Three Questions with Meghann Koppele Duffy

Episode 27 - Finding Your Tribe & Passion with Stephanie Comella

• Meghann • Episode 27

Share episode

What does it really take to find your people, and your passion, in a field that often feels isolating?

In this episode of Three Questions, I sit down with my friend and colleague, Stephanie Comella, who has been working with spinal cord injury and neuro populations since 2011. From building an online practice that actually works, to writing a book with a former client, to figuring out how to create community in a profession that doesn’t always make that easy, Steph has a lot to share about both the challenges and the rewards of doing this work.

We dig into:
✅ How teaching over Zoom sharpened her language and teaching skills
✅ Why creating a “tribe” matters for both clients and clinicians
✅ The surprising lessons she’s learned from gardening and how they apply to rehab

Whether you’re a movement teacher, a neuro specialist, or just someone trying to do meaningful work without burning out, this conversation will help you think differently about connection, collaboration, and why finding your people changes everything.

Resources mentioned:
Book a session with Stephanie
Stephanie's Course Schedule
Get the book, Pilates Applications for Health Conditions, HERE! (use code - PAHC15 for a discount!)
Connect with Stephanie on Instagram
Find a Neuro Studio Teacher Near You
Connect with me on Instagram
Connect with me on Threads

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Welcome to Three Questions where critical thinking is king, and my opinions in research are only here to support your learning and hopefully deeper understanding. Hey, I'm your host Meghann, and I'm so honored you clicked on three questions today, mostly because I have a very special guest today in the studio with me who will be answering three questions.

Is my good friend Stephanie Comella. Now Stephanie has been working with spinal cord injury specific and other neuro conditions since 2011. She blends her formal education. She's got a bachelor in science in exercise biology. She's a Pilates teacher and she's also studied other movement modalities. I'm not gonna name them all.

I'll put in the notes her, I'll put in the notes, her bio so you can get a sneak peek about all about Steph. But what I wanna highlight today is number one, her book from the Ground Up, which is Stephanie's Techniques. And she wrote this with one of her former clients, Theo, um, St. Francis. Who had the luxury of a training once, who was a doll, and they put this book together as a resource for both practitioners and people living with spinal cord injuries.

I'll put that link in the show notes. And she's also written chapter eight in volume two of the Pilates applications for health conditions. I also wrote a chapter in this book. I still can't remember the title and have to look at it every time, but um, I will also put this in the show notes. So she's like done a few things.

And she's an amazing person. So welcome to the podcast, Stephanie. 

Stephanie Comella: Thank you, Meghann. Happy to be here. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: It's good to see you. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah, good to see you too. It's been a bit since we've caught up with all things, but 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. Yeah. And I think the last time I saw you in person when that was like a thing was at one of the, uh, Pilates conferences, I think out, uh, Westin 

Stephanie Comella: Monterey.

Was that in 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Carmel? 

Stephanie Comella: Monterey. Yeah. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Monterey. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: California's a very big state. I recently, I have, I'm going to California to see some clients and I'm always asking, is this close to this? And everything's like four hours away from each other. So much bigger state than New Jersey. But anyway, we could talk for a long time.

Let's get into it a little bit. So number one, something Stephanie and I have in common is that we both work with people with neurological conditions over Zoom. And let me tell you, before COVID DI didn't even think to do this. And when I was forced to do it over COVID, I won't lie, there was some screaming and crying and thrashing, but I am so glad I did it.

So question one, Steph, as of today, you can change your mind tomorrow, but as of today, which we're recording this on August 3rd, you guys are gonna be seeing this later in September as of August 3rd. What are, where's your brain sitting on the in-person balance zoom combination? Like, are we a hundred percent zoom?

Do you like 80 20? What do you thinking these days? 

Stephanie Comella: Hmm. Yeah. Great question Meghann. 'cause right now I'm actually in this. Smack dab in the middle of my summer training intensive. So right now, um, during the summer months when it's nice in Oregon and there's no snow and I don't have to shovel snow to my studio, um, I invite clients to come out for a week at a time when we do a five day program where we're in the studio.

And then I also blend in, um, some adaptive rec and, um, manual therapy with local practitioners. Um. So I'm getting my, my higher dose of in-person work in these last couple weeks versus when I'm in winter, winter months, kind of October through May-ish, I'm like 95% on Zoom. Um, so yeah, so most of the year I'm on Zoom and then I have my summer training intensives.

I feel like when I get to my in-person work it, it changes my. It reinvigorates me in a different way. Um, and, you know, getting hands-on with someone, I'm very tactile. I'm a very hands-on practitioner by nature. Um, and so the in-person work really fills that for me. I can get a closer eye on things, um, but.

Obviously with Zoom that that hands-on component is taken away from me. Um, the beautiful thing about my Zoom clients though is that the majority of them have helpers with them in the room. And so you have 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: hands somebody's your hands. I have, 

Stephanie Comella: yes. Very helpful. Yeah. And, and it's really like honed in on my verbal teaching skills versus just relying on my hand.

'cause usually in the studio it's actually quite. Silent, I'm tactilely, queuing, queuing or using the equipment to provide the inputs and feedback. Um, as you know, like that's a faster input. Faster output. Um, so when I'm on Zoom, it's all verbal and then I'm teaching that helper on the other side of the screen to be my hands, like, Hey, put your hand here, place pressure here, move it, move their leg in this way.

Or, or whatever. Whatever is needed. Yeah, which is really honed in on my verbal skills. But then also it's been kind of interesting 'cause I will teach the person on the other side of the screen pretty much exactly how I would teach my clinicians when they take my courses. So like if I'm describing in like, Hey, hey, you're gonna set up an exercise like this.

I would describe it in. Pretty much the same way I would teach them how I would in that course. To answer your question, not to like get too far away from your question to answer your question. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Well, hold on. I, you just said something that I wanna go back to because I think what you said. No, no, no, no, no. I just, I think you said something interesting.

I wanna bring the audience's attention to it is. Stop treating your clients like they don't understand things. Right? And I love that you teach people like you would teach a teacher, which I think is awesome for two reasons. People learn the way they individually learn, and sometimes people in this industry overcomplicates things and is not helpful to teachers.

So I found it's helped me be better teacher to teacher. And also a better teacher to humans. Would you agree? Yeah, 

Stephanie Comella: yeah. Yeah. And I would even say on the other side of that is like, I don't over, like in my courses I try, I tell them exactly, I say This is exactly how I explain it to my clients. And so therefore you can explain it this way to your clients when you go back into your clinic or studio and it's like, yeah, we can like Serus anterior all, it was so funny.

Someone, um. Sorry, this is like getting a little bit of a, I I love 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: a sidebar. Hello. Have you met me? There's 20 sidebars. Always one of, 

Stephanie Comella: one of my, one of my people, one of my clients. She was like, I don't understand all this Harry Potter lingo. Serus, interior Sist, like, whatever. I don't speak Harry Potter.

And that got me, I'm a Harry Potter fan. That's hysterical. She's like, she's like, I love what you said. You said armpit muscle. I understand armpit muscle. And I'm like, great. Let's just call it the armpit muscle. Like we don't need to. Well, whatever, whatever, whatever resonates. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: I, I also think, you know. I just stepped away from teaching a course on scoliosis, and what the teacher said was, wow, this makes a lot more sense.

It's, if you can't explain something simply, that means you don't truly understand it. Right. And you know, talking about language we use is, is important to clarify what we mean. 'cause Stephanie might mean something completely different than me with one word, but I would always ask Stephanie, Hey, what do you mean by that?

Rather than assuming Stephanie's wrong, it doesn't know shit. Right? Mm-hmm. So I love that you do that and it brings, it makes people part of the process. And dare I say, I've been doing this for 23, 24 years. My clients over Zoom, I think have made the most progress. 

Stephanie Comella: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think there's like, you know, at the beginning of COVID, as you said, it was kind of like very stressful.

You have a whole different operation. There's a learning curve with Zoom. And people having to Yeah. Move their own body around now. Like, I'm not gonna be the one to place the foot. And, um, all of that. But with that came so many amazing things. Like, like, yes, they have to move their own body around. Yes.

They have to learn, they have to be able to articulate things to their helper. If they have a helper, they had to invest in a home setup, which. Finally, fucking finally, right? Yeah. They had, now I started. Well, wouldn't it 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: be easier if there was just a quick fix? Like, I love when people are like, oh, I have a client with ms.

What should I do? And I'm like, well, first of all, take my course. But second of all, it's, there's not a magic exercise for people. It's so, I love that you, something I love about the work that you do, Steph is. Putting the ownership on the client as well. You need your setup. This is what you need. And I think you do a very good job about making it accessible for people so they can do it.

Because it's not easy. And I wish there was a magic bullet. I wish there was one exercise I could give my clients. I say to them, listen, if there was one exercise, I'd have a lot more time and a lot more money. Yeah. Yeah. 

Stephanie Comella: I think the beauty too of Zoom was, and, and also for like you were saying with this autonomy was.

We, I started recording all of my sessions. I, and I don't know what impetus that was, but I started recording everything and then basically I just said, in between sessions, do the recording again. So they had literally no excuse, not, you know, outside of time and maybe energy. They had no excuse, like all of the resources and tools I had provided for them, they were able to replicate everything at home.

They had the recording, they had the note. Um, they have the tools, the setup, everything. So yeah. But 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: you also do a good job on motivating and keeping people hopeful because we can give people everything they need. And listen, I'm hard on our neuro studio teachers, whenever they say to me, my client's not doing their homework.

I said, well, you gave them shitty homework. Yeah, I put it on the teacher because it is so hard. It is so hard to recover from a stroke, a spinal cord injury deal with, uh, progressive disease. So when they're not doing it, I think it wasn't impactful enough. You know, and I like how you really, uh, make that a priority.

Yeah. So 

Stephanie Comella: I always say, Meghann, and I think we have a very similar philosophy on all of this, is like if your client's not performing in the way you want them to, it's not their fault. It is most likely the clinicians. Um, it's on the onus of the clinician to find the right input, the right motivation, the right strategy and and program so that they perform in the way, you know, whatever that is, is being a teacher's hard?

Yeah. Yeah. It's an art and, and like, I think, I don't think they teach that enough in. And it's like we have all these like fancy degrees and certification and stuff, all that, those soft skills are not taught 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: well. That's education. My, and that's part of my, that's what my doctorate is in, is using different models of education and movement arena.

Because I see so many people who are told they're not smart, not good movers, not this, and it's. No, they just, it was not geared to a way they could receive the information. They're speaking Greek to people. 

Stephanie Comella: Mm-hmm. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: So again, the Harry 

Stephanie Comella: Potter. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. There you go. Speaking Harry Potter. But the, you know. I love your approach.

And so going back to the original question, so guys, Stephanie does these in-person intensives in the summer. So if you're listening with a, uh, spinal cord injury specifically in other neuro conditions, you know, you can reach out, get on her wait list for a intensive and do, um, zoom. Right now I am pretty much 85% Zoom, but I travel a lot to teach.

I have a lot of in-person clients, so we do in-person and a zoom combination. But there's also clients I just see on Zoom fully recovered or recovering from a stroke. So are you gonna keep that model for now? Are you making any changes? 

Stephanie Comella: 100%. No. I will absolutely keep the Zoom model. Like, no. Yeah, I love that.

I don't even know if I need to further explain. Like it's just No, yeah. You, it makes, it makes us, yeah, it makes us accessible to people all over the world, you know? And if it's. If it's a weekly session or if it's more of a consulting role, I do that too. So like people will log like you. I think people will log in with their practitioner as a team.

Like a do. Oh yes, I 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: do about five coaching calls a day. Yeah, that's what, that's what I find I do the most, but I still love working with one-to-one clients even all these years in, and that's another thing what's important to me guys, about education. Is, yes, I teach a lot of these courses, but I still see patience.

Stephanie teaches courses, but she also sees patience. I believe that is critical. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. I say like, you gotta stay in the trenches. Like you gotta stay in touch with the people. And I'm learning things every single session. Like I say this all the time, my student, you know, students are the best, uh, teachers.

And I will say I learn a lot with the Zoom work, um, specifically like. More like floor based and like low equipment and all that kind of stuff. And queuing, I learn a lot of queuing. The in-person work teaches me a different, whole different set of skills. And oftentimes the people that I'm teaching in CL in my courses are in-person hands-on.

I mean, the Zoom I think is still relatively pe not a lot of people are doing that. And so, um, when I'm in clinic or when I'm in course, I need to be able to teach still that in-person. Work as well. So, yeah, it's good to, I think it's good to have the both, like both are, both are great for the client and both are great for, for me too.

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. From a business standpoint and from a client standpoint. Yeah. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: And the other benefit of it is, you know, the cerebellum models I developed are great for Zoom. So if you guys are interested in that, I'll put in the show notes, the course or reteach that. And I'm also gonna put in all Stephanie's in-person courses, if you want more tools to working with spinal cord injuries.

Um, and wanna be in person. I'll definitely check out those courses. So thanks. I'm gonna get to question two. Okay. And I'm kind of excited to hear your thoughts on this. Eh, I don't like these podcasts to be overly technical 'cause we have courses for that and we talk about that shit all day long. But something that I see specifically in stroke and spinal cord injury is the difficulty in finding a tribe.

How I just clean it. Mm-hmm. So how do you guide your, let's just talk about spinal cord injury, because I know that you're not a one trick pony, but that is kind of your bread and butter, your expertise. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah, absolutely. So that's fair.

Meghann Koppele Duffy: I wanna get a good answer from you. So I need to ask a good question, and I think what I really wanna ask is how can we encourage. Other practitioners, doctors, physical therapists, OTs, to not make it so difficult for people to find a tribe. 

Stephanie Comella: That's the question I wanna ask. Are you, are you saying, are you saying our clients to have a community or are you saying the clinicians to have 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: a community?

I initially was gonna make it about the clients, but I think a, a limiting factor to finding a tribe of clinicians, a team, 'cause I believe it takes a village, is impeded by the lack of communication among professionals. 

Stephanie Comella: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um,

okay. Say what you wanna say. This is a great, yeah, it's a great question because I'm still honestly, very much struggling with my both professional community and then also creating a community. You know, on Zoom you don't have that hub for your clients to just like. They're not talking in the waiting room, or they're not talking in the lobby or whatever.

Um, there, there isn't that. So I'm trying to figure out how to create a, a virtual space for all my people. I recently started clumping like clients together in a text thread. That's been kind of my thing. And then they've been kind of going back and forth on, Hey, how did you set this? 'cause they're all doing similar, like, kind of similar stuff.

And they're like, oh, I, you know, I had my friend build me this dowel. Like thing. And so they're kind of sharing ideas on how they're doing that. That's kind of the beginnings of it. I don't, we'll see where that goes. Um, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: and listen, it's like. Maybe a lot. There's people who like support groups and people who don't.

So I'm talking less about the support group. I love that you're connecting people like, Hey, what setup did you use? How did you overcome this? But sometimes those become like in a big group, like a dumpster fire where people just pile on bad stuff. And our clientele, the neuro studio and my specific, that's not what they're there for.

The where I really wanna get this dialogue to go is when somebody goes to pt. Then they see their doctor, then they see someone like you and they're like, I'm confused. You're telling me to do this. I'll give MS. For example, all a lot of their doctors and PTs are telling them to stretch. And I'm like, yeah, that's exactly what I don't want you to do for your spasticity.

So how can we as practitioners, lead from the front and do a, how do you handle a conversation like that when, oh, I'm confused. My doctor told me this. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. Okay. I lit, I really just had a conversation actually recently. Um, so in Bend, Oregon outdoor activity is a massive part of our culture. And so out like, um, so there's a local organization called Organ Adaptive.

Sports, they're amazing. They do, um, winter sports and they do summer sports, particularly in summer. They do mountain biking, adopted mountain biking. Nice. Yeah. So I headed out to one of their recent mountain biking camps just to kind of see how things go. And I came to this realization that a lot of us have the same mission, right?

Like empowerment and getting this person to do things in life that they want to do and participate in life. Like I think period, whatever that looks like. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. 

Stephanie Comella: We are just on different parts of that spectrum, right? So I might be before or even concurrent to someone getting back to a wreck sport. And so having that understanding say, Hey, we're not competing at all here.

Like we are just different pieces to this person's. Journey. And I wanna make that also very clear, uh, in and in my courses, I have recently started to have more acute PTs, inpatient PTs, outpatient PTs, neuro specialist, neuro specialists, whatever that means. Pilates teachers, yoga teachers, caretakers, have come also to my courses.

And at the beginning of the course, I literally map out like what is our person's journey? In, well in in recovery and then maybe eventually wellness. And where does each person in that course who's attending, where does each person enter that person's journey? And it just shows this like beautiful cascading effect.

Of how we're all not, we're not competing, like I'm not competing against a physical therapist to say who is better or who has got better ideas. It's just we are at different entry points and how can we support each other? How can someone upstream plant seeds that makes my job and that person's experience better downstream.

Right. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. And I think everybody's saying that, but nobody's doing it. Mm-hmm. So what I want the audience to hear is. What I want you guys to take away from this is one thing Stephanie said. We all have the same goals. We all want people to move better. Stop thinking that you are gonna be the reason why be a part of it.

And at the end of the day, I always say to my clients. Yeah, did that feel good? Did that work? Then do this. You can also do this to give people choices, so I love that you're inviting everybody into the conversation. And if you are a practitioner who works with spinal cord injuries. Going to Stephanie's course and learning from her doesn't diminish your light or what you are doing.

Um, we can all kind of learn and share and, and grow with each other. Um, that's one of the reasons why I'm having all, not all of it, but a, a majority of the authors from the book is everybody's talking about abundance mindset and lifting each other up, but I'm not seeing it. Mm. Mm-hmm. So you, me, all the other teachers and the people listening to this, I'm preaching to the choir.

You know, I'm talking to an audience who kind of, yeah. Start with it can start with us. It can start with us. Well, 

Stephanie Comella: I, I, and I think it starts with having these conversations, like you said, and starts with just having conversations with people. Like I just, I love that you have started a podcast. I wanted to.

But, you know, thing, things are thinking in life right now. But, um, I think yeah, having conversations, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: you will, when you're ready and want to, I wanted to have the right idea for it. 

Stephanie Comella: What'd you say? Yeah. I just, I just wanna be guests on podcasts, I think. I 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: think that's fine. I mean, the reason, listen, the reason I started this podcast was I was sick of the lack of critical thinking.

And if I wanted to see the change, I, that's kind of who I am. I'm like, all right, well, I guess I'll fuck. You know, I don't know if, and I have no attachment to the outcome, it's also helping me clear my language out as I'm writing my dissertation and really trying to facilitate change. So selfishly, guys, is, can I be more concise?

Can I be clearer with my intentions? Because to reach my goals, but I didn't wanna do a podcast for a long time. It's like I, I feel like aren't people sick of my fucking voice already? I mean, you'll laugh at this. My sister, who is older than me, I'd like to point out, hi Kim. I'm sure you're listening right now.

She listened. It was like such an honor. She was like, I listened to a bunch of your podcasts. I'm like, which one? She's like, um, I think it was like the first seven. I'm like. In a row. And she's like, yeah, I was walking around the track during one of Anthony's baseball games and I'm like, Kim, with all due, that is way too much Meghann.

She's like, I know. I felt like hungover after. So it was, it's it. But what was interesting is that it resonated with, my sister is not a movement professional. Mm. So who the fuck knows where we're gonna end up? And I think you having a lot of important things to say, Stephanie, but there's no rush. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah.

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah, everybody's still gonna be waiting and listening. When you're ready to fucking say it, at least I will be. So you'll have one. You'll have one person listening. 

Stephanie Comella: Fantastic. Share a lot 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: more.

I like share and follow all of it. My God. Oh my God. You 

Stephanie Comella: said, you've said that from the very beginning. Back when I was like a little. A little budding entrepreneur Instagram account. You just, you were the biggest cheerleader, so, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: well, because I know you can do it. You've got the chops, you have the expertise.

You are a engaged person. You're easy to talk to, but you also have the skill to back it up. You know, you study, you learn, and not, you know, I'm not gonna blow smoke up your ass. You know, I've always been very honest with you. Um, but I. I don't see why not. Why not you? 

Stephanie Comella: Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah, I appreciate that.

Thank you. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: But the other not, but that was not the segue I wanted. Um, I, I, what I really also want you to receive is that it's okay to, and everybody else, it's okay to do it your way. Right. I feel like sometimes we feel like. We've gotta do it one way, but also we don't have to always reinvent the wheel too.

You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. And finding that community. So if you work with spinal cord injury, like give zebra fish, neuro, uh, follow, um, comments on some of their posts, share some of their posts. Um, I just, I say this all the time, it like really annoys me guys, is people get frustrated that their social media doesn't take off.

Yet I never see them commenting and supporting other people.

Stephanie Comella: Mm-hmm. And being authentic and just, yeah. But even, I mean, I think, I think one of the biggest things, and this could, we could rub this back to your original question too, about creating community is like, let's just be real. And the best advice that I got when start like. Well, not even starting my Instagram when I was like, okay, I, I, I wanna create a community here I was, I just showed up on my stories and just, and just talks and shared things.

Um, what was on my mind? I called it like Monday Musings. Yeah. Whatever was on my mind. And I saw the biggest growth in my community when I just. Started showing up and sharing and, and people started engaging back a lot more too, when they felt like I was like a real person on the other side. Um, and the biggest compliment that I get now is when people meet me in person or we get on a call and they say, oh, I feel like I already know you.

I'm like, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: well, because you're the same person. Yes. But not everybody is like that. And I know I rub some people the wrong way. Like I say, you don't have to like me. That's not gonna, like your opinion about me doesn't change who I am. But I would prefer if you did like me, I love when people are like, oh, I don't care if people like me bullshit.

Like, I would much prefer you like me. Like, come on. Right. Yeah. But you are, and, uh, you, you know my Shante, right? 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Well, yeah. So she and I, we have her come and speak to our level three teachers every year about social media. And she breaks it down so simply, but it's just like, what are you thinking about?

Like just put it out there. And I always say to people, nobody's really watching. And something she said to me that was, it made me laugh. She goes, Meghann. Uh, social media is not, it's episodic. It's not like Game of Thrones. People aren't waiting for you to drop the next episode. And I was like, what do you mean they're not, I thought they were all waiting for my next post.

And she's like, yeah, nobody cares. It's like, um, family guy where you can just. Pick up and watch an episode and not need background. I was like trying to tell a story on social media. This is back in the day and she's like, you're not Game of Thrones. And it took so much pressure off. 'cause I felt like I had to tell this story and I was like, Ugh, I don't wanna do that.

I know. So, yeah. Anyway, we got, we got off topic on topic. Who the hell cares where we're at right now? 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. But Meghann, you, you bring up a really, really interesting point with like, like either non-communication across our clinician community or even like, like competition, which is really silly 'cause everyone needs help.

Like there's enough, well a lot of people unfortunately, have a scarcity 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: mindset. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. There's enough people to go around that we can help, right. Um, I, yeah, I just started to like not care about that and I just. Started, you know, and especially too, because I don't have a brick and mortar, I think that was helpful personally for me.

Like I don't have a brick and mortar. I am not trying to hoard clients. I'm not trying to like gain more clients, to be honest. Like I'm, I'm doing great. Um, and so when I feel like I don't have any, I don't have a competition either, so like there's no one doing really what I do. So like how can someone like there, it just doesn't exist in even for me.

So I, I much prefer going into other. Like making partnerships with facilities and creating an education, you know, an educational partnership there versus like hoarding information, like saying like, oh, they're gonna compete against me. I don't, I don't know if, I don't know if that was No, you're, I like what kind of mindset that was for me.

But basically I was just like, I don't, why Do you think it was an 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: increased confidence in your skill? 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah, maybe. Yeah. I was like, no one, I mean. And the most nobody's ever gonna be. No. No. Yeah. No one can, no one can be me. And, and, and that was, yeah. I, I, I think I'm like, like I'm not scared of someone. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah.

And you know what's interesting? Like we were just having, it was a discussion question in one of my, uh, courses. And it's always about interprofessional communication and collaboration. Okay, so the school that I'm getting my doctorate at, it's big on nursing, PT, ot, and I said to the professor with all, do I feel like we talk about this a lot, but I'm not seeing any improvement here.

And I think it's also time. A lot of people are so busy. The idea of having to connect with you and, uh, tell you what I did with the client is exhausting. And I don't know if this, let me tell, uh, one strategy I've used is I just say. How can I best support what you are doing in your clinic? So what are you working on?

So this way I can support what you are doing with those clients. And I found that word. How can I support what you guys are doing? I found it like kind of chilled everybody out. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. We're on the same team. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. Well, because in the past I would be like. Yeah. Every time you send them back to my studio, their spasticity and tone is increased.

So I'm so glad you did all these crazy exercises with them, but you made my job harder. I never said that, but I was thinking it. So maybe that's a strategy. I also like Stephanie's strategy of doing, and correct me if I'm misquoting you doing what you do, like you do what you do. 

Stephanie Comella: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I love that.

Yeah. And, and, um, I recently just started, so again, with this adaptive rep organization that I was saying like basically we're, we're starting this partnership. And actually next week I have one, uh, one of their coaches, their mountain biking coaches coming into the studio to see what I do, and then we're gonna see like, how can we again?

Wow. That's gonna be so amazing for the community. Yeah. That'll be great. Yeah. And then I found an amazing craniosacral therapist. She, uh, she. Um, operates in the way that I, I really feel is beneficial. Like the, her style of manual therapy is exactly what I think my clients need. And so we've started to, um, I'll send all my in-person clients when they come for a week intensive.

I send them to her, I write her report, she writes back, we speak the same language. And then, you know, she's always kind of like, oh, what did you find? You know, the day after, you know what observations. And so I send her a report back and we go back and forth and I say it's just been a cool collaboration with her.

Again, we speak the same language, but we have very different skill sets and you know, I, you know, I can like, I try like some cupping stuff, but that it just, she's got the magic hands and so like just that partnership feels so beautiful and. Very. And then you 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: don't have to do that. You've got someone and you can do what you do.

I love this. Yes. Yes. So maybe the answer is find I'll, I'll quote my good friend Daria, who I remember years ago, um, said to me, Meg, just find your tribe. Meaning find your people. Yeah, because for a long time I always felt a little not, I've always been a little bit of a disruptor in the Pilates industry, so not that I felt left out, but didn't feel a part of it, and she just said, find your tribe, to which I had met you and other teachers.

So maybe the answer to the question, to summarize, find your tribe to support your clients, better communication and do what you do. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah, that's a good summary. Yeah. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

Stephanie Comella: Thanks for your, and don't be, and don't be afraid to educate your community if they're not educated in neuro, right? Like, like I, I set aside time, like I went to Emily and I said, Hey, these are things, some things to know about spinal cord injury from a manual therapy standpoint.

Things to consider and she was so appreciative and then got the confidence to then actually start working with my clients, like she had no experience. Is 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Emily the craniosacral person you work with? Yes. Yes. Perfect. Yeah, sorry, excuse 

Stephanie Comella: me. Yeah, no, I just wanna make sure I was following. So I think just making sure that you're like if that person, if that community and that again, like building your, um, building your allied health container, I guess is making sure that everyone also feels comfortable working with your clients too.

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Love it. So let's kind of get out of the spinal cord injury box here and on social media, I have seen you post about your pups who are adorable, uh, look like legends. You know, I'm a, a dog fanatic. Um, but I also notice you have a garden. So I wanna know what were your intentions of starting a garden, but more specifically, have there been any lessons or ex.

Experiences that have come unexpected, that has come out from having a garden. Okay. I'm not starting one, but I'm just, you know, for other people who might be interested. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. I'm gonna try not to like sound too nerdy. Well, no, you said unfiltered, so here we go. Okay. Um, and you get 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: too nerdy. I'll just fall asleep and then you'll notice that talking 

Stephanie Comella: like, I feel like I am so passionate about spinal cord injury, but someone starts talking to me about gardening and plants and I get like even more.

Oh my God, you just got 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: like a horticulture boner. 

Stephanie Comella: Um. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Your leaves went up 

Stephanie Comella: and I don't, I mean, okay. Gosh, there's so many levels to this. When I was living in San Francisco Bay area, I say this all with, with love. I'm born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area. It's a rat race. I someone, it was so sad, like people would ask me what my hobbies were and I literally was like, what?

Like running that my, like, I, I was, and it hobby, I was like, I was like, dang, I don't have, I don't have hobbies that are not. Remote, like work related, like I wanted. And so anyway, so like I moved to Oregon, I moved to Central Oregon. We bought this property. I'm looking this way because this is my backyard right here.

Um, we have two acres of land and I said I'm gonna start a, I, I think there was like a little garden already started here from the previous owner. And I was like, I'm just, I'm gonna roll with this. And, um. I don't do things half-assed like I am all or nothing. And so you put your full 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: ass behind 

Stephanie Comella: it. I put my full ass behind things.

Yes. And so, um, we built like a 50 foot by 20 foot fenced in garden. I built from hand, um, like from scratch, like garden beds and like I went down the rabbit hole of soil research, like soil science. Like irrigation design, like what's the most economical way to do your irrigation? I just like, I loved it because it had nothing to do with work, but it was working my brain in a very intellectual way.

Um, and I kind of joke like I could almost care less about the harvest. It's more, I love the, like, planning, the, like logistics of it all the process. And then I, yeah, the process, and then I kind of just let it go. Like the end result I've realized like I don't really enjoy, I mean, I do enjoy it. So are your 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: vegetables, bro?

Is what that what I'm hearing? Um, 

Stephanie Comella: I wouldn't say I have a super fruitful garden. I mean, mind you, this is my third year and everyone says that gardening really comes to fruition. It becomes fruitful like after your third year. So unintended. Yeah. I'm kind of, yeah, I'm kind of in this like. My first two years were just trial and, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: but I love that you didn't give up with it and then, yeah, and that's what I was just saying about the podcast.

One of my business mentors was like, what are your goals with this? She thought it was one thing and I was like, I just, I wanna enjoy the process. Like, I just think that's so important. So by harvesting plants, you learned how to enjoy the process? Yeah. I think there's so many lessons in life and how we work with our clients and being patient.

I mean, what's been your biggest takeaway from doing? 

Stephanie Comella: From my gardening? 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. 

Stephanie Comella: Um, this year I came to the realization that there comes a point where you can't really control the outcome. And so you kind of just throw your seeds out and do your best, and you water a little bit every day and you pull the dead leaves off, but.

Like, like my broccoli's a dud and I did everything right by textbook. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. But broccoli can make you very gassy, so maybe it's a good thing. Maybe have cauliflower, the crucifers vegetables and I do not get along. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. And so I think so I think just lesson learned like you can do your best, you can.

Sometimes things just, sometimes it's better just buy the broccoli at the store. I don't know. I don't know what kind of life lesson comes. No, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: I figured I, I think that's an amazing lesson. I, it goes for me, right to what you just said is like, I, I say the work we do is like cooking. So if you don't like how the food tastes, it's all about the preparation and my, most of my.

A lot of my mentees, what do I say to them? Step one, what's step one? You're at step seven. We are step one. And I love, I just feel like what you're doing is like how we kind of should approach everything in life. You can't skip steps and if you do, the outcome's gonna be whatever, but whatever. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah. And, and sometimes, sometimes intentionally skipping steps to be like, can I skip?

Skip this step. Test the test it. I love it. Yeah. And then, and then you're like, well, yep. I shouldn't have skipped that step. Like, and so like, yeah. So, oh, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: that's, or maybe you find a step where you're like, oh my God, that was amazing. Yes, I am now the irrigation queen. You know? Who knows? Yeah. 

Stephanie Comella: I oftentimes plant two sets of seeds in different locations and treat, this is so funny.

Like it's Will you a and be tested. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. So, yeah. So. Yeah, it is. My garden is, I say it's not work related, but in so many ways, like I am still a scientist and I'm still testing inputs and still testing. You know, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: you would love my cousin Erin. She lives in Asheville. Her and her husband have a landscape kind of design company, and she's.

She's like amazing with it. She knows exactly where to plant things. 'cause I was like, I wanna put hydrangeas there. She's like, not with that sunlight, so unless you're gonna change where the sun is. And I'm just like, yeah, but I want a hydrangea there. She's like, Meg, it's not gonna grow. Right. And it's just amazing to me how.

We miss the obvious because it's not what we wanna hear. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: yeah. But I want a hydrangea there. 

Stephanie Comella: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I wanna grow broccoli so bad, but I'm just realizing it's not gonna happen. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: What's the problem with broccoli? Is it a tricky one? Well, 

Stephanie Comella: I don't, I don't know because maybe it's a soil. Well 'cause la 'cause actually last year I had a really good broccoli, but, um, I don't know if that was a fluke.

Um, central Oregon where I live. Okay. I literally, where. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Go. I literally just heard, heard because of, you know, I have celiac and there's all this stuff with gluten and I was just advised is to be careful because you know how they rotate crops? 

Stephanie Comella: Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: So, but they were saying they rotate crops because when they grow one year, it doesn't grow good the other year.

Yeah. But what sucks is for someone with celiac. And I'm like, well, and then I was like, oh my God, as soon as you're born, you're dying. I need to not worry about this kind of stuff. But that's who would even know that. 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah, I remember my friend telling me about that. Like she couldn't have oats grown in a field that previously grew wheat.

Right? 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. I mean, come on. It's like too much. Yeah, 

Stephanie Comella: too much to think about. Yeah. And so, yeah. Anyways, my, um, so 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: broccoli this year was a dud, but the process was fun, 

Stephanie Comella: processed fun, and I just made the decision I'm not gonna grow broccoli anymore, which is fine 'cause my carrots are crushing, my kale is crushing my cucumbers.

I love cu cucumbers. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Are they big or little cucumbers? 

Stephanie Comella: Uh, I do pickling cucumbers. Oh, 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: love those. And then I 

Stephanie Comella: grow and then I grow dill. And then, so then I make dill pickles. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: I, I receive gifts. So if you wanna say Away from Dill Pickle 

Stephanie Comella: Fair. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Did you like how I said that? I receive gifts, 

Stephanie Comella: I need to find some plastic.

I'm like, I'm already thinking plastic jars that I can. Seal anyways. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Oh my God, so interesting. Well, Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on today and answering maybe 17 questions, but three big ones. I think the work you do is important. I think the conversation we had, even though we kind of, there is no answer to those questions guys.

I wanted to bring them up because I think we can all, myself included. Be more supportive, be better, and find the ways where you can, you don't have to be everything to everybody. I make it a point to comment on every single one of my mentees posts that I see. So I tell them I didn't comment, I didn't see, and the reason I do that is I want them to know that somebody cares.

Right? So maybe you just do that. Just comment on all your friends' posts. You know it, it's a. It goes a long way. Right, and you know what's interesting is algorithms too, because you know, I have not seen, I actually went to your page and I was like, oh, maybe Stephanie hasn't been posting as much and you have, but for some reason it wasn't coming up on my algorithm because I only look when I'm scrolling.

Literally it's corgis because one of my students, Corey has a Corgi and Beagles because all I do is watch Beagle videos. So if there's ever I'm sending to you right now, if there's ever a post that you put out and you think it's like, just send it to me so I see it. Um, because I can't ask you all to support me if I'm not gonna support you back.

I mean, I can, but that would be Dick.

Hey Steph, I think we lost your sound. Did you just tap something?

So before, um, I let everybody go, um, I'm going to put in the show notes. Some things about Stephanie's workshop, her website where you can find her, what her intensives look like, how she does Zoom sessions, um, because although I do those as well, we all do them differently. So finding a formula that works for you might give you the confidence to do that.

And Steph, did you have to add one more thing? 

Stephanie Comella: Yeah, I just wanted to add one thing because there's a lot of people that say they wanna support you. Or say they do support you, but then feels sort of empty. And I just wanted to say, when I, before we even had published our book, Theo and I, I. I think I texted you and said, Hey, I really wanna take your course.

I haven't taken your course yet because I wanna make sure that I put together my curriculum and I'm not stealing any of your content, either subconsciously or, you know, whatever. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: I don't mean to interrupt. It's not stealing. I didn't invite vent movement, but anyway. 

Stephanie Comella: And you said the exact same thing in the text and you said, whatever it, whatever it is you're concerned about, you're not concerned.

And like that just gave me so much confidence to be like, wow, this girl actually really does. Support other clinicians. And, um, I just wanna say you and the neuro studio, you and Mariska have really been a beacon of light for how I wanted to set up my own business. And I felt like you, I said this from the beginning.

You guys sort of paved the way for me to know what that looks like in the trajectory of building an online business. So thank you for that 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: and thank you. And that is the goal. So, I, I, I. I hope other people have that experience if they didn't let us know how we can do better because, um, I make a lot of mistakes every day.

Um, just to go with what Stephanie said is Yeah. At the nurse to do, we pioneered ways to address spasticity Okay. As more of a protective mechanism and different stuff like that. And why we did that is not to gate keep and be like, this is the neuro studio. It's to actually help people because stretching in the current protocols weren't there.

Now everybody's gonna have their way of dealing with spasticity. But again, understanding where it came from. And Stephanie, you always like, anytime, you know you've taken a bunch of our courses on Bassett, you always. Um, a credit in a way that's appropriate. You don't have to say my name, you can just teach spasticity correctly.

To me, I would rather that than someone try to reinvent the wheel and make it their own, just teach it correctly. And so I, I really love how you have done that, but put your own spin on things because the reason we all have the same goals. My approach is different from Mariska's, is different from yours.

So, um, thank you for reaching out, having those difficult conversations, and we always get to a good place, right? So again, hopefully you guys can hear this discussion and maybe ask something from someone or let them know they didn't do the right thing and give them the opportunity to do better. Because I really do believe all the people listening to this and practitioners.

Steph, I'll have you say it. We all have the what? 

Stephanie Comella: We all have the, oh, we all have the same goal for our clients and for, yeah, for our people. 

Meghann Koppele Duffy: Yeah. Yeah. So thank you guys so much. I will see you on the next episode up, three questions. We'll have some fun, some critical thinking, probably some inappropriate language, but that's how we roll.

​