In the trauma-informed space where movement, mental health and western medicine overlap, there is an expectation that as a wellness professional we are up to date on the latest science and most effective ways to help people optimize their health. There’s an assumption in the US that we have proof of efficacy for all of our favorite mind body modalities through double blind controlled studies. The truth is the space between eastern and western medicine is filled with hope and unanswered questions. Today on the work IN we’re discussing some of the difficulties with getting hard science when it comes to mind body modalities and what we do with answers that aren’t what we hope for.

When a child is emotionally dysregulated we call it a temper tantrum, a phase and these days “big feelings”. When an adult is emotionally dysregulated we call it mental illness. What is it that happens or doesn’t happen between childhood and adulthood that paves the way for the long list of disorders now associated with emotional dysregulation and what can we do differently? That’s the topic for today’s Work IN.

We might be in an adapted or more accurately a maladapted state. In other words your nervous system, brain and body have conspired to keep you safe and help you survive based on your experiences in the world. And because the brain lives in a dark cave and only has memories to make decisions with, it doesn’t always make the best choices. The only choices it gives you are fight, flight or freeze. And those can end up looking like anxiety, hypervigilance and depression. How can we balance these perfectly rational moods for better mental, physical and emotional health?

one of my goals on this podcast is to try to use these conversations to help normalize the experience of trauma so that people don't feel so alone in their experience. And so that when we encounter someone who has maybe a trauma story, or trauma history or maybe is struggling in that moment, we can hold space for them a little bit and maybe extend a little grace for what they are experiencing. And my guest today is a beautiful example of that and of how you he's using his own experience to help others. Jason Sapp is a retired Army sergeant and Iraq or combat veteran, and now a certified professional life coach and author, Jason guides people to more holistic alternative resources to wellness…

One of the reasons why leadership is so important for them to develop their own resilience is they as a leader probably have more influence on that dynamic between between team members than anybody else. The phrase that I often use is leaders set the tone. So that's in a couple of ways. They set an example. And they set a almost like a status quo of what's kind of the norm. So if you've got a leader who is very stressed, direct directly or indirectly in some of the way that he's going to be affecting the rest of the team.