Perimenopause and menopause can affect more than hormones. Dr. Irena O’Brien speaks with coach Luce Beaulieu about capacity, nervous system regulation, identity, brain fog, shame, leadership, and why old ways of pushing through may stop working. Perimenopause and menopause are often discussed as hormonal or reproductive transitions. But what if they are also capacity transitions? In this episode of Neuroscience of Coaching, Dr. Irena O’Brien speaks with coach and transformation specialist Luce Beaulieu about menopause, nervous system regulation, identity, emotional meaning, and embodied leadership. Luce explains why menopause is not simply a list of symptoms, and why many women experience this phase as a deeper disruption of identity, energy, self-trust, and the ability to keep pushing through. Together, Irena and Luce explore how changing body signals can affect the brain’s predictions, why old strategies may stop working, and why what looks like burnout, low confidence, emotional instability, or resistance may sometimes reflect a system under greater physiological and emotional load. This conversation is especially relevant for coaches and helping professionals who work with midlife clients navigating brain fog, emotional intensity, burnout, identity shifts, leadership strain, or the quiet realization that they can no longer function in the same way they once did. “You’re going through a revolution. You’re going through a deep, deep transformation on all levels of your being.” — Luce Beaulieu “A client can be highly competent and still have less available capacity because her system is managing more.”— Dr. Irena O’Brien Guest Bio: Luce Beaulieu helps midlife women in leadership stop running their work and impact from depletion, and start leading from real internal capacity. After nearly 20 years working in sustainability, research and social impact, she recognized a critical gap: we cannot build better systems with burned-out, dysregulated leaders. Today, she integrates nervous system work, somatic coaching, embodiment and leadership development to help founders, executives and change-makers restore clarity, resilience, and grounded authority. Her work challenges the idea that more effort creates better results, and instead shows that the future of leadership depends on how much we can actually hold. Host Bio: Dr. Irena O'Brien teaches coaches and care professionals how to achieve better results for their clients through neuroscience. She is the founder of Neuroscience School, which helps practitioners understand and apply insights from cutting-edge neuroscience research. She loves seeing her students gain confidence in their ability to evaluate neuroscience findings and use them successfully in their own practices. Her Certificate Program in Neuroscience is certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) for Continuing Coaching Education credit. Dr. O'Brien has studied neuroscience for 25 years and holds a Ph.D. in the field from the Université du Quebec à Montréal (UQAM), where she did brain-imaging studies. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Language, Mind, and Brain at McGill University. Resources mentioned in this episode: MiraseeDr. Irena O'Brien’s website: The Neuroscience SchoolLuce’s website: https://www.immergence.co/ Credits: Host: Dr. Irena O’BrienProducer: Michi LantzAudio Editor: Marvin del RosarioExecutive Producer: Danny InyMusic Soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyMaking our hosts sound great: Home Brew Audio Music credits: Track Title: Sneaker SmeakerArtist: Avocado JunkieWriter: Sander KalmeijerPublisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION Track Title: Coo CoosArtist: Dresden, The FlamingoWriter: Matthew WigtonPublisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION Track Title: In This LightArtist: Sounds Like SanderWriter: Sander KalmeijerPublisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION Special effects credits:24990513_birds-chirping_by_promission used with permission of the author and under license by AudioJungle/Envato Market. To catch the great episodes coming up on Neuroscience of Coaching, please follow us on Mirasee FM's YouTube channelor your favorite podcast player. And if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or a starred review. It’s the best way to help us get these ideas to more people. Episode transcript: Menopause Is Not Decline: A Nervous-System Lens for Coaches coming soon.
