Welcome to The Reclaimed Life Audio Files

In this intro episode, Katie Wrigley shares what The Reclaimed Life Audio Files is all about and gets personal. She opens up about the three major challenges her nervous system has been navigating while building her business: growing a company from scratch, her mother's progression to advanced dementia, and a toxic relationship that has impacted her for years. This is the real, unfiltered story behind the work and an invitation to let these tools change your life too.

Resources

• Website
• Free Mini Cogno Mondays
• Learn more about Cognomovement
• Try Cognomovement for yourself!
• Book a call with Katie

Credit: Tom Giovingo, Intro & Outro, Random Voice Guy, Professional ‘Cat‘ Herder

Mixed & Managed: JohnRavenscraft.com

Disclaimer: Katie is not a medical professional and she is not qualified to diagnose any conditions. The advice and information she gives is based on her own experience and research. It does not take the place of medical advice. Always consult a medical professional first before you try anything new.

Transcript

(0:00) Hi there, welcome to the Reclaimed Life Audiophiles. My name is Katie Wrigley and I am a nervous system (0:07) coach and cognitive movement practitioner. Now we are going to be touching on some cognitive (0:11) movement techniques but I want to invite you to follow me on social media if you want to learn (0:17) more about that modality.This podcast is for the busy, high-performing person who wants to grow (0:25) their success without the stress that is waking up at 3 a.m. One of the things that I realized in (0:31) this work lately is that I haven't been sharing as much of my own personal experience and the (0:36) things that I've been doing within my own life to help me keep my nervous system regulated. (0:42) And now there's a lot of work talk out there these days about nervous system regulation and (0:47) what it is and really like no one really gives a shit about regulating the nervous system. (0:53) What you do give a shit about is being able to relax when you have vacation.You care about (1:00) growing your success. You care about the fact that right now it may feel like the only time you can (1:06) rest is if you're forced to. It may feel like resting is a luxury that you can't afford because (1:14) there's so much that you have to do on your to-do list.And if you're a business owner like me, (1:20) you know the stress of that. And so I thought it was really important to both be more open (1:25) with you about the old things, my own things, and I'm dealing with my own life (1:30) and what I'm doing so that I am able to show up with the energy, with the enthusiasm, with the (1:36) genuine excitement that is within me even as all these other things are going on. Because what I'm (1:42) doing is possible for everybody.There is nothing that I haven't done on this journey that can't (1:48) be repeated by you, by anybody else. Yes, it's work. And we're going to talk in these episodes (1:56) about the importance of doing the work and offering you some perspective shifts to make that work a (2:03) little bit easier for you to do and to help with any resistance or fear that's coming up when you (2:07) think about doing any kind of work for yourself.If you're anything like me, I know that your (2:14) your career is really important to you and that you get a lot out of it. And we're going to be (2:19) touching on that as well. Now, as far as the work that I've done at this point in time, since I have (2:26) left corporate, which is a little over five years ago, I've worked with more than a hundred clients.(2:31) I should really actually go back and count, but I want to share that it has given me a huge amount (2:36) of data to see what really works and what the power is of getting into that nervous system (2:42) and making it so that when you go on vacation, you actually relax and you can relax for the whole (2:49) time and you're able to sleep. You're not waking up at 3am. That low hum of stress goes away.(2:55) Those are all the things you get and more when you're able to tap into the nervous system and (3:00) you learn how to give it inputs that are going to make your life easier. And as much as I would (3:07) love to say that all these tools are going to get rid of all the challenges in life, that's not true. (3:12) But what it is going to do is it's going to make the challenges that come up.It's going to give (3:17) you more confidence that you're going to be able to get through them and you're going to have higher (3:22) highs and the lows are not going to be as low. Those are going to be higher too. And you're (3:27) not going to stay in the crap as long as you were, because now, you know, you have the tools to be (3:33) able to help pull you out of it much more quickly, much more effectively.So that is what we're going (3:39) to be doing in this podcast. And so I want to invite you to look at the different episodes (3:44) that you have within the player here. And I am offering this first episode for free.So you (3:49) may not have access yet, but assuming that you're going to go ahead and grab this for yourself, (3:55) go to the ones that you feel called to do. It doesn't have to be done in a linear order, (4:00) but go to the ones that you feel called to do. And I want to encourage you and invite you (4:06) to really let the rubber meet the road.And by that, I mean, any exercises that I'm giving you (4:11) in here, any of the tips that I'm doing, giving you, I want to encourage you to pause (4:16) and give yourself the space to take those actions, whatever they may be, (4:24) and give yourself permission to have the space to have the stillness, to trust (4:29) that you found this podcast for a reason. And that reason is because there's something in here (4:34) that's really important for you and that your life is going to be easier and better for having (4:38) done this for yourself. And now over the course of the last five years, since I've been doing this (4:44) full time, I've worked with more than a hundred clients, like I said, and more than 90% of them, (4:50) really more around like 95% have made huge progress towards their goals.I've worked (4:57) with multiple people who have doubled their business, created generational wealth, (5:03) starting with financial scarcity and ending with generational wealth in less than a year's time, (5:10) being able to relax, seeing a very clear path to grow their business from six to seven figures. (5:18) And for those of us who maybe haven't gone that far in business yet, (5:23) helping to really cement these tools. And some of the things that I've heard along the way, (5:28) I think Hal Alrod is someone who talks about this a lot.He's the creator of the Miracle Mornings, (5:34) and he's talked about, we are always going to be limited in how much we can help someone else (5:40) by the amount of growth and work we've done ourselves. And when we're in a business where (5:46) we feel or a career, whatever that is for you, but when we're in a business or career that we're (5:51) passionate about, that we know that we are of service to other people, it is so important that (5:57) we continue to do this work for ourselves because the more space we allow for ourselves, the more we (6:02) can hold space for someone else. And those things I mentioned earlier about the regulated nervous (6:10) system and how it looks when it's unregulated, what we're really giving ourselves is margin.(6:18) We're giving ourselves space to be able to handle things that come up in life, (6:22) because guess what? Life is going to keep happening as you're growing your business, (6:26) as you're working towards your goals, it's going to keep throwing you curve balls. That's just the (6:31) way life is. And so being able to have a tool to be able to navigate those and shift, that's one (6:39) of the most powerful things you can do for yourself.And watching more than 90% of the people (6:45) that I've worked with. And again, more like 95% make major progress towards their goals. This is (6:50) the most fulfilling work I've ever done.And more than 60% of them actually hit their goal in the (6:58) time we're working together. And now I want to give you this analogy, and I'm going to bring (7:06) it up multiple times. And it's the iceberg analogy, which you may have heard of before, (7:13) but this is important.And we all know this about icebergs and the Titanic learned it the hard way. (7:19) But we know that 90% of the iceberg is beneath the surface of the water. (7:23) Why does that matter to you? Because your brain is pretty much the same way.90 to 95% (7:32) of the things that are driving you are happening beneath the surface of the water, (7:36) the surface of your awareness, only five to 10% is actually in your conscious mind. (7:42) And so when you aren't getting the results that you want, when you have inconsistent growth, (7:47) when you have that low hum of stress, when you're waking up at 3am, (7:51) I can pretty much guarantee you it is something underneath the surface that's driving that. (7:57) And when we can find it, when we can release it, that's where the results get consistent.(8:02) That's where that low hum of stress goes away. That's where you start sleeping peacefully through (8:06) the night, every night. That's where you get to enjoy your vacation is when we get beneath the (8:13) surface and the tools in this podcast are designed to do exactly that.And now I want to share a (8:20) little bit about me and the things that I've been holding down within my own nervous system, (8:25) because I realized that I hadn't done a really good job of being that open and vulnerable with (8:29) you in part, because even though I benefit from this work, I do, I actually don't have anything (8:35) to do with this work. This work is for you. It's about you.It doesn't have anything to do with me. (8:43) And so as part of that, I've kind of forgotten to share some of my own challenges with you and (8:48) what I'm navigating and how I'm able to show up the way that I do despite these things. (8:54) So there's been three major things that my nervous system has been working through the (9:00) entire time that I've been doing this full-time.And the first is growing a business. (9:09) And if you are in that boat with me, you know that that alone is an immense source of stress. (9:15) No matter how successful we are, I hear this from seven and eight figure business owners as well, (9:20) is there can sometimes be a fear of what happens if this all goes away.(9:26) And there's very few people who have worked through that fear because we're all human (9:32) and we all get attached to these various things that we're creating for ourselves. (9:37) And so being able to shift into more resourceful, more comfortable perspectives is a really big (9:43) part of this and continuing to do the growth, but growing a business, it is not for the faint of (9:49) heart. And the longer that I'm doing this, the more I see that.And I'm really proud of myself (9:56) that I have already made it past the five-year mark. Like the stats have already been against me. (10:01) They've been against you if you've been in this for any part of time.So take a moment (10:05) and celebrate the fact that you're still here and you're still growing and you're still showing up. (10:10) That is amazing. And now the other thing that I've been dealing with that happened the exact (10:18) same month that I left corporate is my mom had a major cognitive decline.And I'm sharing this (10:24) with you with their permission. I have a book that is coming out very soon called From Crutches (10:30) to Half Marathon. And the subtitle is A Cognitive Movement Journey From Childhood Trauma to a (10:35) Reclaimed Life.So if you notice, I've named this podcast to go hand in hand with that book. So this (10:41) is also a way if you do have the book to help continue to enforce the tools and the tips and (10:49) tricks that I outlined in the book as well. But if you've ever had someone that you love have a (10:57) cognitive decline, you know how hard it is.And there's a grieving process, which feels really (11:02) weird because the person that you love is still there, but they don't look or act the way that (11:08) they did before. And initially, there wasn't a dementia diagnosis when my mom first had her (11:15) decline, but there is now. And at this point, it's a progress to advanced dementia.And while I'm not (11:21) going to go into the details of what that looks like, because I do want to respect my parents' (11:25) privacy, even though they have been very willing to allow me to share this with you. Those parts (11:32) are private. But if you've been through this yourself, you know how hard this is.And you (11:38) know what it's like to be grieving the person that you love, because they're no longer here. (11:45) And also trying to be able to be with them and be present with them and still love and enjoy (11:52) the person that they are now, and meet them in whatever their reality looks like day to day. (11:57) And with the level of progression that we're seeing with the dementia now and my mom, (12:03) some days are really great.Some days are not so great. And those not so great days are really (12:08) tough. You may hear the emotion coming up.It's not easy. So those are the two things (12:18) that I have been working with for the past five years. But I can still show up (12:24) the way that I do and be genuinely as happy as excited as into what I'm doing to be able to hold (12:32) space for my clients.And in fact, working through this has allowed me to hold space big time. (12:40) More on that in a moment. The third thing that I've been handling my nervous system, (12:46) and it's really come to a head this year in 2026, or in June of 2026, as I record this, (12:52) this kind of came up in January.And it's a toxic relationship that's been a part of my life for a (12:58) long time. And I don't want to go into the identity of that person. It's not relevant and (13:03) nor do I really want to call them out, but it's had a really big impact on me.And I'm going to (13:10) be talking about the way that this relationship has been impacting me with some of the things (13:15) that we're going to be going over in this podcast episode and how I've been able to help shift into (13:21) a more resourceful state and remove some of the patterns that came from that toxic relationship. (13:26) Just to name a couple that I've seen that I've worked through. One is that it gave me this huge (13:32) fear of rejection because this person has rejected me my entire life.And so I kept thinking that it (13:38) was something about me. There must be something wrong with me that this person is rejecting me. (13:44) And it wasn't until this year that I realized like, it doesn't matter how I show up, (13:49) nothing that I do is ever going to be okay with that person.And that's their journey. That's (13:54) their choice. They're choosing not to see me as the person I am, but that's been really painful.(14:02) And that fear of rejection, that's a tough thing to get around when you're trying to (14:07) grow a business. And the second thing is it's created some major imposter syndrome, (14:12) like who am I to be doing this? Who am I to be doing this? And those are two things that (14:18) I've really been working through to be able to show up again with the energy, with the genuine, (14:24) authentic enthusiasm that I have. And that is what you're going to learn to do for yourself (14:31) in this podcast.So I want to invite you to grab a journal and to really put into use (14:38) what I'm outlining for you in these episodes. It's totally up to you how much you want to (14:43) implement it, but I want to invite you to just consider what happens if you let yourself (14:49) really go through this process and see what can change for you. And before I wrap this episode, (14:56) I also want to point you to an online program that I have.If you want to take this to another step (15:03) and that is called my six keys to freedom and what you're going to find in that program. First, (15:09) you're going to understand why so many people, and I believe the stats, according to an expert (15:14) on the Mel Robbins podcast, are that 70% of people are in a state of fight or flight these days. (15:19) And I'm going to help you unpack and see what is causing that within our society.(15:25) This program is designed to help counter those stresses that are in our daily life and to give (15:31) your body and your nervous system different inputs that are going to help lower that state (15:37) of vigilance, lower that fight or flight. It's going to allow space for new ideas to come in. (15:43) And these are natural, simple, easy ways that you can help care for your nervous system to give it (15:48) various different inputs that are going to allow you again, to balance out a lot of the stresses (15:54) that we have in life and the keys that you're going to go into.So there are modular modules (15:59) that are going to help you understand what puts us in a state of flight, fight or flight, how you (16:04) can tell if you're in one and some of the signs that are going to tell you that. And then we're (16:11) going to go through the keys themselves, which are cognitive movement, mindset, hacking, happiness, (16:16) hormones, natural nature, silence, and self-care. And each module has both journaling prompts, (16:25) as well as a video module to walk you through what you can do to help give your brain, (16:31) give your nervous system inputs for more peace, more ease, no matter what you're doing.(16:37) So I'm going to drop that link. It is only $47 to sign up for that program. You get access for a (16:42) year, like I said, and it is a great way to take everything in this podcast to the next level and (16:49) continue to give yourself the inputs that you need.Thank you so much for joining me. I look (16:54) forward to seeing you in the next episode.