Tapping Into Your Inner Physician | Christal Geier D.O.M.P, CAT(C), B.Kin

What if healing isn't only something that happens to us—but something our bodies already know how to participate in?

In this episode, I welcome back Christal Geier, founder of Take Flight Osteopathic Wellness, for a deeper exploration of one of the foundational ideas within osteopathic philosophy: the Inner Physician.

After more than 25 years working with the human body, Christal has developed a profound respect for its innate intelligence. Rather than viewing symptoms simply as problems to eliminate, her work invites us to become curious about what the body may be communicating—and to recognize the extraordinary capacity for self-regulation and healing that exists within us.

But in a world where we're often taught to look outside ourselves for answers, have we forgotten how to listen?

Christal shares the philosophy behind her course, Tapping into the Inner Physician, and explores what it means to develop a deeper relationship with the wisdom of your own body.

We discuss how osteopathic philosophy approaches health, why pain and dysfunction can be understood as information, and what may become possible when we shift from fighting the body to working with it.

This isn't about rejecting medical care or believing we should heal everything ourselves. It's about recognizing that the person experiencing the body is also an important participant in the healing process.

Because perhaps the body isn't simply a machine waiting to be repaired.

Perhaps it's an intelligent, dynamic system constantly communicating, adapting, compensating, and attempting to move toward balance.

And learning to hear that language may change the way we understand healing.

In this episode, we explore:

• What osteopaths mean by the Inner Physician
• The body's innate capacity for self-healing and regulation
• Learning to recognize the body's signals
• Pain and dysfunction as information
• Moving from fighting the body toward listening to it
• Why symptoms may be only one part of a larger picture
• The philosophy behind osteopathic care
• Developing greater trust in the intelligence of the body
• The relationship between awareness and healing
• How Christal's background in athletics, kinesiology, and athletic therapy shaped her work
• More than 25 years of lessons from working with the human body
• Christal's approach to working with clients in person and remotely
• Reconnecting with ourselves as active participants in our health
• The inspiration behind Tapping into the Inner Physician
• Creating the conditions that may support greater balance and well-being

About Christal Geier

Christal Geier, D.O.M.P., CAT(C), B.Kin, is the founder of Take Flight Osteopathic Wellness and has spent more than 25 years helping people restore balance through osteopathic care.

Raised on a farm in Saskatchewan and shaped by a lifelong involvement in athletics, Christal's own experiences with injury sparked an early fascination with the body. She pursued athletic therapy and kinesiology before eventually discovering osteopathy and a philosophy that transformed the way she understood health and healing.

Today, her work is grounded in a deep respect for the body's innate wisdom and its capacity for self-healing when appropriately supported.

Christal is also the creator of Tapping into the Inner Physician, a course designed to help people reconnect with the inner intelligence that can guide their health and well-being.

Connect with Christal

Website: https://takeflightosteo.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/takeflightosteo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/takeflightosteopathicwellness

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Henry Hawk. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Rooted and Wild City. Today's conversation is about remembering something we were never meant to forget: that the body already knows how to heal. My guest is Crystal Geyer, founder of Take Flight Osteopathic Wellness. Crystal grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan and spent her early years as an avid athlete, where repeated injuries sparked a lifelong curiosity about the body, pain, and recovery. Her path led her through athletic therapy, kinesiology, and eventually osteopathic education, where she began to see a deeper truth that pain and dysfunction aren't failures, they're information. Messages asking to be listened to, not overridden. Through her work and her course Tapping into the Inner Physician, Crystal guides people back into relationship with their own inner wisdom, the innate intelligence that already exists within the body to support healing, balance, and vitality. In this episode, we explore what it means to reclaim that inner authority and how learning to listen differently can change not just our health, but our entire relationship with ourselves. Crystal, welcome to Rooted in Wild.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

It's nice to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

So we had a lovely episode with you about the philosophy of osteopathy, and it was really insightful. And I love that you wanted to talk about this, you know, tapping into your inner position, because I think for so many people, we look at health care in general as a whole, in the traditional sense of healthcare, and we kind of look at it as being more like sick care. It's essentially focusing on symptoms rather than like source and origin and helping the body heal. So it's an important topic because I think for a lot of people, they think they need to take a certain medication or they whatever. But you know, when you can look into the body and understand how it works and how you can help it support it, how beautiful that is. So I'd love to hear your insights on this.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Well, the term inner physician is a term that we use in osteopathic practice. Um, and it's it's the idea that I, as my inner physician, can connect with your inner physician to find the best way forward for healing. Our body naturally wants to move towards health. Our natural state is a state of health. And so the information that we receive from our body um is really, really valid and important in guiding us on that journey and maintaining or recovering our health. And from the moment we're born, it is like we've given our power away. We have forgotten that the wisdom really does reside within us and that the pain or dysfunction or challenges that we are experiencing are it's information and it's for us to decode. Yeah, there's going to be times we may need to have a medication or do a certain have a surgery or things like that. Life does happen, but too often we're looking outside of ourselves for the answers instead of within.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

So, what are some things, you know, that you would be looking at, you know, for people to be considering as they're self-evaluating themselves and essentially looking at healing their bodies by doing what the body does best?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Well, first of all, I usually start by um telling people a little bit about themselves that they may not own, not already know. Um, so the recognition that we are energy, that we are energetic beings, that we have a frequency and a vibration, and how can we kind of tap into that? How do we recognize that certain sounds perhaps, or certain colors bring us more joy versus really irritate us? So starting to understand how our bodies actually communicating on a more energetic level. Um, recognizing that we are cycles. So just like the seasons, just like Earth, um, just like everything in our galaxy, we are cycles. Um, and so starting to understand our own cycles. Um, so particularly as women in cycling, um, we can start to recognize, you know, when in our phases are do we have more energy and capable of doing things, when should we avoid the world and not force ourselves to do things that are we're just really not meant to do at certain times in our cycle. And despite, you know, men not having a cycle, it's still the same thing. There are moments and times when our even just our circadian rhythms, our cortisol is higher than other times. So we should be doing different things at different times. So recognizing that we can kind of track our cycles, even in a given day, but over a few months to recognize how we are. And I usually um would use the moon for that because it's easier to use something like the moon that's consistent in its cycles to start to recognize where someone is in their own cycles, especially if they're not menstruating, if they're menstruating and regular cycle, then it's a lot easier. Then I also try to remind people that we're connected. Um we are not separate from the stars. And so to remind us that we are made up of all the same things. Um, just like our body is full of interrelated systems that work together, it's the same with us and our relationships in the world. And so to recognize um more that, you know, the things that happen to us in our life are not necessarily things happening to us, but happening for us, and how to recognize those things for what they are, the opportunity to learn, the opportunity to see what we need to actually gain from the situation and learn from. And that we really do have this ability to co-create with the world and that thoughts become things. It has to be a thought before it ever becomes materialized into anything, and how to um recognize the our own self-talk and our talk towards other and our self-judgments and things like that. And then for a big kind of whole thing is that we need to take responsibility. Our health, our body that reside we reside in is truly our responsibility. So it's how do we connect? How do we ground? How do we connect to source? How do we live through spirit and really start to understand not just the world outside of us, but more the world inside of us as a reflection of the world outside of us?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

There's a lot of like really being self-aware as well. Um how do you recommend people activate a greater self-awareness in terms of being connected to their bodies?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Um, there's a number of ways. Um, I look at emotions as being our compass. So starting to recognize first off what the emotion is that we're experiencing. And um, and how does it show up not just as an emotion of happy or joy or sadness and grief, um, but how does it show up in our body? What does that show up as? Fear and excitement are on the same kind of pillar, just a different wavelength along that line. It's just a matter of, and they both have similar kinds of feelings. They just have they're, but they are different. And so recognizing what really is um those emotions and those feelings that are showing up in our body. And I usually use um past experiences to really kind of understand what those things feel like and remembering times when, and start to get because you do often when you memory remember things or put things into your mind's eye about the experience, then some of those emotions and experiences and gut wrenching or whatever the case may be come back to you. So it's starting to learn the language, the language that our body is is sharing with us.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

When we look at people with like certain conditions, you know, like whatever the condition is, okay. Obviously, we know that there are some conditions that require surgery. And there are some conditions that in some cases will require medication. But in many instances, there's a lot that can be done without medication, you know, whether it be taking herbs, eating, nutrition, exercise, um, and or, you know, types of physical therapy, you know, that could be done to get the muscles and the joints moving. What do you typically recommend people do when it comes to like when you get these situations specifically? I'm gonna maybe highlight uh people who come in with like these they don't even know what the problem is, you know, sometimes these autoimmune issues like Lyme's disease or or Hashimoto's and um, you know, people have um fibromyalgia. And you know, like there's a lot of these fluke things out there. It's like, what is it? And the doctors don't know, and no one has answers, and yet the person's miserable. What do you what are some of the things you've done in these instances?

SPEAKER_01 9:47

This is a really good question. I mean, ultimately it comes down to the individual and how open they are to have discussions about certain things. Um, when they're open and willing and um want to look outside of traditional medicine, then it's looking at obviously what kind of external things and treatments might be of of value to them, whether it's traditional Chinese medicine, herbology, osteopathy, um, whatever the case may be. But if they really, really want to get clear on their own direct path and the path that will help them the most, it's really learning how to ground, connect to themselves and really start to listen. We have information that comes to us all the time. We just don't spend enough time in the being mode of a human being to receive that information. We're just too busy. We don't spend that time in the quiet. Um, we don't listen, we ignore our body. And especially when you've got a lot of symptoms, um, it's hard to be in the body. It's hard to be there because it's not comfortable. And so, how do you kind of learn to still be in the in your body and feel the feels, but not suffer as a result of it? We can live tremendous lives with disease, with you know, various different ailments, and not have it cause a lot of suffering. We can still thrive in our life, even though we have challenges. I mean, that's the beautiful thing about life. But you get to make that choice. So, what choice is it that you wish to make? And so it's about can we get grounded? Can we get centered? Can we get connected? Can we learn how to talk to ourselves in a way that we can actually get answers from it? Can we learn how to go into a meditative state? Can we learn how to connect with our ancestors? Can we connect with our heart and get out of our head and learn what our heart really has to say? And that can direct us very well into what's next. What do I do next? But we have to trust and learn how to see the signs and the messages that we're receiving, but also to really learn what our body is like. Our body has a hell no, it has a hell, yes. That's true. It has a I don't know. Also, it's just a matter of learning. How is my body speaking to me? And then learning how to ask it questions and get answers.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

You know, one of the things I've often told people too is that uh because we're so saturated with distractions, whether it be media, social media, TV, you know, work, of course, obligations, but then beyond that, like distractions in the body. I'm talking about, you know, munching and food, you know, food intake, uh, because you know, throughout the day, we'll just mindlessly eat sometimes and we'll put things in our body, and it basically sends signals to the brain that you want more of whatever that is that you're feeding yourself. But whenever you're more mindful about what you're eating and how you're spending your time, the body actually does tell you what it needs, which is really interesting. You know, like you know, when you're uh of course, one of the easiest ones is when you're dehydrated, you're thirsty. You need you need water, and if your body telling you you need to drink water, you know that you know what that's like. Um and there are situations as you know, of course, is pregnant women kind of innately somehow know what they need to be t eating for the baby. So just subconsciously, the body just tells them, like, you need to eat more salty foods or you need more, you know what I mean? So it's like this it sometimes we we get so distracted we don't listen to our bodies, but it's actually speaking 24-7.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

All day long. Yeah. Agreed, agreed. It it it really does. Um, and we can talk and we can talk back to it. That's the beautiful thing about it. I really love the idea that we can ask ourselves questions and get answers. If we can get into that quiet space and get into our heart space um and into that frequency of receptivity, we can actually get a whole bunch of answers.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Not only just listening and what is our body telling us, but also what is our body saying when we ask questions? And that's what I love about our body. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

It really is. What are some of the things that you've experienced, you know, in the work that you do that kind of share shed some light from an example standpoint on this topic?

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Well, one of the things that I found was really, really interesting in my practice and led me more down this road was working with individuals that had some pretty debilitating things and not actually seeing improvements. Um, so I remember working with a gentleman and um doing some osteopathically really big things, um, things that, you know, I expected to see change with. Maybe not miraculous change, but things I expected to see change with. And change didn't happen. And then, you know, at the you know, at some point of time we just continued the relationship. And um, and then I ended up seeing the gentleman maybe a year later, and I'm like, what happened? Like, you are a different human. He's like, Well, I got a divorce. And so it was just like, huh. So maybe my osteopathic care wasn't providing him the relief or the symptoms that he came to see me before for, but maybe it was allowing him to get to a place where he felt comfortable for doing what he needed to do for himself. Um, I had another situation very similar. Um, and this situation was uh back pain. I could help the individual temporarily for a few, you know, a few days, and then I would always come back. Ran into her again, um, probably six months later, and she found out that her husband was having an affair. And um, and so they were getting a divorce, and all of her pain went away when she took the steps. Um, and so it just reminded me of like, hold on, there's so much more to our symptoms than that we're actually paying attention to. And how do we start to recognize these symptoms as a deeper rooted problem that's not perhaps physical? It's our world telling us, hey, pay attention.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Absolutely. You know, I've had some similar experiences as well and with my clients, but also in my own life, you know, I I used to um I used to struggle with chronic insomnia for most of my life from like early teens until a couple years ago, yeah, two years ago. It was just horrible. I couldn't hardly sleep at night, couldn't and you know, I tried different things, all the things that you can imagine for sleep, and not much of it worked. And there were several things that happened simultaneously to get me the help that I needed in terms of my sleep. On the one hand, uh there there was a I did some blood work and I did some um Dutch tests, and ultimately come to find out that my cortisol levels were the highest at night for some reason, and their cortisone was the lowest in the like the highest in the morning. And so it was flipped, it was like flipped around, which was very revealing to me with what was going on circumstantially in my life at that time. And ultimately I began to make some changes on the emotional side of things, the trauma side of things, and I began to supplement at night with things that addressed cortisol, you know, and things that helped boost my adrenals in the morning. But it was really the the self-work that helped change that because once I knew the problem, I was like, okay, well, then what's causing me to be stressed out at night? So I did theta healing and basically uh can come to find out what the root of that was, and it went away. And I actually sleep really well now. And but it's like targeting it, you know, on so many fronts. There was the emotional, you know, there was the somatic, there was the you know, imbalance chemically that needed to be, you know, shifted. And and then, you know, other things I did too, like I started to exercise more, so I'd have, you know, I'd sleep better at night, you know, I wouldn't eat so heavy at night, you know, different things. Um, and all of that contributed as a whole. But ultimately the body was saying, I'm stressed, you know, I'm really stressed, and I need you to calm down, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

One of the biggest things, stress, right? Yeah, stress has such a big, big impact on our bodies. And um, that's where I also find just learning how to listen and quiet, um, even just in those moments, if it's like 60 seconds of breathing, um, to take a break from everything that's happening in your world and just sink back into your body and not be so in your brain, creates a lot of change.

unknown 19:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

And then a lot of insight can come from that, just taking moments to be quiet during your day.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

So true. So true. What are some daily practices that you employ for yourself that helps you tap into your inner physician?

SPEAKER_01 19:22

So I um every morning I do uh I'm basically a meditation where I'm clearing, grounding, connecting, um, and centering myself. I do that before every client that I work with as well, before I put my hands on them, uh, just to know that I'm in that in a centered space to be able to be a good fulcrum to allow change for them. Um so I do that every morning. Um, some physical practices in order. I right now I'm working on uh mobility of my hips. So I do a practice in the morning with that. Um, I do journaling in the morning and then kind of start my day. And then as I'm going out through my day, I'm very aware of my thoughts because my internal thoughts speak a lot about my world and the feelings, um, you know, how my feeling entering into a space. Um, there was a moment in time where I was working in an environment that when a certain individual wasn't in the in the presence of the office, I felt very different than when they were. And then I started to recognize, oh gosh, there's there's something that so just becoming aware of of just those things. So I try to spend some time awareness and I try to spend time in transition. Um, whereas if I'm moving from one task to another, how do I I how do I clear my brain of that task to per to be the person I want to be for the next task? I wear many hats. I'm a mom, a business owner, a wife, uh, you know, a daughter, a sister, of all the things, a friend, right? Um, and and we go through so many different things from one after another to an after after another. So how do I show up? Um, and that can be changed by simply, okay, I'm letting go of whatever just that was, recentering and then moving into who is it I'm gonna be in the next moment. And I find those are all really big things to help me stay in flow, to stay out of stress and to really have more awareness in my day.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Absolutely so good. Well, for all those listening, you can learn more about Crystal in the link we include in the description box. And Crystal, uh, you are a wealth of information and a very lovely human. And so thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

It's been an absolute pleasure for me.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

And for all those who are with us until next time.