Your Body Knows Before Your Mind Does: Jen Aks | Born To Build Ep. 8

What if your body knows something before your mind is ready to trust it? For more than 30 years, Jen Aks has explored the relationship between movement, communication and the intelligence of the body. Today, she is an embodied leadership coach, educator, TEDx speaker, author of Your Body Is Speaking and creator of The Power of Gesture®, a methodology built around accessing the wisdom we already carry within us. In Episode 8 of Born To Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Jen Aks to discuss body intelligence, the gap between knowing, trusting and acting, why mindset alone isn't always enough, nervous system regulation in leadership, learning to recognize the signals your body is sending you, and what it takes to turn decades of expertise and lived experience into a body of work that is entirely your own. More than a conversation about movement, this episode explores self-trust, intuition, embodied leadership, reinvention, communication, decision-making, intellectual property and what can happen when you stop looking outside of yourself for answers you may already know. If you're building a business, a career, a body of work, or simply learning to trust yourself more deeply, this conversation is for you. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:08 Meet Jen Aks & The Power of Gesture 07:05 From Dance to Understanding Body Intelligence 13:20 Building a Methodology From 30 Years of Experience 19:28 Why Mindset Isn’t Always Enough 25:12 The Body, Leadership & Nervous System Regulation 31:17 Turning Expertise Into Intellectual Property 37:15 Reinvention, Identity & Life’s Detours 43:30 Knowing, Trusting & Acting on What Your Body Knows 50:59 Building What Comes Next 57:20 Were You Born To Build? Guest Jen Aks, @jen_aks Listen & Subscribe Website: BornToBuildPodcast.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1JtPgY3... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Follow Born To Build Instagram: @borntobuildpodcast TikTok: @borntobuildpodcast About Born To Build Born To Build explores how founders, operators, creatives, and industry leaders think, decide, and build. Hosted by Sarafina Mancuso, each episode goes beyond surface-level success stories to unpack the mindset, systems, decisions, and invisible work behind building something meaningful. Whether you're building a business, a career, or simply a better way of thinking, every conversation becomes a classroom. Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc