We've heard of physical fitness....and we've heard of physical therapy. But have you ever heard of mental fitness? You may believe mental fitness is about getting your brain in shape. Is there a way I can lift mental weights? Maybe brain squats? Or Benchpress your beliefs? Can you picture a little sweat band around your brain as it strains itself while doing mental jumping jacks? While a fun image to consider, that's not exactly what we're talking about here. Mental fitness is an exercise that our guest today, Jen Uschold, uses to shift our brains from the ruminating negative side (what she calls the saboteurs that "live" in our brain) to the positive, creative, problem solving side (which she calls our Sage Powers) 

Early in her career, Jen was drawn to helping others by empowering them to help themselves. As a physical therapist, she was drawn to the idea of not only health coaching, but pain science and neuroscience education. Today, she weaves together these complementary disciplines within the practice of Mental Fitness which uses the power of PQ exercises and preparation-choice-repetition techniques to quiet the thoughts that can sabotage or hijack your thinking and, instead, helps her clients draw on their sage powers to navigate the challenges of life.

Jen had been using these techniques to help people who have been living with chronic pain. However, she found the combined techniques associated with physical therapy, pain neuroscience education and wellness coaching work in so many walks of life and now focuses on using these techniques with women going through divorce and making BIG life transitions using an app driven program and she's willing to give Dear Midlife listeners a 20% discount!! So, if any of you out there need support, you can claim your discount by going to THIS SITE and using checkout code dearmidlife20.

In today's episode, Jen teaches us:  

1. The right side of our brain contains our Sage Powers and the Left Side the saboteurs. The Saboteurs are your greatest strengths in and over exaggerated state. We can use PQ exercises to calm the Saboteurs.
2. When your nervous system is activated and your anger and frustration is rising, imagine the other person is a child you are speaking to. Have the conversation from a place of recognition that the other party is doing the best they can with what they know and meet them there with compassion.
3. Play the "yes and...." game as a way to generate creative ideas and solutions. Always look for at least 10% of truth in what the other party says and then build on that!
4. All pain is real, but your brain can choose and/or prioritize when and how you feel pain. Pain can be located in the tissue or can be psychological and is defined with a bio psycho social model. But we are all one system and pain contains all three.
5. Exercise is one of the most important ways to alleviate pain. It calms the nerves

To find more of Jen:

Website | iriseforme.com 

https://www.iriseforme.com/mental-fitness-training GET 20% with the checkout code dearmidlife20

LinkedIn | jenuscholdpt

If you ARE finding yourself in these big life transitions, know you are NOT alone. We are all trying to figure out how to navigate the messy middle.We are on this journey with you. Please leave us a review and let us know how this content is resonating with you and helping you navigate this crazy time in life. Make sure you click follow. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.