Maximizing Nurse Coaching with Hypnosis- Mary Cohen MSN-ED, RN, AHN-BC, HWNC-BC, CH, NLPMary Cohen MSN-ED, RN, AHN-BC, HWNC-BC, CH, NLP

Maximizing Nurse Coaching with Hypnosis- Mary Cohen MSN-ED, RN, AHN-BC, HWNC-BC, CH, NLP Transcript

Nicole Vienneau  00:00

Welcome, everyone, to the Integrative Nurse Coaches in ACTION! podcast. My name is Nicole Vienneau. I am your host, and I’m also a Board Certified Integrative Nurse Coach, and today I get to reconnect with an amazing Nurse Coach all the way from Hudson Valley in New York. 

We met in 2020 and I had the pleasure of getting to know her then, and now get to catch up and see what she’s been doing all along over these past five years. So we’re going to welcome Mary Cohen, who is an Advanced Integrative Health and Wellness Nurse Coach. She’s also a certified hypnotist and the founder of Joyful Wellness LLC. So, welcome Mary.

Mary Cohen  00:52

Thank you, Nicole. Thank you so much. And I love reconnecting, and I love being here, and it feels like those five years just flew by.

Nicole Vienneau  01:01

Right? Me too. I’m like, what? Five years already!

Mary Cohen  01:06

Absolutely.

Nicole Vienneau  01:07

Yes. And so lots, of course, lots has happened in five years. And before we even get there, we want to take a trip down history lane. We want to know a little bit more about you. Why did you even decide to become a Nurse?

Mary Cohen  01:22

Okay, well, I can go back a few years and look at my… I didn’t grow up wanting to be a Nurse, it never really entered my thought process. It wasn’t until probably my high school years where you saw your guidance counselor and you reviewed, you know, what colleges you want to go to and all that. 

She said, What about a Nurse? And I said, No, I never really thought of Nursing, but I at that point, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. So I didn’t go to college right away, and I worked. I lived on my own since I was 17, and I worked three jobs to support myself. 

I worked with animals, and I always thought I would be a veterinarian or vet tech, but I didn’t go that route, even though I love the animals, but I also loved science. And, you know, I did a lot of deep soul searching, and I said, Okay, I like science and I like helping people, and that’s when I thought about Nursing. 

So I started doing some volunteer work at the local VA hospital, and worked with the veterans, and really just saw how my helping them could be a compassionate way of helping people.And I love that compassionate piece and just knowing, you know, that I was helping them, and then that’s when I said, Okay, you know what, I’m going to go into Nursing. 

So I took one course at a time. And I struggled in high school. I did have dyslexia, and I had to overcome the learning disabilities that went along with that, but I took a long journey and took a course at a time, and then got through the associate degree level and made it, and realized, yeah, I can do this, and I can learn. And I overcame the dyslexia, and I started my career in New York City. 

I worked in cardiology, coronary care. I did that for many years. That was my love. I loved cardiology. And worked there, and you know, that was back in that day, I worked in Hell’s Kitchen, which our population serviced Times Square. And back then, 42nd street and Times Square were the prostitutes and the drug addicts. 

That was our clientele. It’s changed a lot over the years. But I had a wonderful education there, and I saw everything, learned everything. And then, with that, moved to Long Island and continued my career in cardiology coronary care. I was very instrumental in developing a cardiac wellness program where I developed a curriculum of stress management, relaxation techniques, guided imagery. 

That was back in the day when we had cassette players and we had headphones, and each all the patients would have them at the bedside. And when I look back now at that I realized it was actually part of coaching. It was the integrative modalities, even way back then, which was a large part of my being in my career. 

And from there, I switched over. I made a big switch into labor and delivery. So I went from seeing people die to seeing people being born, babies being born. Perhaps some people might say I was burnt out, but I looked at it as I needed to learn something new. You know, I knew a lot about cardiology, and the chief cardiologist was like, How can you leave? 

All that knowledge. You can’t. But I needed to learn something different, which is pretty much a hallmark of my career. I’ve always changed along the way. Always learn new things, which I consider myself as a lifelong learner, and that’s what always made my career as a Nurse interesting. 

So, you know, I can go on and on about that, but I ended up in labor and delivery, where I worked very closely with laboring moms, and that was before epidurals. So you know, it was in a LDRP, and we worked with DOP tones, listening to the fetal heart rate, and you were there with the laboring patient from start to actually postpartum, even, taking care of mom and baby. 

And with that, we did a lot of guided imagery, music therapy, relaxation and probably hypnosis back at that time, and that ended with I moved into school Nursing. I did that when my kids were in school. So that’s my point, is there’s so many different specialties you can go into as a Nurse. 

You don’t necessarily have to work in one area. You can shift as your life moves along, which is what I did. And then after my kids finished school, I got trained for the operating room. I did trauma Nursing because I always wanted to work in the operating room, and I never did it. 

So even at the late age, I think I was in my late 50s when I did that, and that was pretty… that was a huge undertaking, learning all the different specialties, and then working, being on call, you know, getting called in the middle of the night. And I think that started off the cascade of health problems that I experienced, mainly at the nervous system level, not getting sleep. 

So yeah. And then, I mean, I’m sure we’ll get into talking about how things led into INCA. But like as I reflected preparing for this interview, just thinking back, because I have been a Nurse for a long time, I like to think of Nursing as, like I mentioned, different avenues and paths that we take along the way, and for me, it’s been about embodying what I’ve learned. 

And the healing journey for my own healing, and just realizing that in order to help other people heal, I had to heal myself. So over the past five years, that’s what I’ve been working on, which has been a transformation. So yeah.

Nicole Vienneau  08:19

Thanks so much for sharing all of that with us, Mary. I see these holistic roots from when you were a young girl working with animals in that holistic aspect. You know, animals are such a part of our healing. And then moving in and being a volunteer and being of service in community, another holistic aspect that we, you know, really use. 

And then the compassion, you know, realizing that compassion was so important to you at a very young age, and then moving into Nursing and like, wow, you know, I could do this. I could do this. And then all your experience, first of all, overcoming dyslexia. 

I mean, that’s a huge thing to overcome, and then realizing that you can get a Nursing degree, and you did, it was like, Wow, amazing. And I really, I was connecting with something, you know, your head cardiologist said, that you what? You’re going to leave all this knowledge that you have and move into another space? 

And I was like, Oh, well, for me, it’s more like I’m just going to take that knowledge with me into another space. And that sounds like that’s what you’ve been doing your whole career. You know, learning knowledge, bringing it along with you to the next stop, to the next stop. Learning, growing. 

Continuous learning is such an important thing for you. And then you mentioned some of this night shift work, maybe a higher stress environment, leading to some nervous system dysregulation. So I’m wondering if you can touch on that piece just a little bit more for us so we get a clear picture.

Mary Cohen  09:57

Certainly, yes. And the cardiology, I will add, is the basis of all my medical knowledge, all my Nursing and I still work with Heart Math and heart rate variability, regulating the nervous system. And I always looked at it as my framework. From, like you said, moving on from that knowledge. 

And when I graduated from college, I graduated in 1979, so a lot of the work in neurology and all the knowledge that’s out there today wasn’t part of my education or my training my early years. Everything was still like mysterious. And how do they know anything? So that has evolved tremendously. 

So now that’s one of my passions, is learning about the brain gut connection, the biology of neurology and the neurotransmitters, and how all of that is interconnected, even with losing weight and so many different facets of our healing process, and including trauma— trauma hurting us at the bio, cellular level and the neurological level. 

And that’s when I realized from my nights of being called at 2:30 in the morning and working 36 hour shifts, one trauma after another, I was in the state of constant survival, fight or flight, and that’s what really affected my health. That and I also dealt with chronic Lyme disease, and the combination of those led to adrenal fatigue and just the imbalance of my nervous system, mainly affecting me with insomnia. 

So, you know, and then my healing journey led me to a lot of these holistic modalities and studying them more in depth to help myself and now, in turn, helping other people dealing with the same issues, because we live in a stressful world, and especially since 2020, a lot of people are dealing with stress, and it just seems to keep escalating. 

You know, if you watch the news and what goes on in the world and everything, especially with Nurses, Nurses are experiencing a lot of stress these days. So I started with INCA, with Christy Cowgill, on hypnosis. And that really opened up a lot for me, and it made me realize, Wow, a lot of this neural dysregulation can be helped at the subconscious level. 

That and I also did work with yoga nidra, which is also very transformative, learning that at the subconscious level, like your conscious is deciding things and your subconscious helps you formulate what you want to do. Actually, I have a little thing here from Christy: “Your conscious mind is your goal setter, and your unconscious mind is your goal getter.” 

So I always keep that in mind. And for a lot of us, overcoming those subconscious obstacles and limited beliefs, getting into a state of relaxation is when you’re open to suggestions and more receptive to hearing intentions and affirmations, leading to change at the subconscious level. 

So and it works with the neurology. You know, I’m so excited, I just have to share one thing, and hopefully I’m not getting sidetracked. I’m working with a client now who is type two diabetic, and was hoping to reverse his A1C. His A1C was 6.7. And I just spoke to him yesterday. 

We’ve been doing weekly coaching and hypnosis sessions, mainly on working lowering his A1C. He got it down in three months to 6.1. So I’m like, Yay! And I want to get it down… I’m saying, don’t worry, we’re going to get it below five, you know, 5.9 is my goal. And I asked him if he told his doctor, and he said no, so now I have to work on him to let his doctor know that it was from Nurse Coaching.

Nicole Vienneau  14:50

Amazing. What a celebration that is for both of you.

Mary Cohen  14:53

Yeah, I’m pretty excited about that.

Nicole Vienneau  14:56

Yes. Thanks for sharing that, because the work is… the work is important. Nurse coaches and the work we do in whatever capacity we decide to do it, right? Because you’re combining Nurse Coaching and hypnosis along with many other things, which I know we’ll touch on too, to help as many people as you possibly can, right? 

So yes, and the work that we’re doing needs to have a voice. And so that’s why you’re here, Mary. Give us a voice. Give us a voice. Yes, okay, so celebrate that. And then let’s hear a little bit about maybe what you’re doing on a day to day basis, like, what does a day in the life of Mary look like, as far as working with patients or self care, or, you know, what is it? How does your day to day look? 

Mary Cohen  15:49

Well, interesting, I can’t help but not mention, for the past five years, I’ve been watching my grandchildren pretty much full time. My daughter’s in healthcare, and she had to go back to work and all throughout COVID. So at that time, my granddaughter was three months old, and I was teaching at the local college, and COVID happened. 

So I didn’t go back to teaching, and I started watching my granddaughter full time, which was essentially 12 hour days. So I’d leave the house at six, come home at six, and that went on for probably four and a half years, because she just had another baby a year and a half ago. 

So I had a little time off there, and she just went part time, so I’m now working three days and two days. So, and interesting, with that, I still was able to do my Nurse Coaching business. So that was the beauty of Nurse Coaching and establishing my business, my coaching business. 

And so when I put my granddaughter in for a nap, I would do my coaching calls, so that was typically in the afternoon and evening hours, which I still do. I still do coaching now on my days off, in the evenings and on weekends. So I love that flexibility that it allows me. So when I’m with my grandchildren, I can be Mimi and spend the time with them and not worrying about my business. 

Hasn’t been easy, but it’s doable. And again, the process is ongoing. There’s always education. There’s always further learning, especially in the business model and marketing, which isn’t one of my favorite things, but it’s part of the process. So yeah, but then my coaching practice is all virtual. 

I did work in communities. I did work with seniors, mostly over 55, conducting classes in stress management, yoga Nidra, restorative yoga, and teaching yoga as well. And that was my goal, because my husband’s building an assisted living and a retirement community. So I already had my yoga room already set up, and, you know, I had it all planned out, and then things kind of happened. 

And now I’m at the point in my business where I’m starting to market more, trying to get myself out there on social media, instead of just based on referrals, because my business is mostly based on referrals from other people and from a social worker friend of mine, and you know, just various people in the community. 

I also do a lot of presentations with my local Nursing Association that I’m a board member of. So, through INCA, I did training. Actually, was it through INCA? I take it back. I didn’t get my training through INCA on cannabis Nursing, but I did get certified through Pacific College on cannabis as a cannabis Nurse consultant. 

And so I’ve given lectures on the Endocannabinoid nervous system and cannabis because they don’t really teach that in college. And I think it’s really essential for Nurses to know, especially with the elder generation that uses cannabis, and there’s so many interactions with medications that Nurses need to be aware of. 

So I lecture on cannabis, hypnosis, nutrition. The nutrition training, I’m currently doing through INCA, and actually, I’m probably up against a deadline. The beauty of that program is you have a year to complete it, but then that can also work against you, because you think you had the time to do it, and then it’s like, oh my gosh, I have four modules to go, you know? 

But that’s been very helpful, and I’ve integrated that into a lot of my presentations and coaching as well, and the functional medicine piece from INCA. I took that with Bridget, and I think I was in cohort one with that. So I have a lot of different modalities that I bring in, my tools from my tool kits, I kind of bring in all kinds of different holistic modalities, depending on the situation, what I see is, you know, needed for the client at that time to support them in their transformation.

Nicole Vienneau  20:56

Right, and everyone is so different. The human, the humanity… humanity is different. I mean, each person is so different. Just kind of like if you were a woodworker, or like a handyman, and you only went to work and all you ever brought was your hammer, that would be the only thing that you could ever use. 

You wouldn’t get much business or much result, or many results, right? So I love how you’ve won. You know that you’re a continuous learner, that you want to expand your realm of knowledge in order to support yourself, number one. I’m sure all the things that you’ve learned, you can apply to yourself. And then the second thing is, is that you take this into your practice as well, and then you can pull out multiple tools. 

Some days you might need that drill, some days you’re going to need that hypnosis, some days aromatherapy, mindfulness practices, all of the things of the holistic aspects that Nurse coaches use. So when I think of this gentleman that you were just sharing with us, with his A1C coming down, what were the modalities that he was most connected with when you worked with him?

Mary Cohen  22:13

Well, interesting. When I worked with him, initially, he was interested in hypnosis mainly to overcome the grief of the passing of his wife. So he wanted to work on the grief of her, you know, losing her, and it was very sudden, and also the guilt of having to make the decision to not place her on life support. 

He was called, yeah, he was called in the middle of the night, 3:15, to come in because they needed to place her on life support. And unfortunately, they didn’t have anything in place, which was kind of interesting, because she was an attorney, but it is what it is. We’re still all people, and he honored her wishes that he knew of based on conversation and didn’t place her on life support. 

However, three years later, he’s still dealing with the guilt of having to make that decision. So, as I mentioned, he jumped on board with me for the hypnosis sessions to overcome the grief and the guilt. Which kind of morphed into okay, then we started talking about his diabetes, type two diabetes diagnosis and his elevated A1C and him not wanting to go on insulin. 

And so we’ve worked on that, and now we’re again working on the grief. And he also grieved the loss of their and his anticipation of their retirement. They were supposed to retire shortly after that, and they were world travelers, and they were going to continue traveling. So he was grieving the loss of not traveling, and, you know, not having his partner with him for retirement. 

So my point is that sessions kind of evolve as they go along. And he started out wanting hypnosis, but then we also… I worked in nutrition and overcoming with NLP, we’re working on timeline with fighting the urges for the afternoon chocolate or whatever, and, you know, working that into it. And so it evolves. And another client of mine came to mind. She was working on weight loss through hypnosis. 

That was her goal. And through hypnosis, it was kind of interesting, I thought, because she discovered, and I supported her in her way, you know, in her learning journey, I’m not educating people, I’m supporting them as they learn through uncovering this information. What she discovered was that she never had her voice. 

She never found her voice in childhood, in marriage, with her mother in law, and through hypnosis, she found her voice and wanted to stand up for herself in her marriage. And then I was like, oh my god, hopefully I don’t cause their marriage to break up. I mean, but it kind of was like what she needed to heal herself. 

And so it started out as weight loss, but then she uncovered her frustration of not having a voice, and she was finally being heard, and of course, it changed the dynamics of their relationship that they’re currently working on, but she has since lost 40 pounds. So yeah, so it’s like, you never know where the healing journey takes you, and that’s what I really love about it. 

It’s just you can start out with “A” and you can end up with “K” or “Z” or whatever, all these little transitions along the way, and sometimes it comes back to where you were. And I find that people make the changes best when they uncover the information themselves. 

You can offer them, and I might have all this knowledge, I can offer them information, but unless they come up with that solution, that’s where the real magic happens. That’s where change happens, when they come up with their own solution. 

And I find through the subconscious work with hypnosis and yoga nidra, that sometimes you just really need to be in that relaxed state to have it come to the surface. You may not even be aware of it, and it comes to the surface, and then that’s when the transformation happens and the changes. 

Nicole Vienneau  27:18

I just love this conversation so much, and I know our listeners are too, because they’re like, yes, yes, yes, which is so different than maybe how some of us have practiced in our Nursing careers, which is, share the information, give the patient the information, give, give, push the information. 

Because the system has trained us to do that, and we’re required to check the boxes and do the things that we need to do to cover the bases of x, y and z. And what we’ve discovered now through Nurse Coaching and through implementing other modalities to support the Nurse Coaching model, that that isn’t always the best way for every person, for most people. 

And I love how you’ve just shared that, expressed that, that when the patients and the people, the humans, fellow humans, come to their own solutions and cover the information for themselves, that is much more impactful. It’s much more sustainable for shifts that they want to make in their lives. 

And that in your cases of these two examples, of these two clients that you’ve been working with, uncovering that information then allowed them to work on the initial goal that they may have come to you for, and yet then it it also uncovered other things that they didn’t know that those were as deep of of a priority perhaps at the start. 

And I too have experienced this many, many times, where a client will come for a certain reason, and then, because of our abilities to deeply listen and hold space for the understanding that our fellow humans already have the answers innately in them, that we don’t have to give it to them, that they know best how to heal themselves. 

That when we hold that up for and hold that in our hearts, as helpers and healers and professionals, that it shifts the relationship, and it makes it easier for people to achieve what it is that they want to, what they’ve wanted all along in their own hearts.

Mary Cohen  29:35

Oh, I love that. I love that. Definitely. It’s in their hearts. And part of healing is awareness, self awareness. I believe that’s where it begins. And sometimes it’s not easy, becoming, you know, even spending time in the quiet moments of reflecting, for some people, it’s not easy, and that’s where we can help people reach that state of relaxation, whether it’s through guided imagery, hypnosis, yoga nidra, meditation. 

Just helping them reach that state of relaxation so that perhaps they can hear their inner voice, that they can hear that message that maybe they’ve been denying or blocking and not receptive to. And then I always encourage my clients to journal afterwards. 

And because sometimes you think you’re going to remember, but you don’t always remember. And so, like, I always encourage them to have a journal nearby, piece of paper, whatever, and especially after hypnosis, and just jot down some notes. 

What came to you, what message did you receive, and what did that mean to you? And I just wanted to get back to you on one thing you mentioned, except it’s kind of trying to… it’s passing me by right now, but we’ll get back to it. 

Nicole Vienneau  31:04

Was it when I was talking about how we, as helpers and healers, sometimes we don’t recognize that we need to listen to people or that we don’t have to uncover their…

Mary Cohen  31:13

Oh, I know what it was— making that transition from Nursing as the educator as teaching, and having the tools, and  feeling like, for me, with Nurse Coaching, that was the biggest shift for me, not giving answers. And I still have to work on that, because… 

Nicole Vienneau  31:31

Oh, girl, me too! 

Mary Cohen  31:32

Yeah! I mean, once a Nurse, always a Nurse, and a large part of our profession is teaching, especially in lifestyle changes and health and wellness and health promotion. And like I mentioned, the biggest lesson is for the client to come up with their own solution, and kind of holding that space and not talking and listening. 

And the importance of listening, and hearing their message, and then reflecting back to them, instead of offering solutions. That was the biggest problem for me in the beginning, and I do like to talk, in case you haven’t noticed, but just letting them come up with their own solutions. And it is more sustainable, because they are making that connection and realizing this is what I really need to do. 

Like my client with knowing that she didn’t have her voice, and that she realized she was always avoiding her own voice and letting everybody else run her life, and that was huge for her. I didn’t tell her that. She discovered that on her own, and that was so transformative for her, and it changed the whole dynamic of the relationship. She’s in a better place now. You know, so same thing. 

Nicole Vienneau  32:57

I love this, and I love some other things that you’ve shared are, you know, our true healing is based on that self awareness, the self reflection, and how difficult it is for some of us to get into that space. I think of our society today, we don’t have a lot of quiet places, really. We have an influx of information. 

Our cell phones at the ready, music on all the time. Less environmental opportunities to get outside. You know, more… You know, just more hubbub, more to do’s, more pressure, and so a lot of your work sounds like offering those opportunities to go inward and allowance of that, making that a norm instead of the not normal, you know?

Mary Cohen  34:02

Yeah, making that part of your daily habit and spending the time, even if it’s only 10 minutes, of waking up in the morning and starting out with a gratitude journal and just spending a few moments being thankful for what’s in your life. There’s a lot of science and research to substantiate that. 

Instead of putting on the news, instead of turning on your phone first thing when you wake up, scrolling through social media, spend two or three minutes just being thankful for what you have, for where you are, for your health, for your home, for your food, for your family, and gratitude. 

Even just spending that little bit of time sets the tone, sets your nervous system for the day. And instead of starting out with the angst of putting on the news and hearing all the craziness in the world and everything that goes on there, and setting, I mean, because that can set that negative tone for the day. 

And then taking moments during the day for being outside, being in nature, spending time in this, you know, getting your sun, setting your circadian rhythm, going outside first thing. What I like to do in the morning is going outside as soon as I wake up and go out for my walk, because that’s what I’ve learned to use to help with the insomnia. 

It sets my circadian rhythm. And just listening to the birds chirping and hearing them starting the day with gratitude, because essentially, that’s what they’re doing. They’re singing their song, like, Oh, listen to me. You know, the robins in particular. I love to hear the robins. And then getting outside, movement. 

Moving is essential. It’s essential for our nervous system. It’s essential for nervous system regulation. It helps with the endorphins, the neurotransmitters. You know, there’s so many things we can do to support our nervous system and to be in the moment and to just be aware. 

And just like you mentioned, mindfulness activities, even if it’s just taking the time to do some breath awareness, or just to center yourself for that moment when you find yourself in fight or flight or stressed or, you know, in a situation. And interesting, because that brings to mind when I think back of my years in working with trauma, and working in coronary care and dealing with emergencies. 

And when I look back at it, which I didn’t realize at the time, I would do the take a deep breath, you know, and babies… resuscitating babies, and just saying, Can I do this? Yes, you have the training. You have the knowledge. You can do it. And take a nice, deep breath, center yourself, calm yourself, get that adrenaline because you do get that adrenaline surge, centering yourself and doing what you’ve been taught to do. 

And then you crash afterwards, but then you take care of yourself afterwards. But so all of that I’ve taken into my life now, supporting myself with chronic illness and finding ways to support my nervous system and to be in the moment. 

Another thing I will add, when I was a school Nurse, I taught children breath techniques. You know, say if there was a crisis, if they were injured and I was waiting for an ambulance or something for them, just helping them learn breathing techniques to help them bring themselves down and to support their nervous system. 

So there’s so many techniques we can do, even still on a daily basis, and just like you said, awareness, reflection and just everything starts there. And even knowing when you’re in a fight or flight situation, and paying attention to the signals that are in your body, whether it be tension in your back, in your neck, something in your gut, feeling your stomach tensing up. 

Just realizing, oh, you know, and taking a moment to ground yourself and support yourself and  thereby supporting your nervous system. And doing the breathing and everything we work with, all the tools we have and how we can support ourselves, how we can support our coworkers and our family, and hopefully they hear our message. That’s the main thing. Some people are a little more stubborn than others. Some people have to find out the hard way.

Nicole Vienneau  39:01

Well, sometimes that’s what it takes, those crisis kind of situations, those diagnosis that you didn’t expect, and then all of a sudden you are being pushed into needing and wanting to support yourself. Sometimes that is what happens.

Mary Cohen  39:19

You’re being forced into finding ways to support yourself so that you can get through whatever crisis it is, and you know, in an effort to heal yourself. And hopefully, ideally, I mean, if you’re working at the bedside, you can still spend time incorporating those little tidbits of information. 

I know Nurses are challenged now and even challenged with coworkers, with bullying that goes on, and administration, the issues coming down from the top, and handle more with less time, not getting breaks, not, you know, going to the bathroom. But the main thing is, Nurses need to support themselves. 

They need to support themselves in these little ways, whether it’s going to, you know, when you’re regulating an IV, taking some deep breaths right then and there, or when you’re going to pick up a patient from the ER or whatever, or delivering a patient somewhere, just on your way, taking that moment to do the deep breathing, to centering yourself, because that might be the only time you have to actually center yourself, but we have to. 

It all starts with taking care of ourselves as Nurses before you can really take care of other people. And that’s like a big message for me. And when I was teaching Nursing students, I tried to emphasize that. But I think a lot of times students, you know, they’re kind of in this fantasy world, and they have all these idealistic ideas of what Nursing is about, and they think it’s going to be fine, and then they get out in the real world, and everything hits. 

But I always like to prepare my Nursing students for the real world and how to support themselves, and how to be an advocate for the patient, and how to stand up to other people who may be asking you to do things that you know aren’t right, or whatever the case may be, in the bullying or, you know, just the interactions with other people. 

Just how to be supportive of yourself so that you can withstand the challenges of the profession. Because Nurses are leaving the professions in droves, and we need Nurses. We need Nurses to be resilient and to work on themselves so they can withstand the stress of the profession. You know, because we’re all going to need a Nurse someday.

Nicole Vienneau  42:03

We are going to need a Nurse someday. And I just want to just also touch on this with our with our listeners. You know, no one’s saying that you’re not doing enough to support yourself. It’s just, it’s just that, you know, there are ways that we can when we’re at the bedside. 

I just recently did a presentation on this, just in between the joy and the suffering, there’s all this space. We remember all the highlights of our work day. We remember the really hard parts, and we remember the real joyful parts. And the spaces is in between that, we often forget about, but that’s the majority of our day— 

The hanging the IVs, the dressing changes, the patient turning the, you know, the interactions with our colleagues, and being on the phone, and, you know, doing all the things, taking out the garbage, all the things that we do do on a daily basis as Nurses when we’re at the bedside. And how do we find moments of peace and nervous system regulation during those times too, you know? 

And I think of simple things that take not even a second of time when I’m hanging an IV antibiotic. And I can think of, not only is that an IV antibiotic that’s going to help kill the bug, you know, that help with the sepsis, and also, it’s also, I can think of it as infusing light of love as well as that. 

And it shifts the way that I am offering that healing medicine. That is something that, you know, incorporating my own holistic imagination into the work I’m doing. If I’m doing a dressing change instead of just like packing a wound, it’s more like, what am I also putting in that wound from my own intentions of healing? 

So it could be, yeah, packing the wound with the saline that is really going to help support the little itty bitty cells as they’re going to be regenerating. Like, it’s just like thinking of the spaces in between all of those really exciting and hard times, more of the boring stuff that we do as Nurses. Like, how do we elevate those things to help bring us back to ourselves and reconnect with ourselves too.

Mary Cohen  44:23

And that’s powerful, and that’s a powerful message I learned from you as my instructor back with INCA, and I taught that to my students as well, because I always remembered that, and that’s powerful. And being that, you know, I’m a Reiki master practitioner, and I know that it all starts with intention. 

Healing starts with intention. And even just having the intention as you’re standing there hanging up that IV antibiotic, just thinking, I’m sending healing energy. You know, just thinking it. It’s all about energy. And I’m not saying you’re healing somebody, but even what for the greatest good of that person. 

Whatever they need at that moment, whether it’s peace, whether it’s relaxation, whether it’s pain management or just you know, like I said, relaxation, or just wanting the good for that person, whatever their decision is, and sending that energy. 

And it all starts with intention, and then, like you said, in those mundane moments, setting that intention, instead of thinking oh, or looking at your phone or whatever people do today, being in the moment that mindfulness for the patient. 

And I think we all have heard stories where Nurses are torn and pulled in so many directions that sometimes they feel like they don’t have that quality time with a patient, but that’s where you make the quality time, those moments, that’s where you can make the difference. 

Because it may only be a few minutes and then you have to run somewhere else, but the time you’re in there with the patient is the time you have to make, not just task oriented, but like what you said, with your intention and sending energy, positive energy and mindfulness. Yeah, love that. I always remember that.

Nicole Vienneau  46:34

Aw, that’s great. I really try to do that just in even my daily life. Like I feel like it’s like my own gift back to myself too. It’s not just a thing that I’m doing. It’s more… it’s more intentional. It’s taken practice, though, it’s taken a lot of practice to be able to do that. It didn’t come easy. 

So, yes, okay, so we’ve talked about a lot of amazing things here, Mary, and we have a few moments left, and I’d love to ask the one question. I’d love to ask this question. And the question is, and you may take a few breaths and just come into to your heart space. What is on your heart that you would really love to share with our listeners today?

Mary Cohen  47:23

I think what’s in my heart, and what I feel so deeply in my heart, is a message, especially for Nurses, if Nurses are listening to this, is that as Nurses, and I’m sure other Nurses have said this on this podcast, we’re always taking care of everybody else. 

Everybody else comes before ourselves, and we’re kind of brought up that way, or that’s our existence. And we always put ourselves on the back burner, and everybody else’s needs are taken care of, and sometimes we often forget to take care of ourselves, or we don’t have good, healthy lifestyle habits that lead to our health, wellness and resilience, increased energy and all of that. 

And through my journey as a Nurse, and through navigating chronic illness and insomnia and my own personal transformation, I realized that healing isn’t just about treating the symptoms or taking the supplements or, you know, constantly going to different doctors. It’s really about reconnecting with your inner being, reconnecting with your true self, and listening from within and hearing your own story. 

And taking that time, that mindfulness, to listen to your own story, to help navigate the healing process and to perhaps lead us to better lifestyle choices that support our health. And you know, whether it be spending mindful moments during the day or eating a healthy diet, getting that outside exercise, increasing our circadian rhythm by getting sunlight early in the day. 

All these little… and sleeping well, all these little lifestyle habits support our well being, but we as Nurses need to listen to that inner being, that inner voice, so that we can heal ourselves so we are in a better position where we can help other people heal and make that transformation themselves. 

We can’t keep giving from an empty cup. We have to take care of ourselves so that we can help other people, and learning by caring for ourselves in compassion that we give other people. We have to give that compassion and kindness to ourself. And a lot of times that’s what’s missing. 

And I learned that from another coach who coached me, was when I had those nights of insomnia and beating myself up. Why aren’t I sleeping? And the the more stressed out I got about it, the more I didn’t sleep. And she basically told me, be kind to yourself. Be more compassionate to yourself, and support yourself. 

You’re doing the best you can and just be kind to yourself. And that was like a huge lesson for me, because it was something I never really considered, because we were always go, go, go, and, you know, striving and learning and advancing and just realizing where you’re at and acknowledging what you’ve done, what you’ve learned, and how you help others and being compassionate. 

And I think a lot of us can learn from that lesson of how to be more compassionate to ourself, not just Nurses, but everybody. Yeah.So that would be my… that’s what’s in my heart.

Nicole Vienneau  51:24

Your message is received.

Mary Cohen  51:26

Thank you. 

Nicole Vienneau  51:27

So, Mary, how can we find you? If we’re looking to learn a little bit more about what you do, or we’d like to work with you, how do we find you?

Mary Cohen  51:37

Okay, well, as I mentioned, I’m getting myself out there more on social media. As much as I don’t want to be doing that, but I do have a website which I made a few years ago, which was it took me forever to make, but I did it. 

Nicole Vienneau  51:56

Congratulations! That’s huge! 

Mary Cohen  51:57

But since then, I’ve learned that nobody looks at websites. So oh well, it is what it is.

Nicole Vienneau  51:57

That’s not true. That’s not true. 

Mary Cohen  51:59

That’s not true? Okay. Well that… I even have to look at my website. It’s Joyful Wellness LLC. I had to add the LLC, because there’s other Joyful Wellness businesses. So it’s joyfulwellnessllc.com, and I actually recently just updated it, because on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn, I had created a new landing page offering a 10 minute free hypnosis session to help reset your nervous system. That I can provide the link in the notes, I guess.

Nicole Vienneau  52:48

Yes, I can definitely share that link. Click on the link and get a free 10 minute hypnosis session? 

Mary Cohen  52:54

Yep, I will add that that is that I work into my email capture. So if you don’t want your email shared, then you know, you can always just, yeah… I do add that because I know I don’t like always sharing my email, so I like to add that little tidbit. And also my email is my name, my full name, maryjoycohen@joyfulwellnessllc.com. 

And then I have a few, you know, Facebook and Instagram. Mostly I’d have to put it in the notes, because, like, Instagram is, like, joyful dot wellness, dot LLC, and you know. You’ll have that in the notes?

Nicole Vienneau  53:40

Yes, we’re going to put all of your links in our notes, all to your Instagram and Facebook and your website and this free 10 minutes hypnosis session. And when people want to get in touch with you, they can click on those and follow you and all your amazing information, and also amazing awareness and self reflections.

Mary Cohen  54:06

And I’m actually creating a mini class, a 90 minute live mini class, which will be the end of June, on resetting your nervous system. And I’m still kind of working on that, and that will eventually… because I’m transitioning into creating courses and programs online, in addition to the one on one coaching. 

So that will have… that will lead into an eight week course, which I think I’m going to launch around… I keep changing the date. Sometime in the summer. And so if you sign up with the free hypnosis link, that’ll put you into an email automation system that will lead to the course, if you’re interested, or you can contact me at my email. 

But I do plan on in that email automation system, I do offer some breathing techniques and other hypnosis sessions, some yoga nidra sessions, all free, just to help people and to help people realize that these are part of our healing techniques. This is what we can do to help our nervous system so that we can withstand the stresses of our careers, you know, so that we can help other people.

Nicole Vienneau  55:33

Yeah, thank you for putting all of that together so that we can learn about more healing resources for our own selves.

Mary Cohen  55:42

My pleasure, definitely. It’s something that I’ve been wanting to work on and part of my business and trying to find the time to do it. But where there’s a will, there is a way. The intention. It’s all about intention. 

Nicole Vienneau  55:58

That’s right, we’ve all got to have that intention. And yes, thank you, Mary, for spending time with us today and sharing your beautiful pearls of wisdom about so many different things.

Mary Cohen  56:10

And thank you for having me, Nicole. And it was really nice reconnecting with you again.