The Vital Side Podcast

Themes: Burnout, Nervous System Health & Regulation, Emotional Regulation, Mental Health SIGN UP FOR THE WAITLIST for Vital-Side's newest course, Reboot, launching June 30th. Reboot is a virtual course designed for people on the verge of burnout to break the chronic stress cycle again & again using structured protocols. If you're finding yourself running on the hamster wheel of life, unable to feel connected because of stress & overwhelm, Reboot will be a resource to you as you re-discover who you are when you press pause & reboot your dysregulated nervous system. Commit to 15 minutes of practice/ day & learn to live more dynamically in your life when dealing with a life transition like a breakup, job change, becoming a parent, or simply adding tools to your toolbox in your self-discovery journey. Sign up for the Reboot Waitlist to snag a deal & gain first access.   Episode details: Do you experience frequent feelings of physical and/or emotional exhaustion? Do you feel overwhelmed with trying to keep up with lifes’ constant demands? In this solo episode with Lindsay, she addresses the big topic of burnout. Learn what burnout really is, and how to recognize the signs in both your body and your emotional reactions. Lindsay also goes through some easy tips to start coping with your burnout, including tools for nervous system regulation.    Show Notes: -An intro to Vital-Side’s new upcoming program, Reboot -Defining burnout: when we feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained and unable to meet constant demands; a combination of stressors that creates a “perfect storm”  -How we reach burnout; specific signs that point to it; energetic, emotional, and mental stress occurs, then our energy starts to change  -Why stress doesn’t have to be labeled as negative; the situations where it DOES become negative and turns to burnout -Figuring out if you are headed towards or are already in a state of burnout; making a list of everything you pay attention to in a day and the feelings you have towards each of them & searching for negative patterns -What burnout feels like in the body -The three steps to tackling burnout; awareness, acceptance, and taking action; examples of simple tools you can use when you are feeling a lot of stress; learning to communicate with our bodies -The second step: learning to accept how your survival responses show up -Learning to make changes in your life to avoid and/or tackle burnout and communicate how you are feeling to your loved ones -The third step: taking action; modeling a new way of being to our bodies -Becoming aware of what you want your life to look like -:Learning to move dynamically between peace and stress and therefore move through our lives more effectively    -Resources: -Click here to sign up for the Reboot waitlist -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -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  

Themes: Brain Repatterning, Personal Development, Nervous System Regulation, Emotional Regulation SMOOTH SAILING MASTERCLASS Announcement: Sign Up for Cait’s Upcoming Smooth Sailing Masterclass "How to Create a Blue Ocean Coaching Business through the Power of Nervous System Regulation" Join Cait on Tuesday, May 16 at 12 pm CST for an interactive masterclass experience to learn how to provide deeper transformation for your clients,, accelerate your coaching business revenue & reduce stress and burnout for good! Plus: how to shape the future of the coaching industry by leveraging somatic coaching, cutting edge nervous system tools and deeper personal embodiment. Episode details: Do you find yourself checking off your list of “should dos” but still feeling stuck in panic, anxiety, sadness or constant stress? Author and thought leader Adele Spraggon joins Lindsay and Cait to talk about her journey into the personal development and coaching industry-starting off with debilitating anxiety, but eventually reaching peace through developing what she calls “brain repatterning.” Learn about Adele’s four step brain repatterning process, the neuroscience behind why it works, and how it can positively affect both your life and business. Adele Spraggon is an award winning author, speaker, thought leader, international trainer and fearless speaker. She has been awarded the 2020 Woman of Inspiration Award and in 2021 she was recognized as the Top Behavioural Expert of the year. Her book, “Shift: 4 Steps to Personal Empowerment,” has won three awards and is sweeping the globe, transforming how people are setting and achieving their goals.   Show Notes: -An intro to Adele and how she discovered brain repatterning; suffering from panic attacks and severe anxiety even while she was life coaching, she sought knowledge about the brain, which led her to developing her four step process of brain repatterning that she teaches today  -Adele’s explanation of what a “pattern” really is in the brain; how the brain is wired; replacing an old, obsolete pattern with a brand new healthy one that serves you; what you can work on/heal through brain repatterning -Adele’s version of the two hemispheres of the brain -How thoughts connect with physical sensations and emotional content; Our thoughts are not always true and they can be harmful if we can’t disconnect them from reality -An example of a thought (“I’m not good enough”) going through the first two steps of Adele’s four step method of brain repatterning  -A short explanation of the four steps: 1) Identify the pattern 2) Own it as a pattern 3) Tease apart the pattern 4) Replace it with a new pattern  -More examples from Adele of how to implement the four steps  -Reconnecting with your body after being in a state of fight or flight; reconnecting with both hemispheres of your brain -The four ways we can get stuck in a pattern: analyze, justify, catastrophize, or rebel -Learning to use the stress we are faced with to navigate towards peace -Instinct vs. intuition -Methods of addition and subtraction in personal development; addition is goal setting, striving, willpower; subtraction is surrender, letting go of your thoughts  -We can use our neuroplastic, malleable brains for good and to create peace in our lives, optimize patterns, and even hone in and focus on our intuition   -Resources: -Click here for a FREE copy of Adele’s book and a FREE virtual class about brain “repatterning” -Click here to visit Adele’s website -Click here to follow Adele on IG -Sign up for Cait’s Smooth Sailing Masterclass on May 16 -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -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  

Themes: Nervous System Regulation, Business & Personal Development, Entrepreneurship, Stress & Burnout, Future of Business SMOOTH SAILING MASTERCLASS Announcement: Sign Up for Cait’s Upcoming Smooth Sailing Masterclass "How to Create a Blue Ocean Coaching Business through the Power of Nervous System Regulation" Join Cait on Tuesday, May 16 at 12 pm CST for an interactive masterclass experience to learn how to provide deeper transformation for your clients, accelerate your coaching business revenue & reduce stress and burnout for good! Plus: how to shape the future of the coaching & human transformation industries by leveraging somatic coaching, cutting-edge nervous system tools and deeper personal embodiment. Episode details: What is the real significance of the nervous system when it comes to helping your clients access deeper levels of transformation? Are you limiting both your own and your clients' development by only addressing the mindset in your coaching? Cait explains why incorporating nervous system regulation into your business model is a triple win — for you, your clients and the human transformation industry. Learn about how to use both the mind AND the body to help your clients reach their full potential and take their personal development to the next level.  Show Notes: -The current boom in the coaching industry; statistics on how burnout affects coaches and entrepreneurs - Cait’s perspective on current market trends and why all industries (not just coaching) will eventually leverage nervous system regulation to activate deeper client transformation  -Differences between therapy and coaching -Polyvagal theory & the “80/20” rule; the inherent limitations of only addressing the brain and not the body -Going deeper than just mindset coaching; addressing the root causes of nervous system dysregulation; “The body speaks a different language than the mind does.” -What becomes possible when you incorporate full nervous system regulation into your life and your business; the positive impacts it can have on both you and your clients -More details about Cait’s upcoming Smooth Sailing Masterclass   Resources: -Sign up for the Smooth Sailing Masterclass on May 16 -Cait’s Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait’s Website -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Lindsay’s Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay’s Website -Click to listen to other episodes with Laura Larios: (as referenced in this episode): “Increase Your Sales & Wealth through a Regulated Nervous System” and “The Power of Voice”   Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer  

Themes: Chronic Illness Recovery, Personal Development, Community & Relationships SMOOTH SAILING MASTERCLASS Announcement: Sign Up for Cait’s Upcoming Smooth Sailing Masterclass How to Create a Blue Ocean Coaching Business through the Power of Nervous System Regulation Join Cait on Tuesday, May 16 at 12 pm CST for an interactive masterclass experience to learn how to provide deeper transformation for your clients,, accelerate your coaching business revenue & reduce stress and burnout for good! Plus: how to shape the future of the coaching industry by leveraging somatic coaching, cutting edge nervous system tools and deeper personal embodiment. Episode details: How do the dynamics of relationships differ when one person has a chronic illness? Do you struggle with maintaining important relationships because of the complexity of communicating about your chronic condition? Joining Cait & Lindsay is founder of Chroniccon and self love guru Nitika Chopra. Nitika describes her beautiful path of self acceptance and love, from being a lonely child struggling with a chronic condition to the owner of a media and events company that helps people all over the country who live with chronic conditions of their own. Learn more about Nitika’s company, how chronic illness changed the way she approaches relationships, and how to communicate about your own chronic illness with your loved ones.  Nitika Chopra is the founder of Chronicon, a media and events company, dedicated to elevating the lives of those living with a chronic illness. Nitika was diagnosed with psoriasis at the age of 10 and psoriatic arthritis at the age of 19 and lived over 17 years of her life being defined by her conditions. In 2010 she decided to take all of the lessons her health journey had taught her and use it to help others. Since the start of her entrepreneurial journey Nitika has hosted her own TV talk show on Z Living called Naturally Beautiful, hosted over 40 events with hundreds of guests in attendance and has created dynamic partnerships with over 150 brands in the wellness space. Nitika launched Chronicon in the fall of 2019, focused on those living with a chronic illness.  Since its launch, Chronicon has expanded online and you can now download the Chronicon app right to your phone and access it any time. This community is an accessible online space with inspiration, advocacy, and empowerment for chronically ill folks across the globe. You can also join Chronicon for its first live event since the pandemic, taking place on May 19th, in Brooklyn New York which can be streamed anywhere in the world.    Show Notes: -Nitika’s health journey; how hitting rock bottom in her physical health led to a spiritual experience that changed her life and shifted her perspective on healing; Nitika held onto this experience as her anchor throughout her life  -Finding a balance of accepting chronic illness but not letting it become your identity; the importance of having a community when you have a chronic condition  -Discussing Chroniccon, the uplifting and empowering community that Nitika has created to support and empower  those with chronic illnesses; a safe space to discuss, heal, and enjoy activities together just the same as others do; “We’re your new best friends!” -How navigating relationships can feel so different for someone chronically ill; Nitika’s journey of self love and acceptance, and how her approach to relationships has changed over the years as she has healed more and more; why you should keep the focus on yourself and your own role in relationships as you’re trying to break unhealthy patterns -Deconditioning beliefs around relationships; learning to communicate your needs with your loved ones and express how you are really feeling health wise instead of keeping it hidden  -The complex and nuanced nature of all relationships, including work dynamics; Nitika’s tips and tools for healthy communication and boundaries   Resources: -Click here to visit Nitika’s website -Click here to join the Chroniccon community  -Click here to follow Nitika on IG -Sign up for the Smooth Sailing Masterclass on May 16 -Cait’s Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait’s Website -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Lindsay’s Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay’s Website   Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer  

Themes: Alternative Medicine, Flower Essence Therapy, Holistic Health & Wellness What exactly is a “flower essence” and what are its benefits for the mind, body, and spirit? Cait & Lindsay are joined by flower alchemy expert, Katie Hess. Katie shares her nearly lifelong experience with the power of flower medicine, explains how exactly it all works along with long term and short benefits, and even walks us through the specific uses of her own healing flower elixirs that she shares with the world through her company, Lotus Wei. Katie Hess is an expert of flower alchemy - using the healing power of flowers to awaken to our true potential. She travels the world in search of rare flowers with the healing qualities most needed today. Katie captures the activating lifeforce flowers and translates it into an accessible method to bring more ease, creativity, focus, inspired action, joy & more into our daily lives. Katie and her company Lotus Wei now have over 150 elixirs, used by people in more than 50 countries.   Show Notes: -An intro to Katie and her company, Lotus Wei -Katie’s personal journey through “the power of flowers”: from being a kid playing in nature to traveling the globe and developing a deep understanding of plant/flower medicine; the impact Katie knows that flower medicine can have on individuals and therefore the world; starting with 1:1 clients and eventually founding a successful company with zero business training or experience -What a flower essence actually is, and different ways they can be used; Katie’s explanation of “botanical wifi” and the energy that flowers carry, emit, and amplify within ourselves; the process of how water brings us the healing energies of flowers, and how this helps us bring us back into our natural state of ease and joy -How flower essences help heal physical ailments and assist in mental and energetic challenges; how they can help you uproot trauma and work through emotional blocks -Cait’s personal experience with Lotus Wei elixirs  -More details about the benefits of flower medicine, and references to specific elixirs through Lotus Wei; how you find out which elixir to start with through their online quiz; how to match flower elixirs with your current needs & goals  -”The power of flowers” : Flower alchemy is a tool that helps us optimize and empower ourselves physically, energetically, physiologically, and emotionally   Resources: -Click here to take the “flower quiz” -Click here to visit Lotus Wei’s website -Cait’s Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait’s Website -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Lindsay’s Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay’s Website   Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer  

Themes: Energy Healing, Emotional & Spiritual Wellness, Brain Retraining, Self-Care, Personal Development    What kind of energetic vibrations are you sending out into the world that can be affecting your relationships, your career, and your emotional well being? Rewire is joined by Aleya Dao, an energy healer who helps others find empowerment and peace through getting in touch with their higher selves. Learn about how Aleya helps her clients through her healing practices that she has personally developed, her own journey to wellness and healthy regulation, and the intersection of the scientific and spiritual aspects of healing.  Aleya Dao has been an alternative healthcare practitioner for over 30 years. She is a Licensed Acupuncturist, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, a sound healer, spiritual guide, Reiki Master, and a Craniosacral practitioner. She has over 2,000 meditations online and 9 sound healing albums. Aleya teaches all over the country, inspiring and guiding individuals in groups into greater degrees of empowerment, abundance, and health by using unique concepts she teaches in her best selling book. Aleya’s specialty is helping people release the root causes of their suffering to find greater peace, empowerment, and freedom.   Show Notes: -An intro to Aleya, and her path of becoming an energetic healer, starting with being a gifted child and how her life experiences helped her develop the system of healing she teaches/uses now -Empathy, states of awareness and spiritual enlightenment; how Aleya’s spiritual experiences affected her  -Seeing the body as a separate entity from yourself; why your relationship to your body is so important; what can happen if you aren’t communicating with it in a healthy way; Aleya gives examples of how to speak your body lovingly and explains how this brings balance to the different systems (nervous, endocrine, etc)  -How to arrive at the state of knowing that you are NOT your body, starting with a change in perspective; the importance of your own imagination in this process -”Everything is vibration”; holding energy & how this is related to disease, Aleya’s own personal experiences with autoimmune issues  -What happens to the body and the emotions when you enter into a different level of safety (using Cait’s recent marriage, and an early period in Aleya’s marriage, as examples); why a lot of emotions can surface when you’ve reached your safest state, specifically in relationships -The three stages of processing emotions; how to hold a safe container for your emotions -Being aware of our emotional reactions; every emotional wave emits vibrations which affects all aspects of our lives; making small shifts that eventually lead to huge differences    Resources: -Click here for a FREE MONTH of Aleya’s program “The 7 Cups of Consciousness” -Cait’s Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait’s Website -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Lindsay’s Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay’s Website   Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer  

Themes: Communication, Mental Health & Burnout, Workplace Wellness, Transformation How can our language affect the different areas of our lives like our careers, relationships, and emotional well-being? Cait takes us through an explanation of how the words we use create our world and how this applies to the world of business and leadership. How can we become more intentional with our language so that we are creating & manifesting the best possible outcomes?   Show Notes: -The importance of communication and the words that we choose to use; how our backgrounds & unique experiences affect the way we speak  -A conversation Cait had with a corporate client about using common phrase “customer-obsessed” in a sales/customer service context; how this type of language can affect the mental health of your team -The current reality & shifts in the modern workplace, especially for women -Getting to the root of stress and burnout; how language plays an important role -The importance of not only thinking about language in relation to customers, but also to your employees; how is your vernacular making them feel? How is it affecting their emotional and mental well being? -Getting curious about language in the context of all areas of your life - relationships, physical health, business/career, etc.   Resources: -Cait’s Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait’s Website -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Lindsay’s Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay’s Website   Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer

Themes: Nervous System Regulation, Nervous System Retraining, Chronic Illness, Parenting How affected are children by chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation? Lori Weir, a Vital-Side facilitator and mom of 3, suggests a big truth in this new episode: that kids can only be as regulated as their parents are. Lori shares with us her and her kids journeys with chronic illnesses, how she learned to regulate her own nervous system, and how she guided her kids through regulation as well. Hear real stories, tips and tools for the nervous system regulation of children, from a mom who has gone through all of it herself.    Show Notes: -Lori’s story how getting started with nervous system retraining and Rewire; how she recognized her own dysregulation and began to heal it; the health issues of both herself and her children that led her to holistic healing methods and dedicating her last 5 years to helping her children heal  -Learning to reframe her children's emotional responses and look at them from the lens of nervous system health -Why Lori believes that a dysregulated nervous system could actually take the place of many overused “labels” that society puts on children; the influence of harmful societal norms of punishing/shaming children for their emotions; “In their most unlovable moments, that’s when they need the most love.” -The difference between Lori’s reaction now to emotional meltdowns with her children, and how regulation changed that  -An explanation of PANS and how it affected Lori’s children  -How Lori began modeling regulation to her children; starting with the “foundations” and then learning specific tools  -Story about how one of Lori’s children describes her emotional battery, describing dysregulation as “My ice is getting thin”; why this kind of awareness is important  -The importance of being open and honest about your own emotions with your children, and is a part of modeling regulation  -The explanation of how children are only as regulated as their parents  -Normalizing the need for nervous system regulation (for everyone, not just people who have chronic illnesses) and how easy it is to get started    Resources: -Read more about Lori and connect with her via Vital-Side here -Listen to Lori’s other Rewire episode here -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -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  

Themes: Limbic System Retraining, Brain Retraining, Nervous System Regulation, Chronic Stress & Illness Is stress a trigger for your chronic pain? Or could it even be the main antagonizer of your physical symptoms? Lindsay explains the stress cycle, how stress hormones affect the body (even if you don’t suffer from chronic illness), and how limbic system retraining can move you out of flight or fight into rest and digest.    Show Notes: -What happens to the body when we are stressed; learning about the “trauma loop” or the cycle of stress -The limbic system, and what is responsible for in the body: learning memory, fear, regulating bodily functions, mood/ emotions, survival -The main agenda for our brains/bodies is to survive; how the survival response affects us  -Perceived danger vs. real danger; why the stress response is the same towards both -The physiology of the stress cycle; the loop the starts with the autonomic nervous system and ends with the release of cortisol/stress hormones; how staying in this cycle leads to limbic system impairment; the body's physical indicators of this impairment -Lindsays recommended formula for healing: a team of practitioners to address your physical body, nervous system regulation through brain/limbic system retraining, and eventually trauma processing -Limbic system regulation helps us to stay dynamic in life and move through stress without staying stuck in it   Resources: -Click here to schedule a one-on-one Q&A with Lindsay -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -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  

Themes: Nervous System Health, Gut Health, Gut-Brain Connection/Axis, Brain Retraining, Functional Nutrition Could your gut-brain axis be affecting how well you are healing from chronic symptoms? In this episode, Cait & Lindsay have a conversation with functional nutritionist Lindsay Christensen about the connection between our guts and our brains- how important it really is, how to know if it’s compromised, and targeted ways to begin balancing it. Lindsay Christensen has a deep passion for helping clients reclaim their health. Lindsay has her B.S. in Biomedical Science, her M.S. in Human Nutrition, is a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS), and a Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist. At a young age, Lindsay began her own journey with complex illnesses, including Lyme disease and severe gut health challenges, which ultimately led her to discover the healing power of functional medicine and nutrition. In her functional nutrition practice, Ascent to Health, Lindsay helps clients with Lyme disease, mold illness, autoimmune diseases, and mast cell activation disorder (MCAS) reclaim their health using functional nutrition and lifestyle changes so they can live their lives to the fullest!   Show Notes: -An introduction to Lindsay: her personal experience with illnesses including lyme, mold illness, and mast cell activation syndrome; how brain retraining helped her when traditional treatments were not working; her path to functional nutrition -Lindsay’s transformation from being restricted to four foods to reframing food as freedom; why eliminating/restricting food has a time and place, but is only a temporary solution -What exactly the gut-brain axis is, how it works, and what it affects in the body -How brain retraining creates safety in your body, and therefore around food, which can help balance out your gut-brain axis; the physiological changes that happen during this process  -Some tangible tools of how you can start repairing your own gut-brain axis now -Discovering and focusing on your “why”; the life you want to live, and how you want your relationship with food to be   Resources: -Visit Lindsay Christensen’s website here -Follow Lindsay Christensen on Facebook here, and on Instagram here  -Click here to check out Lindsay Christensen’s Lyme Disease 101 course -Cait’s Instagram: @caitrossco -Visit Cait’s Website -Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here -Sign up for the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership -Lindsay’s Instagram: @myvitalside -Visit Lindsay’s Website   Join our community: bit.ly/rewirethepodcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: bit.ly/rewiredisclaimer