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Vital-Side
Hi, y'all!
I'm Lindsay Mitchell,
... your brain retraining coach!
Vital-Side was conceptualized through my own experience with chronic illness, as well as my medical background as a physician associate and extensive neuroplasticity training, to provide a unique framework designed to effectively calm the chronic stress response and support the body in its optimal functioning.
What I enjoy most about Vital-Side is getting to know my members personally on our private network and in group and private sessions. I also have a team of well-equipped women who have all been brain retrainers inside Rewire, and I feel grateful to work alongside of them.
Members can tell you, I love to laugh, travel (I spent 2023 living on the road), and find creative ways to make brain retraining approachable & fun. We are all brain retrainers, but in Vital-Side, we make intentional changes to our brains that benefit our health & overall wellbeing.
Credentials
Lindsay holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Nevada and a Master of Physician Assistant Studies from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She is a certified physician associate, Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, and an Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and Thought Field Therapy (TFT) practitioner.
Lindsay's background as a medical practitioner combined with her personal experience using neuroplastic tools to make a full recovery from chronic illness have served to create the truly transformational offerings found in Vital-Side. Since its conception in 2017 and official start in 2018, Vital-Side has helped over 10,000 people suffering from chronic illness and stress reclaim control of their health and transform their lives.
My story
of chronic illness recovery
My experience with chronic illness began as a teen when I tested positive for Epstein-Barr virus. I continued to have a weak immune system during my young adult years.
I went on medical missions to indigenous places like rural Africa while earning my degree in biology. While studying to be a physician assistant in South America, I fell ill to various parasites that kept me fatigued with gut issues after returning to the U.S.
Then my husband found a tick on the back of my neck during a trip to the Redwoods. This tick bite unleashed the “perfect storm”—a build up of biological and environmental toxins due to years of exposure.
I tested positive for Lyme disease, multiple parasites, systemic candidiasis, and other co-infections. My doctors told me to make myself comfortable—that my diagnoses were something I'd have to deal with for the rest of my life. But I rejected this.
I began reading about the brain's ability to change—a concept referred to as neuroplasticity—and made the decision to begin brain retraining. This was the one defining decision that changed everything for me.
Once I learned how to calm the stress response, my symptoms didn’t just improve...they began to disappear. After using mental exercises to help retrain my old associations to illness for eight months, I was surfing on a beach in Costa Rica—able to eat, drink, and do anything I wanted. I was FREE.
Now it’s my mission to help others suffering from chronic illness regain their vitality and live a life of possibility.
Watch this
Brain Retraining Video
Learn more about Lindsay's story and the science behind brain retraining
Neuroplasticity in a Nutshell
It was once thought that by the age of 30, our thinking patterns were solidified and our brains were incapable of creating new neural pathways. But recent scientific research has discovered that the brain is constantly experiencing new neural activity throughout our entire lives. This concept is known as neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to change, re-organize, and adapt.
When we create new thought patterns, we are able to break habits that are not serving our highest good and ultimately, change our reality…including our genetic expression!
“It’s all in your head."
This Is absolutely NOT the case for those dealing with chronic illness.
Unfortunately, it’s what so many of us have heard from both practitioners and family members. In Vital-Side, we don’t dismiss your suffering or minimize the seriousness of your condition. While your symptoms are definitely not "all in your head," they may be a result of limbic system impairment.
The Link Between the Brain and Chronic Symptoms
What happens to the brain when we experience a physical trauma in the form of an injury, virus, or bacterial infection? Or environmental exposure to mold or toxic chemicals? How about an emotional trauma? And what if these traumatic events persist?
The sympathetic nervous system response (fight-or-flight) remains in the 'ON' position.
This mechanism is a great if you’re running from a lion, fighting off an acute illness, or facing any kind of immediate threat. But if that physical, mental, or emotional trauma endures, the brain gets stuck using the same neural pathways that cause your brain to continually think you’re in danger, even after the removal of the stressor. This is where the “chronic” part of illness comes into play.
Find Relief through a Parasympathetic Reset
If the brain is using the same neural pathways even after the stressor is gone, it can be difficult to find relief from persistent symptoms. When the limbic system is impaired and the sympathetic nervous system is dominant, it inhibits our bodily systems from functioning at optimal capacity. When we opt for a parasympathetic reset and learn how to function from a state of rest-and-digest, we can make positive changes to our brains that result in greater health, diminishing symptoms, and increased resiliency to stress.
We all have the power within to heal—in fact, we’re designed for it. It’s a scientific fact.
Vital-Side protocols have been applied to the following conditions:
- Adrenal fatigue
- Mild allergies (pollen, food, perfume, chemical, environmental)
- Autoimmune conditions
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Bacterial overgrowth
- Cancer (post or adjunctive treatment)
- Central sensitization
- Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME)
- Chronic inflammatory response (CIRS)
- Cognitive function- memory or brain fog
- Depression
- Dysautonomia
- Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS)
- Electric hypersensitivity syndrome
- Environmental illness (EI)
- Fibromyalgia
- Food sensitivities
- Hashimoto's thyroiditis
- Headaches
- Heart palpitations
- Heavy metal toxicity
- Insomnia
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Latent infections
- Leaky gut syndrome
- Lichen Sclerosus (LS)
- Long COVID
- Lupus
- Lyme disease
- Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)
- Mold illness (CIRS)
- Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Panic attacks
- Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness
- Phobias
- Poor circulation
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)
- Sensitivity to smell, taste, light, sound, touch
- Skin conditions- eczema, rash, hives
- Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)
- Tinnitus
- Thyroid disorders
The Vital-Side MISSION
To empower those suffering from chronic illness and stress to find relief from their symptoms and gain freedom in their choices.
We do this through the application of mental exercises and techniques designed to take the brain from a state of survival to one of growth and repair. Vital-Side exists to act as a voice for all people feeling stuck or limited by chronic symptoms and to promote widespread collective healing, starting with the brain.
CORE VALUES
Empowerment and Infinite Possibility for Growth and Change
- We demonstrate compassion and empathy for those dealing with chronic illness, stress, and/or trauma.
- We strive to create positive change in the lives of those dealing with limbic system impairment and nervous system dysregulation.
- We promote holistic wellness and reclamation of mind and body in a world where we have been conditioned to outsource our health.
- We provide root cause solutions by addressing the brain and nervous system’s role in the development and sustainment of chronic symptoms.
- We are knowledgeable of the brain and body on a cellular level and provide information and protocols that are backed by science.
The Vital-Side Difference
What makes Vital-Side Different from other Brain Retraining programs?
In Vital-Side, we understand that you're an individual and one size does not fit all. We also understand that having a community of like-minded individuals can be instrumental in the healing process.
When you purchase Rewire, The Vital-Side Membership, you’ll receive access to our 5-module virtual brain retraining course that offers a structured protocol you can use daily. This course contains great information for spatial, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.
You’ll also have access to a supportive community inside the Vital-Side Members' private cohort, where you can get your questions answered directly by the Vital-Side team throughout the brain retraining process..
For Active Brain Retrainers
For those who are already Vital-Side Members or who have prior experience with limbic brain retraining, Lindsay offers tools, courses, and a community for retrainers just for you. These can be found in Elevate, Regulation Station, and Deep Dive Calls.
The other members of the
Vital-Side Team
Lori Weir
Operation's Manager and Member Support Specialist
Lori provides top-notch support to our members on the The Vital-Side Network and via email. She is the person answering your questions from her wealth of knowledge and personal experience, and is a constant source of inspiration and hope. Feel free to reach reach out and say hello!
Lori has a background in Psychology, but wasn’t until she and her children began to suffer from chronic conditions that she discovered just how important the nervous system was. It was helping her children heal holistically that sparked her passion in root cause approaches to healing.
Although Lori has been in the holistic health world for nearly 10 years now, it wasn't until she experienced a major setback in her health in 2021 that brain retraining in Vital-Side became a part of her journey, and she credits it as being the missing piece to her healing puzzle. She is passionate about sharing her story and helping others see their own capability for self-healing and is currently studying Homeopathy.
Learn more about Lori's story here: Rewire The Podcast: 62. “Is this real life?” Lori Weir’s Wild Healing Journey, Recovering fromMCAS, POTS, and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Megan Roush
Administrator and Community Cheerleader
You can find Megan cheering members on inside The Vital-Side Network and responding to messages on our social channels. Megan has a wealth of knowledge to share from her own story of healing.
Megan has a background in adoption casework and office management. As a teen, she had Epstein- Barr virus but went on to live a healthy life. However, after having two viral illnesses within six-months and facing trauma in her life, she was diagnosed with POTS in 2023. Looking back, she can see how she was living with symptoms since her teen years, but her life changed seemingly overnight and she was searching for answers. When medical teams told her she would adjust to living with her symptoms for the rest of her life, she refused to let that be her story. She found brain retraining with Vital-Side and quickly began her journey of healing. Within two weeks, she was seeing relief from her symptoms. She credits it to being the thing that got her out of bed and living her life again.
Megan has a passion for helping others facing chronic illness through sharing her story, and is thrilled to be part of the Vital-Side team.
MJ Giesey
Vital-Side Coach
MJ is trained as a nervous system coach for Vital-Side after using the practice herself to recover from chronic illness and transform her life. She holds a Master's in Public Health from the University of Michigan and worked as a health policy consultant for several years before becoming sick with Long COVID and ME/CFS in 2020. She was seriously ill for three years - mostly housebound and sometimes bedbound - and had to leave her career behind. Frustrated by the lack of treatment options offered by traditional Western medicine, she tried a wide range of holistic approaches and achieved some stability in her health, but still lived with severe limitations and chronic symptoms. She wanted to recover and live a full life again.
MJ joined Vital-Side, and using the tools from Rewire and Elevate every day, she fully recovered by the end of the year. As she healed, she began building a new life aligned with her values and learning everything she could about neuroplasticity and holistic wellbeing. MJ uses her professional and personal experience to support others on their journeys toward thriving. Watch MJ's healing journey in this video.
Bianca Spears
Vital-Side Coach and Co-Founder of Elevate & Regulation Station
Bianca has a background as a world-renowned laughter leader, is an award-winning empowerment coach, and she's the creator of The NeuroPLAYstic Way, which allows deeper change and healing through its unique combination of play, somatic practices, neuroplasticity and psychology.
Bianca's own brain rewiring journey for healing and nervous system regulation began when chronic stress and a "go-go-go" lifestyle brought her full on life of entrepreneurship and motherhood to a halt. Brain retraining in Vital-Side allowed her the tools she needed to heal.
Bianca is the co-creator of two Vital-Side Programs: Elevate and Regulation Station designed to improve the practices of brain retrainers. Her coaching style brings together her intuition and creativity, a background in laughter and play-based modalities, and her training in life coaching. Watch Bianca's healing journey in this video.