Rehab for Overthinkers with Ellen Bereza

Today’s guest is a powerhouse for every woman who’s ever felt trapped in her own mind while her body was falling apart. Ellen Bereza spent 24 years as a biotech executive working in stem cells and genetic testing—until secondary progressive MS changed everything. But her story of loss began long before that. She lost her father to MS, then her mother to breast cancer, and just months later began experiencing the first signs of the same disease that took her dad. What followed wasn’t a miracle cure—it was years of grief, fear, and learning how to live when life doesn’t go back to normal. 

Today, Ellen is a Certified Hypnotherapist, mindset strategist, and advanced student of Dr. Joe Dispenza, and the creator of Rehab for Overthinkers—a transformational workshop for women living with chronic illness who are stuck in fear, mental overload, and “what if” thinking. Her work blends neuroscience, subconscious re-patterning, and real-life experience to help high-functioning women stop fighting their minds—and finally create relief, clarity, and emotional steadiness from the inside out. If you’ve ever felt like your thoughts were making your symptoms worse… This conversation is for you. Let’s “Call IT in”! 

Link to free gift: https://ellenbereza.com/5-ways-to-love-your-life 

The LoveTuner
The Lovetuner is a simple flute is considered to be the vibration of love and compassion.

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Transcript

Today’s guest is a powerhouse for every woman who’s ever felt trapped in her own mind while her body was falling apart. Ellen Bereza spent 24 years as a biotech executive working in stem cells and genetic testing—until secondary progressive MS changed everything. But her story of loss began long before that. She lost her father to MS, then her mother to breast cancer, and just months later began experiencing the first signs of the same disease that took her dad. What followed wasn’t a miracle cure—it was years of grief, fear, and learning how to live when life doesn’t go back to normal. 

Today, Ellen is a Certified Hypnotherapist, mindset strategist, and advanced student of Dr. Joe Dispenza, and the creator of Rehab for Overthinkers—a transformational workshop for women living with chronic illness who are stuck in fear, mental overload, and “what if” thinking. Her work blends neuroscience, subconscious re-patterning, and real-life experience to help high-functioning women stop fighting their minds—and finally create relief, clarity, and emotional steadiness from the inside out. If you’ve ever felt like your thoughts were making your symptoms worse… This conversation is for you.  Let’s “Call IT in” 

Speaker Dar  

Welcome to “call it in” Ellen. I'm so happy to have you with us today. 

Speaker Ellen 

Thank you so much for having me, Darla, 

Speaker Dar  

Before we jump into our awesome topic, topic about overthinking and how those wheels keep turning. I'd like you to tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got to this point. 

Speaker Ellen 

Well, it's a long story, so I'll try to give you the Reader's Digest version here. Um, my father died from multiple sclerosis when I was 22 years old, and my mother died from breast cancer two years later, almost to the day. So I was 24. I was an orphan, and if that wasn't yucky enough, nine months after my father had passed, I was diagnosed. I had the first symptom of what was later to be discovered as multiple sclerosis as well. So it was a tough time. That was when MS medications first came out in 1993 and I decided at the time, it wasn't even suggested to me, because there wasn't a lot really talked about MS at the time. So I did have optic neuritis, which is an inflammation of the optic nerve. It went away in two weeks. I was fine. Over the years, I ended up getting optic neuritis three other times. So I saw neurologists, and they were like, Hey, you should really go on the new MS medications that have come out. I did not. I was in denial completely. I remembered what my father went through for all my formative years, from the time I was 10 years old till he died when I was 22 and I swore that that would never be me. I was very high energy. I used to work out with a personal trainer three days a week. You know, I wore the heels of a tiny person. So I wore heels every day, because it felt mandatory. But it really started getting pretty bad. I mean, literally, I was in denial, and I was fine for like, 28 years, I was fine until I wasn't. Then all of a sudden, walking started becoming an issue. I wasn't able to hold urine till I got to the bathroom. All these other awful, awful symptoms started happening to me, and then it was finally diagnosed that I had a secondary progressive form of ms, meaning that it was beyond the point where it was relapsing remitting. There was no more remitting. Now it was only going to get worse. So finally, I decided to go on the medication, and my life was spiraling. It got so bad that I literally couldn't work. I was a biotech sales executive for 24 years, and MS tore apart my life. I couldn't work anymore. Got to the point where I can't even leave the house unassisted anymore. I can't, you know, someone drives me, someone helps me in, helps me out. There's a lot of just craziness going on. And I got to the point where I did not want to live on this earth anymore in this body, I just couldn't take it. I was miserable. And I have two kids, and I just was like, What am I going to do? I was just devastated. So I had a really tough decision to make, either I off myself and leave my children without their mother, or I had to find a way to love my life as it is, and so I decided to do the latter, obviously, because I'm here chatting with you, and I used a lot of the things that I had learned over the years, meaning I had always studied neuroscience, and I was always fascinated with hypnotherapy and how the mind works and The universe works. So I became a Certified Hypnotherapist. I became an advanced student of Doctor Joe Dispenza. I've been to several of his week-long retreats. I started studying the gurus Einstein and Tesla and all these, all these major smart men and women and about how to work with your mind and not against it, and how everything's connected to the universe, us, the people, everything, the rocks, the trees, the air, all of it. So with that being said, I had to figure out a way, by learning those things and working with my mind to feel better, even when things get bad. I'm not perfect. I am not healed. I have noticed that my symptoms have lessened since I've been doing this work. I've noticed that I am not crazy overthinking anymore, or everything is based on fear. I have learned to come from a place of love and know that there are possibilities. Nothing is written in stone, and there's a lot more that is available to us than our limited five senses can detect. Wow. 

Speaker Dar  

Thank you, and that transformation to decide to love. Your life. You are so inspirational. And I'd like to tell our listeners that you are just a bright, vibrant light. It's you just projecting and shining your light out. And I want them to know that as I look at you, let's talk about the workshop and some of the work you do with overthinking. 

Speaker Ellen 

Yeah, so I host a workshop called rehab for overthinkers, from chaos to clarity, and I work with a lot of mostly women. I have invited men for this workshop. This is my fourth time doing it, only for this month, because they keep asking to be added. But I do work with women with chronic illness who are overwhelmed mentally because they're coming from a place of fear for obvious reasons. They're scared. Their bodies are not cooperating. You know, women are. You know, we're the caregivers. We're the ones that have to have it all together. And you know, I teach them how your mind actually works, that really every thought you think creates a frequency which tells your brain to produce a chemical. And that's all our emotions are, are how we feel because of the chemicals that are coursing through our veins. And there's so much more than just that, but I teach in my workshop those things, how to get yourself out of a spiral, how to stop overthinking and the overwhelm, and work with your mind to make yourself feel better. Life is just a series of moments, and we want to feel good in as many of them as we can. I'm not perfect. I am not healed by no means am I like, Oh my gosh. As you know, I'm always great. No, I have shitty moments, just like everyone else, but I have learned how to calm myself, calm my nervous system, and get to the point where I feel good again. Literally, because I can change the chemicals that my brain's producing so that I feel better. And anyone can do it. No one is like, yeah, it works for you, and it will work for you too. You're not special, that it will work for everyone, but not you. You're just like everyone else. And if you do the work, it will work for you too, 

Speaker Dar  

yes, and it's like one big chemical reaction, according to, you know, the way that you describe that, yeah. Would you offer us a little bit more information about overwhelm, perhaps a story of someone you've helped, or even your own story about that, how that can become such a devastating cycle feeling overwhelmed. 

Speaker Ellen  

I've helped a lot of people, and the overwhelm and the overthinking is quite new for me, actually, because when I was first working with people with hypnotherapy and coaching, I was helping for all kinds of things, people that you know, had bit their nails their whole life, people that were overweight, you know, people that had all kinds of issues. But I realized a common theme in the fact that everyone you know has this fear-based thinking, and so I decided to start helping people with what I helped myself with, which was coming from a place of love, learning how to love myself, not judge myself, not talk down to myself, and understand I'm only human and I make mistakes. And you know, instead of calling myself names, I give myself grace. If I make a mistake, I'm like, oh, okay, I just redirect my thoughts. I don't say, Oh, that was so stupid, or what's wrong with me? I don't do that. I realize I made the mistake, and I just go back to doing what I was doing and redirecting to what I want to think and feel. That's it. It's very simple. Let's put it this way. It's not easy, it's not easy, it's simple, but it takes practice, like everything else your brain learns by repetition. And this is no different. 

Speaker Dar 

Yes, yes to repetition. There's plenty of research to back that up. So let's talk a little bit deeper about fear-based thinking and what happens to the mind and the body. 

Speaker Ellen  

Well, what happens is, as I had mentioned, your brain will produce a chemical based on your thoughts. So fear based thinking is this and it's probably been going on ever since you were a kid, since everyone was a kid, something happens, some experience where you tied an emotion to it. Because we're not, you know, what we deal with in our current life isn't based on experiences. That's what people mistakenly think it's like. Yeah, I remember when this happened, because my dad used to say, x, y, z. It's not because of what he used to say, it's because of how you felt, because of it. So what happens is, those chemicals that are being produced by your thoughts, your body gets used to them and addicted to them like any other drug. So what it does beneath your awareness is for the rest of your life, you will seek out other experiences to elicit that same chemical response, because your body is craving that hit. That's why you'll see people who date jerky men you know over and over again, and they're like, Why do I keep attracting these men? Because you unintentionally are seeking them out to fulfill that emotional hit that your body's craving. Your body has become the mind. So what you have to do then is do the work of making sure to take time to quiet your mind as many times a day as you can. Abraham Hicks, I don't know if you're familiar, but say for 17 seconds, just think what you know, set your intention and then conjure up the emotion in your heart as if it's already happened without judgment. Now I want this, but I can't have it because no your brain cannot hold conflicting beliefs. So think of what you want, conjure up the emotion of how it feels as if you already have it, do that for 17 seconds, and you will start to notice that other thoughts that are similar to it, in feeling similar to it in frequency, will start coming in. That's what happens. So if you can do it for 34 seconds and then 51 seconds, and then at 68 seconds, you're really building momentum at that point, and then your brain will start thinking of other things to match the frequency of the thoughts that you're thinking. And I just want to point this out. Everyone says yes, but I can't stop thinking the crappy thoughts. So what I say to them is put them to the side for a second. They'll be there when you get back. It's okay. Try your best to just think about what you want, not what you don't, not why you can't have it. Think about what you want, conjure up the emotion as if you already have it, and then sit in that for as long as you are able. Don't judge yourself. If you start to go to the point where you start judging, that's okay. Just go back and redirect your thoughts and your feelings. That's how it begins. 

Speaker Dar  

What a great activity. I hope all you listeners will put the podcast on replay and go through that activity. Thank you so much. And that's not all she has for you. Would you talk about your free gift that you'd like to give them? 

Speaker Ellen  

Oh, sure, it's a one-page little guide called Five Ways to love your life, even if you're living with a chronic illness, and it's just five quick steps, kind of like the one I just told you, and then four others the way that they can access it. So I'm going to have to spell it out. Of course, if you When you broadcast this, I don't know if there's a place for you to put it so they can read it, but it's Ellen show notes. 

Speaker Ellen  

Okay, yeah, perfect. But I'll say it anyway, just in case. So I'm going to spell it out so that everyone can get it. So it's my name EllenBereza.com/5-steps-2-love-your life, and that will give you the wonderful five steps to love your life, even if you're living with a chronic illness. And I think they'll be very, very helpful for those people, because it's some things that people just aren't even aware of. It's just not talked about. 

Speaker Dar  

Well, I am so glad that you're talking about it. And before we wrap up, are you being called to tell our audience anything else that's on your heart, Speaker Ellen  that our five human senses are very limited, and experts believe that we perceive less than 1% of actual reality with our senses alone. So with that being said, even though you may be dealing with an illness or a divorce or a job loss or anything at all grief, there is more you have to believe that even though you're struggling, there is still possibility on the table, and that so much can change if you change your frequency. And that's what the world is based on frequency. Tesla said it, if you want to think of how this universe works, think of it in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. So the reason I point that out is because your brain sends out. An electrical signal. Your heart is the magnet that draws it back in, and when you change your frequency, then that is how you manifest the life you want. It's not like you're bringing things in from outside that you don't already have. Everything is already right here, right now, but with your five senses alone, you can't perceive it until you're on the frequency of it, just like a tuning fork, and that is how you get the life that you want. 

Speaker Dar  

Oh, I love that. Thanks so much for being with us today. Speaker Ellen you're very welcome. Thank you for having me, Darla. Have a wonderful rest of the day.  Transcribed by https://otter.ai