A mother's worst nightmare became the catalyst for profound healing and transformation when Brigitte Apostolakos' six-year-old daughter suffered a catastrophic brain bleed during COVID lockdown. With 90% of her daughter's left cerebellum compromised, medical professionals offered little hope for recovery. Yet through desperate research and intuitive understanding, Bridget discovered the remarkable power of neuroplasticity and began whispering intricate visualization meditations to her daughter that literally rewired her brain.
This traumatic journey led Brigitte to develop a powerful three-part methodology that transformed not only her daughter's life but her entire family's wellbeing. Drawing from her background as a yoga instructor and functional medicine health coach, she discovered how breathwork directly controls our nervous system through the vagus nerve, creating a foundation of calm that makes meditation accessible even for those who struggle with focus. Combined with intentional visualization techniques, this approach creates lasting neural pathways that can help anyone overcome limiting patterns and beliefs.
Through her company Thrivewell Corporate, Brigitte now brings these evidence-based practices into workplaces, helping professionals manage stress, optimize sleep, and improve overall well-being. Her approach emphasizes actionable tools like morning sunlight exposure to regulate circadian rhythms and tracking sleep quality to make informed lifestyle choices. She explains how social connection can sometimes override poor health habits, reinforcing the integrated nature of true wellness.
Whether you're navigating a personal health crisis, struggling with chronic stress, or simply seeking to optimize your well-being, this episode offers practical wisdom and inspiring hope. Discover how simple breathing techniques can immediately shift your nervous system, why visualization is more powerful than positive thinking alone, and how becoming aware of your sleep patterns might be the key to unlocking your full potential. Ready to transform stress into strength? This conversation shows exactly how it's done.
Brigitte's book recommendation: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra
More about Brigitte Apostolakos NBC-HWC
As the Founder of Thrivewell Corporate, I am dedicated to transforming workspaces through innovative stress reduction strategies and Lifestyle changes. After a tragic event rocked my family in 2020, my passion became my purpose. Healing past trauma birthed my understanding of the nervous system in a new light, and the relevance that it has on every aspect of health. My credentials include:
• Over 20 years’ experience in Wellness and Mindfulness practices
• A feature format creator for Lifetime Fitness Inc. I’ve developed and implemented one of Lifetimes first ever Breathwork/Meditation classes
• Graduate of Functional Medicine Coaching Academy
• NBC-HWC Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach
• Trained in Positive Intelligence, a leading program for executive and team coaching
• Continuous studies at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine with a focus on food as medicine
• RYT 500 Registered Yoga Teacher
I combine evidence-based techniques with a deep understanding of workplace dynamics to design customized programs that empower people to realize their potential.
https://www.Thrivewellcorporate.com
House of JerMar: houseofjermar.com.
Instagram: instagram.com/houseofjermar/
YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@Houseofjermar
Read Jeanne's Book: Two Feet In: Lessons From and All-In Life
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Her odds of surviving this magnitude of a rupture
were not great.
But what's worse than that waswe don't know what quality of
life she would have should shesurvive this.
But you do what you do and indire situations you put one foot
in front of the other and I hadto get strong.
(00:20):
I had to get strong fast forher and I had to get strong and
had to get strong fast for her.
When she finished all of hersurgeries procedures and she
began the road to recovery, shehad no use of the left side of
her body.
She couldn't talk, she couldn'teat, she couldn't even handle
her own secretions.
And I, you know, said to theneurosurgeon like what are we
(00:41):
looking at?
Like, what does recovery looklike here?
And thank God he said this.
He said look, neuroplasticityfavors the young.
She's six Other areas of herbrain can rewire and take over
the functions of the leftcerebellum.
Like, neuroplasticity isincredible.
(01:02):
And, of course, because she'syounger, she has more access to
this.
And I knew at that moment likemy only purpose, my only job
right now is to make this childbelieve that she's going to get
better.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Welcome to the House of Germar podcast where wellness
starts within.
The House of Germar is alifestyle brand, empowering
women to live all in throughinterior design and personal
wellness.
We are a destination for womenready to reimagine what is
possible in their homes andlives and then create it.
We are honored to have you joinus on our mission to empower 1
(01:42):
million women to live all in.
I am your host, jean Collins,and I invite you to become
inspired by this week's guest.
Welcome to the House of Jarmarpodcast where wellness starts
within.
I'm your host, jean Collins,and today's guest is Bridget
Apostolakis.
That's a mouthful, andhopefully I got that all correct
, oh, my balls.
(02:04):
So I am so excited to have heron the show.
She is the founder of a companycalled ThriveWell Corporate,
and we are going to talk aboutsomething I'm very passionate
about, which is breath, work andmeditation, but those combined
together, and how she helpscorporations bring that into
their environments.
She transforms stress intostrength.
I am so excited.
(02:24):
So, bridget, welcome to theshow.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
It's great to meet you.
Thank you so much for having mehere.
It's really nice to be here,thank you, it is so wonderful.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So we met before this .
Actually, we got introduced bya mutual friend.
We hopped on a Zoom callearlier and she started to tell
me her story and I was like, ohmy goodness, we have to share
this story because the story ofhow she got to be where she is
and how she found breathwork andmeditation and started her
business is just reallyfascinating.
So if you would mind sharingyour story which I will tell
(02:54):
everyone does have a happyending but if you would mind
sharing your story because it'spretty traumatic.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, no, I'm happy to share it because it really is
integral to who I am today.
Before I begin that back up, Ithought I'm happy to share it
because it really is integral towho I am today.
Before I begin that back up, Ithought I was going to be an
early childhood educator.
That was kind of the path Itook and over 20 years ago I
took my first yoga class and Ijust remember lying in Shavasana
at the end thinking, oh, I'mgoing to do this the rest of my
(03:20):
life, like it just felt likehome to me.
Of my life, it just felt likehome to me.
So I ended up becoming a yogateacher and started a family and
everything was crawling perfect, lived in the suburbs, had
three beautiful children, untilone day it all just crashed on
top of me.
It was June 12, 2020, right inthe middle of lockdown, and I
(03:44):
had this thought I was swimmingin the pool with my little ones
Twins were six at the time, myoldest was 16.
And I remember thinking I lovelockdown.
Like this is my happy place,I'm not late anywhere, I don't
have to see anybody, I don'thave to do anything, I just have
to hang with my family.
Like this is the to hang withmy family Like this is the
(04:06):
happiest time of my life.
I go in, I make dinner, it'sabout 7 pm and my husband's in
the pool with my girls and oneof my little girls rushed into a
kitchen holding her head,saying my head, my head, feels
like it's on fire and she vomitsand passes out and I can't even
make sense of what's happening.
(04:26):
I'm thinking is this COVID, isthis dry drowning?
But I knew something reallyhorrific was happening.
Something was reallydesperately wrong.
I rushed her to HuntingtonHospital.
At this point her pupils aren'teven dilating.
I mean, she is really hangingon to life and she's six years
(04:48):
old.
I mean, I couldn't even, youknow, reconcile with this.
And, to their credit, theyimaged her brain and said she
has a brain bleed, which was thefarthest thing from what I
could have possibly imaginedwhat this is, what I could have
possibly imagined what this is.
They rushed her to Cohen'sChildren's Hospital, which is
(05:14):
just an amazing, amazing place,into the hands of a remarkable
pediatric surgeon who told methat she had something called an
arteriovenous malformation.
I'd never even heard of that.
That at that moment rupturedand it was a monster.
This malformation took up 90%of her left cerebellum.
They rushed her into surgery.
They make a very long storyshort.
She had five differentsurgeries procedures.
(05:35):
She had a stroke in her medullaat one point.
She was a mess and her odds ofsurviving this magnitude of a
rupture were not great.
But what's worse than that waswe don't know what quality of
life she would have should shesurvive this.
(05:55):
But you do what you do and indire situations you put one foot
in front of the other and I hadto get strong and had to get
strong fast for her, put onefoot in front of the other and I
had to get strong and had toget strong fast for her.
When she finished all of hersurgeries procedures and she
began the road to recovery, shehad no use of the left side of
(06:18):
her body.
She couldn't talk, she couldn'teat, she couldn't even handle
her own secretions.
And I, you know, said to theneurosurgeon like what are we
looking at?
Like, what does recovery looklike here?
And thank God he said this.
He said look, neuroplasticityfavors the young.
She's six Other areas of herbrain can rewire and take over
(06:40):
the functions of the leftcerebellum.
Like neuroplasticity isincredible.
The functions of the leftcerebellum.
Neuroplasticity is incredibleand, of course, because she's
younger, she has more access tothis, and I knew at that moment
my only purpose, my only jobright now is to make this child
(07:02):
believe that she's going to getbetter.
That's paramount to heractually getting better, if she
has any shot of this.
So I dove deep into researchingneuroplasticity.
How do I, you know, double downon this?
And what I came up with wasvisualization.
And it's actually reallyinteresting Whether you think of
something or you actually dosomething.
Those two neurons, they speak,they spark and they create a
(07:25):
neuro pathway.
And the more often these twoneurons speak to each other,
they hardwire together.
So I would whisper in her earthank goodness for my yoga
teacher training background.
I did a lot of guidedmeditation.
So I'd whisper in her ear thesevery, very intricate
visualization meditations aboutwalking in sand and really
(07:47):
feeling the weight of your body,the texture of the sand as you
walk crunches.
And she started to get better.
She started to get better andit was incredible, miraculous.
If you met her today, she's 11and a half and you wouldn't know
.
You would not know she'swalking around.
(08:15):
90% of her left cerebellum isgone and she does, tiger Shulman
.
She runs and plays, she fightswith her twin like cats like
animals, like it's.
It's just incredible.
But something else kind ofswitched in me at that moment.
I realized, oh my gosh, we'regoing to get our miracle here,
but I'm not sure I'm going tomake it Like.
I was so traumatized and therest of my family was collateral
(08:37):
damage.
Her twin was emotionally justreally not handling it well.
She was just six years old.
Her mom abandoned her.
Her twin is gone in the middleof the night, just poof gone for
six months.
Even my oldest, my straight Astudent, my classic overachiever
, couldn't even get on Zoomschool.
She was just mentally juststruggling so badly and I
(09:00):
couldn't even drive withouthaving panic attacks.
I remember pulling over on theside of the road thinking I'm
going to have a car accidentbecause I'm going to pass out.
But I know how to breathe.
I know how to breathe.
Normal breath is six counts in,I'm going to pause, I'm going
to exhale for six counts.
And thus I dove really deepinto breath work.
(09:21):
Now, besides being a yogainstructor, I also had became a
functional medicine health coach.
So I had a background in theparasympathetic nervous system.
I had a background in thescience where breathwork,
meditation, visualization meetsscience.
I really leaned deeply intothat.
So I have a little ADHD.
So I would teach meditation butpersonally had a really hard
(09:45):
time embracing it.
Hence my addiction to yoga.
Because it was a breath linked,moving meditation was active,
so it was.
It was quieting the voices inmy head and that's why I loved
it so much.
But when I started to divereally deep down the rabbit hole
of breath work, I realized wait, when I do breathwork I can
(10:13):
meditate.
That's the only time in my lifeI actually could meditate and
what I learned was breathworkliterally controls your nervous
system, which has two branchesparasympathetic, sympathetic
fight or flight or rest andrepair and your diaphragm
touches your vagus nerve fightor flight, or rest and repair.
And your diaphragm touches yourvagus nerve, which is the boss
of this autonomic nervous system, trips you into a
parasympathetic state, puts thebrakes on stress, your heart
rate, slows down all thephysiological things that go
(10:35):
along with coming out of fightor flight.
And once you're in aparasympathetic state, only then
can you attempt to meditate,because otherwise, like it would
be like being chased by a tigertrying to meditate, like it's
just a really really hard, whichis how many people feel about
meditating.
Yeah, and I meet so many peoplenow, when I do this with them,
(10:57):
they're like you don'tunderstand my brain.
Like you know, I'm like, no, Ido, I do.
But so it's that method that Icreated, starting with breath
work to stop the stress response, moving into meditation, which
is the same brainwave pattern asdeep sleep.
So all those physical benefits,those healing benefits that
(11:29):
take place during deep sleepalso take place during a
meditative state.
And then I realized, wow, thisvisualization that literally
rewired my daughter's brain,post-brain surgery, is
applicable to all of us.
Like we all have patterns,beliefs that no longer serve us,
(11:50):
like we all could use a littlerewiring.
And thus the method was bornBreathwork, meditation,
visualization.
And visualization also is kindof rooted into energy work.
Really, you're vibrating to ahigher frequency where your
(12:10):
thoughts have power.
So, yeah, so that's my story.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, that's a big story.
Okay, so before we keep going,let's back up to your daughter
for just a minute.
So she was sick and took a longtime to get better in order to
be able to come home, and so I'masking this on behalf of
everyone else.
It's like, okay, yeah, I cantry to believe that, rewiring my
brain and visualizing something, but it doesn't happen
(12:41):
immediately.
It is like your brain becamewired based on time and based on
those past happening over time.
How did you maintain thestamina to just keep doing it
and keep doing it and keep doingit?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Neurosurgeons have this saying that fire together,
wire together, so the more theyfire together.
So it's not one time youvisualize something, once you
manifest it, we're good, likeit's, it's creating that super
highway, that that that real,this pathway, that it can be
(13:18):
permanent.
So yeah, with her was easy,like she wanted to get better.
I desperately wanted her to getbetter and the world stopped
for us.
But now, like you know, wetransitioned to other things
like my, her twin, like hasabandonment issues.
I mean, these are the thingsthat sometimes it's a lifetime
(13:41):
of work, right, but it'sworthwhile work.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, so what made you to decide that you wanted to
take this work to a corporationto help companies?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So I continued to teach yoga.
Like after our world, you know,normalized and post COVID I do
yoga.
I teach yoga and I have a lotof clients that are struggling
with balance and I took thisinto professionally like, okay,
wait, can we use thisvisualization for balance?
(14:14):
So balance has a lot ofingredients, right, there's
proprioception, there'svestibular, there's core
strength, but there's alsowhether you see yourself
standing in tree pose oractually coming into tree pose,
you're still firing those same,you're waking up those neurons,
those pathways.
So I started to do a lot ofthis work for my yoga clients
(14:38):
and bringing in more breathworkmeditation.
So I work at Lifetime Fitness inSyosset as well and I actually
formatted their very first everbreathwork meditation class and
I'm happy to say it's hugesuccess.
Like the different walks ofpeople that walk into that room
is just astounding to me.
Like we're all like at a placewhere we're just kind of open to
(15:01):
this and are able to to jumpdown this rabbit hole, which
makes me very happy.
And, as they said, I'm also ahealth coach and I realized, oh
my gosh, like I spent so muchtime like diving into proper
what's nutrition, like what'sthe best way to eat, dissecting
sleep, how do we optimize oursleep?
And we have all theseingredients, but if your
(15:22):
foundation is you're in fight orflight, like you're going to
fight upstream in an uphillbattle, even if all your habits
are on point, kind of like it'snever one thing right, it's
everything.
So this huge piece of the puzzlewhich a lot of us have been
missing because, honestly, it'sbeen for decades this idea of,
(15:47):
like grid and pedal to the metal, I'll sleep when I'm dead, it's
really done us a disservice.
It's really done us adisservice because we're kind of
stuck in that chronic fight orflight Because, like everything
else, the more you do something,the more you hardwire.
So if you wake up every day ina stressed state, you're going
(16:09):
to stay there, right, you'regoing to hardwire that way and
you're going to wake up revvedup.
And so, yeah, it's thatpurposeful intention to enter
peace over and over again, untilit becomes your home base Until
it becomes natural and youdon't have to think about it
again.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, so out of personal curiosity, what does a
breathwork meditation class looklike?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
So, I typically because I said I have a little
ADHD I do mostly guided.
I know there are somemeditation teachers out there
that want to sit in silence andlead to sit in silence, and
there's nothing wrong with that.
But personally I kind of needan anchor and so that's who's
gravitating to me.
So I start with breath work,and I start with two different
(16:56):
types of breath work.
The first one is a little bitof a faster breath work to
really just awaken your energy,raise your vibration, kind of
flood your body with oxygen.
So a quicker breath work wouldbe I don't know if you're
familiar with Wim Hof.
He has this very active breathwork.
Or what's making a lot of wavesthese days is the physiological
(17:18):
side.
They're doing so much researchon that.
So I'll start with somethinglike that or in yoga,
kapalabhati, breath of fire, andthen I'll move into a slower
breath and it could be simplebox breath or four, seven, eight
, or inhale for eight, exhalefor eight, just something to
really put the brakes on and youcan just really feel your body
(17:41):
start to melt once you do thatand then segue into a guided
meditation, and sometimes it'sjust.
I like the visual of light a lot, so sometimes it's just
inhaling white light and justflooding your body with light.
Other times it's a yoga nidra,where you're placing your
attention to different parts ofyour body.
Yoga nidra, where you'replacing your attention to
(18:03):
different parts of your body, orsometimes it's a chakra cleanse
, or just you know pretty much.
There's so many different.
Just any type of guidedmeditation and then
visualization could be verydifferent, but like a blanket
one for the masses.
That I like to do is simply seethe best version of you in your
mind's eye.
Just see yourself blissfullyhappy, like the peak of physical
(18:27):
and health, living the bestversion of your life, and don't
see it as a wish or a dream, butsee that as your reality and
vibrate to that frequency andsee what happens.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, which is a good one.
I love that one.
So I would also think, asyou're explaining all of this, I
wouldn't have to live in LongIsland to be able to work with
you, to do such a thing, becauseeverything you're talking about
I can envision I could have asession with you and you could
walk me through all of that overZoom.
I wouldn't have to bephysically in your presence,
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I do a lot of remote work and I started ThriveWell
Corporate as a corporatewellness company, although I do
have private clients.
But I feel like after COVID,probably before, this mass
epidemic of just stress andanxiety permeates our society,
and what better place than forcompanies to take care of their
(19:22):
people in this way?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, so talk to me about you know, I'm assuming it
would be like an HR departmentwould be reaching out to you,
right?
And what do you do to helpcompanies, help their employees,
you know, obviously, withstress being the pillar, which
is a key.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I love that you're helping companies with their
employees and helping themreduce stress.
That's amazing where we wouldmeet remotely on Zoom and it
(19:59):
really does, especially forthose remote workers.
Like we're all searching forjust social connection and it
just it's the great unifier,right, we're all just kind of
showing our underbelly, you know, like these are my struggles,
right, I don't sleep at night,or you know, whatever it may be
Like it really is a greatunifier.
See people as just people justtrying to be the best version of
(20:20):
themselves.
And typically, week one, wewould really just break down
what is stress, right, like howdo you heal your nervous system?
How do we create that as ourfoundation?
And then week two, how do weoptimize sleep?
Right, because that really isthe first domino when you're
trying to improve your health.
Then we break down nutrition.
There's like a milliondifferent diet plans out there.
(20:40):
There's so much confusion, likewe have so much information we
don't know how to apply any ofit.
So, really, what should we befocusing on?
And movement exercise.
And embedded into each workshopor each week, it invariably
ends with a breathworkmeditation session, because yeah
(21:08):
, that's just near and dear towho I am.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Oh, that's important.
So companies bring you in.
I love this.
You have a multi-day platform.
You really help people focus onstress and focus on sleep.
Can we talk about sleep for aminute?
Because I think I live by themantra that sleep is so
important and back in my day,when I worked at Corporate
America, I never got enoughsleep and I was like that person
who was like I'll sleep later.
I need to get up to work out,and now that I have learned so
(21:29):
much more about health and howmy body works, I'm like, oh, I
was not actually doing myselfany service by not getting sleep
and getting up to work out.
That actually wasn't reallyworking the way you would think
mentally that it would work,because if you don't get the
sleep, then everything else youdo isn't working as well.
So can you talk to me about howdo you because everybody's body
is different, but how do youwork with people to really think
(21:50):
about sleep differently?
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Okay, so I think we've all had this thought where
we could trade sleep forproductivity.
I could just sleep five hours.
Oh my gosh, I could get it alldone.
Like we think of it as acommodity that we could trade
and, as you and I figured out,it doesn't work that way.
(22:12):
Sleep can be your superpower.
If you want to be on, you knowmore level-headed to think clear
, to be more physically, youknow stronger, better to show up
in the world, sleep is asuperpower.
So sleep is governed by thecircadian rhythm.
(22:33):
Your circadian rhythm isgoverned by lightness and
darkness.
It's hard to have that shift inthinking of simple things as
medicine and powerful.
But sunlight is medicine.
We are supposed to be timed ourclocks.
(22:55):
We need way more sun exposurethan we're getting.
And I'll say a little caveat Ihave had melanoma in situ.
Thank God I caught it early.
But we're such a reductionistsociety, right, we want black
and white, right?
Is it good or it's bad?
Let me know, is sun good or issun bad?
Does it cause cancer?
(23:16):
Okay, sun's bad, but it's notthat simple.
There's infrared light, there'sUV light, uv, yes, be careful.
I'm not saying go out at 12 noonwithout any sunblock on, but I
am saying getting that 10minutes in the morning of
sunlight, 10 to 20 minutes, toset your circadian rhythm.
(23:38):
We have photoreceptors in oureyes that literally respond to
sunlight and create vitamin D.
That same pathway that we'recreating vitamin D from sunlight
, we're also creating dopamine.
The human body is incredible.
We're also creating dopamine.
(23:58):
The human body is incredible.
But to try to make that a habitto watch the sunrise and the
sunset as corny as that seems isthat'll do magic.
That'll do wonders to settingyour circadian rhythm and to
helping you sleep.
Another thing that I foundreally, really helpful is
investing in an either an auraring or a whoop to track your
restorative sleep, cause it'snot just I got one.
(24:19):
Oh, isn't it fabulous.
People can't see the video.
I have one yeah, Mine's on mycharger.
I love my aura ring.
I'm obsessed with it.
I've been wearing it for yearsand it's the first thing I do
when I wake up.
I'm like no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I had dessert, I had dessert and then all of a sudden
the aura ring is telling me Ididn't get good sleep.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, and, and that's powerful.
That is powerful to see in realtime how your habits are
affecting you.
And HRV is another really greatone to to to check.
So when we are in a, are in agroup health coaching session or
even a private health coachingsession, we really work to what
are some of the well-knownthings that will help you get
(25:24):
better quality of sleep, Becausewe need seven and a half hours,
because that's roughly fivesleep cycles.
Another really useful tip wasdon't use the snooze.
Another, like really you know,useful tip was don't use the
snooze, Because I used to usethe snooze for an hour because
it felt so good.
Every time I can go back, I cango back, but I was killing an
(25:44):
hour of restorative, what couldhave been restorative sleep.
And that restorative sleeptowards the morning is really
heavier.
Leaning to REM stage Earlier inthe night is heavier, leaning
to deep sleep.
But REM stage is where you, youknow you really your brain
detoxes, that beta amyloidplaque detoxes, you file your
(26:04):
memories.
So, yeah, there's, there's someactionable items that that we
like to go to go over, but thoseare pretty much the big ones,
you know.
Sit your cloth with the sun.
Don't eat late at night.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
And awareness.
Awareness, like you said, Ithink awareness is something
that you know the Apple Watch,the Oura Ring, all the other
devices at least for mepersonally, it brought such
awareness to the quality of thesleep.
It wasn't just the amount ofhours that I was lying in bed,
but it was also what's thequality of that sleep and seeing
(26:39):
things like what's going onwith your heart rate and waking
up in the morning and having thering tell me that you know what
, my resting heart rate wasactually too high, right, and I
was like, oh, you know, I wentto bed and I kind of felt
stressed and then seeing how formyself, how that carries over
into the quality of my sleep andsome people are like me, some
people aren't, but I kind of getaddicted by the score it's
(27:00):
going to give me and I'm like,oh, my goodness, my readiness is
in the toilet today.
It's telling me I need to takea nap.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
We all engage in magical thinking, right I'm?
Like whatever it tastes good.
How bad could this be, exactly?
When you see it show up like ohmy God, like my body struggled
last night, Like if I eat like aheavy meal or a bad meal or ice
cream or something bad before Igo to bed and my respiratory
rate's elevated, my heart rate'selevated, and it's like oh my
(27:29):
gosh, like that's likesignificant, Like my body
struggles all night long.
Right and that really is agreat, you know catalyst for
behavior change.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It is and it helps you make informed decisions.
And it's like it's not to say,oh, I'm never going to eat a big
heavy meal, or I'm never goingto drink at night, or I'm never
going to eat past eight o'clock,but recognizing that if that
becomes your everyday pattern,that actually really isn't good
for your body.
And so if you can make differentchoices on a regular basis.
That actually is good for yourbody.
(27:59):
And then I also find, because Itry to meditate in the morning
and I find if I don't sleep well, meditating is actually that
much harder because my body isworking and I'm not a scientist,
but like my body is working onall these other things to try to
keep it functioning because itdidn't sleep well and it's not
rested.
So it makes meditation and justthat quiet time that much
(28:20):
harder.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Right, it's a stress on the body and it puts you into
some static.
But coming back to that, not tosay that you'll never do a bad
you know bad habit thing again,but what also is extremely
eyeopening to me is a few timesand let me know if this has
happened to you Like I'll go tolike a wedding or I'll go to
some event where I did not eatwell, I ate too late, but I had
(28:41):
a great time right Dancing, justlaughing, and I'm like I should
be trashed right now.
Like my recovery score shouldbe trash, but no, and it's like,
oh my gosh, my recovery scoreshould be trash, but no, and
it's like, oh my gosh, socialconnection trumps bad on
occasion it does.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
On occasion it definitely does Correct the joy
of laughter, the movement, whatyou're getting back?
Yeah, it is.
It's really awareness I thinkis so important for everybody.
So what does wellness look likein your life?
I'm always fascinated by peoplewho are in the health and
wellness field and I love toshare you know what does every
wellness look like in your life.
I'm always fascinated by peoplewho are in the health and
wellness field and I love toshare you know what does every
day look like for you and whatdoes health and wellness look
(29:20):
like for you personally.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
So look, I think I'm kind of fortunate and this is
how I get my kicks right, like Iget my kicks going to yoga
classes, working out, eatinghealthy.
I went to bed early.
I feel great, like this is like.
So I think I'm pretty fortunatein that way, like I'm a
wellness nerd, but I think likewhat true wellness for me really
(29:43):
means to really always be awareof my foundation.
Because, look, once you've beenthrough something traumatic,
your nervous system's likerevved up right, it's just.
Your nervous system's likerevved up right, it's just it's
ready to go back to fight orflight very, very quickly.
So for me it's rooting myselfin a foundation of calm.
So that means I start my daywith breathwork meditation, I
(30:07):
end my day with breathworkmeditation because who knows
what happens during the day?
Right, who knows?
We can't control what happens,but it's accessible if it's
right under the surface, likeit's easier for me to take a few
deep breaths and, like Pavlov'sdogs, just boom, you know,
spark up that parasympatheticbranch again.
(30:28):
So, yeah, that is for mepersonally, just trying to keep
that foundation of calm.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, how do you teach this to your kids?
Because a lot of times peopleask me about that.
How do you?
How do you teach it downward?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
So I have two children.
One is like really like open toit, and the other one's just
like can we read, can we?
So?
But I think, like everythingelse, you just practice what you
preach and it's not what yousay, it is what you do, and our
nervous systems, as justcreatures, we co-regulate to
(31:05):
those that are around us.
So if I can be calm, they canco-regulate to me.
I mean, we've all seen it Likeif I come home stressed, like
they're screaming suddenly, soto really just try to be the
calm.
But there's also some greatkids ones like there's hot cocoa
breath, where you imagineyou're holding hot cocoa and you
(31:26):
smell it and you cool it, andthen there's like roller coaster
up and down.
So there are some really, youknow, cute ones for children
also, which helps.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah, so what's on your bucket list, personally and
professionally?
What do you want to?
Speaker 1 (31:43):
do you know?
So my kids are little now but Ihave never been to a yoga
retreat Like I.
Just I really want to go tolike maybe Tulum, mexico, mexico
, somewhere, like beautiful andgoing to yoga retreat hopefully
my children will get bit by theyoga bug and go with me, but I
really just want to immersemyself in just yeah yeah,
(32:07):
anything professionally that youwant to do, that's on the list.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I wouldn't mind being on a TED talk?
Speaker 1 (32:11):
yeah, yeah, that I wouldn't mind being on a TED
talk.
Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't mindthat.
There you go, yeah.
But yeah, and I think,professionally, like I just kind
of like what I do, I likesharing what I do, and I don't
have any grandiose big, bigplans.
I just I kind of like justplugging away and just whoever
(32:32):
needs to hear this message,hopefully attracting in my
stratosphere.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Right Energy Likes attract like.
From an energy perspective.
What's the best way for peopleto get in touch with you?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Probably my website or LinkedIn.
Brigitte Apostolakis, mywebsite is
thrivewellcorporatecom, so oneword thrivewellcorporatecom.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Beautiful and I love that.
You just have a mission to helppeople reduce stress.
That's a beautiful thing.
So before we go, I always askmy guests if there is a book or
books some people recommendmultiples books that has changed
your life, either personally orprofessionally.
I believe books change livesand I try to read most of the
books that my guests recommend.
So what book or books would youlike to recommend to the
(33:16):
listeners?
All right, because there are.
So many good books.
There's so many good ones.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
There's a lot of brilliant people in the world.
Okay, the first one that reallyopened my eyes to kind of
energy was it was probably 25years ago I read Deepak Chopra's
the Seven Spiritual Laws ofSuccess and it was really the
first time I kind of like heardor embraced this notion of be
(33:42):
the change you wish to seek,like, rather than focusing all
your attention on I want this, Iwant that, I want to achieve
that, like because the onlything you actually have agency
over is yourself.
Right, and that's very in linewith a lot of energy work that I
would later, you know, come toembrace.
So that was an eye-opening bookfor me in this genre.
(34:03):
And then, but lately, there'sso many good ones, good Energy.
Casey Means like she's a rockstar.
You know, it's never one thing,it's everything, and she pulls
it all together in such abeautiful way.
Atomic Habits is fabulous andthe Compound Effect fabulous.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah.
So I'd have to say those are mycurrent favorites.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But Deepak Chopra really did just kind of awaken
something in me which is a greatone, and no one's recommended
that one in a while, so thankyou for doing that.
We go through phases wherepeople recommend the end of the
same thing all the time.
From a business perspectiveright now, I would say 10X is
easier than 2X.
One of my favorite businessbooks right now and I would say
(34:47):
Gabby Bernstein, definitely hada huge impact on me.
You know, the Universe has yourBack is a big one, and Change
your Mind and your Life WillFollow is another one.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
That is really good one, good one, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Yeah, so, but no lack of them.
You know like most of us liketo read a lot, and I probably
have 30 books sitting on mykitchen counter.
That are on the list to readand there just are so many good
ones and I feel like just moreand more keep coming out which
is super exciting, especially inthe space of personal wellness
and mindset, for sure, yeah,yeah.
Well, bridget, thank you so muchfor joining your story.
(35:20):
As a mother, I can't evenimagine like I can feel your
pain as you talk about the storywith your daughter.
You got our miracle, you know,yeah, and.
But also huge kudos to you forreally like rising up and
learning and embracing theknowledge and embracing the
science and then figuring outhow you can apply that to help
your daughter and then now helpothers, because I think it's
(35:40):
really impactful and you comeacross as just a very normal,
like the lady who's next door,but yet happens to be very
grounded in knowledge, groundedin knowledge and education and
how to use some of thesepractices that I really, truly
believe can impact and changelives, whether it be breathwork,
meditation and visualization.
All three are amazing.
So thank you so much forsharing.
(36:01):
I will link everything in theshow notes so people can find
you, they can reach out, theycan either do private sessions
or business sessions if they'reinterested.
So, thank you, I appreciate allof your time too.
It was a pleasure.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you.
You're welcome.
Have a great day.
We'll stay in touch.
Thank you for joining us foranother episode of the House of
Germar podcast.
Where wellness starts within.
(36:23):
We appreciate you being a partof our community and hope you
felt inspired and motivated byour guest.
If you enjoyed this episode,please write us a review and
share it with friends.
Building our reach on YouTubeand Apple podcasts will help us
get closer to our mission to.
If you enjoyed this episode,please write us a review and
share it with friends.
Building our reach on YouTubeand Apple Podcasts will help us
(36:43):
get closer to our mission toempower 1 million women to live
all in.
You can also follow us onInstagram at House of Jermar and
sign up to be a part of ourmonthly inspiration newsletter
through our website,houseofjermarcom.
If you or someone you knowwould be a good guest on the
show, please reach out to us atpodcast at houseofgermarcom.
This has been a House of Germarproduction with your host, jean
(37:04):
Collins.
Thank you for joining our house.
Her odds of surviving this magnitude of a rupture
were not great.
But what's worse than that waswe don't know what quality of
life she would have should shesurvive this.
But you do what you do and indire situations you put one foot
in front of the other and I hadto get strong.
(00:20):
I had to get strong fast forher and I had to get strong and
had to get strong fast for her.
When she finished all of hersurgeries procedures and she
began the road to recovery, shehad no use of the left side of
her body.
She couldn't talk, she couldn'teat, she couldn't even handle
her own secretions.
And I, you know, said to theneurosurgeon like what are we
(00:41):
looking at?
Like, what does recovery looklike here?
And thank God he said this.
He said look, neuroplasticityfavors the young.
She's six Other areas of herbrain can rewire and take over
the functions of the leftcerebellum.
Like, neuroplasticity isincredible.
(01:02):
And, of course, because she'syounger, she has more access to
this.
And I knew at that moment likemy only purpose, my only job
right now is to make this childbelieve that she's going to get
better.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Welcome to the House of Germar podcast where wellness
starts within.
The House of Germar is alifestyle brand, empowering
women to live all in throughinterior design and personal
wellness.
We are a destination for womenready to reimagine what is
possible in their homes andlives and then create it.
We are honored to have you joinus on our mission to empower 1
(01:42):
million women to live all in.
I am your host, jean Collins,and I invite you to become
inspired by this week's guest.
Welcome to the House of Jarmarpodcast where wellness starts
within.
I'm your host, jean Collins,and today's guest is Bridget
Apostolakis.
That's a mouthful, andhopefully I got that all correct
, oh, my balls.
(02:04):
So I am so excited to have heron the show.
She is the founder of a companycalled ThriveWell Corporate,
and we are going to talk aboutsomething I'm very passionate
about, which is breath, work andmeditation, but those combined
together, and how she helpscorporations bring that into
their environments.
She transforms stress intostrength.
I am so excited.
(02:24):
So, bridget, welcome to theshow.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
It's great to meet you.
Thank you so much for having mehere.
It's really nice to be here,thank you, it is so wonderful.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So we met before this .
Actually, we got introduced bya mutual friend.
We hopped on a Zoom callearlier and she started to tell
me her story and I was like, ohmy goodness, we have to share
this story because the story ofhow she got to be where she is
and how she found breathwork andmeditation and started her
business is just reallyfascinating.
So if you would mind sharingyour story which I will tell
(02:54):
everyone does have a happyending but if you would mind
sharing your story because it'spretty traumatic.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, no, I'm happy to share it because it really is
integral to who I am today.
Before I begin that back up, Ithought I'm happy to share it
because it really is integral towho I am today.
Before I begin that back up, Ithought I was going to be an
early childhood educator.
That was kind of the path Itook and over 20 years ago I
took my first yoga class and Ijust remember lying in Shavasana
at the end thinking, oh, I'mgoing to do this the rest of my
(03:20):
life, like it just felt likehome to me.
Of my life, it just felt likehome to me.
So I ended up becoming a yogateacher and started a family and
everything was crawling perfect, lived in the suburbs, had
three beautiful children, untilone day it all just crashed on
top of me.
It was June 12, 2020, right inthe middle of lockdown, and I
(03:44):
had this thought I was swimmingin the pool with my little ones
Twins were six at the time, myoldest was 16.
And I remember thinking I lovelockdown.
Like this is my happy place,I'm not late anywhere, I don't
have to see anybody, I don'thave to do anything, I just have
to hang with my family.
Like this is the to hang withmy family Like this is the
(04:06):
happiest time of my life.
I go in, I make dinner, it'sabout 7 pm and my husband's in
the pool with my girls and oneof my little girls rushed into a
kitchen holding her head,saying my head, my head, feels
like it's on fire and she vomitsand passes out and I can't even
make sense of what's happening.
(04:26):
I'm thinking is this COVID, isthis dry drowning?
But I knew something reallyhorrific was happening.
Something was reallydesperately wrong.
I rushed her to HuntingtonHospital.
At this point her pupils aren'teven dilating.
I mean, she is really hangingon to life and she's six years
(04:48):
old.
I mean, I couldn't even, youknow, reconcile with this.
And, to their credit, theyimaged her brain and said she
has a brain bleed, which was thefarthest thing from what I
could have possibly imaginedwhat this is, what I could have
possibly imagined what this is.
They rushed her to Cohen'sChildren's Hospital, which is
(05:14):
just an amazing, amazing place,into the hands of a remarkable
pediatric surgeon who told methat she had something called an
arteriovenous malformation.
I'd never even heard of that.
That at that moment rupturedand it was a monster.
This malformation took up 90%of her left cerebellum.
They rushed her into surgery.
They make a very long storyshort.
She had five differentsurgeries procedures.
(05:35):
She had a stroke in her medullaat one point.
She was a mess and her odds ofsurviving this magnitude of a
rupture were not great.
But what's worse than that waswe don't know what quality of
life she would have should shesurvive this.
(05:55):
But you do what you do and indire situations you put one foot
in front of the other and I hadto get strong and had to get
strong fast for her, put onefoot in front of the other and I
had to get strong and had toget strong fast for her.
When she finished all of hersurgeries procedures and she
began the road to recovery, shehad no use of the left side of
(06:18):
her body.
She couldn't talk, she couldn'teat, she couldn't even handle
her own secretions.
And I, you know, said to theneurosurgeon like what are we
looking at?
Like, what does recovery looklike here?
And thank God he said this.
He said look, neuroplasticityfavors the young.
She's six Other areas of herbrain can rewire and take over
(06:40):
the functions of the leftcerebellum.
Like neuroplasticity isincredible.
The functions of the leftcerebellum.
Neuroplasticity is incredibleand, of course, because she's
younger, she has more access tothis, and I knew at that moment
my only purpose, my only jobright now is to make this child
(07:02):
believe that she's going to getbetter.
That's paramount to heractually getting better, if she
has any shot of this.
So I dove deep into researchingneuroplasticity.
How do I, you know, double downon this?
And what I came up with wasvisualization.
And it's actually reallyinteresting Whether you think of
something or you actually dosomething.
Those two neurons, they speak,they spark and they create a
(07:25):
neuro pathway.
And the more often these twoneurons speak to each other,
they hardwire together.
So I would whisper in her earthank goodness for my yoga
teacher training background.
I did a lot of guidedmeditation.
So I'd whisper in her ear thesevery, very intricate
visualization meditations aboutwalking in sand and really
(07:47):
feeling the weight of your body,the texture of the sand as you
walk crunches.
And she started to get better.
She started to get better andit was incredible, miraculous.
If you met her today, she's 11and a half and you wouldn't know
.
You would not know she'swalking around.
(08:15):
90% of her left cerebellum isgone and she does, tiger Shulman
.
She runs and plays, she fightswith her twin like cats like
animals, like it's.
It's just incredible.
But something else kind ofswitched in me at that moment.
I realized, oh my gosh, we'regoing to get our miracle here,
but I'm not sure I'm going tomake it Like.
I was so traumatized and therest of my family was collateral
(08:37):
damage.
Her twin was emotionally justreally not handling it well.
She was just six years old.
Her mom abandoned her.
Her twin is gone in the middleof the night, just poof gone for
six months.
Even my oldest, my straight Astudent, my classic overachiever
, couldn't even get on Zoomschool.
She was just mentally juststruggling so badly and I
(09:00):
couldn't even drive withouthaving panic attacks.
I remember pulling over on theside of the road thinking I'm
going to have a car accidentbecause I'm going to pass out.
But I know how to breathe.
I know how to breathe.
Normal breath is six counts in,I'm going to pause, I'm going
to exhale for six counts.
And thus I dove really deepinto breath work.
(09:21):
Now, besides being a yogainstructor, I also had became a
functional medicine health coach.
So I had a background in theparasympathetic nervous system.
I had a background in thescience where breathwork,
meditation, visualization meetsscience.
I really leaned deeply intothat.
So I have a little ADHD.
So I would teach meditation butpersonally had a really hard
(09:45):
time embracing it.
Hence my addiction to yoga.
Because it was a breath linked,moving meditation was active,
so it was.
It was quieting the voices inmy head and that's why I loved
it so much.
But when I started to divereally deep down the rabbit hole
of breath work, I realized wait, when I do breathwork I can
(10:13):
meditate.
That's the only time in my lifeI actually could meditate and
what I learned was breathworkliterally controls your nervous
system, which has two branchesparasympathetic, sympathetic
fight or flight or rest andrepair and your diaphragm
touches your vagus nerve fightor flight, or rest and repair.
And your diaphragm touches yourvagus nerve, which is the boss
of this autonomic nervous system, trips you into a
parasympathetic state, puts thebrakes on stress, your heart
rate, slows down all thephysiological things that go
(10:35):
along with coming out of fightor flight.
And once you're in aparasympathetic state, only then
can you attempt to meditate,because otherwise, like it would
be like being chased by a tigertrying to meditate, like it's
just a really really hard, whichis how many people feel about
meditating.
Yeah, and I meet so many peoplenow, when I do this with them,
(10:57):
they're like you don'tunderstand my brain.
Like you know, I'm like, no, Ido, I do.
But so it's that method that Icreated, starting with breath
work to stop the stress response, moving into meditation, which
is the same brainwave pattern asdeep sleep.
So all those physical benefits,those healing benefits that
(11:29):
take place during deep sleepalso take place during a
meditative state.
And then I realized, wow, thisvisualization that literally
rewired my daughter's brain,post-brain surgery, is
applicable to all of us.
Like we all have patterns,beliefs that no longer serve us,
(11:50):
like we all could use a littlerewiring.
And thus the method was bornBreathwork, meditation,
visualization.
And visualization also is kindof rooted into energy work.
Really, you're vibrating to ahigher frequency where your
(12:10):
thoughts have power.
So, yeah, so that's my story.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, that's a big story.
Okay, so before we keep going,let's back up to your daughter
for just a minute.
So she was sick and took a longtime to get better in order to
be able to come home, and so I'masking this on behalf of
everyone else.
It's like, okay, yeah, I cantry to believe that, rewiring my
brain and visualizing something, but it doesn't happen
(12:41):
immediately.
It is like your brain becamewired based on time and based on
those past happening over time.
How did you maintain thestamina to just keep doing it
and keep doing it and keep doingit?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Neurosurgeons have this saying that fire together,
wire together, so the more theyfire together.
So it's not one time youvisualize something, once you
manifest it, we're good, likeit's, it's creating that super
highway, that that that real,this pathway, that it can be
(13:18):
permanent.
So yeah, with her was easy,like she wanted to get better.
I desperately wanted her to getbetter and the world stopped
for us.
But now, like you know, wetransitioned to other things
like my, her twin, like hasabandonment issues.
I mean, these are the thingsthat sometimes it's a lifetime
(13:41):
of work, right, but it'sworthwhile work.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, so what made you to decide that you wanted to
take this work to a corporationto help companies?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So I continued to teach yoga.
Like after our world, you know,normalized and post COVID I do
yoga.
I teach yoga and I have a lotof clients that are struggling
with balance and I took thisinto professionally like, okay,
wait, can we use thisvisualization for balance?
(14:14):
So balance has a lot ofingredients, right, there's
proprioception, there'svestibular, there's core
strength, but there's alsowhether you see yourself
standing in tree pose oractually coming into tree pose,
you're still firing those same,you're waking up those neurons,
those pathways.
So I started to do a lot ofthis work for my yoga clients
(14:38):
and bringing in more breathworkmeditation.
So I work at Lifetime Fitness inSyosset as well and I actually
formatted their very first everbreathwork meditation class and
I'm happy to say it's hugesuccess.
Like the different walks ofpeople that walk into that room
is just astounding to me.
Like we're all like at a placewhere we're just kind of open to
(15:01):
this and are able to to jumpdown this rabbit hole, which
makes me very happy.
And, as they said, I'm also ahealth coach and I realized, oh
my gosh, like I spent so muchtime like diving into proper
what's nutrition, like what'sthe best way to eat, dissecting
sleep, how do we optimize oursleep?
And we have all theseingredients, but if your
(15:22):
foundation is you're in fight orflight, like you're going to
fight upstream in an uphillbattle, even if all your habits
are on point, kind of like it'snever one thing right, it's
everything.
So this huge piece of the puzzlewhich a lot of us have been
missing because, honestly, it'sbeen for decades this idea of,
(15:47):
like grid and pedal to the metal, I'll sleep when I'm dead, it's
really done us a disservice.
It's really done us adisservice because we're kind of
stuck in that chronic fight orflight Because, like everything
else, the more you do something,the more you hardwire.
So if you wake up every day ina stressed state, you're going
(16:09):
to stay there, right, you'regoing to hardwire that way and
you're going to wake up revvedup.
And so, yeah, it's thatpurposeful intention to enter
peace over and over again, untilit becomes your home base Until
it becomes natural and youdon't have to think about it
again.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, so out of personal curiosity, what does a
breathwork meditation class looklike?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
So, I typically because I said I have a little
ADHD I do mostly guided.
I know there are somemeditation teachers out there
that want to sit in silence andlead to sit in silence, and
there's nothing wrong with that.
But personally I kind of needan anchor and so that's who's
gravitating to me.
So I start with breath work,and I start with two different
(16:56):
types of breath work.
The first one is a little bitof a faster breath work to
really just awaken your energy,raise your vibration, kind of
flood your body with oxygen.
So a quicker breath work wouldbe I don't know if you're
familiar with Wim Hof.
He has this very active breathwork.
Or what's making a lot of wavesthese days is the physiological
(17:18):
side.
They're doing so much researchon that.
So I'll start with somethinglike that or in yoga,
kapalabhati, breath of fire, andthen I'll move into a slower
breath and it could be simplebox breath or four, seven, eight
, or inhale for eight, exhalefor eight, just something to
really put the brakes on and youcan just really feel your body
(17:41):
start to melt once you do thatand then segue into a guided
meditation, and sometimes it'sjust.
I like the visual of light a lot, so sometimes it's just
inhaling white light and justflooding your body with light.
Other times it's a yoga nidra,where you're placing your
attention to different parts ofyour body.
Yoga nidra, where you'replacing your attention to
(18:03):
different parts of your body, orsometimes it's a chakra cleanse
, or just you know pretty much.
There's so many different.
Just any type of guidedmeditation and then
visualization could be verydifferent, but like a blanket
one for the masses.
That I like to do is simply seethe best version of you in your
mind's eye.
Just see yourself blissfullyhappy, like the peak of physical
(18:27):
and health, living the bestversion of your life, and don't
see it as a wish or a dream, butsee that as your reality and
vibrate to that frequency andsee what happens.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, which is a good one.
I love that one.
So I would also think, asyou're explaining all of this, I
wouldn't have to live in LongIsland to be able to work with
you, to do such a thing, becauseeverything you're talking about
I can envision I could have asession with you and you could
walk me through all of that overZoom.
I wouldn't have to bephysically in your presence,
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I do a lot of remote work and I started ThriveWell
Corporate as a corporatewellness company, although I do
have private clients.
But I feel like after COVID,probably before, this mass
epidemic of just stress andanxiety permeates our society,
and what better place than forcompanies to take care of their
(19:22):
people in this way?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, so talk to me about you know, I'm assuming it
would be like an HR departmentwould be reaching out to you,
right?
And what do you do to helpcompanies, help their employees,
you know, obviously, withstress being the pillar, which
is a key.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I love that you're helping companies with their
employees and helping themreduce stress.
That's amazing where we wouldmeet remotely on Zoom and it
(19:59):
really does, especially forthose remote workers.
Like we're all searching forjust social connection and it
just it's the great unifier,right, we're all just kind of
showing our underbelly, you know, like these are my struggles,
right, I don't sleep at night,or you know, whatever it may be
Like it really is a greatunifier.
See people as just people justtrying to be the best version of
(20:20):
themselves.
And typically, week one, wewould really just break down
what is stress, right, like howdo you heal your nervous system?
How do we create that as ourfoundation?
And then week two, how do weoptimize sleep?
Right, because that really isthe first domino when you're
trying to improve your health.
Then we break down nutrition.
There's like a milliondifferent diet plans out there.
(20:40):
There's so much confusion, likewe have so much information we
don't know how to apply any ofit.
So, really, what should we befocusing on?
And movement exercise.
And embedded into each workshopor each week, it invariably
ends with a breathworkmeditation session, because yeah
(21:08):
, that's just near and dear towho I am.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Oh, that's important.
So companies bring you in.
I love this.
You have a multi-day platform.
You really help people focus onstress and focus on sleep.
Can we talk about sleep for aminute?
Because I think I live by themantra that sleep is so
important and back in my day,when I worked at Corporate
America, I never got enoughsleep and I was like that person
who was like I'll sleep later.
I need to get up to work out,and now that I have learned so
(21:29):
much more about health and howmy body works, I'm like, oh, I
was not actually doing myselfany service by not getting sleep
and getting up to work out.
That actually wasn't reallyworking the way you would think
mentally that it would work,because if you don't get the
sleep, then everything else youdo isn't working as well.
So can you talk to me about howdo you because everybody's body
is different, but how do youwork with people to really think
(21:50):
about sleep differently?
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Okay, so I think we've all had this thought where
we could trade sleep forproductivity.
I could just sleep five hours.
Oh my gosh, I could get it alldone.
Like we think of it as acommodity that we could trade
and, as you and I figured out,it doesn't work that way.
(22:12):
Sleep can be your superpower.
If you want to be on, you knowmore level-headed to think clear
, to be more physically, youknow stronger, better to show up
in the world, sleep is asuperpower.
So sleep is governed by thecircadian rhythm.
(22:33):
Your circadian rhythm isgoverned by lightness and
darkness.
It's hard to have that shift inthinking of simple things as
medicine and powerful.
But sunlight is medicine.
We are supposed to be timed ourclocks.
(22:55):
We need way more sun exposurethan we're getting.
And I'll say a little caveat Ihave had melanoma in situ.
Thank God I caught it early.
But we're such a reductionistsociety, right, we want black
and white, right?
Is it good or it's bad?
Let me know, is sun good or issun bad?
Does it cause cancer?
(23:16):
Okay, sun's bad, but it's notthat simple.
There's infrared light, there'sUV light, uv, yes, be careful.
I'm not saying go out at 12 noonwithout any sunblock on, but I
am saying getting that 10minutes in the morning of
sunlight, 10 to 20 minutes, toset your circadian rhythm.
(23:38):
We have photoreceptors in oureyes that literally respond to
sunlight and create vitamin D.
That same pathway that we'recreating vitamin D from sunlight
, we're also creating dopamine.
The human body is incredible.
We're also creating dopamine.
(23:58):
The human body is incredible.
But to try to make that a habitto watch the sunrise and the
sunset as corny as that seems isthat'll do magic.
That'll do wonders to settingyour circadian rhythm and to
helping you sleep.
Another thing that I foundreally, really helpful is
investing in an either an auraring or a whoop to track your
restorative sleep, cause it'snot just I got one.
(24:19):
Oh, isn't it fabulous.
People can't see the video.
I have one yeah, Mine's on mycharger.
I love my aura ring.
I'm obsessed with it.
I've been wearing it for yearsand it's the first thing I do
when I wake up.
I'm like no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I had dessert, I had dessert and then all of a sudden
the aura ring is telling me Ididn't get good sleep.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, and, and that's powerful.
That is powerful to see in realtime how your habits are
affecting you.
And HRV is another really greatone to to to check.
So when we are in a, are in agroup health coaching session or
even a private health coachingsession, we really work to what
are some of the well-knownthings that will help you get
(25:24):
better quality of sleep, Becausewe need seven and a half hours,
because that's roughly fivesleep cycles.
Another really useful tip wasdon't use the snooze.
Another, like really you know,useful tip was don't use the
snooze, Because I used to usethe snooze for an hour because
it felt so good.
Every time I can go back, I cango back, but I was killing an
(25:44):
hour of restorative, what couldhave been restorative sleep.
And that restorative sleeptowards the morning is really
heavier.
Leaning to REM stage Earlier inthe night is heavier, leaning
to deep sleep.
But REM stage is where you, youknow you really your brain
detoxes, that beta amyloidplaque detoxes, you file your
(26:04):
memories.
So, yeah, there's, there's someactionable items that that we
like to go to go over, but thoseare pretty much the big ones,
you know.
Sit your cloth with the sun.
Don't eat late at night.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
And awareness.
Awareness, like you said, Ithink awareness is something
that you know the Apple Watch,the Oura Ring, all the other
devices at least for mepersonally, it brought such
awareness to the quality of thesleep.
It wasn't just the amount ofhours that I was lying in bed,
but it was also what's thequality of that sleep and seeing
(26:39):
things like what's going onwith your heart rate and waking
up in the morning and having thering tell me that you know what
, my resting heart rate wasactually too high, right, and I
was like, oh, you know, I wentto bed and I kind of felt
stressed and then seeing how formyself, how that carries over
into the quality of my sleep andsome people are like me, some
people aren't, but I kind of getaddicted by the score it's
(27:00):
going to give me and I'm like,oh, my goodness, my readiness is
in the toilet today.
It's telling me I need to takea nap.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
We all engage in magical thinking, right I'm?
Like whatever it tastes good.
How bad could this be, exactly?
When you see it show up like ohmy God, like my body struggled
last night, Like if I eat like aheavy meal or a bad meal or ice
cream or something bad before Igo to bed and my respiratory
rate's elevated, my heart rate'selevated, and it's like oh my
(27:29):
gosh, like that's likesignificant, Like my body
struggles all night long.
Right and that really is agreat, you know catalyst for
behavior change.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It is and it helps you make informed decisions.
And it's like it's not to say,oh, I'm never going to eat a big
heavy meal, or I'm never goingto drink at night, or I'm never
going to eat past eight o'clock,but recognizing that if that
becomes your everyday pattern,that actually really isn't good
for your body.
And so if you can make differentchoices on a regular basis.
That actually is good for yourbody.
(27:59):
And then I also find, because Itry to meditate in the morning
and I find if I don't sleep well, meditating is actually that
much harder because my body isworking and I'm not a scientist,
but like my body is working onall these other things to try to
keep it functioning because itdidn't sleep well and it's not
rested.
So it makes meditation and justthat quiet time that much
(28:20):
harder.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Right, it's a stress on the body and it puts you into
some static.
But coming back to that, not tosay that you'll never do a bad
you know bad habit thing again,but what also is extremely
eyeopening to me is a few timesand let me know if this has
happened to you Like I'll go tolike a wedding or I'll go to
some event where I did not eatwell, I ate too late, but I had
(28:41):
a great time right Dancing, justlaughing, and I'm like I should
be trashed right now.
Like my recovery score shouldbe trash, but no, and it's like,
oh my gosh, my recovery scoreshould be trash, but no, and
it's like, oh my gosh, socialconnection trumps bad on
occasion it does.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
On occasion it definitely does Correct the joy
of laughter, the movement, whatyou're getting back?
Yeah, it is.
It's really awareness I thinkis so important for everybody.
So what does wellness look likein your life?
I'm always fascinated by peoplewho are in the health and
wellness field and I love toshare you know what does every
wellness look like in your life.
I'm always fascinated by peoplewho are in the health and
wellness field and I love toshare you know what does every
day look like for you and whatdoes health and wellness look
(29:20):
like for you personally.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
So look, I think I'm kind of fortunate and this is
how I get my kicks right, like Iget my kicks going to yoga
classes, working out, eatinghealthy.
I went to bed early.
I feel great, like this is like.
So I think I'm pretty fortunatein that way, like I'm a
wellness nerd, but I think likewhat true wellness for me really
(29:43):
means to really always be awareof my foundation.
Because, look, once you've beenthrough something traumatic,
your nervous system's likerevved up right, it's just.
Your nervous system's likerevved up right, it's just it's
ready to go back to fight orflight very, very quickly.
So for me it's rooting myselfin a foundation of calm.
So that means I start my daywith breathwork meditation, I
(30:07):
end my day with breathworkmeditation because who knows
what happens during the day?
Right, who knows?
We can't control what happens,but it's accessible if it's
right under the surface, likeit's easier for me to take a few
deep breaths and, like Pavlov'sdogs, just boom, you know,
spark up that parasympatheticbranch again.
(30:28):
So, yeah, that is for mepersonally, just trying to keep
that foundation of calm.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, how do you teach this to your kids?
Because a lot of times peopleask me about that.
How do you?
How do you teach it downward?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
So I have two children.
One is like really like open toit, and the other one's just
like can we read, can we?
So?
But I think, like everythingelse, you just practice what you
preach and it's not what yousay, it is what you do, and our
nervous systems, as justcreatures, we co-regulate to
(31:05):
those that are around us.
So if I can be calm, they canco-regulate to me.
I mean, we've all seen it Likeif I come home stressed, like
they're screaming suddenly, soto really just try to be the
calm.
But there's also some greatkids ones like there's hot cocoa
breath, where you imagineyou're holding hot cocoa and you
(31:26):
smell it and you cool it, andthen there's like roller coaster
up and down.
So there are some really, youknow, cute ones for children
also, which helps.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah, so what's on your bucket list, personally and
professionally?
What do you want to?
Speaker 1 (31:43):
do you know?
So my kids are little now but Ihave never been to a yoga
retreat Like I.
Just I really want to go tolike maybe Tulum, mexico, mexico
, somewhere, like beautiful andgoing to yoga retreat hopefully
my children will get bit by theyoga bug and go with me, but I
really just want to immersemyself in just yeah yeah,
(32:07):
anything professionally that youwant to do, that's on the list.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I wouldn't mind being on a TED talk?
Speaker 1 (32:11):
yeah, yeah, that I wouldn't mind being on a TED
talk.
Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't mindthat.
There you go, yeah.
But yeah, and I think,professionally, like I just kind
of like what I do, I likesharing what I do, and I don't
have any grandiose big, bigplans.
I just I kind of like justplugging away and just whoever
(32:32):
needs to hear this message,hopefully attracting in my
stratosphere.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Right Energy Likes attract like.
From an energy perspective.
What's the best way for peopleto get in touch with you?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Probably my website or LinkedIn.
Brigitte Apostolakis, mywebsite is
thrivewellcorporatecom, so oneword thrivewellcorporatecom.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Beautiful and I love that.
You just have a mission to helppeople reduce stress.
That's a beautiful thing.
So before we go, I always askmy guests if there is a book or
books some people recommendmultiples books that has changed
your life, either personally orprofessionally.
I believe books change livesand I try to read most of the
books that my guests recommend.
So what book or books would youlike to recommend to the
(33:16):
listeners?
All right, because there are.
So many good books.
There's so many good ones.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
There's a lot of brilliant people in the world.
Okay, the first one that reallyopened my eyes to kind of
energy was it was probably 25years ago I read Deepak Chopra's
the Seven Spiritual Laws ofSuccess and it was really the
first time I kind of like heardor embraced this notion of be
(33:42):
the change you wish to seek,like, rather than focusing all
your attention on I want this, Iwant that, I want to achieve
that, like because the onlything you actually have agency
over is yourself.
Right, and that's very in linewith a lot of energy work that I
would later, you know, come toembrace.
So that was an eye-opening bookfor me in this genre.
(34:03):
And then, but lately, there'sso many good ones, good Energy.
Casey Means like she's a rockstar.
You know, it's never one thing,it's everything, and she pulls
it all together in such abeautiful way.
Atomic Habits is fabulous andthe Compound Effect fabulous.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah.
So I'd have to say those are mycurrent favorites.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But Deepak Chopra really did just kind of awaken
something in me which is a greatone, and no one's recommended
that one in a while, so thankyou for doing that.
We go through phases wherepeople recommend the end of the
same thing all the time.
From a business perspectiveright now, I would say 10X is
easier than 2X.
One of my favorite businessbooks right now and I would say
(34:47):
Gabby Bernstein, definitely hada huge impact on me.
You know, the Universe has yourBack is a big one, and Change
your Mind and your Life WillFollow is another one.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
That is really good one, good one, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Yeah, so, but no lack of them.
You know like most of us liketo read a lot, and I probably
have 30 books sitting on mykitchen counter.
That are on the list to readand there just are so many good
ones and I feel like just moreand more keep coming out which
is super exciting, especially inthe space of personal wellness
and mindset, for sure, yeah,yeah.
Well, bridget, thank you so muchfor joining your story.
(35:20):
As a mother, I can't evenimagine like I can feel your
pain as you talk about the storywith your daughter.
You got our miracle, you know,yeah, and.
But also huge kudos to you forreally like rising up and
learning and embracing theknowledge and embracing the
science and then figuring outhow you can apply that to help
your daughter and then now helpothers, because I think it's
(35:40):
really impactful and you comeacross as just a very normal,
like the lady who's next door,but yet happens to be very
grounded in knowledge, groundedin knowledge and education and
how to use some of thesepractices that I really, truly
believe can impact and changelives, whether it be breathwork,
meditation and visualization.
All three are amazing.
So thank you so much forsharing.
(36:01):
I will link everything in theshow notes so people can find
you, they can reach out, theycan either do private sessions
or business sessions if they'reinterested.
So, thank you, I appreciate allof your time too.
It was a pleasure.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you.
You're welcome.
Have a great day.
We'll stay in touch.
Thank you for joining us foranother episode of the House of
Germar podcast.
Where wellness starts within.
(36:23):
We appreciate you being a partof our community and hope you
felt inspired and motivated byour guest.
If you enjoyed this episode,please write us a review and
share it with friends.
Building our reach on YouTubeand Apple podcasts will help us
get closer to our mission to.
If you enjoyed this episode,please write us a review and
share it with friends.
Building our reach on YouTubeand Apple Podcasts will help us
(36:43):
get closer to our mission toempower 1 million women to live
all in.
You can also follow us onInstagram at House of Jermar and
sign up to be a part of ourmonthly inspiration newsletter
through our website,houseofjermarcom.
If you or someone you knowwould be a good guest on the
show, please reach out to us atpodcast at houseofgermarcom.
This has been a House of Germarproduction with your host, jean
(37:04):
Collins.
Thank you for joining our house.
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