Movement, Mind, & Meaning Podcast

Why are so many people still stuck in pain, anxiety, and chronic stress—even after trying therapy, breathwork, and nervous system tools? In this episode of the Movement, Mind & Meaning Podcast, I'm chatting with special guest Cynthia Allen as explore the hidden connection between trauma, the brain, and chronic pain… and what most healing paths completely miss. You’ll discover: Why calming your nervous system is just the beginning How trauma rewires the brain and body to stay in pain The surprising role your body plays in retraining your nervous system How to unlearn stress-based habits and escape the pain loop for good What your nervous system is actually craving to feel safe and heal Whether you’ve tried talk therapy, somatic work, or meditation—and you’re still asking “Why do I still feel this way?”—this episode will show you the missing piece in your healing journey. Learn more about Cynthia here: Cynthia Allen has been working in wellness practices, health care management, and organizational consulting for over 35 years. In 2001, she became a Certified Feldenkrais® practitioner and, more recently, a Senior Trainer in Movement Intelligence. She has a personal history in overcoming childhood trauma and found the Feldenkrais Method to be a vital part of returning to present moment living. In her private practice, she has had the privilege of working with many people who also have had a history of significant trauma wanting to come home to their bodies and movement. Cynthia has written about the Feldenkrais Method, pain, and trauma for the Alternative and Complementary Therapies Journal as well as the online Chronic Pain Partners. She has conducted and published a research paper: Alternative Movement Program in Geriatric Rehabilitation in the Functional Neurology, Rehabilitation, and Ergonomics. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband, business partner and NLP guru, Larry Wells and their puppy Darby. Visit her through her website at FutureLifeNow.com Grab her free gift of the Turning, Seeing, Sitting, Standing, While Improving the Neck mini course here: https://futurelifenow.thrivecart.com/turning-seeing-sitting-standing-ever/   Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!  Today we're talking about the missing piece in healing with my special guest, Cynthia Allen, a Feldenkrais practitioner. Welcome back to the Movement Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm your host, Megan Nolan, and I am really honored and happy to have one of my fellow BBD. What's BBD, Megan?Business by Design, one of the business courses that I'm in, one of my fellow BBD family members here with me. today. Cynthia Allen, as I mentioned, is a Feldenkrais practitioner. She'll explain what that is if you don't know. But today we are going to be talking about the sometimes missed, sometimes neglected, sometimes ignored, really essential component in your overall healing, thriving, abundant success, you know, pretty much everything today. So welcome, Cynthia. It's lovely to have you here. Oh, it's good to be here, Megan. I'm excited to to share with you and explore with you. Thank you. Thank you. So we'll have you circle 26 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:05,1000 back to what Feldenkrais is 27 00:01:05,1000 --> 00:01:08,720 and all of that magic in a moment. But we like to just get right into it. We like to just get right in and get to know you. So you have an incredible list of certifications and experiences which people, if they're curious about that, can certainly read in the show notes. But. We just like to just just get right into the beauty of the magic that is you and that has really led to where you're at now, what you're doing, what you do, and how you serve and all that beautifulness with a little bit of a glimpse into your life and into your 41 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:35,1000 story. So will you please take us to a 42 00:01:35,1000 --> 00:01:38,880 moment, maybe where you had a open heart, open mind, realization, situation, whatever it was for you that led you to where you're at now and doing what you do?Yeah, yeahSo I think it's important just to. Say something about my earlier background that would have led me to even want to do this. So I am somebody who had quite a significant amount of childhood trauma in a variety of ways. And then I also had movement coordination problems. I had definitely difficulty with chronic pain starting at a young age, so you know. Like many of us, you you do OK. You somehow manage to keep it all together. And then there's usually some point in life that people realize they can't keep it together anymore. Mine came in the mid to late 20s when my first marriage was breaking up and my mother was also dying from breast cancer, and I really began to realize I couldn't keep it together any longer. And so I did many things. I did psychotherapy, spiritual direction, shamanic work, several different kinds of body work, art-related creative expression, and all of these things, or I should say most of them did help some, and maybe some of them even more than just a little bit. And still though,I was still a pretty big hot mess. That's just the truth of it. I was going through several years into this. I'm 78 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:09,1000 still really struggling. So now I'm into 79 00:03:09,1000 --> 00:03:12,080 my mid 30s and I tried, 'cause I'm trying everything, right, that I can think of to try. I'm trying the Feldenkrais method. I go to a few classes and I think to myself, ah I don't know, this is a weird work. It's not too slow. It's too methodical. What the heck?And yet I kept feeling better and better and better. And I would think to myself, hold it, I didn't know anybody could feel good like this. I'd be at work managing my department and I'd 92 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,1000 go, how is it that people, is it other 93 00:03:42,1000 --> 00:03:45,120 people who actually feel good?I never knew that you could actually feel good. And about a year into that exploration of just kind of going to some weekly classes, the instructor asked me if I thought I might like to train in the work 'cause there was going to be a training. coming to our area, to Cincinnati, Ohio. And I said, No, no, no noAnd then she said, Well, I'm gonna give you an application anyway, 'cause I think 105 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,1000 there's something here for you. And I 106 00:04:11,1000 --> 00:04:14,200 took the application out. My husband and I were doing the classes together. I took the application out and he got into the driver's seat and I got into the passenger seat and I started to cry. And he said, What's wrong, what's wrong?And I said, I'm coming home. It was so clear. Now, I didn't really know that I was going to practice it as a practitioner. I thought I was still taking it for my own health and well-being, but which was true. But about a year in, I thought this is actually, I've been looking to make it out of traditional healthcare into something more aligned with where I was and my beliefs and. my life at the time. So it 125 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:57,1000 did become, it took a while to 126 00:04:57,1000 --> 00:04:59,840 transition, but it did become that my transition out of healthcare management and development into being a Feldenkrais practitioner. And for me, it was, you know, it was very, very meaningful to just have a possibility to find that, oh, my body. is okay, despite everything that I thought and believed, and despite how I felt to just have someplace where there was no judgment, where I could explore movement in a way that I would never have been able to explore because I didn't really have that capacity as a child. And when I did do it through the sort of traditional physical education, that kind of thing, it was horrible. I didn't really probably know for sure at that point how much it was gonna affect my emotional state, but I was still having regular PTSD like nightmares uh when I went into the program. And And that really started to shift over the course of the first year of study to where I could you know get in bed, fall asleep and not be scared to sleep. Because I didn't know what horrible thing I was going to dream up again that night. So it's just been an incredible blessing to me and I'm so happy to share it with others. Wow. Thank you. And thank you for your vulnerability and honesty in that and. And I love that you were able to explore different modalities and approaches to find your way back home to yourself and find a tool set that really worked. And that's really the 167 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:41,1000 essence of this podcast is mind and body 168 00:06:41,1000 --> 00:06:44,200 tools to help us thrive and overcome and move beyond anxiety and depression and trauma and stress. And and you know, as my teacher likes to say, there's many paths to the same mountain, the same mountain being that. Thriving, vital, resilient, balanced self where we do feel at home, where we do feel like we're thriving. And I know that I can relate to what you said and and perhaps many of the listeners and watchers can relate too of having that moment of realization like this is this feels like my true and natural state and and having that realization that. For a long time I was like, really? Like, do people really feel that good?Do they feel this happy?It seems like it's not a real thing, you know, cause it just felt so foreign to me. And so I love that Feldenkrais and and I know later on you're gonna share some ways to get connected and to understand and explore that deeper. And so if people are curious about it, definitely check out the link that we're gonna share a little later on. But just so you know, it'll be in the show notes. So can we talk about how many people may understand at a deep level, but maybe not conceptually understand the interplay between many of the things that you mentioned, complex trauma or trauma itself, anxiety, stress

NEW WORKSHOP ALERT: "The Productivity Leak" to discover the 8 success stopping habits that might be draining your team's energy & focus (& how to shift them in just 9 minutes a day)👉 Save your seat here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/productivity You don’t need more hours in the day. You need to use your brain the way it was built to work. In this episode, we dive into what the latest neuroscience tells us about focus, fatigue, and performance—and why ignoring your brain’s natural limits is the fastest way to drive burnout, not results. 💡 Inside: The rhythm your brain runs on—and why pushing past it backfires What the top 10% of productive people do differently (hint: it’s the 52:17 rule) How to quietly destroy decision-making, creativity, and focus What has to change if you want success to be sustainable, not exhausting If you’re serious about preventing burnout, boosting performance, and building a team that actually lasts—you’ll want to hear this.  And if you want to turn these insights into action, join our free live workshop: "The Productivity Leak" to discover the 8 success stopping habits that might be draining your team's energy & focus (& how to shift them in just 9 minutes a day) 👉 Save your seat here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/productivity Because the most effective way to boost performance isn’t more hustle. It’s recovery. Rhythm. And leadership that knows the difference.   Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!   The number one mindset shift in preventing burnout is exactly what we're going to be talking about today on this week's episode of the Movement, Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm your host, Megan Nolan. And before we get into this short but sweet episode. Have you signed up for the Productivity League yet?This is a brand new workshop where you will join us for free and learn the 8 success stopping habits that might be draining your team's time and energy and how to shift them in just 9 minutes a day. So if you haven't signed up yet, you can sign up and join us live if you make it in time or catch the replay if you catch this in the few days of the workshop itself and the link to do that will be in the show notes so. Join us for that. Now, the number one mindset shift in preventing burnout. Lean in because it's not AI. Lean in because it's not an app. It's not a hack. It's not a brand new hot shiny strategy. It is that breaks are tools, not rewards. Breaks are tools, not rewards. And we're gonna talk about the science behind why slowing down will actually help you to speed up, why power pauses are the most effective way to boost your team's energy and performance, and how you can begin to integrate this and implement this literally today. Literally today. Because the truth is, is that burnout is a symptom of an exhausted, depleted. Nervous system. And when we get to that point of complete depletion, it takes a long time to get ourselves back from it, to recover at a systemic level, physically, mentally, emotionally, on a overall holistic level. It takes a really freaking long time, and that's because we've literally burnt out and depleted all of our resources. And so it's really imperative that we are proactive and that we recognize that in order to be functioning and performing at your best, as well as, and I think more importantly, feeling your best, it's important that we are proactive. And when we think about performance, we think of being able to get to the finish line in the most effective and efficient way. And we forget that in order for us to do that, it takes thriving at the level of the body, the mind and the spirit. Because you are not a robot. You are not something that is wired in a way that is. Able to and has the capacity to be performing and running at 100 all the time. And let's talk about this from a level of the body. So you probably are familiar with your circadian rhythm, which is where you start to get sleepy near the end of the day when the light changes around you and where we have a an increase in melatonin and serotonin and that cause you to get sleepy and go to sleep. And so that's your circadian rhythm that we naturally have throughout the day. So we have another rhythm that's in your body that's called your ultradian rhythm. So your ultradian rhythm, depending on the person, runs about every 60 to 90 minutes. And So what happens is, is that with the ultradian rhythm, what happens is the your brain works in natural cycles of high and low alertness, roughly every 60 to 90 minutes. And so at your peak, at the peak level of performance, when those levels are high, then we are able to focus really clearly, we're able to solve problems, we're able to create, we're happy, we're engaged, we're we're in, we're very much in that output phase. That's when the levels are really high. And so when the brain after it starts to release lower levels of dopamine, which is what helps to really create that ultradian rhythm. The the shift in activity where we enter, rather than being at a peak, we enter a trough, right?We we have that natural cycles of high and low alertness after about 60 to 90 minutes. Depending on the person, we have a drop in focus. We have a higher levels of cortisol. We shift in our brain activity because cortisol spike triggers activity in our amygdala, which is the survival center of the brain and decision fatigue starts to set in. We get really distracted. We get, we can tend to get a little more irritable. We are not as able to create and design at at that level that you you know you're capable of. So this is a natural rhythm in your brain. And so this means that in order to maximize how much we can and how much we can do in that peak, we also need to respect that in the through. There are certain things that you can do to bring yourself back up to that peak performance of the brain, and that one of those is not overriding this rhythm. And so when you notice after about 60 to 90 minutes that you're you're fatiguing, you're distracted, you're, you know, bouncing from project to project, you're staring at a blinking screen or the blinking wheel on your on the Google Doc or whatever it is. Is that we can recognize that in that moment is a really prime opportunity for you to resource and replenish yourself. So we use a break as a tool, not as a reward. So a tool here is when you notice that you're starting to fatigue or that your output is decreasing. That's when it's time for a power pause to replenish your energy. And So what I mean here is that at when you notice and if you wanna be preemptive, there's actually data that shows that it's about at a fifty-two minute mark for most people is really important for us to take a break. And so we can use that opportunity to get up to move your body because you're not a rock, right?You're not a rock. And so it's really important to recognize that in order to feed the ability to continue on and get to the finish line of the goal, we can slow down, we can step away from the task at hand. Maybe it's to go refill your water bottle, have a snack, take a power pause, move your body, re-engage that more aligned, efficient posture so that your body is getting energy naturally without having to consume a load more caffeine or, you know, have some sugary snacks. What we're doing here is we're nourishing the ability for your body to perform. Because when your body is thriving, it sends the signal from your nervous system, from your body up to your mind, right?And if you're in that strong, open power pose, then your body is signaling safety. And when you signal safety, then the amygdala, which is the survival center, the threat detection center of the brain, receives the signal that everything's OK because you're not scrunched over in weak posture, taking short, shallow breaths, which trigger stress even more and your body's signaling. Up to the brain that everything is copacetic in the body and then your prefrontal cortex, which is the high functioning creative aspect of your brain. The decision making aspect of your brain comes back online. So not only are you. Working with that ultradian rhythm more instinctively and intuitively, you're actually nourishing your nervous system so that you are able to in that regulated state. And So what we know about the brain and the nervous system is that we don't perform well under stress. And so if we're constantly we're bypassing that natural rhythm of the body and we're attempting to just power through and keep going, we tend to default and we tend to run more on the cortisol levels versus the the dopamine and the oxygen. Which are more nourishing neurochemicals in the body that we talked a little bit about earlier. And so when we are working with the natural rhythm of the body in those 60 to 90 minute cycles, we step away, we take a power pause, we nourish the body through movement, we're nourishing the body through water, nourishing snacks, then we're supporting the system, right. And when we support the system, we're resourcing the system and when we are back online from that place of. Groundedness and centeredness and focus and clarity and that level of awareness within the nervous system, we signal the prefrontal cortex to come back online. And as I mentioned, that's considered the CEO of the brain and it's responsible for decision making, problem solving and planning and focus and clarity. All of those things are the responsibility of that part of the brain, so. We're signaling that part of the brain through the body, right?We 80% more information comes from the body to the mind versus the other way around your. Brain only signals about 20% of the activity of your nervous system. So it's important that you're nourishing the body and treating it as the tool that it is, right by giving it that power pause, giving it the moment of movement, of breath, of grounding, of play, whatev

Join my FREE 30-minute workshop: “The Productivity Leak: Discover the 8 Stress Habits Draining Your Team’s Time & Energy (and How to Shift Them in 9 Minutes a Day)” Save your seat here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/productivity Is your team truly productive or just powering through stress? In this week's episode, I reveal how stress at work is often mistaken for dedication, and why that false praise may be slowly draining your team’s energy, focus, and collaboration without anyone realizing it. If you’ve been searching for: • early signs of burnout in high performers • how stress impacts workplace productivity • stress management techniques for teams • what chronic stress looks like in employees • how to improve team morale without micromanaging …you’re in the right place.   🔍 Inside this episode: ✔️ How stress hides behind “hard work” and overachievement ✔️ The neuroscience of stress and performance ✔️ The key difference between burnout and high engagement ✔️ How to create a high-performing culture without pressure ✔️ And the #1 mindset shift that smart, people-first leaders are using now. Whether you lead a remote team, run a startup, or manage a busy department—this episode gives you the practical tools to recognize stress before it becomes a performance problem. Want to fix your team’s hidden stress patterns without adding more meetings or to-dos?  Join my FREE 30-minute workshop: “The Productivity Leak: Discover the 8 Stress Habits Draining Your Team’s Time & Energy (and How to Shift Them in 9 Minutes a Day)” Save your seat here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/productivity     Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! Is stress disguised as hard work? Well, that's what we're talking about today. Here's where it gets interesting, is where these qualities that are actually indications that the system might be in a state of stress are often qualities that are highly regarded and highly rewarded in the business setting. So. Double edged sword, if you will. We're going to jump into that in a moment, but before we do, I would love to invite you to a brand new workshop that I have created called the Productivity League. Inside this free interactive workshop, you're going to learn the 8 success stopping habits that might be quietly eroding your team or your own energy, time, focus, productivity, and yes, of course, joy, energy and happiness. So you'll learn those success stopping habits as well as. How to stop them in real time so that they don't become full blown performance issues. You'll learn how to do that so that you can reclaim your time, your energy, and joy. This workshop is perfect for people that literally don't have a second to waste, but truly care about the well-being, the happiness, and of course the productivity and performance of their team members. So make sure to grab your free spot for this brand new workshop. So let's talk about it. Let's talk about the ways that stress might be silently showing up in your workplace. That is also interestingly very celebrated and rewarded. So it's kind of an interesting dance, right?Because these qualities that we're gonna be talking about and the ways that stress might actually be showing up because of the way the system is reacting to the situation at hand are are both very important, necessary. Celebrated and are things that you know we want to nurture, but are also things that are a sign that we might be in a stress reactive mode. And So what do we do with this?What do we do with this information?Where do we go with it and how might it be showing up in in your life and in your business or in your team?And so that's what we're talking about today. And So what I would love for you to really just take note of is as we discuss these, maybe you recognize these qualities of saying yes when you really mean no, always being available, checking your e-mail first thing in the morning, periodically throughout the day, at lunch, in the afternoon, you know, when you go to the toilet, like being that, that yes person being available, always being on Slack, you know, that sort of thing. And so. Also, maybe you find yourself just responding quickly in a, you know, a short, simple e-mail, but not taking the time to, you know, have those pleasantries, if you will, that may come across a little bit rude. Or maybe feeling like you are constantly multitasking, like you're, you know, you're putting away food from the grocery store while you're listening to a podcast, while you're kind of thinking about an e-mail that you're supposed to write later. Really, you know, that's sort of a a split brain activity. As well as being very driven, very goal oriented, but be almost having that insatiable drive for what's next, what's next?What do we have to do?What are we going to work towards?Or maybe you find yourself, you know, getting to that point where you have a big project and you're wanting to take action on it, but you're finding you're overwhelmed with all the details because you've had this really big vision and now all of the little small details are kind of slipping through the cracks, right?And so. You can see how there is this dance that gets to happen because we can be both very ambitious and very driven and a visionary and get lost in in these big projects and these big tasks if we're not grounded. And so if we are not in that nice steady state, that balance state of being your beingness, your nervous system. Then what happens is we default to these patterns and they are signs that we need to. We get to come back to that place of regulation and center within ourselves so that we can use that level of ambitiousness or drive or being very detail-oriented or being very willing to support other people from a place of presence and from a place of knowing. And so as a reminder, when you experience a little bit of stress, it's very activating, right? Cortisol and adrenaline in your system, which is how your body activates you when you're experiencing stress, are very energizing. And so that's important, right?That's the little fire under your ass to get you going, to get you up, to get you moving. But when we're experiencing chronic stress and when we're experiencing with more and more tasks, right and andEverything happening in the world and everything happening in your team, it's it's a lot for our system and we're not really designed to be, you know, intaking and outputting constantly, ongoingly throughout the day and throughout the week and throughout our lives, right. We're meant to be able to rest and slow down and not have to just shut down and get totally, you know, flat out, you know, exhausted before we slow down. Because what happens when we when your body experiences stress is your amygdala, the part of your brain that detects threats and is constantly looking and scanning for things that might be dangerous or, you know, that need to get handled, right?In the case of more aligned with the business setting is that when the amygdala comes online, it impairs your decision-making, it impairs your ability to be logical, be very focused because it's in literal survival mode. Right. And so when we are activated into stress, that part of our brain is running the show, right. And so when we are active in that part of the brain, the the CEO of your brain, your prefrontal cortex, your decision making, creative, grounded, expressive, happy, interactive part of your brain isn't available because it's it'sOne or the other, right?They don't. They're not working at the same time because your brain has activated the stress response. So your amygdala is hijacking brain activity. And So what happens is when that is, is the case, then we start to go into this survival state. And so in survival states, you move out of that regulated balance state of the nervous system into fight or flight or freeze or fawn or flop. And so that's dependent on your patterns, the situation, what you've been modeled, what your nervous system is conditioned to. And so it's a really interesting thing because when the when we are experiencing this constant input into the system, into the nervous system, it handles it well, it handles it well and it defaults to these patterns, right. And so in this business setting, if you will, this organizational setting. It's a different reaction than, you know, if you were out in the wilderness and you heard a bear roaring in the wilderness, right?So your body would still go into fight or flight or freeze or fawn or flop, of course, to to react to that bear roaring in the distance or nearby, right?So in the business organizational setting, it still does those things. It still responds to that stress. But it's different, right?You're not gonna go if your boss or if you or, you know, if if someone asks something of you and you're like, no, that and it freaks you out, you're not gonna, you're probably not going to go running as fast as you can in the opposite direction, right? You're not gonna flee that way. But you might go into a different mode of fleeing. You might go into a different mode of fighting back. You're still going to have that same instinctive reaction in your nervous system, but it looks different, right?So when when we're in the, you know, business setting, it starts to present in a different way in that often works to our benefit to a degree. But then when it's just our default, that's the only thing that we do, then it can work against us, right?And so how does this present as hard work?Well. When we go into perfectionism, when we go into being a yes person, right, that people pleasing aspect of our personality, when we go into being that very driven, very ambitious, can't turn it off, those are expressions of our fight mode showing up in the business setting, right?And so the flight mode is slightly different. So flight mode is when we are moving away from the issue at

When was the last time you stopped to really notice how far you’ve come? In a world obsessed with “what’s next,” we rarely pause to honor the growth we’ve already lived through. But here's the truth: you've been more than one version of yourself—and every one of those “you’s” deserves recognition. In this episode, we explore why reflection is more than just looking back—it's a scientifically supported tool to regulate your nervous system, release stress, and reconnect with the version of you that made it through. You’ll learn how pausing to reflect creates emotional safety, boosts oxytocin, reduces cortisol, and strengthens your confidence to keep going. Whether you're navigating change, healing from loss, or feeling stuck between who you were and who you're becoming—this conversation will help you: In this episode you'll discover: -Why self-reflection is key to long-term personal growth -How your body literally regenerates itself every 7–10 years—and what that means for your identity -The neuroscience of “maintaining the gain”—and how reflection shifts your perspective -A practical, soulful framework to feel good about how far you've come (even if you’re not where you want to be yet) This isn’t about being stuck in the past. It’s about finding power in what you’ve already lived through. If you’ve ever felt like you’re “starting over,” this episode will remind you:You’re not starting over. You’re starting again—with everything you’ve gained. Subscribe now for weekly episodes on healing, identity, self-trust, and becoming the next version of you—without shaming who you used to be. About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Helps People First, Purpose Driven Companies That Want To Build Emotionally Resilient Teams That Perform At Their Best Without Time Consuming Strategies By Using Practical Science-Based Strategies That Work In Just Minutes A Day With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Stress & Resilience Coach Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com/Follow Her On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammegannolan/ #selfgrowth #reflectionpodcast #mentalhealthtools #personaldevelopment #neuroscience #healingjourney #growthmindset #identityevolution #maintainingthegain #nervoussystemregulation   Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!    The many you's you've been Did you know you are literally not the same person that you were seven or even 10 years ago?You're literally biologically not the same. And by no means are you energetically or spiritually or mentally even close to the same person you were back then. Today we're talking about the importance of taking a power pause periodically in our life and looking back. To reflect on the many yous that you have been. I kind of feel like a little Doctor Seussie and I'm loving it. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Movement, Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm your host, Megan Nolan. And this week we are talking about that. We're talking about the importance of reflection and how you are constantly evolving and changing and literally. At the level of your bones and your cells and your blood and the lining of your guts and inside your muscles, you are literally not the same person that you once were. So what inspired this? Well, you may or may not be surprised to know I'm moving. Yes, I am very excited about this and I have literally been living in this house for 10 years. I'm moving up country with my partner to an incredible, amazing Unicorn of a house. We are so fortunate. I am so excited. I'll tell you more about it after. It's not an actual Unicorn, but Unicorn in the sense that it's very special and beautiful. And I know in my heart and in my soul that I have been energetically sitting in this house as we've been manifesting this house for. Quite some time, right?As long as I've started about started thinking about living with Justin, I have felt into this place. And when we went into it the first time, just what's it today?It's Wednesday, 3 weeks ago today. This is literally happening at rocket speed. When we went into it three weeks ago today to see it for the very first time, I could feel that who I've been here before and I'm getting goosebumps right now and. It was such an incredible experience to to be in the house and realize I get it now because in my visualizations and in that those experiences that I had in the past before I before we even went to the house for the first time. In the visualizations I could tell that it was on the 2nd floor and I could tell there was a big spacious kitchen and there was an island in the kitchen and I could see white slats and I didn't know what the white slats were. I thought maybe they were those cupboard doors. So it's on the 2nd floor. There's an incredible kitchen with a big island and there's literally white slats on every window of this house. I know my my goosebumps just got even stronger. It's amazing. Anyways, so we're moving. Yay. So you you've moved before, you know, you know it's a good time, right?It's a good time. It's a lot of work. I'm just checking that the mics are on. OK, great. So I've lived in this house for 10 years and. You know when you start to go through and you're starting to look into the shelves and I don't know about you, but I I like to take the opportunity of moving to do a little bit of a cleanse and a purge, if you will. And although I'm not great at it and my therapist and I talked about it yesterday and we're gonna talk about that part of me that's reluctant to let go of things, which I think is in inherited after we, you know. Moved up everything out of my father's house out of as after he passed. I was like, why does he have all this broken stuff?And then I'm I'm in my house now and I'm like, why do I have all this stuff I can't seem to get rid of?Anyways, it's an interesting thing. And so I like to do an use it as an opportunity to let go right and to clear some space and to to share things that are. Of value and still in good shape and to share them with other people or to gift them, to donate them, etcetera, etcetera. But so you know, as you're going through the boxes and the shelves and all the things, inevitably you start to have memories, you start to think about all the yous that you've been right and so. This weekend I spent most of the weekend literally inside my closet. OK, my closet, because the shelves are these metal bars, tiny metal bars, probably like 100 per shelf, these little squares all along the front. So that's a project. And then it's the wooden slats of the doors and each one you gotta get in there and do the little thing and it's like flossing teeth. But in between these wooden slats, it took a long time. So I'm in the closet. Where are my N 95? You know, I'm like the whole shebang, got the fan going. And I'm thinking about all of the different clothes that I've put in this closet, all of the me's that have come to this closet to get dressed for events. And I'm thinking about that, right?And I'm seeing old clothes and I'm like, why do I still have this?Or Oh my goodness, I love this shirt. Or, you know, I have a little mini sticker company and it started with whales make me happy and and like pulling out one of these shirts or or pulling out the one that I had gifted my dad that I took back, you know, after he passed away. And so anyways, it got me into thinking and into feeling really, because I was in the feels, I was definitely in the feels of how important it is for us to periodically pause and look back. And oftentimes we do this, you know, maybe at the midpoint, which it is now, it's mid-june right now, June something 19th ish. 18th And sometimes we do it here, sometimes we do it at the beginning of the year or the end of the year. But it's such an important practice for you to pause and to look back and to reflect because you are literally constantly changing. What's so incredible is that your blood rejuvenates about every 120 days. The lining of your gut rejuvenates every two to five days. Your your muscle cells. Switch over if there's any sort of tearing or healing that needs to be done. Your bones rejuvenate every 10 years. Your liver, interestingly enough, can generate up to 70 percent 70 of its mass in a few months if it's needed, right?It's like the MVP right there. It's it can completely rejuvenate itself. Your brain doesn't necessarily replace the old brain cells that are, you know, degenerating, but it can grow new brain cells, which is equally impressive, right?Especially in areas of the brain that are affected by the natural process of aging. And your skin rejuvenates in about 27 days. So literally, you're constantly becoming someone new, right?You're constantly becoming someone new. And what's interesting is that. In our society and for many of us that are very driven or who experience, you know, high, high levels of that ambitiousness, we're we're constantly seeking, right? We're seeking, we're striving, we're growing, we're pushing ourselves and we're constantly like setting new goals and and and setting our sights a little bit higher. And that's always really important. It's super important for you to have goals. Right. It's super important for you to do that. But The thing is, is that it's important for us to question too, are we, are we addicted to that constantly seeking and striving, the dangling carrot syndrome, I call it, right. And so is it hard for you to slow down, right?Is it uncomfortable for you to rest without feeling you quote UN quote deserved or earned the rest? Well, that's actually potentially a sign of a dysregulated nervous system if we're not able to. Relax and slow down without completely shutting down, right?That means that we're very hyperactive in the sympathetic

Struggling with chronic stress, anxiety, or past trauma? Your nervous system holds the key to emotional regulation and resilience. In this episode, together with special guest Alba Porras we explore how Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE), Somatic Yoga, and other holistic nervous system regulation techniques can help you stretch your ability to handle challenges, improve your mental health, and break free from chronic dysregulation. What You’ll Learn: ✅ How TRE works to release deep muscular tension and stored trauma ✅ Why high-achieving women often experience fight-or-flight overload ✅ How to naturally shift into a parasympathetic (rest & digest) state ✅ The science behind nervous system dysregulation & healing ✅ The best holistic stress relief tools for long-term resilience Whether you’re dealing with burnout, PTSD, anxiety, or depression, this episode will teach you practical body-based techniques to reclaim your inner calm and emotional balance. 👉 Watch now & start your healing journey! Learn more about Alba here: Alba Porras is a Licensed Associate Counselor and National Certified Counselor who combines traditional counseling approaches with somatic practices and nervous system expertise. With a unique background blending mental health, movement, and body-based therapies, she helps clients navigate anxiety, stress, and trauma through an integrative mind-body approach. As the founder of Inspira Counseling Services and creator of Wellzense, Alba draws from her extensive training in Somatic Experiencing, Gottman Method, and trauma-informed practices to guide clients toward sustainable healing. Her bilingual expertise (English/Spanish) and diverse background in kinesiology, counseling, and somatic coaching allows her to offer a comprehensive approach to mental health and emotional well-being. Alba is a certified TRE provider, and 500 Registered Yoga Teacher Connect With Alba: www.albaporras.com www.wellzensehub.com/Respira IG/FB/Tiktok/Pinterest/Youtube @Wellzense IG: @Alba Porras About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Helps People First, Purpose Driven Companies That Want To Build Emotionally Resilient Teams That Perform At Their Best Without Time Consuming Strategies By Using Practical Science-Based Strategies That Work In Just Minutes A Day With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Stress & Resilience Coach Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com/ Follow Her On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammegannolan/   Please find the transcript below! Mind the grammar and funny spelling! Today we're talking about why you can't relax and how to fix that. Aloha and welcome back to another episode of Movement, Mind and Meaning Mind, Body Tools to thrive beyond depression and anxiety. And today I have a very, very special guest with us. Her name is Alba Porres and she is a somatic. Coach and yoga teacher. And she has, let me tell you, so many tools that she uses. You can see them behind her if you're watching the video on YouTube. If you're listening to the audio, just know she's like, got all the magic and so much more. So welcome to the show. It's so lovely to have you. Thank you so much, Megan, for having for having me in your show. I love it. Thank you. Yes, you're welcome. So you have a very impressive collection of certifications and experiences and multilingual offerings around the world. Like, amazing. And so if you want to dive into all of that, make sure to take a look at Alba's bio, which is in the show notes. But you know how we like to do things over here on this podcast is we like to just get right into it, right?We want to know you. We want to learn a little bit more about you. And we always start on our guest episodes by having you. Take us to a moment in your life when maybe it was one of those upside down, all around sort of moments, maybe when things shifted for you or you had some realizations so that you have started that journey to where you are today. We would love to know a little bit of a little snippet about your story. Well, I think, yeah, I I've always been in love with getting to know my body. I was a ballerina for many years and then got into sports and. More my first bachelor's degree in sports training, but I think the shift happened when I began having a series of injuries and conditions that took me into discovering really what's the language of my body. And how I can befriend my body. So I went through four knee surgeries. I had a car accident that displaced one of the vertebrae from my spine and also like an injured neck and and then eventually I develop an autoimmune condition. I have chronic Lyme. Disease and I experienced the chronic health symptoms of Lyme for more than 10 years. So it was a struggle to try to find the right treatment. And it was not until I had a transitory ischemic attack, which is like a version of a stroke, that I began working with my nervous system and working with my nervous system was what changed my life. Not only allowed me to get to know the language of my body, but also address the needs of my body on a regular basis and try to address. I address that disconnection between my mind and the body that I had after so many years of medical treatments and and you know, the medications usually bring a lot of other multiple side effects. So it was through the work of my nervous system that I actually was able to find well-being. Wow. Well, so grateful and glad that you're here with us. And clearly you've taken those experiences and used them as opportunities and you know, perhaps eventually was able to see the gift in all of those. And so that's a big part of this community is learning to take that perspective. And so, so proud of you and grateful that you. Began to dive into that. And I love that you speak to the language of the body, right?It's such a beautiful, eloquent language. We were talking before we got on about languages and how, you know, it's so interesting to learn how to say things properly. Like I was practicing your beautiful name. And so it is. It's a language. It's a very subtle system. But it can also get really loud sometimes, right?It's like, hello, you're not paying attention to me, you know, kind of like a little frustrated child having a temper tantrum. And so let's jump into that. Let's jump into that about how life and whether that is. The experience of the cumulative events of life and so many people in this community are very highly sensitive, ambitious leaders, women, visionary, you know, sometimes have entrepreneurial tendencies, IE they have a business or in a professional setting, but. We all experience stress, right?Like that's just part of the nature of humanity and life and especially now with everything, with just with everything, right?Life is a little upside down right now. And so can we talk about that?How just even that that cumulative chronic stress or and or I should say the impact of traumatic stress, right?Little T, Big T, what does this do to us? What does this do to us on a quality of life level from your perspective? Oh, I love that question. I think I'll be going by summarizing that experiences shape our biology and eventually that becomes our pathology. So and it goes the other way around as well. Our biology or the way we're experiencing our body will shape our experiences or the way we experience our our our world. And I think it's been. Something important that we've been addressing lately in the social media world and everybody everywhere else, that it's not only traumatic experiences that impact the way we see the world and the way we feel within ourselves, but also that chronic. Tension or stress that we work to experience on a regular basis. So for your audience, like having a business is so is stressful. There's so much uncertainty. There are so many things to deal with. I personally experienced burnout after managing a yoga studio in Mexico and. It's you love what you do, but at the same time, you have so many things to deal with. All of that accumulated over the years can begin have an impact not only in the way you perceive yourself, but the way your body is speaking to you. Chronic headaches, chronic digestive problems, chronic tension around your body, that neck pain that doesn't go away, that lower back pain that doesn't go away, and so on and so forth. So yeah, like the body keeps its court. And if we don't learn. recognize what our body is communicating, just as you say a beautiful. It's just a language that we need to learn to listen to and speak so we can fully address what we need on a regular basis so that the past is not dictating the experiences of the present. Umm Beautiful. That was so potent. Thank you. Well, and also thank you for speaking that truth, right?You know, often we see this sort of shiny veneer of entrepreneurship. And, you know, I always joke that, like, clearly I didn't read the brochure because I didn't have any idea how stressful it was going to be, you knowAnd it's funny because I was just thinking about this the other day and and you know, this is sort of off topic, but maybe not. Is that for many people that are entrepreneurial, you know, in ambition and mindset, we tend to be really driven and focused and just naturally good at things that we choose to do. And I was thinking the other day about how, you know, there's so many tool sets within the entrepreneur. Job title, if you will. And it's interesting because you're not naturally going to be great at all of them, right? And so it's where we can learn and grow. But it's funny because I find this for myself and a lot of my students and in our community is that we can get really tripped up and it can be very frustrating and potentially little T or even big T traumatic when we go out and we do these things and we think it's going to be o

Make sure to grab your free spot for the upcoming Own Your Power, Lead Your Way Summit right here: https://speaker.empoweringhealingarts.com/Megan-Nolan Why does success still feel so… empty? What happens when the world sees you as successful, but inside you’re running on fumes? In this episode with special guest Melinda Alexander, we’re talking to high-performing entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, coaches, creatives, and founders who are tired of winning on the outside and losing on the inside. If that’s you—this is your turning point. 💥 This isn’t another “hustle harder” pep talk.It’s a wake-up call for those trapped in cycles of: Over-functioning People-pleasing Burnout Feeling like a robot in their own life Instead of faking fulfillment, you’ll learn what it takes to:✅ Lead from inner alignment✅ Reclaim your clarity and energy✅ Say no without guilt✅ Create success that actually feels like success✅ And trust yourself again—without blowing up your life Make sure to take advantage of Melinda's invite to the upcoming Own Your Power, Lead Your Way Summit that I'm speaking at! Grab your spot for free right here: https://speaker.empoweringhealingarts.com/Megan-Nolan About Melinda: Melinda Alexander, CEO of Empowering Healing Arts, is a Self-Led Fulfillment and Creative Empowerment Coach. A former corporate superwoman, Melinda now helps high-achieving leaders break free from over-functioning, reconnect with their authentic selves, and build success rooted in joy and purpose. Known for her deep intuition and compassionate clarity, she empowers clients to live fully aligned, courageous, and fulfilled lives. About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Helps People First, Purpose Driven Companies That Want To Build Emotionally Resilient Teams That Perform At Their Best Without Time Consuming Strategies By Using Practical Science-Based Strategies That Work In Just Minutes A Day With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Stress & Resilience Coach Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com/Follow Her On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammegannolan/   Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! Today we're talking about theself-led edge, learningto trust yourself andredefine success. Welcomeback to another episode of the Movement,Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm your host,Megan Nolan, and today we're actuallydoing something fun. I am interviewing aguest, which I do often, but this is afun situation. I'll tell you the backstory in a minute, but I have my friendMelinda Alexander here, who is actuallyleading an incredible summit that iskicking off soon or now, depending onwhen you listen to this. Called OwnYour Power, Lead Your Way. We'll tell youmore about this free summit and how youcan get all the goods. But I wanted tointroduce and welcome you, Melinda. Greatto have you here. It's awesome to be herewith you. Thank you, Megan. I'mprivileged to be on your podcast.Oh, thank you so much. So we'll tellpeople about how. Oh, sparkle wave. Ilove it. Yes. For those of you watchingon YouTube, you can see the happy Peacocksparkle wave. For those of you listeningto the audio, just use your imagination.It's fabulous. So. Thesummit is while you're listening to thispodcast has already we've opened upregistration. People are signing up.People are really excited. We're going tohave the link for you to grab your spotfor free and we'll talk more about thelogisticals about it. But just know thatthere are so many incredible tools inthere where you're able to create yourlife and your version of success in a waythat really feeds and fulfills you andyour beautiful soul and allows you tofully express your purpose in life withso many. Different incredible experts,including Melinda, of course, becauseshe's leading the summit, but also Moi.Yay.And before we talk about what it meansto have our self-led edge and howwe can redefine success, I want to tellyou a really fun story of how Melinda andI met. So. I get ane-mail one day from this beautiful humanwho's saying hello, I would love to haveyou on my summit, the aforementioned OnYour Power Summit that you're going tojoin us for. And I said, oh wow, thanksso much. I'd love to be a speaker at yoursummit. So great to hear that youlistened to one of the podcast episodesand you loved it. Just curious, how didyou find me?This is me talking andMelinda writes back and says. Well,you're never going to believe it, but Iasked Chatty G. Those of you know, Icalled ChatGPT Chatty G because we'relike FS. I asked ChattyG who some up and coming speakers in theleadership space are to connect withand have a summit. And you're on thelist, Megan. And I was like, Chatty Gknows who I am and I'm on the list of upand coming speakers. I literally criedand then happy dance and wag my tail andlike did it all in about 3 1/2 seconds.And so that's how Melinda and I. So kindof a fun story of our back story, but wewhen we did our interview for mycomponent to the summit, we reallyconnected in so many ways about.Why we are so passionate aboutwhat we do and how we serve and howwe support you. And so,Melinda, I would love for us to just jumpright in. We just jump right in here andwe just get to know each other. You and Iknow each other a little bit, but mypeople don't know you yet. And we'd loveto hear a little snippetof a moment in time on your journey, onyour path, that maybe was an insight,maybe an aha, maybe a woof, like, oh,what's happening here that allowed youto. go along the way to whereyou are now?Sure, Surewell, there's so many, honestly, so manyturning points in my life. And you knowthe largest turning point in in my life,most people ask me, well, how did you endup in Hawaii?We're both out here inHawaii, Megan and I. Andyou know I always answer, the shortanswer is disease, death anddivorce. Andthen theentireeconomy collapsed when the banking bubbleburst in 2008. So all of a sudden, lifewas just like pulled out from under me.The 10 years prior to that,I walked my dad through Alzheimer's, hisAlzheimer's disease until he passed in2006. And so that's thedisease, his death. And then I got adivorce two years later. SoIt wasjust, you know, these breaking pointswhen you're observing loss like that, whoI was before and who I became after.And it's really a shedding of many thingsin my life that happened during thatprocess of disease,death and divorce and letting goof a lot of false things that I wastaught to be that I reallywasn't, the things I was trying to be,but really wasn't. And I started toobserve. Deeper parts of myselfthat wanted to emerge, even if I didn'tknow what they were. It was a painfultime, excruciating and sometimes scary.And but it ledme to a place of transformation.So I was invited to a yoga retreat inHawaii and I can't.I was there for a few, about 10 days,went back to my home in Texas. Andthat's when the economy collapsed and Ihad no reason to stay. And I had noticedbefore I left this retreat that there wasa three-month period of time that youcould stay and volunteer. You couldwork and you could live. And I couldgo all the way through you know my griefprocess, not all the way obviously, butthat my my I was grieving and Ineeded this medicine for the soul, right?So I spent time there and I learned a lotabout healing arts and learned a lotabout connection with the bodyandWhen Iwhen I went back to Texas and the economycollapsed, I went back to that retreatcenter for three months. So I never movedto Hawaii. I was in Hawaii for threemonths. It was working for me. I stayedanother three months. And that period oftime extended into all theseyears later. I'm still here. Andit's not about being in Hawaii that'sthat's really the important part of this.It's about the transformation. So I wentfrom a corporate likeSuperwoman, not just in the corporatearena. I was trying to be superwoman toeverything and everyone in my life. Andthat breaking down those processes ofloss, grief and deathand divorce led me to kind ofshedding a lot of things thattruly were not in alignment with myself.So doors were closing forme, and then I closed the doors. Adoor opened for me. And I started goingdown to that that path. Andtoday, I help people whowere in that path, who want notnecessarily to to make a radical changelike I did, but they want to be happierand more truly fulfilled and aligned intheir lives. So that's what brought mehere today. Umm I lovethat. I have a similar story. Whichyoga studio or the retreat center wereyou at?I lived and worked at Kalani Hanuaon the Big Island. Stop it right now.That's where I was. Stop it right now. Ohmy goodness. I was like, wait, at Kalani,they did a three-month volunteer thing.They did. They did. I ended up beingthere a little over a year and a half. Itwas. And I and I lived on the Big Islandfor a couple of years before going toMaui. And then I had another, you know,huge, massive change with the Mauiwildfires that brought me to Oahu. I hadhealth issues and so forth that I neededto come to Oahu. So I've been on three ofthe islands now. You know, sometimes lifepushes us forward. Sometimes doors closewithout us. Without our permission, youknow, we can't control these things,right. So when were you there?Justto toI was there2000 on Big Island atKalani, a few times for thosedurations from 2004 tosix. OK, so I came after you. Yeah,2008 to 2010. And then I wentto, I moved to Maui. Yeah.OK. So, you know, in essence. The personthat was in Texas, the person that wastaught to be be and do all these thingsfor others and at work, and I was a realperfectionist and I pushed my edges. Ireally pushed everything. I pushed myhealth. I achieved all the goals. Ihad everything in my house was justperfect. You know, things were setjust right. I was, without knowingit, coming from a place oflack in

Understanding the Biology Behind People-Pleasing, Overthinking & the Freeze/Fawn Response Welcome to part 3/3 of the Survival Mode Series: The Sneaky Stress Patterns That Might Be Running Your Life In this episode, we explore how people-pleasing, overthinking, and self-abandonment are not personality traits—they’re nervous system survival strategies. Specifically, we break down the Freeze and Fawn responses from a polyvagal perspective. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: Freeze vs. Fawn: What these stress responses really are—and how they quietly drive people-pleasing and overthinking. Why Saying “Yes” Feels Safer Than “No”: The biology behind people-pleasing as a subconscious survival strategy. Overthinking = Dysregulation: How your nervous system creates mental loops, indecision, and analysis paralysis. Stuck But Wired: Signs you’re in a sympathetic freeze state—charged up but shut down. Real Tools for Real Shifts: Practical, body-based regulation techniques so you can say “no” without guilt—and actually mean it. Curious if this is playing out for you or your team? Take the free Burnout Risk & Resilience Quiz Get personalized insights into how stress may be quietly impacting your—and what to do instead. 👉 https://bit.ly/burnoutriskquiz About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Helps People First, Purpose Driven Companies That Want To Build Emotionally Resilient Teams That Perform At Their Best Without Time Consuming Strategies By Using Practical Science-Based Strategies That Work In Just Minutes A Day With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Stress & Resilience Coach

Part 2 of 3 of the Survival Mode: The Sneaky Patterns Behind Your Behavior series! Ever find yourself cleaning your junk drawer, scrolling Instagram, or jumping to a new idea instead of finishing what matters most? You’re not lazy or flaky—you might be stuck in Flight Mode. In this powerful episode of the Movement, Mind, & Meaning podcast, we explore how the Flight stress response shows up in the modern workplace. Think procrastination, overthinking, avoidance, and shiny object syndrome—these aren’t personality flaws. They’re nervous system adaptations. We break down: What Flight Mode is through the lens of Polyvagal Theory How nervous system dysregulation triggers task avoidance and distractibility Why high-performers and sensitive leaders are more prone to this hidden pattern How chronic workplace stress leads to burnout, ADHD-like symptoms, and lack of follow-through The connection between executive function shutdown and overwhelm Real-world workplace impacts: from "unfocused" teams to leaders stuck in planning mode You’ll also learn how to spot and shift this behavior with somatic tools like Power Pauses, and how to re-engage your grounded self for more clarity, confidence, and focus. 🎧 Listen now to uncover the deeper reason behind your procrastination—and learn how to shift from Flight Mode to forward momentum. Curious if this is playing out for you or your team? Take the free Burnout Risk & Resilience Quiz Now! Get personalized insights into how stress may be quietly impacting your—and what to do instead. 👉 https://bit.ly/burnoutriskquiz About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Helps People First, Purpose Driven Companies That Want To Build Emotionally Resilient Teams That Perform At Their Best Without Time Consuming Strategies By Using Practical Science-Based Strategies That Work In Just Minutes A Day With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Stress & Resilience Coach Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com/ Follow Her On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammegannolan/ Missed Part 1? Catch up with: Fight Mode – Perfectionism, Pressure & the High-Performer Stress Trap Here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/podcasts/movement-mind-meaning-podcast/episodes/2149033670 #FlightMode, #WorkplaceStress, #NervousSystemHealth, #ProcrastinationHelp, #ShinyObjectSyndrome, #StressAtWork, #AvoidanceBehavior, #HighAchieverLife, #SensitiveLeader, #BurnoutPrevention, #ChronicStressRelief, #TraumaInformedLeadership, #PolyvagalTheory, #NervousSystemRegulation, #SomaticTools, #MindBodyConnection, #AnxietyAtWork, #PerformanceHabits, #MentalFitness, #ExecutiveFunctionSupport, #WorkplaceWellbeing, #MovementMindMeaning, #PowerPause, #SuccessStoppingHabits     Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!   Are you in flight mode at work, procrastinating all over the place like a shiny squirrel looking at all the objects, supposed to be doing one thing but not doing any of it?Well, if you are welcome, welcome, welcome to this episode where we are diving deep into flight mode at work as part of this three-part series called Survival Mode at Work. The patterns that are running your behavior in your life might be just stress reactions that you didn't even realize were stress reaction because you've been practicing them for so long that you think that maybe that's just how you are. And good news for you is that everything is changeable, right?And none of these patterns, none of these behaviors, none of these survival strategies or defense mechanisms, which is what they are, we'll talk more about in a minute, are permanent. These are things that you learned, ways to handle stress. And you've been practicing them for a while and you may be aware of them or maybe not. So I'm gonna highlight a few things and maybe you'll recognize yourself. Maybe not. So this is the Movement, Mind and Meaning podcast. Aloha. My name is Megan Nolan. I'm your 31 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:05,1000 host. So last week we talked about fight mode. OK, so just let's back it up a little bit here, Megan, before I get all shiny object on you. Hello. Case in point. So. We used to think that your nervous system had basically an on switch and an off 38 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,1000 switch, right?And the on switch being the stimulated, sympathetic state of the nervous system that is often called fight or flight. Those are actually two different things, so you can't be in fight or flight. You are either in fight or flight, right?And so last week we were talking about fight mode. Fight mode is when we run towards the issue, right?We go into action and we are handling it, right?It's like throwing buckets of water on the fire if we see a fire versus running away from the fire if we are afraid, right?And so fight mode we talked about last week. Make sure to go back and listen to that. And that's all about the high. Performer pressure trap, the 56 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:03,1000 anxious OverDrive, that go, go, go, go, 57 00:02:03,1000 --> 00:02:05,1000 go, trying constantly to take action, having control delegation issues. So go back and listen to that if you haven't already cause that one goes deeper into fight mode. So today we're talking about 62 00:02:15,1000 --> 00:02:18,960 flight mode. So this is another aspect of the sympathetic nervous system where we run away. We're in mobilization, like we're active, we're we're doing something and we're either going towards the issue in fight mode or running away from it in flight mode. So this is where we see more behaviors like 70 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:35,1000 procrastination. Have you ever done this where you're like, well, I really should start. You know, pulling together all the things for the project and you're like, well, maybe I should go on Instagram and just get a little inspiration. And and then maybe after I do that for a bit, I should go look for that old notebook where I'm pretty sure I made some notes. Or maybe I'll just clean up the drawer. Maybe I'll just go for a walk. And then all of a sudden you're like, oopsies, I did not do anything. And but at the same time when you were not doing the thing you were meant to do, say you were meant to work on a project. And instead of, you know, going towards the project and 88 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:13,1000 taking action on it, you're you're going 89 00:03:13,1000 --> 00:03:16,320 in the opposite direction. But while you are taking that walk or whatever it is, 91 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:19,1000 you're like, shoot, I really should be 92 00:03:19,1000 --> 00:03:21,880 doing something about this. Oh man, why am I not doing anything about the project? And so you're not actually resting or recovering or doing anything that would be otherwise productive. You're over there stressing about the project while you're avoiding doing the project. Anything about that familiar to you?OK, so that's really procrastination. So this is the the flight mode response. So typically, you know, if we were running away from a situation, keep in mind your body reacts to situations and to perceived threats the same way as it would if there was an actual real threat in your environment or to your safety. As it does when there are loads of emails and you're like, Oh my God, I don't want to deal with that. It's too much. I'm overwhelmed. So the wiring is the same, right?So this is the sympathetic response. So we have fight, we have flight, we have freeze. We're going to talk about that next week. And then the opposite to this is the parasympathetic 118 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:19,1000 nervous system. So this is the rest and digest. You probably remember that from, you know, 7th grade biology. 121 00:04:26,1000 --> 00:04:28,960 And so rest and digest is where we settle. Where we're grounded, where our body comes back into healing mode, which is necessary for healing. So if we are in stress state most of the time or all the time, we we're not able to heal, we're not able to recover as quickly. Our immune function decreases. We're at risk for getting sick. We have sleep issues, we have digestive issues. We can be at risk for developing, you know, prediabetes, other other really serious big health related issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer, like all of that is associated with stress. OK. And so the more that we can become aware of how stress might be showing U for you, the more we can recognize it as a 140 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:10,1000 rotective mechanism from your body, as a 141 00:05:10,1000 --> 00:05:13,920 signal from your system that you are in a. Sympathetic state, you are dysregulated. OK. So when we are regulated is when we are in that parasympathetic state where we are grounded, where you're centered, where you're able to rise to the challenge and then settle back down, where you're able to rest without collapsing. We want to be able to go up and down, right, without 151 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:34,1000 these peaks and valleys. And so that's 152 00:05:34,1000 --> 00:05:36,960 really what a resilient, regulated nervous system is. So what we're going to really look at is, OK. What does this mean, right? What does this mean as far as how you're showing up at work and stress levels and all of those things?And so think about it like have you ever done that thing where 160 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:54,1000 you just grabbed your phone and and you avoided looking at the emails or starting to do your taxes or calling your accountant or whatever it is like we all have things that we often times 165 00:06:05,1000 --> 00:06:08,360 are resistant around taking action on and we put it off, right. And some people do best with deadlines and. And you know, they they do things at the last minute. But the reality is, is that when we have this situation, what's h

Part 1 of the 3-Part Series: Fight Mode at Work: Perfectionism, Pressure, & the High-Performer Stress Trap In people-first workplaces, performance and wellbeing should go hand in hand—but what happens when team members are unknowingly stuck in survival mode? In this episode, we explore the "Fight Stress Response" from a polyvagal theory perspective—and how it quietly shows up in modern workplaces as perfectionism, control, urgency culture, and burnout. If you're an HR leader, wellbeing coordinator, or culture-driven founder, this episode gives you insight into how workplace stress responses impact performance, communication, and team dynamics. You’ll learn: -How Fight Mode manifests in professionals as hyper-productivity, micromanaging, and control -Why these behaviors aren’t personality flaws—but nervous system survival strategies -The science behind the adrenaline-cortisol loop that drives high-performer anxiety -Why high standards often mask unprocessed stress and dysregulation -How leaders can spot and shift these patterns in real time -Simple, science-backed tools like Power Pauses™ to support emotional regulation and create psychological safety on the go When teams learn to regulate their stress responses—not suppress them—they unlock more creativity, resilience, and grounded leadership. That’s what people-first culture is all about. Curious if this is playing out for you or your team?Take the free Burnout Risk & Resilience Quiz Get personalized insights into how stress may be quietly impacting your—and what to do instead.👉 https://bit.ly/burnoutriskquiz About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Helps People First, Purpose Driven Companies That Want To Build Emotionally Resilient Teams That Perform At Their Best Without Time Consuming Strategies By Using Practical Science-Based Strategies That Work In Just Minutes A Day With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Stress & Resilience Coach Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com/Follow Her On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammegannolan/ #WorkplaceStress, #PerfectionismAtWork, #HighAchieverProblems, #FightResponse, #NervousSystemHealth, #BurnoutRecovery, #HighFunctioningAnxiety, #TeamPerformance, #StressPatterns, #WorkplaceWellbeing, #PolyvagalTheory, #TraumaInformedLeadership, #PowerPauses, #LeadershipAndWellness, #MicromanagementStress, #MentalHealthAtWork, #RegulateYourNervousSystem, #SomaticTools, #WorkplaceResilience, #StressInTheWorkplace   Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!    Survival mode. Understandinghow stress is silentlyrunning your life and400:00:11,560 --> 00:00:13,1000impacting your behavior.Welcome to this three-part seriesinside the Movement, Mind and Meaningpodcast. I'm your host, Megan Nolan. Weare going to be unpacking your stressresponse, IE you remember fight orflight, rest and digest. It's evolvedmore than that and we're going to talkabout that too. But in this first episodewe're talking about fight mode. We'retalking about when stress happens and yougo into go mode and the differentpatterns like perfectionism and controland being a high performer show upas survival strategies tohandle the situation. We're going tounpack all of that. So let's back it upa little bit. Remember back inbiology when you learned about yournervous system, right?We're going to do alittle refresher and perhaps this will bea little bit of a oh wow, this is reallycool because we've come further in ourunderstanding thanks to an incredible mannamed Doctor Steven Porges who2900:01:09,1000 --> 00:01:12,240recognized based on research that he wasdoing with little babies who were in theNICU. Different patterns of the nervoussystem that were not until that pointknown about. You probably remember restand digest, right?Rest and digest is whenwe heal and our body processes food, wemetabolize, we eliminate, we're we'regrounded, we're we're calm. We canheal because healing only happens in therest and digest state versus fight orflight, right?You've probably heard that.Oh, I'm in fight or flight. Not actuallythe same thing, but that's OK. We'll talkabout that too. So basically until1994, we basically thought that we had anon switch, a gas pedal, which is thesympathetic or stimulated fight or flightresponse where we handle stress by eitherrunning towards it, right, which is thefight or running away from it, which isthe flight or freezing, shuttingdown and not being able to handle it. Butwe've subsequently realized that there'sactually more than just that on switchand the off switch being theparasympathetic state, the. Rest anddigest the soothe andground, the stay and play.We're more complicated than we thought.You're more complicated than you thought.But fundamentally, what's happening isyour body is either searching forwell, it's always searching for signs ofsafety or threat,because its main function, the mainfunction of your nervous system, issurvival, keeping you alive. Right. Andso this evolved, incredibly intricatesystem has evolved over millions ofyears, but innately is the same.It's searching for threats and dangersand risks in your environment and your.External environment and internalenvironment. So it's constantly scanning.It's kind of like an antenna. It'sconstantly seeking out information fromthe environment as well as what'shappening inside of you. So not only areyou receiving information, but you'realso emitting information. This isimportant. We'll talk about that morelater because it's your vibe, right?Yourelectromagnetic field or your vibrationalfrequency, however you want to say it,you are emitting a signal by way of yournervous system again. This is so cool.8600:03:27,1000 --> 00:03:29,1000And this is something that, you know,8700:03:29,1000 --> 00:03:31,320inside the yoga practice, they've beentalking about for thousands of years. Andnow neuroscience is like, Yep, you guysare right, you're pretty amazing. Thebreath is important, all of this stuff.We're going to get to it. But, you know,plug for yoga because it's amazing. Solet's talk about this. So if your nervoussystem perceives a potential threat inthe environment, it goes from beingin this nice, regulated,centered, steady state.Of this level of connection. So thisfirst state of the nervous system iscalled the ventral vagal state. And thisis where you're engaged with people inthe environment. You have a nice peacefulexpression on your face. You're able tohandle challenges and then settle backdown. You can relax without collapsing.So this is the baseline state, right?And10800:04:15,280 --> 00:04:17,1000we operate here and this is where we we10900:04:17,1000 --> 00:04:20,920tend to. Hopefully spend mostof our time, however, due to chronicstress, not all of us do, but you know,we'll get to that as well. So we want tobe able to be in this state, rise to thechallenge and come back and regulate,right?So this is our our window oftolerance or what we can handle that, youknow, doesn't fully trigger us and causeus to get dysregulated. But what happenswhen our brain perceives a threat, eitherinternal or external, either real orimagined?Is we get activated.So we go from being regulated to a12300:04:51,1000 --> 00:04:54,800very activated, dysregulated state. Wego into go mode, right?This is where weswitch on the gas pedal goesbasically where what is controlling usand relaxing us and grounding us getslifted. Think of the the brakes on abicycle, right?So when you squeeze thebrakes, everything slows down. So the13100:05:11,1000 --> 00:05:13,640ventral vagal part of your nervoussystem, right, because. There's more thanjust the the on off switch. That's whythis is called the polyvagal theory,because there's poly meaning more thanone, meaning many. So what happens is thethe ventrovagal part of our nervoussystem is like a brake and it slowseverything down. OK, so we're just ridingon our bike and we got the brakes on.We're going at a nice easy pace and herewe go. And then all of a sudden it'slike, whoa, threat. Say there's a big acar in front of you. So the brake comesoff, right?So the the nervous systemstate shifts. And then all of a suddenwe're in go mode. Your heart rate getselevated, your digestion slows down,your brain activity shifts frombeing, you know, happy, present,creative, in flow, whatever, to survivalmode, right?So a different part of your15300:06:00,240 --> 00:06:01,1000brain called the amygdala gets activated15400:06:01,1000 --> 00:06:04,240because it's sensing the threat in yourenvironment and it kicks us into go mode.So it sends a signal to your adrenalglands. It's like, go, we needadrenaline, we got to take action. Yourheart rate starts pounding, your musclesget activated, you start. to just getready to handle the situation.So you are now activated in thesympathetic state. So this is anotherstate of the nervous system, right?Sowhat's happening here is we go intofight or flight. In our next episode,we will talk about flight, where we runfrom the situation, i.e. get the hell outof there because it's dangerous, whateverit is, right?Today we're talking aboutfight, so being mobilized,going into action. And going righttowards the situation, right. Sowhen the situation was, say, abear, we and if you were going to fightit, I don't know why you would, butwhatever, we would go towardsthe predator and prepare for action and17900:07:00,1000 --> 00:07:03,880engage in whatever fight mechanism. Maybewe had to, you know, I don't know. I'mnot. I don't want to be aggressivetowards the bear, but it's a survivalsituation. OK, so the body would need torespond to the situation. So what'shappening here is that you would diffusethis stress energy by fighting back,right?We would diffuse it by, you know,either, I don't know, maybe you poke thebear in the stomach, you punch, I

Ever feel like your mind is your own worst enemy? Like no matter how much you achieve, there’s a relentless voice in your head telling you it’s not enough? You’re not alone. And here’s the thing—that voice isn’t the truth. It’s just a story. And you have the power to change it. In this episode with special guest Krista Powell, we dive deep into how to rewire your subconscious mind, break free from self-criticism, and rewrite your inner narrative so you can step into a life of possibility, peace, and purpose. 💡 Here’s what you’ll learn:✔ Why your inner dialogue is just a collection of learned beliefs (and how to change them)✔ How movement, breathwork, and somatic practices help you reconnect with your body and quiet mental noise✔ The surprising link between self-compassion, pleasure, and emotional resilience If you’ve ever struggled with anxiety, perfectionism, or the feeling that you’re stuck in your head, this episode is for you. Your thoughts aren’t fixed, your story isn’t set in stone—and transformation is possible. ✨ Ready to break free from stress and self-doubt? Listen now! About this week's guest Krista Powell:Krista is a pleasure strategist with a gift for blending practical tips and mindset magic to help people deepen connections and create meaningful change. As a certified hypnotherapist, she guides clients to unlock the power of their subconscious mind for lasting breakthroughs. Her signature group program, Emerging Bliss, provides a secure setting for women learn how naming and expressing their needs in an intimate setting can transform their everyday life. She also co-hosts monthly soul-nourishing virtual events timed around the new moon. She’s living in a multi-generational household near Denver with her husband, daughter (saving up for that post-grad schooling), father & Australian Shepherd, Rocky. Grab her free Cord Cutting Meditation here: https://www.goldenshiftcoaching.com/cordcutting Connect with her here: https://www.goldenshiftcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/goldenshiftcoaching/ About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Helps People First, Purpose Driven Companies That Want To Build Emotionally Resilient Teams That Perform At Their Best Without Time Consuming Strategies By Using Practical Science-Based Strategies That Work In Just Minutes A Day With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Stress & Resilience Coach Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com/Follow Her On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammegannolan/ #TamingYourInnerCritic, #MindsetShift, #ReprogramYourMind, #InnerCritic, #OvercomingSelfDoubt, #SelfCompassion, #EmotionalHealing, #PersonalDevelopment, #AnxietyRelief, #InnerPeace, #LimitingBeliefs, #SelfLoveJourney, #HealingThroughMovement, #MentalHealthAwareness, #MindsetMatters   Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!    Today we're talking abouttaming your inner critic, shifting thestory, and changing yourlife. I have a very special guest with mehere today, Krista Powell, on theMovement, Mind and Meaning podcast. I'mexcited to welcome her on here in amoment. Hello. HelloGreat to haveyou. Thank you so much. I'm so excited tobe here. Yay. Awesome. Awesome.Awesome. All right, so before we jump in,I will let you know that this episode isbeing sponsored by the brand new minibook to Stop Anxious Overthinking. Sothat will be linked up in the show notesas well. Totally free for you to grabthat. And as well, I know Krista has agift for us too, and she will share moreabout that at the end of our episodeconversation together today. But makesure to grab both of those becausethey're both full of so much goodness.And Speaking of goodness. Krista isa pleasure strategist and we would loveto know more about you. People can readyour bio and all the things they get,cause I know you love learning. Everytime I text you, you're like I'm doing athing on the weekend. And I'm like, Ilove how much you love learning. So yay,gold star. But take us to a momentin your life where you had one ofthose. Oh man, I got it. Thisis whoa, what's happening?Or it can beone of those. Yay, this is amazing. Andit's. A moment that has led you todoing what you donow and sharing your gifts the way you'resharing them. Yes. And there's somany places that I could start thisstory, but let's just do it at at I'mgoing to start in college. I'm going tostart in college when I startedto have boy problems, right?You're You're in, you're on your own.Things don't go quite as smoothly as youthink. And suddenly I found I had thissuperpower. I had this voice in my headthat would create a story and lead medown the worst case scenario. And Ithought, oh, like, I'm ready for anythingnow. If I prepare for the worst, then Iwill like, I'll be in great shape. Butwhat I didn't know was that this voice inmy head would live with me for many,many, many years. And what I thought wasmy best friend was actually somethingthat was holding me back. And once Ilearned that I could shut that voice off,that I could change the script, then Ifound that I could connect to the peopleI love so much more. And that's when Iwanted to start teaching other women.to get out of their head, get into theirbody, to turn off that critic,and to start rewriting the script oftheir lives. Yes.Oh, my goodness. So put both handsup if you can relate.Oh, hey. Forthose of you exclusively audio right now,we're both laughing and waving our handsin the air, or which I was.Yes. So yeah,interesting, right?How many of us canrelate to this, the chatter of thecollective in our head. And you know, oneof the things that you said that reallystruck me that I super align with cause Ialways talk about the characters in ourhead and how it's like a play and we getto watch these characters and you knowwhat the main ones are and that like yousaid that that relentless criticaloverthinking, oh, make me feel like shitsort of thing that so many of us justthink is is us. Right. Andit's such an interesting phenomenon. Andthat's where, you know, practices thatyou share and practices like yoga, forexample, help us to realize that we arenot our thoughts. But many people justlive their whole life. And I did for along time. And it sounds like you didtoo, just like listening to this barrageof chatter in our head. That's just.Greasing the slippery slope of sadnessand anxiety and stress and all the thingsthat we are really specifically focusingon here on this show. And so I love thatyou're going to be sharing some moreexperiences and mind and body tools, andyou're going to take us through a reallypowerful clearing practice that you sneakpeeked with me earlier. And I was like,Oh my God, I love this. So let's talkabout that, about howthis voice. Isn'ttruly our own?Or where does it come from?Or how can we begin to just payattention to it and not get caught up byit?Like, let's start there. Talk to usabout that, please. Yes. Well, I willsay, like you said, I lived with it for avery long time, thinking that this isjust what everybody heard inside of themthat. We all that this is just me. Ididn't realize it was a separate entity.I I thought it was just me. Andthen I learned that, of course, ourunconscious mind goesinto OverDrive and it's always trying tokeep us safe. It's always trying to keepus alive. And sometimes it takesshortcuts. And those shortcuts includemaking tremendous assumptions about theinformation that it's receiving. Andsometimes there's some faultyconnections. And and that's where thebeauty lies. Once we pay attention tothat voice in our head, we can make achoice and we can make a choice of do wewant to keep going with the same dialogueor do we act as a director and we say cutthat like we're changing the script,we're going to go in a differentdirection. What I realized was thatsomewhere over the years, it was probably20 years after college, I waslying in bed one morning. Husband wasbeside me. Kids were asleep in the otherroom. The dog was on the floor. I wasliterally surrounded by people who lovedme, and I couldn't figure out whyI felt so alone. I justfelt like noone really saw me, no one really knew me,and I was just really curious as to whatwas going on. And that's when I realizedthat this voice in my head. Had not onlybeen talking to me, but had been helpingme create boundaries and walls around meto keep me closed off from the peoplethat I love, right?It was like, well,this part of you, it may not be thatattractive. It may not be your mostlovable part. So let's just close it offso that nobody can see it. Andwhen you start to build these littleinvisible walls around you, thepeople around you realize that they cansense there's something. That is stoppingthem from truly connecting with yourheart, with your soul. And so there'sthis gap of communication. There's thisgap of connection.And that's where the magic happens. Whenwe can start to break down those walls,when we can start to be vulnerable, wecan start to open up and shareour true selves with the people we love.Everything shifts.Umm Yeah, beautiful. And so.What I'm hearing you say is that thatthat first step is becomingaware of that voice, right?And andrecognizing that if we can hear that andwe can listen to it, then we aren'tthat right. And like you said, we can bethe director and say cut, we're going adifferent way. And so that'sso powerful to be able tohave that level of awareness first andforemost, but that level of.agency and recognizing that weget to bring all those parts back,right?And like you said, we we tend towall those parts off. And especially, Ithink it's worth mentioning, is that forso many people, there is oftentimes whenit comes to these challenges thatanxiety and depression can present,there's a lot of widespread societalshame and stigma around them that weinternalize, right?And

You’re smart. You care. You’re doing everything right — planners, Pomodoro, nootropics, 5am alarms — and still… you feel behind. Again.  This episode breaks down why. This week I'm digging into the neuroscience of stress and how it quietly disrupts your brain’s executive function — the part responsible for memory, focus, and decision-making. You’ll learn why missed deadlines, mental fog, and tab-jumping aren’t signs of laziness — they’re symptoms of a brain stuck in survival mode.  🧠 You’ll also get one simple, science-backed tool you can use in the moment when stress hits — to calm your system, reset your focus, and actually get things done again. (No meditation apps required.) 👀 If you’ve ever thought, “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just focus?” — this episode will show you the real reason… and what to do instead. Curious about the: Success-Stopping Habits: 9 Ways That Stress Sabotages Focus, Performance & Momentum? Email me at megan@megan-nolan.com to Book Your Free 30-Minute Insight Session for People-First Teams!   About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Helps People First, Purpose Driven Companies That Want To Build Emotionally Resilient Teams That Perform At Their Best Without Time Consuming Strategies By Using Practical Science-Based Strategies That Work In Just Minutes A Day With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Stress & Resilience Coach Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com/ Follow Her On Instagram: www.instagram.com/iammegannolan Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!

This episode is raw, real, and straight from the soul. I’m sharing 8 powerful lessons that came through during a deep shadow walk—where I met my rage, held my grief, and saw my doubt for what it really is: unprocessed pain begging for belief. We talk healing. We talk integration. We talk about how to re-parent the inner child in real time… with love, praise, encouragement, and trust. You’ll hear how suffering can be sacred when we stop resisting it. How anger, when honored, becomes clarity. How living as loving awareness isn’t a goal—it’s who we already are when we stop pretending. This is for anyone doing the work. Anyone learning to trust the breakdown. And anyone ready to stop defining themselves by old wounds and start embodying who they really are now. Watch my highlight reel of the walk here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIroXSUTVDE/?igsh=Y21oc293OW1maGw= Connect With Matt Travis (the genius behind the Shadow Walk idea): https://www.instagram.com/thepotentialu?igsh=MXc3eGRuazdhM2xwYQ== About Your Host, Megan Nolan: Megan helps highly sensitive, ambitious women 40+ overcome anxiety holistically so they can excel in life without losing themselves. With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy. She is a: 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Mental Health Advocate Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com/ Follow Her On Instagram: www.instagram.com/iammegannolan   Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription, there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!  My shadow walk changed me8 lessons that I learned on Saturday whenI went on a five mile journey into mysoul. Deeper than that of course, but anactual physical five mile journey thattotally transformed who I am. Istarted the walk as one person and I amvery much a different person nowand that was the intention of thisjourney. So my friend Matt Travis.Was given this idea ofguiding people all around the world onthis shadow walk. Shadow walk beinga walk with the intention ofconnecting to anddeepening your relationship with yourshadow aspects of yourself that youmaybe are frustrated by, or you maybehave outgrown, or maybe are slowing youdown, or different patterns that are partof who you are but aren't necessarily.Serving the expansion that you want toexperience so that you can continueforward on your journey. They're part ofyou nonetheless. And so they hold the keyfor deep self-awareness, deep selfunderstanding, deep self loveultimately. And so thejourney was really interesting. So aroundthe world, we all simultaneously went onour own walk, Matt said so beautifully.It's not about distance, it's aboutdepth, right?And it's not about, youknow. Do walking the 26 mile path thathe walked. It's doing what you feelcalled to do, but do it veryintentionally. So he set out this wholejourney for us with these deep divingjournaling questions and a reallybeautiful playlist. Some true to formdidn't realize that we won't weren'tsupposed to do this prep workreally ahead of time. I didn't know thattill we went to the kick off call and so.I had done a big part of what he hadgiven us in the prep work, thisjournaling exercise. Andso standard, standard Capricornhigh achiever over here was like, OK,should I start the homework already?Sure.OK. So before I even went on the walk, Ihad a massive rage release.What?Yeah, I know. Crazy. It's it was ait was a it was anexperience. So thishappened on Thursday. We went on the walkon. Saturday. So twoishdays before I wasnoticing, based on the journaling workthat I did, a lot of shame that Iwas holding in my life, inmyself, around myexperiences, around my progress,around debt, around just alot of things. And I was like, wow, thisis interesting. I I didn't realize howmuch shame there was. At adeep level, and I've worked on my shamebefore and but I do know that shame andguilt is a very potent pattern ofself-sabotage and a pattern of the mindthat the mind uses to keepus in these shadow elements and keep usin these limited beliefs and theselies of limitation and these strugglestories and. So I was aware ofthis before, but not at this level.So I started to really name this, thisshame that was, you know, they'relingering underneath the surface. Andas I was driving home from a B andI meeting, I was thinking about this andI was feeling this deep emotion of itcause I knew I was gonna go on the walkon Saturday and you know, me, me, me, I'mlike a bit of a keener. So I start tolike really dive into it and I'mrealizing that underneath the shame.There was so much angerand there was so much frustrationand there was so much intensity that whenI cracked it open, it was like alion roared in thejungle and to the point where this ragewas like and I was holding onto thesteering wheel and I was yellingand the sound that came out of me and Iwas like, I need to pull over. This isnot a safe condition to drive in like itwas that intense. So I pulled over. Over.I had my whole range released multipletimes andafter I had it, I didn't need to namewhere it was coming from or why, becausethat's not as important as allowing thefeeling to be felt right. This is whatI've learned from my somatic experiencingtherapist, which is allow the feeling tobe felt so that it can be completed.Because as you may or may not know, assomeone who has high functioning anxiety,my approach to.Before I learned all the tools, thedefault mode to handling that and whathappens with a lot of people with highfunctioning anxiety is a fight responsein stress. So that that like actiontaking, get after it, go, go, go, go, go,go, go. And so because that was just anongoing cycle, it wassomething that when I felt like I wasable to and let it out of me andlike have that battle cry ifyou will. After it wascompleted, which didn't take much, ithappened twice. It was really intense.And then I just sat there and I was likeblissed out.I know, kind of crazy to go from onewild extreme to the other. But whathappens is when we allow the feeling tobe felt and we hold space for it and weallow that cycle to be completed,we allow our nervous system to come backto a more steady state. And sobecause that energy was diffused andexpressed on the other side of that,at least for me, was a verydeep settled peace.And it was so interesting. And I thought,wow, thispart of my shadow, thisfear of holdinganger and allowing anger to come out,which was a. Deeplyingrained pattern. So my father, youmaybe have heard me speak to him before.He was a very brilliant, wise man,navigated his own clinical depression,was likely autistic, was superintelligent. He was a neuroanesthesiologist, like the person thatputs you to sleep for brain surgery. OK,so he was a smart guy.But he would lose his temper and he wouldget really angry sometimes and he didn'treally know how to regulate. And so hewould just yell. So as a kid, I wasreally scared of anger. So I've always,you know, deferred away from angerbecause I didn't like that energyaround me and I didn't like it in otherpeople and I didn't like it in myself. SoI didn't really allow myself toexperience anger. So when I felt thisdepth of anger that came out of me andrealizing that anger that's repressed andsuppressed and depressed. Turns intorage, right?It continues to fester.And so when I allowed it out of me, itwas deeply cathartic. AndI was like, wow, this iswow. It was like apiece that I've never felt like a pieceafter a three day spa treatment and amassage and acupuncture and like someoils, like vibes. And I thought, wow,this is so interesting. So that's how Istarted the shadow walk. So they then,OK, so that was Thursday. A couple dayslater, I'm ready to go. I'm like veryintentional with my sleep and my morningroutine. I did my morning routine beforeI left. I live in Maui. And so, you know,it gets hot here. And so my,I really wanted to start as early aspossible so that I could have, you know,as much of my walk before high noon.OK, and so I walked on this beautifulbeach. So I get to the beach and I didthe first section of it. And this leadsme to the second lesson. Thatfirst one was to really allow yourself tofeel your emotions and and recognizemaybe some emotions are you reluctantor fearful of and and maybe they'reholding a key for you. So second lessontool key that I have for you is thatintention is so key.So I sat before I started my walk.And I sat, and I allow myself toreally settle into my intention ofholding space for all parts of myself,including the parts that I was reluctantto experience, maybe fearful of, mayberesentful of, like all of the parts, allof the shadow elements of me, but alsoall of the bright, shiny aspects as well.So really setting the stage for that tobe welcoming and to reflect and to holdspace and to just. Really allow myself tobe guided and know that I was going tohave the walk that I needed. And so everytime I sat down to do some reflection,journaling, have a snack, stretch,whatever, I left one of myflowers that I brought. So I brought 8flowers from my yard. You know, here onMaui, we have beautiful flowers allaround us. It's so gorgeous. I'm sograteful. But traditionally in Hawaiianculture, you leave offerings in ingratitude, right?As a gesture, which isjust a beautiful practice. So I brought 8flowers. Intuitively, I just wanted tobring 8 also because I had a reallypotent experience on 4/4 and so eight hasbeen really always one of my favoritenumbers. But I just thought I'm going tobring 8 flowers. So I brought 8 flowersand so then really began thejourney and walking a beach that I havewalked many times before as pastversions of me, right?I used to walk itwith clients. I used to take Bailey Wolfoff there. I've walked it with friends.I've been there. For different events,like it's been Justin and I had our fakemarriage there. It's a funny story. Wetook photos because somebody told theirboss they were coming

Feeling Disconnected? Here's How to Reclaim Your Lost Power Ever feel like a part of you is missing—like you’re moving through life fragmented, disconnected, or weighed down by something that isn’t fully yours? What if reclaiming these lost pieces of yourself could be the key to deep healing, inner power, and freedom from anxiety? In this episode, I’m joined by Julia Hengst, an expert in soul retrieval and personal empowerment. Together, we’ll explore how reconnecting with the lost or dissociated parts of yourself can bring you back into alignment, peace, and strength—helping you thrive beyond trauma, anxiety, and depression. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ Signs of Soul Loss – How to know if you’ve lost a part of yourself and whether soul retrieval is the next step. ✅ The Key to Lasting Healing – Why reclaiming your energy is essential to breaking free from anxiety. ✅ The Soulful Power Pause – A guided meditation to reconnect with strength, presence, and inner peace anytime, anywhere. 🌟 Ready to step into wholeness and intuition? This episode will show you how. Learn more about Julia: Julia Hengst is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, avid surfer, traveler and word nerd who resides in Maui. Passionate about psychology, spirituality and media literacy, she holds an undergraduate degree in Media Studies from UC Berkeley, a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology, and an imaginary degree from the University of Puns. She is currently writing a series of kids books about psychic mermaid spies that infiltrate the earth to help it heal using "inner technology" and yogic techniques. Connect With Julia here   About Your Host, Megan Nolan:  Megan helps highly sensitive, ambitious women 40+ overcome anxiety holistically so they can excel in life without losing themselves. With 20+ years as a yoga instructor & personal trainer, she teaches mind-body tools to break free from stress and thrive with impact, freedom, and joy.   She Is A: 📚 Bestselling Author | 🎙 Podcast Host | 🌎 Mental Health Advocate   Check Out Her Website: https://www.megan-nolan.com  Follow Her On Instagram: www.instagram.com/iammegannolan   Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! Hello, hello. Today we're going to betalking about healing at the soullevel, opening yourself up to newstrength, intuition, and freedom fromanxiety by living apower-filled life.Welcome back to the MovementMind and Meaning podcast. Andtoday I have a very specialguest with me, Julia Hankst, whois a psychotherapist and a shaman.Mnemonic counselor who is going to betalking all about helping youto heal at the soul level, reclaim yourlost parts, and to navigate and thrivebeyond depression and anxiety using thesetools. So welcome to the show, Julia.It's lovely to have you. Thank you.Lovely to be here. Happy Aloha Friday.Oh, happy Aloha Friday.Yes, yesSo despite us being a virtualconversation, Julia and I are out in themiddle of the ocean floating around hereout on Maui. But you know, easier to dothese things on the Zooms. And it mayor may not be Friday whenever you'relistening to this. So happy Aloha,whatever day it is for you when you'relistening to this in the future.So. You can read about Julia in herbio, and there's some funny stuff inthere, so you should read it. But umI like to just jump into the deep end.You know me, Julia and I actually haveworked together. We worked togetheractually after we had the fires here onMaui, and she helped me to heal andnavigate through all of that, as she didwith many other of our community members.So beautiful work. Thank you for doingthat. And so you can get to know moreabout her professionally. In thebio, but also through our conversationnow. But I like to introduce youto the podcast and to our listeners byhaving you tell us a little bit. Aboutpart of your story and your journey andmaybe take us to a moment in time whenyou yourself were dealing with some ofthese challenges, maybe anxiety ordepression or both or whatever thatreally lend you, led you to whereyou are now and alsoto do the work that you're doing to beable to share these tools.Umm Yeah, a little bit of abackground that is relevant is. that Iwas born in Texas. I like to saythat I'm fully recovered. Nodisrespect, Texas. When Iwas a teenager, my my dad moved out ofthe country for his job and my mom movedto Santa Cruz. So I moved to Santa Cruzand ended up going to a highschool that was founded around an Indianyogi named Baba Hari Das, who was one ofRam Das's teachers, whoBabajari Das took a vow of silence thathe kept for about 75years. He was the real deal, areal yogi, Bhagavad Gita scholar.But this was like a different planet forme. But that was the firststep in terms of understanding asort of more spiritual perspective andunderstanding the idea of subduing one'smind, training the mind.And also around that time, I starteddoing some therapy because my parents gotdivorced. And if Iwould say jumping ahead 10 or 15 yearsafter many years of therapy and a lot ofmeditation retreats and that sort ofthing, I was still struggling with someanxiety, some depression, somerelationship patterns. And I was extrafrustrated because I was like, I havebeen working on some of these patternsfor so many years, why are they stillcoming up?And thanksto my mom networkingme with my mentor, SueFeathers, one of my shamanic mentors, Ihad a session with her, and itwas a soul retrieval session, and it wasso visceral andpowerful that it IGoogled, what is shamanism?And I was inmy 30s at the time, and I lived inBerkeley, and nearby was a center calledthe Foundation of the Sacred Stream. thathad a very methodical coursefor studying all sorts of things. ButI focus on becoming a depth hypnosispractitioner and with a focuson shamanic counseling. And what Ifound was umm thatas the Dalai Lama said, maybe four yearsago, because I have a background inBuddhist psychology as well, that Westernpsychology is currently at kindergartenlevel in terms of understanding the mind,which is very humbling to hear. He saidit's very good at describing what's wrongwith people, butnot yet good enough at describing what'sright with people and how to heal.So when I started studying thethe the soul approach to therapy,I found that it filled in a lot of thegaps of Western psychology. There werethere's an emphasis on positivepsychology, on looking at what's rightwith us. There were techniques for how tofind these parts of ourselves that we'velost. It's very creative. We useour imagination. And so for any of us whohave a busy mind, it's it's really cool.Doesn't mean you have to have a superquiet mind. You can have a pretty activemind. And these techniques are reallyhelpful forrediscovering parts of ourselves.And theeffects are quite visceral as well. Soall of those, it's it wasn't just anintellectual experience, it was veryvisceral, which is really important.Well, I love that and and such aneclectic background and what aan interesting way that all of thesepieces have woven together in yourlife. And and and I can say frompersonal experience that it was it. Itdid feel like a really interestingapproach to healing intonavigating challenges and especially assomeone with a busy mind it was it wasrefreshing and. Iappreciate you sharing all of that sohonestly. And so something you said leadsme to my first question that, you know,many of us might be able to relate to andmyself I can for sure, is that, you know,trying different modalities, differentapproaches and many people in thiscommunity are like, you know, doing allthe things and they're drinking thespecial coffee and they're doing the thisand the breath work and the, you know,plunge, but.Not having the resolve or theclarity or the spaciousness or thehealing that they they want or they feellike they should be at quote, UN quote,whatever that means. Do you find foryourself, you pointed it out that youknow that it felt like something wasmissing, that you hadn't got to thatpoint and and so do you find that a lotof people come to you?And where doesthis soul retrieval fit into the factthat for many of us, we feel like,goodness, like, what is this?There's thissome missing piece that I can't put myfinger on, but I know that I haven'tfigured it out yet. I know that there'ssomething that's missing. And socan you speak to that from yourperspective of the soul retrieval toolset?Yes. And I Ifelt that frustration of like, whenI go into like self-work, I am likenerd alert, like go in deep journaling,like all of the tools, bodywork, somaticwork, et cetera. So it was veryfrustrating. And one of the things thatwas really helpful to me that SueFeathers said in the very first session,she was like, is this going to be aone-off thing or ongoing?And I was like,honestly, I don't even really know whatyou do. But there are some patterns thathaven't shifted and how she put it wasthat even if we've been working onsomething for years and years withdifferent modalities, if the soul partisn't back in us,then it might not have muchtraction. But when the soul part is back,then any work we do around that issue isgoing to have more traction. And theidea in shamanic healing is thatSometimesthe soul retrieval, and there are also,by the way, power retrievals andextractions and other other methods.But sometimes the soul retrieval startsa healing process. Sometimes it sustainsone and keeps it going. And sometimesit's the thing that ends a healingprocess, like it brings us to completionand just one soul retrieval canrebalance us on certain issues. SoI found that very, very helpful and itgave me a lot of hope. And there was aperiod I was like, I'm going to find allmy soul parts. I'm going to do a soulretrieval a day if I can.So it's if you're somebody who likes totake a lot of action and you've done alot of mapping of your trauma and thatsort of thing, it's really helpfulbecause then you can do strike missions.Oh, I like that. And so I thi

Feeling anxious before or during a work meeting or sales call? You’re not alone—and you don’t have to just “push through” it. In this episode, we’ll walk through 3 powerful yet discreet breathwork practices for workplace anxiety that you can use before, during, or after a meeting—even in the middle of a Zoom call. You'll learn: How to calm anxiety quickly at work using your breath Simple nervous system resets you can do in 60 seconds or less What’s actually happening in your body when anxiety strikes How to prepare for meetings when you feel anxious or overwhelmed The #1 technique to stay grounded and focused—even when your heart is racing Whether you're dealing with high-functioning anxiety, social stress, or simply a packed calendar, this episode gives you real tools you can use right now to feel calm, confident, and clear-headed. Perfect for: Entrepreneurs with performance anxiety Professionals experiencing stress in meetings Women navigating workplace stress and overwhelm Anyone looking for natural anxiety relief they can use on the go Ready To Cultivate Calm On Command? Join us for the Anxiety & Stress Reset right here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/anxiety     Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! Anxiety SOS breath work you can use in a meeting or a sales call or a stressful conversation. Welcome back to another episode of the Movement, Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm your host, Megan Nolan, and today we're talking about. Tools you can actually use to shift yourself out of that anxious state and back into your powerful, grounded, centered, yes, please energy anytime, anywhere. Whether that's in a meeting, before a sales call, during a sales call, in a conversation, you name it, these powerful. Breathwork practices and tools are going to be your SOS savior. OK, so before we get into this and talking about why anxiety seems to pop up inconveniently in these situations, why we get what's called meta anxiety, like worry about the worry. Oh my goodness, what do we even do?And some powerful tools that you can use that are like super ninja. No one will even know that you're doing these. And they are literally using the most powerful tool that you have, your ha, your breath. Did you see that the anxiety and stress reset is kicking off its next community round where we do it all together but apart?Meaning you fit them into your day when it works for you. So you can use these tools to completely reset how you're feeling, how you are navigating your day, and give yourself the deep support at the level of your nervous system. So that you can say stay in your powerful, grounded, serene, queen, badass leadership energy. If you didn't see it, well, the next community round is kicking off again at the end of April for our pre-work. Get you set up, rock it and at the beginning of May. So it's a five day reset. Check out the link in the comments and it's an incredible, incredible no brainer deal at only 37 bucks currently. Who knows what it's going to be in the future because I'm working on how much more magic I can weave into it for you without it overwhelming you, but just in a way that you are actually benefiting from these tools because they are so potent, literally the most effective way for you to cultivate calm on command. So let's talk about why anxiety is unpredictable, not always logical, kind of frustrating sometimes. So our nervous system reacts to a threat, perceived threat, real threat. And of course it reacts also in danger. But anxiety is that perceived threat, right?The response to stress in our body is often shows up as anxiety, right?And so some people. Experience that stress reaction as a flight response to anxiety. Like get me the hell out of here. What am I even doing?Why am I going live on Facebook?Why am I going to this podcast?Why am I doing these sales calls?Whatever it is, right? Whatever your situation, whether it's a meeting or any of those aforementioned things, it's that like press the eject button, get me out of here reaction. Or we have a fight reaction of, OK, I got to handle this. What am I going to do?I got to, I got to take action. I'm going to sort this out and. It's more of a doing sort of energy versus a leaving sort of energy that is the the flight response. OK. So in these high pressure situations, again, whether it's a, you know, whether it's one of those things that just feels like high pressure, like you're about to go and do your commercial at a networking meeting or you're about to go on a really big podcast or you're in a meeting and you know it's it'sYou get to bring up a part of a conversation that's kind of a little awkward. What's happening here is your body goes into a sympathetic state. It gets very reactive. It's ready for action, right?Whether that's going to be the leave or the do. Your heart rate starts to increase. Your blood pressure increases. Your blood flow moves from the digestive organs from the center of your body out to your extremities. So you can handle that situation. However you can handle it. Your breath gets short and shallow because we want more oxygen, less carbon dioxide. Your muscles tense up. Your pupils. What's the opposite of dilate?Shrink. Narrow. They they really get pinpointed. And so even when we feel like that's about to happen, you can feel that level of anticipatory preparation, right?And that's the interesting thing and it's so important. This is the reframe is that if you start to notice that in your body in these situations, it's really important to just remember first and foremost, this is a little bonus tip, not a breath work practice. This is just your nervous system doing it's job. Right. It's it's perceiving a threat, right. And the threat isn't the tiger anymore. Unless you live somewhere where there's tigers. The the threat in this situation is I'm in a meeting and I'm about to get called on or you feel that bubbling feeling of anxiety and it could be completely unrelated to the meaning. It could just be the fact that, you know, you have other things on your mind and heart and that's causing that same reaction. And so again, that's just the real starting point is it's just your nervous system. Doing its job. These are signals. These are cues, right?Just like hunger, just like thirst. These are cues from your body. And so we want to just start there, right?And that's the practice of nonjudgmental self-awareness. That is a big part of my work. And So what we want to do is, if you know, and you probably do at this point because you know yourself, right?You're listening to podcasts, you're diving into tools to thrive beyond depression and anxiety. Prime yourself for those situations as best that you can, right?We don't want to just drink buckets of coffee and not eat food cause then you're gonna be jittery and you're gonna probably even more experience those things. So how can you prime yourself before you go into that, before it even starts, right?I had a client who I taught her breath work practices because she get she would get anxious before sales calls and she used them on an airplane because she also got nervous on the airplane. She used to get so nervous she threw up. But she did the breathing practices. So it wasn't a stressful sales call, but it was another stressful situation. And so she did the breathing practices. She got so relaxed, she didn't throw up and she even fell asleep, right?And so these are tools that you can use as needed, right?As needed. Ideally, you know, beforehand to dial down everything so that we stay in that nice centered state, right?So you're able to navigate the challenges. And so, you know, really simple power pause, breath work ahead of this. Is to use an even breath, right?In yoga, we call this sama vritti. So sama is the root word for same, and vritti is a fluctuation. So it's an even breath. So before you even go into the meeting, when you're driving to work, when you're, I don't know, getting ready to go on the Zoom call, like whatever it is, just count that nice steady, slow breath in for five, out for five. Classically, when we do breath work, we want to until you get really familiar with it and how it feels in your body. Ideally you do it sitting down just for safety, OK?And so when you're doing just normal, you know, more gentle, available breath work practices like that one, you'll be OK standing up once you get familiar with it. But some people, you know, we're all different, thank goodness. Some people get a little more kind of light-headed or whatever. So just know yourself. And so, you know, make sure you do that safely. OK, so doing that, you know, five in, five out, five breaths, you will experience a significant shift physiologically. So in your body and when you do it, visualize yourself rooting down. Grounding yourself down, right?And that's bringing your energy down because when we're in stress, we are really up and our energy is dialed up. So when we're using that smooth exhalation, we wanna visualize yourself rooting, grounding, settling yourself down, dropping your energy from your your head down into your body. So you feel steady, you feel centered, you feel anchored. And what we're doing here is we are. Beginning to stimulate your vagus nerve, which is the wandering nerve, right?A vagabond is is someone who wanders. So the vagus nerve wanders throughout your whole body, innervating your vital organs. And the one that we can connect with and communicate with are your lungs, right?So by controlling your breath, you directly activate the vagus nerve, which will help to shift you from that sympathetic stress response to a parasympathetic. So it's a slowing down, gradually down regulating. So what's cool is that. Even just in a few deep breaths, typically in about 3 deep breaths, we start to notice a change in your body, in your stress level, in your tension level and actually

Do you ever feel trapped by overthinking, hesitation, or self-doubt? All the while some people seem naturally confident, others struggle with second-guessing every decision....it can be frustrating! But here’s the truth—self-doubt isn’t a personality trait, it’s a pattern. And the good news? You can break free from it. In this episode, we’re diving deep into: ✅ The neuroscience of confidence – How anxiety, depression, and self-doubt rewire your brain ✅ Why self-doubt is a learned habit (and how to reprogram your mindset for success) ✅ How to stop second-guessing yourself & trust your instincts ✅ Daily confidence-boosting habits that rewire your brain for positivity & success Want to mute the mental chaos and take control of your mind in just 6 minutes a day? Get the FREE Anxiety "OFF" Switch 3-Part Audio Series 👉 https://www.megan-nolan.com/offswitch Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! How to build unshakableself-belief is what weare discussing today on the MovementMind and Meaning podcast Mind BodyTools to Thrive Beyond Anxiety andDepression. I am your host Megan Nolanand we are going to get into it becausethis is a conversation that I've had manytimes with myself and other people, howsome people just have this unshakableself-belief and other people like myself.Ourselves needed to growthat skill set along the way. But beforewe get into this conversation, have yousigned up for Flip Your Anxiety OffSwitch yet?Hello. Oh my goodness. Thefeedback, the takeaways, next level. Ifyou haven't yet, it's totally free. It'sbrand new. It's designed for you tolisten on the go, to give you the toolsto become a nervous system ninja, tostop the spiral. To trust yourselfagain, because you can learn how to mutethe mental chaos and take control of yourmind in literally just minutes a day sothat you can show up as the grounded andcentered and powerfulthat you really are, if you haven'tyet. You got to get in on this. It's somuch goodness waiting for you. I promiseit's so good. Literally the tools I wishI had had a million years ago. But herewe are. I have them now and I literallywant to share them with the world andsing it from the rooftops because theyare that powerful and I want you to havethem too. OK, so make sure to get signedup and share it with a friend andlet's continue to grow the power pausemovement because these tools areliterally what will help you to.Come back to the truth of who you are sothat you can be anchored and live fromthis place of knowing how incrediblypowerful and incredible and worthy anddeserving and whole that you are. Yes,that is what we are diving into in theseries, so make sure to grab it. Thatand a whole lot more actually, to learnto mute the mental chaos. Cause if yourmind sounds like a group chat that neverstops, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing,you're not getting to experience thepeace and the. Deepknowing and wellspring of wisdom that iswithin you because the mind is justjibber jabbing. Speaking of jibberjabbing, I'll stop trying toto convince you and just go sign up. OK,just go sign up. Totally free. You'regonna love it. So let's talk aboutself belief and it's opposite Iguess. Or I was gonna say distant cousinself doubt. Why is it that some peoplejust. Get on that self-belief train andthey're like unstoppable, right?So I'lltell you where this came from. The otherday I was doing a really incrediblebreath work practice. I lovebreath work. It's something that Iinclude in a lot of my sessions. I doeveryday for myself and Icame out of thepractice with this deep knowing inmy soul that I am experiencing amassive. Integrationand shifting within myself and a bigpart of that isdeciding to no longer listento the lies of my mind at an even deeperlevel because I've made that decisionyears ago. But it's one of those thingsthat the lies of the mind, the protectivepatterns that we talk about, the theadaptive patterns and behaviors ofself-sabotage and you know, slowingourselves down and doubting ourselves.Those are patterns that are learned andwe we begin to unwire and untether. Fromthose, but it's a practice, right?It's athere's a peeling away and an even deeperembodiment that happens over timeonce you make that decision and youcontinue to do the work. And so I cameout of the breath work practice and I wasjust like vibrating allsorts of good stuff and had thatrealization that this has been a hugecomponent in. The up,down, roundabout frustration of myjourney of many years ago, thatreally was, I would say,maybe a factorthat held me back because I wouldoften hear thosestories of my mind and you know, thethe permeating feeling of sadness andreally feel that sense of self-doubtand limitation and believe it and takeit as truth. And I know thatit was part of the journey.But if I can shift that for you, if I canhelp you to have some realizations todayabout how to cultivate self-belief. AndI'm, you know, it's a work in progress.I'm not gonna lie. Like I'm I'm on thetrain to to unshakable self-belief town.Believe me, I'm like in the front seat.I ain't the conductor, but I'm on thetrain. Like, take me there. I want it.But today we're gonna be talking abouthow we can begin to do that, somepractices, some tools, some insights. Soyeah, it's this thing, you know, it'sthis, this questioning ourselves, thisdoubting ourselves, this wondering if Ishould do it this way and should it havebeen that way?And like it's a formany of us, especially those of us thatnavigate life accompanied byanxiety and depression, it can feel likea long road to self trust.It can, right?And I think some people.Whether or not they have thosechallenges, I think some people throughtheir upbringing, through their, youknow, the the guidance and parenting thatthey received, maybe some teachers andsome mentors, it was ingrained in them alittle bit younger, but for many of us.Myself included, I feel like that thoseclouds of self-doubt were like fogsthat I had to navigate through. It feltlike it just kept rolling in. You know,if I would try to achieve something or goafter a goal and it didn't happen or Iwould doubt myself or I would, you know,stay really focused on all like forexample when I would lead and I still dolead, you know, online events and belooking at the numbers and if the opt-inswere taking a long time to start or ifthey weren't happening or that I wasnowhere near the numbers. You know, mybrain would immediately default to seenobody's gonna sign up. What are you evendoing?Why?Why are you doing this?This isso silly. What you're doing this again.And you know, and that level ofnegativity and focusingin the direction I didn't wanna go, thatwas the conditioned path, you know?And soit was no wonder it felt reallyfrustrating because I was out theretaking the actions, but inside of myhead, I was like, see, nobody's gonnasign up. I don't even know why youbother, you know?And so.It's like having a tug of war againstyourself, right?Like, hopefully you canrelate to this in some sense. Maybe it's,you know, maybe it's your art orrelationships or whatever. But I wouldsay that, you know, over time the fog hasstarted to thin out a little bit and andget a little lesser and lesser andlesser. And through these practices,particularly the ones that you're goingto start to learn inside the anxiety offswitch, will learn how to mute thatmental noise andregain control because. It'snot that we are out of touchwith possibility. It's that we'relistening to these protective patterns ofthe mind, the lies of limitation of themind and these patterns, these stressresponses, right of of defaulting intoanxiety or slipping down into sadnessthat they come. Along with them, theycome with these stories, these strugglestories. I call them of like, oh, it'snever going to work, you know, and orwhat if it doesn't work or what if itdoes work and what if I can't follow upand you know, it can go in eitherdirection. But I think it's reallyfascinating because I know that there'ssome people that like legitimately arelike, yeah, I'm going to do it. If Ican't figure out a way, if if I don't seethe way, I'll figure one out. I'll justfigure it out as I go and and that is. Aninteresting shift, right?And part of thatis, is a growth mindset that people havethat and that I've learned over the yearsto really begin to practice and start tosee things through a different lens of,OK, life is happening for us, right?Notto us. How can we begin to look at thingsfrom that place of center within ourself,right?Like first and foremost, we wantto, you know, shift into safety. We wantto regulate ourselves so that we can haveaccess to the higher wisdom. So that wecan see it from a place of this is a agift, right?Or an opportunity. Andsometimes that comes pretty quickly. Butif it's a big awful thing or somethingthat's, you know, monumental to you, thatcan come at a slower pace. I'm notgonna lie, right?It's not necessarilygonna happen right out of the gatesometimes. But The thing is, is that it'sreally important for us to remember thatwe get to. Recognize that,you know, start to hear those stories andand if you tell, hear yourself tellingthe same stories again and again andagain, or if you find yourself in thatfrustrating pattern and you're like, thisis annoying. I just had like, why?Whydoes this keep happening?Then we canbegin to use that as a cue, right?Wecan begin to use that acute as a cue. Wecan. Train ourselves to witnessthat. And that's the level ofnonjudgmental self-awareness that is abig component of what we do inside thepower pause movement that is so importantfor us to cultivate. Because here's thething, and here's the thing, and I'mgoing to talk a little bit about thescience, the science. Sorry,I don't know why I say I have randomaccents that I pull out of nowheresometimes. So here'sthe interesting thing, right, is that,you know, maybe some people are just bornwith it. What was that commercial?Maybeshe's born with it.

EXCITING NEWS: I've got a brand new free 3 part audio series for highly sensitive ambitious women over 40 who want to learn to Flip Your Anxiety "OFF" Switch"! SIGN UP FOR FREE HERE: https://www.megan-nolan.com/offswitch Are you tired of constantly feeling the pressure to be perfect?  Whether it’s from the world, the weight of obligations, or the pressure to keep up the momentum in your work, perfectionism can feel like an endless cycle of stress and anxiety. If you’ve ever felt trapped by these expectations—like you’re always pushing yourself harder just to stay afloat—this week's podcast episode is for YOU!  In today’s episode, I’m getting real about breaking free from the pressure of perfectionism and how it’s impacting your mental and emotional well-being. You’re not alone in this. I’ve been there too, navigating the demands of growing a movement and trying to follow every instruction—sometimes out of obligation, not inspiration. But here’s the truth: when we try to do everything “perfectly,” we disconnect from our true selves and only fuel the anxiety that’s been holding us back. What you'll learn: ✨ The real cost of trying to do it all “perfectly” and why it’s keeping you stuck in a state of anxiety. ✨ How to break free from the weight of perfectionism without losing momentum in your life or business. ✨ Simple, actionable tools to help you stop feeling overwhelmed and start feeling more aligned, present, and connected to yourself.   Want to learn to mute the mental noise and regain control of your mind in just 6 minutes a day? Join us for the brand new free 3 part audio series to Flip Your Anxiety "OFF" Switch": https://www.megan-nolan.com/offswitch  Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! Breaking free from perfectionism and pressure. An ongoing practice for me and maybe for you too, which is why that is the focus of today's episode of the Movement, Mind and Meaning Podcast, Mind and Body Tools to help you to thrive beyond anxiety and depression. I'm your host, Megan Nolan, and I'm really excited to. Get into this very relevant, very personal, very 00:00:33,1000 --> 00:00:36,640timely conversation that I hope that is really supportive for you. I hope you feel seen. I hope you feel encouraged. I hope you learn something. I hope you get inspired. And we're gonna jump into this in a moment, but I wanted to let you know. That I have a brand new totally free audio series that is just been released, actually just a couple days ago upon release of this episode called the Anxiety Off Switch. Do you want to learn how to flip your anxiety off switch so that you can mute the mental noise and gain control over your mind in just six minutes every day so that you can become a nervous system ninja?You can become your own best advisor because you can tap into your inner wisdom and follow that truth and be able to go from being a worn out woman, the frantic and frazzled and vibe. To being grounded and powerful and in your leadership energy as your serene queen self. Well, the Flip Your Anxiety off switch mini audio series, 3 mini training sessions that are audio based so you can listen to them anywhere, anytime. Totally free, brand new. I'm really excited to share it with you. So they're bite sized, only 15 minutes each. Perfect way for you to learn how. To mute the mental noise and regain control over your mind. So make sure to join us for that, right?It's available now. And when you sign up for free before April 10th, you actually get a bonus call inside the pop-up community. So it's an incredible community of other super ambitious, highly sensitive, incredible beings up to big and beautiful things. I mean, who knows who you'll meet in there, but when you sign up for free before the 10th, you actually get a bonus call inside this pop-up community, so make sure to grab that. And if you are hearing this in the future, whenever you are there, there's going to be other things. So grab that as well. OK, so let's talk about it. Let's have some real talk here about internalized pressure and the habit of being highly attentive to detail, a perfectionist. And I want to start by saying, you know, before I pressed record on this, I was like, yeah. I kind of like sometimes have regret about making this both an audio and a video because I'm not gonna lie, I just had. I just had a I had a power pause. That was a full cry. It was a full like, oh man, I don't know, I was having a lot of thoughts about what's next. I was feeling a lot of pressure. We just finished up. The anxiety and stress reset in the power pause movement just a couple weeks ago and there was a lot of, you know, anticipation and build up for that. And I'm excited to be offering this anxiety off switch. And so I feel for me, I feel as though I put a lot of pressure on myself and maybe you can relate to this. My accountability buddy and I were having a chat. I would love to know some of your DM. Are you an oldest child? Both she and I are oldest children, I feel, and many oldest children that I've meet are very responsible, very driven. I feel like we were almost groomed to be leaders. But in my family we were also conditioned to be very high achieving and performance driven, to receive love and to feel worthy in my case. And so a lot of that in the past was a real driving force for me internally. And so this is interesting, right?Like let's talk about how being very driven, being very ambitious, being very sensitive, being very goal focused, high achiever if you will, high performer oftentimes, there's a double-edged sword to that, right?If we're doing that from a place of dysregulation and. A push energy of what's next. Let's go. Got to keep the momentum going and feeling like you're the one. Oh, I can feel that. And you're the one that's driving the bus. That starts to feel like all of a sudden you're not driving the bus forward, but instead you're pulling the bus backwards up Everest with no Sherpa, no team. You're pulling it backwards up the hill, right? It starts to feel really difficult if we are. In that energetic, contracted state, and it's important for us to remember that perfectionism is actually a protective pattern, an adaptive mechanism developed by the subconscious mind in a response to stress. Right. So when we have these external pressures, whether it's in the work scenario or in the relationships or family scenario, we have this event or thing or part of our life that is activating the stress response. If one of your protective patterns and adaptive mechanisms is to be a perfectionist, to be very overly attentive to making everything exactly perfect and exactly as it should be. That can be something that really begins to consume a lot of your energy, right?And so it's an interesting thing because is that authentic for you? In a sense, this protective pattern, because it's hardwired from when you were a child and you were modeled this behavior. This is something that you 00:06:22,1000 --> 00:06:25,200learned a long time ago and you've been practicing it for quite some time. Perhaps enough to feel like it's part of who you are, right?And this, this trait isn't who you are. You're not a perfectionist. You have perfectionist tendencies, right?Maybe or maybe not. And I also want to, you know, I want to say that I also appreciate having high standards, right?Especially when it's your own business or you're very concerned for the quality of your work, which you should be regardless of if it was your own business or not. We want things to be up to a certain caliber. Right. And so I'm not saying, you know, you just like haphazardly slap things out on the wherever. But what I'm saying is, is that when we hold ourselves to these extremely high standards, it's very difficult for us to achieve them and it only gives fuel to that stress, worried fire that's inside of us that's driving the bus in the 1st place, so. Is that pattern really who you are? No. It's something that you've practiced and it's hardwired in, but it allows you to kind of default back to that and it causes us to get tripped up by that. And so trying to do things quote UN 00:07:35,1000 --> 00:07:37,440quote perfectly because it's activating even more of a stress response in our body, we're very much in our head. Right. And we're not in that place of connected self. We're not in that place of embodiment. We're not in in that place of flow and true self and the wisdom within you, right. We're out of touch with with the wisdom within us. We're out of touch with the vibe of the vision that's 00:07:59,1000 --> 00:08:01,840pulling you forward. That is the trilogy of transformation. But we are being really led by this old pattern. Right. And so that 00:08:09,1000 --> 00:08:12,080old pattern might be part of the younger you inside of you. And because it's a protective pattern and it's and it's a a part of you, we want to acknowledge it and we want to hold space for that. But we want to recognize that we don't necessarily need to have it run the show anymore. But I also want to add to the conversation is that this level of. Externalized stress, right, of what's happening in the world currently right now, it's March something 2025. You might be listening to this in April, something 2025 or maybe beyond. But right now, especially here in the US and 00:08:46,1000 --> 00:08:49,1000globally, life is very different, right?And there's a lot of things happening politically, systemically that are for those of us that are sensitive and empathetic. And potentially neurodivergent that are very sensitive and that have a high standard and a a deep intuitive sense of what feels good to us and what is what we want to see happen in the world and what is just and what is right and what is fair and democratic. We're seeing a lot that's contrary to that right now and that's a lot of external pressure and so and that's a lo

Stuck In An Overthinking Spiral? Here’s How To Break Free  Your brain won’t shut up. You’re replaying past conversations, obsessing over worst-case scenarios, and struggling to make decisions because you fear making the wrong choice. Sound familiar? You’re trapped in The Overthinking Trap—but there’s a way out. In this episode, I break down why your brain overthinks, how to recognize when you're caught in a loop, and 3 science-backed techniques to help you stop anxious thoughts fast. 🎧 Listen now & reclaim your peace! 📌 In This Episode, You’ll Learn: ✅ Why overthinking happens (the brain science behind it) ✅ How your amygdala & fight-or-flight mode create worst-case scenarios ✅ The Overthinking Test to recognize when you’re spiraling ✅ 3 simple techniques to break the overthinking cycle—FAST ✅ How to use the 5-4-3-2-1 Power Pause to instantly quiet your mind 🔹 Want more tools to stop anxious overthinking? Grab my free Stop Anxious Overthinking Mini-Book—your step-by-step guide to rewiring your thoughts. Download here 👉 https://www.megan-nolan.com/mb Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!     Welcome back to another episode of the Movement, Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm 00:00:04,1000 --> 00:00:07,1000your host, Megan Nolan, and that is what 00:00:07,1000 --> 00:00:10,760we are talking about today. How to break free from the pattern of overthinking that can happen so often when we are feeling anxious or depressed. And so this overthinking series is in honor of my brand new free mini book called Stop Anxious Overthinking 11 Techniques to Break the Spiral and Reclaim Your. Mental freedom. It is totally free. You get instant access by heading over to the link in the show notes and grabbing it. 00:00:37,1000 --> 00:00:40,720Literally tools that are going to change the game for you if you are ready to reclaim that mental space and ease and feel like you're in control of your life and your energy and your mood by having these tools literally at your fingertips. Is what's available for you is what's waiting for you inside this free mini book. So make sure to head over to the link in the show notes of the video or the podcast and grab this free mini book. So let's talk about it. Have you ever had the feeling of?Your brain just going and looping over the same thing over and over. Maybe it's something that you have coming up. Maybe it's something that you did and you feel as though it just won't stop replaying these 00:01:21,1000 --> 00:01:23,760conversations in your head, literally going over in minutiae detail, the what you were doing, how you were standing, how the person was looking at you, whether they're not looking at you, what you said, what you didn't say, like obsessing over every. Freaking detail. Or maybe worrying about things that you can't control and just constantly going over and looping and looping and looping. Even just talking about it, I can feel, I can feel it in my body. It feels like bubbling, boiling water in my body right now. The thought of what it feels like to be in those overthinking loops. And the reality is it's not just frustrating. To notice when you're in these and just be in them and just feel like you're on one of those. Remember those?What was it like the Gravitron?I think it might not be called the Gravitron. You remember when you go to like amusement parks, maybe you still go and you're you're in the spot and and you're kind of pinned to the wall and you're just going in every different direction or like the teacups gone wild. I like the teacups at Disney World. You know, you just like spinning 00:02:30,1000 --> 00:02:32,480in a circle and then in a big circle. That's kind of what overthinking feels like. More like the Gravitron than the. Teacup ride, maybe the teacup ride if it went on extra Mach speed. So what we're going to talk about today is not only does overthinking lend to anxiety, to 00:02:45,1000 --> 00:02:48,400stress, to actually decision paralysis, it doesn't really actually lend to us making really good decisions. Why we overthink, you know, the science behind it. Because you know me, I love my science. How to recognize when you're in these loops. And really begin to shift them, right?And inside the mini book, there are a lot of different techniques for you to do, but we'll go over some of those today. And also because this show is about mind and body tools to thrive beyond depression and anxiety, we're going to talk about it from those two different perspectives because it's associated with both and for different reasons and in different directions. So why does our brain love to overthink?Well, the reality is, is that it actually thinks it's doing us a favor because it's very solution based, right? And So what tends to happen here is that 00:03:36,1000 --> 00:03:39,280our brain is just constantly searching for the answer, right?Our brain, your brain is wired for survival, survival first, logic second. And when we are experiencing something that is stressing us out or is causing us to detect any sort of problem threat. Perceived problem, perceived threat. It 00:03:57,1000 --> 00:04:00,160can trigger emotional responses, right?It can trigger anxiety. It can trigger fear. It's basically our body is activating the survival state, right?So we're in a sympathetic state. And so when our amygdala, which is responsible for survival and is the fear center in our brain that activates when we're experiencing something that's either, you know, triggering for us or potentially triggering for us. It's sensing danger, right?And so this is a wired system that, you know, whether this danger is real, like a speeding car coming towards us, or imagined, like, did I say something stupid in the meaning?Like, why did they all look at me like that?It's activating our fight or flight response. And so we go into go mode. Right. And typically with anxiety, a lot of people get activated in the flight response and in the like get me the hell out of here and we get the hell out of there and then we just loop in the overthinking. But for myself and for those of you that experience high functioning anxiety, we tend to go into fight mode, right. And So what tends to happen here is that our brain is still looking for these perceived or very real dangers like predators or these threats of, you know, instead of. Lions, which would be a very real predator, and depending on where you live, maybe it's a very real thing for you. You know, luckily here in Hawaii, our biggest predator is like the centipede, and those things are scary. Don't even get me started on the feels like fire down your leg when they pinch you. It our brain is looking for similar things on a similar scale. Maybe it's social rejection, maybe it's failure, maybe it's feeling of uncertainty and those are the dangers, right. And so it's looking at those as potential dangers. Not so much, you know, looking for the lion, if you will, but that that feeling of oh, well, I'm going to do this big promotion in your in your business or for your job and having it fall flat and and being worried about what would happen. Like maybe maybe I'm going to, I'm going to lose my business. I'm going to go bankrupt. I'm going to. Lose my house. I'm going to do and it's just and you're down the spiral real quick. What it's doing here is creating worst case scenarios, right? So it's potentially preparing you for anything and everything. Even if those aren't real or an innate possibility, it perceives it as a dangerous threat. And So what it's doing here is it's. It's attempting to solve the problem. It's attempting to shift this reality for you. And although you know this obsession, these thought patterns, these loops that we get into, we get into these repetitive thoughts that we're having and we just worry about the same thing, you know, and we're thinking, oh, this and that and you know, like. I really should. I really should get that get get doing my taxes because you know what if I what if I'm late this year and what if you know and and it just feels like that chicken with a head cut off. And So what it's doing is although our brain is is obsessing about these details of the conversation or or you know the way that person looked at you or whatever and it's just going over it over and over and over. It thinks that it's solving a problem. It's looking for a key piece of information. That you missed that might be the solution to the whole issue. But The thing is, is that maybe you've heard me say this before. Einstein said that we can't solve the problem from the same level of thinking. So the reality is, is when we're active in the amygdala part of our brain, we're in a survival state. We have a very narrowed focus in our pupils. Our heart rate is elevated, our breathing gets faster, muscle. The blood flow is shunted to the muscles rather than digestive organs. So we tend to we're in a literal go mode, right?So we're in a survival state. The active part of our brain, the amygdala, is not where we get these beautiful ideas and. Insirations and creativity flow. It's just not where that comes from in our brain. That comes from our prefrontal cortex. And so The thing is, is that when we notice that we're in these loop of overthinking and we recognize these patterns in ourself of. Of worrying and and worrying about the same thing and then look thinking about it this way and then what about that way and then and you're just in that same you're basically just walking around in a circle and we're 00:08:19,1000 --> 00:08:22,760grooving this pattern in our brain and and we're not going to find a solution. 00:08:25,1000 --> 00:08:28,320We're not and and our brain is telling us that you know yes we got to figure this out. We got to figure this out right now and it's just looping around in the same thoughts and and and then it'll find something else to fixate on and what about

Ever feel trapped in a loop of endless thoughts? Stuck in the ‘what ifs’ and worst-case scenarios? You’re not alone—millions of people struggle with anxious overthinking every day. But the good news? You can stop the cycle. Overthinking leads to stress, anxiety, and decision fatigue. It keeps you stuck in mental paralysis, constantly analyzing conversations, replaying mistakes, and worrying about the future. If you’ve ever searched for: ✅ How to stop overthinking at night ✅ Why can’t I shut off my brain? ✅ How to stop negative thoughts from taking over ✅ Best ways to quiet an anxious mind Then this episode is for you! Today, we’re diving into 4 proven, science-backed techniques to break free from overthinking and reclaim mental peace. 💡 Here’s what you’ll learn: The “Future-Pacing” trick to shift from anxiety to clarity Why you need to stop “mind-reading” others and what to do instead The “No More Replays” rule to stop looping past mistakes And more! Plus, I’ll take you through a quick Power Pause exercise to quiet your mind instantly. Make sure to grab your FREE copy of the Stop Anxious Overthinking: 11 Keys To Break The Spiral & Reclaim Your Mental Freedom Mini Book Download it now at: https://www.megan-nolan.com/mb     Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! 100:00:02,640 --> 00:00:04,880Today we're talking about four proven 200:00:04,880 --> 00:00:07,280ways to break free from 300:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,240overthinking. Welcome back to another 400:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,560episode of the Movement, Mind and Meaning 500:00:12,560 --> 00:00:14,800Podcast, Mind and Body Tools to Thrive 600:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,280Beyond Depression and Anxiety. I'm your 700:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,840host, Megan Nolan, and I 800:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,640probably could have been the captain a 900:00:22,640 --> 00:00:24,360few times over of the 1000:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,360overthinking, not so anonymous 1100:00:27,360 --> 00:00:29,440club. I don't know about you. I think I 1200:00:29,440 --> 00:00:31,200probably. Should get a tattoo, 1300:00:32,240 --> 00:00:34,960give myself a gold star. Because if I'm 1400:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,840good at anything, I'm really 1500:00:37,840 --> 00:00:39,280good at overthinking things. 1600:00:42,080 --> 00:00:44,800I laugh because otherwise I might cry. 1700:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,120No, I'm just kidding. I it's an 1800:00:47,120 --> 00:00:48,720interesting thing and that's why we're 1900:00:48,720 --> 00:00:50,400talking about this today. Today we're 2000:00:50,400 --> 00:00:52,880talking about four science backed. 2100:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,160Tools and techniques to help you to shift 2200:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,760this habit, to stop the spiral, to 2300:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,680reclaim your mental freedom, to reclaim 2400:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,600your paranic energy from the 2500:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,720round and round we go of the 2600:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,120overthinking. So before we 2700:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,600get into these four tools. I 2800:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,480have created something new 2900:01:16,480 --> 00:01:18,480that I'm really excited about that really 3000:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,360inspired this episode. So 3100:01:21,440 --> 00:01:24,280I have a brand new mini book. I 3200:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,800have a mini book for you 3300:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,240that is called Stop 3400:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,440Anxious Overthinking. And so 3500:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,200they are 11 keys to 3600:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,120breaking the spiral and reclaiming 3700:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,880your mental freedom. 11 3800:01:41,880 --> 00:01:43,600keys. Today we're talking about four of 3900:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,680them. OK, so I don't want to give away at 4000:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,360all, but make sure to go to the 4100:01:48,360 --> 00:01:50,800link in the show notes and grab your free 4200:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,120mini book, because that's what this is 4300:01:53,120 --> 00:01:54,720all about. So it's the stopping the 4400:01:54,720 --> 00:01:56,560anxious overthinking, because hello, 4500:01:57,560 --> 00:01:58,800it's a thing. So. 4600:02:00,480 --> 00:02:02,440Have you ever had an experience where you 4700:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,400did a presentation?If you listen to 4800:02:04,480 --> 00:02:06,960Allison's episode last week, she was 4900:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,280talking about after her speaking gig and 5000:02:09,280 --> 00:02:11,880how her brain wanted to just go into 5100:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,040the critiquing everything, right?And so 5200:02:15,040 --> 00:02:16,880have you ever had that experience?I 5300:02:16,880 --> 00:02:19,280certainly have myself. Or have you ever 5400:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,920had a conversation where you go back?And 5500:02:21,920 --> 00:02:24,720you go over every little detail, 5600:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,600or you think about something that you did 5700:02:27,600 --> 00:02:28,920and you think about how you could have 5800:02:28,920 --> 00:02:30,600done it differently and how you should 5900:02:30,600 --> 00:02:32,360have said this and how you could have 6000:02:32,360 --> 00:02:34,920done that. And really going back into it 6100:02:34,920 --> 00:02:37,680and going over it and over it and over it 6200:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,160and over it, replaying past mistakes. Or 6300:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,040maybe it's worrying about the future, 6400:02:42,040 --> 00:02:43,520right?Maybe you have a record month in 6500:02:43,520 --> 00:02:45,560your business and you're like, am I going 6600:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,840to be able to repeat this?God knows, who 6700:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,200knows, right?And we tend to loop into 6800:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,120that. Pattern, 6900:02:53,440 --> 00:02:55,200right. We loop into that pattern. And as 7000:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,280we know, if we are stressed about 7100:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,240something, anxiety is a response to that 7200:03:00,240 --> 00:03:02,160stress. And so it's really important that 7300:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,320we just recognize all of this and we come 7400:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,040at this through our lens, right, which we 7500:03:07,040 --> 00:03:08,960definitely talk about in this community. 7600:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,120And if you're new, welcome. It's very 7700:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,080important to look through the lens of 7800:03:14,080 --> 00:03:16,560compassionate curiosity, right to look at 7900:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,120ourselves. And learn, right?Seeing that 8000:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,400this is an opportunity for growth and 8100:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,160expansion and recognition of patterns 8200:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,640that maybe aren't as aligned as they 8300:03:26,640 --> 00:03:28,840were, right?Maybe not as what you want to 8400:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,680be repeating. And so it's really, 8500:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,360it's not just frustrating to find 8600:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,080ourselves looping in these patterns, but 8700:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,960it actually. When we are fixated, 8800:03:38,960 --> 00:03:40,720when we're hyper fixating, it can feed 8900:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,840anxiety, it can feed stress, it can feed 9000:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,120depression because we tend to either, you 9100:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,120know, project ourselves forward into the 9200:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,760future or return back into the past and 9300:03:49,760 --> 00:03:51,760ruminate on stuff, right?Also something 9400:03:51,760 --> 00:03:53,120I'm highly skilled at. 9500:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,240Again, I laugh because it's who I am, 9600:03:58,320 --> 00:03:59,520right?And it but it's all this 9700:03:59,520 --> 00:04:01,960recognition and these patterns and and 9800:04:01,960 --> 00:04:03,400you know, it's a skill, but it's not one 9900:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,000I practice as much anymore. Thank 10000:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,120goodness. Tap on the shoulder. Gold star 10100:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,360to me. So today we're talking about four 10200:04:09,360 --> 00:04:11,560science bag techniques for you to 10300:04:12,720 --> 00:04:14,720stop, shift, 10400:04:15,440 --> 00:04:17,520change this pattern of 10500:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,480overthinking. So the first technique is 10600:04:20,480 --> 00:04:21,680called future pacing, 10700:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,120and it's all about going to the 10800:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,920end and reconsidering the situation that 10900:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,360you're looping about. So. 11000:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,480Let's just say you have the most healthy, 11100:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,040vibrant life and you're on your last day 11200:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,240and you're looking back at this moment 11300:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,720that you are in the midst of, that you 11400:04:42,720 --> 00:04:44,600are spiraling and you're questioning and 11500:04:44,600 --> 00:04:46,160you're doubting and you're pontificating. 11600:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,280If you go to that last day and you look 11700:04:49,280 --> 00:04:52,160back on this thing that you are all sorts 11800:04:52,160 --> 00:04:54,880of focused on, fixated on, obsessed with 11900:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,800in this moment, is this really going to 12000:04:57,800 --> 00:05:00,640matter?Is this 12100:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,600really going to matter?And then if you 12200:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,320back it up a little bit, is this really 12300:05:05,320 --> 00:05:07,920going to matter in 10 years?Is this 12400:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,840really going to matter in one year?Is 12500:05:10,840 --> 00:05:12,720this really going to matter in a month?Is 12600:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,320this really going to matter tomorrow? 12700:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,920Probably not, right?And and 12800:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,360if it meets all of those, definitely not. 12900:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,280But if it

The Anxiety & Stress Reset is BACK! Join us for the next community round starting 3/17 here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/anxiety Feeling overwhelmed by stress and anxious thoughts and want tools that actually work? This episode is for you! In this episode, I chat with the amazing Allison Chaney to explore powerful, real-world tools for navigating stressful situations with more ease, clarity, and confidence. Grab your EarPods and listen in as we share about: ✨ How to break free from self-critical thought loops and shift them with compassion✨ Simple, accessible techniques you can use anytime, anywhere to calm your mind and body✨ How to stop getting lost in the endless chatter of your mind and step into your most grounded, powerful self If stress and anxiety have been running the show, it’s time to take your power back. Join us for the next round of the Anxiety & Stress Reset starting 3/17! Let’s get you the effective & efficient tools that actually work, plus the support you need to help them stick so you can navigate life with more ease. Grab your spot here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/anxiety Here's What Allison Has To Say About Her Work: I believe that doing business is about far more than generating revenue. Success is a direct result of alignment to a vision and higher purpose. My mission is to support you in getting clarity on your vision and connecting that to specific actionable business growth goals. My experience in digital marketing, entrepreneurship, business growth strategy, leadership development, and event facilitation allows me to deliver a robust, efficient solution to fuel your business growth. Connect With Allison Here: https://wonderlandmaui.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonchaney Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! 100:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,560Today we're talking about the best tools 200:00:06,560 --> 00:00:09,200for managing stress and anxiety daily. 300:00:09,440 --> 00:00:11,640Welcome back, everybody, to the Movement, 400:00:11,640 --> 00:00:13,360Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm your host, 500:00:13,360 --> 00:00:15,920Megan Nolan. I have a very special guest, 600:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,920my dear friend, my incredible client. 700:00:18,240 --> 00:00:19,1000With us today, her name is Allison 800:00:19,1000 --> 00:00:21,840Cheney. I'm going to introduce you to her 900:00:21,840 --> 00:00:24,720magic in a moment. But before we 1000:00:24,720 --> 00:00:26,400get into these best tools that you 1100:00:26,400 --> 00:00:28,680literally can do anytime, anywhere, even 1200:00:28,680 --> 00:00:29,880while you're driving, even while you're 1300:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,640doing other things, I wanted to mention 1400:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,120the fact that the anxiety and stress 1500:00:35,120 --> 00:00:37,600reset is kicking off again 1600:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,400on March 17th. We're doing a community 1700:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,200round, which means. You can do the 1800:00:43,200 --> 00:00:44,800power pauses, which you're gonna learn 1900:00:44,800 --> 00:00:46,960all about today, anytime, anywhere on 2000:00:46,960 --> 00:00:48,840your own schedule. Because I know it's a 2100:00:48,840 --> 00:00:50,520global movement and I know you have your 2200:00:50,520 --> 00:00:52,440own schedule and that is perfect. But 2300:00:52,440 --> 00:00:54,240inside the community rounds, you get 2400:00:54,240 --> 00:00:55,560access to the support, the 2500:00:55,560 --> 00:00:57,200accountability, the encouragement, the 2600:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,480motivation that comes from being inside a 2700:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,160really supportive container and 2800:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,640community. So we are kicking off the next 2900:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,400community round on March 17th. So make 3000:01:07,400 --> 00:01:08,960sure to check out the link in the show 3100:01:08,960 --> 00:01:10,1000notes to grab your spot and get lifetime 3200:01:10,1000 --> 00:01:13,200access to all the. tools, all the bonuses 3300:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,080and this live round and all the 3400:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,760other live rounds for only $37. 3500:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,320What?I know it's crazy, but because I 3600:01:22,320 --> 00:01:24,080know it's valuable and I want you to jump 3700:01:24,080 --> 00:01:25,840in on this, go ahead and check that out. 3800:01:25,840 --> 00:01:27,840Grab your spot. We kicked this off on 3900:01:27,840 --> 00:01:29,920March 17th. And if you're listening to 4000:01:29,920 --> 00:01:32,040this later, reach out to me because we're 4100:01:32,040 --> 00:01:33,360going to do it again because it's a 4200:01:33,360 --> 00:01:34,1000global movement of people who care so 4300:01:34,1000 --> 00:01:36,280much about how they feel that they make 4400:01:36,280 --> 00:01:38,160time and space for themselves every day, 4500:01:38,480 --> 00:01:40,720because these are some of the best tools 4600:01:40,960 --> 00:01:43,120to manage stressand anxiety daily. So 4700:01:43,760 --> 00:01:45,400that's how I wanted to invite you into 4800:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,320this moment, but let's chat with 4900:01:48,480 --> 00:01:50,640the incredible, lovely, and talented 5000:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,160Alison. Welcome to the show. And you're 5100:01:53,160 --> 00:01:54,1000muted. No, you're not. I 5200:01:56,480 --> 00:01:58,960had a bird that was coming up wanting to 5300:01:58,960 --> 00:02:00,800say hello, so I thought it's not an 5400:02:00,800 --> 00:02:02,720appropriate. So hi, I'm Alison. 5500:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,360Hi. Well, Alison is a growth and 5600:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,360marketing strategist and entrepreneur, 5700:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,080and so she is going to tell usA little 5800:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,880bit about herself and by 5900:02:14,880 --> 00:02:16,800doing so, take us into a little moment. 6000:02:16,800 --> 00:02:18,240So she reached out to me the other day 6100:02:18,240 --> 00:02:20,240after we were at a really incredible live 6200:02:20,240 --> 00:02:21,880event here on Maui called the 6300:02:21,920 --> 00:02:23,1000Entrepreneur Group Boot Camp. Excuse me. 6400:02:23,1000 --> 00:02:26,560And she did an absolutely 6500:02:26,560 --> 00:02:28,680incredible job at her presentation. She 6600:02:28,680 --> 00:02:29,920reached out to me the next day and she 6700:02:29,920 --> 00:02:31,600had some things to share with me. And so 6800:02:31,760 --> 00:02:33,480will you take us to this moment, Alison, 6900:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,440and let us know a little bit about you, 7000:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,520of course. So, 7100:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,480yeah, so I. have done a lot of 7200:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,320speaking. I've been public speaker for 7300:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,360almost 20 years probably, and mostly 7400:02:47,360 --> 00:02:48,1000around topics of digital marketing and 7500:02:48,1000 --> 00:02:50,560things like that. And I was actually in 7600:02:50,560 --> 00:02:52,960a, I had a job for a long time 7700:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,160where I was, it was literally a company 7800:02:56,160 --> 00:02:57,840called Bootcamp Digital. So we did like 7900:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,040bootcamp style trainings. So I was in 8000:03:00,040 --> 00:03:01,600this like energy of this really 8100:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,160fast-paced, like get it done, just like, 8200:03:05,120 --> 00:03:07,120you know, down and dirty, get the work 8300:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,440done kind of energy. AndI 8400:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,920noticed recently 8500:03:12,720 --> 00:03:14,240because, of course, there was a pandemic 8600:03:14,280 --> 00:03:15,840and then nobody was traveling anymore. 8700:03:15,960 --> 00:03:17,200And so all of a sudden, all this 8800:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,080traveling I was doing, I mean, I spent 8900:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,240most of my life in a different city for 9000:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,720about 10 years you know 9100:03:24,080 --> 00:03:26,560speaking, and this is my life. And then 9200:03:26,560 --> 00:03:28,280didn't do it. There was a pandemic. Then 9300:03:28,280 --> 00:03:29,920I moved to Maui. My lifestyle completely 9400:03:29,920 --> 00:03:32,560changed. And then I kind of 9500:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,640getting back out there again, go and do 9600:03:34,640 --> 00:03:35,1000this thing at the college. I mean, this 9700:03:35,1000 --> 00:03:37,440is a piece of cake. It's something I've 9800:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,760done. a million times. I can't even count 9900:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,760and easy for me. And And it's fun. I love 10000:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,040being in the energy. And I got home that 10100:03:45,040 --> 00:03:46,640night and all of a sudden this anxiety 10200:03:46,640 --> 00:03:48,680started coming in and I was like, oh man, 10300:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,160what's this about?This doesn't make any 10400:03:50,160 --> 00:03:51,680sense. You know And then I was like, 10500:03:51,680 --> 00:03:53,040wait, but this also feels really 10600:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,520familiar. And what I 10700:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,080realized in that moment was like, oh, 10800:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,480this is actually something that I was 10900:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,040dealing with for 10 years. 11000:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,680And the way I dealt with it,It was more 11100:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,480work. I mean, 11200:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,560the amount of things that I would do. And 11300:04:10,560 --> 00:04:12,640I I noticed that pattern kind of creeping 11400:04:12,640 --> 00:04:14,240in again, but this time I had different 11500:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,160tools. And that's why I reached out 11600:04:17,160 --> 00:04:18,440to you, Megan. I was like, oh, my gosh, 11700:04:18,440 --> 00:04:20,560this is this is pretty cool. I I 11800:04:20,960 --> 00:04:22,680literally just took a power pause in the 11900:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,520middle of a massive wave of anxiety 12000:04:25,520 --> 0

Struggling with anxiety that just won’t quit? If you’re a ambitious, highly sensitive woman over 40 looking for natural ways to ease anxiety this is for you! Anxiety can feel like an invisible weight, making it harder to fully enjoy life, connect with yourself, and feel at peace. But the good news? There are natural, effective ways to ease anxiety—without medication.   In this episode, we’re diving into 8 simple, science-backed ways to calm your mind and body, reduce stress, and finally feel like yourself again. Whether you’re dealing with racing thoughts, restless nights, or that constant feeling of being “on edge,” these strategies will help you find relief—naturally.   ✨ Inside this episode, you’ll learn:   A quick grounding technique to stop overthinking  Easy and fast practices to reset your nervous system  A surprising way to ease anxiety in under 60 seconds   The most powerful place to be—and why it's key for stress relief    🔥 Ready to Discover How Anxiety Is Hijacking Your Success & Holding You Back From Making a Full Impact? Then book your Anxiety Breakthrough Assessment at a special intro rate right here: https://bit.ly/hfabaintro      Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy! 100:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,560Today we're talking about 8 natural ways 200:00:08,560 --> 00:00:10,560for women over 40 to ease 300:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,120anxiety. Welcome back to another 400:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,080episode of the Movement, Mind and Meaning 500:00:16,080 --> 00:00:17,1000podcast. I'm your host, Megan Nolan. 600:00:18,240 --> 00:00:20,480Before we get into these eight ways that 700:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,040will support you as a human, a 800:00:23,040 --> 00:00:24,720spiritual being, having a human 900:00:24,720 --> 00:00:26,640experience, if you will, I want to share 1000:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,160something new that I've created with you. 1100:00:28,200 --> 00:00:29,920I'm going to just give a little snippet 1200:00:29,920 --> 00:00:31,440to it. There will be more information in 1300:00:31,440 --> 00:00:33,440the show notes, but. If you are somebody 1400:00:33,440 --> 00:00:35,840who wants to know how and why high 1500:00:35,840 --> 00:00:37,680functioning anxiety might actually be 1600:00:37,680 --> 00:00:39,680hijacking your success and stopping you 1700:00:39,680 --> 00:00:41,040from making the full impact that you're 1800:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,840here to make because of the way it might 1900:00:43,840 --> 00:00:45,760be causing you to overthink and doubt 2000:00:45,760 --> 00:00:47,600yourself and overwork and overgive and 2100:00:47,600 --> 00:00:49,040question yourself constantly and 2200:00:49,040 --> 00:00:50,560constantly feeling like you're just 2300:00:50,560 --> 00:00:52,840running on the hum of anxiety, well then 2400:00:52,840 --> 00:00:55,680my brand new high functioning 2500:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,240anxiety breakthrough assessment is for 2600:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,640you. OK, so it's a. 2700:01:01,120 --> 00:01:02,800Dee dive into where you're at and where 2800:01:02,800 --> 00:01:04,080you want to be and the plan to get you 2900:01:04,080 --> 00:01:06,760there and you'll get your anxiety impact 3000:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,040score, some success pattern interrupts, 3100:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,240as well as a breakthrough. Road 3200:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,1000map for you to use and to follow. 3300:01:14,1000 --> 00:01:17,200OK, so I want you to take a look at that. 3400:01:17,200 --> 00:01:18,400It's in the show notes. If you're one of 3500:01:18,400 --> 00:01:19,1000the first few people to grab it, it's at 3600:01:19,1000 --> 00:01:22,920an incredibly no-brainer 3700:01:22,920 --> 00:01:25,440investment offer because it is brand new. 3800:01:25,680 --> 00:01:27,600And even if you're not one of the 1st 10 3900:01:27,600 --> 00:01:29,360people, it's still gonna be at a really 4000:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,160incredible level. So that it's super 4100:01:32,160 --> 00:01:33,680available because I want you to have 4200:01:33,680 --> 00:01:34,960these tools, this clarity, this 4300:01:34,960 --> 00:01:37,680direction, this understanding, right?And. 4400:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,080And recognize that this is, again, a way 4500:01:40,080 --> 00:01:41,680for you to get to know yourself better. 4600:01:41,680 --> 00:01:43,800So it's all the information is going to 4700:01:43,800 --> 00:01:45,080be in the show notes. Go ahead and click 4800:01:45,080 --> 00:01:46,720that and grab on. If that feels like 4900:01:47,040 --> 00:01:48,720you've just been searching for answers 5000:01:48,760 --> 00:01:50,160and you're like, please, somebody tell me 5100:01:50,160 --> 00:01:51,840how this is still happening and why. 5200:01:52,320 --> 00:01:53,680That's what the assessment's all about. 5300:01:53,880 --> 00:01:55,840OK, so let's get into it. 5400:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,200Numero uno movement. 5500:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,880Movement is mind medicine. That's one of 5600:02:01,880 --> 00:02:03,920the tenants of this show. Movement is 5700:02:03,920 --> 00:02:05,1000body medicine. Movement is soul medicine. 5800:02:06,640 --> 00:02:08,520And so that's why it's number one. I did 5900:02:08,520 --> 00:02:10,560a whole episode on this episode 54, 6000:02:10,960 --> 00:02:12,840talking about how important it is to move 6100:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,760your body every day. Because darling, 6200:02:15,920 --> 00:02:18,400in case you forgot, you're not a rock. 6300:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,440You're not a tree. You're a human 6400:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,200being. And that's you and 6500:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,160me. Anyways, I love rhyming. 6600:02:27,840 --> 00:02:29,720The thing is, is that we tend to have 6700:02:29,720 --> 00:02:31,760very sedentary lifestyles, which is of 6800:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,480course impacting our posture. Increases 6900:02:34,480 --> 00:02:36,560our stress levels, affects our hormones, 7000:02:36,600 --> 00:02:38,480affects, you know, our digestion, our 7100:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,440metabolism, everything. And so move, move 7200:02:41,440 --> 00:02:42,960your body daily, move in a way that feels 7300:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,360good to you. I'm not saying exercise, I'm 7400:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,360saying move your body, right. We're 7500:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,200moving blood flow, we're moving lymphatic 7600:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,680flow, we're moving chronic energy flow 7700:02:51,680 --> 00:02:53,480through your body. And that's where we 7800:02:53,480 --> 00:02:54,960get that uplifting, 7900:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,280effervescent, you know. I feel good. You 8000:02:58,280 --> 00:02:59,520know, when you feel strong, you feel 8100:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,400confident, you feel sexy in your body, it 8200:03:01,400 --> 00:03:03,080changes things for you, right?And there's 8300:03:03,080 --> 00:03:04,600so much science behind that. And we go 8400:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,1000deep into that into episode 54. So if you 8500:03:06,1000 --> 00:03:08,600haven't listened to that one, go back and 8600:03:08,600 --> 00:03:10,320listen to that because it is all about 8700:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,080that movement is mind medicine. That is 8800:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,880#1 #2, we're kind of 8900:03:16,080 --> 00:03:17,1000move through the day here. One of the 9000:03:17,1000 --> 00:03:20,320huge pieces, one of the pillars inside 9100:03:20,320 --> 00:03:21,960the flow framework, which is the tool set 9200:03:21,960 --> 00:03:23,600that I use and share with all my clients, 9300:03:23,1000 --> 00:03:26,960is having a morning routine. And before 9400:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,200you go, try run away. If you're not a 9500:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,120quote UN quote morning person, it doesn't 9600:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,120have to be at any certain time for it to 9700:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,840be a morning routine. OK, OKAre you OK 9800:03:35,840 --> 00:03:37,720now?You're not getting itchy on the 9900:03:37,720 --> 00:03:40,640inside. OK, so it 10000:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,360can be any time of day, right? 10100:03:42,360 --> 00:03:44,720Essentially. I mean, I guess technically 10200:03:44,720 --> 00:03:46,360before noon, but you know, I'm a bit of a 10300:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,720rule breaker breaker. So whatever time, 10400:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,520it's more about about that intentional 10500:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,480pause for yourself. Because when 10600:03:54,480 --> 00:03:56,600we are in that full force, going, going, 10700:03:56,600 --> 00:03:58,240going all the time energy, and we're not 10800:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,640intentionally starting with a 10900:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,520moment or 20 minutes or 5 1/2 11000:04:03,520 --> 00:04:05,480minutes, however length of time that you 11100:04:05,520 --> 00:04:07,960choose to to allocate and dedicate to 11200:04:07,1000 --> 00:04:09,680your morning routine, then you're just 11300:04:09,680 --> 00:04:11,360going into default mode, right?And we 11400:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,320tend to. If we wake up and we're just go, 11500:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,440go, go, go, go, we're tripping the 11600:04:17,200 --> 00:04:18,960sympathetic stress response right out of 11700:04:18,960 --> 00:04:20,480the gates, right?And so we know that 11800:04:20,480 --> 00:04:22,240anxiety is a response to stress in our 11900:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,1000body. And so it's really important 12000:04:24,1000 --> 00:04:27,040that you just have that foundation for 12100:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,600the day in your morning routine. And so 12200:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,320again, this can be literally 2 1/2 12300:04:32,320 --> 00:04:33,600minutes while you're brushing your teeth. 12400:04:33,840 --> 00:04:35,1000Or it might be, in my case, an hour and a 12500:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,160half. OK. And so for me, I'll just tell 12600:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,840you what mine is, is I always have a big 12700:04:40,8