The Vital Side Podcast

Trauma-informed somatic coach and mentor Samantha Johnson discusses the practice of Somatics and how it can help us reach our full potential. They explore the importance of recognizing patterns in our lives, being connected with all parts of ourselves, and cultivating safety through somatic practices. They also discuss the significance of self-awareness, emotion processing, and listening to intuition in living a fulfilling life.

Are you a new parent wondering how to regulate your nervous system? Lindsay and Cait are joined by Dr. Alex Mosley, a Texas-based chiropractor and a holistic wellness practitioner where they dive into the complexities of managing your nervous system while navigating the world of parenting. Alex discusses why she believes fight or flight isn't always a "negative" response, why and how we can let go of "Mom-shaming", and how we can begin to normalize temporary nervous system dysregulation as a new parent. Show Notes: -Alex's personal story of how she discovered nervous system regulation work and her journey with allopathic medicine, leading her to realize the need for a more holistic view on health as a chiropractor -The difference Alex felt between being in the waiting room of a chiropractor vs. a traditional medical doctor -Alex's experience as a new parent -- feeling contradictory emotions all at once, along with the dichotomy of being pregnant and being a new mom -Alex's choice to do a home birth -Alex's journey with postpartum high-functioning anxiety + weaving in old threads of her life with new threads of being a Mom & parent -Shifting your mindset away from "How can I decrease or get rid of this stress response?" to "How can I allow myself to be in this stress response effectively because it's a normal part of being a new Mom?" -Alex's experience with "Mom rage" when her daughter was ~3 months old -- this is a sign of unmet needs -Parents need to take a step back and do their own healing work; as a result of mirror neurons, parents condition children to feel what they feel and act how they act -Being a parent allows you to tap into a whole new level of surrender, which allows parents to learn & grow -Babies need to securely attach to their caretakers. -Debunking the myth of babies "sleeping through the night" and how that relates to Attachment Theory -Relearning as your baby grows & develops – Alex's experience with a "new baby" every month that her daughter, Georgia grows -Gaining confidence and alignment in the decisions you are making as a Mom – through collective learning; community & support; and connecting to your own intuition – as anecdotes to "Mom shaming" -Alex's advice on regulating your nervous system in a realistic way as a new Mom – get back to basics & release expectations: 1) Make sure your decisions are in alignment with YOU – "if it doesn't feel right to you, it's not right for you" 2) Showering more often – let freezing cold water pour over you at the end of your shower 3) Make sure to eat – one-handed foods are helpful for easy eating on-the-go 4) Alex's adrenal cocktail that is necessary to replenish minerals that are depleted after being in a state of fight-flight 5) Addressing in resources you need like counseling, housekeeping, or Instacart Resources: -Visit Alex's Website -Alex's Instagram: @thespecificatx -Listen to Alex's Podcast You Crack Me Up: The Chiropractic Show -Book: "Mama Rising" by Amy Taylor-Kabbaz -Regulation station: 1 Week of Free Access! Click 'join now.' -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Sign up for the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership -Lindsay's Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay's Website -Cait's Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait's Website Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer

Have you wondered why you want to come home, check out, and just watch Dateline at the end of a long day? Are you simultaneously experiencing insomnia, anxiety, and stress throughout your day? In today's episode, Lindsay is diving straight into why we're addicted to drama. It's not because we are passionate about crime or gore – it's because we are addicted to chronic stress after being conditioned to live in a do-more culture. She talks about tangible ways to start changing your habits to get that necessary downtime without feeding the "drama loop," and how to break the habit of feeding chronic stress. Show Notes: -We are exposed to drama through technology, news, social media, TV shows & podcasts -We can be addicted to stress hormones like adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine -The difference between experiencing a bought of stress naturally and being addicted to stress -Question to come back to: "What are you in control of throughout your day?" -Our work environments & day-to-day lifestyle make us addicted to stress through conditioning -Awareness is the first step to making drastic changes to the stress response -We can become aware, then understand the incentives and rewards the addiction gives us -What can we replace this habit with that offers the same reward? -Understanding and tapping into our natural resilience is our human birthright -Introduce small state changers throughout the day like vagus nerve stimulation -How to start creating habit shifts: Resources: -Regulation station: 1 Week of Free Access! Click 'join now.' -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Sign up for the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership -Lindsay's Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay's website -Cait's Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait's Website Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer

In this engaging discussion, Lindsay Mitchell, a brain retrainer and founder of Vital-Side, shares her expert insights on brain retraining. With a background in biology and clinical medicine, she explains the stress response using relatable examples, including trauma and its effects on health. Lindsay provides tangible tools for self-regulation, such as visualization and breathing exercises. She emphasizes the importance of intentional brain retraining and how it can lead to resilience, improved immunity, and personal growth.

Do you ever find yourself faced with the social pressures of drinking alcohol? Does alcohol no longer align with your higher vibration and the ultimate vision you have for your dream life? Lindsay and Cait are joined by alcohol-free lifestyle expert, Amanda Kuda, who discusses the role alcohol can play in your life, in your social circles, and in manifesting your dreams. Amanda discusses Gray-Area Drinking, how to manage & overcome the social pressures of drinking, and why more and more people are choosing to live an alcohol-free lifestyle. Amanda Kuda is a writer, intuitive coach, and mentor who helps leaders and entrepreneurs break up with booze so that they can break through to their best lives. Her biggest passion is teaching other high-achieving women how to navigate the stumbling blocks of going alcohol-free so you can step into a life beyond your wildest dreams. Show Notes: - Amanda's story: how she used alcohol as a social lubricant in order to "fit in" - In her 20s, she started to discover that there was more to life - she started her spiritual & personal development journey...but she still felt like something was off - Switching the mentality from "doing more" to looking at her lifestyle to see if there was an activity that was misaligned; her inner guide told her it was drinking alcohol - How to listen to your mind, body, and natural intuition to understand your own needs - How alcohol can change your brain chemistry and alter your health - Defining "gray area drinking" — what is is & why/how it causes challenges - "You don't need to have a problem with alcohol in order for it to be a problem in your life" - Archetypes (by Gretchin Rubin) – 1. Moderators and 2. Abstainers - Tapping into your own ability to create, reprogram your brain, and rewire mental processes when abstaining from alcohol - Learning more information about what alcohol does to the brain on Andrew Huberman's Podcast - Amanda's recommendation: take a 90-day break from alcohol to reconnect with your intuition without alcohol as a roadblock - The Cosmic Algorithm: the Universe shows you content that aligns to your personal goals and values, including your social life, friendships, and personal relationships - When shifting your relationship to alcohol, there may be shifts in your current friendships —this can be a good thing and lead to deeper & more authentic connections - Curate your own life by shifting your focus (+ the science behind the Reticular Activating System (RAS) in our brains) - Manifesting and how to shift your relationship with manifesting by breaking up with alcohol - If you lower your energetic vibration & dilute yourself to a different energetic level, you require a heavier lift to get you back to your desires and highest potential - Your destiny is closer than you imagine if you get out of your own way - "Optimize your life by removing obstacles" by James Clear - There is a paradigm shift occurring —we are becoming more focused on living vibrant lives inside & out; we are approaching an era where alcohol drinking is becoming less seductive Resources: -Visit Amanda's Website -Amanda's Instagram: @amandakuda -Unbottled Potential Podcast -Gretchen Rubin's Podcast -Andrew Huberman Podcast Episode on Alcohol and the Brain -James Clear's Book: Atomic Habits -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Sign up for the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership -Lindsay's Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay's website -Cait's Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait's Website Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer

Traveling can be taxing on our nervous system, and it can be difficult to find the time and space to check in with yourself while you're on a plane, in a car, or exploring a new city. This week, Cait shares a detailed how-to guide and offers actionable and proactive steps you can take to ensure your nervous system is well cared for and regulated before and during your travels. Show Notes: - Cait shares her recent personal experience with staying regulated while traveling to NYC - How a woman's monthly cycle can add nuances while traveling - Nervous system regulation tools while traveling: - Engage in movement — stretch before your flight / car / bus ride, take a class in your destination city or watch a free class on YouTube, sweat it out for bonus detoxing - Nature — find a park, put your bare feet in the grass, or lay down to ground yourself - Music — Cait shares her go-to playlist to listen to when commuting from Point A to Point B (especially on long flights) - Pack food & nourishing snacks — google health food stores ahead of your trip so you know the distance to/from the closest options from where you're staying; pack your go-to healthy snacks to minimize airport food when possible - Take space — engage in intentional breathing, solo time, & make intentional upgrades to your physical space when possible (i.e. seat upgrades for extra space on an airline flight) - Bonus tip: research ahead of time! Save a google list of all your "saved" and pinned places for healthy food, grocery stores, workout classes & more - Cait's final and #1 tip: slow down, ease up on expectations to see and "do it all" while traveling, and be present to your surroundings Resources: -Cait's "Regulate and Elevate" Spotify Playlist -"Weightless" Song -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Sign up for the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership -Lindsay's Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay's website -Cait's Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait's Website Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer

What does healing mean to you? This week, we learn to break the typical definition of healing as "being healed" - and re-define it to a definition that makes sense to us. We discuss how healing should be less about "fixing" something and more about reconnecting with your sense of self. We discuss small ways you can anchor into your healing journey, as well as some questions you can ask yourself to recalibrate. In this episode, we talk about the best way to support our brains, bodies, and minds rather than think of ourselves as broken. Show Notes: -Healing is a recalibration back to homeostasis - back to our own purposes & missions -Healing steps - stepping into the sunshine, getting less screen time, or simply tuning into your own body -An analogy of "healing as a hose" – what setting do you need to put the hose on during this season of your life? -Focus less on fixing & more on creating a daily practice -The human experience is full of yin and yang – normalizing the balance that life brings us of having exciting & easy days vs. challenging & more difficult days -As humans & natural problem solvers, we can have perfectionistic tendencies that can lead to feeling like we are "not enough," "not doing enough," or "need to be fixed" -Asking yourself, "Where am I right now on the pendulum of desire and detachment?" – If the desire/fixing/elevating piece is being experienced too much, then balancing it with detachment can be a gentle way to allow yourself to make mistakes & fail -If you lean too much into desire, there may be too much masculine energy. You can balance this with more soft, gentle feminine energy to infuse healthy detachment energy into your personal growth process -Simple tools you can use throughout the day to start to re-define healing: talk to yourself the way you would treat your best friend Resources: -Link to the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership -Lindsay's Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay's website -Cait's Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait's Website Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer

Do you find it difficult to give yourself grace during your healing journey and trauma processing experience? We're talking with Gabrielle Westbrook who shares her journey into believing herself by allowing her mind and body to feel difficult emotions. She discusses ways to develop self-compassion habits, use awareness as the first step of transformation, and traverse your healing journey by allowing yourself to express discomfort in a quiet, healing space with emotional awareness. Gabrielle is a trauma-informed healing coach whose main passion is to help women come to know and believe that the emotions they want to feel… and the relationships & life they want to have are possible for them. She helps women heal the trauma from self-betrayal or sexual betrayal in their relationship through the body, subconscious mind, nervous system regulation, and the lens of their enneagram type. Show Notes: -Gabrielle's story: a reclamation of what "little Gabrielle" wanted -The power of getting to the root cause of our challenges, beliefs, and so much more -Pivotal moments in Gabrielle's life: her mom asking her what she could have done differently and her husband dealing with a sex & porn addiction -Gabrielle's experience with nervous system regulation & dissociation -Feeling fear, anger, resentful (i.e. sympathetic response) and paralyzed (i.e. freeze mode) -Recovery always starts with self – even when you feel like you've been betrayed in a relationship -Gabrielle's motto when working with her clients: "You will be okay regardless of what happens in or to your relationship" -Gabrielle's journey & decision to stay in her marriage and build a new foundation → focusing on SELF first -Pausing & slowing down to connect (or reconnect) with your sense of self-worth -Allowing yourself to grieve your experiences and loss of self-worth -The importance of expressing anger in order to learn to value yourself (a reference to polyvagal theory) -"Who am I when no one else sees what I am doing?" This can be a painful and uncomfortable question to ask - but important to understand who you are -Enneagram types depict a combination of nature and nurture - you are forever your dominant type but the type that you are is just the mask that you wear -Your enneagram type is how you get your core needs met -Integration & disintegration lines – i.e. stress path vs. growth path -Definition of enneagram & brief history - using it to cultivate own sense of self & how we operate in the world Resources: -Afterglow Membership -Take the Enneagram Quiz -Gabrielle's Instagram: @gabriellewestbrook_ -CLAIM your FREE 7-Day Brain Retraining Trial with Reset - Offer ends Sept 26, 2022. -Link to the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership -Lindsay's Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay's website -Cait's Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait's Website Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer

Are you wondering why you're more and more limited in the foods you can eat? Or perhaps you have been diagnosed with IBS, SIBO, or another digestive condition with no known etiology. This week, Lindsay offers a look into the world of our relationship to food, food sensitivities we have, and how we can begin to shift our perspective on foods that can help ease physical symptoms. Lindsay also explains how the topic of food sensitivities is informed by toxic diet culture, some reasons why you might see some foods as "dangerous," and how to live a life without fearing food. Show Notes: -Basic overview of the information food sensitivity tests allow -Deep diving into IgG – the meaning – and asking the question, "Why is my body responding like this food is dangerous?" -Toxic diet culture and how that impacts our perception of food -Why we can be empowered in our own healing journeys, knowing they are unique and individualized -Information on the stress response and the fluctuating cortisol levels we experience - information on histamine and MAST cells -Examples on how the brain impacts the body with food – addressing SIBO, Leaky Gut, and food sensitivities -Why we need to stop always looking at the tests and start looking at how our bodies are responding -Pausing to ask ourselves, "What does food allow me? What does it represent for me?" -Using conscious thought to start to change subconscious beliefs and associations to foods - simple tools we can start to use with ourselves & our families Resources: -Link to the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership -Lindsay's Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay's website -Cait's Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait's Website Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer

This podcast explores the difference between mindset work and nervous system regulation, highlighting the power of the nervous system to affect every aspect of our lives. They discuss the top-down and bottom-up approaches to regulate our nervous systems and provide simple techniques that can be done at home. The podcast emphasizes the need for a combination of mindset work and nervous system regulation to unlock our infinite potential and shift the way we show up in the world.