Written by: Bev Ehrlich, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Why is it so painfully difficult for people who love each other to give their partner what they want and in return get their needs met too? What behaviors sabotage and derail our good intentions? Real intimacy requires a constant journey from disruption to repair. According to Terry Real, master couple and family therapist, and author of the bestselling book The New Rules of Marriage, there are 5 losing strategies that we move between in our intimate relationships. These will trip you up and seduce you into believing that you can get what you want from your partner! Unsuccessful Communication Instead of generating the deeper connection for which we long, these losing strategies push us apart and erode the intimacy and closeness you may have had at the outset of your relationship. And what’s worse is, that your losing strategies co-mingle with your partner’s losing strategies in a way that creates patterns that reinforce unsuccessful communication. Painful New Reality We now face the devastating reality that the sympathetic and compassionate person we married and deserved, is not the one we’re really stuck with!! Our first desperate move is to try and get that person back to become the person they were at the start of the relationship. We may try being reasonable, cajole, seductive, or even complain. However, the bottom line is that people do not like being controlled! It will never get you more of what you want! Now, frustrated with our failed attempts, most of us move into one or more of these 5 losing strategies: 1. Needing to be Right Conflicts are not resolved by eradicating differences but by learning how to manage them. What we really wish for is to be heard and understood. We long for us both to be on the same page about everything, but we’re not. The sometimes challenging reality is…we’re not the same person as our partner! We’re two different people with different world views and histories. To come to terms with this harsh reality we often become self-righteous and indignant about the correctness of our way of doing things. The relational answer to the question, “who's right and who's wrong?” is, who cares? What matters is how we will manage this challenge in a way that will work for both of us. 2. Controlling Your Partner No one likes to be controlled. Control can be direct like “Come here now and do what I tell you.”, or it can be indirect. We call this manipulation. Nobody gets anybody to do anything. The only thing that you can control is yourself and that's on a good day. This is a strategy that fosters resentment, mistrust, and more distance. 3. Unbridled self-expression This is a very common escalation for couples. “Two weeks ago you did that. You always, you never…” You do not have the unalienable right to emotionally vomit all over your partner. Guaranteed, it won’t make you feel better. What will make you feel better is working toward a solution that will work for both of you. Of course, you can share your feelings, but moderately and respectfully. Think of the impact your words will have on your partner. Try asking for what it is you want rather than releasing an unending list of complaints. 4. Retaliation This strategy is all about making the person hurt the way they made you hurt. The more we feel they don’t get what they’ve done to us, the more desperate we become to make them see things our way. We want them to feel what we feel. It doesn’t work. You can’t move or bully someone into remorse by hurting them. Learning to stand up for yourself with loving firmness will draw your partner closer to you and more likely encourage them to give you what you want. 5. Withdrawal This is going behind a wall. You can withdraw from a topic. “Let's not talk about Jimmy.” You can withdraw from an area. “Look, we're not having sex while I don’t feel connected to you.” You can withdraw from the relationship entirely by reaching out of the relationship or sinking into depression. Withdrawal creates resentment and makes it impossible for differences to be resolved. If you feel the need to withdraw from your partner, let them know what you are doing and make an agreement to stay in contact and reconnect to discuss things further. Take a look at how Terry Real suggests we promote trust, safety, and goodwill in your relationship with responsible distance-taking. What Can You Do Today? Take a moment to notice which of these losing strategies you keep using that are costing you connection and intimacy with the person you love. I personally have a two-step losing strategy. First I try and control and then when that doesn’t work I withdraw hoping my partner will run after me, realize his “errant” ways and beg for my forgiveness. It never works! However, now that I’m in relational recovery, on a good day, I can stop, pause, ask myself what I want, and tell my partner what’s really coming up for me and what I need from him right now. This helps us come back into repair so much quicker. And he doesn’t have to practice his non-existent mind-reading skills! We can come back from those places of disillusionment and resignation to love, respect, pleasure, and harmony. In my next article, I will share the art of relationship recovery using Terry Real’s 5 winning strategies. I’d love to hear what comes up for you! You can reach out at bevehr@gmail.com for support. Have a look and ask yourself whether you are using any of these “losing” strategies in an attempt to improve your relationship. If you are you may just be wondering why they are not working and you stay at loggerheads with your partner. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Bev! Bev Ehrlich, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Beverly Ehrlich is a relationship coach. She firmly believes that we heal, grow and thrive through healthy and cherishing relationships that show appreciation for each other’s strengths and build on them. Feeling helpless and strained when her husband of many years found himself in the depths of depression, they turned for support to Terry Real’s Relational Life Therapy (RLT). She has since dedicated her life to bringing couples back into healthy connectedness. Beverly encourages her clients to stand up for themselves with love while cherishing their partner at the same time. She teaches strategies that help clients speak their truth so that their partner can hear them and come into repair quicker each time.

Written by: Sarah Gibbons, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. We live in a world of information overload – right? It’s easy to get sucked into thinking that the more we know, the more we’ll become better leaders. As if by simply reading or listening to “the best 5 tools” will translate to new behaviour. Information doesn’t equal transformation. Just because you might have a new tool in your kit, by no means will it extinguish your humanness. Your humanness can show up in the form of your Achilles Heel. So what do you do about that? If you really want to up your game in how you show up and lead, start by getting clear on what your Achilles Heel is. And rather than trying to banish that part of you, build a relationship with it. I’m learning loads about the IFS model, and really subscribe to the idea that all of our parts are welcome (i.e. the anxiousness, the judgement, etc.) and we learn to build relationships with these parts, we experience so much more confidence and self-trust. Build a relationship with your Achilles Heel Some common ways I see people getting in their own way of leading aka their Achilles Heel: Self-doubt Choosing comfort over discomfort Trying to get it right – creating analysis paralysis Too many priorities Working on what’s urgent instead of what’s important Not asking for help Once you’ve identified your Achilles Heel, have a conversation with that part of you and find out what it needs you to know. That two-minute conversation can look something like this: My Achilles heel is trying to get it right – so I may say: SG: Trying to get it right – I see you. What do you want me to know? Trying to get it right: I’m worried if you get it wrong, you’ll feel stupid. SG: I see you wanting to protect me. Thank you for that, AND, just because I might not get something right, doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I can always course-correct. I’m committed to putting myself out there instead of playing it safe. I’m going to need you to step to the side while I be brave. Every time I talk TO the part that’s feeling triggered and trying to get my attention, I feel myself re-center. These parts of us that get in the way of us showing up and being who we’re meant to be, don’t have to derail us. They can actually help us. If you try this exercise on, let me know how it goes. It’s something you can do on the fly but it’s hugely profound. We owe it to ourselves, first and foremost, to show up as the brightest and fullest version of ourselves. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Sarah! Sarah Gibbons, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Sarah Gibbons is a renowned executive Success Coach based in LA who’s worked with incredible leaders like the LA Clippers, the Weitz Foundation, the teams at award-winning Creative Agency Hey Wonderful, The Talent LA, Executives at Google, Chiat, and more and she’s become known as the “LA Creative Whisperer” for her tough, but the real, effective and graceful approach to leadership coaching. In addition to running The Mother Board, she runs The Board, The Father Board and coaches corporations, organizations, and individual leaders. She’s also a wife, mother of three young boys, a philanthropist, published author, and inspirational speaker.

Written by: Martin Cunningham , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. A competency-based interview is an assessment method in which interviewers ask questions about your past behaviour to gauge your future potential. The idea is that your past performance is the best predictor of your future success. How can I prepare for a competency-based interview? As you prepare for your interview, think about times when you have demonstrated each of the competencies that are required in the role for which you are applying. The purpose of an interview is for the panel to meet you and to assess the match between you and the requirements of the job. Your aim during the interview should be to: Show the panel that your skills, behaviours and knowledge match the requirements of the role applied for. Demonstrate your understanding of the job and the organisation Demonstrate your added value Demonstrate your motivation Note: The panel want to hear about past performance as a predictor of how you will perform in the role. Panels are most impressed by confident, enthusiastic, and Knowledgeable candidates. In order to prepare well for the interview, you should start by Re-read the job description carefully. Think about what is required in the role, link answers to that, and become familiar with every aspect. Think about the key messages and impressions that you want to give about yourself (YOUR WHY) Prepare any potential questions that you may be asked. Prepare any potential questions that you want to ask. Practice and record answering interview questions using the STAR(L) model. Interview Answering Models STAR(L) Model STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result. (L) stands for learning , use this model, and show the learning linked to the role for which you are being interviewed, for answering interview questions wherever you can, especially when asked about a success, a failure, or a mistake. Learning and continuous professional development It is an excellent behaviour trait, and it sets you apart from most candidates who need to be asked follow-up questions. Situation: Set the scene and give the necessary details of your example. You must describe a specific event or situation, not a generalised description. Outline the importance of the situation and why the task needed to be done. Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation. If it was a Team task, explain it but add what your role in the task was. Action: Explain exactly what steps YOU took to address it. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution, keep the focus on YOU! I can’t emphasise this enough! Result: Share what outcomes your actions achieved. Don’t be modest here, be honest but not modest, sell yourself, and provide evidence why this panel should conclude that you would be a good fit. Take credit for your behaviour; remember they are looking at your past behaviour as a predictor of your potential in their organisation. If it was a team effort, you could say I was proud that my actions contributed to the Result of… Learning: I added (L) for learning to level up your performance, especially when you link the learning to the role requirements of the job for which you are being interviewed. 🎯 CAR (L) Model CAR stands for Context, Actions, and Results, and again I add learning. When structuring your answers, start with providing a brief context, followed by actions that were attributable to you as the individual, not part of the team (you could say in the context that your team was given the overall task of… but the actions are what you were personally responsible for. The next part is where most candidates shine or fall. Do Not Forget This! You need to state the result, outcome, and impact of YOUR actions. (How did you make a difference? why do we want to employ you?) Again: Take credit for your behaviour; remember they are looking at your past performance as a predictor of your potential in their organisation. Then really shine by sharing the learning from experience, linking it to the role requirement for the new role. Decision Making, Written Tasks When being asked to provide a document or where time is short or being interviewed by someone who wants the successful candidate to be transactional, you could consider the BLUF model. Use it sparingly and only if you are very accomplished at it and can equally evidence your transformational leadership style throughout other assessment elements. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) Basically, your conclusions and recommendations are placed at the beginning of the text or answer, thereby ensuring the answer is clear. In questions where they are testing decision-making, it can be a strong tactic, but I caution you that it is a calculated risk, remember that assessors are human too. Yours is one of many interviews they are listening to. When assessors are tired you must help them listen to your answer. Ensure you then offer your arguments and considerations of facts. Also, if time allows, repeat your recommendation. I would not advise using this unless you are well versed in its use; it will set you apart from the other candidates, but if it does not resonate well with the panel, you may not be successful. Persuasion For those of you considering how to demonstrate persuasion for the legal profession or a job where advocacy of your position needs to be more persuasive, rather than negotiating or influencing, try these: CARRL C –Clear Position State your position clearly and confidently A –A Specific Audience You need to know who you are talking to and adapt the communication style and arguments to meet the needs of the audience. R –Convincing Reasons Speak to the points to prove, stated cases etc… R –Rebuttal to your Argument Expose faulty reasoning for any rebuttal, have some in your back pocket also. L –learning; This could include Mitigating Circumstances and Remorse for the client or organisational learning and improvement for the Team, and Yourself. SSS S –Say it Once S –Say it Well S –Sit Down/Stop Top Tips: Become comfortable with whichever model it is that you are going to use. All too often, I have witnessed people attempting a model they have just heard about; they end up worrying so much about the structure that they forget to answer the question and end up failing to deliver as a result. If you are going to use a model, make it the way you approach most questions you ask between now and the interview. Tell your friends, family, and colleagues you will do this and ask them for their support and feedback. Why would you do this? The simple answer is: When put under pressure, human beings revert to type; if your type is someone who puts structure to your answers then, when nervous and under pressure, you will revert to type, thereby providing a comprehensive, focused answer, evidencing to the panel how well you might fit within the team and in the position applied for, even when nervous or under pressure. The other reason is that mastery takes practice; if you do not practice, you won’t master it! As previously outlined, interview skills are an eroding skill set, practice some of these models, and you may find one that is comfortable for you. If not, find something that is. Follow me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Martin! Martin Cunningham, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine From policing roots to a 20-year Senior Management career, with over 30 years of coaching and mentoring, Martin has seen at first hand the triumph of high achievement and felt the pain and disappointment of getting it wrong and being unsuccessful. As a senior manager in security and justice sector reform in Afghanistan and the Western Balkans, he coached at General Director and Ministerial level in politically charged situations. Martin understands what it's like to want more from your challenging career in an uncertain world. He's learnt the lessons and has the skills to help you make a lasting impact in a fulfilling career while making the world a safer place. Martin knows that until we fully embrace the voices of women we will not achieve the sustainable peace and freedoms we all deserve, it is why he is on a mission to increase the meaningful participation of women and men who share this mission who are working in Security and Justice Sector Reform countries in or emerging from conflict.

Written by: Mutita Panmook, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. In the era of technology, business owners rely on an intense strategy to stand out from others. Some strategies come with complicated, creative, and intriguing ideas. However, there is one type of marketing that prevents you from intense marketing competition, and today I’m going to tell you about organic marketing. What is organic marketing? First and foremost, organic marketing is the process in which you conduct a marketing strategy without using the advertisements or any paid sponsorship. It can be your blog, website, podcast, or any social media marketing. On the other hand, you have to do it right or it would be worth nothing in return. Since the marketing comes from your business directly, you have to be clear and state your goal in order to let the customers know your business easier. What needs to be considered if you want to do organic marketing? It is an undeniable fact that each business has to find their value or their strength to make their business be prominent. When doing organic marketing, the value or strength of your business is a key to success in the long-term. Since this type of marketing mostly provides a fundamental base for your company and helps you get closer to the customers. Finding a consistent value could help you gain loyalty from your customers, and it didn’t require much resources or budget. However, there is something that you have to jot down. Doing organic marketing doesn't help you succeed immediately, it takes some time after all. There are a ton of businesses out there, so it takes time for people to notice your business. Also, you have to spend your time to come up with the contents and you have to make sure the SEO (search engine optimization) will optimize your work to the potential customers. Therefore, it is quite challenging in the first place. Yet, it doesn’t mean that you cannot do that because there are many outsources that can help you with this. Outsource is here to help As mentioned earlier, it might be challenging to do organic marketing all alone. It is fine if you want an outsource to help you. Outsourcing could help you save both money and time and they are all experts who are ready to help you. There are many outsources that can help you, but I want to recommend outsource SEO. They are going to help you with the keyword to increase your search ranking. Also, they could help you gather useful data about search engine marketing. How to choose the best outsource for your organic marketing Case studies: Find an outsource case studies about organic marketing to help you see what they have achieved and whether you like their work or not. Asking for differentiation: If you want to make sure that outsource is right for you, you can ask them about their strengths and how they are distinctive from others. It could help you decide easier and see if they know their value or not. In short, if you are interested in organic marketing, the only thing you should prepare is your business value. Even if you will let outsource help you, having your business value could help both you and outsource work effortlessly. Want to learn more from Mutita? Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit her website. Read more from Mutita! Mutita Panmook, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Mutita Panmook is a business operation strategist who’s as known as ‘The Time Queen.’ She believes that time is the number one commodity in the world that you can’t get back once it’s gone. Because of that, Mutita helps small business owners and entrepreneurs build and design efficient business that supports their lifestyle with the Get UNSTUCK Method. Mutita's mission is to help business owners and entrepreneurs get unstuck from working on the hamster wheel. The goal is to reclaim their time to be with their families, do what they love with joy, or even travel the world, whenever they want, wherever they want, with whomever they want, and let their business work for them. She is also a host of Get UNSTUCK Podcast which helps entrepreneurs get unstuck in their journey through the guest experts' experiences. Mutita's joy is when her clients keep making positive impacts on the world and become an unstuck table.

Written by: Neptali J. Martinez, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. The workplace upheaval in recent times seems to have brought this question front and center: what is our purpose at work? We could attribute the recent pandemic and the emerging work-from-home (WFH) model as a significant reason for many employees to feel disconnected, disappointed, and disoriented in the work environment. Perhaps the latest round of layoffs by big name companies is adding to this confusion. Maybe the changes at a global scale we see reported on social media is also causing us to pause. Or it could even be our own internal revolution/evolution that is impacting us as individuals. Regardless of the reason, the news is filled with indications that employees are making drastic changes when it comes to their career and professional life. The big resignation reported on the news, the different expectations from the younger generations, the tidal wave of information at our fingertips, all seem to be challenging our views of what is our purpose at work. Many people may say that the reason they go to work is money. Others may say that it is the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile. And I’m sure there are other reasons that can be identify as a good “reason” to go to work. But the recent disruptions in the workplace seem to be challenging whatever “fundamental reason” that exited, which made us, as individuals, “want” to get up in the morning and, for whatever reason, head to the workplace. So, what happens when one day, as far as your job or career is concerned, you, as an individual, find yourself a changed person. Someone who suddenly doesn’t find satisfaction anymore in the type of work you’ve been doing up to now. You don’t see value any longer in the type of work you do. You cannot see yourself doing the same commute one more day. You simply don’t want to continue doing the same daily routine at the office. One of my clients shared with me how he became aware that he did not want to keep on doing what he was doing anymore. He was an experienced IT manager in charge of a group of professionals, running the IT department for his company. One day he received a letter from. the CEO informing him that he was the recipient of a Longer Service Employee Award celebrating his 20 years at the company. He told me that such letter hit him like a ton of bricks. He could not fathom having spent 20 years of his life at that company doing IT work. For a few days he could not function properly because it was difficult for him to accept that unless he did something drastic to change, he most likely will be spending another 20 years on the same situation at work! There was nothing wrong with his job, or the type of work he did, or the people he worked with. As he thought about it, his time at that company had been uneventful. His career had been a smooth ride. He worked hard, kept up with the advances in technology, and had climbed the career ladder in a way that satisfied him. So, what was the problem? Why did he feel so deflated? What was causing such disconnect suddenly? Withing the purview of the coaching services I provided for him, we concentrated on identifying what would make him happy going forward (career-wise), turning that into a goal, and eventually coming up with a new career to his liking. But finding the “why” of his drastic change simply stayed up in the air without an acceptable reason because he was not sure why he saw himself different upon receipt of his 20-year Longer Service Employee Award, to the point of not wanting to continue in his current career. And this specific client is not the only one I’ve seen to hit a brick wall in their careers. I’ve helped others who also found themselves tired of what they were doing and wanted to do something else. So, this situation is not unique. I’m using this client’s case as an example because of how sudden the change was for him. Donavyn Coffey, in her article: Does the human body replaces itself every 7 years? Perhaps offers some inkling as to why people change. “There are trillions of cells in your body, but the cells that you have today are not all the same you had yesterday. Overt time, cells age and become damaged, so your body’s cells are constantly replicating, creating their own replacements. This constant cellular activity has sparked a popular idea: Every seven years or so, your cells have been so productive that your body has replaced every part of itself — from your eyelashes to your esophagus. In other words, after about seven years of cellular replication, you’re an entirely new collection of cells, inside and out.” Was this why my client saw himself so different suddenly? Perhaps, but I don’t know. I’m not an expert in that field. Besides, he hired me to help him find a new career, not to find out the “why” of his drastic change. But the question remained with me, so I kept looking into this 7-year cycle. While Coffey’s article discusses the internal 7-year cycle of the body cells, from an external point of view, let’s consider the following: A baby is born and for about 6 to 7 years is fully dependent. From 7 to 14, that child becomes a teenager. From 14 to 21, that teenager becomes an adult. From 21 to 28, that young person matures, becomes fully independent, and can contribute to society. From 28 to 35, their career should be cemented, and their success should be evident. From 35 to 42, the individual should have a significant role, in social as well as in business circles. We could imagine the next cycles and the popular expectations we could attach to each, as the individual goes from 42 to 49, 49 to 56, 56 to 63, etc. My client was 39 years old. Did he suddenly realized that he had not yet achieved “a significant role” in life? Was he entering a midlife crisis? Did a new batch of cells in his body tip the balance into a new way for him to see things? It couldn’t have been just the 20-years-of-service letter, although that could have been the spark that ignited his “change.” I never learned the answer to that question but, while I was not able to answer why my client changed suddenly, I was able to help him move past that interruption in his career. Typically, situations like these are labeled as “problems,” “dilemmas,” or “complications.” However, based on the outcomes from coaching engagements with my clients, such situations become “opportunities,” “redirections,” and “transformations.” Not that such positive views are present at the beginning of coaching engagements. Typically, we begin talking about the “problem,” the “dilemma,” the “complication.” But then, slowly but surely, the negatives become positives, as the client reviews their current situation, explores new options, makes determinations, and develops new objectives and goals. New objectives and goals typically generate new energy, new opportunities, and new challenges in my clients. In these cases, “challenges” have a positive connotation. These are not the challenges that we face when change comes from an external source. A self-imposed challenge tends to be welcome, it tends to feed our spirit, and I’ve seen how it generates passion and grit in my clients. This client turned his encounter with that brick wall into an opportunity to reevaluate his life and his career. He used the pause the brick wall offered him to identify and select a new profession. He transitioned from his IT career to become a Human Resources professional. As he told me a couple of years after the coaching ended, he switched from “talking to computers to talking to human beings.” So, whether it’s our cells splitting cyclically, a midlife crisis, the seven-year itch, or any other type of influence that causes us to change who we are, and leaving it to the appropriate experts to find out the “why” people change, I continue to work with professionals that, finding out that they have changed, realizing they need a new direction in their careers, wanting to do something else, decide to start over, and look for a new way to obtain satisfaction from what they do at work. I’ve written a book titled, CoachAbility: Are you in the state or condition to be coached? The reason of the capital “A” in the tile is because I have found that each one of my clients, unbeknownst to them, held “Abilities” that allowed them to change, grow, and succeed in new careers and in new directions. In my book you will find many examples of how professionals unearthed those hidden “Abilities” during coaching, which helped them find new goals, new directions, and new purpose at work. Follow me on LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Neptali! Neptali J. Martinez, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Neptali Martinez is founder and principal at NJM Career/Leadership Coaching, which provides career and executive coaching for professionals in middle and upper management levels, business owners, and entrepreneurs in diverse areas such as Information Technology, Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, and other business organizations. As an author, Neptali has published more than a dozen articles in a trade magazine, and has published his first book, CoachAbility: Are You in a State or Condition to be Coached?

Alyssa is a formerly practicing attorney who now works with lawyers and legal organizations on topics related to lawyer well-being. This includes emotional intelligence, productivity, hormone regulation, and experiencing more pleasure in their lives. Alyssa is also passionate about dismantling White supremacy within the legal profession. She teaches, writes, and speaks on race literacy and why White people must address our race-based trauma. Alyssa Johnson, Wellness & Race Literacy Teacher How did you get into lawyer well-being work? My pivot from practicing law to becoming a lawyer well-being coach wasn’t direct. I graduated from law school in 2004 and practiced law in Washington, DC, until 2008. I quit practicing in 2008 and went to work in corporate America. In 2013, I left my job and my life in DC and spent about a year and a half traveling around the US and Costa Rica. I moved to Austin in 2015 where I currently live. When I left DC in 2013, I swore off law forever. I was burned out and completely disenchanted with the legal profession. From 2013-2019, I focused heavily on healing childhood and race-based trauma. In 2020, my heart changed and I started getting inner nudges to return to the legal profession but in the capacity of helping lawyers create more meaningful lives. I had been studying various aspects of well-being since 2013, including trauma healing, hormone regulation, productivity, and the power of living a joyful life, so I applied what I had learned to teaching, coaching, and consulting on those topics. What about race literacy work? How do you incorporate that into your work with lawyers? My race literacy journey began in 2015 when I was training to become a volunteer guardian ad litem with a nonprofit that works with kiddos in the child welfare system in Austin. During training, I learned that the majority population makeup of Austin is White, but the vast majority of kiddos in the child welfare system are Black or Brown. The only reason for this is that Austin is racist. As the trainers talked about racism within the child welfare system, I had a very stereotypical White woman response. I froze, I teared up, and I couldn’t talk about race. I had been taught that I wasn’t supposed to talk about race. I kept at the race literacy work and eventually healed enough of my race-based trauma to be able to facilitate racial literacy conversations with White people. It wasn’t until 2020 that I learned that White people have race-based trauma. I knew that people of Color had race-based trauma, but I didn’t know that White people have it, too. When I learned that, it completely changed how I went about race literacy work with White people. Now I take a trauma-informed approach and I make sure to incorporate our bodies and emotions in the exercises that I do with White people. A trauma response ‒ and a White supremacist teaching ‒ is to keep racism as an intellectual or academic exercise rather than an embodied experience. When White people make racism an intellectual experience rather than a felt-sense experience, it disconnects us from what’s happening in the body and emotions and it prevents deeper healing from occurring. Due to the nature of the legal profession, the mind is highly valued and our bodies and emotions are grossly undervalued. It has severe consequences. The work I do with lawyers in terms of racial literacy is about incorporating our bodies’ wisdom into the work and feeling things on a deeper level. This embodiment work, along with teaching concepts of racism and how racism is playing out in our profession, creates a more integrated experience for lawyers. We can then engage in race conversations much more meaningfully. Does the legal profession need to address well-being and racial literacy? Yes, on both counts. Numerous studies have shown that lawyers tend to have high rates of depression, anxiety, and stress. Our profession also sees high rates of substance use disorders, as well as suicidal ideations. When I talk to lawyers I often hear a similar theme: they want to work less, they want more meaningful work, they want less adversarial situations, they want to feel like they’re making a positive difference in society, and they want to be treated with respect and dignity. Some of these things are outside of a lawyer's immediate control, but some of them can be addressed by inner work. So developing and expanding a lawyer’s ability to go inwards and listen for inner guidance is crucial to creating a legal practice that better meets the lawyer’s needs. Racism is also a huge problem in our profession. Multiple studies indicate that people of Color are treated differently or experience aggression at work. Our profession holds a lot of power in society. We write the laws, we interpret them, and we enforce them. If White lawyers commit to doing our race literacy work and take actionable steps to dismantle supremacy within our profession, I don’t see how it couldn’t possibly flow into other areas of society. One of the drawbacks of being a lawyer is that we’re often expected to know everything. Perfectionistic tendencies and feelings of imposter syndrome tend to be high in our profession. These behaviors and feelings can prevent us from being curious, asking questions, and giving ourselves grace when we don’t know something or we make a mistake. Race literacy work requires curiosity, compassion, and grace as we navigate our inner worlds and explore the beliefs and feelings we're holding around White supremacy. So part of the work I do with White lawyers in terms of racial literacy is helping them unlearn some of the ways they’ve been taught to behave. I do my best to help lawyers feel safe asking questions and admit that they don’t know how to best handle race situations. Becoming racially literate involves addressing and healing our race-based trauma. Healing trauma requires compassion, grace, and gentleness. I've found that as lawyers do this work, compassion, grace, and gentleness flow out to other areas of their lives. Well-being improves in their lives. There’s a connection between racial literacy and well-being. How do you work with clients? My passion is teaching and I love working with organizational clients on topics related to well-being and racial literacy. My well-being trainings tend to focus on managing emotions, work-life balance, and stress management. For individual clients, I get to go deeper with the material than I do in a group training. I share exercises and tools with people to help them achieve their goals related to well-being. And I help lawyers find more clarity as to what they want in terms of their legal practices or things going on in their personal lives. Racial literacy is a bit different because it’s rooted in trauma healing. I go slowly with the content and do my best to meet people where they’re at regarding the feelings that are arising. Racial literacy work is a combination of educating people on history and why we’re at where we’re at right now in terms of supremacy, as well as incorporating exercises to address the feelings that are coming up. Supremacy teaches White people that we’re totally fine and not harmed by this completely false ideology that we’re superior because of our skin color. This is a lie. We’re hurt by supremacy and need to do our collective healing to eradicate racism. What’s the benefit of doing well-being or race literacy work? Both types of work require introspection because we’re addressing feelings of discomfort that we may be experiencing. The gift of sitting in our discomfort and allowing it to move through us is often clarity. We gain insights and ideas as to what our next steps are when we’re more aligned internally. With well-being work, lawyers often develop better boundaries with work or they shift how their days unfold so that they’re working more in alignment with their natural energy levels that ebb and flow throughout the day. With race literacy work, I’ve found that liberation lies on the other side of healing race-based trauma. An entire aspect of our consciousness opens up to us that may have been previously blocked due to race-based trauma. On this side of the healing, we can have meaningful race conversations with people of Color without falling apart, we can look at our behavior with a more discerning eye and be open to receiving feedback as to how or why we’re behaving in a manner that’s racist, and we become passionate about taking anti-racist actions because we want to dismantle supremacy. How do people reach out to you for more information? You can learn more about my work here. You can email me at Alyssa@alyssajohnson.love as well. I also work with The Opt-In™, which is a B Corp company that helps visionary leaders stay relevant through cultural strategy. The Opt-In focuses on building race literacy and cultural competency skills of leaders and organizations through an integrated curriculum and coaching approach. Aurora Archer, co-founder and CEO of The Opt-In, and I hold race conversations at companies around healing separateness between women of Color and White women. I also facilitate conversations with White senior leadership in companies on topics related to race literacy and healing race-based trauma that White people hold in our bodies. You can learn more about The Opt-In here. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Alyssa!

Written by: Dr. Allen Lycka, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Vulnerability is the birthplace of connection and the path to the feeling of worthiness, according to Brene Brown. It is the core of shame and fear and our struggle for worthiness, but it is also the source of empathy, compassion, and courage. To live a wholehearted life, we must be willing to let ourselves be seen. As human beings, we all have a basic need for connection. We want to feel like we belong and are loved and accepted for who we are. Unfortunately, our natural desire for connection is often met with fear, shame, and the belief that we are not good enough. When we are afraid of being seen, we build walls and armor to protect ourselves from rejection, criticism, and failure. We wear masks and pretend to be someone we're not to fit in and be accepted. But what happens when we let down our guard and show up as our true selves? We open ourselves up to the possibility of rejection and failure, but we also open ourselves up to connection and love. When we are vulnerable, we can connect with others on a deeper level and build trust and intimacy. Being vulnerable also means being willing to take risks. It means putting ourselves out there and being open to the possibility of failure. It means facing our fears and not letting them control us. When we are vulnerable, we can step out of our comfort zones and try new things. We can grow and learn from our experiences. But vulnerability is not just about being open and honest with others. It is also about being open and honest with ourselves. It is about looking at ourselves in the mirror and accepting ourselves for who we are, flaws and all. It is about being able to acknowledge our fears, our insecurities, and our mistakes. It is about letting go of perfectionism and always having everything together. Vulnerability is not weakness; it is courage. It takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable and to let ourselves be seen. It takes courage to be honest and open with ourselves and with others. It takes courage to take risks and to face our fears. The key to cultivating vulnerability is practicing self-compassion. Self-compassion means being kind and understanding to ourselves when we make mistakes and fail. It means acknowledging our imperfections and accepting ourselves for who we are. It means giving ourselves the same love and understanding we would give to a friend. When we can practice self-compassion, we can be more vulnerable to others. We can always let go of the need to be perfect and be open and honest about our struggles. As a result, we can connect with others in a deeper and more meaningful way. To cultivate vulnerability, we must also be willing to let go of the need for control. We must always be ready to let go of the need to have everything figured out and always be in control of our lives. We must be willing to let go of the need always to have the answers and always have things under control. When we let go of the need for control, we open ourselves up to the possibility of being surprised by life. We open ourselves up to the possibility of growth and change. We open ourselves up to the possibility of connection and love. In conclusion, vulnerability is not something to be feared or avoided; it is something to be embraced and cultivated. It is the key to connection, intimacy, and wholehearted life. It takes courage and self-compassion, but the rewards are Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Youtube, or visit my website for more info! Read more from Dr. Allen! Dr. Allen Lycka, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dr. Allen Lycka is acknowledged as one of the leading cosmetic dermatologists in the world. In 2003, Dr. Lycka was diagnosed with ALS and given six months to live. After fighting the diagnosis, he is here today as a result of his courage and tenacity. Having been given a “golden ticket” Dr. Lycka used his experience to co-author the books The Secrets To Living A Fantastic Life with Harriet Tinka, Pillars of Success with No.1 New York Times Best Selling Author Jack Canfield and bLU volume 1 with Corey Poirier. He is the host and executive director of How To Live a Fantastic Life show with 4 million listeners per episode. He is a sought-after speaker.

Written by: Lauren Cartigny, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. In a world where employee engagement is at an all-time low, employee churn is at an all-time high, and the economic climate is complex and uncertain, companies need to make drastic changes to adapt to drastic times. This article looks at how Leaders can adapt their leadership style to be more compassionate. “​​If you are tuned out of your own emotions, you will be poor at reading them in other people.” – Daniel Goleman Let’s remember the background of how we got here. The entire planet was locked down at home on and off for over 2 years, living in fear and deprived of human social contact. This resulted in people getting lots of time back from no commute and no social distractions, to reflect on their lives. After so many of us living in auto-pilot mode, all this time allowed us to stop and question our daily habits, the way we spend our time, who we spend our time with, and of course, what we do for a living. So when it comes to going back to resuming “normal” work life, things were always going to be hard. Things were never going to be the same. So how does this impact Leadership? This recovery phase requires Leaders to find more compassion to support their teams. Many doctors and scientists describe lockdown as psychological trauma, so like all trauma recovery is necessary. Equally, how do you find a balance between giving space to your team, who needs to adjust to feel seen, heard, reassured and motivated, while at the same time clarifying what is expected from them and when they need to dig deep and perform like never before? Challenge number 1 Finding compassion for ourselves, to find compassion for others Our relationship with ourselves sets the tone for how we relate to others, as leaders and as human beings. We cannot give to others, what we cannot give to ourselves. Finding patience to slow down, to listen, to seek to understand, and to be supportive, takes energy and compassion. The extent to which we can hold space for someone else will depend on how good we are at being patient with ourselves, slowing down, listening to our needs, and finding a way to support ourselves with or without the assistance of others. For example, if you are used to not asking for help, and doing everything yourself; you will project that onto others and expect the same from them. This may make you less compassionate towards others. If you take time for yourself to identify your needs and find ways to meet them, you will be more understanding of helping someone else with that process because it is familiar to you. Challenge number 2 Understanding the impact of diverse personality types Some Leaders will have access to the compassionate part of their personality more easily than others. Like everything some skills come easy to some and need practising for others. Being compassionate involves learning to hold judgement back, to be neutral, and to give someone the benefit of the doubt before jumping to conclusions. Some will find this hard. They may be more comfortable perceiving the world through actions, facts, and commitments. They may feel frustrated having to speak from a more emotional place, and that is ok. The key here is to learn how to tap into our compassion when we need it, for emotionally-centred conversations, for example, to deliver an inspiring speech to a demotivated team, to run a one-to-ones, to solve conflict etc. Evaluating our compassion levels through personality profiles can be a useful thing to do when establishing areas of leadership development in this area. However, I feel important to note that the days of thinking you can outsource that to someone else are over. Compassion is a must-have for Leaders today to address human behavioural issues such as engagement. People will do what you do, not what you say. Challenge number 3 Changing company systemic dynamics The nature of the culture of an organisation will depend on the Founders’ and the CEO’s relationships to compassion. If it comes easily and naturally to them, this will flow down in the organisation. They will tend to hire compassionate leaders. Their company values will tend to be inclusive and relationship-centric. If the people at the top of the hierarchy are more task, action and commitment based, the company culture may need more conscious interventions to bring more compassion into leadership style and team dynamics. Start-ups, and larger companies, tend to have leadership teams who are action, task and dedicated personality traits that are good at driving results. They tend to expect a lot from others and can be in danger of creating a culture prone to burnout if they don’t balance the high demands with compassionate initiatives and values. In conclusion Like everything, success comes from finding balance. We cannot drive results if we are too compassionate and too nice. At the same time, we cannot retain an engaged workforce if we expect too much from them, don’t integrate psychological safety in work cultures and invalidate employees' emotional needs. The best compassionate leaders I have came across were during my time working at LinkedIn. They are trained in compassionate leadership and know how to hold a space for others’ emotional needs, and at the same time are firm and demanding of results. The takeaway here is that when Leaders demonstrate that they respect their teams’ emotional and life needs, then they can rightly expect reciprocal commitment to respect their need for the delivery of results to keep the company on track in reaching their goals. The bottom line is that your employers are a reflection of how your leadership shows up for them. It may be a hard truth for some, but if anything, let it be a calling to invest in training leaders to be more self-aware and conscious of how they leverage emotions at work to drive results. It is my belief that Conscious Leaders will be in high demand in the future when companies realise that Leaders mastering self-awareness and emotional intelligence are the only ones creating high-performing teams, in these difficult times. What role do you think Compassion plays in Leadership? What examples can you share where compassion drives better results? If you disagree, what challenges do you see with promoting more compassion in the workplace? Either way, something needs to change. If this article resonates, let’s start a conversation, follow me on LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Lauren! Lauren Cartigny, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lauren Cartigny is a Business and Life Professional Coach for Executives and Conscious Leadership Trainer. Following a successful international corporate career in Sales for leading Tech firms, Lauren faced an unexpected burnout. After re-learning how to perform from a place of well-being as opposed to delivering results from a place of suffering, Lauren has created transformative coaching and training programs for high achieving Leaders seeking to empower themselves with self-knowledge to improve their well-being, their relationships, and their results. Lauren is the Founder of The Self-Science Lab a personal development training company for professionals seeking to find Peace, Power and Purpose.

Brent is a leading performance coach helping founders show up as their best selves within thriving, purpose-driven teams. As the Scale Coach for Founder CEOs, Brent works with entrepreneurs and leaders who are growing the size and impact of their businesses to tackle local and global challenges. He is also the lead coach at BASE Associates, a premiere provider of support to early-stage businesses, and co-author of Lead Together: The bold, brave and intentional path to scaling your business. Brent's purpose is to accelerate positive progress in the world, one leader, one conversation, one aspiration at a time. Brent Lowe, Scale Coach for Founder CEOs Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better. Thanks for asking. I’m a helper. Helping others is what gets me out of bed every day. For 30 years I have been finding ways to support others – first as an entrepreneur, then as an HR professional and for the last decade as a coach and author. My North American home base is the outskirts of Toronto, Canada where I live with my wife and two children. My family also spends time in Lille, France. When not working, I enjoy cycling or heading to the ocean to explore life underwater as a scuba diver. We are a family of avid travellers always on the lookout for new cultural experiences. What is your business and how do you help your clients? I am the founder and lead coach at BASE Associates. We are a business coaching and consulting company. Our team helps companies between 5 & 40 people to scale their operations. Over the last decade our team has become a trusted source for founders within the climate innovation space – especially those wanting to grow a healthy organisation culture based on freedom and responsibility. What inspires your work? The short answer is nature. We find ourselves at a unique time in human history. A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change indicated that, to avoid climate catastrophe, human civilization must undergo a radical transformation of unprecedented scale. Can we do it? It’s a big undertaking, and I’m optimistic. If we are successful, it will be due – in large part – to the efforts of bold, brave entrepreneurs. The best way I can help is by lightening the mental and emotional load for those working to preserve, protect and regenerate our ecosystems. Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today. My first experiences as an entrepreneur began when I was a teenager. My knowledge was low and my anxiety high. The absence of entrepreneurs within my family left me without a support network – with one exception. A family friend was (and still is) a therapist. She took me under her wing helping me manage the emotions that come with the entrepreneurial roller coaster. My time with her was transformative. Ever since my focus has been on marrying together business acumen and psychology to support entrepreneurs. Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far. I’ve had the privilege of supporting over 100 founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs and executive directors. In turn, I have learned from their stories. Along with co-authors Susan Basterfield and Travis Marsh, I captured my learning in our book Lead Together: The bold, brave, intentional path to scaling your business. As with any creative endeavour, putting a book out into the world is a vulnerable thing. I’m happy to say that Lead Together has been well received. The book has since released in audio and been translated for Chinese readers. What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future? Our company vision is to meaningfully contribute to 50 ripples – businesses that have a sizable impact on local, regional or global climate improvement. So far we have supported some big successes and we have more work to do. Personally, I’m continuing my learning and development journey. To be of most help to my clients, I need to keep deepening my expertise. When our clients come to us, they need help and deserve the best support possible. 95% of our business comes from referrals. Each referral is a measure of trust. A core component of trust is my competence as a coach and thought partner. A successful future is more ripples and more referrals. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Brent!

Written by: Amanda Dounis , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. This article answers some curiosities why kids should go to a psychotherapist. 5 cool reasons that help you understand the usefulness. After reading this article, you will feel more comfortable knowing what kids get out of psychotherapy. Enjoy. Reason 1: To know if there is support available Too often kids grow to feel alone. They can feel isolated and feel like no one understands. Sometimes kids also find it difficult to turn to their parents. Having a trusted adult becomes useful. This adult may be a teacher, a friend, a parent, a coach, or anyone that they feel a trusting connection with. A psychotherapist offers one step further and is equipped with skills. A psychotherapist is trained to deliver techniques. A well-trained psychotherapist is equipped with the necessary skills to provide a trusting therapeutic relationship. Inside this relationship are non-judgment, care and professionalism. Being non-judgemental is an essential ingredient to allow for exploration and growth amongst the young client. It becomes a pathway to travel together with curiosity and discovery. Feeling supported is key. Reason 2: To become self-aware Awareness is a form of grounding. Some young clients may be aware of what's not right, or what happens to them after an emotional outburst. Perhaps they may be able to generalise about behaviour that they wish to change, but can't specifically point out problem behaviours. A well-trained psychotherapist can provide opportunities for young clients to become more self-aware. Increased awareness of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Awareness of themselves, their need for control, emotions and the sensations they produce, and all that comes with both comfort and discomfort. Imagine how much easier it becomes to tackle a problem or gain skill if an individual is well connected within themselves and therefore self-aware. This can lead to a sense of responsibility with what they can control and letting go of what they cannot control. Reason 3: To work towards solutions by building skills Instead of staying on what's not working and focusing on problems, it would be beneficial for young adults to move to solution-building. Teaching them to ask themselves "whereto from here" and "what's next" and some future paced suggestions. This helps move from a 'stuck' position. Suggestions work well. A flexible mindset is also part of a solution-oriented approach. Using imagination can lead to possibilities of outcomes. Add some creativity and wonderful things can happen not just to thoughts, but perceptions and therefore interpretations. Just this change alone helps with moving forward. Reason 4: To learn tools moving forward Put simply, after rapport is built, young adults get to learn about techniques that may be useful. I like to point out here that techniques do not work alone. They are helpfully utilised by individuals. Consider for example how many different ways one situation can be reframed. Grounding can be used differently by each individual. Imagine all the different ways you can ground yourself. Mindfulness can be used by anyone at any time of the day. So it becomes a useful tool for young people to recognise when they need it, and how they will use it. In a sense, it's the tools that they already have within. I believe we all have these tools. Life sometimes has some surprises for us and we can't access what we need at certain times. In a sense, we become contaminated with limiting beliefs. Until we access our internal resources. Reason 5: To discover ways of accessing internal resources Looking back to look forward is a great way to access internal resources. For example, ask a young individual "do you remember a time when you were able to…". Looking back on this memory can empower one to identify their strengths. Just because they are stuck now, it can somewhat be reassuring to know they have the skills inside, and decide what they need to let go of, or do, so that they can access their internal resources to move forward. Guided visualisations, writing and problem solving, drawing and planning are creative ways of accessing internal resources. Breathing, meditations, and mindfulness help centre and quiet the mind and body so that there is more connectedness. This also helps with synchronising internal resources. Now you know that there are a bunch of reasons for kids to see a psychotherapist. We could write a whole book about it. Click here for a great read on parents, kids, and the windstorms of life. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , Li nkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Amanda! Amanda Dounis, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Amanda Dounis, is a leader in kids, tweens and teens coping skills. A professional award-winning leader in the early childhood industry, Amanda has added wonderful tools to her therapy practice. Amanda says it's difficult for these kids working through these challenging years. So she enthusiastically joins their ride to show them to smooth over bumpy roads and keep moving forward. In the end, it's the challenges that give them the opportunity to practice their coping skills. She certainly promotes self-empowerment through courage and curiosity.

Written by: Lake Angela, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. These activities are calming movement exercises appropriate for any body, activity level, and ability. I have developed these particular exercises during pregnancy to help maintain balance—certainly physically, but mostly cognitive-emotionally. Early on in pregnancy, I performed these creative concepts with more variety in movement quality—sometimes sharper, faster, lower, higher, and so forth. The videos I have provided as demonstrations, however, were improvised at 39 weeks of gestation, so in these examples the quality of movement has changed naturally to accommodate the weight of a much larger baby and to ease pelvic pain, while the expressive capacity remains just as variable and open to individual creativity. Above all, performing these concepts creatively to different kinds of music to correspond with mood, or to silence for more range of creative expression, has facilitated a sense of calm that other kinds of movement, like the walks recommended by doctors, have been unable to match. 1. Movement in Circles You can picture your objective as creating spheres around yourself by drawing circles in space, body part by part. By focusing on tracing each circle, you will begin to regulate your breathing in a more natural, intuitive pattern without thinking about breath directly. Begin with the first circle in a slow, sweeping movement, either close to the body if you need to build up to the idea of taking up more space, or in a slow, elongated gesture that widens the very first circle around you. If you created the first circle with a hand or fingers, move to a different body part for the next, perhaps the elbow or wrist, or any body part you feel especially could benefit from movement at the moment. Circles can be drawn beginning horizontally so that they orbit the body on different planes, such as high, middle, and low. They also can be drawn beginning vertically or at any angle so that you end up moving circles around yourself in ways that create a sphere. By the time you have explored enough directions and options for movement qualities around you and your baby, you should feel more focused and calmed. Here is a brief demonstration of movement in circles, although this exercise can be much more prolonged and much slower for greater relaxation and focus. 2. Slow Motion Dance The title of this activity describes quite literally how to move through this Dance Healing exercise. Begin with any body part and move as slowly as possible in a direction, not stopping until that body part reaches its natural full extension. Flow to a nearby body part, such as from wrist to elbow, to make the most of the slow-motion fluidity of this kind of movement. It may become difficult as pregnancy progresses to move slowly downward and upward from the base and the hips or pelvis, but such slow, deliberate movement eases pelvic aches and increases blood flow. It also helps you maintain strength and balance in a body with rapidly changing fluid levels and a shifting center of gravity. As you practice the slow, extended, and deepening movements, your breath will follow your body’s example. Here is a brief, improvised demonstration of a slow motion dance, but keep in mind that your movement does not need to look like what we consider dance to be “correct” or valuable. Your prior movement experience throughout your life will influence how your slow motion improv will look, and the focus is on internal feeling and expression rather than on outward form. 3. Seated Flamenco Improvisation This is one of my favorite Dance Healing activities for any ability and condition. The exercise is adapted from a flamenco improvisation in Barcelona in which a significant goal was to involve more sensation in various body parts during traditional flamenco dancing. Rather than wear flamenco shoes, we used bare feet for some parts of the improv and sat for other parts so that we could focus on developing more fluently expressive arm and hand movements. I have adapted the seated activity for Dance Healing during pregnancy. To begin, sit on a chair, ball, cushion, or any comfortable surface with enough room for the hips and pelvis to relax. Using flamenco or other music that moves you, experiment with circling the wrists, leading with pinky fingers and the other fingers spread, or leading with middle and ring fingers with the other fingers following closely. Allow the arms to trace arcs or half circles. Inward and outward are equally acceptable directions in this style, so you can experiment to find your preference. Now add a sensual-tactile dimension: sniff the arms as they pass by the face; touch the torso and hair as your arms arc down and up; open and close your eyes, really looking at your fingers as though they are the most fascinating, mysterious things you have seen. Taste if you like! Experiment in any way that feels interesting to you in the moment, without thinking too much about your intention to keep from becoming self-conscious or halting the intuitive experiment that will build into creative expression. Upon reflection afterwards, note your favorite moments and most soothing or exciting gestures based on your sensory feedback. Here is a demonstration of a seated flamenco improvisation. Afterwards, you can develop and create a choreography out of your favorite movement patterns or continue practicing these experiments just to experience the joy of moving in new ways! Feel free to share your improv videos or contact me to collaborate. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Lake! Lake Angela, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lake Angela is a poet, translator, and dancer-choreographer who creates at the confluence of verbal language and movement. As Director of the international multimedia group Companyia Lake Angela, they offer sessions in guided healing through poetry and movement and provide a platform for schizophrenia spectrum creativity. Their full-length books of poetry, Organblooms (2020) and Words for the Dead (2021), are published by FutureCycle Press. As poetry editor for Punt Volat, they select and publish innovative new poetry in four languages with co-founder Kevin Richard Kaiser. As co-founder of Poetry Midwives Editing Services, they help aspiring writers polish their manuscripts for publication. Lake holds a PhD from The University of Texas at Dallas for their intersemiotic translations of German Expressionist poetry into dance and their MFA in poetry.

Written by: Jo Kelly, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Maintaining a healthy immune system is important for overall health and well-being, especially during high virus and infection activity periods. While many factors can affect the immune system, including genetics, age, and environmental exposures, research shows that certain nutrients play a key role in supporting immune function and improving overall health. Here are seven top nutrients to support your immune system. 1. Vitamin C Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for immune function. It helps the body produce white blood cells that fight infections and reduce inflammation. Vitamin C is also a potent antioxidant, which means it helps to protect the body from damage caused by free radicals. Foods that are high in vitamin C include: citrus fruits berries kiwi broccoli bell peppers 2. Vitamin D Vitamin D is another crucial nutrient for immune function. It helps to activate immune cells and reduces inflammation, making it easier for the immune system to fight infections. Vitamin D also plays a role in bone health, and a deficiency in this nutrient can result in weakened bones and an increased risk of fractures. Foods that are high in vitamin D include: fatty fish egg yolks fortified dairy products Sunlight exposure is also an excellent source of vitamin D. 3. Zinc Zinc is an essential mineral that plays a vital role in immune function. It helps the body produce immune cells and antibodies and reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, which can damage the immune system. Zinc also plays a role in wound healing and DNA synthesis. Foods that are high in zinc include: oysters beef chicken beans pumpkin seeds 4. Probiotics Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that reside in the gut and help support immune function. They reduce inflammation, improve gut health, and increase the production of antibodies. Probiotics are especially beneficial in improving the immune function of individuals with compromised immune systems. Foods that are high in probiotics include: yogurt kefir sauerkraut kimchi. 5. Omega-3 Fatty Acids Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats that can help reduce inflammation and improve immune function. They play a role in brain and heart health and may also help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids include: fatty fish flaxseed chia seeds walnuts 6. Selenium Selenium is an essential mineral that plays a critical role in immune function. It helps to reduce inflammation, supports antioxidant function, and improves immune cell activity. Foods that are high in selenium include: brazil nuts seafood eggs sunflower seeds 7. Iron Iron is an essential mineral that helps the body produce red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body. It also supports immune function by helping to produce immune cells. Foods that are high in iron include: red meat poultry fish beans spinach In conclusion, a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of foods rich in these seven nutrients can help support immune function and improve overall health. All of these nutrients can be found in supplement form, however, it is recommended that a food-first approach is taken. Care should be taken with supplements, as overdosing on some nutrients is possible, and can be dangerous. Always consult with your healthcare provider before reaching for nutritional supplements. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jo! Jo Kelly, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jo Kelly is a registered Nutritional Therapist, who specialises in supporting people with auto-immune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus to name just a few. She uses nutrition and lifestyle recommendations to help her clients with their condition and feel the best version of themselves. Jo studied at the world renowned Institute for Optimum Nutrition, and is pleased to have helped hundreds of people since launching Flourish with Nutrition. As a huge foodie herself, Jo appreciates all too well that food must be enjoyable. Therefore, Jo endeavours to ensure clients have fun with their food, and works closely with them to make personalised recommendations that work, and are sustainable. References: Carr, A. C., & Maggini, S. (2017). Vitamin C and immune function. Nutrients, 9(11), 1211. doi: 10.3390/nu9111211 Aranow, C. (2011). Vitamin D and the immune system. Journal of investigative medicine, 59(6), 881-886. doi: 10.2310/JIM.0b013e31821b8755 Wessels, I., Maywald, M., & Rink, L. (2017). Zinc as a gatekeeper of immune function. Nutrients, 9(12), 1286. doi: 10.3390/nu9121286 Gill, H. S., & Rutherfurd, K. J. (2001). Probiotic supplementation to enhance natural immunity in the elderly: effects of a newly characterized immunostimulatory strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 (DR20™) on leucocyte phagocytosis. Nutritional research, 21(1-2), 183-189. doi: 10.1016/s0271-5317(00)00222-8 Calder, P. C. (2013). Omega-3 fatty acids and inflammatory processes. Nutrients, 5(7), 2502-2521. doi: 10.3390/nu5072502 Rayman, M. P. (2000). The importance of selenium to human health. The Lancet, 356(9225), 233-241. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(00)02490-9 Siva, S. (2013). Iron and the immune system. Journal of clinical and translational hepatology, 1(4), 235-238. doi: 10.14218/JCTH.2013.00031