Today we’d like to introduce you to Meaghan Longyear.
Hi Meaghan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have been in the medical field all my life; my mother is an oncology nurse, so summer breaks often resulted in hanging at her office and drawing pictures with bright, colorful highlighters for the patients who were getting chemotherapy! From a young age, I knew I wanted to help people who were sad or sick. I worked as a Nurse’s Aide in high school and wanted to be a nurse like my mom, but I was terrified of needles! Seeing that I struggled with depression for as far back as I can remember, I felt that maybe I should be a psychologist! This was my first college venture, short-lived, as I realized that I didn’t want to sit and listen to people complain about their unhappiness like I was doing to my poor therapist. Next, I went into Law Enforcement. Thinking I could make a difference and help people until my college professor, a retired cop, pulled me aside before I started the police academy and had a heart-to-heart with me. He shattered my naive view that cops actually dealt with happy people and gave me a better picture of what would come. I am thankful to him every day! By this time, I was tired of being in school, changing careers, and feeling like I would never find my purpose. What was I supposed to do in this life? This was extremely hard for me to process. I settled for whatever degree I could get to get me out of school with all the credits I had accumulated which turned out to be in Business Administration. It’s definitely not a passion for me, but I graduated. I bounced from receptionist job to receptionist in hospitals and medical practices. I still had a deep passion for helping people.
During this time, I was drinking and partying a lot. I didn’t think much of it, as almost everyone I hung out with did the same. I met my now amazing husband at the pool hall bar down the street from the hospital where I worked. I was regular, and we went from friends to dating after a few years! Looking back now, I can see he was the shift I needed in my life to get my shit together and start healing. He also needed healing, but in the beginning of our relationship, we were pretty reckless together! One day after my weekly Tuesday therapy session, I came to the bar as usual, but this session was different. I never felt much difference with any of the therapists I saw over the years, but this particular therapist said something that struck me differently that September evening. I wish I could remember exactly how she said it, but along the lines that I was condoning my family’s history with alcohol by continuing to drink like I was. It’s like I was smacked in the face with a 2 by 4. I had to stop drinking. And I knew this was going to be really hard. And So now I had to tell this amazing guy I was in love with that I needed to do this, and I was confident he would break up with me because I was clearly a mess and broken, and now quitting partying? Instead, he said he thought he should quit too, for his health, so we decided to do it! Quit drinking alcohol for one year. It was the hardest thing I have ever done to this day. Almost broke many times. But by doing this together, we grew stronger and realized we had many things we wanted to do with our lives! We realized about 6 months in we could never go back to casually drinking because it was not something we felt we could control. We had to stay away from alcohol. Forever. So glad we did! He had been looking into finishing his sports medicine degree, and after talking to the chiropractor we had recently started care with, we started talking about physical therapy vs. chiropractic. We went and checked some chiropractic schools out and landed in the Great State of Texas! This was so different to us! 2 years into our sobriety, we were newly married and had literally changed our lives!
I started doing cleanses, eating healthy, quitting smoking cigarettes, running, and working out daily! It was great! Yet, I was still depressed and empty inside. None of this made sense to either of us. Suicidal thoughts were back and very strong. I started seeing a therapist again. It was a tough time for me emotionally, though I pushed through as I had done all my life. Right before my husband graduated, he told me about this technique that his classmate was studying, and she needed to practice on people as she was about to take her Certification. It was called the NeuroEmotional Technique (NET) and helped release stress held in the body. I didn’t understand what it was all about but decided to try it and see. It blew my mind. Only a one hour session with Denise and whereas in the past, if I started crying over something, I would be crying for days and deeply sad! While Denise was working on me, I started crying, and then, like a light switched off, I didn’t want to cry anymore! It was startling. Then, months after the session, I noticed that people who used to trigger me didn’t affect me as much anymore. One session! I didn’t have much of a background in anatomy and physiology, so I didn’t quite understand what was happening, but I knew I needed more of this NET because decades in therapy hadn’t given me as much as I got out of one session. I felt it in my gut that this was going to help me with my depression. We moved from Texas to North Carolina, and I couldn’t find anyone nearby who used this technique. As the breadwinner while my husband was starting his practice, I couldn’t afford to take days off to travel 1.5 hours to the closest doctor who did this technique. My depression spiraled. I was now working from home and alone all day. When he got a job offer to move to Atlanta and help open a neurology clinic at Life University with his mentor, we packed up and moved again! Imagine my shock and surprise when my husband learned Life University had a NeuroEmotional Technique club on campus! Then, I got the crazy idea that I needed to learn this technique to help others experience what I had. At 36 years old, I enrolled in chiropractic school!
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Quitting drinking took my coping mechanism away, which brought me into a new level of struggle. It was not easy at all! I’m thankful every day, though, that somehow I managed to stay strong and push through. It wouldn’t have been possible without my husband and I having each other to lean on and some fantastic friends to hold me up when I wanted to crumble. Going to chiropractic school was very tough! It’s a grueling program, as it should be, but as someone with terrible test anxiety, I struggled! NeuroEmotional Technique got me through some of those tough exams and self-defeating thoughts! I am so incredibly thankful for the classmates who would work on me as I broke down crying in the library studying! Alcohol had always been my go-to when things got tough, so staying sober through that program was another defining moment for me.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a neurologically based chiropractor specializing in mind-body techniques focusing on emotional stress. Our practice focuses on brain health. Our brain controls everything in the mind and body, so balance is essential for optimal health. Our doctors use various techniques that address the health and function of your nervous system and can help with the symptoms associated with a wide range of conditions. Because of my journey through depression, I primarily do NeuroEmotional Technique in the office but have other techniques I utilize as each person’s health journey is unique, as is the person!
Can you talk to us about the role of luck?
I don’t believe in luck anymore. Focus and intention are what bring you what you get. Both “good” and “bad,” and I say it that way because I believe things just are. Neither good nor bad. If you feel “unlucky,” you attract that vibration into your reality. I don’t believe in mistakes, either. Everything that happens is here to teach us something. Early in my life, I did believe in luck, and I felt everything that happened to me was my fault. I was an unlucky person and was a mistake, and I wished I had never been born. As I started to do self-work and realized that if I am vibrating at a lower frequency (you can google Emotional Frequencies to see what I’m referring to), then I will continue to attract that vibration. This is why meditation and mindfulness are so wonderful. Sure, it is hard to feel happy when angry, but with practice, it gets easier. I see it daily in my own mindfulness practices as well as with my amazing patients! Now, I can stop and check in when something “bad” happens. Am I feeling low? What emotions am I stuck in? Can I do something to release this (Always YES!)? Since doing this, my health and business have continued to teach me and help me release and flourish in a more joyful, desirable direction!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brainoi.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brainoptimizationinstitute/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/brainoptimizationinstitute
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brainoptimizationinstitute4957
