Life, Health & The Universe - A Podcast For The Midlife Rebel
Welcome to **Life, Health & The Universe**, the podcast dedicated to empowering women in their 40s and 50s to embrace a vibrant and meaningful life. Join us as we explore the intersection of health, wellness, and personal growth, offering insights and inspiration to help you navigate this transformative stage of life.
Each week, we dive into topics that matter most to you— from holistic health and nutrition to mindfulness and self-discovery. With expert interviews, relatable stories, and practical tips, we aim to inspire you to live your best life, cultivate deeper connections, and find purpose in every moment.
Whether you’re seeking to enhance your well-being, explore new passions, or simply find a supportive community, **Life, Health & The Universe** is here to guide you on your journey. Tune in and discover how to thrive in this exciting chapter of life!
Contact Nadine: https://lifehealththeuniverse.podcastpage.io/contact
Life, Health & The Universe - A Podcast For The Midlife Rebel
Rewiring Your Brain: The Science and Soul of Mental Health with Jocelyn Pepe
Ever felt like your brain is working against you? You're not alone. Today's conversation with Jocelyn Pepe opens a fascinating window into how we can reclaim control of our mental wellbeing by understanding the powerful connection between science and soul.
Jocelyn takes us on her personal journey from experiencing compounding psychological stress to discovering how to claim her brain through both evidence-based practices and intuitive wisdom. After suffering a traumatic brain injury that completely disrupted her life as an endurance athlete, she found herself forced to slow down and completely reimagine her approach to wellbeing. The insights gained through this challenging experience now form the foundation of her work helping others navigate their own mental health challenges.
At the heart of our discussion is the revolutionary concept that mental health operates both "above the neck" (in our thoughts and perspectives) and "below the neck" (in our somatic responses and nervous system). Through simple yet powerful practices like breathwork and body scanning, Jocelyn demonstrates how we can interrupt anxiety and negative thought patterns in real-time. She introduces her framework of five essential wellbeing elements—social, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—that together create a complete approach to claiming our brains.
For women especially, this conversation offers validating insights about how hormonal transitions and energy cycles affect mental health. Jocelyn challenges conventional workplace expectations built around male energy patterns and offers practical wisdom for women navigating perimenopause, caregiving responsibilities, and career demands simultaneously. Her message is empowering: we can have it all, just not all at once, and working with our natural rhythms rather than against them is key to sustainable wellbeing.
What makes this episode particularly special is Jocelyn's blend of scientific understanding with soulful practices. Whether you're struggling with burnout, seeking to understand your body's signals better, or simply curious about the ripple effect your mental health has on those around you, you'll find actionable wisdom here. Listen now to discover how claiming your brain might be the most important step toward creating the life and impact you desire.
You can find out more about Jocelyn by checking out her profile in our Guest Directory https://lifehealththeuniverse.podcastpage.io/person/jocelyn-pepe
Welcome to Life, Health and the Universe, Bringing you stories that connect us, preventative and holistic health practices to empower us and esoteric wisdom to enlighten us. We invite you to visit our website, where you can access the podcast, watch on YouTube and find all of our guests in the guest directory. Visit lifehealththeuniversepodcastpageio. Now let's get stuck into this week's episode. Today, I'm excited to welcome Jocelyn Pepe to the podcast. Jocelyn has a unique gift for blending science with soul, and she wears many hats mother of three, mental health researcher, coach and author of Claim your Brain. Jocelyn helps people move through stress and burnout, guiding them towards sustainable ways to thrive. Through her work, she's reshaping how we think about mental health, making it more human, more grounded and more connected to everyday life. Thank you so much for joining me, Jocelyn. It's great to have you here. I think we're going to have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2:It's lovely to be with you, Nadineine. I'm looking forward to our conversation today.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to flag that. My kid it's morning here. My kids are. One of them was in bed. They're allowed to watch the telly while I do podcast interviews and someone just knocked on my door just as I was doing that intro. They've realized that I'm recording because they've heard me talking, but I'm just flagging that if I have a slight distracted look on my face, it's just because of the small humans all good would you like to start by, uh, kicking us off, by sharing a little bit about us, like just a, you know, a story of Jocelyn um, and that can kick us off.
Speaker 1:Get us started and we'll go from there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course. Well, I, as you mentioned already, I am a mother of three and I have gone through the practice of claiming my own brain that's where the book came from and so I'm born and raised in Canada, outside of Toronto, in a small town, and have really been on this journey to mental health and claiming my reign and putting out an idea in the world that I felt we were really missing the point on. So I'm looking forward to sharing a little bit of that insight with you today.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Yes, when I was going through your website and listening to some of the podcasts that you've done already, I was like, oh, there are so many different directions that this could go in. And it's one thing that really popped up for me is like this mental, the mental health, the words mental health, mental, the mental health, the words mental health. They've come into I don't know popularity or awareness over the last few years and lots of people say they're experiencing mental health issues. But I'm like what does that actually mean? Because I feel like there's a massive umbrella that that covers. So you can you start us off by kind of giving us a bit of a sense of what you mean when you're talking about mental health.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think this is a really important distinction and I start my book off with this distinction.
Speaker 2:So I feel what is happening in society is we are talking a lot about mental health and what I feel like we're talking about is more, you know, brain health, neurological health.
Speaker 2:We're talking about mild to moderate mental health and we're maybe not as much talking about severe mental health in terms of, like, popular language or popular conversation. And that's where I really focus my energy as a mental health coach is the mild to moderate mental health, and I started here because I knew that coaching helped me with my mental health and reclaiming some of the ways that I was seeing the world, because mental health, from the perspective of how I'm relating to it, is about our relationship to self, others and the world around us. And so, from that more micro picture to the more macro picture, but from the popular way we're talking about it now, I do believe we're talking about it from that mild to moderate sense, because when we go into moderate to severe, it's still very much needed to be medical and there's a lot of clinical support in that regard. So that's the delineation that I come at it from.
Speaker 1:Okay, great. Yeah, that's good to sort of clarify that, given that you work in that kind of mid range, you'd be seeing it a lot right. You work in workplaces and you help people become more aware of how to manage their mental health, but also, like I guess, well, what I saw from your website was that you probably go in to bring awareness to others so that if there's someone experiencing mental health issues on your team or in your workplace, how to manage that as well. Just gone off on a tangent, can't remember what my question was. Given that you're, that's not a very good start, is it? Yeah? So, given that you're in that mid range, what are some of the things that you see happening?
Speaker 2:That's a great question. So in that mid range of mental health, what's happening is the relationship to self, so this loss of control of our some of our foundational basic needs in life, like safety and security. Because I think what's happening with on a global level is there's so much turmoil and so much us against them, me against you type behavior in the world that we're losing connection to self and other. And so, starting from that framework, but then also expanding into the ripple effect that that then has and this is really like my stake in the ground around the book, around my conversations is, when we claim our own brains and take care of our own mental health, we have a positive ripple effect in the world. But when we don't and don't have that level of awareness or don't have that level of consciousness in order to take good care of ourselves, we can have a negative ripple effect. So, whether that's in a family, in a workplace or in a community, mental health is more of a collective responsibility and so we all impact each other's mental health and it's acknowledging that and having the conversations around it that really I feel are important families, communities and workplaces.
Speaker 2:Bringing awareness to our impacts on another person is really important and having the ability to acknowledge that. So when I'm going into organizations we talk a lot about, we have good intentions, Most of us have good intentions and then the impact can sometimes be funky on another person. And so if I'm doing individual coaching, oftentimes people are talking about you know, my manager did this or did that or didn't do this or didn't do that and didn't see me in this way or didn't see that. And so when we're talking about that employer-employee relationship, there's a really big part. That's like what's the impact that we have on another and how can we have more conscious conversation around our relationships and more self-awareness to have those conversations? Wow.
Speaker 1:So that's where that coaching approach comes in when we're talking about mental health inside of an organization that's really interesting that you, that the our exposure to all of the stuff that's going on around the world, like our exposure, and our access to this like 24-7 news, like I don't think we necessarily put those two things together and that that affects our behavior. But there's, yeah, it sounds like there's a real correlation between that kind of that defensive, yeah, that fighting thing that goes on Someone's doing something bad to me, I get defended like and that that kind of bring. It's happening on a micro level in our own worlds. We're kind of reflecting what's going on on a on a grander scale.
Speaker 2:That's pretty, yeah, pretty eye-opening actually yeah, I love how you reframed that. Um, and that is, it's that mirroring right? More defensive we get, uh, because of what's coming at us, then the more defensive we get, uh, yeah, so and we see it happening more as well when we're in that state in our own emotional world.
Speaker 1:And yeah, wow, well, there you go, stop watching the telly people is what we consume right.
Speaker 2:What we consume impacts our mental health, impacts our physical health, impacts our overall health, because what we consume increases stress or anxiety or decreases stress or anxiety. And consumption means food Consumption, means social media Consumption, means news Consumption anything that's coming into us. Consumption is energy. The people that were around who, like, are we consuming their energy? That was a big part of my journey was I was consuming everybody else's mental health because of, um, like, leaky energy. But when you tighten up your energy and you're solidified, then you're not consuming as much of other people's energies and taking it all in or on for yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, Wow, Okay, I do want to talk more about your book, but before we do get into that, I just want to go over and talk about some of the things you do in your work. First of all, I'd love to hear a little bit more about your story, because you've got your own personal experience of retraining your brain, as you mentioned. Sorry if that's not the claiming your brain. C retraining your brain, as you mentioned. Sorry if that's not the claiming your brain. Claiming your brain Because of your own experience. Can you share us share a little bit about what was happening for you that has sent you on this journey?
Speaker 2:journey, absolutely so. From a young age, I knew that there was things happening around me that were other people's challenges. I could see it very clearly and that's how I start my story with adverse childhood experiences, which all of us have. Most adults have some type of adverse childhood experience, some of us more than others. Mine impacted me in a way, because I was seeing other people suffering, but I was also absorbing other people suffering, and that carried on throughout my life and I feel like that's what led to my depression and my anxiety. So what I was doing in my journey was trying to figure out is this me, is this somebody else's Like, what's mine to carry and what's not mine to carry? So, just continually navigating that conversation, I still ask myself that question is this mine, is this theirs? So it starts with those adverse childhood experiences that we all have, and then it goes into hormones, and so, from a woman's health perspective, I really talk about the three Ps puberty, pregnancy and perimenopause. And so, from a woman's health perspective, I really talk about the three P's puberty, pregnancy and perimenopause. And so not all women will have the pregnancy, but we will all go through puberty and perimenopause based on where we're at in our female cycle and that was part of my journey as well, with some of the hormonal fluctuations which I started to learn is coming from our brain. You know, as a young girl I had no idea, I thought it was just in my ovaries. But here we are and we're, you know, learning all about brain health. So that hormonal impact for me was really also a significant part of my story and my journey in puberty, but then also in pregnancy, because I had really really bad morning sickness but also postpartum depression, which I didn't really know much about because nobody was talking about it and I had to go back to work quickly, which felt like my brain still wasn't working and my hormones and my emotions were all over the place. So that was really challenging for me. And also navigating miscarriages nobody else, nobody was talking about that either. So having miscarriages early but then also having one that was later really just kind of started to compound that, like that compounding psychological stress.
Speaker 2:And then, when I talk about the other people's mental health, addiction has been part of that. So seeing people having their own coping mechanisms. But when people have coping mechanisms they're not themselves anymore. So there's a loss and an abandonment that comes with having people in your life who who struggle with their coping mechanisms because, um, we can internalize that, and women typically so. This was my journey. I internalized a lot and that is typically the case for women in mental health. Women internalize where men more externalize, and so I was navigating that dance through my mental health.
Speaker 2:All of that then culminated with the traumatic brain injury which I'm still struggling with post-concussion syndrome. So the various things that come with hitting your head and a concussion, but also in the way that I had a cycling accident. I hit my head on the side of the road, lost my teeth missing like dislocating my jaw, but I also hit my shoulder and then there's a whiplash that comes with that. So what I've most recently learned and this is only four years ago is that with the whiplash and the impact came neurological damage. So through the occipital lobes which impact your eyes because they're coming up the back of your brain and your neck. All of that got damaged in the jostling because my spine kind of got moved a little bit, and then also now the muscles when they're tense they're pinching on the nerves. So I've, since writing the book, learned even more about nerves and nerve damage in the nervous system and how that's all playing a part, and so that's a bit of the overview of my journey and how I got to wanting to write this book.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, yeah, there's so many different. I reckon that this would be giving people aha moments when they're listening, because it's like, well, yeah, some of those things actually do affect our brains, like perimenopause, our hormonal cycles you know our monthly cycles if we're still in them, yes, but also an injury, yeah, let alone all of the other life stuff right, but there's um, an actual um, with the, with the hormonal stuff specifically. There's actually a chemical thing that's going on in our brains. It's not, yeah, god, there's nothing wrong with us. I think that's really important for women to understand. Is that, from that perspective, it's, it's, there's nothing wrong with us? I think that's really important for women to understand. Is that, from that perspective, it's, it's, there's nothing wrong with us? But we've been given all of this messaging that there is when those things are happening and if we don't quite feel ourselves, we ask ourselves why, what? What's wrong with me? And if we don't have the answers, yeah, we just feel like we're going a bit loopy, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's I think that's the bottom line of my journey is it's the compounding psychological stress, because even in my learnings around the menopause, it's the compounding stress that's impacting us. Right Like our ester oil is decreasing, so it's causing stress in our body at a stressful time in our life when we're nurturing children or caregiving parents or building a career or whatever the things are we are doing in our life. So there's that level of compounding psychological stress that leads to neuroinflammation in the brain and that's really where I focused. I did my master's in psychology and neuroscience of mental health and that's where I focused. My thesis was on neuroinflammation in the brain in like middle-aged adults.
Speaker 1:Okay, right. Yeah, I'm really curious. Did you start this work before you had your injury? Were you already in this field of expertise?
Speaker 2:So this is a really crazy story. I have been coaching and I've trained as a coach and a health coach, so I had already done all that and then I decided to do my master's and then the same month actually one month to the date that I started my master's in the psychology and neuroscience of mental health I had my biking accident and got a brain injury, which then I had to put my master's on hold. So I like to I mean, there's only I can only make fun of it at this point Like I like to say that I'm an experiential learner and want to learn things through experience. So I needed that brain health piece to talk about that at a new level, because everything up until that point that point had been really my mental health and the internalization and of my thoughts and my feelings and the nervous system dysregulation that I'd accumulated.
Speaker 1:So your entire work um before before the book was focused around around this, based on your own personal journey, is that my yeah, I had a previous career.
Speaker 2:so in my 20s and and early 30s, I had a previous career. So in my twenties and early thirties I had a previous career. I was in fashion and sales. And since I was 23, I knew that wasn't the journey I wanted to be on, but I felt a bit stuck, um, and so I stuck with it. And then, uh, 37, when I was navigating divorce, I was already retraining as a coach, but then I went fully into it and fully shifted my career. So I've been doing it now for a decade, coaching, health coaching, and now, four years ago, started the master's and I've since completed it in 2024.
Speaker 1:That's a pretty solid effort really, after a massive injury and, just you know, taking care of three children as a single parent.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and here's the thing that I thought to myself doing this is going to keep my brain functioning and help it heal through the neuroplasticity of learning. So that was my intention, was sticking with it. I was like this has got to be able to help me keep learning and keep growing and keep expanding my brain at like a rate that felt comfortable and good in order to continue to recover, because we do know that, you know, new neurons are firing all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah definitely. So just a last little bit on that with the kind of the chance happenings of the cycling accident and the writing of the book, do you almost feel like this was like a divine part of your journey?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I do.
Speaker 2:I say in the book. I actually say if you don't heed to the universe, the universe will give you the lesson louder and louder. And the cycling accident was literally pulling my life to a screeching halt because I wasn't slowing down and luckily that was just me involved in that situation. The universe delivered that really compounded message to me alone, which was okay, fine. I got the message, because then I've had to entirely rework how I live.
Speaker 2:I was an endurance athlete, training for triathlon, running, swimming, biking. I thrived and I loved it, and I can't do that anymore because I don't want to get on a bike. I did, but I don't want to anymore. So now I bike like on rail trails and nice. Loved it and I can't do that anymore because I don't want to get on a bike. I did, but I don't want to anymore. So now I bike like on rail trails and nice bike rides. I can't run because of the neck damage, so I'm only walking, and also I can't even do the yoga I was doing anymore because of the shoulder injury. So I've had to entirely change how I do everything and my sleep schedule. I had to let my brain rest and sleep in order for it to recover, and going this slow for these past four years has been the most uncomfortable thing I've ever had to do.
Speaker 1:I think one of those things with slowing down is that you're faced with yourself, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. How are we in our own stillness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, oh, wow, so many things. So you talk about your work being rooted in science but grounded in soul, and can you talk about that and what that means for you?
Speaker 2:For sure, and so it's rooted in science because of the master's and the neuroscience aspect that I bring to it. So I really am anchored in neuroscience and psychology. It was a multidisciplinary program through the School of Psychology, psychiatry and Neuroscience at King's College in London, and so that program brought the three disciplines together. So I'm really anchored in the scientific research and the soul piece is the perspective that's bigger than us, and so there's tons of research, there's ancient wisdom, there's Eastern tradition and there's Western science and Western medicine, and so I really want to merge both of those because there is not one way that's better than the other. Both bring complementary knowledge to mental health, and so the science is that piece of neuroscience and grounded in research. That's, you know, everybody wants to have as proven research. But there's also the soul piece, because that intuitive hit the part of us being interconnected to a universal system. We are just part of nature, we are not dominating nature.
Speaker 2:We're not the owners of nature. We're a part of this natural world and indigenous folks had this all already in their lineage, living in right relationship with self and other and everything else around us and only using what we need. And so there's a perspective that comes at the soulful, spiritual part through religion, some people through nature, some people through spirituality or whatever other ways, but that piece is very clearly researched that when we're connected to something bigger than us, we feel better. And that's such a big part of mental health because when we're outwardly focused, giving back in the community, focused on the bigger picture, not our micro moments of suffering or the things that have happened to us in life, we can have this more expansive mindset.
Speaker 2:So, based on that, I bring in energy work and healing through the chakra system. Also what some you know, what the body's telling you. So for me, I had thyroid nodules and my whole journey has been about claiming my voice and finding my voice. I also had ovarian cysts, so it's about power and control and I mean some people are prescribing to that and some people aren't, but that's how I have written the book, and even that energy work is grounded in research and paperwork. So it's, it's all the things.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that because I love, I'm kind of with you because I love the, I love spirituality, I love that you know, connection with the soul piece. But I also love practicality. Like, how am I going to get this into my everyday life? Because, like, whether I like it or not, I'm not a kind of, I'm just not, you know, totally woo-woo. I love woo-woo but I'm totally practical as well. I'm a contradiction, but it's like, as you said, these things have been proven to work. So how do we get them into our everyday lives? Um, and that science piece, the neuroscience piece, is like this stuff works. People like, yeah, it's not just make believe, you know, go and relax and everything will be better, which has actually proven to, you know, be good for us. But research.
Speaker 2:Even in scientific research, there's so much talk about placebo effect. So how people are feeling better if they're feeling better, amazing, exactly, you don't have to question it right. Why do we have to make that wrong?
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally Love that. I don't know if I read it or I might have heard it In the interview you did. I watched the little clip of the interview you did on the TV show. Well done, Congratulations on that. That was great. You talked about there being two parts of mental health, like a somatic, like more physical, or above the neck and below the neck. Can you talk a little bit about that please?
Speaker 2:absolutely so. When I talk about um above the neck, we're talking about really the central nervous system, like the brain and the brainstem. And then below the neck is um, the somatic piece, the peripheral nervous system, the autonomic system. And so above the neck is is thoughts, feelings, perspectives, because we have our prefrontal cortex, we have the ability to really tune into what makes us human. And also above the neck there's the chemicals, so the chemical imbalances in our brain, what's happening inside of our brain. But then also the body keeps score. So that book by Basil van der Klok, like that, is so true.
Speaker 2:And our nervous systems are the part of us that are storing trauma and PTSD and experiences, and then our brain interprets those things. And so it's really important to be focusing on both. So the nervous system regulation and relaxing in. That's where the breath work really comes in, because you can send the breath and the oxygen into the brain and that interrupts negative thought and judgment immediately. It also interrupts anxiety immediately with a quick breath into the, like a quick breath, but also like those longer breaths that you send throughout your whole body, relax the peripheral nervous system and go more into physiological body and somatics and there's a bidirectional communication that's also being very much proven right now between your gut and your brain, so that bidirectional communication of everything that you eat is in your gut goes through your mouth into your gut, goes back up to your brain and it can cross the blood-brain barrier. So we're constantly communicating above and below the neck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, very clearly put, thank you. So, with the nervous system, can you explain how this is one of the keys to our resilience, like I think you talk about that in your book, or the introduction that I've read of your book what? How do we know when there's stuff going on, like with that nervous system? Response like what are some of the things that we can see? And you've talked about breath. Response Like what are some of the things that we can see? And you've talked about breath being something that we can do. But how do we know? And what's going on? How can we feel it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good question. It's slowing down. The first question that I ask people is when people come into a call with me. Clients come into a call with me and they're really like revved up, high energy, got so much anxiety. We take a moment and do some breath work and calm down and check in and do a body scan. Okay, so now that you've tapped in with your body and you've paid attention, what is your body telling you? We only know when we slow down and listen and most people aren't slowing down to listen and ask their body what's happening, just unconsciously reacting to people, situations, bad drivers, you know triggers from another person. But if we just take a moment and get curious with ourselves and slow down, we can ask ourselves what's happening for me right now? What is this increased heart rate? What is the blood rushing to my face? What is the knot in my stomach? What is the?
Speaker 1:rest. It's quite easy. When I like, when you, as you're talking, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of putting myself in that position where I'm talking to you and you're asking how do you feel it in your body, and I immediately go to my head what am I feeling? Do you know? Rather than actually feeling it, I wonder what that's about out.
Speaker 2:Well, that's, a lot of people do do that, and so the way to do it is I mean I would take you through a much deeper like that was really just explaining how to do it, but we would actually do it.
Speaker 2:And so breath work, connecting with your heart. One hand on your heart and noticing your heartbeat. One hand on your gut. Notice what your intuition has to tell you. And when you breathe in, you're not thinking because your body's focused on breath. And then you take another deep breath in when do you feel tension in your body? Take a notice up through your feet, through your legs, looking in at your knees, up and through your hips, through your gut, your intuitive self, through your core, through your stomach, through your heart. Notice your heart beating. Up and through your shoulders. Relax your neck. Relax your jaw. Wiggle your tongue. Flutter your eyes. Release the tension your eyes are carrying. And up through the crown of your eyes. Release the tension your eyes are carrying. And up through the crown of your head. Take another deep breath. What is your body telling you?
Speaker 1:Thank you, that was better. I didn't have any thoughts then, just yeah, straight into the body. That was amazing. So that's how you get people to connect with. Yeah, what's going on down below? Can you interpret that then, or do they interpret it for themselves?
Speaker 2:interpret it for themselves. I always get them to interpret for themselves. So what did you notice? What did you feel? Where did you hold tension? What was it like to tune into your body? Hmm, that's why movement is such a prescription for depression and anxiety because you're moving your energy. It's stuckant, stuck energy. Movement and moving your body almost has a similar effect to antidepressants in clinical trials. So when we're moving our body, we're moving our energy, and so when we're up here, we're busy analyzing, thinking, focusing, and so there is use in our human brain, but there's also can be our greatest detriment.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely Need a good dose of both.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do An exercise we do is checking in with your brain, your heart and your gut, your three data centers, because they all have a lot of neurological information in them.
Speaker 1:I love what you said earlier about how the brain kind of analyzes and rationalizes and interprets everything that's going on down below. So really would you say that the below the neck stuff is the stuff that we need to tap into more?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say so we yeah, our brain is useful and our brain can get us into a lot of trouble. So my invitation to people is to tap more into their intuitive health, check in with their gut decision. Sometimes, like you and I've already talked about you, need that logical part of your brain. It's useful, but it's like it's overthinking, overanalyzing, overprocessing, overstimulated, and then that in turn keeps us all in this cycle of cortisol overload and stress from everything that's happening in the world. So my invitation to people is to get into their bodies a little bit more often and if it's not a meditation or a yoga class or a walk, you can do those quick breaths like between a meeting or between a Zoom call or, you know, before you respond to somebody, in order to, like, calm your whole nervous system down.
Speaker 1:So it's that nervous system regulation. It really takes some practice, doesn't it? Because, like we can just get it. It sounds very simple, and it is very simple because every moment we're breathing, so every moment is an opportunity to to settle into our breath. But life can just be like going, going, going, going, going, um yeah, and it and it. So it really does take some conscious practice and choice to get into that rhythm 100%, 100%.
Speaker 2:It has to become a ritual, versus just habitually going about our day waking up, getting breakfast, getting the kids to school, whatever our daily routine is. Go, go, go, go, go, go go. Where are we stopping to make this life that we're living more ritualistic? Savoring the moment, because you can savor every moment if you choose to and still operate in your day, or we can just go on conscious autopilot, thinking about all the things we have to do or didn't do, and that'll impact us as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:How do we eat?
Speaker 1:Your book Claim your Brain. What does that mean? Because I kind of like it, which is good, but like when I'm thinking about it just from one perspective of a woman in perimenopause, because we do have that, like you know, in inverted commas brain fog, there's a whole bunch of stuff going on where I think one of my other guests who talked about it said that we're actually pruning our brain and it's like I feel like there's some, there's a kind of a filtering of experience going on for me where it's like what am I keeping, what am I letting go of, what am I healing? What am I? Yeah, like there's a. There's a whole bunch of stuff going on in this midlife experience, yeah, journey, um. So yeah, when it comes to reclaim your brain because I know that I've spoken to a lot of other women my sister said that she was just having this disastrous experience with her brain fog. I've got clients that say that they've got really bad brain fog. The solution for many of them, unfortunately and I don't, then maybe this is the only solution for them short term is to be put onto some kind of HRT. But I was, yeah, so with your book sorry, I'm going on a bit Claim your Brain. If I look at it from the perspective of a woman in perimenopause, just as an example like this sounds like a secret weapon. Stuff that's in your book like this is like empowerment. Stuff that's in your book Like this is like empowerment. Right, because we're given this story that it's all over over like we're it's just a disaster.
Speaker 1:But I feel like your book is kind of like no, there is another way. That was a very long.
Speaker 2:That was a very long. There is another way. There is another way, and so, while my book is not focused specifically on hormonal health, that is part of my journey, and the tools in there can help us all, regardless of what stage we're at. So Claim your Brain the actual title comes from me wanting to literally, at about a decade ago, replace my brain. I thought there is no possible way I am going to be able to heal, get through this, change the way I'm seeing myself, seeing the world, what is happening to me, my life is falling apart. That was what was happening, and I was like the only possible way is if I could get a brain transplant. So then I was like I had to find every tool in this book, one by one, and I wanted to put it in a model, and so that's why I put it in a model. And so Claim your Brain focuses on this is a whole human approach to claiming our brain.
Speaker 2:This is not just one singular thing. This is your social well-being. So our relationship with ourself impacts our brain, impacts how we talk to ourself, which impacts ourselves, which impacts our health. That in turn, impacts our relationship with other people and how we are in relation, and we know, through the pandemic and beyond, that social isolation and loneliness is like a key contributor to poor mental health and poor longevity, and so connection is key and the quality of our connections is key. We talked about whether it's movement or what you're ingesting into your body to fuel it. There's so many natural supplements, there's so many natural remedies through foods that what we eat can nourish our brain and nourish our brain health, and so there's that aspect of the physical well-being book, emotional well-being this is obviously something women are going through. And emotional well-being this is obviously something women are going through. But that emotional well-being piece is really impactful. Also this is a really important part that I've been coaching male clients with is emotional well-being, because through that externalization, men are really learning how to be with their emotions, because they've been societally conditioned to be a certain way. So there's a aspect of that. All of this is for everybody, but there's an aspect of that that's also been expansive, because that's the ripple effect, like we're all in relationship together in life. So when we're all doing the work and healing, we're all going to have a better impact on one another.
Speaker 2:And then that spiritual perspective and then, specifically for women, at this stage, if you're in midlife, finding that greater sense of purpose. And what is this chapter? Who are you becoming? There's such a beautiful thing in that we get to reinvent, redesign, recreate life based on this new phase. And you know, menopause had such a biological reason to be because women were handing over the torch and then becoming a grandma and then, you know, the younger generations were the ones raising children. And we go into this wise era of wisdom and collection. And what have I learned and how am I growing? So there's like that purpose piece that's part of that spiritual wellbeing piece that everybody thrives in purpose, but specifically based on that question around the women in menopause, like there's a purposeful phase of life that we're entering that's super powerful and when we harness it through all of the elements of wellbeing, we can really truly thrive and create like a really healthy, healthy, long life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow. So they're the five elements of well-being social, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. I've got that written down, so that rolled off the tongue easily. So your book brings an understanding of those different areas of our life and those areas of our well-being. Then how do we begin to put some of those things into practice? Is it first identifying, like what's going on for us right now, and then making conscious choice to change or focus?
Speaker 2:So there's this, there's a. The whole book is a workbook. So every part, every section has a self-reflection, a writing component and accountability at the end of every chapter. So it's really calling you into the work. We don't need more information as a society. We need action. We need action, we need intention and we need to take that accountability to ourselves because we're overloaded with information. So it was important for me to write this book with an accountability component to it and I think I lost the question, but that's part of oh yeah, so that's part of how this is.
Speaker 2:This is a work, this is a body of work. It's to do the work so that you, you have that, you heighten your awareness. So, throughout the entire book, my hope is that people are heightening their awareness to the various elements of their life. Some of those elements are going to resonate for others more than another. Some of the segments of each element are going to resonate for some and some are not. But at the end of the day, if people have a heightened awareness and can shift their perspective to a new way of looking at things or trying something different and take a new action that positively impacts their life that's the cycle is like this awareness perspective shift or a change in the way we're looking at something or doing something, and then a new action which leads to significant change in life when you stack those new rituals, those new integrations into life, one at a time.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool. Yeah, I think that that's an important thing to note is that it's not a magic pill. Right, we do have to do the work if we want to see changes. The work if we want to see changes. And this, the podcast, is really about personal development and personal understanding and personal empowerment for women in this sort of stage of our lives. But, yeah, there's no denying, we've got to do the work. We've got to bring our attention to it, bring our awareness to it, make the decisions if we want to change, and then use tools like the ones that you're providing to help us along that journey. I'm looking through my notes to see what else I want to talk to you about. Where do we go next? Where do we go next? Is there anything popping up for you? Uh, oh, I know what I want to ask how has your life changed since you have claimed your brain? What are some of the things that you've noticed and some of the things that you now share with others?
Speaker 2:I feel. I feel an alignment in my life, like I feel like a solid alignment that I'm on the right track, that I'm doing what works for me, that I, the more that the braver I am and the more courageous of the decision, the more aligned I get. So I keep following, like that intuitive pull versus the mental push. And the more I can listen to that intuitive pull and not the mental push like you need to achieve, you need to do, you have to this the more flow and subtlety there is to that alignment. So the alignment, I would say, is the number one thing that I have gained from claiming my brain. There's a sense of inner peace that I have now that I didn't have before, and a deep, deep sense of purpose. A deep sense of purpose for what I'm here for and a relentless pursuit of that with pace, with pace this time. So I was going a lot slower than I used to go and really savoring moments more so. And the most important thing I want to say is it's not like I still don't struggle, just have the tools to recover. I have the tools, I have the awareness, and so that's what the book is for, that's what claiming our brain is all about.
Speaker 2:It's not, like you said, a magic pill that's going to make us all better and life's not going to continue to happen.
Speaker 2:Those roller coasters still happen. The depression still comes, the hormonal shifts still come, the anxiety is still there, although it's a little less. Every time I can recover a little bit quicker and I can know that it's going to pass, versus before being afraid that, like this was a finite state, like this is all there is. So I think that's an important part for people to understand is it's about getting the tools and the awareness and the toolkit so we can recover quicker, and that just leads to this snowball effect of more positive interactions, of less of the feelings of depression or anxiety or, you know, not putting ourselves into burnout based on our actions and things like that. So it's greater awareness, it's more tools to recover, but it's also life still happens and that's not going to change, but it's how we relate to those situations that does change yeah, yeah, and I something popped in for me and I feel like there's this, this idea of um being able to sort of step away from that experience.
Speaker 1:So, you know, we might have an experience of anxiety that comes up, and it's an old feeling, familiar feeling, but when we've kind of started doing the work, we can kind of almost look outside of ourselves and be the witness to it. This is happening. I'm this is how I'm responding. I don't respond like that anymore. These are the things that I do instead. Yes, absolutely, it's like you got a third party someone new comes into your life yeah, yeah, but it's all practice as well, isn't it?
Speaker 2:it is and in the witness might show up more strongly one day than another, based on how well resourced we are and what's happening in our lives, and and that I love that, uh, you brought that concept in, because that's what it's all about observing ourselves. Observing ourselves, our actions, our thoughts, our interactions, um, but not going so heavy into observation that there's like the overthinking analyzing, yeah, yeah because then that's where it gets bad again yes, yes, yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, what does a normal typical day look like for you, and how do you integrate some of the practices that you recommend?
Speaker 2:so a normal day. I have now learned how to wake up without an alarm, which is lovely kind of jealous yeah, learning, learning how to you know, manage my body in that way.
Speaker 2:waking up without an alarm feels nice, so my day starts that way and it starts way slower. I used to wake up and hit the gym or go to a yoga class or get on my bike, but now I wake up and I savor a coffee and I just sit in stillness. And I sit in stillness, just very mindfully. I typically will have a walk and a sauna in the morning and then go about starting clients or my day after I get my daughter off to school.
Speaker 2:And scheduling my day Like this is an important part of life, that we talk about it in the book a little bit is like how do you schedule your day for your own optimal energy and your own optimal use? Like I have figured out the best schedule for me and when I'm most productive and least productive, and how to start my day and end my day at a time that really serves me and my family. And that part has been really powerful because that Monday to Friday, nine to five, is built for a 24 hour clock. Women operate on seven day cycles and so our energy ebbs and flows in seven day cycles, not 24 hours, which is how men operate on a 24 hour clock, and so learning how to work with my energy as a woman has been really empowering and acknowledging that piece of it. So that also is a part of a part of my day, um, and like what my, my ideal day looks like.
Speaker 1:And you're not. I think that I just want to draw attention to the listeners here Cause that cause, I love a sauna and, and you know, have my own little ritual. I don't do a sauna first thing in the morning, but, um, that they sound like luxuries. Those kinds of things like having the time to sit and have a coffee and, you know, have a sauna and do mindfulness oh, it's so luxurious. Who's got the time for that? You're making the time. And I also want to draw attention to the fact that you're still like you're a leader, you're a coach, you've got a business, you're doing the things as well, but you're doing it in a way that works for you. And one of the things that I also love when I look at your website is that it looks like you're really drawing people's attention to the fact that women do work differently, they do work on a different cycle, and that that needs to be recognized in the workplace more. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:for sure there's a um. I am seeing a trend where organizations are supporting women navigating menopause. There's more um pregnancy leave, you know, parental leave has obviously shifted, so we're seeing a lot of progressive change. I coach executive women in the workplace and so scheduling their schedule on a time that works for them and saying no to one meeting can have a huge impact on their day, and so just claiming how they work is still really powerful.
Speaker 2:As a productive person in the workforce, my whole business model is nourish health, ignite performance. I'm not talking about this just, you know, jaunting around. There's still a performance component to all of this, because when we're on purpose and we're contributing to society, I believe we feel our best. So whatever that's going to look like, whether it's a corporate person or someone with their own business or someone you know who might just be home with their kids, like there's lots of ways that this can be integrated. So, by day, as a ritual, and I I work hard and I I also work on the weekends because that's what suits my schedule. So I operate in my own energetic flow around work and production that feels best for me.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, that's really really great message as well, and I don't feel like we see it very often like there's, there are and I'm not sort of passing judgment on this. It's just like being a witness or observing that often women who are coaches are coaching women for high performance. They don't really talk about all of the things that could be going on from a mental health perspective in the workplace. So I read one of your blog posts about.
Speaker 1:You know the women are expected to become carers around this time of our lives. Often, or we've got kids, or you know kids are leaving home, so there's that stressor. Or we've got kids, or you know kids are leaving home, so there's that stressor With perimenopause. Then you talk about alcohol and how that can create mental health issues. But it's quite a normal part of high performing jobs, isn't it? And and yeah, you're really drawing attention to that I really love that. Um, I don't know if you've got any more to say about that what stuck with you the most from that, that part what stuck with me the most well, it just really was.
Speaker 1:It was like there's a lot, there's a lot going on and I feel like a lot of women probably just pack it in because they can't cope with everything.
Speaker 2:No, that is not the. And that is what is happening. Women are leaving the workforce at an exponential rate, but the work they're trying to fit themselves into a 24-hour clock.
Speaker 2:Monday to Friday, it doesn't typically work 24 hour clock Monday to Friday. It doesn't typically work. There is so much creativity, inspiration, contribution, performance that we have to contribute to the workplace. That is so valuable. So for people to feel like they have to give up or give in because they can't handle all the aspects of life, that's not. I don't feel like that's right. I feel like we can have it all, and a friend of mine said this to me at one point you can have it all, you just can't have it all at once. And so it's like how can we start to work within our current life situation and still be contributing and performing at the cadence and frequency and capacity that we have?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that Such a strong message because we do get caught up in a lot of self-doubt and we do also feel like we want to do it all, but we can't do it all at once. But then yeah, like if we can't do it all at once, but then yeah, like if we can't do it all at once or feel like we can't, then it can be a real sort of dampener on our self-esteem.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and that exactly, then that leads to depression and depressive feelings because it's like, well, what's wrong with me, Nothing's wrong with you. Our bodies are biologically shifting, changing, our life circumstances are shifting, changing and we are in a sandwich generation of caring, where there's children still, but aging parents as well have this ability and insight that we want to share with the world and have a positive impact and take care of ourselves.
Speaker 2:And that was like one of the things that really got me into burnout was I had the will. I could see the way. I wanted to be super duper on purpose. I wanted to be contributing, I wanted to be high performing in all the aspects of my life. But I had the. I had an accident. So I had to, you know, claw back on certain aspects of life and still produce what I wanted to and still be the mom I wanted to be. So it's, it's a, it's a balance and it's finding that finding what that looks like for each individual is really important and so powerful.
Speaker 1:When you can, when you can get it and it and I believe you can- yeah, and I think that's the the strong message that you're really putting across in in the work you're doing and in your book. It's like, yeah, claiming your brain like girl power all the way. I don't know if this is for boys as well, but it feels like it's a real girl power thing.
Speaker 2:well, it's my story. You know my daughter, um, mother, and, and so it's really. But here's a really this is one of my favorite stories of my book launch so far is there was a gentleman at one of my book launch of his children and how he could have been more compassionate, more supportive in those child rearing era, and so if this is a book that gets into the hands of everybody, then we are all healing together and doing the work together, and so I think that that that's the important part. So it is girl power, because I'm a mother and a daughter and I come at it. That's where my story comes from. But also, through sharing my story, it can trickle out into other relationships and maybe people will start to see things a little bit differently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, amazing. We've kind of reached the end of our hour. I promised you we would. Is there anything you want to close on? We're going to put your details in our guest directory so we can have links to your website, any socials that you've got and also, obviously, to the book. Is there anything that you would like to close on? Maybe your hopes, dreams for the book.
Speaker 2:My hope is that this has a positive ripple effect on anybody who picks it up, whether it's the whole book or one small takeaway, or a small shift in their perspective or the way they relate to themselves. My wish is for us to have a positive ripple effect within ourselves, because our cells are listening, and then have a positive ripple effect out in the world. So the inquiry I always leave is what is your ripple going to be?
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, yeah. And it doesn't have to be like a big, huge, hairy, audacious goal, does it?
Speaker 2:It doesn't. It can be something so micro, like my ripple is going to be. You know a little bit more self-compassion every morning. Yeah because that's going to affect through your cells and impact your whole overall health.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, beautiful Jocelyn. Thank you so much for joining me. It's been great. Um, I wish you all the best of luck with your book.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, thanks for joining me yeah, thanks, nadine, this was really beautiful.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for having me before you go, can I ask you a small favor? If you've enjoyed this show or any of the other episodes that you've listened to, then I'd really appreciate it if you took a couple of moments to hit subscribe. This is a great way to increase our listeners and get the word out there about buy me a coffee by going to buymeacoffeecom forward slash, life, health, the universe. You can find that link in the show notes. Thanks for listening.