Conversation with Megan Evans

Summary

MS Conversations With Candi
Episode: Conversation with Megan Evans
Host: Candice Lewis
Guest: Megan Evans
Date: January 30, 2023

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Episode Overview

In this inspiring episode, host Candice Lewis sits down with fellow MS warrior Megan Evans, founder of The MS Stage and The MS Stage Method. The conversation centers on Megan’s nearly two-decade journey with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), her holistic approach to managing symptoms, and her mission to help others turn their MS symptoms into their superpowers. Together, they explore diagnosis stories, emotional challenges, and innovative techniques for healing through mindfulness, movement, and creativity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Megan’s Diagnosis Story and Early Challenges

• Initial Symptoms and Diagnosis Odyssey (01:26–07:08)

  • Megan lost feeling on the left side of her body and suffered intense vertigo at age 24.
  • She describes a confusing diagnostic process involving initial GP visits, MRIs, a lost spinal tap, and a daunting first neurologist:
    • “He said… it could be a brain tumor, it could be you’ve had a stroke, or you have MS. And I was like, well, I guess I’ll take door number three if I have to choose between the three.” — Megan (03:22)
    • Despite minimal MRI evidence (only one lesion), doctors suspected MS, especially after earlier unexplained symptoms post-9/11.
    • Megan endured hospitalization, pain from the spinal tap, and an ultimately lost result, leading her to seek a second, more supportive neurologist after her move to LA.

• Candice Shares Her Early Symptom Story (08:07–10:19)

  • Candice recalls episodes of vertigo and numbness years before her own MS diagnosis, reflecting on how early warning signs often go unrecognized.

2. Emotional Journey and Embracing Alternative Therapies

• Megan’s Immediate Response and Pursuit of Alternatives (10:44–16:18)

  • Megan tried to “cure” herself through diet, acupuncture, homeopathy, and supplements, embracing a gluten-free lifestyle years before it was mainstream.
  • She avoided typical treatments for 14 years, experiencing periodic stress-induced relapses but remained focused on self-driven healing.

• Acceptance and the Turning Point (15:23–16:18)

  • After a severe relapse—losing all feeling from the neck down—she was forced to take a year off work.
  • “I hadn’t gotten to the acceptance part. And that was my big aha moment five years ago—that I needed to start accepting. It was through that, that I finally agreed to get on a drug.” — Megan (15:23)
  • Megan highlights acceptance as the key that “opened a lot of doors” emotionally and spiritually.

3. Disease-Modifying Therapies (DMTs) and Disease Progression

• Evolution of Treatment Choices (16:18–19:25)

  • Started with Copaxone (an injectable, amino-acid based therapy) due to its gentler, more “natural” profile.
  • Recently switched to Bafiertam (a pill in the Tecfidera family) approved for secondary progressive MS.
    • “It took some more soul searching for me to do that, but I’m glad I did.” — Megan (20:48)

• Discussing Progression (19:25–21:19)

  • Megan and Candice discuss the concept of secondary progressive MS, how symptoms (like Megan’s weak left leg) can change over time, and the importance of positivity and gratitude during treatment:
    • “Every time I gave myself shots or I take my pills, I thank it for doing its job. I thank them for working for me.” — Megan (21:03)

4. The MS Stage: A Mindfulness & Movement Community

• Origins and Inspiration (21:29–23:11)

  • During a sabbatical, Megan reconnected with her passion for theater and dance, leading her to envision The MS Stage.
  • She began informally guiding newly diagnosed women, which evolved into her structured program.

• The MS Stage Method (25:37–30:31)

  • Integrates mindfulness, creative movement, somatic work, and “dancing with symptoms” to shift emotions from negative to positive.

  • Emphasizes “naming your symptoms,” giving them personalities, and building a compassionate relationship:

    • “If you switch it to positive things, things begin to shift… The more you speak to it, the more you think about it, whatever it is in your mind and your thoughts… your cells are listening.” — Megan (23:15)
    • Example: Megan named her weaker left leg “Roxy,” after the musical Chicago character, to encourage a playful, supportive rapport:
      • “If I’m having a hard time getting up the steps, I’ll be like, ‘Come on, Roxy, let’s go. We got this.’” — Megan (27:45)

  • The method’s three pillars:

    • Naming symptoms

    • Switching emotions using movement

    • Turning symptoms into superpowers by identifying their gifts

    • “Once you’ve named your symptom, you start to ask it, what are you there for? Why are you here? What are you trying to teach me?” — Megan (29:38)

    • Megan shares that Roxy, her leg symptom, forces her to slow down and be present—a gift she now sees as her superpower.

5. MS Stage Community & Participation Details

• Program Structure (30:56–33:07)
  • Six-week program, meeting two hours per week via Zoom, with 4–6 women per group from around the world.
  • Includes “homework” like gratitude journaling and positivity practices.
  • Two-level progression before joining the wider MS Stage membership community.
  • Discovery/“character” calls for new participants.
  • Further details at www.themsstage.com and Instagram @themsstage.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He said... it could be a brain tumor, it could be you’ve had a stroke, or you have MS. And I was like, well, I guess I’ll take door number three if I have to choose between the three.” — Megan (03:22)
• “I hadn’t gotten to the acceptance part… that was my big aha moment five years ago—that I needed to start accepting.” — Megan (15:23)
• “Every time I gave myself shots or I take my pills, I thank it for doing its job. I thank them for working for me.” — Megan (21:03)
• “We literally dance with our symptoms and we switch the emotion from negative emotion to a positive emotion.” — Megan (24:29)
• “If your leg is not working properly and you’re mad at it, it’s like a kid… but if you’re kind to them and you have compassion, then maybe they’ll actually start to work better for you.” — Megan (27:45)
• “Roxy, for instance, she showed up because she wants me to slow the heck down… that is the gift she has given me, is to become more present.” — Megan (29:38)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Megan’s diagnosis experience: 01:26–07:08
• Candice’s symptom story: 08:07–10:19
• Megan’s alternative health journey: 10:44–16:18
• Turning point: acceptance & medication: 15:23–16:18
• Discussion of DMTs and progression: 16:31–21:19
• Origins of The MS Stage: 21:29–25:37
• How the MS Stage Method works: 25:37–30:31
• Turning symptoms into superpowers: 29:12–30:56
• Community & participation info: 30:56–33:07

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Resource Links

• The MS Stage: www.themsstage.com
• Instagram: @themsstage
• Contact Candice: www.conversationswithcandi.com

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This episode offers heartfelt storytelling and practical strategies for those living with MS. Through candid discussion and creative tools, Megan and Candice demonstrate that acceptance, positivity, and community can truly transform the MS journey and that every symptom has the potential to become a superpower.

Transcript

[A]

I'm Candice Lewis, and this is Ms. Conversations with Candy, the podcast where people living with or affected by Ms. Come together to talk, vent, laugh, and possibly cry about everything, Mississippi. So sit back, relax, and enjoy today's conversation.

[B]

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Ms. Conversations with Candy. I'm your host, Candice Lewis. I know it's been a while since I've been with you guys, but happy New Year. I'm so glad to be here and I am so excited to share my next guest with you guys. Today I am talking with Megan Evans. Megan, I'm sorry, is a fellow Ms. Warrior and she's also the founder of the Ms. Stage and the Ms. Stage method. She will tell us her story and she will also talk to us today about how to turn our symptoms into our superpowers. I'm so excited. Can't wait to hear about it. Hi there, Megan. How are you?

[C]

Hi. I'm good, thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

[B]

I'm glad to have you here. So we have so much to talk about, so let's just dive right on into it. When were you first diagnosed with MS, Megan?

[C]

So. So I'm coming up on 19 years. It was 2004 and I was 24 years old.

[B]

Wow. So what were the symptoms that led you to the doctor?

[C]

So I lost feel over the course of a few days. I lost feeling on the left side of my body and I had really bad vertigo. Those were the symptoms.

[B]

Vertigo is one of my. Actually, it's one of my flare ups. When I started experiencing vertigo, it was way before I even knew that I had Ms. So for those of you who've never listened to any of my episodes before, I've only been diagnosed for a little over four years now. And so that's not the symptom that sent me to the doctor, but once I realized that I had. Once I was diagnosed with ms, that's when the neurologist did share with me that vertigo is one of my flare ups. So. So how long did it take you to be diagnosed? Once you went to the doctor, when you had those symptoms, you went to the doctor. Tell us about that. Give us that journey.

[C]

Yeah, so I, my first, I went to the general, my GP first. That was my. My first doctor's appointment. Pretty much the day I started, my left leg buckled. It had, over the course of a few days, my left arm had kind of gotten limp, but then came back. It was like off and on and then it sort of moved down my left side. And then when I got Back to Charleston, where I live now. It's a long story about how I. I was in New York at the time, 24 years old, had gotten a job offer to move to LA and had flown home to Charleston to get my car that I had left in Charleston for a few years to drive out to LA with my mom to start my next job. And I got to my sister's house and my left leg buckled.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

And that's when I thought, something's really wrong. And I thought I had just been super stressed out from my move because moving in and of itself in New York City is super stressful. Yes, Yes, I can imagine. Yeah. But also just the chaos of the move. And then I wasn't feeling well and then I was trying to get out of town and all of it. So I. My left leg buckled and I said, something's really wrong. And so we went to my GP and in Charleston, and he said, well, I think it's either it could be a brain tumor, it could be you've had a stroke or you've. You have Ms. And he said. And I was like, well, I guess I'll take door number three if I have to choose between the three.

[B]

What options. Wow. Really? I mean, I cannot even imagine being a 24 year old and having a doctor tell you it was either it's even two or three. Yes, that's horrible. I cannot even imagine that.

[C]

He was a really good diagnostician. And so he just immediately said it's probably. He didn't know for sure, but he said it's probably likely one of these things. So he sent me to a neurologist who did an mri and I only had one lesion that showed up on the mri. And so he said, well, I can't officially diagnose you with Ms. Because normally it's three or more lesions than they're willing to say. Or back then, I mean, it's almost 20 years ago. I don't know what it is now, but back then it was. They can't diagnose you if it's less than three lesions. So he's like, it's likely ms, but I can't totally say. And then he did a spinal tap to try to confirm it. It's a long story. They lost my spinal tap results.

[B]

Oh, no.

[C]

Then I was in so much pain from the spinal tap that I ended up back. I ended up in the hospital and they had to do two blood patch patches on me, which is also unusual because normally if they do, they do one blood patch. They never do two. And I was in the hospital for five days because I was in so much pain from the tap. And so.

[B]

And they didn't have to redo the tap, did they? Because once is.

[C]

Yeah, I wouldn't let them. I would not let them know. And they lost the results. And I was like, no, I'm not doing. I'm not going through this again. And so then the doctor said, well, it's likely Ms. You'll probably end up in a wheelchair one day. I mean, that's literally what he said to me. I'll never forget it. And I looked at my mom and I said, no, I won't. And we walked out and I said, I'm never going back to this man again. It was a horrific first neurological appointment with the doctor. So it was six months later, to answer your question, that I had moved to L. A. I stayed home for, like a month to try to recuperate as my job waited for me, which was amazing in la. And I stayed home and recuperated and did some physical therapy and did. Worked with a nutritionist and really was trying to get, you know, just get myself back in balance because I was. So. I was still having some vertigo. Eventually I got out to la, started my new job, and ended up going to another neurologist who, this was six months later, said, well, I see striations on your mri, and striations are the beginning stages before they become a lesion. So he said, and he had been a neurologist for. He was an older man. He was kind of on the brink of retiring and super nice man. And he said, I see striations, and I believe that that is the sign that you likely have him. So that's. That's when my diagnosis came.

[B]

Wow. So it was six months.

[C]

It was six months after my initial experience. And honestly, three years or two years before my initial, you know, mri, I had had. I was have. I was in New New York five days before 9 11. And I. A few months after 9 11, I started having, like, sort of what I described as a ball inside my head that was spinning. Like I wasn't having vertigo, but I was having some dizziness. And that was a couple years before my diagnosis. And they said, well, maybe you're just having migraines. And they put me on migraine medication, which didn't do anything. And then eventually it just went away. So I believe that was actually the beginning stages of the Ms. Two years before that, I think.

[B]

Yeah, that probably. You're probably exactly right. I mean, I know we can. All. All of us who have. Who have this diagnosis can think back to things that were happening in our bodies, you know, years before the actual doctor visits began that led to our diagnosis. I can remember before I had one of my worst spells of vertigo. I was at home. It was nighttime. We were about to. We were. My husband and I were getting ready for bed and. And we were both standing at the kit at the bathroom, our bathroom sink. And I remember telling him, I feel so lightheaded, and all of a sudden, everything. I could just see white stars. And I remember him vaguely just kind of grabbing me and putting me up against the wall. And he told me later on that my eyes had bucked and I was starting to pass out. And so he grabbed hold of me and put me up against the wall. Then he just to kind of stabilize me. And he's. After I came to, he said, you know, we really need to get you to the emergency room. So we went to the emergency room, and that was when I had my first brain mri. And so fast forward two years later is when I went. I started to go numb, you know, in my feet. Within a weekend, I was numb from my feet to my knees and my knees to my thighs and my thighs to my torso. And I end up at my primary care doctor. And she immediately sent me to a neurologist. And when I saw the neurologist, she told me, you know, I see you have this brain mri. This area in your brain is showing. This could be indicative of an autoimmune disease. I really want to do another one on you along with the spinal mri. And then eventually we end up having to do the spinal tap. So, yeah, I can remember well before that diagnosis that. That feeling of dizziness and passing out. And I thought then, you know, I think about that often now how when I started to see stars, I feel like that was some type of shift that, you know, kind of took me right over into the Ms. World. You know what I mean?

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Yes. So. So how long. Because I know you and I have had a brief conversation already. So talk to us. Tell us about when you were diagnosed and then what you felt about that. What did you do about your Ms. Diagnosis? What did you do with that information? How did you. How did. How does your journey continue from there?

[C]

Yeah, so, I mean, I did do. I forgot to say, when I was initially in the hospital, I did do steroids because I had to get the feeling, but I had to get my.

[B]

Exactly back to normal.

[C]

So. So how did I feel about it. Well, I was scared, obviously. I mean, I think as a 24 year old especially, I didn't know anybody with MS, except I have a second cousin who has it, but she was way worse off than I am. So I, so, and she was at the time, she's probably 15 years older than me, something like that. So she was further along with it. But that's all I knew in my head about it was, oh gosh, that's horrible. And I don't want that to happen to me. So I, But I also really believed that, oh, I only have one lesion, I can cure it. I thought, I'm going to reverse this thing. And I was very into alternative medicine. Even when I was in high school, I was really into it. And so I went down a path, especially because I had moved to LA at that point and I was very career driven and wanted to get on with my life, but I didn't want to accept the diagnosis. And I said, I mean, not that I didn't believe that they were right, but I also thought, but there's another way and I'm going to get, I'm going to do this on my own. And so I immediately went gluten free, which almost 20 years ago, people didn't even really talk about gluten back then. And I did research, I went gluten free and living in la, luckily because they're much more on the forefront of health and wellness. People out there didn't think it was too odd, but it wasn't. Like you see now everywhere is a lot of people, even restaurants are saying, we have gluten free options now. So back then, no way I would like go to a restaurant and be like, I can't eat. But I would just order what I thought I could eat that wasn't gluten free because they didn't, nobody knew, waiters didn't know. So I went gluten free, I went to acupuncture, I went to a homeopathy, I did homeopathy, I took tons of supplements. I mean, I still do. And I did all the things because I didn't want to believe that this was true. And I believed no matter what, that was all going to help me. And so I really went down that road. Well, really for 14 years. And I mean, I'm still on that path, but it was 14 years, had a really bad relapse. So over the course of those 14 years I had some relapses and it was always a stress induced relapse, whether it Was highly stressful work situation or one time I had a gas leak in my apartment and I didn't know I was sleeping in it for two days. And that led to a really bad relapse. So things like that. There were just episodes over the years and every time I would get on the steroids and then I would get better and I still was not, I didn't want to get on a drug. And my way of talking about it was I was diagnosed with Ms. I wouldn't say I have Ms. And it was four, it was five years ago, 14 years into it that I had a really bad, I lost feeling from the neck down and my whole body. It took me, I mean, a couple months to really get myself back to somewhat normal. And I had to stop working. I had my own company at that time. I was a personal wardrobe stylist and I was traveling all over and I was in people's closets shopping for them and doing on ladders on my knees. You know, I was doing everything. And my family, when that one happened, they were like, you have to stop. Like this has to stop. Because I was just running myself ragged. And the episode happened and I stopped. I took a year off. I was blessed to be able to do that. And I really went inward and. And it took some deep soul searching because I felt lost. And I thought I've done so much over the years. I've worked so hard on this. I have done all right things right. Like I've gone gluten free at that point I was dairy free, grain free, sugar free. I, you know, all the things. But I hadn't gotten to the acceptance part. And that was my big aha moment five years ago that I needed to start accepting. And it was through that that I finally agreed to get on a drug. And yeah, so it was a big awakening and emotionally, physically, spiritually, everything, it was a big wake up call for me. And I truly believe that it opened a lot of doors. Quite honestly, I believe that acceptance is the key to opening and unlocking some doors for everybody. And it took me a long time to get there. And what I help women do now is that I help them get there a lot sooner than waiting 14 years for it.

[B]

Right. Wow. So you mentioned you are so five years ago you went on a drug. So which DMT did you start taking and are you still on that one?

[C]

So I started with copaxone, which isn't strong like some of the others, but it is the most natural and it's made up of amino acids And I. Because I was so into being more natural, it felt like the right place for me to start. And I'm also very sensitive, so it was, was. I had to start small for me. I mean, giving myself injections isn't necessarily a small start, but I did it three times a week and I. Yeah, I was on that for four and a half years. I just now switched to Bafir tem, which is in the tecfidera family. It's a pill.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

It's a little bit more natural, I guess, than. Than tecfidera because it's a different. It doesn't go through like two chemicals, it goes through one. I'm not going to explain it perfectly because I'm not a doctor, but it is a little bit more natural. So my body right now, I've only been on it for, I guess like six weeks now. And so my body's still trying to figure it out and get used to it, but it's four pills a day and that's what I'm taking now. It is approved for secondary progressive. Copaxone was not approved for secondary progressive. It was only for primary. I mean, I'm sorry, it was only for relapsing, Remitting. Right. So. But fear, Tim, was kind of a step up for me. It's not the strongest one out there, but it is for me because my body's so sensitive. I wanted to start with sort of a middle of the road as my neurologist describes it.

[B]

Okay. And I too started off on copaxin. I. I had a horrible experience with it. But we're not gonna.

[C]

Oh, no.

[B]

Oh, I had a horrible experience. In fact, I was only on it for maybe, maybe four or five weeks. It wasn't very long.

[C]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[B]

And I had horrible reaction to it and it sent me back into a horrible flare up where I had to go back to steroid infusions. Yeah. So. But I'm on my third DMT now. I went from there to Opravis. I loved Oprevis. Only had to do it twice a year, but I would have a reaction. Whenever I would have the infusion, I would have an allergic reaction to it. So I'm on Qsimta now where I give myself a monthly injection and I absolutely love it. It does not disturb my lifestyle. I really do like it. But you said something. I wanted to ask you about how your new DMT is approved for secondary progressive. Have you now. Has Ms. Now progressed to secondary progress for you?

[C]

Well, I mean, my doctor said he, he didn't really fully claim that. And I don't. And I don't necessarily want to believe that whatever anybody tells me anyway because I believe you're your own best doctor. Right?

[B]

Absolutely.

[C]

But yeah, I mean, I think I'm almost 20 years in. So from my understanding at this point, when you've been at it for this long, then pretty much from my understanding, from multiple doctors have said is that is the natural progression. That is what happens. And so I have. My left leg has got, you know, it, it does have more issues than it used to, let's put it that way. Okay. I do now occasionally walk with a cane. Not every day and not every minute of every day. Even on the days I'm sometimes take it with me when I, you know, let's say I'm going to a concert or I know I'm going to have to walk a long distance, I'll take it with me. But to run into, you know, the grocery store, I don't always take it with me. So it just depends on the day and how I'm feeling. But yeah, so I, it seemed like. And it was a big discussion between, you know, my husband and I, was I ready to take that step? And it took some, some more soul searching for me to do that, but I'm glad I did. And, and I'm just. Now my focus is allowing my body to ex. To staying positive about my body, accepting it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because my body, you know, is like I said, very sensitive. And so I literally every time I did this with Opaxone too, every time I gave myself shots or I take my pills, I thank it for doing its job. I thank them for working for me.

[B]

I like that habit. I like that. I like the way you said that. So this will lead me right into your work. Tell us all about the Ms. Stage.

[C]

Thank you. So the Ms. Stage. So during that period of time where I went on to the acceptance and I really, what started calling me because I was like I said I was soul searching. And I had taken a year off work. What was calling me was theater. And I had grown up doing theater and dance. I was, I majored in. I was a drama dance major. I wanted to be a director and a choreographer and moved to New York five days before 911 and had had an internship lined up with a theater company. So that was my love, that was my dream for years. And I had kind of squashed it after quite honestly, I kept the internship for those four months after 9 11. But then I thought I don't want to just wait tape. I mean, I'm going to have to wait tables and work a day job at a theater company in order to make ends meet. Like, I just wasn't. And I think I was so fearful because 9, 11 there were armed guards. I was 21 at the time. So. Yeah. So anyway, long story short, my calling theater started calling me again during that time off, during that one year off where I was like, I'm really missing that part of me. And I started sort of dreaming about what could I do and how can I help other women with Ms. And what happened was, as I said, the acceptance piece, doors started to open. I started to get phone calls from, you know, my mom's friend's daughter was just diagnosed or my cousins, whoever. You know, people just started reaching out more and more to me, needing help.

[B]

Yes, I can relate to that. I can absolutely relate. Yes.

[C]

Yeah. And I started sort of just for free, I would just talk to women on the phone and say, hey, this is where I would start. I would do this first and then do that. And, you know, I started just helping people understand what they were sort of what, what their lives, what, how thing, what to do first. I guess, you know, just talk through it with them. Yeah, so that started to happen. And then I started to. About two years ago, I started doing this dance practice that I absolutely love. And as I was doing that, I started thinking about, I want to create a program for women with Ms. Around the world. And that is what has evolved is the Ms. Stage. And we do mindfulness practices. It's all about mindfulness. It's about shifting your mindset from the negative to the positive. It's about shifting your relationship with your symptoms from the negative to the positive and befriending them. And we do movement exercise I created called Switch, which is. It's sort of like somatic work, but it's. We literally dance with our symptoms and we, we switch the emotion from negative emotion to a positive emotion, emotions. So if you go from you're blaming it to forgiving it and it's moving it with a song. And so your body is constantly listening and your cells are listening. So the more you speak to it, the more you think about it, whatever it is in your mind and your thoughts and your, your, what you say your cells are listening. And so if you switch it to positive things, things begin to shift. And so we meditate with music. We, we do, we dance with music. We name our symptoms. And once you have a name for them, then you can start to have they. They become a character in your play, right? Because you can start to visualize, what do they look like? Are they male or female? What are they wearing? What's their costume? You know? And you start to really see them as a person or a thing. Sometimes it's just an object, and you can start to have that relationship with your symptom in a new way.

[B]

So, Megan, can you give us kind of a concrete example of that, of naming it and moving with it and using that in your dance? Can you give us an example of what that actually looks like?

[C]

Yeah. So I. Well, I'll just tell you. So when I first came up with the naming exercise, it was just me one day. This was as I was developing the Ms. Stage. I thought, huh, what would it be like to name my left leg? And so I meditated. And what came to me was the name Roxy. And I thought I was like, roxy? I don't know anybody named Roxy. Why would I come up with that name? And so. And then I realized, actually, the name Roxy is the character that is one of my favorite characters in the musical Chicago.

[B]

Chicago. I knew you were gonna say that.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And now it's funny because when the name came to me, the name was spelled R O, X, Y, but the character's name in the musical is R O, X, I, E. But my Roxy's spelled R O, X, Y. That's my left leg.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

So love it. So I realized that's why that name came to me, because she's a theater character. It makes total sense as I'm creating the Ms. Stage. And so I started to work with her and chose songs to move with her with different emotions. And through that, I started moving the different emotions from negative to positive. And, you know, things begin to evolve, and you can have this relationship. And so when I. Like, if I'm having a hard time getting up the steps, I'll be like, come on, Roxy, let's go. We got this. So I just constantly have this relationship, this talk with her, and you can really coach them. It's just like, they want to help you. Like, your cells, like I said, are listening. Like, your body wants to support you and wants to help you, but if you are negative with it, then of course, it's like thinking about it like a friend, right? Like, if your leg is not working properly and you're mad at it, it's like a kid, right? They're like. Well, then they crawl in their hole or they get. Get more mad at you. And so then they start to fight back or they go hide in their room or something. Right. But if you're. If you're kind to them and you have compassion for them, then maybe they'll actually start to work better for you. And that is what I've experienced with women in my groups is that the more they start to have that relationship and have the acceptance piece and start talking to their symptoms, the character of their symptoms and who they are, getting to know them better on a deeper level, then they actually can start to see a shift in their symptoms. And it has happened. It's been amazing.

[B]

I love that as you talk through that, I can see that I can actually visualize that. And that makes a lot of sense. You know, it's kind of a more personalized version of what I call self talk. You know, when I. You know how you talk to yourself, you want to make sure that you're continuously pouring in those positive thoughts and positive words of affirmations. But then you can just make that specific to a symptom. I like that. I can definitely visualize that. So then as we take this a step further, what you just described, is that what you also consider the stage method, or is the stage method something a little different?

[C]

The method is what I'm describing. It's the naming your symptoms, switching the emotions around the symptom with your. With movement, and then turning it into your superpower. And so we haven't gotten to that step. So that step is once you've named your symptom, you start to ask it, what are you there for? Why are you here? Like, what are you trying to teach me? What are you trying to show me?

[B]

Right.

[C]

So Roxy, for instance, she showed up because she wants me to slow the heck down. And I was just constantly, go, go, go, go, go. And literally, that is the gift that she has given me, is to become more present and to slow down. And so if you flip the script, I like to call it flipping script. So if you flip the script on what, like this, what a lot of people see as a negative thing, like my hand doesn't work well, or I can't write or whatever. So what is the. What is the opposite of that? Like, why did it show up? Why is it there for you? And then that can become your superpower. So for me, the slowing down is actually has become my superpower because I've created this thing that's helping so many people. And because of me having.

[B]

Being forced to slow down, I can see that. And I'm sure my symptoms show up because I need to slow down. I'm sure of it. I am absolutely sure of it. So you just gave me and aha. Moment. So I know that you have classes. So tell us about that, you know, and if anyone is interested in becoming a participant in your class.

[C]

Yes, thank you so. Well, we. So our program is six weeks and it's two hours. Each class is two hours. And in those two hours, it's four to six women are in a group on Zoom. And what's so amazing about it is somehow these women find each other. Right. It's like, I don't, I, I can't make it up in terms of the time of day that they all happen to be available and then they find each other and they're committed to the group together. And they might be from literally all over the world. And that's what's so cool because they would not have ever met if it hadn't been for these groups. And so the groups, like I said, two hours a week, you're given homework. But it's not like, you know, I don't give you an A or a D. It's just you're given homework to help you along the way. Whether it's gratitude, journaling, saying things you're grateful for about your body. There's all different practices that I teach along the way. And what's amazing is in those six weeks now there's a. There are two levels, and then there's going to be a membership that I'm offering as well. So once you've gotten through the two levels, then you're open to be able to be a member of the, of the community. But you have to learn the work first and the teachings that I teach. And then you can. I'm going to be, I'm going to be offering master classes and live call with ev. With a bunch of people in the community, that kind of thing. But to learn more, you can go to my website, which is www.themsstage.com and you can go to the Book a group page, which it'll be in your show notes. So you can join a group and fill out the form and, and have a discovery call with me as well. I call it the character call instead of a discovery call to help you. Yeah. So that's how you learn how to. How to join a group. You can learn more. Follow me on Instagram at the msstage as well.

[B]

Okay. And don't worry, everyone. I will make sure and put all of this information in my show notes. Show notes on how you can contact Megan on her website and to book a session or to book a discovery call and all of her social media information. Wow Megan, this has been a great conversation. I thank you. I thank you for sharing your story with us and more importantly, talking to us about the Ms. Stage. I love that idea.

[C]

Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me. I'm very excited. Thank you, thank you.

[B]

And also thank you to all of my listeners. Thank you so very much for taking this time to listen to this conversation with me and Megan Evans. If you've heard something today that you liked and that you can relate to, please share this podcast with your friends and family. Don't forget to reach out to me if you're ready to share your story or if you have any ideas for a topic that you would like to hear a conversation about. Make sure you follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you won't miss a single episode. Until next time, take care and God bless.

[A]

I hope you enjoyed today's conversation. To contact me, visit my website at www.conversationswithcandy.com. you can leave me a written message or a voicemail to support this podcast and keep the conversation going. Please click the link to buy me a Coffee or PayPal. You can scroll down to the podcast

[B]

notes to find these link.