Transcript
A (0:05)
We all want to use the entire mental capacity. We have to make the best decisions to be strategic, to be tactical. But often we're in the stress, fight, flight or freeze mode. How can we get out of that mode to make return to a better thinking situation? So let's ask Dr. Stephanie Bacon how she shifts her client into using the whole brain. Welcome to the excellent executive coaching podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Katrina Burus and today we have Dr. Stephanie Bacon. Stephanie, welcome.
B (0:53)
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I think our work is really in alignment and this is going to be a great conversation.
A (0:59)
Yes, me too. I'm looking forward. My first question is, you say human capacity is missing in organizational performance. Can you comment on that?
B (1:10)
Absolutely. We don't talk a lot about capacity in terms of humans. We talk about financial capacity, we talk about skill based capacity. But what about our capacity to be human, of our ability to perform, think, and also feel depends on our nervous system. And so developing the capacity of the nervous system is kind of the foundational step to allowing people to have access to their full intelligence. And so when I talk about developing capacity, what I'm really talking about is getting people into the part of their brain that is the most high functioning and also getting into the part of the rest of the human system which is the heart and the body, and also allowing that information to lead people to more clear communications, better relationships, and of course, their ability to handle stressors in real time.
A (2:12)
That's wonderful. Give us an example how you do that so our listeners can really imagine the situation.
B (2:20)
Of course. So I'm guessing your listeners have started to notice that people are talking more and more about nervous system regulation, but they might not know exactly what that means. And so when we talk about regulation or dysregulation, we're really talking about the state of our nervous system which is running our body. And when we're dysregulated, it means that we're in a state that is fight, flight, freeze or fawn. And when we're dysregulated, because we're in that state, we're acting from a survival state. Many of us are already there because our lives are more busy than previous generations, more busy than, you know, human evolution has gotten us prepared for. So we are taking in inputs that the human body is not used to inputting. And that puts us into a survival state. Fight, flight, freeze or flawn. When we're there, we're using a lower part of our brain, different part of the brain. And I'M not a neuroscientist, but I've studied the brain enough as an educator to know that when we're in that place, it's really hard for us to intake new information with grace and with receptivity. And so from that place, there's always friction. New information, whether it's good or bad, helpful or not, is received as just another stimulus, just another thing for our body to have to manage. When we're in fight, we're going to say heck no. When we're in flight, we're going to ignore it. When we're in freeze, we're going to shut down. And when we're in font, we're going to say yes, but we're going to mean no, because we really can't take it on right at that moment. And those dispositions and those states show up in how we work. So when I work with clients, and usually I'm working with large groups and teams, the first thing I do is have them think about everything that's on their plate, everything that they had to set down in order to be at that meeting with me. And then I take them into a regulating practice. So I'm a certified trauma informed breathwork facilitator as well. And so I use breathwork mostly because it's a great tool for really busy people. I was a very busy person who really struggled with meditation or other mindful practices. But breathwork gave me a tool that was so active it could very quickly regulate my nervous system. It was something that was active enough that if my mind wandered, it came right back because I had to be doing something. So in my workshops, we'll essentially set down all the things on our to do list that are done. Dysregulating will do a three to seven minute breath work experience that usually changes the state of the nervous system. People come back to a regulated state, they come back to the prefrontal cortex in their brain, and they're able to then receive whatever the new information is, whether it's a new initiative, a new training, a new software they need to use with more intelligence. And that might show up as they're asking better questions or they're engaged in the learning, taking notes, they're collaborating better with their colleagues. Does that make sense?