okay, go ahead and scratch.” I was like, “How did you know my ankle itched?” She went through this whole process of how she knew that.

I remember her having this conversation with me about something that had happened to me when I was way young. I couldn't believe that she was able to do that. We had a conversation about it. At that time, I was not open to doing any type of work about it. It scared me but time has passed and I've gotten a little bit older. I understand things so much more. I'm so much more open to possibilities.

I thought that was so amazing because there's no way she could have known that information. I'd never had a conversation with her about it. I feel like this is something that I want to talk about. People are probably thinking, “How do you do that?” What are 1 or 2 of the processes you use that have helped somebody?

It was very common. People are afraid to do the work. It's fascinating because there's so much freedom that comes when you start connecting to your body and listening to this inner guidance. The mind is very protective and the one that steps into all the fearful parts. It will jump in and go, “Wait a minute, you can't do that. Resist.” I'm very grateful that I had the courage to keep doing my work. It sounds like you have too, Patty and you keep turning up. That allows for these new possibilities.

With Body Centered Medicine®, I've created several steps in the process. You've heard this from many different disciplines. The number one thing to start bringing you back to yourself, start healing and shifting patterns is breath, being aware of your breath and your body. One of the questions I ask people is to take a minute or a few seconds and feel where your breath reaches in your body. Where's your awareness of your breath in your body?

You can try this. Place your hand where you feel your breath reach. Some people don't even have an awareness of breath in their bodies at all. Some people feel unsafe in their bodies and some people are so disconnected and trying to survive or are busy. Maybe they’re journal writing, doing their exercises or going to the gym. They’re not settling into themselves.

If anyone's interested in the five steps, I’m happy to talk to them about it at another time. I'm not going to go through them now. One of the other important ones besides breath is finding that safe place inside your body where you can become still. I worked with someone, a very busy, successful businesswoman that we both know, Patty. To stop, be still and quiet and feel safe in herself were something that she needed to remember.

When we're busy being outside ourselves, we're not listening to that deeper inner guidance or support. There's something for all people but particularly women who are in business and entrepreneurs. If you're a speaker or you got your business, a businesswoman or CEO, it's so important to take that time out, stop and be still. Feel that safety in the body. That's one of the techniques and things that we worked with.

That is important. I know for me and a lot of people that I talked to in 2021 on what we've been through, it has pretty much forced a lot of people to be a little bit more still than they were used to be, which had different things show up. That's why some people thrived and some people barely survived. Everything that is in between that, like I know for myself, what I do and working with my clients, although I didn't realize it at the moment, there were a lot of great things that happened in having to be still. It forced you to reflect and do other things.

I will tell you that since I've known you and the time I've known you, one of the things that I have looked at differently is meditation and movement. I’ve learned from you all the time but I have to tell you before I knew you, I couldn't meditate for a minute and be still. Even when I would maybe be able to keep my body still, my mind was racing on one million things. I would say, “I can't meditate. It's not something I've ever been able to do.”

There are a lot of things. Somebody who runs a marathon or people who go to the gym and lift whatever didn't start doing that on day one. They hired a trainer. We hire people and find those people. I always like to say, “You don't have to do it alone. Find somebody to walk the journey with you.” That's what it is that you do. All of us have things that make our life tough for whatever reason like in 2020. This is amazing work that you do. What is your big why and prevents you from giving up when the going gets tough?

I have to go back to the stillness I talked about. Someone said to me once, “What you're doing in your life, you want to be willing to wake up at 3:00 AM to do it.” There's no question that I have a deep connection with my inner self. You can call it source, spirit, truth or trust but I'm deeply fueled by my internal connection. It's not coming from a driven mind to make money or have more clients. There's a deep calling that comes from the work I've done. Another thing I've done with many clients is to find their true calling.

True Healing: If you don't unblock the traumas or issues that you're holding and deal with them, it doesn't matter how many courses you do. It’s not going to change.

Unlike you, I'm an idea person. I've got lots of things. There are lots of places I could go on with that busy mind. I couldn't meditate either. One of my processes which is sensation tracking and movement is to bring me into my body so I can quiet what prevents me from giving up. It's helped me with marriage, situations I get into or maybe even a client. I can drop in and listen deeply. I'd find this place that’s different from any one of us. There's white light and the white light is being held and says, “Keep going. You're on track.”

Is there something that maybe you do daily or weekly that has contributed to your success in your life and work? I know how committed you are to life-work balance but are there some practices that you do that have contributed to your success?

I've had a somatic movement meditation practice for many years. In meditation or quiet time, we call it contemplation, deep listening or grounding into my body. When I got to my physiotherapy practice in Sydney, I realized that I was going to burn out. I was addicted to my work and was driven. I wanted to heal everybody but I couldn't. I had that very overachieving addiction to my work, the more masculine-driven self. I started getting an understanding that I needed to stop and take some time out.

Developing more of those feminine qualities for myself even got me through when the death of my mom was very sudden and it was complicated. I'm over here and it helped me. That's an example of staying grounded and centered. I do something every day like some meditation, movement and contemplation. It's an inner dialogue that I have every day.

I'm going to take us back a little bit to when we hire people and the things we invest in. Why would you say that it's important specifically for women to know about body centering or some somatic work if you are an entrepreneur or a businesswoman out there being seen? We're out there and being seen. We focus on a lot of our business but not all of our business. A lot of people do philanthropy work. When you do good, you can do well or the other way around. When you do well, you can do good. Honestly, a lot of times, women that are out there, entrepreneurs or businesswomen, have this mindset, "Everything I do has to have a return on my investment."

I believe that a return on your investment does not always come in money. It can come in money but it also comes in opportunities. There are a lot of different things that come out of that freedom or investment. When we're thinking about investing in themselves, it's an investment in everything else they do too.

For business entrepreneurial women, specifically, if you're out there and wanting to be more seen, you have a calling of something that you want to do. It’s the reason you get up every single day. With everything they have going on, all the other investments in their business that they're making, why is it important that this is something that they should take time out and say, “I should invest in myself because it's going to affect everything else?”

Have a more rich, vital, joyful and fun life. A lot of women I get are entrepreneurs or women in business. They’re working women, let's call it that. Women out there in the world contributing don't have any fun. They don't know how to play or turn it off. There's not that rich, nourishment, satisfaction or connection to their life. There are parts of their life that are successful but there's not this deep satisfaction with their life.

If I continued on my path of doing my physiotherapy and sports medicine, what I am doing in my late twenties, for instance, part of me would be very satisfied but part of me was unhappy. I was also in an unhappy marriage. Now, I've got a life that has a work-life balance. There's richness and deliciousness in living that I wouldn't have had if I hadn't done this work.

I love that because I'm all about helping people to design the lifestyle they want to live and build a business that supports that lifestyle, not the other way around.

A lot of the women are in business. Women are missing out on a big part of their life. You're so much more successful. Certainly, that's been my experience. When I'm living, I'm getting all the parts of me being taken care of, not just the mind part.

Can you share with us a few maybe some compliments or testimonials? What are some of the feedback that you've got? A lot of times, we hear a lot of the same things over and over like what is our gift? What do you hear from your clients? What are the questions they ask or the things they say they've received from working with you?

I'm very grateful and feel very humble. I get lots of beautiful, wonderful comments from my clients. I've been in this business for many years. It's been very satisfying and it keeps me going. One that comes to mind is what my client said a few years ago, “There is nothing more life-changing than the gift you give. The surgeon saved lives but you give people their lives back.”

I was deeply touched. I had many things written and said to me. Other things would be, “I'm deeply nurturing. I hold an extremely safe space to do the work.” The body holds feelings, sensations and experiences. I was very vulnerable going to those places. I hold an extremely safe place. I’m very supportive. I help people transform their lives. They have the life that they want. It's an extremely rewarding career so far and I'm not done yet.

You were speaking at an organization that I belong to as well. It was a gratitude event. You did this exercise there. I have heard back from so many people and gotten so much feedback that people have shared with me about those 5 or 10 minutes you did. One person told me that she felt like she had to take a nap. It was the most relaxed time she'd ever been in business. She was working. A lot of the things that they were saying were the same things over and over.

They were relaxed for the first time and feeling so good. I thought, “Over Zoom, you were able to do that in less than ten minutes and help not just to have a realization or think but to feel it.” That was so powerful in my mind. I was like, “How powerful is that?” With that said, people will want to connect with you, and you have this amazing gift. You're going to share with them a way that they can experience this for themselves. Why don't you tell the audience a little bit about that gift?

I was grateful for grounding. It was ten minutes and I had an experience of getting into their body. I did it in a TEDx Talk. In one of the comments I got, they said, “You've had that whole room dropped in.” It was an amazing experience. There are a couple of things. First of all, I have a website, TarnieFulloon.com. There are lots of good things that you can connect with me there. However, if you're reading this, there’s a free offering.

It's a body-centered process that will give you an experience of coming into your body in a safe place and finding that stillness. It’s like Patty talked about the woman that had that experience of connecting to herself in this event we did. Plus, as a bonus, if you sign up for that, you get twenty minutes with me over the phone for a complementary introductory session so we can talk about what you might need and how this might work for you.

That's all complementary. Some things are getting to experience it for yourself, all the words in the world experiencing it yourself for this type of work. That's why it's called mind, body and spirit. That is so fabulous that you're able to give that gift to my audience. I appreciate it so much. When they are connecting with you on your website, you have so much great information there.

In Tarnie’s social media, she talks a little bit about some of the things that she has but something that you're going to want to go and check out. You're going to want to connect with her on social media, maybe even read this episode again and take it in. I encourage you to take her up on her free offer here so that you can experience it for yourself. You’ll see if there's a shift for you and something in your life that's been holding you back that maybe Tarnie can help you with. Tarnie, thank you so much for being here with me.

Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be with you and a delight.

True Healing: It's important to take that time out to stop and be still and feel that safety in the body.

We always like to say as if you weren't so fabulous through this whole show but this is part of the show where we always like to ask our guests if they had to narrow it down to one marketing, media and money strategy, what would that strategy be?

One, having you on my team has been phenomenal. I want to acknowledge you, Patty, for the work, what you've given me and how you’re supporting me. It's been worth every penny. The other is to get yourself out there. Don't give up. “I’m not good enough. Someone else is better than me. I won't ever make that money.” Don't put those negative self-talk or limiting beliefs on yourself. The way to do that is to become more body-centered and grounded. When you do that, you find your confidence.

I encourage you to connect with Tarnie. It is something that your mind, body and spirit will thank you and probably your business too. I appreciate you taking the time to share with the audience.

Thank you, Patty. I enjoyed it. It was wonderful.

Thank you to the audience for taking the time out of your day and joining us on the show. If you enjoyed this episode and I'm sure you did, please subscribe and review the show on your favorite platform. I look forward to having you join us again. We'll see you next episode. Thank you so much. Remember, make it a phenomenal day. If for whatever reason your day is not phenomenal, at this moment, you have the power to change it.