Story & Lesson Highlights with Whitney Donohue, ND, PAK, CNET of North Scottsdale

We recently had the chance to connect with Whitney Donohue, ND, PAK, CNET and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Whitney, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What do you think is misunderstood about your business? 
I think right now, the entire health and wellness industry has lost its way. We as consumers have been trained to believe that we have to outsource our health and healing, seeing multiple practitioners, taking loads of supplements or prescription medications, following every health influencer on social media, listening to our friends and family. Very few, are truly able to listen to their own body. We have outsourced so much, we rely on other people to tell us how we feel and what is happening in our own bodies, that we have lost the ability to feel it ourselves.

Because of this, I really teach my patients how to take a step back, how to clear the fog of all the chaos, how to eliminate all the noise and to start to listen to their own body. How do you actually feel, where is the pain? what does it feel like? how do you feel after you exercise, drained or energized? How do you feel after a meal, tired and stuffed or satisfied and re-energized? When you can start to listen to the cues of your body, you get the most important feedback possible.

Our bodies are innately designed to heal themselves. Even with all the things we put our bodies through, it still does everything it can do to heal and keep us going. The symptoms you feel, those are signs our body is telling you something isn’t right, it is not telling you, you are broken and can’t be fixed. Those are messengers, asking you to pay attention to your body and what it needs, they are signals that something needs to change. This can be challenging at first when it seems like your body is screaming at you from a million different directions, however when you start paying attention, start making little changes with food, sleep and stress, etc. the fog starts to clear and everything starts to shift and heal, more clarity is brought to the surface and your symptoms start to diminish and you start to reconnect.

The beautiful thing about the body is that everything is so intimately connected, that once you start making a small change in one area, multiple other things start to improve as well. The human body is one of nature’s most divine creations, it does no wrong, it is simply responding to the environment in which it is in, it is your job to listen. Listening to your body, understanding what is influencing it in a negative or positive way, allows you to navigate the world in the drivers seat, instead of at the mercy of everyone else telling you what’s wrong.

The thing that is most misunderstood about Quantum Body Optimization is not we are not a typical naturopathic medical clinic. I am not here to fix you, I am here to guide you. I am here to teach you the power of your own body, to empower you to take back control of your own health by connecting with your body. Healing shouldn’t be outsourced, I am not here to tell you how to feel, I empower you to feel, to connect, to understand and to heal yourself. I provide you the tools but ultimately it is up to you. With this, I have seen some of the most profound healing and have provided people with the tools, to move forward in the world without having to outsource and cut out the noise. Healing is what your body is made to do, you just have to eliminate the obstacles that are preventing you from your highest health.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Of course! I am Dr. Whitney Donohue, Naturopathic Physician, Professional Applied Kinesiologist, Certified NET Practitioner & Lifestyle Medicine Expert. Basically what all that means is that I approach healing from the most natural place possible – your body! I use the most minimally invasive approach first, truly helping you build a strong foundation to health. Your body was innately designed to heal, I believe the body holds the knowledge and power to do so, we just have to listen and provide it with what it needs most. What makes this all unique is that I use the tool of muscle testing and the system of Applied Kinesiology to evaluate and treat your body by getting feedback directly from your nervous system, determining what is going on and what is needed most for you. With this we look at the PHYSICAL (muscle, joints, bones, spine, fascia), the BIOCHEMICAL aspect (organs, toxins, nutrients needed) and EMOTIONAL aspect of health and healing. This provides us with a full comprehensive approach to assessing and addressing what the body needs most, as all these are deeply connected.

I often describe healing like an onion, we have to peel back each layer of the onion, one at a time to get to the root cause and in each of those layers is a physical, emotional and biochemical aspect that must be addressed, for it to release. Some layers peel back faster than others, but the most significant thing to realize in healing is, that we have to do it in the order in which the body is ready. We do not have the luxury of picking and choosing what we want to heal, which is the mistake medicine in general makes. When we can do it in the order the body needs and is really, the most profound healing occurs.

Every modality and approach to healing that is offered in my clinic is one that personally helped me heal in my own pain journey and I found that if it helped me, I went and learned it so I could help others heal the same way. Over the years it has evolved and through treating hundreds of patients I have found that addressing stress and emotions has been THE most profound aspect of healing that I see everyday. This significantly changes the way your body utilizes medicine, food, exercise and sleep, etc.. It changes your entire perception of your health and life, which sounds dramatic, but I see it everyday. I think this is the next major step we will be taking in medicine, is reconnecting back to ourselves, rebuilding our lives to have more peace and less stress and with that, much of our health will improve. Nervous system regulation with Neuro Emotional Technique has provided myself and my patients with signifiant healing and I cannot wait to be able to provide people with more of this profound healing.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Wow I love this question. I’ll give a little background on where my answer will come from with the technique of NET (Neuro Emotional Technique) which I use in office everyday we are able to help identify the person, place, event and associated emotion that is insulting the body, we call these unresolved stress patterns. Dr. Walker, the creator of NET found that there are two major things in life that dictate our emotions – Love (all relationships) and Money (in any form, think actual money, career and material world). Outside of this, everything else falls into you and that roles that you play in life (mother, daughter, wife, parter, business owner, etc.).

One of the most signifiant aspect of NET is that we have something called our emotional reality, which is the lens we view the world through. Every single persons lens is different because it is based on each of our own life experiences, culture, religion, schooling, parenting, etc. Our emotional reality is the truth in which we see the world and is valid, however, our emotional reality is not always accurate to actual/ factual reality. So when 3 people experience the same event, the report of that event is different for all 3 people based on their own emotional reality. None of them are wrong, but none of them are the same either.

When are struggling with anything in life, we always feel like we are the only ones going through it and the only one who feels this way, but what I have discovered, is that we are all human, we often all feel the same underneath whatever the scenario is. In NET, what we get down to is, what is the feeling underneath everything else that is happening, how does it truly make you feel? Much of this is subconscious so you often are not even aware of these patterns until they are discovered.

Often what I see across the board are a few things: that deep down we don’t feel like we are enough, we feel unseen, unheard and have lack of control.

What I think breaks the bonds between people is this loss of trust, that we cannot show up in the world as who we truly are because it has shown us repeatedly (through our emotional reality) we are not enough and if that is attached to the unresolved stress patterns in our life, that is how we feel growing through life, if this is not healed. The other thing that really breaks the bonds is the resentment, hurt and anger that grows with those who feel unseen and unheard. This can be really disempowering and prevents people of speaking up for themselves and what they truly desire in life and this can start at a really early age. Lastly, the lack of control breeds this sense chaos and anxiety which starts to break the bonds with the trust in ourselves but also the world around us. Overall it is the deserting ourselves for others, that often puts us in these places, who we have to show up as to be loved or how it feels to not been seen for who we are. Loving ourselves often overrides all of these to the core, however when unresolved can dictate our lives.

The thing that restores bonds is releasing these unresolved stress patterns, that continually trigger these feelings, sabotaging your bond with yourself and others. NET really helps to neutralize the physiology associated with these unresolved stress patterns, allowing your truest and highest self to come forward, without these old patterns holding you back. What restores them is you healing! The more you can heal, the more the bonds can be restored, especially with yourself. NET is a fast and easy way to address these unresolved steps patterns. It’s simple and quick (takes 2 mins) and can significantly shifts the way you perceive (changes your emotional reality) and operate in the world. Emotions can feel really daunting to address but the amazing thing is, that your body is only going to heal what it is ready to heal. I have seen NET change people’s lives everyday, as well as my own. Imaging shedding all the layers you have accumulated over your lifetime that has prevented you from being your best and highest self, reaching your full potential and living fully. NET doesn’t change who you are, it simply allow YOU to come forward!

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
The fear that held me back the most for a long time was the fear of getting physically hurt again. I had an accident that significantly hurt my back and I spent years in pain trying to heal it. Once I was out of pain, I had a huge fear around being active again, playing sports, running and going back to the gym in fear I would go back to the pain I felt for so long. However, that fear really stopped me from being who I was. I was always an athlete and so active growing up, I didn’t know who I was without it. But I also knew, I didn’t want to be in the pain and I spent so much time in this space being paralyzed for too long by the fear. This is when I discovered NET (Neuro Emotional Technique). My physical body was healed and I mostly likely wouldn’t have caused any pain getting back into the gym or activities I missed so much but mentally, I couldn’t get over the fear. NET was introduced to me during this time which was when I needed it most (funny how that happens). I was able to start working through the emotions associated with my accident, pain, healing and moving forward in life without pain. This is when NET really changed my life. As I worked through the fears that came up, the more I started to notice myself doing more without hesitation. As those emotions dissolved, they no longer held me back from doing what I loved the most and in the process continued to heal my physical body, as movement is medicine. NET helped resolve lingering pain that was emotional, keeping me stuck through the fears of moving my body again. I am so thankful for NET because it truly gave me my life back and allowed me to heal completely! It has such a profound impact on my healing journey that It was one of the modalities I studied and got certified in so I can bring this type of healing to others.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
This is a great question, especially with the impact social media is having on us these days and how you are able to present yourself to the world. I think initially I struggled with this, having to put on the Doctor version of myself, to feel like I had to present a certain way, look certain way to be respected and taken seriously. Part of that is true, different versions of us have to show up differently in different spaces because that is what is required for us, however I think it is important to look at how far the gap becomes between who you are and who you show up as in these different roles. What I found quickly was, that I wanted to keep that gap as close as possible and the closer it was, the better I felt and the better my business became, the better my relationships were, etc. The more you can show up as yourself, the more authentic you can be, the more human you are, the better connections you make and the better relationships you develop in all areas of your life. Again, some parts of us are required to be stretched in different areas of life but the closer you can keep gap the better your life will feel. I take it as a message of alignment as well, if I have to stretch too far, if that gap widens too much, than it most likely is not the right fit because eventually that gap gets too big and you lose yourself in that role. I think it is important to check in and see how wide the gap is. Is it wide because that is an area of growth, to develop into or is it widening because you are moving further out of alignment. Now days, I have found that I am much more sensitive to the gap and re-exam often to make sure every piece of me is real.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
I think we can all agree that this has happened before. We finally reach a big goal or milestone and often, the feeling once we achieve it is not the feeling we expected. However, I think this is because we often don’t let ourselves celebrate or even acknowledge sometimes how far we have come. We are so busy moving forward on so many things, that once something is met, we are already moving forward to the next thing, not giving ourselves the chance to celebrate when we do reach the goal we were after. We don’t give ourselves credit for the hard work it took to get there. I also think, that we chase goals that don’t really evoke a true emotion, we hardly set goals that will truly bring us joy, so when we reach one, again it doesn’t feel like we thought it would because there is limited emotion behind it in the first place. I often talk to patients about goals, instead of hitting a scale number or changing lab numbers, we discuss how they want their body to feel, how they want their life to feel, because at the end of the day, numbers don’t provoke an emotion, however, being able to run around with your kids, or get off the floor without pain or being able to travel the world with your friends or your partner without worrying about your health, those feelings are much more powerful. Those are the milestones that feel good and feel satisfying when you no longer have to hesitate to live your life, even on the day to day. So I find now, when setting goals, I make them but I also take the time to think about how this will make me feel and if there is no feeling that goes with it, it doesn’t make the cut any longer. Also, life changes, and the things you think you want, end up not being it once you have them or are in the process of getting them, so again, assessing how you feel, what you want to feel along with the goal helps make sure, that once it is achieved and celebrated, that it is much more satisfying.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drwhitneydonohue.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drwhitneydonohuend/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-whitney-donohue-nd-b9b140133/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drwhitneydonohuend

Image Credits
Nylmar Rivera
Tiffany Alanoori