Audacious Authenticity, Dare To Be Your Damn Self With Dr. Yulinda Renee Rahman

Jan Broberg:
I can't wait for you to hear this conversation I had with Dr. Yulinda Renee Rahman, and she is affectionately called Dr. YuRoc. A wonderful example of how to get in touch with your sexual side after sexual trauma and abuse. She has an amazing story of her own journey into this very specific field of sexology. and 20 plus years in the mental health field. I just know you're gonna love this conversation. We even go so far as to talk about going into a dungeon in San Francisco. I can't wait. Here's my conversation with Dr. YuRoc.

Jan Broberg:
I am so excited to have Dr. Yolinda Renee Rockman with me today. Thank you for joining me.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
No, thank you for inviting me. I'm glad to be here.

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, it's really exciting. I love the fact that a lot of people in your life, your clients and family, you've become known as doctor or doc, you rock. Cause

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
the Y you from you Linda and the rock from Rockman. So I love that people call you doctor. You rock.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
And I got the opportunity to sit in at one of our live events on our online community, thrive Ivers, where you gave a presentation. to whoever wanted to come in our membership community and hear about eating disorders and how sexual trauma can be one of those things that causes us to have eating disorders and what they were and how you talked about it. It was so interesting and so fascinating. So I know that you have a background there. We could talk a little bit about that. and that wonderful live event and all the great questions that you answered and the many things we talked about. But you also have this wonderful background, not only the fact that you're a counselor, but you do what you, at least I think this is what you say, you are board certified as a kink conscious sex therapist and

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
licensed educator with a doctorate in clinical sexology.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
Ms. Doctor, you rock.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Hahahaha

Jan Broberg:
You are for sure that rocking, wonderful therapist that I've been looking for all my life. What a resume. I mean, what an interesting thing to go into. Do you have a personal or some reason why you chose this particular field and that particular specialty field inside of this field?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Sort of, yes. So when I was in private practice, most of my clientele had some form of sexual trauma. And so because of that, I'm like, well, I feel like I need to go back to school, get my education up. And so I went back for clinical sexology. But then we had an opportunity to pick a track. And so out of the tracks, I'm like, kink. That sounds interesting. So I figured.

Jan Broberg:
So.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah, having a space because people who identify as kinky often get judged, right? And because people have preconceived notions of what it means to be in that community, I wanted to be someone that could create a safe space for them to show up as themselves.

Jan Broberg:
So inside of sexology, this is actually an even more specific field. Can you tell us, like, give us some kind of a definition

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
of kink conscious sex

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Well,

Jan Broberg:
therapy.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
yeah. So kink conscious basically means that you are conscious of what it means to be a part of this community. And being kink just means that you are not engaging in normative sexual activities, whatever norm is, right? So it's a kink. You're not on the straight and narrow, right? So someone who might engage in BDSM practices, someone who might be in non-monogamous relationships, someone who might have fetishes would be considered kink. And someone who's conscious of that. is just conscious of what it means to be a part of those different communities.

Jan Broberg:
Okay, okay, so interesting. So in other words, just not your regular old missionary style, you know sex We're not talking about that

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
I mean, it could, depending on what you

Jan Broberg:
You

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
add

Jan Broberg:
could!

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
to it. But yes, typically not vanilla, right? Yes.

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, it's just not vanilla, which is awesome because that's my least favorite flavor.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
I love that.

Jan Broberg:
Even though I am vanilla and you're chocolate, I am just not that interested in vanilla. You're just so delightfully happy and bright.

Jan Broberg:
So in that, you're trying to help somebody therapeutically be okay with some kind of a kink or a fetish or a whatever and find a partner that also is okay with that. How does that work in a therapeutic setting and session?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Well, that could be part of it. So if someone comes to me and they're kinky or they identify as kinky and they have a partner and they want to introduce their part of themselves to their partner who might be vanilla, it's simply a conversation, well, I say simply, but it's having a conversation to see if your partner is open to all parts of you, right? I mean, being kinky can be considered something like, well, I like books, right? Or I'm into tech, right? Is your partner willing to hold space for all of your different identities, right? And If they're not, then what do we do with that? Like if someone doesn't like the fact that I'm intellectual, then maybe we're not meant to be in partnership.

Jan Broberg:
Okay, so a lot of it is relationship based. It's like how to decide is this relationship actually going to work for me and for you? And then where do you go from there?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Well, some of it, so some of it might be if you have someone in a DNS dynamic, so a DOM and a sub, right? If they're in a

Jan Broberg:
Okay.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
dynamic, they might come to counseling because they might just be having relationship issues, but they come to someone who will understand the dynamic that they're in and not judge them for their dynamic. But they still have regular relationship issues, like you don't put the seat down or you're not helping pay the bills. We just happen to be

Jan Broberg:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
in a dynamic that most people aren't familiar with, right?

Jan Broberg:
So when they identify as kinky and they come to you and they say, look, we're in this, I'm the dominant, this person is the sub, you know, the sub, I'm not even sure the right terms, it almost always is not necessarily about their sex life.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Typically it's not.

Jan Broberg:
That's so fascinating. I love hearing that. That really, no matter what we, however we identify, and boy do we have a lot of ways to identify, we all share pretty much the same kinds of problems or trauma, some trauma that might be based in one or both people's past. All of those things play into our relationship. So in the end, like you were so good at talking about like eating disorders and inside of the world of, you know, having been sexually abused because that's what my membership community is, people who are trying to thrive, you know, on the other side of trauma. And how do you thrive? What do you have to work on to heal, to be a happy, healthy person for yourself and then in a relationship, you know? And eating disorders came up. Um, do you see that a lot in the, in the kinky world as well?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
As far as eating

Jan Broberg:
People.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
disorders, yes,

Jan Broberg:
Yeah. Just

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
actually,

Jan Broberg:
curious.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
I actually have a client, I have a couple of clients that found me on FetLife. So FetLife is basically Facebook for kinky folks.

Jan Broberg:
Okay.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
It's a social media platform. And one of the people who found me on there for services came to me because of the eating disorder that they have. They binge eat because of their sexual trauma and they were looking for someone. in the kink space who could hold space for all of their identities. But yes, they were suffering from this eating disorder. They would get to a certain size and they would sabotage. Right, because

Jan Broberg:
Oh,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
they

Jan Broberg:
that's

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
were trying

Jan Broberg:
really,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
to protect, yeah.

Jan Broberg:
yeah, really interesting, trying to protect themselves, basically,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
sabotaging

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
relationship at all. It's better to have nothing and to just be on your own than to have to sometimes deal with the issues that are at hand. So sexual trauma, is your background, did it start because of seeing so many people that were in that space of having sexual trauma? Like childhood sexual trauma is what I'm always talking about because for me, that's my only experience I can speak from. And knowing that you can come to the other side of it, not meaning to say that you're, you know, somebody, you know, pushes on your forehead and says, you're healed, you know?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
It's not like that. I think it takes its journey, you know, throughout your life to continually, you know, be able to look at your mental health and your healing state. finding the right fit for a therapist. But because you're a specialist, because that is part of your, I mean, we have this really fun one over here that I wanted to know more about, and I still feel like there's a lot of questions I have there. But just to get sort of, some of the breadth of all of your experience is that, sexual trauma is your research.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
You are a researcher of

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
sexual trauma. And I'm just curious, when did that? become a thing? Was it before you decided now I'm going to go and this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life? Or did it come out of a personal experience maybe you or for a loved one or anybody in your life? What drew you to that

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Well, both of them.

Jan Broberg:
research?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
It is my experience as well. I'm a survivor, thri-diver, right, of sexual

Jan Broberg:
Yes.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
trauma myself. And I'm pretty sure that I've, I know I've experienced it at 13. I'm pretty sure I experienced it before, but I have no recollection of most of my childhood. So, but I can

Jan Broberg:
Right.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
feel it in the body because a lot of our trauma lives in the body. So there's that. And then it's also because I know there's so much prevalence that is not being talked about. So I wanted to begin to really have the conversation. and because it's

Jan Broberg:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
difficult to thrive in a silo, difficult to thrive in darkness, right, when you're not willing to confront the issue. So it was both personal and it was necessary.

Jan Broberg:
Okay, that's great. So as you remember 13, so

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
you know about that trauma, and you spoke about, I know it because it lives in my body that I had other trauma before that. Can you describe what you mean when you say it lives in the body? I believe that too,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
but just in your experience with maybe a little more of a professional explanation of what that means.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah, so for me, just looking at some of my triggers and my patterns. So I am very, and at first we just think, oh, this is just who I am, but I'm very touch averse, right? Like even with my children, like they ask for hugs, right? Because I'm very touch averse is one thing. I'm very, well, I can be very disconnected in relationships, right? I keep people at a distance. We talk about like attachment styles. I'm very avoidant,

Jan Broberg:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
or I can be. my libido was very low when I was growing up. I thought something was wrong with me because when we think about sexual trauma, sometimes it could be hypersexual where you want lots of sex and then it could be hypo when you're not really interested in sex and that was my experience, but I didn't connect it to my traumas in my 20s. I just thought something was wrong with me. And so these are some of the things that I expressed. I thought it was asexual before that was even something people were talking about.

Jan Broberg:
Yes.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
my own sabotage with my eating disorder, right? I started developing an eating disorder in single digits, right, my relationship with food and wanting to really protect my body or to punish my body for something that again, I hadn't connected the dots. I just knew that I had a really hateful relationship with my body, you know? And so I wanted it to look a certain way and so I punished it through food.

Jan Broberg:
Oh, that's interesting. And you said single digits. So before the age of 10, you're

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
talking, wow, that's really young

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
to start having that kind of a body image that is, you know, where you will destructively, you know, stop eating

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
or binge eating. Either way, I guess both are destructive. But, you know, we often think of an eating disorder as, you know, being on the one side of things, but it's, it can be. And it can manifest in so many different ways, which is what you brought out in that conversation that we had with our membership community, because we get so lucky to have generous people who want to share with other survivors of sexual assault, violence, and abuse, mostly as children. That's our focus, although we have a few people that it was a little bit older when they experienced their sexual violence. But still, when the brain is forming, I consider 25 and under to be just still.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
so deeply affected by sexual assault, violence and abuse. So without remembering, you know that in your body, by the way you responded to your body, punished your body, that there was more than

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
just what you actually have explicit memories

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
of at age 13. Yeah, that's really a great way to... let people know out there that if you're experiencing this, it might be because of something that you haven't been able to either remember or that you hadn't even associated it as this came out of having this sexual trauma. That's a really great thing

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
for people to know where would they go first? What would they do first if they thought, you know, I think that my trauma is affecting my life right now because of the way I'm eating or not eating or more, I have a libido, I have no libido. Where would you tell them to go first? What were the steps if you were to say, here's the first step?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah, a lot of it is being aware, right? You know, being aware of our patterns really, because then I wasn't aware of what was happening. I wasn't aware of the patterns. So really paying attention to what you do, what you're triggered by, how do you find yourself coping? Is food the way you cope? Is drugs the way you cope? Is drinking the way you cope? Is isolation the way you cope? Like really paying attention and collecting data on yourself can help inform where some of these patterns might be coming from. So I always. invite people to start really taking inventory of how they show up, when they show up, and how they behave and their responses to certain stimuli and just beginning to collect that

Jan Broberg:
So collect data, that's really good. I used to tell people, write things down, just write it down, like today I feel this way, and then if tomorrow you have this other thing, and then by the time you've done that for a few weeks, and you can kind of see your patterns, you can go, yeah, something is chronic, it comes over and over again, and I really don't want to have this be my chronic life. I really like that because I think a lot of times, We will hear about narrative therapy where we write a lot and we're telling our story and that's good. That can be really good. But for some people, like you seem like a very logical, no nonsense person. You're very warm, which surprises me that you're very adverse to touch because

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
I wouldn't see you that way. Like if I were to see you on the street, I would be like, oh, doctor, you rock. Here, give me a big old hug. You know, that's how I would respond because

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Uh huh.

Jan Broberg:
you're so bright, you know, with your... your smile and your laughing and just what you do for a living. You know, it just makes me smile. Um, so how did you know that, that you, I don't know that you've necessarily changed that adverse, you know, touch thing that you are necessarily, but you have children,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
so somehow you got touched

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
and you

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Jan Broberg:
had some kids and they want to touch you and they want mama to give me a hug, but they have to ask, tell me how you, uh, what, what were your first, uh, like, oh gosh, I got I gotta make some changes here and where did you seek some help?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah, well I

Jan Broberg:
I always

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
have

Jan Broberg:
think

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
three

Jan Broberg:
it's interesting

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
girls.

Jan Broberg:
to find out where the therapist gets their help. You know,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
other therapists I'm sure.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Sometimes, actually, if I had to pick, it would probably be my children, right? Because, I mean, I have three girls and I wanted boys and I wanted boys because you can be technically, right? When we think about society or whatever, you can be a bit more, not standoffish, but less connective, I guess, like less warm. Like that's acceptable, right? But with girls, like

Jan Broberg:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
they want the hugs, they want the affection. And so I was like, oh, you're so funny. You gave me three girls. Like, and it forced me.

Jan Broberg:
pointing up to God.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes,

Jan Broberg:
She's

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
exactly.

Jan Broberg:
pointing to heaven.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
You're

Jan Broberg:
What?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
so funny.

Jan Broberg:
I wanted boys. We're not

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Exactly.

Jan Broberg:
going to let your daughters hear this podcast because we don't want to make them feel bad.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
No, they understand that they saved me. Like we've had the conversation, right? They understand because of them, they've really, I don't wanna say forced, but invited me to look at myself and my patterns, like to really ask myself like, where's that coming from, Yolanda? Like, why is it that you flinch when people get close to you? Like, what is that really about, right? And because I have

Jan Broberg:
Mm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
girls and because I want to make sure that they receive the affection that they're looking for, that I'm meeting them where they're at and meeting their needs, it really required me to figure out what was going on for me. So because of them, they've had me or invited me to really look at myself, to collect that data that I've mentioned.

Jan Broberg:
So your girls said, mama, you got to figure out what this is.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
And you were already a therapist, I believe.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Jan Broberg:
That's a lot of schooling. To have this many degrees in these things is not like a four-year program. How long were you in school? What is that like to become a PhD in sexology?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Well, I

Jan Broberg:
A

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
started

Jan Broberg:
doctorate.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
December of 2017, and I finished February of this year. I walked across the stage. Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
Oh, that's amazing.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah, it was a long

Jan Broberg:
That's

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
process.

Jan Broberg:
fantastic.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes, thank

Jan Broberg:
Yeah.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
you. And they're the reason I continue to go, because I would have quit a long time ago. I'm like, I'm doing it for my children. I'm doing it for my children.

Jan Broberg:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
They motivate me to keep going, you know? Yeah, because it was difficult.

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, I bet. And are you a single mama or no?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
No, I'm partnered, but their father transitioned, meaning he's no longer here. He passed away, but we were divorced for about eight years. I don't feel like doing the math, but then he passed away

Jan Broberg:
Yeah.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
last year. Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
Oh, wow. So that's a lot going on and still getting through your program and you're getting your degree. And boy, I bet you did have to kind of pull it together and say to yourself, a lot of times I really am doing this for almost someone else because I get that way where I feel

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
like what I've set out to do that I really want to help other people. I want them to be able to find the their healing path and their joy and their excitement about life and that it is possible, you know, because some people are stuck in it's not possible, you know,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
but there are times when I want to quit that I think it's too hard, you know, life is a challenge for sure.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
So yeah, I'm sorry that you went through all of that and I'm also in awe of who

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
you are and that you completed. this and that now here you are and we are the lucky recipients of your wisdom, your life experience, and your girls on some level because without them

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah,

Jan Broberg:
you wouldn't be here.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
exactly.

Jan Broberg:
That's amazing.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
You know, I feel like for me having a child was one of the most, I don't know if it was a healing thing as much as it was a I want to make sure that I'm okay for. so that I can be a good mother or whatever. You know, it was a really like in my face kind of

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mmm.

Jan Broberg:
thing. You know, as he, you know, came into the world and I got asked to speak at a little book club. I was living in Florida, I worked in, I like been working at Disney World, singing and dancing until, you know, I was showing and then, oh no, we'll pay you, go away. You

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
know, and, but that was really the first time that I ever was asked to publicly kind of share my story. And I didn't have a. book, I didn't have anything, you know, but I remember taking that little person in that little baby carrier into the little room with a bunch of, most of them were single, not too many of those gals. They were all in the entertainment area, whether they were entertainers at the park or they were stage managers or other pieces of that, they were in the entertainment field. And I was so shocked at the questions they asked.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Hmm.

Jan Broberg:
And I thought, oh, maybe I do have something to say that's... value that's worthwhile and I know that you've written a book and I'm really curious about this because I love the title of your book so it's called it's about trauma and healing and it's called a power exchange with your pain a guide towards reconciliation that is one of the most beautiful titles I've ever heard oh my gosh tell me How did that come to you and how did you know that it is like an exchange? You exchange your power for pain or your pain for power. Because when I read that, and I still, I'm getting chills again, like all the little goose bumples over my arms. Because when I read it the very first time, I was like, and this was before you even did your thing for our community, did your eating disorder program for us or presentation. And I thought, oh my gosh, I can't wait to ask. I hope she wants to be on the podcast. And here you are. How did you come up with that?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Well, that was through keen consciousness because it's a power exchange when we think about the BDSM dynamic. And what it's really about was introducing the idea of therapeutic BDSM, right? Because when a part of my training when I was doing that certification was to go to San Francisco, I went to some of the dungeons, I went to some of the events. And what I saw was... those in play or creating a scene, like there was this catharsis that I was seeing experience in real time. And I was thinking to myself when I did my research, I wonder how this could be used to help those who've experienced sexual trauma to release the pain that is often stored in the body. How can BDSM be shaped in a way that could be therapeutic? And I was thinking about being able to create any type of scene. that can be imagined to help someone re-script their relationship with themselves and with their trauma is where that came

Jan Broberg:
Wow,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
from. Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
that's really interesting. So for our listeners that are not familiar with BDSM, would you please, I know we've kind of already touched on it, but would you just explain that one more time so that people know and have the context for what we're talking about?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes, so the acronym BDSMB stands for bondage, D stands for discipline or dominant. The S stands for sadomasochism, right, or submissive, and then the M is for masochist. So when we talk about sadomasochism, that's someone who receives pleasure from administering pain or punishment, right? And a masochist is someone who receives pleasure from being on the receiving end of pain or punishment. And so when I reimagine this, it's about creating scenes. So if we're thinking about pain or punishment and someone administering that It would be more so of someone, you exchanging power when it comes to authority or when it comes to sensation or when it comes to someone or bondage or discipline, it's an exchange of these different areas. So if we're gonna do an exchange of sensation, if you were in a situation and you had trauma and during that traumatic experience, someone put their hand around your neck, right? and now you're touch diverse when it comes to someone putting anything or even maybe you can't even wear high t-shirts because you're feeling or you're triggered or traumatized. In a scene, someone could begin to apply or even kind of touch around your neck, but you have created a scene where at any point in time you can say stop, slow down, you know, move back, or you know, change your touch. So it really allows you to be the authority in this scene where you can re-script. that trauma narrative in real time.

Jan Broberg:
That's really, really interesting. That's incredible. Do you do similar work like that in the office space? I mean,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
You know.

Jan Broberg:
as you were watching that, do you actually re-script things? Or that's so, because you know, I live my life by a script, I'm an actor. And re-scripting something in your life is for sure

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
something that we've talked about. Like you can recreate

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
what happened in the past if it's harming you in the present, we gotta re- narrate this, recreate it, reconfigure it

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
so that you're back in the power seat of your life.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Exactly.

Jan Broberg:
So yeah, how did you take it from going into the dungeons or

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
into those clubs or whatever you would somebody else might call them where you were

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
having these, you were seeing these stories, you were seeing this and going, gosh, there must be a connection to trauma.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
Because you know, you often, when I talk to people, I often hear things like, you know, if I just wouldn't have been so stupid, or if I

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mmm.

Jan Broberg:
just would have done this or that, and they're literally beating themselves up with their words. And I'm like, wait, you gotta stop. Did you know?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
No, you didn't. Do you

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Exactly.

Jan Broberg:
want to keep taking that little whip and whipping your back like that? You know, because that's literally what people do.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
And this is literally, physically what people were doing. So this is really fascinating to me. Talk to me about that.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah, so there's people already doing it, but it's not under the therapeutic frame, right? Because when we think about ethics and legality, so right now the research is trying to figure out how we can bring this into the therapeutic space. But you have people who identify as coaches who are already doing this type of work, right? You have like doms or dominatrix who are already doing therapeutic type. practices, you have tops. So a professional top is someone who gets paid to administer these types of either bondage or any other type of sensation someone might want. A professional sub or a bottom is someone who receives this. So you have people who are already doing this in practice, but we are still working to cut through the red tape about how to do this in session because we would be touching people. Right? And,

Jan Broberg:
right.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
you know, that's a line we're trying to figure out how we can do ethically.

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, that's really interesting because you do, you know, I often have said, I wish that somehow because we've gotten so, so scared of touching,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
you know, there's so much fear around touching. Like we, you know, grandpas often feel like they can't hug their grandkids anymore and have

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
them on their lap. And I'm like, that would have been just so terrible if my dad wouldn't have had my little boy on his lap and they tickled backs and they rolled up. you know, sleeves, my dad liked it if he rolled up his shirt sleeve and rolled it down because it kind of tickles your arm and he'd do the same for, you know, all of our, me and my sisters, our kids. And, you know, I'm like, wow, how do you find that balance where the whole world hasn't gotten away from touching? I mean, now that we live by our phones, it's like, you can have full on relationships and never meet a person face to face and never touch

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Thank you.

Jan Broberg:
them. It's, it's, I don't know, there's something sad about that to me.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm. It is, right? And when we think about massage and somatics, I feel like we really need to allow ourselves to be able to engage in real life. Social

Jan Broberg:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
media and all of the things is wonderful, and also really appreciating in real life. And

Jan Broberg:
Yeah.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
that includes being able to touch. And even when you were talking about with the little kids, one of the things that I love about it the scenes I created as an example would be something as simple as creating a scene where I am a little, right? Like I'm in my little self, I'm a little. And the person who's the top might present as my mother. And the scene could simply be me asking my mom, hey, would you spend some time with me? Because in my past, when I was abused and I asked my mom to spend time with me, she could not. And I was with the sitter and that was when I was abused. Right,

Jan Broberg:
Mm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
but now we create a scene where we can re-script that whole narrative. Now mommy says, yes, I will make time for you. And now,

Jan Broberg:
Oh, and that really,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
yeah.

Jan Broberg:
yeah, that would change the pathway, right? That

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
would definitely have a healing effect.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, that's really beautiful. And, you know, I do, I do a lot of, like when you say the little, I say, well, little Jan, you know, or

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
the mama tiger took over little Jan and wrapped her up in those big furry arms and said, you're okay, and I'm going to make sure and defend you and protect you. And,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
you know, you're safe with me, you know, but. but little Jan was scared, you know, she was frightened, she was hurt, you know.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
And I think when we talk in terms like that, and we actually realize that there are things that can be done to actually heal the what happened in the past, but that still, it still hurts in the present. You know, it really does.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
That's the thing. It's not like you're just trying to go back through your past and dredge up things that don't hurt. You're trying to figure out how to be in your present life. and be free

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Exactly.

Jan Broberg:
right now. How do I get free from some of those disappointments and those heartaches that continue to pop up and to affect my life? Okay, so changing gears a little bit. So going from kind of the sexology part of your therapeutic practices, when you, did you have to go and actually like, don't most doctors or clinicians have to have on the job training?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
Did you have to go somewhere and do this like under, like with somebody else kind of watching over your shoulder?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
with the sexology part, with the kink

Jan Broberg:
Yeah.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
part. Yeah, actually, there was my professor is the one that took us to the dungeon. So we went to San Francisco and she was our, like our navigator, our tour guide through the process. So we were there to observe. So we didn't actually engage in play, while we were there, we were there mostly to observe. We went to something called a munch. A munch is a... basically a gathering for people who identify as kink. It might be at a Pizza Hut, you know, or it might be at a

Jan Broberg:
Yeah.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
hot dog shop, but it's just really to come and have conversation with people who are similar to you, right? And so we went to one of those. So she really just exposed us to the community, right? And then we would go back and then we would have conversation, you know, about it. Like she's taught us about like the fact that BDSM or kinkiness is ancient. Like this isn't new. You know, people have been doing this type of stuff for eons, right? And so

Jan Broberg:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
it was a very immersive, I guess you could say, type of experience. It was pretty cool.

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, yeah, that's really interesting because I know that you've had like in the mental health, you know, as a part of your life, you've had like 20 plus experience plus years of experience in that and now you have this additional, you know, peace with this doctorate that you have in this specific area. As you look back on the experiences that you had even before you went, you know, into this particular, you know, study of and immersive experience of and now you're helping people in this space. What did you notice people had in common? Was it always? I mean, it feels to me like there's almost always something that we all have in common, those of us who have experienced childhood sex abuse, and it is a lack of confidence. And that shows up in the bedroom as well. It shows up in our personal relationships, whether we can't you know, perform, whether we're scared. I don't know, I'm projecting, but I just wondered, did you notice that was kind of a theme for pretty much everyone who's been through a sexually abusive situation, especially I think, you know, children, tweens, teens, you know, of course, rape and things as adults are just as horrible, but I feel like that gets messed up, you know, the

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
progression and the... the one step at a time and you're developing and then it's just stunted. It's just like everything stops in

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
some ways.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah. The theme was a disconnect from self, which is why where the book come from, the reconciliation with self, you know, having a relationship that's been distorted, right? And like you said, it affects everything. It affects your relationship with yourself, with others at work, you know, at play. It's everywhere. Like it affects every aspect of your life when you have this type of trauma. And a lot of us don't realize just how much. it impacts all these different areas. We might not understand that our sexual trauma is impacting how we show up at work or in business, right? But

Jan Broberg:
Hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
it does, you know? And so that was part of what I wanted to explore in that book, like let's see the different ways this could be impacting you and let's figure out how we can re-script those relationships.

Jan Broberg:
So that's really where the title, the power exchange of pain is

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
how you're re-scripting the titles from pain to power,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Exactly.

Jan Broberg:
or how that got messed up or given away, or we talk about taking our power back, you know? And sometimes I think, but how do you actually do that? You can talk about things like that, but until somebody has an experience of feeling the power come back into their, for me, it was a creative power. It was

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm.

Jan Broberg:
like, Oh, I get to create. It was very obvious during this one experience that I had in a workshop that I went to. And on that kind of last day, it was like, oh, I get to create what happens next. I get to decide. The past is not deciding for me anymore. It was

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
a huge revelation to me.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
But if I hadn't have gone to the workshop and done other things that I had tried, and I'd had some good... therapists and other things that I had done that all helped me but at that moment it all culminated in oh I'm the creative Force I'm the person that gets to drive the bus

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
of my life, you know, and that was huge for me So that exchange of pain for power or power how it's been taken

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
and We reclaim it is really what speaks to me, but I see what you're saying like Like how do you reconcile? this reconciliation with self

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Jan Broberg:
because that's what's gotten out of whack. Yeah,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Exactly.

Jan Broberg:
okay, give me an example, a couple examples or people you've worked with or something so I can nail this down in my head, my heart and for other people that might

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
be listening.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
So what I did was I created actually a therapeutic modality called basically the same thing, self-reconciliation therapy. And it's four different pillars. First, it's awareness, then it's acceptance, then it's attunement and atonement. And so with that, there's a bunch of different activities. So one fun one would be create your own Oracle deck or create your own acronym. And it's just a fun way to say, OK...sway your hips, like do you want to nod your head? Like what does your body want to do without you judging? Right, that's another thing, like

Jan Broberg:
Mmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
being aware without the judgment. Because a lot of time when we're working on self-awareness, we're also judging ourselves in that awareness. So how can we put that judgment on the side and just allow ourselves to be? Another activity,

Jan Broberg:
Now that's the first pillar. Sorry, what was the first pillar?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
oh,

Jan Broberg:
Those

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
awareness,

Jan Broberg:
are some activities,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
yes,

Jan Broberg:
awareness. Okay, that's pillar one. Okay,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
yep.

Jan Broberg:
those are cool. So you put the acronym, you figure out what you wanna say. I'm a bad mother lover. I

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes!

Jan Broberg:
have a friend that says that. That's what she says all the time. She goes, I'm just a bad mother lover. I'm like, you're hilarious. I love that. But what you would do is you would take that and put the acronym and make it pop up on your phone every now and then.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
Like you can set that setting. And that starts to, it makes you smile.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
you know, or it makes you go, yeah, I'm powerful,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
We...

Jan Broberg:
or whatever it is that you created,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
and you get reminded of it, it's like somebody reminding you of that all the time, which is an awareness thing.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
Okay, that's really, really cool. Or, okay, or the music, which I totally love, because I can totally lose myself in a song, and all of a sudden I have no judgment, and people are like looking at me on the dance floor, like... She's crazy.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Hahaha!

Jan Broberg:
But that's, I mean, people would not know this about me unless you really know me, but I can totally drop it like it's hot. And I really love it. I really do. I love to dance. And so if I were to do that, like a song would just come up, it would raise my awareness, my mood, my me.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Woohoo!

Jan Broberg:
You know, like how cool I am, you know,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes,

Jan Broberg:
or whatever.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
yes.

Jan Broberg:
Okay, I love that. Okay, awareness, pillar one. Okay, pillar two.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
So awareness, then we have acceptance. So something might be, what was it, seven days, seven ways. So you would do seven affirmations, you would do mirror work, right? And the thing about mirror work is that it can be triggering, right? If you're looking at yourself in the mirror and you're saying, I love you, and it doesn't ring as true, this can cause, you know, and so part of it is to just do it and to journal, how did this make me feel? Did I feel like I truly love myself? Right? And just noting, you know, that's the, and accepting whatever comes up without judgment. That's always my thing. Don't judge yourself. That was one assignment. Another could be beginning to write your story. Like, what does it look like to write my story? Right? Another is noticing your patterns. Like, what do I do if I'm stressed? Do I reach for the bottle? Do I reach for, you know, something else? Do I work out? And just accepting that these are my patterns, this is how I act, this is how I respond, this is how I show up. But first you have to be aware in order to begin to accept, right?

Jan Broberg:
Hmm, very, very true. Yes, that's

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
really good. So pillar one awareness pillar to acceptance and

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
mirror work. Um, my sister read that book from that gentleman who said, Look, I'm not a I'm not I have no letters after my name. But I wanted to jump. You know, I was ready to end it.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm.

Jan Broberg:
And then something, I don't even remember how the story went, but he started to do that very thing, to look in the mirror

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
and do some mirror work about I love myself. And he said, I didn't believe it,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
but I committed, I was gonna do it for X number of minutes, or I don't remember how many times, or something.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
And the miracle that came from doing that very thing, that all of a sudden his love for himself entered his, entered, it was

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
there. You know, and it changed his life.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
So I love that that's one of the things doing some mirror work.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
Okay. So that's in the book. Okay.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
So that's pillar two acceptance and then

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Three

Jan Broberg:
talking about what it is.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
is, uh, tunement. So getting back in the body, like really paying

Jan Broberg:
Thank

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
attention

Jan Broberg:
you.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
to your body. So I talk about different grounding techniques and one is called, um, the five senses, you know, seize with the senses. And it's basically every day you pick a sense and you just pay attention. Like, so today I'm going to use, like, smell. What do I smell? What do I enjoy when I, when I smell it? Like, it's my, oh, my dog, he a little stinky. You know, it's just kind of really.

Jan Broberg:
No.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
really pay attention, right? Do I like that smell? Does it trigger me? Like how do I respond? Do I have certain triggers to smell, sight, taste, touch? And just really paying attention how your body responds to different sensations. And this will allow yourself to get back in touch because a lot of people who have had body-based trauma, specifically sexual trauma, dissociate or disconnects from the body, right? So this is

Jan Broberg:
Yeah.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
how do we get back in a body in a way that doesn't feel threatening, that feels safe. Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, so attunement, getting back in the body, tuning into the body, being a part of your body instead

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
of dissociating or dissociation. Yeah, that's really good too. So you have these various, you know, this is this outlined in the book

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
then

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yep.

Jan Broberg:
it actually outlines like things you can do to actually do this. Oh gosh, I got to get your book right away. Yeah, it's it really sounds. Quite amazing. Okay, so that's the third pillar. And then the fourth one was atonement,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
And then

Jan Broberg:
I believe.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
atonement. So yeah, so when we think about atonement, we think typically religion. You're atoning with God, right? So in

Jan Broberg:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
the book, I talk about atoning with yourself, right? You are it, right? You are, when we talk about that, you are the I, the higher self, whatever. No matter your relationship with a different source, this is about you. So how do you atone with yourself? Like you say, people feel bad or they talk down to themselves. I was to blame, I effed up or whatever the case may be. How do you begin to forgive yourself for just forgetting who you were? Because you didn't do anything wrong. You didn't cause

Jan Broberg:
Right.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
the trauma, right? But because of the trauma, you might've forgotten who you were before it. And that's the only thing we need to forget, period.

Jan Broberg:
Hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
And what does that look like? To begin to atone. So we talk about, and that's where I introduce the concept of therapeutic. BDSM, but if we were to do this outside of that frame, we would go back through the first three pillars and it would be a much deeper awareness, a deeper look, really leaning in to those more tender spots,

Jan Broberg:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
and really aligning with who are we outside of our trauma, before our trauma, what does that look like?

Jan Broberg:
Thank

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Can

Jan Broberg:
you.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
we reconcile with that self again?

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, that's really interesting too, because I think about often, it feels as if we are actually feeling as if we should have more pain, that somehow more pain and suffering will somehow atone for what somebody else did

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm,

Jan Broberg:
that we had no control over. It's

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
exactly.

Jan Broberg:
just like, doesn't even make sense,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah, yeah,

Jan Broberg:
you know,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
and it's

Jan Broberg:
because

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
how I

Jan Broberg:
atone,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
do a forgiveness.

Jan Broberg:
I mean the word atone means at one,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
you know, at one meant being at one with yourself or with God or Christ or whatever your religious beliefs are. But the word itself, that's what it means. How do we come back into that at oneness with ourselves?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
Because half the things that I sometimes think about myself, I'm like, why in the world does your head spin that way?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
When you know there wasn't one thing you could have done about this. You know? And sometimes it bugs me when people think well, we'll blame her parents. I'm like, they didn't know either and quit blaming my parents. I

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Exactly.

Jan Broberg:
get so mad. But again, they got to a place of peace, but boy, they did blame themselves too. Like, why didn't I know? Why didn't I see it? Why, why, blah, and your head goes and all of a sudden you're like fractured in

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
all these pieces and you can't put that puzzle back together

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
because you can't do something about something you don't know is, you don't know what you don't know, you don't know,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Exactly.

Jan Broberg:
period.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
Yeah, I love that. I love those four pillars. I can't wait to get that out to our listeners and those that might be watching and just to say, hey, we wanna hear from you. Like, as you try these various practices and doing these exercises that our Dr. U Rock has now shared with us, what are your results?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
How are you feeling? Because I'm all about, let's get back to feeling good.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
You know, reach for a better feeling. You know, if you're feeling angry, what's right above anger on that tonal scale that I learned once? What's right above it? Reach for that. What is it, revenge? Maybe it's revenge. Ha ha

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm. Let's say passion. Passion. Yeah. Yep.

Jan Broberg:
some happy, which isn't as great as joy, which is kind of my ultimate way to be like, well, if you can just stay in your joy, just what's gonna make you feel the most joyful today? Just

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
do that.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
Because it's almost like you're retraining your brain and your body and your mind and your emotions to actually experience what feels good.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
We're so used to feeling what feels bad

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes.

Jan Broberg:
that it's almost become like... I don't want to say we're addicted to it, but it's almost like we don't even know how to feel good.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm. We get attached to the

Jan Broberg:
And it

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
pain.

Jan Broberg:
sounds to me,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
yeah, the pain, the pain body,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
like Eckhart Tolle says. And if you had parting words for your daughters, I don't know how old they are. I don't know if they're going off to college or marriage or you look really young, so probably not yet. They're probably pretty young. But if they were, and you were kind of saying, If you would just remember one thing, you know, or two things, my dad always said two things. He would say that all the time. Two things, then he'd tell you two things, you know. What would that be?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Number one would probably be the audacity of authenticity. Dare to be your damn self, period. Dare to be yourself,

Jan Broberg:
Oh,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
yes.

Jan Broberg:
dare to be your damn self.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
That's one.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Yes, that's

Jan Broberg:
Audacious,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
one.

Jan Broberg:
what were the first two words you said?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
The Audacity

Jan Broberg:
How do you?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
of Authenticity.

Jan Broberg:
audacity of authenticity. Oh, I love that. Dare to be your damn self. Oh, that's so good. Okay, that's one. One more.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
And the other one would be your body has wisdom. Listen to her.

Jan Broberg:
How out of tune are we? How out of touch are we with our bodies?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
So out of tune. Yeah.

Jan Broberg:
you were more out of tune because we're surrounded by so many distractions or do you think it's just we've never been encouraged to tune in?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
both, right? I think our relationship with our body has been dulled by so many things, right? From the social media or the media we have, from the food that we eat, from the fact that we're not out and about in nature anymore, like I think it's just been dulled. And so we have to be intentional about maintaining a connection with our body. We have to put in the work.

Jan Broberg:
We have to put in the work. There it is. You know, it is work, but it's the kind of work that can bring great peace and joy. And I love your two things. That was the perfect way to end this conversation. I hope we have many more. We're going to start some round tables and I'm like, oh, we definitely have to have, we definitely have to have you there. You're going to be the voice of so many things that I cannot wait. And I hope you would join us again when we, when we... toss out some topics that we really are passionate about. And we hear from voices that have the expert piece, but also the personal piece. And thank you for sharing some of those personal reasons and whys that you're here today. And as a mama bear and a mother and a dog lover, I've seen your dog a couple of times in the background back there. I, too, am a dog lover. I often say, if we could just be a little bit more like our furry friends. You

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
know, just really be in the moment, find a little peace, get somebody to, or do it yourself, you know, scratch your head, you know, to just eat some good food and, and just to try and just stay in a, in, I don't know if you, you can't try to stay in a state.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Mm-hmm.

Jan Broberg:
You just be in a state of kind of continual, you know, just love, love what's around you. Love yourself, be in atonement with yourself. I really enjoyed our conversation. That was really, really good. Thank you so much. Is there any closing words you'd like to leave with us?

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
I just want to say thank you for giving me an opportunity to be here and to speak. Yeah, stay anchored in your authenticity. Stay anchored in it and don't allow anything to, outside of yourself, to move you. Your own validation is enough.

Jan Broberg:
All right, you heard it here first folks, from Dr. You Rock, and thank you so much again.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Thank

Jan Broberg:
You

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
you.

Jan Broberg:
Linda Renee Rockman,

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
Cass,

Jan Broberg:
thank you.

Dr. Yulinda Renee:
thank you.