This interview is with Pam Aks M.S., PCC, RMT, Certified Neuroscience-Informed Mindset Coach, What's Within U, LLC.
Pam, as a Certified Neuroscience-Informed Mindset Coach in professional training and coaching, how do you describe your core focus and the kinds of leaders and entrepreneurs who benefit most from your work?
My core focus is supporting leaders and entrepreneurs in identifying what I call “cognitive traffic jams.” Those are the thoughts that occur when their brains feel overloaded, reactive, or stuck in looping negative thought patterns that block clear thinking, idea generation, strategizing, and forward movement. This is where my love for all things neuroscience and somatic-related comes in super handy. I love taking geeky insight and turning it into something relatable and usable so my clients can demystify those jams and develop tailored strategies to steer clear of them in the future.
The people who benefit most from my work are those who have tried the courses, the planners, the books, and the “this will fix everything” strategies and still feel stuck and stalled out. Folks who are ready to take their goals and ideas off the paper they’ve been sitting on.
What key experiences across your 21 years in coaching and earlier entrepreneurial ventures led you to center your practice on the brain–body connection?
One key experience comes to mind for me. It was my first year of coaching, when I seriously considered quitting. I’d get off coaching calls absolutely convinced I sucked as a coach and that I was better off walking away. That story felt so real and so convincing that I almost did. In hindsight, that same thread of “you suck” ran through my two earlier entrepreneurial ventures, too.
Tripping headfirst into neuroscience and somatics made all the difference. I started to understand that my brain and nervous system weren’t trying to sabotage me; they were trying to keep me safe from anything that felt new, uncertain, or exposing, thanks to some prehistoric wiring. Learning that we’re wired for survival over success helped me feel less like a weirdo and a lot more empowered.
Being able to take what I’ve learned about the brain–body connection and weave it into mindset coaching has been an absolute game changer, both in my own business and in the way I support my clients.
In a high‑stakes moment when self‑doubt hijacks decision‑making, what is the first micro‑protocol you teach to re‑engage the prefrontal cortex—the brain’s “CEO”—and rebuild mindset trust?
Great question. It’s so hard to think clearly and logically when our brains and bodies feel hijacked. One of the first things I love to do is invite people to regulate their nervous system. The easiest way to start is by taking a breath. One simple breathing exercise that works like a charm is to make your exhale slightly longer than your inhale. This sends a “we’re OK, we’re safe” signal through the nervous system so it can start to calm down.
Once your nervous system is calmer and the limbic part of your brain isn’t screaming “danger” quite as loudly, your prefrontal cortex can step back in and do what it does best: perspective, planning, and decision-making. If you practice this often, you’re essentially building a new neural pathway so that when self-doubt hits the scene, your brain learns to go to your breath first instead of heading straight into panic mode.
You often liken the body to a dashboard; what is one early somatic cue you prioritize, and how do you turn that single cue into an immediate, practical workplace response?
It depends on the person, because each brain and body has its own “dashboard” of cues. That said, one of the first things I invite people to do is build the habit of checking in with their bodies regularly, especially if they’re used to living from the neck up. When we’re tuned out from those signals, we’re a lot less likely to notice when a stress response is gearing up.
A common early cue I pay attention to is tension, especially in places like the jaw, shoulders, or gut. In a workplace setting, I’ll have someone pause for 10–20 seconds to scan for “Where is my body gripping right now?” and then pair that with a simple, practical move: unclenching the jaw, dropping the shoulders while taking a slightly longer exhale, or placing a hand on the desk or lap to feel solid contact. That tiny shift turns a single somatic cue into an immediate micro-reset, allowing them to respond more intentionally rather than react on autopilot.
Right before a high‑stakes presentation or board meeting, what pre‑performance routine do you coach to quiet self‑doubt and step into decisive action?
I take a page from Amy Cuddy’s work and encourage people to strike a “power pose.” Changing our physiology by standing up straight, rolling our shoulders back and down a little, sticking our chest out slightly, and keeping our head up changes the energy, not just in our bodies but in how we present ourselves.
I found this made a difference during my “you suck” moments. When I stood up straight instead of shrinking and took up space, the self-doubt would dissipate. I was then able to enter my coaching sessions calmer and more grounded, which made a huge difference in my coaching.
Mindfulness can become another checkbox on an already full plate; how do you design micro‑practices that restore the nervous system instead of contributing to mindfulness burnout?
For me, it’s all about quality over quantity. To explain: I think there’s a big misconception that mindfulness only “counts” if you’re on the meditation cushion for 30–60 minutes. In reality, even 1–2 minutes of an intentional practice can start to settle the nervous system.
When I design micro-practices, I look for things that are short, doable, and easy to work into an already full day. For example, two minutes of slow, deeper breathing between meetings or while your camera is off. The goal is to shift the body out of stress mode, not to give people one more mindfulness task to feel guilty about.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
I just want to leave you with one final thought: things like negative thought patterns or stress are data. Just like the engine light on your car, which alerts you that the engine needs attention, those things are data that alert you when something in your world needs attention.
Please be sure to give yourself some grace as you find the best ways to mitigate the impact. Any habit, good or otherwise, takes time to implement or change. The more you use doable tools when those cognitive traffic jams appear, the more you train your brain to respond differently.