If Talk Therapy or Mindset Shifts Were Enough,
You Wouldn’t Be Here.
Cycle Breakers Lab was created from a simple belief: lasting change begins by understanding the patterns driving our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. I'm Sogol Johnson, MA, ACC, a behavioral researcher, nervous system educator, Certified IFS Somatic Practitioner, and author. Through the Mental Mastery Protocol™, I combine behavioral science, trauma-informed coaching, Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic practices, and nervous system regulation to help people understand why they become stuck in recurring patterns and, more importantly, how to change them.
Whether you're a high-achieving professional, parent, leader, or navigating a major life transition, chronic stress, anxiety, burnout, perfectionism, people-pleasing, emotional reactivity, and difficulty making decisions often have deeper behavioral and nervous system patterns beneath the surface. The Mental Mastery Protocols™ teach practical, evidence-informed strategies to recognize patterns of fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, strengthen nervous system regulation, and build new responses that support greater clarity, confidence, resilience, and lasting behavior change.
My work extends beyond coaching. Through writing, speaking, education, and practical frameworks, I help individuals move beyond survival mode by understanding the patterns that no longer serve them and developing the skills to create meaningful, lasting change in their careers, relationships, parenting, leadership, and everyday lives.
Why This Is A Lab & Not A Therapy Room- Results.
Whether you're a high-achieving professional, parent, leader, or navigating a major life transition, you may find yourself reacting in ways that don't reflect who you truly are. Chronic stress, anxiety, burnout, perfectionism, people-pleasing, emotional reactivity, and difficulty making decisions often aren't random. They're patterns your mind and nervous system have learned over time. The Mental Mastery Protocol™ helps you identify what is triggering those patterns, understand why they developed, and build practical skills to respond differently.
The Promise
Awareness goes up
Somatic and IFS therapeutic modalities rewire the nervous system.
Triggers begin to lose their intensity
Some even disappear altogether.
As your awareness and capacity grow, many triggers begin to lose their intensity, some disappear altogether, and you spend less time operating in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Instead of living in survival mode, you begin responding with greater clarity, confidence, resilience, and intention, creating the space to thrive rather than simply get through the day.
Is This For Me?
Are you functioning on survival mode? White. knuckling through your day to day, pressure to prove yourself? When the nervous system stays dysregulated, it does not matter how smart, capable, or motivated you are.
You might notice:
Anxiety that never fully shuts off
Burnout cycles followed by guilt-driven productivity
Overthinking, perfectionism, or emotional shutdown
Relationship patterns that repeat despite insight
Parenting from reactivity instead of intention
Feeling stuck even after hours of talk therapy
Feeling like you are constantly on yet constantly behind
Restlessness and sleepless nights
Chronic unexplained physiological pain
Somatic experiencing therapy helps you understand the why and rewire your nervous system at its core. Think- Functional Medicine. We determine the root cause
It is a body-oriented therapeutic model. It offers a release of traumatic shock that comes from extreme life-threatening experiences—perceived or otherwise. These wounds are both emotionally and physically stored.
News Flash! This is not a motivation issue. It is a nervous system issue. Yes it can be rewired!
Protocols Designed For Results Not Just Awareness
Thanks to insights from Polyvagal Theory, we now understand that unresolved trauma isn’t just mental or cognitive. It lives in the nervous system and shapes how we respond to stress, relationships, and everyday life. That’s why talking about the past alone doesn’t always create lasting change. In fact new research suggests that going over the trauma re-traumatizes the victim. Real healing happens when we work with the nervous system and the internal patterns driving our reactions.
At Cycle Breakers Lab, I combine nervous system regulation with Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work to address both the body and the mind. IFS helps you understand the different “parts” of you that developed to protect you. The part that overworks. The part that avoids. The part that shuts down. These patterns aren’t flaws. They are adaptive responses your system learned to survive.
Cycle Breakers Lab works because it is run like a Lab, not a lecture or a vent session. We test, observe, adjust, and apply in real time. Every session is an experiment in nervous system regulation, not a conversation that stays theoretical. You learn what actually shifts your body out of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn mode, then you use it immediately in work, relationships, parenting, and decision-making. That is why the results last. We are not chasing insight or emotional release alone. We are training your nervous system through repeated, Cognitive Processing Practices, Somatic- embodied experiencing, tapping and EFT modalities so new responses become automatic.
Over time, your system learns safety, flexibility, and capacity, which is what creates sustainable change, clearer leadership, stronger boundaries, and momentum you can feel after every single session.
"The Cycle Breakers Lab is like a Mental Gym. I love that Approach. Its not a problem to be fixed, rather than a muscle that needs to get trained- Daily."
- USA Today
So What is Somatic IFS Therapy?
Somatic therapy is a body-based approach to emotional healing that works with the connection between the mind, body, and nervous system. Unlike traditional talk therapy alone, somatic therapy uses body awareness, breathwork, movement, grounding, and other somatic exercises to explore how trauma, anxiety, chronic stress, and emotional experiences can appear as physical sensations and automatic survival responses. By learning to recognize patterns such as fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown, individuals can build greater nervous system regulation, emotional resilience, and a deeper sense of safety within their bodies. The benefits of somatic therapy may include reduced anxiety and stress, improved emotional regulation, greater self-awareness, support for trauma recovery, relief from burnout, and a stronger mind-body connection. When combined with parts work and Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic healing can also help people understand the protective patterns behind their reactions and create more sustainable behavioral and emotional change.
By bringing awareness to these parts while supporting the nervous system, we create safety for real change. Somatic practices help you notice what’s happening in the body, while parts work helps you understand why it’s happening. Together, this approach supports emotional regulation, rewires trauma responses, and helps you move out of survival mode.
This is how you stop repeating patterns and start responding from a grounded, regulated place. Not by forcing change, but by understanding your system and working with it.
What’s Included In The Lab?
There are different protocols catered to different needs. No cookie-cutter approach, memberships or self-paced online courses. But below is a common approach that seems to suit most individuals.
* Private Sessions Virtual or In-person – Deep, transformative coaching tailored to your personal goals and starting point. (For optimum results, to be done within 4 months.
* A Customized Roadmap – Strategic, personalized tools and techniques designed to shift your nervous system, patterns, and self-talk for lasting change.
* Customized Protocols- Could Include Somatic Movements and Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work addressing the issues, guided breathwork, Solfeggio Frequency Sounds, Guided Tapping Techniques. (Note* the protocols are at your consent; We create the protocols together with where you are at. It could include all or some of these modalities.)
* Ongoing Support – Email contact for those in between aha moments and reflections.
“Sogol Johnson studies why people become stuck in patterns that no longer serve them and teaches a personalized, practical system for creating lasting change for them. I have never felt better and more in control” - Client
How It Works
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Book an Intro appointment with me. It is about 15-20 minutes.
We might click and start right away or we might not and we will never see each-other again. But I will be resourceful and I will be honest - promise! -
This is the Awareness Stage. We will meet weekly for the first 4-8 weeks once a month. We create a roadmap, understand what the needs are, what modalities feel good and what doesn’t. We experiment and explore. We don’t talk too much about the past. We are laser focused on the present and have future goals in mind.
This is not a formula and of course it is based on your progress and your needs.
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This is the Rewiring stage. Once client and coach feel ready to walk alone a bit in this healing journey, client sessions are down to bi-weekly meetings plus self-pace protocols. Client reports back to coach and gets support along the way all day every day if needed. But trust me you won’t need it at this stage.
Meet Your Practitioner
I’m Sogol Johnson, MA, ACC, a Certified IFS-Somatic Practitioner, trauma-informed educator, nervous system specialist, and author. I help individuals understand the emotional, behavioral, and nervous system patterns that shape their lives. Together, we explore how these patterns influence the way they think, feel, relate, and respond. By working towards meaningful change at both the cognitive and embodied levels, we rewire and create lasting change.
My work brings together Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic practices and movement, nervous system regulation, attachment theory, trauma-informed principles, and CBT-based approaches. Rather than focusing only on managing symptoms, I teach people how to recognize what is happening beneath their reactions, understand the protective patterns their brain and nervous system have learned, and develop practical tools for creating greater regulation, flexibility, and choice.
I’m also the author of Wiggles McGee: The Magic Within, a children’s book rooted in social-emotional learning, emotional awareness, and helping children understand what is happening within themselves.
Based in Orange County and working with people both locally and virtually, my work at Cycle Breakers Lab is grounded in a simple idea: cycle breaking is for everyone. Whether a pattern shows up at work, relationships, parenting, self-worth, anxiety, burnout, or the way we respond under stress, awareness is the beginning. From there, we can work with the nervous system and the brain to build new ways of thinking, feeling, and responding.
Other fun fluff about me.
I have a beautiful child who is the center of my universe. I love watching him enjoy life with not a single worry in the world. Innocent and free of societal pressure. I am an avid tree hugger even though I don’t look it.
I love sustainability and design. Nature speaks to me and my nervous system does great in cold climates for some reason. I moved to the States about 11 years ago from beautiful British Columbia and call SoCal my home now. If you want to learn more about my story jump on to the about page and learn how I got to do my dream job.