Andy Smith 00:00 
Before we begin, the PEMF podcast does not contain any medical advice and the content provided is for informational purposes only. If you have any health concerns, please visit a healthcare professional. Welcome back to another episode of the PEMF podcast. And today's episode is one we're really especially excited about because we're exploring a unique integration of PEMF with one of the most popular movement practices in the world, which is Pilates. Our guest is Kiki Cordero Drake and she's blending PEMF therapy with Pilates and more to help her clients find lasting balance in the body, mind and soul. But Kiki, for the listeners who may not know you, can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 00:44 
Yes, thank you so much. I am a master instructor in Pilates sports therapy rehabilitation. I got my certification approximately 17 years ago, and it has been my passion for so long. Since then, I've obviously become a PEMF practitioner and become an LTAC practitioner, and it's done a lot of different certifications to master this trait, but that's me.

Andy Smith 01:07 
Have you always been interested in like health and fitness or helping people or where did you where did that you know where did that interest speak from.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 01:16 
I loved health and science all through school, but I did not want to go into medical school in any way, shape, or form. I actually wanted to be on TV and be a broadcaster. But that made me sad. I was just always drawn to being able to maximize the body's fullest potential when it came to exercise or to eating healthy or to whatever it needed to be. I was actually always kind of looking for cutting corners to be completely honest. I wanted to do things faster and more efficiently. So I actually started doing Pilates when I was 21. I was in a car accident and I was having this unusual swelling behind my knees and this chronic pain. And somebody was like, well, you were a dancer. You should just go do Pilates. And I was like, okay. And then not only did I rehab my body, but in four sessions, I had a smaller waist. And I was like, okay, this is cool. This is efficient. I'm going to do this. So actually, it was just a hobby of mine for a really long time. I had many professions. I'm advertising. I was in radio. I keep saying during all the big corporate jobs. And then one day when the crash of 2007 happened, I was just like, you know what? Life is too short. I want to do what makes me happy. And that is what I did.

Andy Smith 02:28 
So you left the corporate world and went into set up your Pilates studio. Whereabouts do you do the Pilates?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 02:34 
So I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona

Andy Smith 02:35 
OK, cool. And I think you've you've completed certifications and PEMF, which would obviously interest us. Who was that certification with and what did those training? What did that training kind of focus on in terms of the PEMF?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 02:50 
So it's funny, there wasn't actually a certification in PEMF when I started doing this 10 years ago. It was more so my chiropractor who had developed a device that allowed me to learn from him. So he taught me his basic protocols and because I always want to know more and be more efficient, I then did like a massage therapy license. I did Reiki one. I did meridians and chakras. I just wanted to learn how the body really responds and reacts to frequency. So it wasn't in the beginning of like a real certification. It was more so like here's the reaction points and this is what you want to look for. So I took my background in biomechanics with Pilates and just started to look at the body a different way. And so as I was able to transfer the frequency, I can coincide that with what movement and stabilization they needed. And then I just did body work.

Andy Smith 03:42 
Okay, cool. Actually, I'm going to go off script a little bit because I want to, I want to understand because obviously Pilates is something that a lot of people use and they do. My wife does Pilates, but I couldn't actually tell you what Pilates is. All I understand is that you're on some kind of board that moves and it's some kind of workout. But can you explain to me and our audience what is Pilates and how does it help?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 04:06 
His supplies is basically an all-around mind-body-soul connection. It helps you work with the smaller muscle groups. It supports the main muscle groups. It was great for rehabilitation. It was actually developed by Joe Supplai's. He was, I don't know what the story goes. He was kind of found around World War II. He was a British medic and he had developed his own type of exercise because he was an awkward child with a lot of issues, whether it be being bone legged, his spine, all these different things. He had a father who was a professional bodybuilder and a mother who was a nurse. So he created his form of exercise, which he then took to the British Army. And then he ended up taking to a POW camp during World War II. And then as the story goes, Hitler got wind of this camp that wasn't having issues with disease and famine and dying. And he wanted to know what was going on there. So they told him about this British medic who was teaching them a form of exercise that was making them stronger. So the reformer or the tower was actually developed by using the medical bags, you know, like the IV bags as well as the strings from the beds. So he actually was able to create essentially a machine to help them work through muscle atrophy and strengthen their bodies and keep them healthy and strong.

Andy Smith 05:20 
That's no that's really good good to know actually because like I say I my wife keeps inviting me and telling me I got to do it and I've been booked on a course a number of times for whatever reason haven't gone and and I think a lot of people associate parties with women doing it but it's it's interesting that you say that it originated from you know from the ball and and so it's peak my interest I'm going to commit to it now so I'm going to get a session done I promise.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 05:49 
You have to, you have to do it. And yes, you are going to shake, you're going to sweat, you're going to be like, what the heck is happening? And why am I not stronger? And why is she doing it so much better? That is 100% going to happen. Um, but it's, it's seriously, it's such a transformation of your body. And when you can actually feel things working and you feel longer and all of a sudden your spine is elongated and your joints are moving better, your rotations better, and it actually helps you build more muscle mass. Then you realize like, wow, this is kind of the missing link because that's what it was. It was created for soldiers during the time of war to be able to hold their cavalier and be able to walk in what then was just wooden shoes with nails and leather. Like that was it, right? So he developed this for the soldiers to become stronger. When he fled to the United States and went to New York, he ended up getting an apartment above the American ballet. And that is where the story twists and everyone thinks that it was for ballerinas, but it is actually for soldiers in war.

Andy Smith 06:41 
Okay, no good and it's always on that moving board or is that just as form of Pilates?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 06:45 
So that's a form and the moving word is called reformer. Yeah, so that's a different type of lies. Yeah, exactly. So you can tell, you can tell I need to educate you. I cannot wait until you take your first class. So originally it started as Matt and Matt. People think it's going to be easiest. Matt is the hardest form of Pilates because you have no assistance. It is all you and your body and your spine and your muscles and making them work the way that they need to. You're in the hardest thing in the world when done properly. You have a reformer, you have a tower, which is attached to your reformer. In most cases, there's a chair or a wounded chair, which looks like you literally just sit on it. It was made from his chair at his dining room table and he created like a split pedal option and springs with that. There's a Cadillac, which is usually used for really cool photos on Instagram. There's, there's now there's all kinds of different tools that they're utilizing as, as well as just that moving board, like you said.

Andy Smith 07:46 
Okay. So, I mean, I use PEMF, I use PEMF every day. I know what PEMF is, or PEMF, a lot of people call it now. And now I know what a Pilates is too. What drew you to combine the two therapies? Because, you know, this is something that really piqued our interest when we're looking for guests for the podcast. And we came across this Instagram page called PEMF Pilates. And it's like, wow, what's that? So what, what drew you to put them as one rather than two separate tools?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 08:16 
So, obviously, I opened the Pilates studio, I don't even know how many years ago, and I was only doing that. My chiropractor had the PEMF, taught me how to use it. So what would happen is I would have clients that would come in with, let's say, a shoulder injury or fear post-op issues, and they weren't quite getting the maximum amount of work and strength and stability that they needed because they were so focused on what was going on within that injury. So I started utilizing the guided PEMF to go ahead and relax the areas, help repair, and recover the area, and then I would put them on the reformer to help stabilize and strengthen them so that way it would be full circle versus just chasing the pain and just treating the problem. Since then, I've actually been lucky enough to now use a device where I can use it while they're on the reformer tower and chair. So they're getting all the frequency and repair as they're actually working out as well.

Andy Smith 09:10 
So you were using PEMF originally as just like a recovery tool or, uh, you know, you, you're using it individually. And then you found a device that works in combination and you start using the two together. Yeah. What, what device is it that's that you're using as part of your plies?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 09:30 
I have it right here on the soonest one.

Andy Smith 09:33 
Here's one you made earlier.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 09:35 
That is the norm. This is actually called the EQ Flux Pro. What's really cool about it, as far as the fact that it weighs like two pounds, is that the founder, Joshua Park, actually, he considers it REAC technology, not just PEMF. REAC stands for Radial Electric Asymmetric Conveyor Technology. The purpose is to devise a very specified and precise neuromodulation to help with reprogramming the cellular function. He has the two sides, which allow me, number one, if I need to actually do it through my hands, I can use this side. But on this side here is used specifically for exercise movement and PT. It allows me to use a variation of pumps or pads to attach to my clients, as well as he gives belts and straps to hold into position so that way he can stay on your clients while you're training.

Andy Smith 10:29 
So what does a typical session look like when you're combining the two like is in like duration and kind of walk us through what the client might experience during the session.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 10:40 
Um, so if you're first time playing with me, you're going to spend about 75 to 90 minutes with me, I'm going to do my assessment, which is an LTAP assessment. I'm going to figure out if your body is more structural, if there's an issue more structurally or rather a visceral response pattern, right? From there, I might actually put you in more parasympathetic by utilizing the device to help like reset any tension in the abdomen, the paraspinals, release tension from the neck and shoulders, and then I'll take you to the reformer or whatever device I am, you know, whatever, um, machine I want to start you on. Usually they're a former and then from there with those inconsistencies that I found in your body, I will then put the attachments where I feel like you need. So let's say you have an area that you're compensating, um, like with our pictures, for instance, right? Let's say you're writing picture, you're going to obviously need work on this shoulder, last scab, rotator cuff. However, with your rotation, you need to make sure that your hip is super healthy, right? And that you're able to actually rotate all the way through. So I know for those connected patterns, I want to probably put some form of like relaxation and release in this left hip while I also help with some form of muscle activation, like possibly like a beta setting on there for more muscle activation. So that way, when I have them going through their movement patterns, it actually connects the body for more proper flow.

Andy Smith 11:55 
Okay, cool. And is there any way you can't use it on the body or is it kind of unique in fact that you can use it anywhere and you mentioned that you're using it during movement as well. So it's not like, you know, because the typical way I see people using PEMF is laying on it and chilling on it and that sort of thing. So this is something you're applying to any part of the body or just specific areas and can you move around with it on?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 12:18 
you can apply it to any part of the body. You can move around with it. It's actually pretty incredible. For instance, I had a golfer, and we have golfers in here all the time, but there's a golfer that I'm working with that just had complete tendon repair. He had actually torn his tendon, separated it off, and shipped some bone. So what we've been doing with him is, and I can just kind of show you, I don't have my spray bottle in here, but what I did was because he had so much inflammation and tension patterns where the actual incisions were, I could connect it here and have this part here. Then from there, I was having him do his swings and movement with the straps on the Reformer. Another connection pattern that I find that I use with my golfers or even my baseball players is that I'll take the cup and I'll put it either on their trap or rear delt or wherever, maybe the rhomboids, whoever they have the weaknesses, and then I will put this pad in their hands. So not only will it connect the pathways through, but then I can actually get the straps in here and I can have them do their movements based on what they need for their sport. So it's pretty cool. There's a distraction gone.

Andy Smith 13:28 
Yeah, and why are the people coming through the doors to you in terms of are they coming in for a polarity session or are they coming in for recovery performance focus and then that's when you integrate the supply so is it more of like they're coming in for the tools to PEMF and then you introduce Pilates or are they coming in for the plies and you're introducing the recovery tools it's that makes sense.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 13:53 
It does make sense completely. Um, so when you come to me, no matter what, I'm going to be adding some form of movement. So even if you're coming to me saying you want full body work, just for rehab, pain management or recovery, you're still going to get a movement because there's no such thing as full pain management or recovery without doing strength training and stability based on, you know, doing just that body work. Um, so then what happens is when they realize like, Oh, wow, I can do this. Cause again, it's a lot of men that have never done Pilates because they think it's for chicks. So that was really cool. Wow. That really felt good on my hips. And now all of a sudden it becomes not just about me doing body work on them with a little bit of like recovery, not, or not recovering with a little bit of like performance advancement. But now it's about them wanting to come do Pilates specifically with the frequency because they're seeing how much better their movement patterns are.

Andy Smith 14:46 
OK, cool. And we we we had Dr. Sean Drake on this podcast, who is your husband, I believe. Yes. And is this will relate to my question, I promise. Is there certain conditions that work particularly well for polities? So if somebody has come through the door, maybe to see Dr. Drake and he said, you know what? I know who you need to see. You need to see Kiki, my wife, you know. And is that because there's a certain condition they've got that is particularly responds really well to this PEMF implies or or is it kind of anybody?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 15:26 
I mean, I'm a bit biased. I'm going to say any money and everything. Um, there are a lot of people that come in that, you know, we, especially when you train hard and you're used to training the way that you want to train, sometimes you miss out on, again, those smaller muscle groups or those stabilization areas that can actually take your skill to the next level. So what happens with some of the people that come in here, like they've only been working there with their specific trainer, or maybe like their form is a little bit off, maybe their pelvic floor is a little bit weaker, which we see so many times, especially with our male athletes and our male clients. So this is a way for them to kind of retrain and strengthen their pelvic floor to kind of cinch everything back in, especially when they're dealing with like chronic pain issues, um, or chronic back issues. Um, when they said like yesterday, we had somebody that said that he has two bulging discs while after working on them, like your bulging discs aren't because your hips are tight, it's because your adductors are not strong at all. I mean, that no pelvic floor, but Pilates is a really great way of being able to strengthen all of those muscles and to cinch everything back in and get your body in proper form.

Andy Smith 16:30 
Okay, cool. And you've described yourself in the past, I'm doing some research before this podcast as a guided PEMF practitioner. Can you explain what that means, like, to our audience?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 16:42 
So it's funny. With the other device that I was using, that was a term that they coined as guided PEMF. Nobody knows what that means. What that means is you are a conductor transferring frequency through your body for very targeted specific hands-on care. So with the new device, I'm now saying manual PEMF therapist because everyone knows what manual therapy is and they know that it's usually through your hands. And so I've just kind of claimed that a little bit differently because it's still extremely precise. You can still act as a conduit with it going through your body, but you can also utilize a wand or the cups and pads as well to get the same amount of work.

Andy Smith 17:19 
Okay cool and that comes my next question actually like what do you what what applications are the best cuz you can use your device through your hands or you can use it for the application cops is there a reason in which one suits better than the other.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 17:34 
So when you're acting as a conduit to transfer frequency through your body, there's a lot of things people don't tell you about. With the other device I was using, it's either a push or a pull of frequency, right? And the strongest way of doing it is when you're pulling through your client. So that being said, it means that you're taking on a lot of their energy, their illness, their heartache, their depression, their pain. Are they dehydrated? Are you dehydrated? That can seriously affect the way that you can treat each client and how you recover as well as a practitioner. So with this other device, being able to utilize the wand, which also, it's a heated tool actually, it gets up to quite really hotter than I need it. I usually keep it at 40 degrees Celsius. But because it has a graphite and because it actually heats, not only does it help relax the tissue faster, but the cells are attracted to the graphite. And it tells you where an area is actually overactive or underactive. So you have a choice to use this instead of just your hands. However, if you want to use your hands, it's going to give you the same assessment, whether it's through your fingers or through the wand, which is super cool. Also, you're not taking out all the energy from everybody else. And this way on this machine, you're only pushing frequency. You're never pulling. So it's all about what's coming through you and not what you're taking on from other people. So that's what I like best about that. Now, when it comes to working on someone's face and their jawline, dealing with TMJ, chronic headaches, migraines, I'm 100% going to use my hands every single time because it's just so fine-tuned. And you don't want to have somebody overreact to where... I mean, it's pretty funny, the videos that you see and a lot of people post them because they are funny. But also, that can cause tension and anxiety when all of a sudden, someone's face is being yanked over tried. So when you're doing a hand test, you might see your eyes wiggle and your nose tickles and wiggles and your eyelashes jump in your lip squimmer. But it's not like a really extreme movement that takes them out of that parasympathetic state.

Andy Smith 19:37 
Okay, cool. And you're, I mean, you're coined as the PEMF Pilates. You know, that's your, that's your kind of title. So that must be a key focus for you in your, in your sessions. But do you blend that with other modalities? You know, we, we know your husband uses a lot of different type of therapies as well. Do you use things like breath work, energy work, stretching, red light, sound. Does that come into the equation? And is, when are you using those kind of like with the guided or the, or the Pilates session?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 20:07 
Well, she's a breathwork guy, and that is not me. I did get certified in body by breath by Jill Miller, and that is thoracic abdominal breathing using specific balls and tools to help release fast attention patterns. So that in a way is a way that I will help people, especially my clients that are on the road a lot. I'll have them integrate that into practice or I'll use it here in practice after I work on them to show them like how much you can do on your own. So I do love that. I do some guided meditation with people when I am having one, especially when I'm working on their head and their face or helping them open up like their third eye, I'll have them close their eyes and I'll have them focus on how the energy is pushing through your body and how it pushes out all the negativity and brings it all the light from the good, positive things. And then if I feel like a client is just still holding on to something that's not allowing me or the device to really like let them release the way that they're supposed to, I will want to 100% put them on any of the other modalities that we have here. I love our Solodome. That's one of my favorite things for the sound frequency. I love Ruxedo, which is a light frequency. Those are the two that you can find me on pretty much like every other day. And then we have a shift wave. When it comes to TMJ, clenching and chronic grinding, I actually now use a combination of the guided PEMF along the jawline exterior on the exterior. And then I use the Resimax tool, which is a vibrational tool that helps reset the nervous system, but it actually has a tool that goes inside the mouth to help reset internally, because even though I could do control oil, if you hit a tooth, it feels like a cavity. And I hate to do that to my clients.

Andy Smith 21:51 
Did you mention red light in there was there a device that you use for red light therapy and would you use that before or after the. Sometimes I know.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 22:00 
I tend to have red light in the room at times actually i do have an infrared red light that i put over their body while i'm working on them i didn't even think about that because it's just part of my every day. I just think that it helps you know there's synthetic health information circulation blood flow and because i have the infrared with it as well and just how to put them into that like calm relaxed state.

Andy Smith 22:21 
Yeah. And I don't know if we mentioned it also with the other podcast, but do you guys have a cold therapy in the place? Have you got an ice bath? Do you use that or you not have one there?

Kiki Cordero-Drake 22:32 
Oh well, we have one. She loves that. I do not.

Andy Smith 22:36 
Yeah this love and hate relationship with ice baths.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 22:41 
Yeah. Ours currently stands around 32 degrees. He doesn't use it for, because I think he told you guys he hates the term recovery. It's not about that. For him, it's about mental, physical, resilience, and performance. So whatever you get into an ice bath or clinic, you're going to be guided by him or one of our other practitioners to help you overcome whatever is holding you back to life.

Andy Smith 23:07 
Yeah okay so potentially would you use that before or after a session what what what would your protocol be if you if you did use the ice bath not for yourself but maybe before on your clients.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 23:17 
I would actually use it, it depends on the person and what they're trying to accomplish. Are they about to go to a three-day tournament or are they just trying to get through something that is really holding them back right then and there? If that's the case, then I might actually put them in that more uncomfortable seat before I work on them because we don't use cold for post-workout recovery. That's not how we use it, so I'd rather get them in the proper mindset so their body allows them to just release knowing that they can now accomplish anything.

Andy Smith 23:50 
Yeah, I know. Cool. That makes sense. And have you got any kind of stand out client stories or anything you want to share with us in terms of somebody that's had just such a turnaround from coming in and having like a guided PEMF or having a PEMF and Pilates session. Something that you want to kind of share with the audience that was really resonated with you.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 24:11 
Um, I mean, we have a couple cool, there's a big one. I'll leave that one for last. So like, like I was saying with, um, the golfer, he was told that he would have to take the entire season off for the year and we had to be able to utilizing the combination on the two, get him like 95% healed within three months. So the recovery process is so much faster and the reconnection is so much faster to now without their hitting balls, probably a little too well, not even tired today, you know, sometimes, but he was told he wouldn't be able to do his passion and his career for almost a year. And we brought that back to him, which is so amazing to be able to see someone not have to give that up because you see a part of them kind of getting down inside when they're told like, they can't do what they want to do for so long. Um, same thing. We have an amazing picture for the major leagues. He had, um, a shoulder surgery, a root tear cuff surgery, and he just wasn't getting the same range of motion and speed that he once had, which is holding him back from getting signed. So we started incorporating the two. I was actually making sure to put the cups on the areas where the incisions were because there was so much trauma still held in those scars and scar tissue that he created. So by utilizing the PEMF with his movement, it helped not only break through the scar tissue and regenerate the nerve endings that had been suffered through from the surgery, but it helped him get back up to the high nineties and two hundred and then he got signed again. So those were two cool ones. Um, one that I was, I became kind of known for like on tiktok, which is kind of a silly thing to say is, um, one of my clients and mothers, we call, we call her granny, so everyone thought she was my granny, but she's not my granny. And granny, um, has suffered from a stroke and was actually claimed dead. This is what's so crazy. They were zipping her up in the bag and then all of a sudden she screams, right? Yeah. So she had partial paralysis along the right side of her body for three years. And I had met her daughter, her daughter is an equestrian and she heard, they know about PEMF used for horses. And so she was like, Oh, well, I have, um, I have, you know, hip back neck issues. I've just been dying note. And like her daughter was actually diagnosed with brain tumor. So I was like, Oh, well, PEMF is fantastic or brain tumors actually, because what studies have shown is that it helps encapsulate the cells within the area, like encapsulates the area of making it more condensed. So I take it easier to remove under the surgery. That being said, um, she was like, well, can you work on my mom? She was partially paralyzed. And I was like, you know what? You can try because all it is is the body not connecting anymore. And the nerves need to be reconnected and kind of woken up. I can't guarantee anything, but let's see what happens. Within two sessions, she was able to not only like before we would have to help bring her out of her wheelchair and lay her down after her first session, she sat up on her own.

Andy Smith 27:11 
Mm-hmm, wow.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 27:12 
Second session, she got out of her wheelchair on her own. Third session, she was lifting her leg on her own. She had no patterns coming back into her face. She was able to start doing her own rehab on her arm. She'd be like, look, look, I'm like, hey, slow down. It's okay, you have to do so much quickly. But it was so amazing because just by giving, like, just by waking up those pathways and those nerves again, and do you think we're the confidence that it took? I mean, it takes someone with tenacity. It just, like, therapy's amazing, but unless you're willing to try, it's not just going to do it for you. So it took her hard work as well. And the next thing I knew, she was now walking steps. Of course, the rehabilitation facility that she was in did not know what she was doing with me, so they thought they did all the work, which is super cute. But, you know, Granny is now, like, walking. Maybe not for a long period of time, but she's walking, she is moving. She's moving with her right side again. It's pretty incredible.

Andy Smith 28:14 
Amazing and it's so nice to hear like so refreshing to hear stories like that so you know that's what we want to do with this podcast what we want to do with PEMF and raise the profile of it and just invite people like yourself to get these stories out there and for people to understand the power of PEMF and what it can do so. Thank you so much for sharing that Kiki where can people find you if they want to either come for a session or if they want to follow some of your content where's the best place to start.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 28:43 
So I'm on Instagram at PEMF Pilates, also on TikTok as PEMF Pilates, it should be, if not Kiki Cordero Drake. And then we are in Scottsdale, Arizona at the Modern Athlete and people can book sessions here. I also travel a lot with my husband for all of his races and stuff. So when I do that, I take the device on the road, I do demos, I do treatments and just try to spread the knowledge and the beauty that is PEMF.

Andy Smith 29:10 
Yeah, no, thank you so much. To our audience, thanks for tuning in. If you've enjoyed today's episode with Kiki Kudero Drake, please subscribe, leave us a five star review. It really helps us bring more incredible guests like Kiki to share their experience and share their client stories with you guys. But Kiki, thank you so much for your time today and hopefully we'll see you again soon.

Kiki Cordero-Drake 29:30 
Thank you so much, and you'd better let me know when you take that first Pilates class.

Andy Smith 29:34 
I'll be in your Instagram dms. I'll let you know

Kiki Cordero-Drake 29:38 
Fantastic. Thank you so much.