E117: How Coaching Can Help You Thrive in Midlife and Beyond with Dr. Mikel Segal

Welcome back to the Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast! This week, Dr. Kerry Reller chats with Dr. Mikel Segal—a hospitalist, coach, and expert in holistic wellness—about how coaching can support midlife women in thriving, not just surviving.

Dr. Segal shares how she blends lifestyle medicine with nervous system regulation, mindset shifts, and self-compassion to help clients reduce stress, build healthier habits, and reconnect with their purpose.

We also explore the future of longevity, why it's never too late to take charge of your health, and simple ways to feel better starting today.

If you're ready to improve your quality of life and create meaningful change, this episode is for you!

Dr. Mikel Segal earned her MD at the University of British Columbia and completed her family practice residency at the University of Toronto. With extensive coaching credentials, including training from the Human Potential Institute, a Trauma-Informed Coaching Certificate through Lodestar, Dare to Lead training, somatic work and leadership training with Coaches Rising, she brings a wealth of expertise to her coaching work. Passionate about supporting the wellness of midlife women, she has created an online group program designed to guide and empower women to reach their optimal health so they can live with vitality and purpose. In her free time, she loves hiking, biking, travelling and exploring nature with her family.

00:28 - Welcome and Introduction
00:49 - Meet Dr. Mikel Segal
02:09 - From Medicine to Coaching
03:53 - Coaching vs. Doctoring
06:57 - Supporting the Nervous System
08:46 - Simple Mindfulness Practices
10:14 - Stress Management Tools
11:58 - The Role of Lifestyle Medicine
13:35 - Common Limiting Beliefs
16:30 - A Physician Burnout Success Story
20:42 - The Future of Longevity and Health Tech

Website: www.mikelsegalmd.com or on
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Podcast: Essential Wellness will be launching February 2025 👀

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Transcript

Kerry: 0:28

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the get healthy Tampa Bay podcast. I'm your host. Dr. Kerry Reller. And today we have a very special guest. Dr. Mikel Segal. Welcome to the podcast.

Mikel: 0:39

Thank you so much. It's great to be here.

Kerry: 0:42

Yeah, we're super happy to hear about you and everything you have to say. And why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Mikel: 0:49

Okay, well, thanks for having me on again. Yeah, so my name is Mikel and I am a physician and coach. I'm based in Canada, Vancouver, part of the time, I'm still working clinically in the hospital I'm trained as a family doctor, so I've done a variety of different work since I graduated working clinics, working in more rural places and now I've landed, in the hospital as, as a hospitalist, but my passion right now is coaching. So I've, over the past, just over five years, I sort of discovered coaching and felt like it was really my calling. I do love medicine, but I feel like coaching along with my medical background really allows me to help people in just exponential ways. And so I've done a bunch of different coaching certifications and now I've started my own coaching program. I'm going to be launching pretty soon a cohort for midlife women, and I have two kids and love traveling, exploring the outdoors, doing anything in nature really, but we're right near the mountains, so I love to ski, I love to hike yeah, that's, that's pretty much it.

Kerry: 2:09

Yeah, totally different than being in, you know, Florida, sunny, different of skiing but very, very exciting. And I mean, given what you do with the, with the coaching program, you can really speak with anybody anywhere. That's what's kind of nice about it can help everybody, right?

Mikel: 2:25

it's, yeah, you can reach people that you normally can't reach. So that's, that's one of the things I love about it, just connecting with people all over the world and yeah being able to help people that you wouldn't have been able to help.

Kerry: 2:40

Yeah. What, what made you kind of transition? I mean, you didn't fully transition or anything, but from traditional medicine to doing, doing this as well.

Mikel: 2:49

so I, I was working as a physician for quite a while, but I always sort of had an interest in sort of a more holistic approach to to treating and it's hard to do that in the traditional medical role. And so ever since I graduated, I was always kind of found myself drawn to sort of, learning about, well, I've been very interested in like longevity medicine, which is kind of more cutting edge. It's not really incorporated into the traditional medical ways of practicing, but I, I've always been interested in that and lifestyle medicine and just finding ways to incorporate that in order to support people. And then I was at a lifestyle medicine conference, maybe like seven or eight years ago, and someone presented on coaching and I, it just kind of opened my mind. I was like, wow, I could see myself doing that. I could see how useful that would be and sort of supporting people. And it kind of all just came together. Since then I've been working on ways to. You know, to be able to help people in the best way possible.

Kerry: 3:53

So how is coaching different than doctoring?

Mikel: 3:55

Well, it's different in a number of ways. For one, The medical system in Canada, as, as, you know, it's quite different than in the States, so, if I work outside of the medical system, I have a lot more flexibility in terms of how much time I can spend with people, but I think, with coaching, you can really address the whole person and really, because I, I feel like one of the themes that's come up a lot for me that I feel is really important is, is really people want to get healthy generally a lot of now, especially with there's so much information out there, like accessing information is not really the issue. I mean, you want to learn how to eat well. You kind of need to know who to listen to and who to follow, but you can get that information. But then how do you integrate it into your life? So you kind of need that piece. Most people need a lot of help with that piece. So once you have the information, it's, how do you integrate it into your life and make it something that you can like make it possible for you to do that. but one of the things that I feel like is especially going to be more We're going to sort of, it'll be more obvious as we sort of progress down this road of like, AI and all the new technology that's coming up because I think our health, like our health care and our health is going to transform in the next 3 to 5 years, just with all the technology. So people are going to be living longer. And it will be easier for people to, to access all of this stuff that's going to enable them to be healthier and live longer, but then we really need to get at our, the core of our nervous system, how we live our lives. You know, what is our purpose? What is the meaning? And so I think with coaching, it's a very long winded answer, but I think with coaching, it, you know, you can, you can get the diet, the exercise, all that. And then with all the new technology, our, our health is going to improve, but. With coaching, we can really access our nervous system and our mind and enable ourselves if we are living longer, healthier, we can enjoy our life and find meaning and purpose in our life. So I think coaching just allows that holistic approach to sort of, and especially with a medical background, you kind of know what the information is, you can share it. You can. You have an approach that's, you know, doable for the person and you're able to kind of get at that core of like, why are we doing all this and what's meaningful for us? And so we can enjoy our lives. So, for me, I feel like it's just the whole whole package.

Kerry: 6:34

Yeah, the whole package, the whole person. And it sounds like, people may be living longer, but what, what could really help with the coaching and the things that you're saying is, improving that quality of life of living longer, right? So all these, things that you can do and learn and tapping into the nervous system, like you were saying, can help that. So could you, I guess, explain a little bit more about how you do that with clients?

Mikel: 6:57

Yeah, well, I think there's a number of different approaches or depending on what the situation is, but I think sort of a, figuring out what your values are, what brings you joy in life, why you're doing what you're doing, like, what, what gives meaning to your life. So sort of, being able to have that figured out. So you kind of have a compass in terms of the way you live and then sort of finding ways to manage the stressors because obviously everybody has stressors in their lives. Some people, you know, everyone has certain traumas that they've experienced. Some are big trauma, some are little traumas, but you know, find and, and then maybe they get activated. So finding ways to, you know, when you do have a stress or some sort of activation, how do you calm yourself? So, I mean, the, you know, one good example is, is using your breath and we all, we know that kind of, if you can do controlled breathing, if you take, you know, a slow breath in and a longer, deeper, slower breath out, that automatically shifts your nervous system into the parasympathetic, the rest and digest mode, and just can Shift everything in terms of your physiology. So that's an easy one to sort of start with for most people. But just focusing on things like that and things that sort of like different mindfulness practices that bring people into the present moment because often our brains are either in the past or in the future, you know, worrying about something that's going to happen in the future or, you know, Rehashing things that have happened in the past. So finding ways to connect with the present moment is also another good way to kind of shift your nervous system.

Kerry: 8:41

Can you give some examples of that, like, like in the present moment.

Mikel: 8:46

I mean, the first thing is awareness. so for some people you can use kind of cues. So you can say like, well, every time I open a door. That's going to be my cue to check in with myself and, see where, where my brain is or see where my mind is. So you go, you get the cue and then you're, then you can say What am I thinking about? What are my thoughts doing? Or am I thinking about the future or worrying about something? Or am I thinking about the past? And then again, the easiest way or simplest way to bring yourself into the present moment is just bring yourself into your body. So just notice some things that you feel in your body. You can do a quick body scan. But your body is always in the present moment. So if you can just, think about what's going on in your body. Notice any pressure, any hot or cold that will immediately bring you into the present. So that's a quick way to do it. So again you can just find a cue to remind you, like something that you're, you do every day, and that could be your moment to check in with your body and that will bring you into the moment and out of the monkey mind, we call it sort of that's kind of either. Always think about the future or the past. So

Kerry: 9:54

Yeah. That makes me think of like habit stacking and things like that. Like, but I like the, the cue as well. And I think that's a good way to check in more often than I probably would consider doing it. So that's really helpful. And then you mentioned like breath work and meditation. Are there some other, things that you would suggest to

Mikel: 10:14

Yeah, I, I mean you kind of have to find something that works for you. There's, again, with stress management, you kind of want to figure out what's draining you or what's kind of causing your stress. And if there's anything that's sort of adding to your stress that you can change or get rid of, you know, that's always a good kind of thing to review every once in a while as well. Like, so what, what is sort of adding to my stress burden and are any of these tasks or issues, anything that I can either change or get rid of. And so it's always good to do that every so often. And so that's another kind of little thing you can do. It's not, not so much in terms of like managing your nervous system, but it does, because, you know, if you have these things that are, you're thinking about then it can sort of help. And then I also really, really like using self compassion or mindful self compassion which is just a way of kind of being kind to yourself and just reminding yourself that You're part of, you know, you're a human being, you're connected to humanity. Everyone else sort of has feelings of sadness or stress and just reminding yourself that I, I feel is very empowering in a way. So I like to use self compassion quite a bit.

Kerry: 11:34

Yeah. I mean, certainly an important concept, especially if you're focusing on midlife women, everybody, you know, learns how to pick apart themselves rather than have compassion for themselves, especially that, that type of, you know, women and the age, you know, I think it's very, very common. So you mentioned lifestyle medicine. What, what role does nutrition movement and sleep kind of play in your holistic approach?

Mikel: 11:58

it's kind of the, you know, the core, the, you know, the bottom, the pillars of of having and building a healthy life. So you can't really get to the other things unless you've established that your nutrition and your sleep and, and your movement, your exercises is there and where it should be. So it's definitely the place to start. Because you need to have solid foundation before you kind of move into any other area, like, if you're not sleeping, well, you're not going to be able to really benefit from, the, the nervous system things because even if you, if you're just short of a half an hour of sleep, your anxiety, I mean, your whole body shifts, we know now that sleep is so important for All areas, all parts of ourselves and our bodies. So just small amounts of missed sleep can can cause huge shifts in our, in our body. So we really need to focus on the sleep, the nutrition, like getting whole foods, nutrient rich foods, trying to avoid processed foods, trying to cut down on sugar all that kind of stuff. And then make sure you're moving your body every day. And not just, you know, in spurts, but throughout the day as well. So yeah, so that, that's kind of the core and the place to start for sure, if you're kind of wondering where to start.

Kerry: 13:21

I mean, you can see definitely a compounding effect of some of those things if they're not in place, you know, at the beginning. So with, you know, your clients, what are some common limiting beliefs that you feel like that they would repeat?

Mikel: 13:35

Well, I think for a lot of, well, especially like midlife women, they just feel a lot of them just think, well, this is just me getting older, you know, Oh, this, this has happened. Oh, this has happened. Oh, you know, I guess this is just a part of getting older. So that's one thing I think it's very sort of a pervasive thought which I feel is Something that can be shifted. Especially when you, when you realize there's so much out there now in order to enable people to, to feel better. So don't just accept like acceptance, I think, but I think also a lot of women, you know, spend their whole lives doing things for other people, whether it's their parents, their kids, their siblings, their partner, and so trying to shift into kind of empowerment and really focus, realizing that focusing on your own health and your wellbeing actually sort of has a compounding effect and will help, you know, really improve the lives of everyone you care about and just, Shifting that, like not feeling guilty about taking time to work on yourself. And then I think women have all sorts of different ideas about food and nutrition and so, you know, just again, focusing on trying to eat as healthy as you can.

Kerry: 14:58

Yeah, I mean, all those things. You know, trickle down and affect all the people around you. So really taking care of yourself first is super important. Like you're saying, yeah. What, how do you kind of, it's a weird question, but how do you help people rewire their mindset for success?

Mikel: 15:14

Kind of like what I was saying before, I think in terms of rewiring, it, it firstly is sort of shifting the nervous system, so most like getting out of fight or flight mode, I think a lot of women are in that mode. They don't even realize it. So I think kind of first getting their nervous system. So they're not sort of always in that heightened state. And when you're in the, when you've kind of shifted it, that allows, like, we know that the brain is more creative in that kind of mode is more open to possibilities and problem solving. So once you kind of shift that, then you can kind of work on, well, what are, what is holding you back? Like, what, what are the thoughts that you're having that are preventing you from creating the life you want or getting healthy in the way that you want to get healthier, you know, disrupting your relationships or whatever it is, that's the main issue. So then you can kind of work on whatever limiting belief there is, there or thoughts about themselves that maybe are not true.

Kerry: 16:21

Do you have any success stories of, you know, a patient or a client who kind of transformed their life or journey through your coaching approach?

Mikel: 16:30

I've had, I mean, I've, so my coaching, yeah, I mean, I've had I've had quite a few one on one clients that have really kind of just blossomed, like I was working for a while with a lot of physicians, so there's a lot of burnout in physicians, and I had one that I'm thinking of who just, she was so burnt out, she was ready to quit, she was kind of referred to me by someone. She didn't really even know about coaching before, but we kind of work together. And, you know, again, it's, it's kind of a holistic approach working on her, you know, all the different pieces of her life that were contributing to her feeling burnt out. And again, with the same approach, like the lifestyle changes and the mindset shifts and the nervous system shifts and yeah, she's, she's done, she's doing amazing. I think she was just applying for like a leadership role. So she's kind of completely shifted how she's feeling. And so it's been really amazing to see that. Yeah.

Kerry: 17:30

That's awesome. Yeah. So as far as like specific advice, can you think of any like actionable steps listeners can like take today to start optimizing their health?

Mikel: 17:40

Well, I think, First off is to sort of check in where you're at. So if you're just getting going on this, on this road, then I would say check in and start with sleep, your nutrition and your exercise and pick one thing. That you know you can do that's easy. So I always say like start with something easy. Like you don't want to start with the hard because most people are like, Oh yeah, I'm all in. And then they pick something and, you know, for two weeks they do it and then they stop. So pick something that's like a no brainer. That's going to be easy to shift. And then, you know, get your confidence up and then make some other little changes and don't try to do too much at once. So.

Kerry: 18:20

Right. Yeah. I was going to say, don't pick 10 things, right?

Mikel: 18:23

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Kerry: 18:25

Well, what, what else do you want to share? Like anything in the longevity approach or anything else you want to share with the listeners?

Mikel: 18:32

Well, I think, I think I mentioned like I, the what's going to happen in the next three years. I was at the longevity conference in December, and it, it seems like the next three years are going to be huge in terms of what's coming out in terms of cancer treatments, Alzheimer's, like our neurodegenerative diseases, like just reversing everything, which is just yeah like, for me, that was a real mindset shift because it seems like at least in that community, it's really just recognize that most people will will be able to live well beyond 100 within 3 years. So, I think that just requires again, a bit of reflection in terms of well, if we are going to be living to, most of us are going to be living to past a hundred. What does that mean for our lives and what do we want? And so even just that alone, like thinking about that, well, then how did, how are you going to live your life and what's important to you? and obviously when people hear that, they think, well, I don't want to live past a hundred because I'm going to be like in a wheelchair and, you know, demented. But I think the idea is that you won't be, you know, so if you can envision that, like yourself thriving at a 100, which we don't have a lot of, we don't have a lot of examples of that. Right. So I think for some people, it's hard to envision that. But if we can envision that then what does that look like for us? So I think just even starting with that is, is is a good start. And then, you know, we can get to sort of the how that's going to happen. You know, and right now there are, there's already sort of different things that you can do, like, you know, hot exposure to heat and cold and hyperbaric oxygen. Like, there, there are things even now that are fairly accessible for people that want to just kind of increase. Their health and stack their, you know, different things that they can do to improve their health. But I think for me, the more, the bigger thing is like, what, what do you. Picture for yourself, if you're going to be healthy at 100.

Kerry: 20:42

Yeah, one of my colleagues always like to say, like, what is their 90th birthday look like? Well, she'll have to change it to a hundred. But why do you think they said like three, three to five years?

Mikel: 20:53

I think well, they said 3 years because I think, like, already starting to, I think it's just the AI that's going to be coming up in the next 3 years and and the technology and like, they're already starting trials, human trials and for some of these things where they're you know, basically targeting metastatic cancers or they're reversing Brain changes, early brain, you know, signs of neurodegenerative disease in the brain. So my guess is it's just that technology is going to be there soon.

Kerry: 21:28

Was this at the Vegas A4M or something? Okay.

Mikel: 21:31

yeah,

Kerry: 21:32

Cool. Yeah. I guess three years. Huh?

Mikel: 21:36

yeah. Get ready for it.

Kerry: 21:38

So does that mean like, okay, they're gonna be changing some things. Like, where does that put so it looks like it might put your clients like midlife women in a good place. Where does that put like our baby boomers at? Are they doomed?

Mikel: 21:52

No, I

Kerry: 21:52

don't need to be reversed or

Mikel: 21:54

I think, yeah, I think that the idea well, again, nothing was it wasn't like a detailed, like, lecture on how this is going to happen. It was just sort of the general feel and the comments that were said, but my sense was if we're talking about boomers who maybe have signs of, you know, neurodegenerative disease, well, that can be reversed. I don't know to what extent or metastatic cancers, that kind of stuff. So we'll see. I don't know.

Kerry: 22:25

very exciting and interesting to see what comes down the line. And, you know, by 2028,

Mikel: 22:31

Exactly.

Kerry: 22:32

that's just sounds so soon. I don't know. Well, anything else you'd like to share with our listeners today

Mikel: 22:39

No, I think that I really enjoyed this conversation. If you're curious to find out more about what I do, then I'm happy to connect with anyone who wants to hear more. I'm going to be launching a program for midlife women soon. So if you're interested in hearing more about that, then just reach out to me. I'd love to hear from you.

Kerry: 22:59

and how can they find you if they want to work with you?

Mikel: 23:01

Well, I have a website, so it's www. mikelsegalmd. com and I'm on Instagram and Facebook, so mikelsegalmd on Instagram and Facebook. Thanks,

Kerry: 23:14

for joining us today on the podcast. Everybody tune in next week for next week's episode. Thank you.

Mikel: 23:20

Thanks Kerry, it's great to be here.

Kerry: 23:24

All right.