We recently connected with Amy Novotny and have shared our conversation below.

Amy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I started out my journey in healthcare with a doctorate in physical therapy. After 5 years in that field, I felt that it wasn’t enough to help people transform and learn how to stay injury-free. I started studying asymmetries in the body and the autonomic nervous system. At the time, I was running 8 miles on the treadmill in 55 min, 3 times per week to train to qualify for the Boston Marathon. When I changed my body position and breathing mechanics, all my typical runner’s aches, pains and tightness went away. I could get off the treadmill and not stretch, foam roll or scrape, all the techniques I told patients they had to do to stay injury and pain free. I dropped 7 minutes off my next marathon and blew through the qualifying time for Boston, with no other changes to my training except learning to relax my nervous system. The following marathon a few months later, I dropped another 7 minutes off my time. I became motivated to develop a technique out of this result and I did over the next several years. I saw people with chronic pain and nerve injuries get better in faster time frames than what was considered normal. I was eventually hired to coach a world famous photographer in this approach to help him avoid a knee replacement and a rotator cuff surgery. I traveled around the world for 6 months with him and his partner and he avoided both surgeries. When I returned, I realized I needed to teach this method to a greater audience, so I started the PABR® Institute and began helping people nationally and internationally. I’m motivated by seeing the relief in my clients daily and witnessing their excitement when they return back to daily life activities without someone having done something to them. They followed my guidance and they were able to achieve the results on their own without anyone touching them or doing a procedure on them.

Amy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Pain, stress and anxiety are common health issues that affect nearly everyone in the world. There are many resources out there to address these conditions, but most use an external method to attempt to alleviate these issues, often providing only temporary relief. With the PABR® Institute and this method, I help people worldwide learn how to make internal changes to their nervous system so they can lessen or eliminate pain, stress and anxiety. Some even seek help with insomnia or to avoid orthopedic surgeries like back surgeries and joint replacements. Most don’t realize that most of what they’ve been taught about how to hold themselves and behave contributes to the symptoms they currently have. It’s a process to unwind this, but it’s vital to physical, emotional and mental health. When someone feels better, that creates a cascade effect on all the people interacting with this person. The energy we used to just survive can now be used to serve others, be creative and have a greater impact on the world. I described previously how I stumbled on this technique to help me run marathons pain free and my mission is to teach this method to as many people as possible who want a naturalistic form of treatment to common body aches, pains and stresses.

My customers are typically those who don’t want medications, injections or surgeries or who have exhausted all current medical options and are seeking a holistic method where they learn to use their own nervous system to heal themselves. They are typically ready to feel free, safe and calm in their bodies so they can perform at a higher level whether that’s in their business, relationships, daily life or athletics. Some are business owners, founders, high net-worth individuals, but others are working through anxiety or trauma in their past. Everyone needs to know how to calm down the nervous system to free up the body and some need this guidance because they feel stuck.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

With the technique that I was developing in 2014-2016, I wanted to see how much I could stress my body and still recover. I already had severe mental stress from losing my mom at the end of 2014, but what about body stress? I started doing back-to-back races to see if my process would hold up. In 2017, I faced my greatest challenge: a fast road marathon in January, six days later a 102-mile mountain ultra-marathon, four weeks after that a 62-mile mountain ultra-marathon, seven days later a road marathon, and seven days after that a 50-mile mountain ultra-marathon. I came away without injury but a little tired. On the 3rd race of these 5 races, I faced horrendous weather. They rerouted the 100k (62 mile) race because of torrential downpour for 3 days before the race. We were supposed to cross 3 rivers as we headed down the mountains but they changed it to a down and back race (down the mountain and then back up) to avoid the flooded rivers. The day of the race still had a steady downpour in addition to sleet, fog, mud, hail and freezing weather. I started out the race just fine but by nighttime, I was at my limits. I had 8 miles to go and left the last aid station. I was cold and wet even though I had a frog suit on to keep me dry. Even those suits have their limits on how dry they can keep you in a day-long downpour. I made it halfway through those remaining 8 miles and I could no longer feel my feet or calves. I was walking through 12 inches of mud, often losing my shoes as I tried to pick up my foot and move forward. I tried to quit. I didn’t hurt but I was hypothermic. I told some other runners who were remaining on the course to send for help but no one did. A significant portion of the runners had quit and there were just a few of us crazies left. It took everything in me to continue on. My choices were to sit down in mud, freezing temps and rain or continue on. I wanted to sit and just let go but I continued. I just kept walking and focusing on one foot at a time in front of me. I finally made it to a street and there was no rescue vehicle or staff. My heart broke. I had 2 miles to go and I counted the minutes down until I saw the end and practically collapsed into the arms of the finish line DJ. He got help and staff took over addressing the hypothermia and lack of circulation in my hands and feet. It was the hardest couple hours I’ve ever survived.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

The people we associate with really influence our success. When I first started my business, I didn’t have many friends who were entrepreneurs. I quickly started attending conferences where I knew people were taking action and growing their businesses. I joined masterminds where I learned from other speakers as well as spoke myself to educate others. The relationships grew and the atmosphere at these events really helped me succeed in my business. I learned the importance of caring for my clients and their wellbeing above all else. When my clients understood that I’m invested in their learning of this technique and it not being just a number’s game, they dedicated themselves to learn and apply the skills. It’s truly about the relationships and helping others achieve their goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pabrinstitute.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anovotn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dramynovotny/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-amy-novotny/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/amynovotnyaz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DrAmyNovotny