Interview with Shawnee

 Shawnee:

Hi, I’m Shawnee Harkins, and I am the founder of the Harkins Method, and I am a neuro-fitness trainer helping traumatic brain injury, concussion, and stroke survivors accelerate their healing journey.

Sean:

That’s awesome.

That’s awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me on a Saturday in the afternoon. Shawnee, could you just start by talking about—you’ve dealt with your own experience of TBI. So could you start by saying maybe a little bit what life was like before one of those injuries, how it impacted your life after, and then how you recovered?

Shawnee:

Absolutely. So I sustained three traumatic brain injuries at age 18, 20, and 24. Life before my first TBI at age 18: I grew up an athlete, and, you know, just enjoying sports, and academically very strong—you know, did well in academics. And I was just a very happy, vibrant young person.

And then, when I sustained my first traumatic brain injury, life completely changed overnight. I was hit by a Chevy Suburban. I was rollerblading and hit by a car, and long story short—to give you the highlight reels—I almost lost my life. I flatlined. I woke up from a coma, and I was a quadriplegic.

I woke up and had no idea what had brought me to the hospital, why I was there, what had happened, or anything like that. So that would begin my entire journey into overcoming traumatic brain injury and really learning how to heal to do the work that I do now. So that first TBI, I had what you would call—was diagnosed as—a boxer’s concussion times nine, so like having nine brain injuries in one, and then a bruised spinal cord.

That was age 18. Age 20—unfortunately, I had an assault in downtown LA: an attack, beaten and kicked in the head to unconsciousness, and that would cause my second TBI. Meanwhile, while I was testing for the fire department and wanted to become an EMT and was actively pursuing that, at age 21 I did become a firefighter and then went to EMT school, became an EMT, and then at age 24 I unfortunately had a slip and fall and found myself back on life support again—flatlined again—and then would be continuing my third TBI journey in overcoming those.

And then, unfortunately, consequently in my twenties, I would have another sort of journey in what happens when you have multiple concussions or TBIs, and then they come back to bite you in the bum. So that was a different sort of journey in overcoming those TBIs years later when some of those consequences of the brain showed up.

So I really do appreciate what Concussion Box is doing for concussion survivors, because I’ve been there—having the multiple TBIs and then multiple concussions on top of that—and just appreciate the value of today. So today I’m 100% healed, Sean. I don’t have any consequences of those traumatic brain injuries. I’m so grateful and thankful.

So that lends to what I do now as a neuro-fitness trainer, as the creator of the Harkins Method, and my whole purpose in life—being on the other side of healing—is to fast-track healing for others. I couldn’t think of doing anything else with my life than exactly what I’m doing now.

Sean:

Thank you for sharing that, Shawnee. That is—you know, I thought I went through difficult times with my concussions, but the fact that you are here today giving your story is truly inspirational. I mean, you said age 18, you’ve had to deal with TBIs again and again and again, and you have essentially overcome. You said you dealt with symptoms a little bit in your twenties. Could you talk about that? Because I—my most recent concussion was a little over a year ago, and sometimes I still have some symptoms as far as headache on the left side of my head. I fell in the back, and I sometimes have headaches. Sometimes it is difficult remembering certain little details of stories. But could you share some of those symptoms that you were experiencing in your twenties and how you tried to sort of deal with them?

Shawnee:

Indeed. Absolutely. And I’m so glad we’re here today. I’m glad to see you thriving after your concussions, and it takes a very strong person to heal. It takes courage to heal and then to give back—so thank you, Sean.

In my mid-twenties and after my TBIs—like most—you’re affected in every possible way. So I will share with you that I was affected as a whole person. Mentally I was affected—cognitively, physically—but also, you know, relationally, socially, financially. The brain, when it is interrupted and, you know, things are awry, it affects everything.

So in my mid-twenties, I was fortunate that I just wasn’t willing to accept—with my first TBI—that that was going to be the rest of my life. So I had my eyes set on becoming a firefighter, and that was a very good path for me, and that has so much to do with how I help people to fix their focus in their recovery. You know, “Let’s put our eye on a prize and train towards that.”

And so I leaned on—in my twenties—when I had memory issues come back to bite me in the bum, speech issues, just having a hard time with recall, words, organization, planning. But physical pain—pain came back. What felt like intermittent numbness, tingling, and would eventually come back with intermittent paralysis—would eventually come back—and I’d have to work through that process.

But I was challenged, I would say, more cognitively in my mid-twenties and then physically, and then the compounding effect of that—I would be affected mentally and emotionally because, you know, in my mid-twenties one of my thought processes—which would later be how I would actually utilize faith, my faith for healing—is I just wondered, you know, why is this coming back to bite me in the bum in my mid-twenties? I’ve been a firefighter; at this point I’m an EMT; now I’m in Hollywood; now I’m in television; now I’m online, and I’m on screen. I’m working with professional actors and musicians. I’m working with Dr. Phil. I’m traveling the world. I’m contributing back after overcoming these. And then, quietly, the consequences of multiple TBI did come back to bite me in the bum, and so quietly I had to work through all of this while being the neuro-fitness—or being a celebrity trainer.

And this would later develop into a neuro-fitness training program because I had been the celebrity trainer and had a very glamorous life and enjoyed everything that I had worked so hard to achieve after those multiple TBIs, but then I was quietly dealing with the consequences of those multiple TBIs.

And I would tell you that the main thing that helped me in my mid-twenties was my mindset, and I think that is my main piece of advice to anyone who sustains a concussion, a traumatic brain injury, or a stroke: you need to wake up every day and train your mind for recovery—every day. And so that is what I did in my twenties.

So while I didn’t really understand what was going on—and actually the doctors didn’t either—I would later become obsessed with the mind and the brain and that connection, and how the mind, brain, and body are connected. And that’s what leads to the Harkins Method today: tapping into the mind–brain–body connection to accelerate those neural pathways and rebuild those new neurons and then connect them, and how we do that through fitness and sports. And that’s what my programming is: reframing the patient-care journey, reframing the daily grind of the symptoms. You know, let’s get out of the symptomatic state of mind, and let’s train for your future, and let’s do that through fitness and sports—training the mind, brain, and body.

So everything that I teach today, it’s because I was once there—waking up and having those tough days, and, you know, I can’t remember how to spell my name or make a sandwich, walk—very basic things that we should all be able to do and do with empowerment. And then how do you do that when your brain forgets how to walk, you know?

So I would say that I struggled. I had a whole-person approach to my struggle—and most people do. When you really take the time, like yourself, Sean, you could probably think back to—you know, you’ve overcome a brain injury, a concussion, but you’ve overcome so much as well. And the mental and the emotional struggle—that takes endurance. It takes a special type of mental fortitude and endurance, and then you become your own advocate: “Well, how do I get better?” You don’t have an option to throw in the towel—you shouldn’t. And so it’s, “How do I become my own advocate and get better?”

And I think that’s what empowered me in my mid-twenties is, “All right, everyone’s telling me what won’t happen. Let me figure out what can happen. You know, what can I do to get better?”

Sean:

Yeah. Wow. That is amazing, Shawnee, and I can resonate a lot with that—especially the mindset part. When I was recovering from my most recent concussion, I had to put myself in a different mind frame: ‘Yes, now I cannot practice, now I cannot be in classes, I can’t be with my friends,’ but it all became, you know, ‘How am I going to move forward? How am I going to sort of defy the odds?’ All about doing what the doctors tell me to do. But, you know, I was knocked out, and it wasn’t a good sight, but I’m not gonna throw in the towel. I’m gonna do everything I have to do in order to get better, in order to be at my best—however long that takes.

The other part you mentioned, which really stuck out to me, is that you started to rely a lot on your faith. I assume you are a religious person. Do you think you could say a few words about how you use your faith? Because I’ve used my faith as well—not only in recovering from concussions, but any type of hardship. I rely on my faith. I believe that there’s a larger plan even through the most difficult time. So could you talk a little bit about that?”

Shawnee:

Indeed, absolutely. I’m bubbling over, actually, by your question—yes. And I’m glad you tapped into your faith for your recovery as well. So I like to say the Harkins Method is built on science. It’s built on neuroscience. It’s built on neurogenesis and neuroplasticity to fast-track recovery. But in addition to—and I have always said this, and when a client starts working with me they realize right away—I’m a woman of faith, and I am very public about this.

Science is great, but if you combine neuroscience and spirituality—if you combine neuroscience and faith—you really tap into fast-tracking your recovery. So I like to say the mind and spirit make a great team. You can activate the mind for neurochemistry—for the brain—but if you activate your spirit, you’re activating power for healing. And when we release power—when we release faith for power—we fast-track our recovery.

I leaned on my faith to help me stay focused, to keep my eye on the prize. Now, here were my daily distractions: all my symptoms, right? Those are daily distractions. But if I tapped into my faith, I’m no longer relying just on my brain to get me through, because my brain’s awry. I have to go past that—I have to go to my mind. It’s my mind and my brain working as a team now. If I’m training my mind daily with positive thoughts and positive words and mental imagery and visualization—“Who do I want to be when I get past this?”—if I can just train my mind, my brain is like a computer system. It’s taking that data and telling my body what to do with the data.

But even higher than that—when you’re so challenged day to day, as you know, Sean—and then you take yourself back, you think of your worst days during your concussion recovery, and I think of my worst days during my TBI: when you’re so challenged to the max, you just don’t even know what to do. It’s the spirit that then starts to lead the mind. And if the spirit is then leading the mind, then the brain-and-body connection and all that is going to follow, because you’re tapping into a healing frequency. You’re tapping into a higher power for recovery.

And I have met so many families and so many survivors and neuro patients being on the other side of this journey and, you know, bringing a new pathway—bringing a solution. A lot of people don’t know during the concussion, TBI, or stroke journey that you can actually pray for your own healing—like, you can go there. And I think that’s one of the main things I like to share with people is: absolutely, that is the time to go there. If you’ve never been a person of faith or you’re just like, “You know what, that’s not for me,” that’s okay. And then if you’re maybe super, super religious and you grew up in the church, that’s great too. But there comes a point when you experience your own healing—your own higher power—that’s the time. Because at the end of the day, it’s just you in that bed telling yourself, “I can do this.” And that comes from a higher place—that comes from a higher power.

So in my program and with my work, I focus on the Harkins Method—which is training your mind, brain, and body—but I say the mind and spirit make a great team. Why not tap into something higher? It’ll meet you there. And when you’re going through your struggles, isn’t it great to be empowered by the spirit? Because then you have an “I can do this” attitude. And I think that’s the big thing about tapping into the spirit: you’re tapping into your identity. Your identity is being challenged during concussion, TBI, or stroke—you’re challenged in every way. And I think that is also what my message is to those: when you are going through an identity crisis in your healing, and there is that identity shift, the best thing to do is tap into a higher power to put you back in focus and to help you remember who you are and how strong and courageous you are.

So then what do you need to do? You need to find a support. You need to find the program, and you just need to walk it out daily—you know, a program and a path and support. And that’s what I try to bring to people, and that’s the purpose of my life’s mission now—doing that. But yes, the mind and spirit make a great team: tap into science for the mind, definitely, but tap into the spirit—a higher power—for your recovery.

Sean:

Yes, definitely. Yeah, that’s so—that is so insightful, and I am glad that the—well, the Harkins Method: you said it’s based on science, but you’re also an advocate and you believe strongly that when the mind and the spirit work together, that’s where sort of the quote-unquote ‘magic’ happens. And I think that’s where a lot of recovery can be enhanced and sped up. Listening to you, that’s proof. And then, also, I think I have experienced that myself.

I feel like people can find hope, strength, and wisdom outside of their circumstances using a higher power, and I think that’s very important regardless of what faith or religious tradition you buy into—whether that’s Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism. I’m teaching about it right now, actually, in my class, and I asked the students to point to their spirit. I asked them to point to their mind, their body, their spirit. They could point to their mind—they said the head; body, obviously like their shoulders or their knees—but then I asked them about the spirit, and they were less sure of that. And I said, the spirit is something that guides our everyday interactions. Some people find it through a religious sense; some people find it through the interactions of other people—for example, humanist. But when those two come together—the mind and spirit—that’s very powerful, as you noted. Yes, so thank you. 

 Is there anything else that you would like to add? There’s so much here that you have already given, and I thank you for that. But anything else that you would like to have for the record?”

Shawnee:

If anything, I’d like to impart to your listeners that there are resources out there that completely connect with the journey. I completely connect with the journey, so I’d love to have anyone who is looking for support, a plan, or a program—I’ve got it, and I’d like to bring it to your people.

Sean:

Yes. Well, thank you. Thank you. And that’s very important for them to know, and I think that they are very lucky to hear that, because I know when I was on the concussion recovery path, I didn’t always have those resources, or at least they weren’t known to me. So having them through a neuro-fitness sort of path, I think, is very unique and also something that will be very successful, because I think I would—if I were to sustain another concussion—I think neuroplasticity, and you mentioned the term neurogenesis, creating new neurons to think and cognitively function, is something that would be very beneficial—very beneficial. 

Shawnee:

Thank you.I think that overall, the work that I bring to the table—but the understanding, being the survivor once before, a few times before—is that I think you can fast-track your recovery if you stay in touch with your purpose. Everyone—you know, we’re born with a purpose. We’re born with gifts and talents. And when a brain injury interrupts your purpose, it can be derailing, and it can pull you off the map—but don’t stay stuck on that page.

One of my first questions when I start working with someone is, “Okay, I want to help you recover—that’s our goal, right? You meet your needs and goals of recovery. Who do you want to become, and what do you want to do after you’ve recovered? What’s your purpose? How are you going to give back?” And Sean, you’re giving back. I’m giving back. So I think if we can remind people that, “I know you’re in the pain right now—the thick of it—but if you could stay aligned with purpose and just keep your eyes on the prize of your future, you’ll get there.” I think that’s the other thing people should know, tap into.