The Vital Side Podcast

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

Are you struggling to understand your brain and body’s impulse reactions to certain stressors or triggers in your life? This week, Lindsay shares tangible tools to begin your brain retraining journey, as well as breaking down and identifying what an acute stress response looks like, and the role our stress hormones play in that response, and shares a visualization exercise you can try from the comfort of your home.  Show Notes: -Identify the goals you have in your life – how & why to use brain retraining -Going from unconscious brain retraining to intentional brain retraining -Lindsay’s background in science and medicine & interest in optimizing health -Understanding and defining our own perfect storm after exposure to toxins or trauma -Definition of the acute stress response – toggling in and out of fight-flight-freeze -Example of the stress response in animals -How the stress response can show up in our lives as physical, mental, or emotional symptoms -Example of how the brain changes using the example of the stress hormone, cortisol -Information on Epigenetics with Dr. Bruce Lipton -What happens when we make intentional changes to our brains using the example of dopamine -The difference between avoiding stressors and triggers & recognizing your capacity to start to regulate your autonomic nervous system -A BONUS Nervous System Regulation tool using visualization & breath: go from acute fight-flight-freeze to connect with your own natural resilience Resources: -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

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.

Do you want to use Human Design to create more expansion & success in your life? Or in your business? We’re talking with Kaila O’Connor to discuss how she has implemented Human Design as a foundational strategy to help her achieve her goals and grow into the successful entrepreneur she is. Kaila shares about her personal career journey, debunks common myths related to Human Design, and dives into Cait & Lindsay’s HD profiles as examples of how to use HD to create more growth and expansion in your life. Kaila O’Connor is the founder of KMO Consulting -- the first agency to offer live Affiliate PR training for industry professionals. Her company has trained more than 80 Condé Nast editors in Affiliate Marketing, all while ensuring she and her team operate in pure energetic alignment. As a certified Human Design reader, Kaila loves sharing how she has personally and professionally embodied her energetic alignment -- from building a successful PR business as a Projector type to continue amplifying the parts of her that were conditioned to feel weird or wrong.  Show Notes: -Kaila’s story & personal journey: from a young age, she observed animals and how they instinctively move as a model for how she best operates according to her own Human Design - Taking PR 101 in college as a catalyst for uncovering her purpose & life’s work - Kaila’s journey with panic attacks: presenting slides to a team at 3M’s office in one of her first corporate jobs induced her first panic attack - Kaila’s relationship with her “flight” response to manage anxieties and stressors in her earlier life, including an abusive relationship - Discovering Human Design and her Projector energy type → feeling equal parts relieved and having an “oh no, I am in the wrong career” moment - Kaila experienced a major shift when she turned 30 - meeting her wife & getting her first affiliate job - Debunking a common myth in Human Design.... “There are no limitations.” This is not a system designed to put you in a box or limit you in any way. - Using Human Design to better connect, collaborate & communicate in our relationships - Projectors: keep in mind invisible expectations; Generators: keep in mind direct questions - Thinking about the “authority” type when it comes to communication in our relationships - Profiles are identities or personalities: look at the “body graph,” and look at the sun top right and top left decimal; the first number is “how you see yourself,” the second number is “how people see you” - Profile types: 1: natural learners; 2: natural wisdom; 3: lived learner; 4: quality vs quantity when it comes to connections; 5: problem solver; a very social connector; 6: the role model - Simple steps to let our energetic alignment guide our lives: Know who you’re serving, why they need to be served, and the HOW can be led by human design - Shifting from being a consumer to being a creator on social media - On the HD chart, if you have undefined parts of your chart, what you consume impacts how you feel; for example, if you have an undefined heart center, your self-worth can be determined by external factors - On your HD chart, if you have a defined root, always give yourself a deadline - procrastination can be an attribute - When it comes to manifestation, it’s important to understand if you’re a non-specific or specific manifestor; leaning into understanding your most important sense to understanding how you feel; understanding how to thrive in certain environments Resources: -Curious about your Human Design? Check out these resources here and here -For an introduction to Human Design, listen to Episode 10 of the Rewire Podcast  -For more information on the 4 arrows of your HD Chart, see here -Visit Kaila’s website  -Kaila’s Instagram: @kmo.hd -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 how you can establish strong boundaries in today’s fast-paced world? Lindsay and Cait discuss how to set boundaries and cultivate more self-compassion. They also dive into addressing the root of people-pleasing tendencies (i.e. the fawn response), compassion fatigue, and learning how to put on your own oxygen mask first.  Show Notes: - Lindsay’s perspective on self-compassion - Self-awareness, kindness, and common humanity as the main ingredients of compassion - The “oxygen mask” analogy in giving ourselves compassion before we can give it to others - Cultivating healthy boundaries as a tool to cultivate self-compassion (especially for caregivers) - The power of saying “no” - Regular check-in’s to ensure there is alignment with your daily activities & to-do’s and your core values - Cait’s experience using self-compassion in her life - Empathy + action: this creates a forward-moving trajectory in our lives to cultivate the habit of self-compassion - Allow yourself space to feel all your feelings – give yourself a container to do this on a regular basis - Stepping away from the “people pleasing” nature or the “fawn response” - In order to set a boundary, we have to start small. Find one area where saying “no” feels accessible to start. The more frequently you do this, the easier it becomes. - Recognize your personal body cues that feel like an aligned ‘yes’ or an aligned ‘no’ - Ask yourself: “What need is being met by shifting my focus towards others and away from myself?” - Compassion fatigue is common among founders, leaders or teams who feel like they are focused on others more consistently. This is an invitation to turn inwards & prioritize your own needs. - The fawn response: a stress or trauma response that includes people-pleasing behaviors; feeling challenged by self-expression; stifling your own desires or needs; having trouble setting boundaries; being overly apologetic; assuming responsibilities for the emotional reactions of others - Through self-awareness, ask yourself: “Is it kindness or am I fawning?” - Remember: compassion is an innate skill that exists within all of us 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