Sometimes we think we have to do one GINORMOUS thing to make a difference in the world. But even a drop in the bucket can help fill a bucket to the point of overflowing. Dr. Devin Vrana is the owner of Light House Chiropractic & Acupuncture and the host of the “IF THEY KNEW” podcast.
Today, Devin discusses the restrictions that have been placed on people worldwide and the agenda behind them. She asks important questions such as: How & why has the medical freedom movement been summarily labeled and dismissed? What, besides public health concerns, could possibly be behind the mask mandates? And what can the average person do to make a difference given our current circumstance? A self-described momma bear, Devin offers thought-provoking, candid insights on the front lines of medical freedom advocacy.
Visit Devin’s website: devinvrana.com
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Episode Transcript
Within the below transcript the bolded text is Hilda
Sometimes we think we have to do one ginormous thing to make a difference in the world, but even a single drop in the bucket is one more drop that together with other drops can fill it to overflowing. This is episode 279. Our guest is Dr. Devin Vrana. Devin is the owner of The Light House Chiropractic & Acupuncture in Wichita, Kansas. She is a chiropractor, an entrepreneur and the host of the “IF THEY KNEW” podcast. Devin points to the smallest steps we can take to regain our health freedom rights.
She discusses the restrictions that have limited our medical freedom and the agenda that may be behind them. She talks about how our societal conditioning makes it far too easy to comply with rules even when they violate our human rights. In light of all of this, she reminds us that we can each do what it takes to stay strong in the midst of the challenges facing us. I interviewed Devin shortly after the Health Freedom Revival in Kansas. She herself helped to organize it. This is the second to last episode on the health freedom track.
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Welcome to the show, Devin.
Thank you for having me.
We were here at the Health Freedom Revival and it was something to behold here in Kansas.
I’m still catching my breath. I’m high on all the fields because it was truly beyond words.
Tell people some of the guests who came and what the focus was.
We had the big three, Del Bigtree, Andy Wakefield and Bobby Kennedy. We hosted a variety of speakers to speak on the constitution, dentistry, the land, vaccines and medical freedom. Doctors and experts from local resources but also, from all across the country. I will pay a shout-out to one of my favorite highlights, which was the moms which everyone says, “We want to hear from the experts.” I think in a conversation around health freedom, the families that have paid the price and that have lived it are my heroes. They’re my experts.
They’re the ones that Andy, Del and others have told me are so often judged and overlooked. The ones with the personal stories and experiences with their own children.
I think that that was strategic marketing on the opposition side to label those people the anti-vaxxers. You take these heart-wrenching sob stories that these women share and you give them a label like anti-vaxxers and it makes people not hear them anymore. I think that was a strategic move, but these women and families won’t be silenced. That was spoken beautifully. They stood on that stage in front of that large audience. With those, you with the big three, with Ty and Charlene Bollinger momentum’s behind them going, “We’re going to make sure you guys get access to your voice being heard by all.”
You’re a chiropractor. How did you get wrapped up in this health freedom movement?
I am a chiropractor. My husband, my sister’s and my brother’s a chiropractor. I started chiropractic school and I’d never been adjusted before. I grew up like everybody else in the traditional box. I had my first son at 21. I was pre-med, pre-dentistry and knew I wanted to help people but I didn’t know how. He had a rough birth forceps. He cried all the time. I was putting myself through school. We had a lot. He wasn’t a sick kid, but he was never well. Each time we would go to his well-check, he would get sick. I innately started to parent differently and ask different questions. That landed me in a conversation around chiropractic school. I went to a chiropractic school. I started getting exposed to all these conversations about alternative health, acupuncture and the power being inside you, not in a potion or pill and my whole world shifted.
What do you mean the power inside you? Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
From a chiropractic standpoint, you look at the brain and body connection. It controls everything. Whether you’re talking about pain or sickness, oftentimes we look outside for a treatment instead of looking internally to the power of our own human frame and how we can nurture it as a powerful being instead of something that’s broken and needs fixed. I believe that part of our cultural shift that needs to happen is that people need to remember to remember that their powers inside and they were two cells that became a baby, became a toddler and teenager. They are a walking, living and breathing miracle. Their power is only limited when they outsource it. That’s what brought me in the Health Freedom because you see how much money is made betting on people’s weakness. I want to shift things where we start betting on people’s strength.
What do you mean by betting on people’s weakness?
You see the different pharmaceutical games. You see from the get-go with babies where they are no sooner out of the womb and we’re injecting them with vaccines, but they’re born perfect. Within our culture, there’s this outsourced health. My health is out there. I’ve got to go to the doctor so they can fix me, when in reality it’s the power inside us. It’s our nervous system and our miracle of life that I think people need to understand a little bit more through meditation, a good, vibrant living diet and reclaiming who they are.
Maybe you can tell us one story of a patient who’s come to you and a shift where they suddenly recognize that power within that you’re describing.
I’ll give a nod right there to Rachel who spoke. She’s a mom of four boys in my practice. They came in and she shared beautifully. They did things by the traditional book. They went to all the well-child checks. They did what they were told instead of what they chose. There’s a big difference. It changes the entire game of life and health. That landed them in a tough spot. She shared with her son Baker, they did what they were supposed to and he was vaccine injured. He’s on the autism spectrum. He was limited in diet. He just said mom for the first time. What she has learned through a very painful journey is that when she stepped responsibility as a mother for her own health, but also for their family to be the decision-makers, to be the deciders of their destiny, it gave them freedom of choice instead of doing the status quo and going through the motions.
It’s almost like we’ve been indoctrinated or programmed to do what we’ve been told from when we’re in school. We have to raise our hands to go to the bathroom. When we’re parking a car and there’s a sign that says, “Don’t park here at certain times.” We’ve been taught to follow the rules mostly. It’s hard to break out of that paradigm.
You hit it perfectly. What we’re feeling in 2020 is a tightening of those screws. It’s not actually any different, it just falls in line on a whole new volume. It’s compliance instead of cooperation, but the land of the free does not comply. If there’s not proper science and justice behind it. That’s why there’s this rise coming up of, yes, we can sit. I have no problem being a good student or raising my hand if it’s justified. What I think we’re experiencing is that there’s a force with it. I think people had it.
You said something about science. Some people would say, “The science seems to be showing. There’s a virus spreading. We need to wear masks. We need to social distance.” Why are you going against that science?
I spoke in front of our county commission. A three-minute testimony that I got and what I held up for them was a quarter. I said, “For every head, there’s a tail.” There’s my science that looks this way and there’s your science that looks that way because we haven’t had enough time to know. In reality, there’s a centerline and that’s called truth. We should all be seekers of the truth. Science is only as good as the data that it collects and the methods in which it was done. The time that we’re given to look at it, time isn’t a luxury that we’ve had yet, but truth is truth. What I think is being exposed is not if science looks this way or that way, or if distancing or mask. Truth will speak for itself. We had a gathering with hundreds of people and time will tell. I’m not saying there’s never been a time without viruses. There will never be a time without viruses, but we’ve also never tested asymptomatic people. I don’t believe truth is behind what we’re being told. It feels a lot more like force.
You’ve had enough information from those who have explained the problem with vaccines and let alone a rushed vaccine. In other words, the history seems to point to the fact that they are more risky than beneficial.
I’m sure that it started out with good intentions but now there’s so much money behind it. You can look at Vioxx, you can look at a thousand other pharmaceutical errors and deaths. When you look at the rates of medical error, it’s wildly disturbing, but then you have this blanket covering over vaccines that we literally, in my opinion, assault children with from the second they arrive here. Continuously before they’re teenagers, which I think is calculated because we do it before they gain the momentum to say no. It’s wrong.
If a person wants to vaccinate their children, they should have the right to do so just as much as the person who doesn’t want to vaccinate their children should have the right to deny that for their children.
When I spoke in front of the county commissioner, if I speak anywhere on health freedom, I’ll stand for just as much as I would stand with the person who’s against. I stand for freedom which holds both sides of that coin I talked about. What I think will happen in the vaccine conversation though, is that people are making choices without all the information. That’s why I’m grateful for things like this event, movements like 1986: The Act, Highwire and Children’s Health Defense. I am all for choice, but more importantly, I’m for informed choice. We haven’t arrived there yet. I think a lot of families are making decisions without proper resources or access to information that may lead them in a different way.
I know at the Kansans for Health Freedom and the program, you had a long list of a bunch of different groups that we could align ourselves with to get more informed about what our freedoms are and what the options are with our health.
That was such an inspiration. I helped put together the booklet Kansans for Health Freedom. They sent me resources and I formatted it. When it got me going, I’m working on a link tree for my social media that you’ll be able to click on and go right to that so you can access all of that good stuff.
Any state you live in the US, etc.
We had the groups that stand for health freedom, different documentaries, articles, people to follow on social media because essentially this is a solo journey where there is a collective of people that are together so you don’t feel alone. At the end of the day, it’s your health, it’s your responsibility. You’re going to have to follow the breadcrumbs on your own journey to make it what you want it.
Let’s talk for a moment about how there a group of doctors in this area that meets every other week to talk about this topic. How did that get started?
A local business owner, Marty with Songbird Juice here in Wichita, Kansas came to me and said, “I feel like there are some of us that need to get together and talk about what’s going on.” This was back in June. It was when things were heating up around doing a forced mask mandate. We wanted to talk about truth. We got together with one of the city council members. There was an integrative medicine doc, a homeopathic doctor, multiple chiropractors, and then a collection of researchers. We started going, “What’s going on?” It grew. There were some concerned citizens that also were advocates for choice and advocates for truth. The week before the Freedom Revival, we had 120 people come forward to speak at the city council meeting to say, no more forced mandates.
It was jaw-dropping, amazing to watch testimony after testimony. Men, women, children got up and spoke, retired vets that say, “I fought for a war and I fought for freedom. You can’t force me to do these things.” If we’re talking about a mask, if we’re talking about a vaccine, give me the information and then step aside and let me make my own choice. It was so beautiful. There were 120 people that came together for the city. Also, there was close to 40 that spoke in front of the county commission. You guys are going to hear a lot about the Heartland and there’s something to be said about being from here. We’re simple people, but we’re rooted and we know right from wrong. We’re not afraid to stand up when justice is in the balance.
I was going to ask you, why Kansas? You answered that.
When I tell people when I go places and they meet me and they say, “Where are you from?” I say, “Wichita?” They’re like, “Kansas?” I love going to the big cities. I love traveling, but I love home. That whole Dorothy Wizard of Oz as cheesy as it is, there’s no place like home. People are very simple here and it’s because we do walk barefoot in the grass and we do roam on the plains. Life is slower and more simple here. We’re pretty good at sniffing out BS. We don’t stand for it. I’m very proud of my city and state. I’m proud of the momentum you’re going to continue to see from us.
Tell me about the mandates you do have in place right now.
In our city and county, there is a forced mask mandate. The night before the Freedom Revival, in the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County, they took it from a voluntary order to a mandatory order trying to bully businesses that weren’t cooperating to the extent they wanted it to or people because to my understanding it’s not law. That’s why people can’t be ticketed for it. My worry is it’s creating almost a civil war. Businesses just want their doors to be open. Everybody’s been through so much at this point and all they want to do is be open. If they say, “These are the rules I have to,” but then people want their rights. All of a sudden you have two people that probably want the same thing at war with one another. That’s where I call local officials regardless of city or state. I love from Remember the Titans when he says, “Attitude reflects leadership.” This unrest in our community stems from leadership needing to step up their game and do better to hear from their people.
Apparently, you all have been speaking up. Do you see hope for this mandate to be reversed?
I see it already done. What I saw in people’s eyes on that day at the city council meeting and at the Freedom Revival is that freedom revived. People are alive, awake and they are ready to stand together and solo. Regardless of what the powers that be do, I know the people are ready to continue the mission. I think you’ll see a big change in leadership because they’re going to have to lay in the beds they’ve made and people aren’t happy. I’ve been asked, I don’t even know how many times, “Would you ever run for office?” I don’t know. I know I’m not a complainer. I won’t sit on the sidelines and complain about what’s being done. I will step boldly into the arena to do my part.
Talking politics makes me think of that phrase, “The silent majority.” Isn’t it true that there are some people who wish they could speak up about not wanting this mask mandate, but they’re afraid of what their neighbors might say?
It circles us back to something you said about sit in your chair, don’t talk, be seen and not heard, raise your hand if you want to speak. I don’t remember who said it, they said that’s what created the silent majority. We have a culture of people who have been taught and conditioned to be seen and not heard. I think that tipping point is about to reverse the other way. What I heard and saw was a dancing and vocal majority. It was an alive, happy and joyful majority. I want to be a part of that revolution more than anything.
Can you tell us another story of maybe someone that was once silent and then decided to speak up?
I can think of a few different people, even from that city council meeting like Marty, for instance. If you just met her off the street, you would go, “She’s sassy. She’s outspoken,” but she was victimized when she was younger. When I entered the county courthouse with her, we both spoke in front of the county commission together, they asked us to wear the shields to get through the entrance of the lobby. We cooperated to get through that portion to go up. We put on the little headband and the shield over our face and they asked us to put on a mask underneath it. We both said, “No, we’re wearing the shields.” She started to have a panic attack.
What you have to understand is what you see in a present moment doesn’t tell a whole story ever. My mom’s favorite quote was, “Be kind for everyone you know is fighting a hard battle.” What Marty was able to voice post the event was abuse that she had been through. Years after being abused and the mask for her brought her back to her trauma. It created a PTSD. Marty is one of many people I know that pain in her, that angst, that rage of being forced to do something that is wrong inside her system, you hit a breaking point. I’ll bend and then break. She has been such an inspiration because she hit that point and she’s doing it as tactfully, gracefully and compassionately as she can. When you feel wrong in your system, going with it creates disease in your own system. She’s ready to get it out and that means speaking up.
What about those people who wish they could speak up, but are too timid or just don’t feel like that’s their calling in particular? What are ways in which they can be health freedom advocates?
See what level you’re on. If we say there’s level 0 and there’s level 10. Bobby, Andy and Del are probably a ten. They’re out there. They’re in it, but then you have people that are just clicking on things. They’re not liking, they’re not loving and they’re not emoji-ng at all. They’re certainly not commenting. Go up a level and hit the like button. If you’re a liker, then become a share person. If you’re a share person, do a live. If you’re a live person, start creating more conversations. Wherever you’re at, take it one step up. Meet this conversation. Don’t feel like you have to go change the world by yourself because yes, it’s your solo mission, but there is a collective. If we all cranked up the dial just one notch together, exponentially, what does that even look like? Sometimes we make growth scarier. It doesn’t have to be a leap out of our comfort. It just has to be one step.
What I do sometimes is I just start a conversation. I find a common ground. If I’m with an Uber driver and I’m like, “I just want the windows down. I like the fresh air.” I might make a little comment. One little thing that we have in common, suddenly I’m finding that they’re skeptical about mask too, or something like that.
You make it human again. Right now, everything is Zoom. I had a patient in my office, a young girl. She’s a high school senior. They’re getting a course about how it’s so important to get TikTok and Snapchat on your phones and how they need to get on social media to be social and stay away from their friends. They’re getting trained this in their high school, in my hometown. I was so angry and I had to ask myself, like, “Why does that?” I think we’re losing our humanness in this conversation. Everything is Zoom, everything is virtual. Everything is distance. When you wear a mask, you can’t see smiles.
Our facial expressions tell such a story and carry so much energy. You can call me a conspiracy theorist, but it sure looks like the things in motion could be in an effort to keep us away from one another. No gatherings. We stay away from coming together. What is that? Why is it that there’s this silent killer or now after months of looking at data, is there something else going on? You start asking questions with other people. I think those questions lead us closer to the truth.
Some people ask me sometimes how my kids have turned out. How about your kids? You have five. Is that right?
I do. I’ve got twin four-year-olds, boy, girl, and twin nine-year-olds, two boys and then a fifteen-year-old. I’ve got the gamut. I’ll take this moment to send a prayer and send lots of light out to the mama bears out there. Moms are facing all the things right now. They’re not just feeling it on their own level, but now they have to make all these decisions for their children in their home. My four-year-olds are not in school. We have a nanny at home and I decided to go ahead and pull the nine-year-olds as well. We’re going to unschool and homeschool our own way, which has been a big shift. I work. How do I reroute my schedule and my priorities?
My fifteen-year-old is doing online. He’s very established on his athletic teams in school. To stay eligible for athletics, he’s doing their online version. Guiding him and being with him through that because they want kids on a screen for six hours and that’s not good. This is all shifting, how do we make fly decisions? I don’t just make them for them. If I could give any advice because by no means do I have it down. We’re using this time to do life together. I’m asking my nine-year-olds. I’m asking my fifteen-year-old like, “What do you think of all of this?” Not just what do we do on the defense, but what do we choose as our offense? One of our foundational things in our family is there are no victims.
It’s not happening to you. It’s happening for you. If we’re here, we have the power of choice in how we react to it. I got to live that truth right now with them. We’re creating a space that’s congruent with our beliefs. When it comes to diet, we keep it as simple as we can. If God made it, it’s good for you. If man made it, you might want to watch it. We do the best we can. My husband’s a chiropractor as well. Everybody gets adjusted regularly. My kids don’t go to doctors. After my firstborn and I learned so much from him, my other four are just vibrantly healthy and alive. If something’s going on, they lay on the floor and say, “Mom, can you pop my back? Mom, can I get an adjustment? Mom, do you have your oils?”
Their normal probably looks very different than the average and I love that. I lost my mom in 2016. I know what it’s like to live life without a mother. If I do have to slow down my work to be present now during homeschool or what we make that look like, that’s a gift, not a curse. Maybe God is sending mothers back into their homes of sorts. I’m soaking it up the best that I can and enjoying it. Taking the time that if I were to leave the earth and go to heaven, they would have the most foundational truth, which we’ve already talked about, that their power is on the inside. They’re powerful beyond measure and life is for living to seek that with all they can.
I’m going to ask you two more questions, but I’m going to rephrase my question because I don’t want to out the one of my kids that isn’t. As a mom, I know you have five kids. How are you raising critical thinkers at this time? I’m going to ask you. I love it when you said the space or creating the world we want to live in. I think it’s important at this time to stay positive because there’s a lot of fear out there.
Seek and you will find. What you seek is seeking you. There are all those cliché quotes, but they’re so true. One of my favorite mentors, Dr. Steve Hayes said, “Always try to be what you’re for, not what you’re against.” That will lead you closer to joy and peace. That’s what my family and I are trying to do.
You are radiating, Devin. Let me ask you the question I often pose at the end. If the reader could do one thing to improve their health, what would you recommend that they do?
Go find a mirror and look into your eyes. Look beyond all the imperfections and things that we normally look at. Go to the glitter in the eyes, the spark in the eyes, the God in your eyes and say, “I love you. I’m sorry. I forgive you.” The Ho’oponopono prayer. Say thank you. For whatever was behind you, let it be behind you. Look deep into those eyes and say, “From now on, we do better,” and then just do a little better from there. I think that’s it. Falling back in love with yourself, forgiving yourself and making yourself a promise to be better tomorrow than you were now.
Thank you for sharing that prayer and for sharing your life, Devin. We appreciate it.
Thank you for having me. It’s been such a joy to meet you. I know we’re going to stay connected for many years to come.
We’re on the same team.
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About Devin Vrana
She is an active student and teacher of the art of Chiropractic. She is a passionate teller of the Chiropractic Story and protector of its philosophy and science. Her path has been blessed with many great teachers and mentors. She completed specialty Pediatric and Prenatal/Postpartum and Family Health training with the ICPA. She studied Chiropractic and Acupuncture under the great Dr. Richard Yennie–and is a Fellow of the Acupuncture Society of America. She has served as the President of the Sedgwick County Kansas Chiropractic Association and believes it is imperative to step up and serve in local leadership for fellow healthcare colleagues and the communities they serve.
Dr. Devin has traveled around the nation to speak to the Chiropractic community and traveled the world to serve the mission of loving Chiropractic service. She has received local and state awards–Future Phenom, KCA Young Doctor of the Year, Wichita’s 40 Under 40. She is owner and operator at The LightHouse–Chiropractic & Acupuncture in Wichita KS. She practices side-by-side with her sister, Dr. Hali Banda (Ad Astra Chiropractic).
This is only the beginning for Dr. Devin, the Vrana family, and her amazing team of Warriors. She sets her roots firmly in the beautiful fields that surround her family’s home and she spreads her wings to study, share, serve and spread the gift of Chiropractic’s Sacred Trust. She is on a relentless pursuit of living the FULLNESS of life and serving to her highest capacity in all the ways she can for all the days she can.
Important Links:
- The Light House Chiropractic & Acupuncture
- “IF THEY KNEW”
- Devin Vrana
- Kansans for Health Freedom Program (see especially pages 27 on)
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