In this unique episode of The Energy Blueprint, I’m speaking with a man named Evans L., who shares his profound story of personal transformation through debilitating fatigue, physical symptoms, and pain beyond what most of us can imagine… to living a rich, full life with a level of energy and functionality he couldn’t have dreamed of just a few years ago.
I was reluctant to do a podcast featuring someone who was not a health expert. As you know, in The Energy Blueprint podcast, I feature skilled specialists and clinicians to give you evidence-based tips for improving your life.
But one of our Energy Blueprint coaches (Oliver Selway) reached out to me about one of his clients, who he told me has such a powerful story of transformation that he thought it would be wonderful to feature on the podcast.
Not having done this before, I had a bit of trepidation about how it would go, but I trusted Coach Olly and gave it a go. He checked with Evans, and he was open to doing it.
Midway through the interview, I understood why Coach Olly suggested doing this. Evans’ story of health transformation is so compelling and incredible that I knew it had the power to help inspire others to achieve similar transformations in their own lives.
To give you a small glimpse of what you’ll hear…
Evans’ parents were told at birth that he would never walk or talk, and he was later (at age 10) diagnosed with a very rare genetic disease called Escobar syndrome. From there, his story takes almost unbelievable and painful twists and turns through life-threatening medical issues, botched surgeries, severe lack of energy, and debilitating pain.
But the most important piece of his account is the key things he’s implemented in recent years that have gotten him out of bed and living life fully!
His story is incredibly powerful and inspiring, and I encourage you to listen in, particularly if you’re struggling with your symptoms.
Table of Contents
In this podcast, Evans and I discuss:
- His lifelong journey—from diagnosis to surgeries to living with chronic pain and rage—with the congenital illness Escobar syndrome or multiple pterygium syndrome
- A life-changing dream that kept him hanging on in the midst of severe mental, physical, and emotional pain
- His journey with brain retraining and how he was able to change his thought patterns for a more positive, pain-free life
- How Evans found The Energy Blueprint and incorporated the lessons into his healing plan to create more physical health along with more patience, gratitude, and healthier boundaries, too!
- Future plans now that he has regained so much of his life from fatigue, migraines, pain, and anger
- His humble advice for anyone else who’s experiencing what seem to be insurmountable symptoms or health problems
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Transcript
Ari: Hey, this is Ari. Welcome back to the Energy Blueprint Podcast. For today’s show, I have something that I’ve never done before. Instead of interviewing some kind of health expert, functional medicine expert, nutrition expert, brain expert, something like that, we are featuring, I am featuring, someone who was recommended to me by one of our coaches, our lead coach, Oliver Selway, who is basically one of his clients who has gone through the Energy Blueprint program and has a profound personal story of going through very difficult times and making a huge amount of progress through different methods.
Oliver basically reached out to me and suggested that I do this very atypical podcast on this subject because Evans, and the subject of today’s interview is named Evans. His personal story is so interesting, and basically, we thought that there might be some nuggets of gold in here that may serve other people who are on a similar path, on a similar journey, going through similar kinds of symptoms and difficulties. We thought it would be great for you to hear from Evans what has helped him on his journey the most. With that said, I have one more thing before I introduce our guest, Evans, and that is you might be hearing some bird noises in the background right now.
Evans: Thank you, Ari, for having me. So appreciate it.
Evans’ story
Ari: Yes, so I would love to start out by having you talk about your story basically from the beginning. Talk about your early life and some of the health challenges that you dealt with from a very early age.
Evans: Okay, all right. Now, I’m going to let you know something right from the very beginning. I’m going to start with the brain retraining that I’ve done and let you know that through the brain retraining that I’ve done, we don’t talk about symptoms, and by doing that, it’s really helped me. Since I am on this, I am going to talk some about symptoms.
Ari: You’re going to violate the rules.
Evans: I’ve done a little bit because I know that it’s going to help other people.
Ari: Thank you for doing that.
Evans: If I don’t go into total detail, and you want me to, let me know that.
Ari: Okay.
Evans: I’m just going to hit the highlights. Okay, great. When I was born, I came out of the womb, and they knew something was wrong. There was an issue. They pretty much told my parents that I would not walk, I would not talk ever. I did. I started talking and started walking at, I think, 14 months. I have a wonderful brain. It was just my body or something going on with it. Then around 10 years old, I went to–
Ari: Hold on, Evan, sorry. One second. Can you tell me a little bit more details about what they thought was wrong with you or what the diagnosis was or that sort of thing?
Evans: Yes. They didn’t know. They didn’t know I’m allowed to get to that.
Ari: Okay. Go ahead.
Evans: That’s great though. Yes. For 10 years, we didn’t know what I had. We just saw it.
Ari: They saw it in what way?
Evans: All my joints. All my joints are fused. I can’t straighten them. Every joint I have is fused. I can turn my neck like this. I have very limited range. My every joint I have, my knees, my ankles, my waist, everything.
Ari: Wow. You still were you still were walking at 14 months?
Evans: Yes.
Ari: Beginning to walk. I’m assuming now you’re able to fully walk around. What what’s your level of functionality?
Evans: Now?
Ari: Yes.
Evans: Oh, yes. I’m playing pickleball.
Ari: Wow. That’s amazing.
Evans: I played baseball, softball. Yes. That’s wide.
Ari: Okay. Let’s go back to 10 years old. Sorry. I was just curious.
Evans: No, that’s fine.
Ari: You just showed me. For people listening, you can’t see the visual here, but he’s got very limited ranges of motion in all of his joints. I’ve never seen that. I’m curious to what extent there is a high level of or a normal level of function in moving around as an adult. Go ahead. Sorry to divert us for a second. Take us back to 10 years.
Evans: That’s okay. That’s all right. I was living in Texas at the time. In Dallas, Texas, there’s Scottish Rite Hospital. There, they diagnosed me with Escobar syndrome, also known as multiple pterygium syndrome.
Ari: Multiple pterygium. Is pterygium spelled P-T-Y?
Evans: P-T-E-R-Y-G-I-U–
Ari: I think you’re right, P-T-E-R, but that’s an eye condition, right? That’s pterygium on the eyes? It’s a different kind of pterygium?
Evans: Different pterygium.
Ari: What is that referring to?
Evans: Basically, that every joint is limited. It’s in range. Then my spine, I have scoliosis, and several of my vertebrae were fused at birth. Instead of growing up, I started curving. When I reached–
Ari: Both forward or sideways or both?
Evans: I’ll just show you. When I’m standing.
Ari: Yes. That would be considered a very [inaudible 00:08:16] scoliosis.
Evans: I’m going forward and over. When my spine reached a 45-degree angle, the doctors went in, and they couldn’t straighten the spine because of the fused vertebrae. They took a rib out. It’s called an anterior spinal fusion. They cut a rib out and then attached it into my spine so pretty much kept it from moving anymore. I am the height I was then now. I’m 4’11”.
Ari: How tall are you now?
Evans: I’m 4’11”.
Ari: 4’11”, that was the height you were at 10 years old?
Evans: At 15. That’s when I had the surgery.
Ari: Tell me about Escobar syndrome. What is that exactly? That is synonymous with this multiple pterygium syndrome, same thing?
Evans: Yes, another name. I don’t know much about it, Ari.
Ari: I’ve never heard of it, but you would think if anybody knows about it, it’s got to be you.
Evans: I’ll just tell you that the doctors, it took them a while to diagnose it.
Ari: It sounds like it’s an extremely rare thing that even they don’t have much familiarity with.
Evans: Basically, they told me that I was the first one they’ve ever come across who’s ever been able to walk because of the things they’re able to do because I was born in 1976. They said we think that a lot of people who had this, they didn’t make it because they didn’t get the medical help, and so they died. My form wasn’t as severe as others because my brain was not affected. My brothers said I was [laughs] but no. Just jok–
Ari: That’s what big brothers are for.
Evans: Exactly, but it’s basically in the body. It is nothing none of my muscles relax. I’m always tight. I’m always [inaudible 00:11:03]
Ari: Yes. I just want to mention one quick thing for those listening who weren’t able to see the visual of Evan’s Spine here because he just stood up and showed us his body posture here. When he said that his form was not severe, that’s apparently relative to people who typically have this syndrome. I want people who are listening who can’t see the visual here to understand he has a very severe curvature of the spine. You’ve got this physical tightness in the joints, lack of mobility of the joints, tightness of the muscles. I have many questions here but take me through what seems to be the natural next layer of the story for you.
Evans: During the surgery, they had to deflate my right lung to get in there. When they tried to inflate, it didn’t really work. From the age of 15, for many, many years, I was sick a lot, and I went to the hospital a lot.
Ari: Sick in terms of proneness to respiratory infections or sick in terms of what?
Evans: Respiratory pneumonia, bronchitis, you name it. [laughs]
Ari: Did they get the lung inflated? Did it naturally inflate on its own or it stayed?
Evans: Right now, I have about 33% lung capacity.
Ari: 33% of average or 33% of what?
Evans: Of abnormal.
Ari: Abnormal, okay. You have basically one lung, am I understanding that correctly? One functional lung?
Evans: Yes, but they said that it’s because of my shape. All my organs and everything is jammed together.
Ari: It’s what that one side is being compressed based on the structure of your spine and the torsion and the sloping forward. It’s compressing the organs in a way that’s preventing the lung from inflating.
Evans: Yes. I like the torsion. That’s awesome. You are definitely a medical person, I like it. Nice.
Ari: Take me to the next layer of this story.
Evans: Then that’s really when the pain increased. I didn’t notice that I had much pain I guess because I’m me. I live with me, so I don’t really know anything else. That’s really when the pain in the back and the spine started, and it went up.
Ari: With the lung not being able to function properly?
Evans: No, more of the spine when they put the rib in there, and they stopped the growth.
Ari: I can imagine.
Evans: The surgery worked. It did what they wanted it to do, but I think the sensory signals and everything in my body, they went haywire. Especially with the surgery because they cut me from right here all the way in the back. They call it a baseball flap.
Ari: They cut you from the front of the ribs like the sternum area all the way around to the spine?
Evans: All the way back. Yes. They had put me in a mold. They made a mold, so it would hold me in place. I wore that for about a year. I could take it off, but they wanted me to have it on so I didn’t do any damage.
Ari: Tell me again, really quick, what they were trying to accomplish with that surgery. What was the problem they identified, and what were they trying to solve?
Evans: Stop the scoliosis.
Ari: They were trying to stop the scoliosis. Okay. They clearly, obviously did not succeed in that.
Evans: No, they did.
Ari: They did succeed in that. Okay. They succeeded meaning that they feel, or you feel that your scoliosis would be much worse had they not done that?
Evans: Yes.
Ari: Okay. There would have been some really maybe life threatening outcome of that scoliosis that it would have been so severe that you can’t function at all. Am I understanding that correctly?
Evans: Correct. Yes. It’s at a 45-degree angle now. It would have kept going.
Ari: I see. They halted that progression at 45 degrees.
Evans: They did. They did.
Ari: Very good. Maybe you’re here today because of that.
Evans: Oh, definitely. Yes. That’s one of the reasons. Yes. That’s one of.
Ari: The consequence also was, that’s when the pain really started to accelerate for you.
Evans: Yes, the pain and all the infections that I got, it just drained me many, many years.
Ari: Was that the only surgery you had? Did you have more surgeries?
Evans: With that, that’s the only one I had on the spine.
Ari: Were there more surgeries later on in your life?
Evans: Oh yes.
Ari: I don’t know if that’s jumping ahead. You take me to the next layer of the story because it seems natural for you.
Evans: Okay. All right. I had the surgery in 1991 when I was 15. Then I was in college in 1996. I was amazed I was in college, but just because it was so hard to do everything, it just took so much energy. Then in 1996, I just crashed. My body just said no more. I had to drop out of college, and I started sleeping about 18 to 20 hours a day. I did that for about a year to two years. 1997 to 1998, ’99. I don’t remember much of those years, the brain fog, the pain level was up. I don’t remember. Then I went to many doctors, nothing was helping.
Then finally in 2002, I started seeing a naturopathic doctor, and he started me on supplements. I was seeing more improvements than I had. It did help some, and I’m thankful for at least that. In 2006 or really 2005, they found a pterygium ganglioglioma tumor in my neck, and they thought it was in my carotid, artery, but it turned out to be on my vagus nerve. When they went to go get it, they cut the nerve on my right side. As you can see, I don’t know if you can see it. You see it?
Ari: Yes, I see the scar.
Evans: By cutting that nerve, it paralyzed my right vocal cord.
Ari: Whoa.
A surgery gone wrong
Evans: I felt like that for, ooh, wow, that was 2006. I think I had my first surgery to help repair, to at least get to talking, I think in 2009. That was hard for me. I’d already been through so much, but I sang all the time. I could hear the angels singing in heaven. I could hear that and constantly. Then after the surgery, I couldn’t hear that anymore. I couldn’t hear any pitch. That’s when the rage started.
Ari: Whoa. Tell me about that.
Evans: What?
Ari: Tell me about that.
Evans: That was in March that I had the surgery. Then by September, let’s just say that I got homicidal, and I realized that I needed help. In September, I started seeing a counselor, and that was so good. I’m so glad I did that. [laughs]
Ari: When was that?
Evans: That would have been September, October of 2006. I had the surgery, the [unintelligible 00:21:28] to remove it. That was in March of 2006. I look back on it now and realize that I was angry and frustrated about my life. Then when this all happened, and I couldn’t sing anymore, I couldn’t sing out my frustrations. I couldn’t get it out. It all just bottled up in me and here we go. Here a 4’11 guy who people were like, “You would never hurt a fly.” I got homicidal, It really shocked me though. It scared me.
Ari: Can you tell me more about what was going on inside of you that led to that level of rage?
Evans: I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I told doctors, I said, “I feel like I’m turning green, and my pants are ripping. I’m just angry, and I don’t really know why.” I know there are certain things that are happening, but it’s like a switch has just turned on, and I can’t turn it off. I cannot turn it off. It was a lot.
Ari: You were basically trapped inside of this constricted body. Then now you have a brain, you have the desire to sing, and you can’t even do that. You can’t express your thoughts. You can’t sing. You can’t express those emotions. It’s like everything’s just cramping down on you and constricting you.
Evans: I barely can talk.
Ari: Yes.
Evans: I played the guitar. I was very active. It was like, everything just went, and I didn’t really want to go anywhere anymore. I didn’t really want to associate with anybody more because I wasn’t angry at them, but the rage was so intense that it made it hard to relate with anybody.
Ari: How did you begin to dig yourself out of that situation?
Evans: The counselor, he said, which is so cool. I had actually known him from church. He said, “Evans, have you ever been diagnosed with PTSD?” I said, “Well, I’m not a soldier.” He goes, “Forget that.” He goes, “You’re a soldier.” He said, “You have PTSD.” That helped me to understand. He helped me understand more of what was going on. He helped me to deal with it in a healthy way. I remember him telling me, he said, “Evans, you’re a jar, let’s say you’re a jar, and you are full up with whatever you’re full of, okay?
Anything that tries to go in you, it could be a good thing. It’s still going to overflow you.” He said, “And right now it’s coming out as rage and anger, and just you’re pissed off.” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Okay, let’s deal with that. Let’s deal with that in a good way.” We did. I did it with him for about two years, and I still kept with him, but then I got involved in a thing called growth and healing at a church. It was so wonderful. I did that from about 2008 to about 2015. That really helped me to be around other people that had other issues also, not like me, but just to deal with things in a healthy way and to get out there. Even though I didn’t totally feel like it, I wanted to do something.
Ari: That environment was probably conducive to connecting with other people that you could relate to them, they could relate to you better than in normal situations.
Evans: Yes. I was able to be honest, and people didn’t look at me like, “What?” [laughs] “You wanted to do what?” I met some really wonderful people that I’m still friends with today.
Chronic fatigue and Lyme disease
Then in 2015, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease, but I think I already had it for years. Finally, a doctor, they did some stuff with me. I got a official diagnosis of it. In some ways, I cried actually when they told me, not because it upset me, but because I thought, “All right, now we’ve got something we can do something with. I’ve got Lyme, and we’ll take care of it, and I’ll feel better.”
Ari: What were the symptoms you were dealing with for years prior to that?
Evans: Chronic fatigue, the pain, the brain fog, the dysregulated emotions. Then food, oh goodness, food sensitivities. I could hardly eat anything. I don’t want to get too graphic, but let’s just say that I live with constant gas. It always hurt.
Ari: You hurt inside from it, physically pain?
Evans: Oh, yes. During that whole time, I passed out so many times from the pain. It was a level 10 most of the time.
Ari: Tthat’s internal pain from the digestive tract, or are you referring to pain from the spine or what specifically?
Evans: Total body pain. I really don’t know, Ari. I don’t know. My whole receptors, my whole body was inflamed.
Ari: We’ve got severe chronic fatigue, severe chronic pain, brain fog, brain dysregulation, the mood is out of control. Is there anything else that you think should be added to that? [chuckles]
Evans: Because the skin, anything that touched me hurt. In trying to sleep in my bed, I would sleep with several pillows because my back, it’s not straight. I needed pillows relieve some of the pain. I went bounce where I slept all the time, but then I went bounce where I would be up for 36 to 48 hours.
The role of faith in Evans healing journey
Ari: Can I ask you something? What made you keep going through all of this, through so many years of pain and suffering? This is obviously an intense thing to talk about, but I think a lot of people in a similar circumstance to what you went through might have committed suicide. What made you keep going?
Evans: God, He came to me in a dream. This was in 1997, and I’ll just make the dream shorter. Basically, I’m standing in front of the wall, and God says, “What do you see?” I’m really close to the wall. I said, “God, I can’t see anything.” He says, “Step back.” He keeps having me step back from this wall. Finally, I get back, and I can see it’s the picture of Ulysses S. Grant, all in his dress blues, and he’s on a horse, and he’s got his sword up. I don’t know why that picture. I’m not sure. He goes, “Evans, it’s always been that picture, but you couldn’t see it because you were so close to it. When you backed up, you could see it.
That’s what’s going on right now. You are totally in it. You’re in everything. You can’t see what’s going on.” He said, “Now that I have the big picture in mind, I can see it and just go with me. Please trust me.” I woke up from that dream, and I was like, “Okay, God, I don’t understand, but you’ve shared with me that you give peace that passes understanding. Okay, I’m in.” Because He said, I’m going to take care of you. I said, “I’m in.” That was it.
Ari: Has He taken care of you?
Evans: Yes. Yes, he has. Maybe not the way I wish, but I’m alive, and I’ve met wonderful people along this thing. Guess what, Ari? We’re talking right now. It’s great.
Ari: I’m starting to understand why Oliver reached out to me to have you on the podcast.
Evans: Thank you to Olly. I enjoy him. He’s great. Then I tried a lot of the Lyme protocols. They weren’t working. The Western medicine, I wasn’t getting anywhere with it. Finally, in 2021, I found brain retraining. I don’t know if you want me to list. I won’t list any of them.
The brain retraining protocols Evans implemented to help him recover
Ari: Yes, you can feel free to mention them. I’ve had the training experts on the past.
Evans: I started in DNRs. I did that for over two years. I began eating, started eating a lot of foods. My rage was dropping. I was feeling less stressed. I felt the internal angst getting better. I was starting to see a light. The brain fog was decreasing. I was still really, really tired, though. I started to notice that my pain level was decreasing. It was no longer a 10 anymore. It was getting to about a 7. I was like, “This is great. A 10 to a 7 is awesome.” Even though the fatigue, I’m still fatigued. I didn’t feel like I had a wet blanket on me all the time. I didn’t feel like something kept holding me back. I felt like I could go do a few things. I wasn’t having those energy crashes. Oh, something I didn’t let you know and everybody who listened to me. I was having over a hundred energy crashes a day for years.
Ari: Whoa. How does that manifest when you say a hundred per day? What were you– I mean, that’s almost like what? Every few minutes?
Evans: Yes, basically [crosstalk]–
Ari: Not just something subtle, but something very noticeable?
Evans: Yes. Basically, my energy level was already low, but then I’d be like, “I’ll just show you.” I would do this and then [onomatopoeia] I just felt like everything dropped out of me.
Ari: Was it tiredness? Like you were falling asleep-
Evans: No.
Ari: -or no? [crosstalk] You were still awake, but you had no physical energy?
Evans: Literally, I would just collapse on the floor.
Ari: Wow.
Evans: Finally, I was in a doctor’s office, in my naturopath’s office, and I did it right in front of him. He goes, “Okay, wow, I just saw it.” I literally– I mean, when it happened, I couldn’t think, I can’t think, I can’t process. Everything just goes dark. I mean, I’m still there, but it just–, yes, it was hard. Even talk about, it’s tough. Yes. Doing the brain retraining was helping, and it was helping to have a life that I hadn’t had in a long time.
I did not ever give up, but there were times that I felt like, “Okay, God, you said you’re taking care of me, but am I ever not going to feel like this? Am I ever going to feel energy? Which I’m really not even sure what that feels like anymore. I don’t know.” Then I did that for two years and then God wanted me to do it, start another one, so I started Vital-Side and really enjoyed that one. Just–
Ari: This is another type of brain retraining?
Evans: It is, it is.
Ari: Can you [crosstalk]– Sorry, go ahead.
Evans: No, go ahead.
Ari: Can you tell listeners who are not familiar with what you’re referring to with brain retraining, that the essence of what it’s all about, and maybe sort of give an example of a practical method or something that’s central to the process of brain retraining as you’re referring to it?
Evans: Yes. It’s helping me to teach my brain and my body that I am okay, I’m okay. Whatever is going on, I’m okay. I’m not– Whatever has happened in the past is not happening right now. We do visualizations that are of good things. I talk about good things. I don’t talk about my symptoms. We call them “it[unintelligible 00:38:41]s.” Then, Vital-Side, we call the diagnoses, like Escobar syndrome, we call that bears, which really helped me because it teaches that the thoughts that I’m having are not my thoughts. They are things that are running, they’re tapes that are just going, and I don’t have to pay attention to those. I can choose, I have a choice.
When those thoughts start going, I say, “Okay, I see you, I see you, thoughts, and I’m not denying you’re there, and I’m really not telling you to go away. I’m just saying you can be there, but I’m going a different direction. I’m choosing to go there,” and I just keep doing it. When those thoughts come in, that you whatever, “You stink, you’re not worthy, you’re going to be sick the rest of your life. You just need to go.” “No. Oh, no, no, no. Hey, I am worthy. I matter. That’s where we’re going. Thank you God for creating me.” That we’ll look at that beautiful flower over there. That’s basically the things they teach us, and they go more into detail.
Ari: This a capacity called metacognitive awareness. Metacognitive awareness, you become able to better see, it’s very much related to also your dream, I think. You become more able to see your own thoughts, observe your own thoughts, analyze your own thoughts rather than just being sort of immersed in them. By building that meta capacity to see and be aware of your own thoughts, it gives you more choice of whether you want to actively be immersed in that thought or choose a different path.
Evans: Yes, and that’s [crosstalk]–
Ari: Sorry, go ahead.
Evans: There’s a word, to be a curious observer, called a curious observer. Basically there are times that I have literally, like I step back and I would see myself. I’m like, “I’m up here now. I see Evans down there who’s going through whatever he is going through,” and I say, “Okay, he’s going through that,” but I am not, like you said, immersed in it, immersed in that chronic pain, immersed in those thoughts that are unhealthy, that are not helping me, immersed in whatever is going on, and I’m able to see beautiful things, see lovely things, and make healthy choices.
Yes, but it’s one step at a time, and it’s being okay with making mistakes. I think learning that I’m not perfect, and really, I don’t want to be perfect. [laughs] One of the things that I think that has helped me, because you asked me, how am I still here? I think God has blessed me with a sense of humor. I never lost it, I could laugh.
Ari: That’s a feat in and of itself, given what you’ve gone through.
Evans: Oh my goodness, yes. I remember there were several people that would say, “You know what, Evans?” This throughout my life, they’d say, “I should be the one cheering you up, and yet, you’re the one cheering me up.”
Ari: Beautiful.
Evans: They didn’t really know my story. That’s one of the things in brain retraining they talk about, is don’t go into the story. Like I’m telling my story, but I am bigger than my story and I don’t have to focus on that. There are so many parts of me that are great. I am not– I wrote it down here. Oh. My diagnoses do not define me. My symptoms do not define me. What does define me? Well, to me, the Lord defines me, and He’s the one that tells me I’m awesome, so I’m like, “Okay, let’s listen to that.” I do. Then I did the Vital-Side, which was great. Which was really cool, because I had been doing laughter yoga, because that’s one of the things we do, is laughter yoga. That’s fun.
I was doing that with Bianca Spears. Oh, then that’s how I found out about Vital-Side, because she’s involved with Vital-Side. It was kind of neat, I had been laughing with her on YouTube just one way, and then I actually got to talk with her. I’m talking with her now, and it’s like [onomatopoeia]. Usually you don’t get to talk with people you meet on YouTube. That’s awesome. Then now I’m doing Primal Trust.
You asked me why I’m doing– You haven’t asked, but I’ll ask myself.
Ari: [laughs]
Evans: “Evans, why are you doing all of these brain retrainings?” Because God asked me to. Because God said, “Evans, it’s not the destination. It’s the journey. I’ve got you on one. Okay?” Then, I started Primal Trust in January of 2024. Through Primal Trust, that is how I came to the Energy Blueprint. They were offering something, I don’t know, it was an online thing, and I signed up for it. Then I started receiving your emails. It said I would get four masterclasses that were free. I’m like, “Okay, let’s try the first one.”
I watched the first one and said, “Okay, let’s watch the second one.” Then I was like– Then in the fourth one, you basically said, come join me. I said, “Well, God, I don’t know. I’m already doing Primal Trust. I’m already doing so much.” He said, “I want you to do it.” I said, “Okay,” so I started doing Primal, I started doing Energy Blueprint. I’m so glad that I did the other brain retrainings before I found the Energy Blueprint because I don’t think I would have been able to do the Energy Blueprint, really, with just where I was. I think it would have scared me totally. [laughs]
Ari: With the amount of different lifestyle strategies that I’m encouraging people to implement.
Evans: Yes.
Ari: It would have just been overwhelming for you.
Evans: Yes. Because I wouldn’t have been able to even– With food, you’re talking about food and sleep and all these light therapies, and hot and cold, I can barely get out of bed, I can barely have like a clear thought. Yes. It was like, “Wow. I think I’m ready to do this. I don’t know how I’m going to do it totally,” but I’m like, “I gave it a–” It was an option that I felt like was viable. Plus, because of all that I had done in the past, I was like, “This sounds good. This sounds really good.” I’m doing the things you’re talking about, and it’s a slow-go, but I’m making progress.
Ari: What are some of the things you’ve noticed benefits from so far?
Evans: I wrote down a whole list.
Ari: Okay.
Evans: This is through brain retraining. This is not only just brain retraining. This has been, since I did that Growth and Healing, but it’s been all of it together. Because, like I said, it’s been a journey.
The key tools Evans has implemented to help him overcome chronic fatigue and pain
Ari: They all work together. One thing I wanted to say earlier before we get to your list is even the capacity that you’re building in brain retraining, that metacognitive awareness also meshes really well with belief in God, and I say this as someone who’s not particularly religious myself as far as belonging to any organized religion, but even to take an example of people who are devoutly religious, when something bad happens to them, when they go through adversity, there’s often a belief that God has orchestrated this. There’s a deeper plan at work and that maybe you needed to learn some lesson or that this was done to facilitate something.
Even a belief like that, as opposed to, let’s say, someone who is an atheist who has no belief like that, where they just see it purely as a bad, unfortunate circumstance with no positive aspect to it, pairs really wonderfully with the capacity for metacognitive awareness. These two things are very much synergistic, to be able to get out of your own head and interrupt your own thoughts, to be able to think of alternative things that could be going on behind the scenes why you’re experiencing this adversity and sort of choose to believe.
I don’t mean to trivialize it as sort of just a choice, but to choose the path of saying, yes, I believe, God, that you have orchestrated this on my behalf, and I need to go through this in order to become stronger, in order to learn lessons, in order to fulfill my journey, and that sort of thing.
Evans: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Ari: Okay, so take– [crosstalk] Sorry, go ahead.
Evans: You saying that. Many, many years I saw myself as Job in the Bible.
Ari: Yes, that’s interesting, that story always resonates with me.
Evans: I saw myself as Job in the trials. I didn’t see the Job after it, but I’m learning that I have blessings, so many blessings in my life, and some of them I wasn’t even aware of. [laughs] It’s awesome.
Ari: Take me to the list.
Evans: Okay, “Take me to the list.” I’ve already said some of these, but I’ve learned to have a choice. I’ve learned to have a choice on what I think, what I do. I’ve learned that the diagnoses do not define me. I’ve learned that the symptoms do not define me. I’ve learned that some of the thoughts in my mind are not mine, and I choose not to revel in them. I have become less rigid. I was a perfectionist. Now, no. [laughs] “You know what? If it doesn’t happen, guess what? That’s okay.”
Sometimes I look at myself from the curious observer and go, “Is that Evans really? Wow.” [laughs] Then I focus on the blessings in my life, and I choose to look at those instead of all the other things that are going on. I am thankful more. I laughed, but I think I laugh more. I no longer take medications or supplements, and I’m so happy. The rage has decreased a lot. I can eat more foods now. I sleep better. I’m still working on having the sleep mean something, but at least I’m sleeping better.
Ari: What do you mean by that?
Evans: I can sleep through the night. I might wake up once or twice, but I go back to sleep.
Ari: Did I hear you correctly? You said, “Having the sleep mean something.”
Evans: Yes.
Ari: What do you mean by that?
Evans: Meaning that I feel refreshed after I’ve had a night’s sleep, and I don’t totally yet, but I know it’s coming. I know it’s coming.
Ari: Working on this [crosstalk] rhythm stuff.
Evans: Yes, I am, and I made a lot of progress.
Ari: Great.
Evans: I’m learning to be patient. I feel like I breathe better. I’d already been doing breathing exercises, but then you have introduced me to more of them, and so I’ve been doing those. I’m realizing, Ari, that because of my limitations, I know I don’t see those as bad things, but limitations, that I have to have to do things differently and to realize that I don’t want to compare myself with other people because that makes a mess of my life.
I take what somebody gives me or what you talk about, and I say, “Okay, how can I change it so it can help me, so I can benefit from it?” If you say, “Let’s hold the breath for 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50,” I say, “I’ll hold the breath for 10 seconds. Wonderful. Yes.”
Ari: [laughs] Good for you.
Evans: I see that as a good thing because there were times I couldn’t hold my breath for five seconds. [laughs]
Ari: You’re going through the Breathing for Energy program as well, as well as the–?
Evans: I am.
Ari: Awesome.
Evans: Well, no, it’s the one that the Energy Blueprint has.
Ari: Yes. Yes. It’s another program. We have the Energy Blueprint program, and then also under the brand of Energy Blueprint is also the Breathing for Energy program. That’s what you’re referring to.
Evans: Okay. I guess.
Ari: [laughs] Yes, you are. Trust me.
Evans: Okay, I’m trusting you, Ari. Great. I’m having healthier boundaries with others, with myself, and even with God. Yes, it’s wonderful. I realized that I was enmeshed with some people, and I’m learning not to do that anymore and learning to be my own person. Then, the skin sensitivity is getting better and the– Oh, I forgot to mention, the migraines, severe migraines, and that’s getting a lot better.
Ari: How long have you suffered from migraines for?
Evans: Oh, I don’t know. I think my first migraine, I know it was in high school. I think it was my junior year of high school.
Ari: 25, 30-ish years ago?
Evans: Yes, I was about 17, 18 years old. I’m 48 now.
Ari: You were born in ’76?
Evans: ’76. Yes. Yes, but now I’m having maybe one migraine maybe every two months now.
Ari: Wow. All right. Going from sort of the hellish place that you were not so many years ago, in terms of 10 out of 10 physical pain, rage, extreme mental unwellness, let’s say, and all the other, the gastrointestinal symptoms, the skin-related symptoms, where are you now? Where are you now not just in your physical body but in terms of your mental health, in terms of your relationships, your functionality in life? How does that look like?
Evans: Drastically different.
Ari: I forgot your energy levels. Got to add that too.
Evans: Yes.
Ari: Okay. Chronic fatigue and energy levels to the mix as well. All right, go ahead.
Evans: I’m able to do things. I’m able to get out there. Like I said, I’m learning to play pickleball, and I’m able to do it and not completely have it fall apart while playing or after. I’m able to do that. Yes, I still might be tired, but I’m still able to do it. Beforehand, I wasn’t, no way. Just even thinking about playing pickleball would have taken me out.
Ari: Wow.
Evans: There was a time, Ari, that just even thinking about getting out of the bed, I was toast. Just taking a shower, just brushing my teeth, doing anything. Just having somebody ask me a question, and I’ve got to think of an answer. No. My body just shuts down. Being able to do all that is a huge change, Ari. It’s huge. Realizing that my daily pain level has dropped. It’s still there. I feel pain, but it’s not overwhelming. I don’t feel like it’s a chain around me anymore. I feel like I can breathe better, I can move. One of the mantras I say is, “I move with ease. I breathe with ease. I live with ease. I laugh with ease.” All this stuff. It’s helping. It’s helping.
Working with Coach Olly
Ari: I want to make sure we mention the person who introduced us, which is Coach Olly. How has it been working with him?
Evans: It’s been well. He’s helped me to understand the program more and helped me to be able to take little bite-sized pieces of it and not seeing the whole thing as a huge animal, but just, you know. Yes.
Ari: Beautiful. He has helped you to put a lot of these strategies to work in your life?
Evans: Yes.
Ari: He has a good sense of humor too, which I’m sure is awesome.
Evans: Well, interesting thing is he’s British. Our humor is totally different, but he’s still funny.
Ari: Is there anything that comes to your mind as far as– Well, actually, one more question before we get there. What does the future look like for you? Given that you’ve had such radical change in so many different aspects of your health and functionality, how are you, or how are you and God conceptualizing what the future holds for you in the rest of your life?
Evans: It’s in His hands. I know I’m going to be okay whatever happens. Even if I die tomorrow, I’m okay. Even if I ended up back in the bed, I’m okay. Yes. I’m going to have a tough time with it, but I’m okay because that doesn’t define me. In thinking about what I want to do in my future or what’s going to happen, I don’t know what’s going to happen because, to me, I’m not in control, and I really don’t want to be in control because He’s got it, and I’m okay with that.
Ari: Can I make a suggestion to you?
Evans: Sure.
Ari: You have a very powerful personal story and journey that you’ve been through, and I think it can help a lot of people. I think that the more that you can engage in opportunities to connect with people and share your story and maybe find people who are going through similar things, even if it’s not the same specific symptoms and condition, but the more you can immerse yourself in those kinds of opportunities, which is what we’re doing right now in this moment by having you on this podcast,-
Evans: Thank you.
Ari: -but I think the more you can use your journey to help others, I think that might be a beautiful gift to share with the world for the rest of your life. Maybe not as your full-time job, but as something that you do.
Evans: That’s interesting. You talk about job, because people ask me what I do when I’m out, and a lot of times I was like a deer in headlights because I didn’t do anything, I didn’t feel like, but now it’s interesting, you’re saying this, Ari, because now they say, “What is it you do? I say, “I’m into brain retraining.” They go, “Yes?” I say, “Yes.” I’ll say, “I worked for four companies,” and they’re like, “You do?” I’m like, “Oh yes.” I’m like, “I enjoy it. It’s great.” It’s awesome. I don’t have to say anything more. It’s wonderful.
Ari: What are the four companies?
Evans: It’s the ones I’ve done, the four, brain—, the DNRS, the Vital-Side, the Primal Trust, and then Energy Blueprint. It’s not totally a brain retraining, but I link it all together.
Ari: Does that mean I need to start paying you if you work for my company? It’s news to me.
[laughter]
Evans: I thought you already were.
Evans’ parting message
Ari: [laughs] Evans, the last thing I want to ask you is, given everything you’ve gone through, and how much brain retraining and mindset retraining work that you’ve done, is there anything that comes to your mind? Could be one thing, could be a couple of things that come to your mind as far as lessons learned or insights learned or mindsets that you’d recommend to people who are maybe struggling, maybe not with the full extreme of everything you’ve gone through, which is pretty rare, but somebody who’s going through some of this stuff to some degree, like what are the biggest things that you’d like to leave them with?
Evans: Well, it’s a great question. Don’t give up hope, even when it seems really, really dark sometimes, there’s a light. There is. I mean, we’re all put in this Earth for something. I believe we’re all created. We matter. I know that if I can matter, all the things I’ve been through, all the rejection, people looking at me strange, people looking at me like I’m not human sometimes. That’s all lies. I do matter. I believe that everybody does matter. I tell them, hey, keep going, keep trying.
If something doesn’t work for you, don’t give up. There’s something else there. Maybe one brain retraining thing doesn’t fit for you. There are others out there. Maybe form of something. Isn’t fitting for you. Try something else, but keep trying, keep going, and reach out, like you talked about, reaching out. I’m glad that I’m reaching out more. I will say this, and I know this is not what you asked me, but I used to get really, really nervous. When I first started these Zoom calls, I just got so nervous, and now I’m not nervous at all. That’s been what? 3 years now. Yes, it’s awesome.
I even amazed myself sometimes about things that are going on. I’m like, “Wow, this is really cool.” I think I’ve been open to opportunities. I would tell somebody be open to something, even if you don’t understand it, just be open to the possibilities.
Ari: Evans, thank you so much for coming on the show. I really enjoyed this conversation.
Evans: Thank you [crosstalk]
Ari: This was a nice change of pace for me, and it was really enjoyable for me. You have a really powerful story, and thank you for having the courage to come on here and share your story. I’m certain that there’s people listening to this that are going to be helped by you doing this, so thank you.
Evans: Thank you, Ari. Thank you so much for the Energy Blueprint. I appreciate you doing it. One other thing, you say you are like a geek and a nerd and you research stuff, I’m right there with you, buddy. When you talk about the research, man, I–, yes. Thank you.
Ari: My pleasure, Evans. Thank you for applying my work. Thank you again for coming on here and sharing your story. I really appreciate it, and all the best to you in the future.
Evans: Hey, thank you so much, Ari. Appreciate it.
Show Notes
00:00 – Intro
00:49 – Guest intro – Evans
01:45 – Evans’ story
18:43 – A surgery gone wrong
26:29 – Chronic fatigue and Lyme disease
29:37 – The role of faith in Evans healing journey
32:54 – The brain retraining protocols Evans implemented to help him recover
48:47 – The key tools Evans has implemented to help him overcome chronic fatigue and pain
1:00:52 – Working with Coach Olly
1:05:32 – Evans’ parting message
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