Building Your Best Brain

Welcome to Building Your Best Brain, the podcast where we explore neuroscience-backed principles to help you build resilience, regulate stress, and show up as the fullest version of yourself. It is an exciting time because we are starting a new series on this podcast all about the balanced brain! Not a perfect brain that never comes across any obstacles but a brain that is flexible, resilient and...

Welcome to Building Your Best Brain, the podcast where we explore neuroscience-backed principles to help you build resilience, regulate stress, and show up as the fullest version of yourself. Today's episode is a timely story from my own life: the journey of writing and submitting my PhD thesis in neuroscience. While this episode may resonate with anyone currently working on a thesis or major proj...

Welcome back to the Building Your Best Brain podcast! This week's episode is the final installment (for now) of our Inside-Out Brain series, where we've been exploring the science behind how our internal brain activity influences the people and world around us. We're ending on one of my favorite topics: the stress response. In this episode, we dive into how your stress response impacts not only yo...

Hi curious friends, welcome back to the  Building Your Best Brain podcast! This week's episode is a special one because it gives you a sneak peek into my free Pick My Brain webinar series. This session was a mix of live and previously submitted questions all centered around how our thoughts impact not only our own brain activity, but also the people around us. We explore the neuroscience behind th...

Welcome back to Build Your Best Brain — where neuroscience meets real life so you can show up as your fullest, happiest, and most empowered self. We took a little break… but we are back and continuing our Inside-Out Brain Series — exploring the science of how your inner world shapes your outer reality. In today's episode, we go even deeper into one of the most powerful forces shaping your relation...

Welcome back to Build Your Best Brain — where neuroscience meets real life, and where you learn how to actually use your brain to feel better, think clearer, and live more intentionally. This month, we're continuing our Inside-Out Brain series — exploring how your inner world shapes your outer reality. In today's episode, we take it even deeper… into the biology of belief — and how the beliefs you...

Welcome back to Build Your Best Brain — where neuroscience meets real life, and where you learn how to actually use your brain to feel better, think clearer, and live more intentionally. This month, we're dismantling the idea that we're powerless to our environment. We're exploring the inside-out brain — how your inner world shapes the outer one — and today, we're taking it a step further by looki...

Welcome back to the Build Your Best Brain podcast — the place where we explore neuroscience and how to apply it to everyday life so you can build a healthier, happier, and more resilient brain. This month, we're diving into a concept that genuinely changed my life once I understood the science behind it and learned how to practice it daily. It's the idea of the inside-out world — the notion that y...

Welcome back to the Building Your Best Brain podcast — and to a special episode where we have the lovely Lisa Riegel who comes to use with tons of knowledge and experience when it comes to perceptions in our brain! Lisa has a PhD in Education Policy and Leadership and has worked with kids all the way to CEOs. She brings the brain science behind why our perceptions impact our stress response and ou...

Welcome back to the Build Your Best Brain podcast — and to our final chapter (for now) on a very timely topic: fear and your brain. We are getting deep into the science why; How you interpret your fear sends different signals to your brain  How this impacts the brain and our stress longterm What is looks like when we change our interpretation As always, I'd love to hear from you — message me with...

Welcome back to the Build Your Best Brain podcast — and to a new chapter of the show, where we're diving into a timely and powerful topic: fear and your brain. This episode isn't here to scare you — it's here to empower you. We are getting deep into why avoiding your fears actually causes them to take up MORE space in your brain. In this episode we talk about; The neuroscience behind avoiding and...

Ep 31 - How Fear Hijacks Your Attention (and How to Take It Back) Welcome to the Build Your Best Brain podcast — and to a new chapter of the show where we're diving into a very timely topic: fear. Before you worry — this episode is not here to scare you. It's here to inform, educate, and ultimately empower you. We'll explore fear on multiple levels, starting with how fear impacts — and often hijac...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain 🧠✨ As we close out the final days of 2025, today's episode dives into the neuroscience behind how to actually enjoy the journey toward your goals—not just push through it. So many of us struggle to stay motivated and consistent. Not because we lack discipline or desire, but because of how our goals are set up and because no one ever taught us how the brai...

Welcome to the Building Your Best Brain podcast! I'm so happy you're here—learning how to rewire your brain for resilience and feel empowered by your own biology. As someone who loves a good goal (finishing my PhD and building a business over here 🙋‍♀️), I realized something was missing from traditional goal setting. Most approaches don't actually help your brain build the circuits needed to supp...

Welcome to the Building Your Best Brain podcast! I'm so happy you're here — learning how to rewire your brain for resilience and feel empowered by your own biology. In this episode, we dive into the missing piece of stress regulation — the piece that helps your brain build positive momentum , instead of feeling like you're stuck in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. (You know… addressing one str...

Welcome to Building Your Best Brain podcast!   Today's episode we dive into the science behind why when we try to make a change in our brain (example – regulate your stress, rewiring a limiting belief) that you may start to feel WORSE.   If I knew this information 5 years ago it would have saved me so much time and energy! The stage that most people give up and think the tools aren't working is us...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain! In this episode, I'm sharing something brand new — a 6-level framework I developed to measure and improve stress regulation, based on neuroscience, behavior, and emotional awareness. 🧠 As a neuroscientist, yoga and meditation teacher, and someone who has personally navigated mental health challenges, I've spent years studying what it really means to regul...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain! Today, we're diving into the neuroscience of thoughts — what actually happens in the brain when you get caught in a spiral, why your emotions can take over so quickly, and how to bring your brain back to balance. 🧠  Here's what we cover in this episode: What happens in the brain during a thought spiral. How emotions create feedback loops that keep you stu...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain! Today, we're getting the science behind our WORDS when it comes to building circuits in our brain. A topic that has A LOT of nuance that is often not explained or overlooked. Once you get these subtle differences, you'll see rather quickly how your brain shifts and changes in the direction you desire 🧠✨. Here's what we cover in this episode: What happens...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain! Today, we're getting into a poorly understood and explained topic "Mental Rest". Where I take both my knowledge in neuroscience, meditation and neuroplasticity to unpack what is truly is and why it is the key to happy and healthy brain 🧠✨. Here's what we cover in this episode: What it means to be well-rested mentally?  What it looks like to not be mental...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain podcast! So excited to dive into something that I know a lot of us have experienced before, despite our best efforts … the stress relief tools EVERYONE raves about fail us. This short episode will help solve that problem, and lucky for you doesn't require you to add any more tools or buy anything! In this episode we dive into 5 reasons why your brain may no...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain! Today, we're getting cut through all of the lies and fluff and get down to business when it comes to what happens to your body and brain when it comes to chronic stress. 🧠✨ Here's what we cover in this episode: What is a stressor and how does your brain and body respond? How does noradrenaline and cortisol act on the body? Why there really is no such thi...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain! Today, we're getting REAL about the power that lies within your skull—specifically, how you can literally change your memories using neuroscience. 🧠✨ Here's what we cover in this episode: What it actually means when your brain brings up a memory How to tap into neuroplasticity to rewire your brain's circuits Signs your memory is stuck in the amygdala—and...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain! This might just be my geekiest episode yet—and honestly, it's long overdue. In this foundational episode, we're diving into the basics of neuroscience—the tools I believe everyone should have in their mental toolbox to better understand what's going on in their brain and body. Whether you're learning something new, fact-checking brain claims you see online...

Welcome back to Building Your Best Brain! This episode features the incredible Dr. Claudia Belliveau—a neuroscientist, science communicator, and entrepreneur who's passionate about making science accessible to everyone. Claudia earned her PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University and founded a scientific consulting company during her studies to bridge the gap between research and the public. Toda...