Today's guest is Jen Mann, ex-ballet dancer and co-author of the international best-seller, The Secret Language of the Body. In this conversation we discuss how Jen's early life contributed to the perfectionism, people-pleasing and self-criticism that would ultimately end in chronic illness that traditional medicine was unable to solve. Frustrated and anxious, Jen started connecting the dots between the mind-body cross-over with the clients she was supporting after her ballet career ended. She pieced together insights on how to heal herself by increasing her vagal tone and somatic experiencing, alongside talk therapy and physio. She shares 3 key tips for longer-term healing, as well as 5 practical things you can do right away to decrease your perception of stress during days of back-to-back meetings.

3:52 My childhood was a perfect set up for anxiety

9:21 Jen becomes a professional ballet dancer

13:31 What came after Jen's ballet career

14:50 Jen spots connections between her clients' work stress and their physical pain

16:00 The symptoms she was seeing in her clients – and how her own chronic illness symptoms started

20:50 Unresolved feelings of not-enoughness and emotional repression cause illness

25:40 Jen's body said "Enough!"

28:42 Window of Tolerance

35:17 Conventional medicine didn't work for Jen, and what she discovered instead

39:57 Vagal tone

44:39 Three tips for longer-term change

51:15 Five strategies you can use at work to soothe your nervous system during hectic days

1:03 Jen's Brick of Wisdom

Links:

Jen Mann and Karden Rabin's website (with book and program)

Jen Mann on Instagram

Mandy Lehto on Instagram

Episode 55 with Tatiana Poliakova