Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for EPISODE #178 with Dr. Brian Stenzler,[i] M.S., D.C. the CEO of Dream Wellness on his new book “DREAM Wellness: 5 Keys to Raising Kids for a Lifetime of Physical and Mental Health” where the DREAM in the title of his book stands for (Diet, Relaxation, Exercise, Adjustment and Mental Wellness).

Watch the interview on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/gIEnOiH1fUM 

Take the DREAM SCORE Assessment here https://dreamwellness.com/dreamscore

In this interview you will learn:

✔︎ How healthy you are, according to Dr. Stenzler’s DREAM SCORE Assessment.

✔︎ Recommendations to improve areas of weakness from the DREAM SCORE with tips from the DREAM Wellness book.

✔︎The 5 Keys for DREAM Health and why they are important for everyone.

I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources, and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom, a parent, or in the corporate environment. The purpose of this podcast is to take the fear out of this new discipline that backs our learning with simple neuroscience to make it applicable for us all to use right away, for immediate results.

I first met Dr. Stenzler in 2014 when I was at a conference in San Diego with brain training and business expert, John Assaraf, and I was cutting it close to making it to the airport on time on the last day of the event. Dr. Stenzler was standing next to me, and offered to give me a lift so I could stay a bit longer and not have to worry about the time. When you meet him, you will see that this is who he is. Offering to take me to the airport (when we had only just met that minute) is just a small testament to who he is. Although he had been helping thousands of people with his chiropractic work (at the time he was President of the California Chiropractic Association) when the coronavirus global pandemic hit our world in March 2020, he knew that his book was urgent, and important, and he made it a priority.

In 1996, Dr. Stenzler and his business partner Dr. Gregg Baron first trademarked the term D.R.E.A.M. to make it easy for people to remember what a wellness lifestyle entailed and in 2021 he published his book, DREAM WELLNESS to bridge the gap from the current reactive system of “healthcare” toward a proactive model of wellness by providing the tools and venue for one’s journey. To give you some history on Dr. Stenzler, by the year 2003, he had two successful DREAM Wellness locations on Long Island, New York. His unique holistic approach towards helping people express their true perfection has enabled DREAM Wellness to expand to the west coast where there are currently three thriving locations in San Diego (Del Mar, Pacific Beach and Santee). By offering a wide range of holistic and wellness services under one roof and traveling around the globe to consult with businesses and organizations, Dr. Stenzler is truly living his DREAM.

He is the picture of health that you can see for yourself in the picture of him in the show notes that was taken just last Wednesday when he was attending a conference at a hotel not far from my house. I ran out to say hello, we exchanged books, and in a short conversation, Dr. Stenzler was there to offer ideas and suggestions, saying “how can I help you” with what you are working on.  I’m honored to call him one of my friends and love the work that he is doing to inspire physical and mental health in our next generation.  Without further ado, let’s meet Dr. Brian Stenzler.

Welcome Dr. Stenzler, so good to see you again.

Brian speaks, and I ask “Hey, how was your conference? Did you meet all the people you needed to meet and accomplish what you were looking to do?”

INTRO Q: Dr. Stenzler, I like to open up with a question to get to know you better, outside of what I want to ask you about your book, and the work you are doing with DREAM Wellness and I found this question in “The Author’s Journey” section of your book where you mention that your vision for your career changed 180 degrees from wanting to be a movie producer, to finding your career in chiropractics. Can you explain how you made this shift that brought you to where you are today? Making movies does sound exciting!  

Q1: Dr. Stenzler, we first met around 7 years ago, and although we kept in touch through social media, where I can see what’s important to you in your life (raising a healthy son) with your wife, Brooke, I’ve got to ask you, are there ever times when you find it difficult to take the healthy route for your family? I’m asking because my nickname at home, given to me by my two girls, is “turmeric” because they say I put turmeric in everything. I really don’t but they are poking fun at me with the path I choose, and never veer off from. Are there any times that you give in, throw up your hands and say “eat the candy” or whatever it is?

Q2: I began reading your book this weekend, and it’s a manual, over 400 pages, so I can’t say I’ve finished it yet, but I did have a chance to complete the DREAM SCORE ASSESSMENT[ii] that you introduce in chapter 4-2. I took the test over the weekend, and knew I was going to get a high score because health is my #1 value that I make non-negotiable. I was just surprised that you mentioned you don’t often see scores like this.

What typical scores do you see?

I mentioned to you some of the things that I do to keep health at the forefront, and it’s something that I know makes me weird and something I hear jokes about because I just don’t ever bend on health because it’s really important to me.

Here’s a story for you to put this into perspective. I volunteered at my kids’ school with this other parent to order food for the class, (we had to go order it, and bring it to their school picnic) so we had to go through the drive through of 4 different fast food places. I’m not kidding, I was sweating. I’ve never ordered food this way, and there were crispy fries and all these types of fries, what on the earth happened to plain burgers and fries? The other parent laughed and said to me “I didn’t think there was such a thing as someone who’s never ordered fast food” and it was the first time I think I was embarrassed about my healthy lifestyle.

Q2B)When I hear “everything in moderation” I cringe because I think it’s a slippery slope. Is there such a thing as being too intense with health? What do you think? 

Q2C) What does DREAM stand for, why did you choose these specific staples and what do you think someone a consistent score in the 90s all the time, like you?

Q2D) What about someone who receives a low score? I know that often it’s just because health is put last on the list, ahead of other priorities that are also important. How can someone make the changes needed to put health first when their day is already packed tight? What are some easy ways to kick it up a notch and see improvements?

Q2E) How did you intend the assessment be used with the book? Why is it important to have both the book/manual with your assessment score?

Q3: I do mention these top 5 health staples[iii] on the podcast all the time and am constantly looking for what experts who can move the needle towards health. I mentioned to you the things that I do to put health first, and like you with your book, when the pandemic hit in March 2020, I grabbed my husband who needed a lifestyle change with all the travel he was doing for work, and we made a commitment to hike every morning—something we have kept up for almost 2 years now. Each of these health staples requires a commitment of time and energy. For someone who scores high on the DREAM ASSESSMENT, what do you think it is that you are doing from your DREAM staples (Diet, Relaxation, Exercise, Adjustment and Mental Wellness). that gives you this high score? What are your areas of improvement?

Q3B) If you take a quick look at the TOP 5 health staples I’ve chosen to focus on for this podcast, I think I see 3 of your staples that are missing from mine, (relaxation, adjustment and mental wellness) and I’m going to be addressing 2 them on the podcast after yours. What do you do to sharpen these 2 areas?

Q4: I loved seeing the sense of urgency you saw to release this book when the coronavirus pandemic shut down the world. I also saw an urgency to speed things up at this time and see how we could take the situation and create something positive out of it. What opportunities did you create, or door that were opened for you with this book?

Q5: What are your final thoughts, or anything important that you think we might have missed? 

Q6: For people who want to get the book and take the dream score, is this the best place? https://www.dreamwellnessbook.com/booksite

I will put all of the links for people to follow you in the show notes and want to thank you for your time today to explain your DREAM Wellness book and vision for physical and mental health for our future generations. I say for those listening, just take the DREAM SCORE assessment and get the book to make the improvements that come back to you after the assessment. I did see some areas of improvement that I can make, and know there’s always room to hone in on ways to take our health to higher levels so we can experience those high levels of productivity.

Thanks for everything today, Dr. Stenzler!

FOLLOW DR. STENZLER

Website https://dreamwellness.com/ceo

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/brianstenzler

Twitter https://twitter.com/DREAMWellness

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drbrianstenzler/?hl=en

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-stenzler-1920a98/

FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  

Website https://www.achieveit360.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/ 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  

Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 

RESOURCES:

The Passion Test https://www.thepassiontest.com/

Dr. Stenzler on San Diego Morning Extra News https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159449757334038&set=a.10150090339104038

The 100 Year Lifestyle by Eric Plasker, D.C. https://www.amazon.com/100-Year-Lifestyle-2nd-Breakthrough/dp/1475084609

REFERENCES:

[i] https://dreamwellness.com/ceo

[ii] Dream Score Assessment https://dreamwellness.com/dreamscore

[iii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast BONUS EPISODE on “The Top 5 Health Staples” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/bonus-episode-a-deep-dive-into-the-top-5-health-staples-and-review-of-seasons-1-4/