CHP Director of Coaching Ariana Scalfo sits down with Laura Gordon, who is both a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology and an extraordinarily talented hybrid athlete. Recently at Battle Bunker Regionals in Texas, Laura uses her career to educate her fitness and coaching practice, while simultaneously using her fitness and coaching practice to assist her in her career. Areas of interest for Laura include: trauma informed weight lifting, ocean therapy, recreational therapy, and breath work. Laura's sports include: surfing, weightlifting, running, big mountain adventures, and Deep End Fitness.

Listen in as Laura and Ariana discuss: 

• Laura's work in detox and addiction rehabilitation facilities
• What maladaptive coping mechanisms can look like at their most extreme, and their most "normalized"
• The benefits of graded exposure to noxious/uncomfortable stimuli for athletes, especially athletes with PTSD/CPTSD, substance abuse, or chronic pain or disease
• Replicating stress-scenarios that could be found in sport practice in training, safely (breath-holding under extreme stress to replicate stressful and dangerous surfing conditions, or grappling in MMA, etc)
• The differences between being competitively driven, and challenge-driven, and how they intersect and educate goal selection
• The importance of visualization and pre-activity mental preparedness and processes
• How these tools can be implemented by coaches and by athletes for themselves
• TBH, a lot more

To find Laura on Instagram, search @lauragordon__

To contact Laura for coaching, email her at [email protected]

Find Ariana on Instagram @running_peaches

@completehumanperformance