Power Pauses: The Secret to Reducing Stress & Boosting Energy

Are you constantly on the go, feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or stuck in a cycle of burnout? In this episode of Healthspan Digest, host Aaron Shaw welcomes yoga instructor, personal trainer, and author Megan Nolan to explore the power of movement as a tool for emotional well-being, stress relief, and overall resilience.

Megan shares her game-changing “Power Pause” method—a simple yet effective way to reset your nervous system, boost energy, and regain focus in just two minutes. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, busy professional, or high-achiever struggling with stress, this conversation is packed with actionable insights you can implement today.

What You’ll Learn:

✔️ How movement and breath-work directly impact stress and anxiety

✔️ The science behind shifting your nervous system in seconds

✔️ Practical strategies to build resilience without overhauling your schedule

✔️ How to integrate Power Pauses into your daily routine for lasting benefits

🔔 Your One Action Item: Set an alarm today for a short movement break and experience the impact firsthand!

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs it! For more insights on exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional well-being, and preventative care, follow Aaron Shaw and check out Megan’s book The Warrior’s Journey.

🎧 Listen now and start taking control of your stress & energy today!

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Transcript

Welcome to Healthspan Digest. My name is Aaron Shaw and I am excited today because I have a guest on my show. But if you're a first time listener, let me set the stage for you. I am a lifelong student of Healthspan. This is Healthspan Digest after all. Healthspan is a length of time within our lifespan that we are healthy, active, vibrant, and really engaging in life. And I really focus on what I think are five pillars to Healthspan.

being exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional wellbeing, and preventative care. And if we really kind of put some effort into these pillars, chances are we'll be not only extending our healthspan, probably extending our lifespan and really living life to the fullest. And I've been a occupational therapist and strength and conditioning specialist and health nut for a long time. I'm approaching year 30.

In my therapy career and coaching career, and the longer I do this, the more I realize there is so much more to know, which is why I'm excited to have my guest on today. He's going to give me more tools and shed some light on our health experience as well. This is Megan Nolan. Welcome to the show. Megan is a experienced personal trainer, yoga instructor, and author of a book titled The Warrior's Journey.

She joins us with tools to help ease our anxiety and cultivate our resilience, which is music to my ears, and currently residing in Maui. Yes. Thank you for joining.

Megan Nolan (01:42)

You're welcome. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

Aaron Shaw (01:46)

That's the your background for those of you that are watching a video is very oceany Maui foaming ocean waves coming up on the rocks is kind of what it the vibe kind of feels like. So very appropriate.

Megan Nolan (01:59)

Thank you. I call it Peacock

Whale Sparkle Water. You too can have one if you look up Google or not on Amazon. Gold and teal tapestry. You can have your own. But yes, thank you. I know it's pretty.

Aaron Shaw (02:10)

Wow. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool.

Well, can you tell us a little bit about your yoga and fitness journey? And maybe that's the warrior's journey.

Megan Nolan (02:21)

Yes, it is. You're right. Very well done. So yes, well, great to be here. I like to say that I am leading a global movement of women and humans, of course, that care so much about how they feel that they make time for themselves every day. And the reason I'm so passionate about that is because it's made all the difference in my life. And as someone who's I know might sound crazy, always loved exercise and always loved movement. Becoming a personal trainer was really

natural progression for me. My parents were very much wanted me to go to university and you know did but you know whatever. 40 grand I'm from Canada and this was a while ago so not as expensive as it is now. I came out with a piece of paper and I said hey guess what I'm moving to Hawaii and they were like what what is happening you're supposed to be a gerontologist and this and that which gerontology for those of you that may or may not know is the study of aging and I left my degree.

Realizing that basically exercises the fountain of youth and keeps us young and healthy and happy and I said, yeah Canada's cold. I'm from Canada originally Canada's cold. I don't want to be cold. I'm allergic to snow. So I moved out to the big island of Hawaii and

became a personal trainer. And it satisfied my parents to a degree because they were both medical professionals and I convinced them that it was preventative medicine. And it is, it certainly is. And you know, I had the research and the data to show it and they were okay with that. And so I did that for a little while, but realized that I wasn't really, you know, the classic personal trainer of the, know, I'm gonna push you till you puke and all that sort of vibe was never me. And so I realized that as someone who also loved yoga,

Aaron Shaw (03:40)

Very true.

Megan Nolan (04:00)

I wanted to become a yoga instructor as well. And so for me, it's been a marriage of those worlds and other worlds now that I've been learning other things and tools as well.

because it's really, I recognize that having these practices, having these rituals, these routines, these pillars of healthspan for me was foundational in my happiness, my health, truly. And as someone who has high functioning anxiety and seasons of sadness, it was a journey of looking for tools. And I'm certainly not adverse to medication and I know they can be really helpful in certain situations, but you're a multi-leveled, multi-layered being and there's many different aspects to you. And that's why I love your

approach of the health ban because there's so many pillars. And for me, I recognize that this tool set of movement is truly medicine, medicine in the sense that it nourishes and supports us. And so you're right, it is the warrior's journey. And you know, the the analogy from the yoga practice that

many people may not realize they've already been part of is that the warrior poses that we practice in yoga, right, which are pretty iconic. know, most people have done one or two. They're actually based on an ancient story, an ancient parable of a warrior who goes on a really difficult journey, who evolves and learns and grows along the way, who does the most challenging thing of all, which is learning to control its own mind.

and that's the journey of yoga and it's the journey of humanity. And it's really the journey, especially when and if you have mental health challenges. And I believe that since we all have mental health and we all have challenges to a degree, we all have mental health challenges. And I know you might want to dispute me on that, but for me, that's my opinion. And most of science backs that up too. And so that's the warrior's journey. That's been my journey. And of course it really has taken ups downs all around as it does for most people.

Aaron Shaw (05:35)

Never said. No.

Megan Nolan (05:50)

it took me to a point of being flat out, exhausted, resentful, burnout, completely depleted, anxiously spiraling like, you know, like a leaf on a spider web and recognizing, well, this isn't enjoyable. It's not sustainable. And I feel like I'm completely out of integrity considering I'm not practicing what I teach and I know what to do. I'm just not doing it in a way that's effective. And so for me, it was a, you know, the proverbial line in the sand and recognition of

Well, if we're gonna really do this, this being entrepreneurship and being a visionary and wanting to do these things that my heart tells me I'm here to do, then things have to change. And that's where I started to really lean into my flow framework and use the different tools that we're gonna lean into today a little bit and get people to experience. So that's really in a nutshell who I am and why I'm here.

Aaron Shaw (06:45)

That's great.

know, I think I do talk about these pillars again often and it's along the way it's kind of in my mind starts with exercise, exercise slash movement, which I think if you do nothing else, like focus on movement and exercise something and you'd be surprised like the positive carryover it has into a lot of other aspects of life. But if you could speak a little bit to that connection, like what have you seen in your experience with

maybe the emotional wellbeing or the stress and anxiety that we carry, how do you see that exercise and movement as a tool to deal with that?

Megan Nolan (07:25)

Sure, I totally agree. Well, first and foremost, in case you forgot, we are not rocks and we are designed to move and our body loves it when we do.

our sedentary lifestyle and the nature of our work. And for many people that are directly involved with technological devices all day long, mean, both of us are sitting in front of computers and multiple devices right now and people are listening on a device. You know, it's like, that's our life now. It's so important that we remember that in addition to your brain, which is your, you know, one of your primary tools that gets exercised by doing work and, different challenges and conversations, et cetera, et cetera, that your body is your

main tool for not only experiencing life, but making it through life. And it's so important that we recognize that its needs will become louder and louder and louder until we take care of them. You know, it's kind of that like, my car is making kind of a funny noise and you turn the music up and then it gets louder and then, you know, the wheel falls off. You're like, well, I guess I should go to the mechanic. Hopefully you don't get to that scenario. But you know, I'm being slightly dramatic, but it's the body.

It is constantly communicating with us, but its language is feelings and it's sensations and they're more subtle than the mind. And for those of us that navigate anxiety or other inner challenges, the mind is loud and squawky and just frow, frow, frow, frow, day long, right? Chattering away, that's the nature of the mind and that's the warrior's journey. But the body is so potent in its messaging tools.

if we choose to listen, right? It tells you that you're hungry. It tells you that you have to pee. It tells you that you're thirsty, but it starts to talk to you about movement if you start to feel that pain in the neck or maybe your hands go to sleep when you're sitting for too long. And so people tend to forget that...

when we take care of our body, that your energy level naturally goes up, that your productivity, your performance increases, you're just a nicer human to be around. And who isn't looking for that as like a number one goal. But when it comes to stress, when we move our body,

Ultimately, what we're doing is shifting the state of our nervous system. And the state of our nervous system impacts the function and the activity inside of our brain. And so if we are experiencing stress and we're feeling that tension and the overwhelm and they're tired and we're just like over caffeinated or whatever it is, we shift ourself into a stress state in the brain. And when we're under a survival or a stress state,

we don't have access to the CEO functions of our brain where we're creative and we're in our imaginative flow state leadership, confident energy, which is probably more the vibe that you're looking for, right? Like more the way you want to feel. And so when we move our body and it doesn't take a lot and we'll do some power pauses in a little bit, but when we move our body and we reset, it's like the reset button for your system. You know, if your phone's getting glitchy, you turn your phone off for a little while, you turn it back on, it's good to go.

When we move our body and we reset the nervous system, then you're shifting the inner state of your being, which then impacts what you're thinking about and how you're feeling and what you end up doing and the results that you have. And so it's this beautiful effect that we can have simply by making time and space for movement throughout the day.

Aaron Shaw (10:49)

Yeah, I love that. think that it would be, there's a couple of different ways when I think about movement and dealing with stress, anxiety, and it is either reactive or proactive. Right? think that there are certainly times when it's, even though I sit here and I preach it and read about it talk about it and teach it and everything, still being a human, not a rock, I too sometimes realize like, okay, I'm in over my head. I'm a little bit frazzled. I'm a little bit overwhelmed.

And even though there's this, maybe this innate urge like, I should just grind harder and get through the thing. Even though I feel like I'm kind of, you know, boiling over a little bit. Objectively, I know the best thing I can do is to go outside either taking the dog for a walk. I'm going for a mountain bike ride. I'm going to go hit the gym, just move my body. And I want to say suddenly and magically, even though it's very physiologically, but suddenly

Megan Nolan (11:47)

Thank

Aaron Shaw (11:49)

things are a little bit better, even though nothing objective about whatever was boiling over before, all this work is still there. There's still stuff to do, but it's just not a big deal. Everything's like, okay. Now things are better. And I realized that the thing that changed was me, my mind, my physiology. And I feel like the trigger or the solution perhaps is that exercise, is that movement, is

Megan Nolan (12:07)

No, no,

Aaron Shaw (12:16)

You know, getting my physicality head to toe moving around and stress starts to kind of diminish or the anxiety starts to diminish. So the question is, in thinking about like the clients you work with, like how, how hard is it maybe to, or what's your experience at least with teaching people is better to work on maintaining that. Then waiting until you're kind of.

Megan Nolan (12:40)

Mm.

Aaron Shaw (12:42)

boiling over, which I still have yet to kind master that sweet spot. And I'm sure there's not like a perfect equation, but what tips do you have for people who tend to find themselves, you know, kind of getting pushed too much, kind of feeling that anxiety building up? what is a good routine perhaps to have to not letting it out of control?

Megan Nolan (12:50)

No.

Well,

And I would love to answer that, but I'd like to speak to something that I think is really important is that we normalize that it's not ideal, but it's normal, right? It's what the human brain is designed to do. And our life is stressful, you know? And so I think like that's a big part of my mission is to start to normalize some of these challenges that have been really stigmatized or that people might carry shame around like, why can't I figure it out? Everybody else has this, but why am I like this? I can't, you know? And so the mind has a way of being hypercritical, right? It's part of our wiring to be.

focused on faults and problems. And so just give yourself some grace because that's a huge part of this whole transformation is self-compassion. And the antidote to anxiety and many mental health challenges is actually loving self-compassion. And that's access through the body and that's access through the heart. And so I wanted to just put that down first because I think it's really important, especially when people

like you and I and probably so many of your listeners are very driven and we're very passionate and we're used to being really good at stuff right away. And when we're not, it's like, what is this fault? It's going to be my demise, you know, and it's like, we turn it into something real big, real fast. So if that's you, me too. So.

Aaron Shaw (14:11)

Mm-hmm.

frustrating.

Mm-hmm.

Megan Nolan (14:26)

I'd say that that first is something really important and it's one of those things. Yes, laughing and playfulness, but it's true, right? It's so true for us to just be a little more gentle and a little more compassionate with ourself because we just, you just a thousand percent, no matter what your mind says, deserve that all the time. Okay? So most people don't come to me until they're in that like,

Aaron Shaw (14:48)

course.

Megan Nolan (14:49)

which

is again really really common and you know we'd love to think that you know preventative action would be a little easier to present and sell to people not so much right but like my coach is obviously business strategist marketing he's like well maybe you know painkillers are way easier to sell than vitamins and I'm like yeah no I know anyways so to your point

Aaron Shaw (15:10)

Yeah, exactly.

Megan Nolan (15:14)

Hopefully that was valuable for people too, but to your point, it's, we need to make it sustainable and enjoyable. So what does that look like to you? Right? We're not looking for a complete overhaul unless that's like what you're here for and how you do best. Most people don't really stick to that sort of thing, but whenever we can talk about it, if you want to, it's really looking at how can we drip this in throughout the day.

because it's all well and good for you to be doing a big amazing workout and a yoga practice and meditate for like an hour and a half in the morning. And then the rest of the day, if you're in the red zone and you're just tightly wound and you're at an 11, it doesn't really balance out, right? And, or if you do your workout and then you go sit for most of the day, it's what's called active sedentary and it doesn't really balance out. So how can we integrate these little power pauses?

little mini workouts, whatever that is for you, how can we drip that throughout the day? Like you drip water into your body throughout the day, right? We don't drink one big glug of water in the morning and call it a good one. We want to make sure we're hydrating throughout the day. So for me, that looks like helping somebody to create a little morning routine, a little ritual doesn't have to be a 5 a.m. Okay. So don't run away if that's not your vibe.

It doesn't have to be a 5 a.m., just a little something to get you up, get you moving, get into that strong, powerful, grounded, confident posture, get into the vibe of your vision, like all those things that is part of the flow framework that I do. And then how can you pause throughout the day and take a little time out? Remember when you were little and the teachers were like, get outside, you need to go out for recess.

These are like adult recess times. Okay. So taking these little moments, especially when you know, if you have that afternoon or the morning crash, or if you're like feeling that description that you gave earlier of just being up to your eyeballs and everything, and you're just feeling like you're totally shutting down, but you can't stop. And you're like, just one more thing. I can do it, you know, but you, you're not really being productive. You're not in that, you know, flow state, if you will.

Taking these little breaks throughout the day at intervals throughout the day to keep dialing down the stress ultimately is what we're doing, right? We're dialing it down so that we're not at an 11.

You know, we're maybe at like a three or a four. We're just kind of, because a little bit of stress is good. It gets you up, it gets you moving, but we don't want it so high that you're in the red zone, right? We want to operate in the green zone, which is sort of that middle lane. Like remember when you went to bowling alleys and you tried to stay in on the lane, you didn't want to get in the gutter, right? We don't want to be in the red zone and we don't want to be in the gray zone. And the gray zone is just like, forget it. I'm over all of it. I'm not doing anything. And just completely shutting down. So that's really where we look at operating from is how can we take these little breaks throughout the

day in a way that really supports your productivity.

Aaron Shaw (18:07)

And how

Right. So I think that's kind of the question. I'm curious how maybe describe like a typical new client that may come to you. And I'm sure this reach your probably like me, there's a variety of them, but I could see for some perhaps type A man, there's let me chug that water first thing in the morning and I'll do something. And then it's like, I'm hitting 11 all day long. Like how do you, how well are people receptive to

taking these pauses throughout the day or how do you coach that with people that are, that it may be new experience for them, new concept for them.

Megan Nolan (18:47)

Well, it's really important that they have a felt sense experience of what it does for them because type A personalities want to know why this is important and why is this valuable. So we talked about the neuroscience of productivity. We talk about brain activity. We talk about all that stuff because they're like, they get that, right? They get that. And they know that, you know, they don't want to be that tightly wound about to lose it, verge of a meltdown, constant energy person or version of themselves. So we talk about that.

Aaron Shaw (18:57)

Right, of course.

Megan Nolan (19:15)

because they want to know why, right? And that's fair, that's valid, and that's just a brief reason why. And then we look at what works for them. And I'm not expecting that, you midway through the day, they're like, going to run to a 20 minute yoga class. No, it's teaching people to do things that are going to fit into their day that makes sense. And so example is to look at those periods of the day when they notice their energy drops. And right before their energy drops, we schedule a two minute power pause.

Two minutes, right? Two minutes is completely doable. Or in that gap between the end of one meeting before the next one starts, they take a little power pause. So we look at how it can logically and easily fit into their day. They know the science now. They know the efficacy of this. So they logically know, but then they need to, and this is important, this is for all of us, we wanna make sure that they realize how, so it's measurable. That we look at how do I feel at the beginning? How do I feel at the end?

And then we start to look at the impact that that has on the period of time after, because if they were up here and they were really stressed out and then they came down a little bit and then they're like, like you said, it feels a little easier. I just got this great idea out of nowhere. my goodness. And so we look at that and then, you know, of course we, that's really where we start is that intrinsic understanding and the effect that it has on them and then making it manageable and.

best yet enjoyable in a way that they actually like and it makes it they'll more likely want to continue and do it.

Aaron Shaw (20:48)

Sounds interesting. Well, tell me a little bit more about these power pauses. What is a power pause? What does that mean?

Megan Nolan (20:56)

Yes, so power pause is just like it sounds. It's really pressing pause on the go go go so that we can power up our energy naturally. And so it's shifting your inner state by way of your body. Most people spend most of their day in their head, logically oriented to the future, and we're not spending a lot of time in the present moment. And so when we take our attention from the mind to a felt sense or a physical experience in the body, and we train

our mind to focus, then we learn how to control our mind rather than having it control us. Right? So we are using a movement, maybe a breathing practice, maybe a posture, maybe a combination, because many people that are very driven typically need to be doing one or two or three or four or five things so that they can keep their mind still. I totally get that. And so that's really a power pause. It's a little mindful moment where you're essentially taking a time out.

It's like plugging in the battery charger of your phone and giving it a little juice so that you're getting a natural reset. And so it can be as simple, you know, if somebody's feeling really anxious, if they're having a lot of that wound up energy, something as simple as just shaking your hands. So we can all do it unless your hands are on the sitarion wheel and just close your eyes. If it's safe, if it's not safe, you can keep your eyes open. Just shake your hands and shake your shoulders a little bit. Just feel how your body feels when you wiggle it around. So that can be a simple way to discharge.

stress energy, or if you are feeling like you really need to settle yourself down, we want to focus on grounding our body. So you can ground your body through pressing into your feet or your seat, bringing your attention to that downward anchoring of the energy, or something that's really simple for people that need a few things all at once, we can do it together, is we're going to inhale for a count of four and exhale for a count of four. And you're going to use your fingers to count.

the breath. Okay, so let's do it together. So if you can, you're going to close your eyes, if not, no worries. We're going to breathe all of our air out from the belly. Count on two hands ready, breathe in one, two, three, four, hold it. Exhale from the belly for four, three, two, one. Count on both hands ready, inhale for one.

two, sit or stand tall, three, four, hold your height, soften as we exhale, four, three, two, one, slower, inhale, one, two, three, four, taller through the spine, hold it, four, breathing out, three, two, one more, here we go, ready, slower, four.

3, 2, 1 and breathe out. 4, 3, 2, 1. Keep your eyes closed and just assess. How do I feel right now? Do I feel a little more centered? Do I feel grounded? Maybe you've noticed it as sleepy.

So what we just did there was shift brain activity from the amygdala to the prefrontal cortex, bringing it back online, the higher functioning aspect of the brain, the creative center. We start to down-regulate the nervous system, shift into a more coherent state in the heart rate rhythm, which affects neurochemical release. So not only did you just do some fun little counting and breathing, you actually made a measurable shift in your body at the same.

Aaron Shaw (24:36)

and it didn't take that long.

Megan Nolan (24:38)

And it didn't take that long. That wasn't even two minutes. know. so classically, you know, we take about a two minute power pause. It can be longer or less as needed, but it's really impactful, right? It's impactful. It's efficient. And so we're shifting our inner state and learning to cultivate calm resilience at the same time.

Aaron Shaw (24:57)

Love it. Super practical and no equipment, no gym membership needed. No gadgetry. Couple fingers to count perhaps.

Megan Nolan (25:00)

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yep.

Aaron Shaw (25:11)

So you could, I could see this being almost like, again, the, the blessing and curse of the technology is having the alarm on the phone where every two hours it goes ding. okay, that's my, that's my cue. Is that what you find people do to not let the day get a, cause it's hard, right? mean, I think we get focused on stuff and time, you know, you're in the matrix of whatever things are going on that it's maybe for me anyhow, it's not.

unusual to know what I should be doing, but I kind of get ahead of myself. And next thing I know, it's like, Whoa, I'm kind of digging a hole too deep here. Like, can see the value of having a alarm, frankly, just to kind of like, refocus.

Megan Nolan (25:55)

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, that's a huge part of what we do inside the power pause movement is setting it up for success. And so looking at your day and looking at where it's going to work for you to schedule these so that you're making that commitment to yourself, put them in your schedule and set an alarm. But hot tip is set an alarm that is a nice, relaxing sound.

We don't want to have the like blaring siren alarm because that's counterproductive to you.

getting into a nice relaxed state. You know, it was a trial and error. There was great feedback from one of our community members that she just got startled every time her alarm went off and we were like, well, let's pick a different alarm. my goodness, it's brilliant. But yes, we do need the alarm and the interesting thing is that, just to give you a heads up, is that very likely once you start setting the alarms until you really associate with how it feels after and what you're doing for your body, your brain's gonna be like, nah.

Aaron Shaw (26:25)

Yeah.

Megan Nolan (26:52)

Don't eat that right now. Don't, no, not, waste of time, waste of time, because it's going to try to protect you and keep you in that zone of familiarity because this is something new, this is going to stretch you, it's going to expand your consciousness and do wonderful things for you that we've been talking about this whole time. But your brain is threatened by something new and novel. And so until you make it familiar,

expect that there will be some mental resistance and that's indicative of your brain thriving and that it's going to be really good for you to do it.

Aaron Shaw (27:24)

Right.

And if it can be so vigilant, once you get in the habit, you'll be in good shape because it's going to force you or it's going to remind you to take those pauses. So that's even another win.

Megan Nolan (27:35)

Totally. Yeah. And the beautiful thing is that, you know, I know some of the pillars that you have with the exercise and the emotional resiliency is that you can combine and you can make power pauses whenever you want. Right. And so it doesn't have to be sitting and breathing. Ideally, I would love for you to not be sitting when you power pause. So that you're up and you have blood flow and you have muscles getting engaged that don't get engaged when you're sitting a lot. So putting on music, whatever it is for you and something that makes you feel that you enjoy. Right. This is the kicker. And this is why it's important to bring that levity and that playfulness.

and the expanded state of the nervous system and more elevated emotional states so that we can cultivate that emotional well-being while we're doing this, right? Because we love things that are giving us multiple benefits at once. And so that's where you can play with it and make it your own, but it's more about figuring out how you're going to stick with it, that you're going to get the benefit from it.

Aaron Shaw (28:29)

Yeah. One thing that comes to mind with the, the power of breath and just doing that exercise we just did. mean, I, I do practice breath work sometimes, especially like when I'm going to bed or kind of winding down, especially if, if I don't have the discipline or just sort of like the life is traveling or something like that. I don't have quite enough of my sleep hygiene dialed and I'm kind of up a little bit too buzzed or, know, excited, stimulated, I suppose, from the day.

Megan Nolan (28:55)

Thank you.

Aaron Shaw (28:59)

And I'm trying to go to bed, taking a few minutes and going through a breathing exercise. I can literally feel my nervous system change. can, I know my heart rate is going down and it's, it's kind of fun to kind of play the game a little bit to realize like, I'm actually controlling this. And, know, in my own little head, my own physiology, but I also think to, watching athletes and I can think of people.

Megan Nolan (29:15)

Mm.

Aaron Shaw (29:29)

basketball players at the free throw line or a kicker in the NFL or something. What they have in common right before that high pressure moment is that they all.

Megan Nolan (29:44)

Mm-hmm.

Aaron Shaw (29:44)

They all take

a deep breath. all do. And I can't imagine this as coach because I'm sure I did it back when I was in junior higher high school trying to throw a free throw, which I was always terrible at. I think that we know, you know, probably inherently like when we need to kind of calm down, like that sigh or that breath, like something clicks and something changes. And of course, if you're making living in these, you know, super high pressure short, you know, you got to perform for this one second.

You're going to try to regulate everything you can in a deep, they all do this deep breath. And so something changes. So imagining for listeners, like measuring that concept or think about this when you're looking, you know, watching sports the next time for, for something, then imagine if you're kind of leveraging that interplay intermittently throughout the day, like that has a ton of power on taking things down or not.

Megan Nolan (30:40)

It certainly does. And you're exactly right. And you can witness that across the board. And look at if we transfer that to a high pressure situation in the work environment, what do you think would change if you did that? You took a power pause right before you went into a really important meeting or presentation. What energy will you be going into that room?

with, what posture will you be in? What will you be presenting to people by way of the most powerful set of communication tools you have, which is your nonverbal? And so the energy that you bring into that room, because you've just had this intentional moment of hope and you're bringing yourself back to center, you're regulating, you're getting grounded, you're shifting the state of your nervous system, all those beautiful things, is you are going to be presenting in such a different way, literally presenting like what you're delivering, whatever, or the

conversation

or whatever it is. But the way that you show up will be completely different. And most people, you know, the information that we give non-verbally is so much more powerful in its level of communication and the amount of communication. And then of course, your actual verbal communication is going to be impacted and benefited by these things. And so think of it about it that way. That's a very high pressure situation, whatever it is, right? Whether it's the golf swing or, you know, the million dollar meeting.

It's that importance of who you are being in those moments while you're doing the thing. Because first and foremost, you're an energetic being. And so if you're able to tap back into that and use these tools to your advantage that are not only science-backed, but years and years old from a yoga perspective, it's really important that you recognize the practicality and the efficiency and the effectiveness of these tools for all the reasons that we've been sharing, but ultimately for...

how you're feeling, right, and the quality of each moment.

Aaron Shaw (32:36)

Yeah, so you have people track like a before and after like this, or at least during the learning process, learning phase, you you have people. How does that work? You have them take a little take a check in before you do the power pause, take a check in the journal or or assess what changes like how does that look?

Megan Nolan (32:56)

Yes, so that's it is that when the alarm goes off or when they decide when they are what we call feel in the feels, right? And that can be stress, overwhelm, anxiety, whatever it is, or just simply the, okay, here we go, it's time for me to do my power pulse. Is we shift our focus internally and we take an initial snapshot of how you're feeling, what your energy level's at on a scale of one to 10, you where are you?

And then as we finish the power pause, before we finish it, we check back in and see how you're feeling and just note the change. But the most important thing that we do at the end of the power pause, you've done all of this, you've checked in, you've done whatever modality of power pausing you're choosing to do or you're scheduled to do in that moment. Before we open our eyes again, you make a very intentional decision about who you are going back into the day as. You make a very intentional decision of

of

the energy that you're going back into the day with. Because you're at choice in every given moment, but your mind will tell you otherwise. But you are very powerful being when you use that power of intention and you make that decision. And so you're able to see like from one to 10, I went from a three to a five, that's amazing. But when you go back into the day and you've made that intentional decision of I am in my leadership energy or whatever it is that you're declaring.

That's the real benefit of everything that we're doing. And so that is where people start to notice, yeah, I went back into the day and I did this and I said this and I felt so powerful. And so that's really what we're looking for. So of course there's typically a measurable difference inside that two minute window, but it's the, this is how I felt when I made that, you know, I went and I had this really hard conversation and I felt like a million pounds was lifted off to me. That's the true benefit that we're actually tracking. So hopefully that makes sense.

Aaron Shaw (34:43)

Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

No, that's great. I could see the value in this very practical tool in high pressure. And I'm going to default to what my, my familiarity is with like a clinical medical clinical sort of, I know this, every job has stress and busyness stuff, but there's lots of

moments that are very stressful, stressful discussions and things like that. So could see the value in taking that pause before entering a patient's room or before having a tough conversation or board or, again, from your own self care, like, let me make sure I'm taking care of myself so I can take care of the next person that's coming in, you know, be more valuable to that person. So I think this is a very practical tool, which brings us to this part of the episode that I

really want to make sure that all listeners have one action item that they can do one thing they can do today to extend their healthspan, to improve their healthspan. And I'm going to leave this to you, but I got to guess on what we're going to talk about. If you had, if you could give advice to listeners, like what's one thing that they could do that would help support one of the pillars of healthspan or that tool be.

Megan Nolan (36:09)

So many to choose from.

I... I'd say...

Really being mindful about the length of time that you're sitting each day and every time you go to sit down I want you to set a timer I want you to set a timer for you know, whatever feels reasonable to you Some people tell me that 25 minutes 30 minutes is it's not enough for them to be productive in that window or whatever it is so at bare minimum not sitting for longer than an hour at a time and really Setting that alarm as needed, you know most of us need a reminder like that because we say we're gonna get up but if we get really

focus, we don't, so that you're not spending time in that weak, slouched, rounded, compromised position that's by nature stressful for your body and emotionally stressful as well as physically stressful. So that's where you can set the alarm. And then what are you going to do when the alarm goes off? Go star. Yes, you got it. Power pause. So I just made my tip into two tips there. You're welcome. But yes.

Aaron Shaw (37:08)

Yep, 100%.

I think it's what I'm going to call it one

tip. think if that, when that alarm goes off, you've got yourself a power pause and ideally that power pause would be getting your behind out of a chair. Then that's a power pause with a bonus. But I think that that is, yeah. So I think that that, that is very practical, very key. We can all do a better job of.

Megan Nolan (37:17)

Okay.

Yes.

Yes, sleeping booty is a real thing.

Aaron Shaw (37:40)

doing our version of a power pause, whether it's breathing, whether it's movement, whether it's a combination of those things. for somebody, done a whole bunch of ergonomic assessments and body and mechanics trainings. And there are some things that you can't buy a new keyboard to fix or a better desk or a better chair because we're not meant to be stuck in those positions no matter how so-called ergonomically correct it is. And we're meant to move. And so I love the idea.

Megan Nolan (38:05)

Hmm.

Aaron Shaw (38:08)

of anything that involves a recurring, I got to get up, I got to get up, which is also why I'm a big fan of telling people, yeah, you drink more water. Well, then I got to get up and go pee. Yes. Yep. Win and win. Look at that. Inconvenient, but also healthy, being healthy is convenient. So the one thing that we would suggest listeners do is set an alarm, a quiet, soft...

Megan Nolan (38:15)

Drink more water. Exactly.

Right.

Yeah, Tweeting birds, perhaps.

Aaron Shaw (38:38)

calm alarm, little gentle, quiet little nudge. Yes, perfect.

That would remind us to move our body a little bit, do a little power pause, work on your breathing, quiet your nervous system, get it back down to a place that will not only feel better, but you'll probably ultimately be more productive, more creative. Your work will be better. Your emotional well-being will be better. Winds all around. I would say.

Megan Nolan (38:50)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Aaron Shaw (39:08)

Well Megan, any final thoughts that come to mind? Any hot tips?

Megan Nolan (39:14)

Yeah, well, you know, in a lot of different areas of life, we talk a lot about ROI, return on investment, right? What we put in, we get out. And that's, again, is very applicable to this conversation because, you know,

This isn't a deposit somewhere that you can't see or feel. This is a deposit into you, your health, your longevity, the quality of your life and your healthspan. So that's huge. mentioning that, but it's also an ROE, return on energy. And so, you know, what you give to your body by way of power pauses and hydration on all the beautiful pillars of healthspan, you get back in energy, you get back in joy, you get back in focus, you get back in

inspiration because that's the way your body works. Your body's always striving for homeostasis. It wants to be in that state of playful regulation and calm authority in the nervous system. It wants to be there, right? But our life makes it a little difficult sometimes. And so that's why this is, it's on you, you know, and it's the most beautiful responsibility and the most important relationship that we have is with ourself. And when you make time and space about

for how you're feeling each day, pays off. And so hopefully, you you receive some beautiful benefit and some tips from this episode and all the other episodes that you have, Erin, but that's really one thing that I'd love to leave people with is that we, it's a really such an important component of vital lifestyle is making sure that you're prioritizing how you feel every day.

Aaron Shaw (40:56)

ROI and ROE. Check out the show notes for all the contact information for Megan's website and her book. And I've scoured it. Great information. She also has podcasts and podcasts on our site. So check out all that stuff and make sure you get in your power pause. As always, if you have any questions or I show ideas on anything healthspan related exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional wellbeing, preventative care.

Megan Nolan (41:07)

if

Aaron Shaw (41:24)

Send me a message. I love being the nerd and looking up some stuff and certainly getting people who are smarter than I am to come on and share their wisdom. So until next time, take care of yourself, do your power pause and thanks for joining us.

Megan Nolan (41:38)

Thanks for having me. Take care.