How Humans Heal

In this episode, I discuss the profound healing power of gratitude while providing practical, evidence-based guidance on how you can cultivate it daily, even in the these modern stressful times. I am a burnout expert and I can guide you to recover from stress while in that mix of stress, and that's one of the key differences about what I teach and what I help my patients to do when I help them to recover from whatever health issue they're experiencing. Understanding Stress and Its Impact on Health The various sources of stress we're exposed to—emotional, physical toxins as stresses, infections and injuries—cause the symptoms and health issues we experience. So the best way to reverse those health issues is to reverse the impact of stress. To do that, we first need to understand how stress is affecting you uniquely. For this, we need to first fond out your stress type. I developed a quiz called the Stress Type Quiz. I'll put the link so you can take that in case you haven't already discovered your stress type. By knowing your stress type, we can understand how stress is impacting your cortisol and adrenaline levels, which are the stress hormones made by the adrenal glands. Understanding how stress has disrupted your cortisol and adrenaline, we have one key piece of the puzzle of solving the impact of stress on your system and how we can then optimize cortisol and adrenaline to get you recovered from stress even if you are still of course—most all of us are still in the midst of stress day in and day out because we're humans, and humans are exposed to stress constantly. Stress is inevitable, but recovering from it is possible. It's not about avoiding all the stress; it's about helping us to recover from stress. But we have to individualize your approach to recovery from stress based on exactly how stress has caused imbalances in your body, mind, nervous system and so on. Understanding each person's unique stress response is key. Stress causes imbalances in our cortisol levels. And when you have imbalanced cortisol, that's what ends up causing the health issues, and we know that when people have optimal cortisol levels they live longer because they have less health issues. So we all should be aiming for optimal cortisol levels. The Healing Power of Gratitude Where does gratitude come into play with this? The way I think about gratitude is it's one of the tools we can use to help us recover from stress and actually one of the cool things about gratitude is that it works for all the stress types. Gratitude is really a healing medicine. It literally is a medicine that you can access within yourself without having to swallow a pill, without having to pay for anything. You can access it at any moment in time 24 hours a day and anywhere you're located. Gratitude is accessible, free, and available anytime. There are so many studies showing over and over again that it can help us not just mentally and emotionally, and I'm gonna be talking about that in detail. It can help us on a physical level. Amazingly, there's quite a lot of research on it. Gratitude helps in both emotional and physical ways. The research supporting gratitude is substantial. The Science Behind Gratitude Gratitude helps to stimulate dopamine levels, which gives us the ability to think and make decisions and enjoy. It's also connected with reward and pleasure so we want to have adequate dopamine. Dopamine is key for brain power, reward, pleasure and enjoyment. · Gratitude also increases serotonin, one of our calming neurotransmitters. · It increases oxytocin, which is what we usually think of as a bonding hormone or the love hormone. · I think about oxytocin as one of our anti-stress hormones. So gratitude boosts our bonding hormone oxytocin, an anti-stress hormone, as well as serotonin. So how wonderful that we can with practicing gratitude boost our anti-stress hormone oxytocin as well as endorphins in general, which are also anti-stress, anti-pain messengers in our bodies. This can be so simple and yet effective. Gratitude stimulates helpful anti-stress and anti-pain messengers in the body. It's simple yet powerful. You set aside your perfectionism and you get in touch with your intuition—what just comes to you when you think of what do you feel grateful for—because you wanted to be simple, quick and easy, whatever comes to your mind first. What do I feel gratitude for in this moment? When practicing gratitude, set aside perfectionism. Get in touch with intuition and keep it simple—whatever comes to mind first. Literally writing it down can actually help, so you can think it, you can have a thought about gratitude, and that's powerful. But then when you write it down it even gets more power toward the effectiveness of gratitude. Writing down gratitude is also very powerful, even more than just thinking grateful thoughts. Expressing gratitude and finding more ways to do that and allowing it...I think sometimes we we just weren't taught this, so we end up not knowing how to do it right. We don't really know how to express gratitude well and so it takes practice. We just have to learn how to feel it. We may not have been taught how to express gratitude growing up. It takes practice to learn how to feel and express it. Practicing Gratitude I'm hoping that helps you get a sense of what gratitude can feel like and look like and to see how it can be expressed: to say "thank you, you mean a lot to me and you've made a big difference in my life." And I'm so grateful for the people who have been able to be there to support me in my process. Gratitude can be expressed by saying "thank you" and appreciating people who have made a difference. Here are some additional tips for practicing gratitude: · Write in a gratitude journal. · Send thank you notes, texts, or emails. · Verbally express gratitude to people in your life. · Try a gratitude meditation. · Consider psychedelic plant medicines which can induce profound gratitude. · Microdosing psychedelics may also help with gratitude. I have traveled in different areas of the world to experience different psychedelic plant medicines for—because I'm constantly loving to travel and research other cultures and types of medicine—and in the use of psychedelic medicine such as ayahuasca and psilocybin, one of the main benefits I have experienced is an immense sense of gratitude. Psychedelic medicines work on our nervous system also as anti-stress medicines to help us reset the stress response and recover from stress and trauma, and one of the ways they do that is by increasing our sense of gratitude. There have been times when I've been in a psychedelic retreat or ceremony and had experiences of being filled with a sense of gratitude—literally tears pouring out of my eyes feeling like my heart is so open and warm—and literally feeling more gratitude for the people in my life and the patients I've been able to help and the patients that have taught me so much about all of this. I wouldn't have all of this knowledge or experience without the people who've come and trusted me to help them with their health. If you're ever interested in or called to using psychedelic medicines even in microdoses, I encourage you to check out prior episodes and blog articles about that here, and I'm happy to connect with someone to help you get more information. I have immense gratitude for those I've been able to help and who have helped me gain this knowledge. And I feel such a huge amount of gratitude for all of you who are listening in, who are joining me here, who are reading my book and practicing these things I'm teaching and benefiting from it—because that's what I love to do. I love to be able to provide this information so people can benefit, and when people do get to benefit from it I feel a huge amount of gratitude for that connection that we have. I also feel deep gratitude for my readers, listeners and patients who allow me to help them. It's meaningful to make a difference through sharing this helpful information. I'm here to express that gratitude so that we can all really learn what that's like: to intentionally choose gratitude and benefit from it. So thank you again so much for joining me here at How Humans Heal. If you have not already, I would love for you to subscribe and join my newsletter list so that you hear when the next episode comes out. I will be here as your stress and burnout recovery expert to help you every step of the way to understand stress—how it impacts us and how you can take steps to recover from stress—and in doing so reverse so many other possible health issues that you might be dealing with. I intentionally express gratitude and invite you to join me on this journey of learning, healing and empowerment. Please subscribe if you'd like to receive more episodes and information to recover from stress, which can reverse many health conditions. If you want to learn more about how stress and trauma affect us, and how to heal using Dr. Doni’s Stress Recovery Protocol® which involves optimizing cortisol and adrenaline levels using nutrients, herbs and C.A.R.E.™, her proprietary program to support clean eating, adequate sleep, stress recovery and exercise, you can read all about it in her book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. We also invite you to join Dr. Doni’s New Stress Mastery C.A.R.E. Program. This 4-week virtual experience provides personalized solutions to help you recover from burnout and rejuvenate your mind and body based on your Stress Type®. We start by having you take our proprietary quiz to uncover your unique stress profile. Are you a Stress Magnet? Sluggish and Stressed? Night Owl? Or another one of the 5 types? Your Stress Type tells us how your body and mind have been impacted by stress. Think of it as your version of "stress mode" or burnout. It's important to know your Stress Type because the way to successfully recover from burnout needs to be customized based on your Stress Type. Even your SelfC.A.R.E. needs to be fine-tuned based on your Stress Type in order get you all the way to Stress Mastery! In just 4 weeks, you'll optimize cortisol and adrenaline levels, reduce symptoms by 50% or more, regain mental clarity and productivity, improve sleep quality and heart rate variability and establish healthy lifelong habits. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment here. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  

In this illuminating conversation, I had the pleasure of speaking with functional medicine practitioner Dr. Traci Potterf about the power of holistic healing for anxiety. She and I have both been helping people with anxiety and burnout in general for many years, so this was a perfect opportunity to see how our approaches align and overlap. Dr. Traci Potterf holds a PhD in Medical Anthropology and is a functional medicine practitioner with extensive training in mind-body therapies. She describes herself as an "anxiety detective" helping clients get to the root causes of anxiety. Dr. Traci teaches people to understand anxiety as the body's cry for help, not a personal failing or something you must accept lifelong. Her multifaceted, individualized programs help clients address anxiety through nutrition, lifestyle “makeovers”, stress resilience practices, and nervous system healing. After healing her own health challenges, Dr. Traci was inspired to support others on their journey to wellness. She is passionate about illuminating the path to joy, meaning, and possibility by merging ancient wisdom, emerging science, and the magic inherent in every human. Reframing Anxiety as a Health Messenger Anxiety exists on a spectrum, ranging from tension and muscle tightness to full-blown panic attacks. At the physical level, symptoms may include jaw clenching, gut issues like constipation or loose stools, headaches, insomnia, hormone imbalances, heart palpitations, and more. Mentally, anxiety manifests as excessive worry about hypothetical future scenarios, catastrophizing, ruminating on negative possibilities, and feelings of being completely overwhelmed. Our conventional medical system has wrongly pathologized anxiety as a genetic brain defect requiring medication. But humans lived for thousands of years without widespread anxiety disorders. Anxiety is simply the body's smoke alarm signaling that something is out of balance in the inner or outer terrain. The nervous system is saying "ouch" in the only way it knows how. Rather than immediately medicating to silence the nervous system's signals, we must approach anxiety as a teacher. It provides an opportunity to tune into the body's wisdom and discover what requires healing. Trying to ignore or override anxiety without addressing the root issues provoking it is like disabling a smoke detector while your house burns down. How Modern Life Impacts Our Nervous System With our epidemic of chronic stress and toxicity in the modern world, most people now live with some level of anxiety. Here are several contributing factors: · Diet high in processed foods, sugars, chemicals and industrial seed oils provokes inflammation throughout the body and brain. This impairs cellular functioning, hormone regulation, detox processes, and neurotransmitter balance. · Dehydration prevents optimal delivery of nutrients and removal of toxins. Lack of structured, energized water also reduces the voltage that powers energy flow. · Toxins like heavy metals, mold, infections from pathogens like Lyme, and EMFs directly disrupt the nervous system. They derail neurotransmitters and damage tissues. · Trapped emotions and unprocessed pain or trauma from the past remain stuck in the nervous system and bodily tissues if never addressed. This perpetual loop feeds anxiety. · Sleep deprivation and constant overstimulation from electronics disrupt natural biorhythms needed for health like cleansing cycles. This stresses physiology. · Negative thought patterns like excessive self-judgment keep us feeling unsafe and on high alert. The mind perceives threats everywhere. · Social isolation and lack of community fails to meet our core human needs for belonging and intimate connection. Lack of oxytocin and bonding creates distress. · Suppression of innate human needs for pleasure, joy, play, and meaning leads to loss of purpose. Without a felt sense of meaning, anxiety brews. Even with genetic susceptibility based on temperament, we can mitigate these lifestyle and environmental triggers through functional medicine approaches that support the body's innate wisdom. Principles of Holistic Healing Healing anxiety requires a truly holistic approach that addresses body, mind and spirit simultaneously. A foundational piece is healing and nourishing the physical body by removing sources of inflammation, promoting detoxification, and providing the building blocks for recovery. Eliminating inflammatory foods like sugars, processed carbs, industrial oils and adopting an organic whole foods diet can cool inflammation. Also adopting an organic whole foods diet centered around vegetables, healthy fats and clean proteins and staying well hydrated with clean, filtered water. Checking for infections, hormonal issues, autoimmunity, blood sugar imbalance and addressing these underlying issues provides support. Promoting hydration, key nutrients like B vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and using targeted botanicals and nutraceuticals further aids recovery. Gentle detox protocols help offload toxins and calm inflammation when indicated. Sauna therapy, massage, dry brushing, castor oil packs, and other techniques enhance detox. In the interview, Traci shares her personal journey of discovering she had mold toxicity, and how recovering from it has helped solve anxiety. Since anxiety fundamentally represents nervous system dysfunction, we must specifically heal and regulate the nervous system, not just treat the physical body. Key strategies for regulating the nervous system include: · Establishing routines aligned with natural circadian and seasonal bio-rhythms. This supports hormonal balance and healthy nervous system activity. · Optimizing sleep duration and quality allows neural regeneration and tissue repair. Melatonin and sleep hygiene practices boost sleep. · Reducing stimulation from electronics, screens, excessive noise, and artificial blue light. This calms the hyperexcited nervous system. · Engaging in play, pleasure, movement, and nature immersion practices. These discharge tension and cultivate embodiment. · Incorporating research-backed stress resilience techniques like breathwork, mindfulness, meditation, yoga, chanting, and somatic practices. These alter the brain and repattern nervous system responses. · Processing old traumas and stuck emotions through journaling, therapy, EMDR, tapping, and other energy psychology methods. Safely releasing old pain prevents anxiety. Anxiety frequently feeds on distorted, negative thought loops and unhelpful cognitive patterns. We can work to reframe anxious thinking by noticing anxious thoughts and cognitive distortions without judgment and developing the observer self. We can challenge distorted thoughts by asking questions like "Is this definitely true?" and "How do I know this to be fact rather than my fearful interpretation?" This way we can reframe anxiety narratives into more positive mental scripts aligned with self-trust. We have to be able to release limiting beliefs about our own inability to get well or successfully manage anxiety. We have to realize that we have more strength than we realize. We can also practice allowing all emotional experiences to flow through without exaggerating their meaning or significance and practicing present moment mindfulness to break identification with anxious thoughts. Since human beings are bioenergetic systems, we must also address the spiritual and energetic roots of anxiety. Spending time in nature, adopting daily pleasure practices, moving stagnant emotional energy, freeing the body through dance and creative expression, fostering community and intimacy, engaging in spiritual practices, and cultivating meaning uplift your overall frequency. Honoring the Nonlinear Journey Back to Wholeness Traci and I also talked about how true holistic living means embracing all facets of being human. This includes sitting with painful or unpleasant emotions when they arise, not just seeking high-vibe states and positivity. Avoiding our feelings can worsen anxiety. We need full expression of our inner experience and realize the importance of self-compassion when anxiety feels overwhelming. Judging or beating yourself up will only worsen matters. Each person's path is unique and nonlinear. There will invariably be ups and downs, breakthroughs and backslides as part of the journey. What matters most is continually realigning with your core values and making progress from a place of radical self-love. Expanding your self-knowledge allows you to create a lifestyle that is sustaining and enlivening for your unique mind-body needs. As you learn how to care for yourself in the ways your system requires, you will no longer need willpower or self-force to make positive choices. Pleasure, meaning, joy and health become synonymous. Investing fully in your own healing journey, though often challenging, pays exponential dividends. Having compassionate community support and guidance from skilled practitioners accelerates progress through difficult times. But at its core, healing anxiety means rediscovering your innate wholeness, remembering you are more than your anxiety. When you reclaim your power to shift your inner landscape on all levels, the physical manifestations change as well. You "feel your way free" and unlock possibility for profound holistic transformation. Dr. Doni’s Approach to Anxiety I have been helping patients recover (yes recover) from anxiety and burnout for over two decades. Even though we are led to believe that anxiety is permanent, my patients have proven that is not true. I also used to experience severe anxiety myself, and that motivated me to solve it once and for all. Now I use my proven Stress Recovery Protocol to guide patients to address their mental health issues and burnout based on their Stress Type. I first recommend measuring your cortisol levels at four times of day, as well as adrenaline and neurotransmitter levels. By knowing the exact imbalances in your adrenal function and nervous system, I can then guide you to address them using amino acid therapy, as well as herbs and nutrients, known to bring cortisol, adrenaline and neurotransmitters back to optimal. I also guide you to implement my C.A.R.E. Protocol, which involves clean eating, adequate sleep, recovery activities and exercise based on your Stress Type. To give you a sense of what is involved, here is a summary of Beneficial Modalities for Healing Anxiety Naturally: Nutritional Approaches · Eliminate inflammatory foods, such as sugar, gluten, dairy, based on your food sensitivities – here is the test I recommend · Gut healing to address the gut-brain axis with herbs and digestive enzymes – find my Leaky Gut Program here · Adrenal support using adaptogens and nutrients – Based on your Stress Type® · Methylation support to optimize neurotransmitter metabolism – find my Methylation Program here · Amino acids like tryptophan, glycine, GABA for calming – Based on my Stress Recovery Protocol® Herbs and Natural Agents · Nervine herbs like passionflower, chamomile, lemon balm to soothe nerves · Adaptogens like ashwagandha, rhodiola, ginseng for resilience – Based on your Stress Type® · Support your cannabinoid system – herbs and CBD · Nootropics for cognitive support like lion’s mane mushroom and more – Based on your Stress Type® · Magnesium, l-theanine, omega-3s for calming and mood regulation – Based on my Stress Recovery Protocol® Body-Centered Healing Practices · Breathwork, mindfulness meditation, chanting, yoga, and Qigong · Somatic techniques, polyvagal exercises, breathwork · Nature immersion and forest bathing to restore · Trauma release exercises, EMDR, neurofeedback · Bioenergetic therapies - acupuncture, sound healing, tapping Lifestyle and Plant Medicine Approaches · Sleep hygiene, light exposure, digital detox, balancing rest and activity · Community support, relationships, intimacy, pleasure practices · Nature immersion, gardening, grounding, ecotherapy · Creativity, dance, journaling for expression and embodiment · Psychedelic therapy with plant medicines I hope these suggestions provide a helpful starting point for those seeking to craft a personalized holistic healing program. Please reach out if you would like guidance assembling your own integrative anxiety relief toolkit. With an open heart and willing spirit, true and lasting transformation is absolutely within reach. If you would like to learn more about Dr. Traci and how she can help you, you can visit her website here. You can also connect with Dr. Traci on social media at @drtracipotterfphd (Instagram) and @Inner Genius Health with Dr.Traci Potterf, PhD (Facebook). If you want to learn more about Dr. Doni’s Stress Recovery Protocol® which involves optimizing cortisol and adrenaline levels using nutrients, herbs and C.A.R.E.™, her proprietary program to support clean eating, adequate sleep, stress recovery and exercise, you can read all about it in her book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. We also invite you to listen in to Dr. Doni’s FREE virtual masterclass - Calm in the Storm: Research-Backed Techniques for Healing Your Body and Mind. This masterclass will equip you with a toolbox of techniques and a personalized action plan so you can find inner peace and heal the impact of stress based on your Stress Type. You'll leave this masterclass with research-backed skills to bring calm to the chaos within - and maintain resilience in the face of external stressors. And know next steps you can take to recover. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment here. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.

In this episode, I want to thoroughly cover the signs of burnout, the different types of burnout patterns, and most importantly, how you can recover based on your unique individual burnout type. I'm passionate about this work because I've been through burnout myself multiple times and had to figure out how to recover. Stress is a part of life - but with the right tools you can feel energized and empowered instead of depleted. Now I've made it my mission to guide others through the step-by-step process of overcoming burnout and coming back to vibrant health. It's deeply gratifying to help people get their lives back after years of merely surviving. What Is Burnout? Burnout is a condition defined as chronic stress leading to emotional, physical and mental exhaustion. The key signs of burnout include lack of energy, anxiety, poor sleep, trouble focusing, and various physical symptoms. The term burnout has been loosely used for many years, but it has recently been officially defined as an occupational phenomenon by the World Health Organization. However, there is still a stigma attached to experiencing burnout or other mental health issues related to chronic stress. I want to emphasize that burnout can happen to anyone, at any age, whether you have a job/career or not. All generations go through periods of burnout, but recent studies indicate that Gen Z (born 1997-2012) reports the highest rates of burnout at 91%, compared to other generations. Why are Younger Adults More Susceptible to Burnout? There are several potential reasons behind this: · Going through the pandemic during critical developmental years · Entering the workforce post-pandemic with less experience interacting in-person · Fears over job stability and finances · Tendency to overwork and not establish boundaries · Less life experience coping with high stress However, while burnout may be more prevalent among Gen Z currently, it's important to understand it can happen to anyone when stress is unmanaged over long periods without adequate recovery. The chronic stress response takes its toll on the body and mind. That’s why recognizing the signs of burnout within yourself is so important. 5 Key Areas When Identifying Burnout 1. Energy Level - Do you feel like you have very low energy? Difficulty getting out of bed, needing naps, relying on caffeine to get through the day can indicate compromised energy due to burnout. 2. Mood - Is your overall mood lower? Are you unable to enjoy activities you used to find pleasurable? Do you feel unmotivated, apathetic, sad, or excessively worried? This can manifest as anxiety, depression or other mental health issues. 3. Sleep - Have you noticed your sleep is disrupted? Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, waking early, or insufficient sleep are common signs of burnout. 4. Focus - Are you unable to focus or concentrate like you used to? Do you experience brain fog, distracted thinking, or an inability to complete tasks? Focus and cognition are impaired. 5. Physical Symptoms - Look out for any of the following physical symptoms as potential signs of burnout: headaches, stomach upset, muscle aches, skin issues, hormonal imbalances, difficulty conceiving, susceptibility to illnesses (HPV positive, abnormal pap), or increased inflammation and pain. How Chronic Stress Leads to Burnout When we encounter any type of stressor (emotional, physical, or toxic), our body’s natural response is to release cortisol and adrenaline - our primary stress hormones. This stress response is very adaptive and helpful for short bursts of stress or dangerous situations. However, when stress is constant, and/or traumatic, and we don’t get adequate recovery, our stress hormones can become depleted or imbalanced. Our adrenal glands that produce cortisol and adrenaline struggle to keep up with the high demand. Sometimes this is referred to as “adrenal fatigue” or dysautonomia. I prefer to use the term “adrenal distress.” Over weeks, months or years of chronic stress, this causes the symptoms of burnout to emerge. It looks different in each person based on many factors. Through two decades of stress research, I’ve identified 5 major burnout patterns that can occur depending on a person’s stress type. 1. Stress Magnets: Characterized by elevated cortisol and adrenaline levels. This is the most classic type of burnout that many people assume is the only version. 2. Blah and Blue: The opposite pattern of low cortisol and adrenaline. These individuals feel unable to handle any more stress. 3. Night Owls: Normal cortisol during the day but high levels at night, disrupting sleep. 4. Sluggish and Stressed: High cortisol but low adrenaline. They feel fatigued and overwhelmed. 5. Tired and Wired: Low cortisol but high adrenaline. Excess nervous energy but crashing. The reasons these different patterns evolve are quite complex, involving genetics, metabolism, early life experiences, etc. I dive much deeper into the science behind the 5 stress types in my book, Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. How Can We Recover from Burnout? Recovering requires a targeted approach based on your individual burnout pattern. One-size-fits all suggestions rarely work for recovery from burnout. This is because diet, sleep, exercise and stress management affect each burnout type differently. Let’s consider some examples: · A Blah and Blue stress type needs to exercise less than a Tired and Wired. Too much exercise makes them worse. · Night Owls require earlier bedtimes, no screen time at night. But Stress Magnets need mindfulness before bed, not necessarily earlier sleep. · Adaptogens like Rhodiola help blah & blue types but aggravate stress magnets. This is why I created a free quiz to identify your burnout type based on your symptoms and cortisol/adrenaline levels. You can take it here. Once you understand your burnout pattern, I can then guide you on the nutrition, sleep, exercise, recovery activities and stress management that will work for your unique situation. Then you can start to feel better! With the right support, your adrenal glands can absolutely heal and recover from burnout, it just takes strategic care catered to your stress type. There are some foundational steps that benefit anyone recovering from burnout. I call this the C.A.R.E. protocol: C - Clean Eating: Follow an anti-inflammatory diet high in vegetables, fruits, clean proteins. Remove inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy and excess sugar. Stay hydrated. Time meals for steady energy. A - Adequate Sleep: Make sleep a priority. Keep a consistent bedtime/wake time. Limit blue light exposure at night. Create an optimal sleep environment. Nap if needed. R - Recovery Activities: Build in small breaks during the day. Spend time in nature, listening to music, meditating, laughing, praying, dancing, reading, being creative, cuddling pets. Find things that bring you joy and relaxation. E - Exercise: Get regular exercise, but modify the duration and intensity based on your burnout type. Some need more energizing exercise, others require gentler movement. The C.A.R.E. basics give your body the fundamental nourishment and rest it needs to start recovering from burnout. But you can optimize your C.A.R.E. protocol by customizing it specifically for your stress pattern. In my book I guide you step-by-step on how to tailor your nutrition, sleep habits, recovery activities, exercise routine and stress management to your unique burnout type. Whether you tend to be a stress magnet, blah and blue, night owl, sluggish and stressed, or tired and wired, you'll discover exactly how to recalibrate your C.A.R.E. protocol to target your imbalances and get back to health. With the properly tailored changes, your adrenal glands and stress hormone levels can reset. This restores energy, mood, sleep, focus and physical health. You begin to feel like yourself again. Just as essentially, you establish resilience against future burnout. That way if stress ramps up, you're prepared to handle it without plummeting back into burnout. I'm very excited to teach more on this topic at my upcoming free masterclass "Calm in the Storm: Techniques for Healing Your Body and Mind." This will empower you to master your stress - not by trying to eliminate it altogether, but by understanding your body's needs and patterns. Stress is simply a part of life. There will always be stressors and even intense "storms" that come along. But once you know your stress type, you gain tools to stay resilient and healthy during these challenges. You learn how to quickly self-correct when you feel stress creeping up again. That way small issues don't spiral into major burnout. You create lasting habits for thriving through life's ups and downs. In the Calm in the Storm Masterclass, we'll cover: · Identifying your unique stress type with warning signs · Fine-tuning your C.A.R.E. protocol by stress pattern · Advanced nutrition, supplements and lifestyle tips · Cultivating daily joy and relaxation · Rewiring your beliefs around stress · Creating community for ongoing support I hope the information today gives you more insight into burnout - its subtle warning signs, different patterns it can take, and how recovery can be tailored to your unique needs. Please subscribe and continue joining me for more episodes focused on recovering from stress and burnout. And absolutely reach out to me if you need extra support customizing your own burnout recovery plan. Now that you understand the various burnout types, we can collaborate to create an individualized protocol to restore your health, energy and joy in life! My team and I can help identify your specific burnout pattern, the root causes, which areas to prioritize, advanced testing you may need, optimal supplements, and personalized lifestyle changes. With proper individualization, most people fully recover from even years-long burnout. You regain mental clarity, physical vitality and emotional stability. Your body resets and you establish long-term resilience against stress overload. My own journey fuels my commitment to support you in reclaiming your energy, sleep, mood and health. I hope you feel encouraged knowing there are solutions and you are not alone! Stay tuned for more. If you want to learn more about how stress and trauma affect us, and how to heal using Dr. Doni’s Stress Recovery Protocol® which involves optimizing cortisol and adrenaline levels using nutrients, herbs and C.A.R.E.™, her proprietary program to support clean eating, adequate sleep, stress recovery and exercise, you can read all about it in her book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. If you are you constantly feeling overwhelmed, anxious, tired, or just not feeling yourself you can join Dr. Doni’s FREE virtual masterclass – “Calm in the Storm: Techniques for Healing Your Body and Mind” where you will get a personalized action plan so you can find inner peace and heal the impact of stress. You'll leave this masterclass with research-backed skills to bring calm to the chaos within - and maintain resilience in the face of external stressors. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment here. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  

In today's episode, I'm excited to be speaking with Dr. Catherine Clinton, a naturopathic doctor who has been practicing for over 15 years. She is an expert in quantum healing and quantum biology. Dr. Clinton's Extensive Background in Natural Medicine Dr. Clinton has always taken a holistic, natural approach in her practice. She focuses on helping patients understand how reconnecting with nature can support healing from a wide array of health conditions. These include autoimmunity, mental health issues, gastrointestinal disorders, hormone imbalances, infections, autoimmunity, anxiety, depression, migraines, and more. Even from a young age, Dr. Clinton was drawn to natural medicine and fascinated by the body's innate capacity to heal itself. She decided to become a naturopathic doctor because she wanted to get to the root causes of health issues, not just treat superficial symptoms. Throughout her career, Dr. Clinton has continued learning about new holistic modalities while also studying ancient healing systems like Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine. She believes we need to honor the wisdom of indigenous cultures that understood the intimate relationship between humans and nature. Dr. Clinton's clinical expertise combined with her passion for bridging ancient wisdom and modern science makes her perfectly suited to explain the emerging field of quantum biology. She has a gift for synthesizing complex concepts into accessible language for patients and students alike. An Introduction to the Field of Quantum Biology So what exactly is quantum biology? In essence, quantum biology examines biological processes through the lens of quantum physics. It looks at how quantum phenomena like entanglement, tunneling, and coherence affect living systems. Quantum physics evolved out of remarkable discoveries in the early 20th century that revealed the strange, almost mystical world of subatomic particles. In this quantum realm, regular physics do not apply. Particles can exist in two places at once. They can also remain connected over long distances in ways that defy our normal understanding of space and time. For a long time, quantum phenomena were only thought to occur under tightly controlled lab conditions at extremely cold temperatures. But quantum biology explores how life hijacks these bizarre quirks of the quantum world to enable its amazing feats. Some key topics within the field of quantum biology include: · The role of electron flow in facilitating biochemical reactions. Rather than simple games of chance, evidence suggests finely orchestrated energy exchanges. · How water inside the body structures itself to support health. Certain molecular configurations of water provide an optimal "terrain" for cells. · The impact of vibration, frequency, and resonance on biological functioning. Our cells and tissues tune into various frequencies that modulate their activities. · The interconnected nature of physiological systems. The old mechanistic view of separated bodily systems is giving way to models of intertwined communication and feedback loops. · The influence of our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs on our biology through mechanisms we are only beginning to grasp. Researchers are discovering that living organisms exploit quantum effects to enable biological processes. Quantum biology reminds us that we are energy beings embedded in a web of energy. It reveals the constant interplay between our external terrain and internal terrain. As pioneers in this emerging discipline, we must tread carefully to build on empirical science without veering into pseudoscience. Quantum biology holds great promise to expand the boundaries of health and healing for all of us. The Critical Importance of Structured Water in the Body One particular area of focus in quantum biology is structured water inside the body. Dr. Clinton has studied extensively the pioneering work of Dr. Gerald Pollock from the University of Washington. His research shows that next to cells and tissues, our bodies contain a previously unrecognized "fourth phase" of water with very unique properties. This special structured water consists of hexagonally stacked sheets of molecules that form what looks like a honeycomb lattice. Standard H2O has a more random molecular arrangement. But structured water molecules align in a repeating hexagonal pattern due to their hydrogen bonding. This allows it to function in some rather astonishing ways. For one, the structured water zone is negatively charged. This negative charge enables the seamless flow of energy within the body that powers our every biochemical reaction. In addition, the voltage created by structured water zones maintains optimal cell membrane potential and mitochondrial function critical for health. Researchers are still teasing out all the roles of structured water, but its importance cannot be overstated. Structured water provides the ideal molecular terrain for our cellular constituents to carry out their activities. However, certain factors can degrade structured water, potentially contributing to disease. These include: · Dehydration - Not obtaining sufficient structured water from regular hydration. · Poor diet - Eating foods that promote cellular inflammation and oxidation. · Toxins or infections - Which damage tissues and impair metabolic processes. · Lack of natural light - Our primary source of the infrared frequencies that build structured water. · Excess stress - Which causes electron loss, lowering cell voltage provided by water layers. · Physical trauma - Which can alter water structures in the brain and nervous system. · Overuse of electronics - These emit EMFs shown to degrade structured water. Fortunately, there are many simple, natural ways we can enhance structured water levels to support optimal health. These include: · Regular hydration with clean, filtered water. · Eating an antioxidant-rich, anti-inflammatory whole foods diet. · Exposure to gentle infrared energies from sunlight, heat, or near infrared bulbs. · Grounding to replenish electrons that maintain the water battery. · Exercise, since movement generates structuring infrared frequencies. · Reducing EMF exposure by limiting device time and using shielding. · Stress relief practices like meditation, yoga, time in nature, and social connection. By better understanding water as a living matrix that communicates information, we can learn to optimize it in our bodies. This provides the ideal terrain for resilience and regeneration. Additional Ways We Can Benefit from the Science of Quantum Biology In addition to water research, many other insights from quantum biology can help optimize wellness when applied properly. Spending time in nature helps us reconnect and restore depleted energy. The natural frequencies permeating the outdoors entrain our systems. Forest bathing research proves time outside literally alters our nervous system state. Exposing our bodies to variable temperatures promotes adaptability rather than a static climate. Heat and cold cues build mitochondria and antioxidant reserves. Practices like contrast hydrotherapy leverage these effects. Allowing circadian rhythms to flow naturally by reducing artificial light at night. Our bodies require dark to initiate key phases of detoxification, brain cleanup, and hormone balance. Grounding the body helps replenish electrons we lose coping with chronic stress. These electrons increase the negative charge of our water battery. Walking barefoot is free grounding. Identifying and processing stored emotional traumas. Unresolved grief and pain creates blocks in our bioenergetic fields. Energy psychology techniques clear traumas stuck in the body and psyche. Cultivating healthy relationships is an antidote to an epidemic of disconnection, which manifests as disease. Loving bonds help satisfy our core need for belonging. Choosing natural, uncomplicated solutions helps us tend to our inner and outer terrain—the foundation of health. Ancient wisdom recognized that supporting the body's self-healing abilities cures most ills. Practicing gratitude, compassion and presence may beneficially structure water in our bodies. Positive intentions imprint information fields that surround us. The more we understand our quantum nature and reciprocal relationship with the unified field of the cosmos, the better we can support wellbeing. Remembering Our Inherent Interconnectedness is Foundational to Health At its core, quantum biology reminds us that we are inseparable from the world around us. Air, water, sunlight, earth—we are intimately woven into the fabric of nature. Yet so often we forget just how fundamentally our minds and bodies rely on this interconnectedness. Many chronic diseases stem from losing touch with our terrain and environment. Yet even small steps to honor our bond with nature, animals, loved ones, and our own bodies and minds can tangible improve our health. We have become experts at manipulating our external world, but often at the expense of internal balance. Reclaiming health in the modern world requires rediscovering and honoring our bond with nature, each other, and our own deepest selves. This may mean: · Making time for grounding activities like gardening, forest bathing, earthing, and contemplative time near water and other natural features. · Adopting circadian-aligned routines supporting natural biorhythms of activity, waking, eating, and sleeping. · Developing present moment awareness through mindfulness practices that disentangle us from constant ruminations that generate stress. · Fostering community and heartfelt human connections that satisfy our inherent needs for belonging and intimacy. · Slowing down and simplifying some aspects of 21st century life so we can listen to our body's signals about what it needs. Quantum healing entails rediscovering our wholeness. When we embrace our interconnection with all of life, balance and wellbeing naturally follow. The transition from feeling separate and overwhelmed to feeling connected and empowered holds the key to quantum healing. Catalyzing Our Own Healing Journeys No matter one's current state of health, small steps to honor our bond with nature, animals, loved ones, and our own bodies and minds can tangibly improve our wellbeing. With greater knowledge of our quantum biological nature, we can more consciously direct our mind, body and behaviors in alignment with wellness. We may find ourselves naturally adopting habits and practices that optimize the parameters needed for self-healing. However, knowledge alone is not enough. We must also cultivate self-trust and self-care. When we view even small positive changes through the lens of compassion rather than criticism, it supports consistency. Our nervous systems do not like pressure and timelines. Patience allows slow but steady progress. What matters most is refocusing each day on our inner alignment with qualities like love, joy, community, presence, and peace. Our outer terrain effortlessly follows where we lead it from the inside out. If you would like to learn more about Dr. Catherine and how she can help you, you can visit her website here. You can also connect with Dr. Catherine on social media at @dr.catherineclinton (Instagram) and @Dr. Catherine Clinton, ND (Facebook) for mental health tips and inspiration. If you want to learn more about how stress and trauma affect us, and how to heal using Dr. Doni’s Stress Recovery Protocol® which involves optimizing cortisol and adrenaline levels using nutrients, herbs and C.A.R.E.™, her proprietary program to support clean eating, adequate sleep, stress recovery and exercise, you can read all about it in her book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. Are you constantly feeling overwhelmed, anxious, tired, or just not feeling yourself? Chronic stress takes a tremendous toll on our mental and physical health. But there are proven techniques to counteract its impact and cultivate calm and resilience - even in chaotic times. Join Dr. Doni’s FREE virtual masterclass - Calm in the Storm: Research-Backed Techniques for Healing Your Body and Mind. This masterclass will equip you with a toolbox of techniques and a personalized action plan so you can find inner peace and heal the impact of stress. You'll leave this masterclass with research-backed skills to bring calm to the chaos within - and maintain resilience in the face of external stressors. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment here. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  

In today’s episode, we’re going to fully explore the profound practice of meditation. I’ll explain what meditation is, the vast scientific research validating its benefits, and provide an in-depth guide to incorporating meditation into your daily self-care routine. Regular meditation practice has been shown to reduce stress, increase happiness, improve health, and transform one's life in countless positive ways. By learning to quiet the mind and be present, you can tap into this amazing mind-body medicine free of charge. So let’s dive deep into the what, why, and how of meditation! What is Meditation? Let’s start with the basics – what is meditation? Meditation is the practice of focusing your attention completely on the present moment in order to settle and calm the mind. It falls under the larger umbrella of mindfulness, which involves maintaining awareness of your experience in the here and now. With meditation, the goal is to clear your mind from its usual frantic pace of thoughts about the past and future so you can be fully present. This creates mental space to process emotions, access deeper parts of yourself, and become more attuned with your mind and body. On a biological level, meditation induces shifts in your brain waves from the activated beta waves of normal waking life to slower alpha and theta brain wave patterns. Alpha waves are the bridge between conscious focus and deep relaxation where you are awake but very calm and centered. Theta waves tap into the subconscious mind and are restorative for the nervous system. Other brain frequencies like delta and gamma may also arise during deep meditation. Being able to move your brain waves between these different states gives you greater control over your state of consciousness. The more you meditate, the easier it becomes to access a meditative state of mindfulness as you go about your day. The Science Validating the Benefits of Meditation Now that you understand the state of being meditation facilitates, let’s explore the vast scientific research revealing its profound benefits for both mental and physical health. Study after study continues to show that meditation dramatically improves wellbeing on multiple fronts. First, meditation has been proven to enhance mental health in significant ways: · It effectively reduces anxiety and lifts mood. Meditation calms the nervous system and has been shown to be as effective as medication and therapy for treating anxiety and depression. · It substantially decreases stress levels by lowering inflammatory stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Meditation returns the nervous system to a balanced, relaxed parasympathetic state to counteract chronic stress. · It elevates focus, concentration and attention span by producing increased alpha and theta brain waves that optimize cognitive function. Meditators often describe developing a “laser focus” from practice. · It builds emotional intelligence by helping you observe emotions as transient events in the mind, increasing emotional regulation and EQ. · It also enhances working memory and increases gray matter volume in brain areas related to cognitive function like the hippocampus and frontal cortex. Additionally, research has revealed powerful benefits of meditation for physical health: · It lowers blood pressure by dilating blood vessels through soothing the nervous system, enhancing healthy circulation. · It reduces heart rate by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, improving heart rate variability and vagal tone. · It decreases systemic inflammation by lowering inflammatory stress hormones and chemicals, helping resolve inflammatory conditions. · It bolsters the immune system by increasing natural killer cells, neutrophils, T-cells, and anti-viral proteins that fight infections. · It promotes deeper, more restorative sleep by facilitating falling asleep and staying asleep, and increasing regenerative slow wave and REM sleep. · It supports healthy longevity by boosting telomerase, an enzyme that repairs and lengthens telomeres – the protective caps on chromosomes that regulate aging. · It effectively manages both acute and chronic pain, with meditators requiring less pain medication due to altered pain perception. Furthermore, the combination of relieving mental stress and resolving physical inflammation means meditation can help reverse challenging chronic health conditions including: heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disorders, GI issues, chronic pain, depression, neurodegenerative diseases, and more. For any illness related to chronic stress, inflammation or mind-body imbalance, meditation can be a crucial part of effective treatment and prevention. Given the wide-ranging benefits of meditation for optimizing mental, emotional and physical health, it’s no surprise research also shows it can significantly increase lifespan. By reducing causes of mortality like heart disease, hypertension, inflammation and stress, studies report meditators have on average a 29% lower risk of early death compared to non-meditators. The deep rest, anti-aging effects and protective benefits of meditation lead to longer, healthier lives. When you take into account the full breadth of research, the evidence for meditation is simply overwhelming. This free, accessible mind-body practice has the power to profoundly enhance your relationships, work performance, physical vigor, emotional balance, mental clarity, stress levels, and overall wellbeing. It’s one of the most impactful health habits you can cultivate. How to Start a Meditation Practice Now that you understand the incredible science-backed benefits, let’s turn to how you can start experiencing these transformative results yourself through a regular meditation practice. Here are my top tips: First, get clear on your intention - why do you want to start meditating? What are your goals? Do you want to reduce anxiety, sleep better, gain inner peace, improve concentration, resolve a health condition, or something else? Setting a focused intention will motivate you to persist. Next, establish a consistent practice time that fits your daily routine – first thing in the morning and in the evening before bed are popular choices. Decide when meditation will work best for you. Block out time in your calendar and treat this window as non-negotiable to build the habit. Create a designated meditation space in your home that is quiet and tranquil. Light candles, play relaxing music, or use other cues to trigger a calm mindset when entering your practice area. Sit in the same spot daily. Get as physically comfortable as possible. Sit cross-legged, kneel on a cushion, sit in a chair, or lie down – whatever allows your back to be straight while relaxing any tension. Adjust positions whenever needed during practice. Start with breathwork for a few minutes before transitioning into formal meditation. Take long, slow deep breaths focusing on the sensation of inhaling and exhaling to activate relaxation responses. Bring your full attention to your chosen object of focus – either your breath or a repeated mantra. Return your focus gently whenever the mind wanders. Observe thoughts non-judgmentally, letting them pass by without engaging. Set a timer for your desired practice length when starting out, even if just 5-10 minutes. Slowly build up your meditation time to 20, 30 minutes or longer. End slowly by reconnecting to your body and environment. Jot insights and reflections down in a meditation journal after each session. Review regularly to see your progress and optimize your practice as needed. Be patient with challenges - difficulties are normal and will pass. Additionally, explore different types of meditation to find the styles you most enjoy such as walking, movement, chanting, visualization, loving-kindness, or chakra meditations. Take classes, read books, listen to talks, and attend retreats to continually deepen your knowledge and experience. The key is to make meditation a daily ritual just like brushing your teeth. Regular practice is what delivers the immense mental, emotional and physical transformations, even if some days feel more connected than others. With patience and persistence, you’ll be amazed at the positive life changes that unfold. Starting and Sustaining an Effective Meditation Routine To set your meditation practice up for ongoing success, here are some additional pro tips: Sit daily – Make meditation non-negotiable by practicing at the same time every day, just like brushing your teeth when you wake up and before bed. Skipping days makes it harder to stick to the routine. Start small – Don’t be intimidated by sitting to meditate for 30+ minutes if you’re new to it. Even just 5-10 minutes daily provides immense benefits. Slowly increase your practice time. Be consistent – Sit at the same time and in the same space daily to establish your ritual. Moving your meditation time around makes it harder to sustain consistency. Use guided meditations – If your mind has trouble settling, use an app, audio or video guide to walk you into a calm state until you can enter it directly. Attend retreats – Deepen your practice exponentially by attending weekend or multi-day intensive meditation retreats offered widely. Immersing yourself accelerates progress. Find community – Join local in-person meditation groups or online communities to gain inspiration, accountability and support on your journey. Read books – Dive into the many excellent books on meditation to troubleshoot obstacles, deepen understanding and augment motivation. Keep learning – Take classes, workshops and trainings from experienced teachers to evolve your practice and comprehension of meditation. Apply mindfulness – Bring meditative presence into everyday activities like eating, exercising, working and conversing to integrate mindfulness into living. Be patient – Remember that taming your mind’s tendencies takes time and patience. Persist through difficulties calmly without self-judgment. Trust the process – Know that inner transformation happens subtly over time with regular practice. Don’t get discouraged early on. Trust the process. By embracing meditation as an indispensable part of your self-care routine – just like adequate sleep, nutrition and exercise – you’ll be amazed at the positive changes that unfold in your mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. Actualize Your Fullest Potential Through Meditation I hope this comprehensive guide gives you confidence in the extraordinary benefits of meditation, and a roadmap to start optimizing your health through establishing a consistent practice. Make meditation a priority and see your stress dissolve, mood lift, focus sharpen, and sense of inner peace expand. Your mind, body and spirit will thank you! Please reach out if you need any support on your meditation path. I’m excited for you to actualize your fullest wellness potential through this life-changing ancient practice backed by an abundance of contemporary scientific research. You have an incredible inner world waiting to be discovered. So get started today! Just sit, breathe, and be fully present. If you want to learn more about how use meditation to recover from stress and trauma, and how to heal using Dr. Doni’s Stress Recovery Protocol® which involves optimizing cortisol and adrenaline levels using nutrients, herbs and C.A.R.E.™, her proprietary program to support clean eating, adequate sleep, stress recovery and exercise, you can read all about it in her book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment here. I hope this overview presented some new possibilities for improving your own mental and physical health or supporting loved ones on their journeys. Please know that healing is absolutely within reach. As we just saw, small steps add up to big transformations over time. You deserve to reclaim your best health and most vibrant, balanced life. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  

In today's episode, I'm excited to be speaking with Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge. She is an integrative and pediatric mental health expert specializing in the field of neurofeedback therapy. Dr. Roseann is the founder and director of the Global Institute of Children's Mental Health. She is also a Connecticut Certified School Psychologist, Board Certified Neurofeedback Provider (BCN), podcast host of “It’s Gonna Be Ok! with Dr. Roseann” as well as founder of Dr. Roseann LLC and creator of the new Neurotastic supplement line. Dr. Roseann's Extensive Background in Mental Health With over 30 years of experience working in mental health, Dr. Roseann has dedicated her career to helping children and families improve conditions like ADHD, anxiety, depression, OCD and various learning disabilities. She has always taken a holistic, natural approach in her practice. Even from a very young age, Dr. Roseann knew she wanted to go into the field of psychology and psychiatry. When she was just 5 years old, a friend of her mother’s asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Out of the blue, Dr. Roseann responded “I want to be a psychiatrist.” Of course, later on she realized that psychiatrists focus more on medications, whereas psychologists utilize counseling and therapy. Nevertheless, this childhood premonition set her on a path to becoming an expert in children’s mental health. Throughout her education and career, Dr. Roseann focused on gaining as much hands-on experience as possible. She actively volunteered and completed internships to refine her skills. She quickly discovered that her passion was working with children and families. Dr. Roseann found that she felt a deep sense of empathy for these clients. She also realized that when children receive the right help, their brains are extremely adept at absorbing positive changes. These changes can then last a lifetime due to neuroplasticity in the developing brain. Dr. Roseann witnessed countless times how a child’s struggle became an impetus for the whole family to improve their mental and physical health. Once the parents saw improvements in their child from natural solutions, they became much more open to making changes in their own lives as well. In this way, the child’s difficulty actually became an opportunity for growth, change and healing for the entire family unit. This inspired Dr. Roseann to continue refining her integrative techniques to help children thrive and set them up for a lifetime of mental and emotional wellbeing. An Overview of the Neurofeedback Process Neurofeedback falls under the umbrella of biofeedback therapies. It takes advantage of the brain’s neuroplasticity or ability to form new neural pathways throughout life. Neurofeedback utilizes technology to train the brain to produce healthier patterns of brain wave activity. In a nutshell, neurofeedback works like this: The person is hooked up to a computer via electrodes on the scalp that can detect the frequency of electrical signals from different regions of the brain in real-time. The computer provides instant auditory or visual feedback when the brain produces the desired brain wave pattern. For example, you may hear a pleasant tone or see an animated figure on the screen. This positive reinforcement teaches the brain to repeat these types of beneficial brain wave patterns. Over time, the brain learns to operate with healthier levels of activity in key areas. This can drastically improve symptoms. Then these healthy changes stick around even after the neurofeedback sessions end. Some key points about neurofeedback: · It has been around since the 1960s and now has over 3,000 research studies demonstrating its effectiveness for a wide array of conditions. · It is non-invasive and has minimal side effects for most people when done properly. · It creates lasting changes in brain function that persist even after the sessions are complete. · Conditions that research shows neurofeedback can improve include ADHD, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, addiction, insomnia, traumatic brain injury, concussions, migraines and more. · It has also been used for peak performance training in high achievers without health conditions. · Typical sessions last about 30 minutes and are done 2-3 times per week. · The average treatment plan consists of about 20-30 sessions over a course of about 6 months. But some people need more or less time. · It can be done in a practitioner's office or through home-based equipment and video sessions online. QEEG brain mapping is necessary before starting neurofeedback. This allows to see exactly which regions of the brain need to be retrained. Then you can have extremely precise neurofeedback protocols targeting an individual’s specific needs. Dr. Roseann shared an example of a client she has with chronic Lyme disease. The woman had been doing neurofeedback targeting anxiety, but her progress had plateaued. So Dr. Roseann ordered a follow-up brain map. She could then see that one specific area of the brain was still highly over-activated. Though this region was tiny, it was likely contributing to the stuck point. So Dr. Roseann modified the neurofeedback protocol to focus intensively on calming down just this one small dysregulated area. On a follow-up visit shortly after, the client already reported noticeable improvements in her anxiety levels. The brain is incredible in how specific interventions can create cascading benefits throughout the whole system. It is ideal to identify a practitioner who specializes in your particular condition to optimize the results. The Keys to Successful Mental Health Recovery Neurofeedback, while extremely powerful, is not a magic bullet on its own. We also need to learn new behaviors and lifestyle habits to replace ingrained patterns that contribute to conditions like anxiety or poor focus. A regulated brain doesn’t automatically know what to do. We need both top-down training of brain activity itself with neurofeedback, along with bottom-up adjustment of daily habits. For example, empowering parents with tools and strategies to improve their children’s focus or mood struggles. Relying solely on medications fails to provide these behavioral change tools. Similarly, neurofeedback alone also will not necessarily teach new behaviors. We need to address the bi-directional relationship between brain activity patterns and ingrained daily habits. We need both aspects to see a lasting mental health transformation. We also need to build a lifestyle that will support our brain and nervous system including: · Stress management skills like meditation, breathing exercises, spending time in nature · Counseling and processing trauma, grief or difficult experiences · Prioritizing bonding time with loved ones · Identifying and enforcing proper boundaries · Cultivating hobbies and activities that bring joy and relaxation · Learning to protect our nervous systems from excessive stimulation and input · Letting go of negative thought patterns and self-criticism Without these behavior changes, it’s all too easy to fall back into dysregulation and reactive states, even if the brain has been retrained. The brain-behavior connection truly goes both ways. Nutrition is another element that we need to address. Factors like blood sugar balance, hydration, gut health and food sensitivities play a major role in mental health. Magnesium is one especially important compound for the brain and nervous system. Unfortunately, chronic stress depletes magnesium reserves quickly. Magnesium supplementation can provide fast improvements in focus, anxiety, sleep quality and more in those with deficiencies. It is also important to address factors like gut inflammation, infections and environmental toxins in order to resolve mental health conditions at their root. Mental health is not simply a matter of inadequate neurotransmitters or faulty brain wiring, though those do play a role. We must look at the whole system to facilitate true healing. The bottom line is that mental health recovery requires consistently making ourselves and our self-care a top priority. Unfortunately, chronic stress has almost become normalized and expected today. Yet this level of strain on our minds and nervous systems is clearly unsustainable. Even small but regular actions can add up over time to bring our nervous systems back into balance. This is protective against inflammation, cognitive impairment, emotional reactivity, immune dysfunction and so many other effects of excessive stress. Starting with as little as ten minutes a day of breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, journaling or other calming practices can work wonders. When we model this type of self-care and stress resilience for our children and loved ones, it provides them permission to also take time to recharge and reset. Our close relationships thrive when we are fully present. Making self-care non-negotiable ultimately allows us to be more available for others. We also need to view even small steps in a more positive light. Our culture often focuses on perfectionism and rapid transformation. But in reality, it’s consistent tiny changes, when done with patience and compassion for ourselves, that enable us to climb to new heights. You Are Not Defined by Your Diagnosis A diagnosis does not have to define our futures. There are countless reversal stories of conditions like autoimmunity, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression and more in people who were willing to believe in the possibility of change and take ownership of their own healing journeys. A diagnosis provides important clues about where to focus our efforts. But it is not permanent or all-encompassing. We can decide how much power we give it over our lives. We always have the opportunity to learn more about what our bodies and minds might need to restore balance and function. We need to reconnect with what our symptoms are trying to communicate. From this place of curiosity and compassion, we can then seek the right support to explore our root causes and the multifaceted steps to genuine healing. Next Steps to Begin Your Own Healing Process If you would like to learn more about Dr. Roseann’s neurofeedback programs and supplement line, you can visit her website here . You can also tune in to her podcast here. Her NeuroTastic supplements are available online here. You can also connect with Dr. Roseann on social media at @drroseann (Instagram) and @Dr. Roseann (Facebook) for mental health tips and inspiration. If you want to learn more about how stress and trauma affect us, and how to heal using Dr. Doni’s Stress Recovery Protocol® which involves optimizing cortisol and adrenaline levels using nutrients, herbs and C.A.R.E.™, her proprietary program to support clean eating, adequate sleep, stress recovery and exercise, you can read all about it in her book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment here. I hope this overview presented some new possibilities for improving your own mental health or supporting loved ones on their journeys. Please know that healing is absolutely within reach. As we just saw, small steps add up to big transformations over time. You deserve to reclaim your best health and most vibrant, balanced life. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  

In this episode, I want to help you be prepared to fend off viruses so you can get back to doing what you love faster. This includes cold viruses, flu viruses, COVID, and other viruses causing issues like sinusitis, laryngitis, bronchitis—any inflammatory issue in the upper respiratory tract or lungs. Especially now, during cold and flu season, these are the things I make sure I have on hand when traveling or at home. I want to prevent catching a virus, but also help my body fight it off quickly if I do get sick. Here are several reasons why: First, I want to recover faster to resume my usual daily activities. When you feel congested, have a headache, sore throat and are tired, it’s hard to do your normal routine even from home. I want to recover faster to spend time with loved ones. When sick, I can’t be around my granddaughter or go to dance class. I want to get better to do what I love. Also, I want to try to prevent needing antibiotics or steroids if possible. Antibiotics disrupt gut bacteria, causing leaky gut and susceptibility to other health issues. It’s better to avoid them unless the infection is bacterial. Steroids like prednisone disrupt blood sugar, metabolism, immunity and adrenal function. If necessary, we need them, but better to avoid side effects using natural anti-inflammatories to heal faster. My third goal is to prevent the next infection. Catching one virus makes you prone to more. Patients tell me they get infection after infection spending winter sick. I want you to recover fully the first time to avoid getting sick again. This includes what to do after to prevent the next infection. So, our main goals are: · Recover faster to resume daily activities and time with loved ones · Avoid antibiotics and steroids if possible · Prevent the next infection Recognizing the First Signs of Viral Illness It’s important to pick up on your own body's typical first symptoms that a viral illness is starting to take hold. Common early symptoms are sore or scratchy throat, sneezing, congestion, feeling feverish, and fatigue. When these symptoms first appear, it's a sign your immune system is ramping up and fighting off an infection. The earlier you take notice and start to support your body, the milder the illness will be. Delaying just a few days allows the virus to proliferate and prolongs recovery time. Some people may not show obvious early symptoms however. If your immune system is sluggish, the virus can multiply for days before you feel sick. In this case you can take immune-enhancing supplements preventively when you know you have had viral exposures. This compensates for a slower immune response. How to Take Action at the First Sign of Illness Pay attention to symptoms—your body’s first signals. Think back to when you last got sick—you likely had less sleep, more stress, sugar and alcohol. Immunity decreases, infections increase. We tend to go into denial, wishing we won’t get sick despite a sore throat and congestion. It’s better if we notice the symptoms quickly so we can act fast. Take action at the first inkling of illness, even if exposed to someone sick. Delaying worsens and lengthens it. When sick, immediately prioritize how to get more rest. At the first sign, cancel plans saying you caught a virus and need to heal. Then care for yourself using these steps to recover faster. Get some sun for vitamin D, even 10 minutes helps. Sauna with red light therapy is great. Light signals aid immunity. Have remedies on hand versus ordering when sick. Start immediately at first signs. Quick action is key to shorten recovery time. Contact my office if you need help with dosing. Choose healthy foods—chicken soup, bone broth, chicken, turkey for protein. Salads, veggies, fruits contain antioxidants and vitamins. Avoid dairy and gluten which are inflammatory. Consider pre-made organic soups if you don’t feel well enough to cook. Protein shakes work well—pea or bone broth protein. Eat small meals every 3-4 hours, even if appetite decreases. Stay hydrated. Avoid sugar and alcohol which decrease immunity. Get outside for some sun if possible, Sleep more because your immune system works while you rest. Cancel plans, focus on healing. Then get back to a normal routine faster and avoid spreading your illness. Understanding Viral Symptoms and Fever When your immune system creates congestion, it’s in an effort to get rid of the virus. Sneezing and coughing is also to move the fluid and virus out. Sore throat is inflammation, which is your immune system fighting the infection. Fevers help— viruses can’t survive high heat. If you feel feverish or have a 99-100 degree fever, that’s good. Rest and allow yourself to be hot to help your immune system. Take a hot shower or bath and sleep to heal. Stay hydrated to prevent high fevers. Drink water with sea salt for electrolytes and herbal tea, not caffeine, sugar or alcohol which decrease immunity. With rest and heat, most fevers stay around 100 degrees to kill viruses. If 103-104 degrees or higher, reduce it. Children’s temperatures over 102-103 need attention. Hydration helps. A lukewarm washcloth (not ice cold) can lower a high fever. Monitor fever to know if you need medication. Using herbs and nutrients first may prevent the need for medications. If fever disrupts sleep or you have signs of bacterial infection, use fever-reducing medication as needed in addition to natural remedies. Bacterial infections cause higher fevers and yellow/green phlegm. A little green phlegm in the morning is normal from laying down. All day green phlegm or coughing it up indicates bacteria. Then consider antibacterials or antibiotics. Try herbal antivirals first to avoid antibiotics if possible. If improving with natural remedies, keep at it. If not, use antibiotics. Natural approaches can be supportive if antibiotics are needed. The first steps when sick are: · At first signs, cancel plans to rest and heal · Stay hydrated with water, herbal tea (avoid sugar/alcohol) · Take hot baths/showers and nap · Monitor fever under 100 good, if 103-104 reduce gently Choosing the Right Supplements and Dosing Next is choosing the right supplements. Everyone is different, and there are thousands of options. Prioritize the most important. Experiment to see what works for you. Have your favorites on hand. Some love oregano oil, olive leaf is great. Mushrooms like shiitake, maitake, reishi are excellent for immunity. Use in cooking, in tea or capsules. Strategic combinations are best, with the most effective ingredients in one product vs. many bottles. I’m more likely to take 1-2 products consistently than juggle many. Herbs and nutrients metabolize within hours, so frequent dosing matters—morning, midday, evening, bedtime. One dose per day only helps briefly. What to take I always have silver on hand. Silver liquid or nanoparticles of silver in water help against viruses and bacteria. Squirt in mouth/nose, swallow, use topically. I also take Hesperidin. It’s a plant-based natural antihistamine. Synthetic antihistamines have more side effects. When sick, the immune response increases histamine—causing runny nose, sneezing, sore throat. Antihistamines reduce this, not inhibiting immunity. They allow better virus/bacteria defense by reducing congestion where bacteria can grow. Plant-based hesperidin requires frequent dosing. Immune Support by Nature Empowered contains vitamin A, C, zinc, astragalus, elderberry—antiviral and immune supportive herbs. Take morning, midday, evening, bedtime. Immune Support Plus contains vitamin D, NAC and quercetin. NAC helps recover faster and thins phlegm. Quercetin is also anti-histamine and anti-inflammatory. If you might get sick, take Immune Plus 1-2 times a day. Increase dosing if ill. Add silver, hesperidin if sick. Consider extra vitamin A for immune boost—up to 50,000 IU twice or four times daily for a week or two. It is directly antiviral for respiratory tract/lungs. Vitamin C – use frequent smaller doses. 500 mg four times daily is better than 2,000mg at once which can cause loose stool. Vitamin D optimize before illness, increase dose when sick. Take bromelain or Sinatrol containing bromelain and berberine if increased coughing, congestion, or ear plugging from inflammation. Bromelain is anti-inflammatory. Berberine fights bacteria. Take 500-1000mg of bromelain 2-3 times daily. If bacterial signs—yellow/green phlegm, high fever— berberine helps avoid antibiotics. Take 500-1000mg twice daily. Keep going with natural remedies, use antibiotics if needed. Natural approaches help antibiotics be more effective. Seeking Medical Care While most viral illnesses can be supported at home, it’s important to seek medical care in the following circumstances: · If fever climbs over 102-103°F - use cooling techniques and stay hydrated to keep it in a safe range · If phlegm becomes yellow/green - this can indicate a secondary bacterial infection that may need antibiotics · If chest congestion and breathing difficulties develop - immediate medical care is needed in this case · If illness lasts longer than 10-14 days without improvement - further care may be needed for complete recovery If asthma, pneumonia, or acute breathing distress occurs, or very high fevers develop, it’s important to promptly seek medical help. Otherwise, implementing these natural treatments at the very first signs of viral illness often allows fast recovery without needing medications. Individualized Programs for Optimal Results Every person has a unique body makeup and reacts to illnesses and supplements a little differently. While my protocols work very well for most people, I recommend connecting with me if you need help personalizing your approach. My team can advise on advanced testing to pinpoint your needs, optimal dosing, priority supplements, and diet and lifestyle adjustments specific to your body. Custom tailoring the virus recovery plan is important, and guidance is available. You should tune into your body's signals as soon as viral illness threatens, and immediately supporting your immune system's efforts with the natural tools we mentioned. Early action is vital and can dramatically shorten sick time and prevent complications of viral infections. My goal is to help you partner with your body for a quick and complete recovery. I put together a Cold and Flu Recovery Guide, which you can download for free here. If you want to learn more about how stress and trauma affect us, and how to heal so that you can fend of infections better, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. If you’re interested in a safe and effective body, mind and spirit detoxification that will actually make you feel better and that you can do without affecting your daily routine, you can check out my New 14-Day Detox Program here. In the Detox Program I teach you to connect with yourself, and use mind-body tools, such as biofeedback, to process emotions. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  

In today’s episode I'm interviewing Casey Hibbard. She is the founder of the Rebuilding My Health website and podcast. She is a journalist who became a storyteller about health and healing. Now she shares the healing stories of many, while looking for the common denominators of healing amongst those stories, to be able to inspire and support others along the way. Casey’s Healing Story After being a journalist and a corporate writer for a long time she began having health issues after the birth of her son. It started with digestive issues and progressed to fatigue and weakness, joint pain, brain fog, vision loss and even autoimmunity. She was not getting answers from the conventional medical framework and decided to go outside of conventional medicine and finally found her underlying health issues’ causes. This helped her identify that she suffered from small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, leaky gut, food sensitivities, H pylori, candida parasites, her pancreas wasn't working well, she had many different infections like Epstein Barr and others. And so, she started a healing process, which took a few years of addressing the underlying causes of her health issues, peeling back the layers and almost immediately went on an anti-inflammatory diet and saw symptom relief within days! She started working on her gut infections, balancing her microbiome, did some toxin work and detoxification and she slowly started to get better and better, even to the point where her autoimmunity disease was gone. This painful process inspired Casey to start telling other people's stories where they were overcoming and reversing conditions that many people think are not reversible or fixable. She decided these stories should be shared so other people going through the same issues could benefit and find hope in them. Common Health Issues and Their Underlying Causes in People’s Stories Having experience interviewing has been critical in knowing what questions to ask in order to uncover healing stories. Almost like an investigative process, to get to the most relevant part, you need to really get to the points that are important for understanding what the original causes are and what's going to help them heal. It’s super interesting and fascinating to come across all these different conditions and diagnoses. Many times there are common themes of what the underlying causes are and what people are doing that is working to make them feel better. You can probably break it down to four or five different major things. Number one would be diet changes and almost everybody in their stories say they start feeling better within days. It's not like it’s a one-size-fits-all diet. There are certain things that help over and over like avoiding gluten, dairy, and sugar, but other than that it can be pretty individualized when you talk about food sensitivities. Food is definitively a huge factor in our health. We are what we eat, and our health will most likely be determined by it. Food can be our medicine but, depending on what we're eating, it can also be a major source of inflammation and illness. This is so interesting because it gives some sense of control over illness. People realize that they are not hopeless and that they can make changes to their diets that will eliminate inflammation and pain. Again, this is really, very individualized, and the person has to find which foods cause inflammation in their system. Probably 99% of the stories have a diet element where they saw change because of food changes. Another common element in healing stories is gut healing. There are stories where people have greatly reduced anxiety, eliminated infections, and even treated rheumatoid arthritis by optimizing their gut bacteria. It is not just how well you are digesting and absorbing your nutrients, but also the health of your gut bacteria. Our gut bacteria has influence all over our bodies including our nervous system, hormones, brain, vagina, etc. The gut is interconnected with everything else. If you have imbalance in the gut, then autoimmunity is more likely, viruses are more likely, anxiety, depression, skin issues, etc. When we heal the gut everything else gets better. A third common element in healing stories is toxins. There are so many cases of people healing from dementia, degenerative diseases, neuropathy, depression, even seizure disorders, by detoxifying their bodies and their environment. So many practitioners are not used to people recovering from these conditions because they are not addressing these underlying causes. Doctors are maybe giving a medication to prevent the progression, but in the healing stories, people often say, “no I'm not taking that as an answer, I'm going to do whatever it takes to heal.” Then they end up transforming their health. It’s definitely inspiring for other people going through the same problems. It all Comes Down to Stress In many stories there is a point where stress comes up. There is almost always a stressful triggering event like they got a divorce, or had a death in the family, or moved, or lost their job, or sometimes all of these things happening all at once. Sometimes it is sustained stress from a relationship, or work, or whatever. Often people describe having to recover from stress in order to heal and many cases they healed after they resolved the stress exposure. It is surprising how many times people say, “I did all these other things, but I didn't really heal until I got out of the stressful situation”. We have to take a look at how stress has affected us. For example, toxins create stress in the body also, so detoxifying is part of getting rid of a source of stress. And then stress of all types (whether toxins or psycho emotional stress) affect digestion so the more we heal the gut, the more we're helping the body recover from stress. We need to be proactive in helping our bodies recover from stress. So, we take out the stressful foods, we take out the stressful toxins, we help our body with gut healing, and rebalancing hormones, and nutrient deficiencies, and supporting our adrenal glands, and balancing our cortisol and adrenaline, and so on, and we ultimately end up healing. The Healing Process is Not a One-Size-Fits-All It is critical to be able to get access to a practitioner who understands what we are going through and can support us in our own healing process. Healing needs to be individualized. The diet changes are not one-size-fits-all, the gut healing and what needs to happen is not the same for everyone. Even the adrenal healing is not the same for everyone. Finding a practitioner and the testing that's going to give us the information we need, can really make the difference in a successful protocol. The standard medical system has led us to believe that we need to address separate health issues one by one. People aren't necessarily looking for the whole healing journey. They're usually looking for how to fix digestion or autoimmunity. It turns out that no matter the diagnosis, what is required is a healing journey. It is also important to have help with where to begin. How do you go through diet changes, gut healing, detoxification, adrenal recovery so that you end up getting all the way to an overall healthy state? That is also where an experienced practitioner can make a difference. So many people have seen 20 doctors before they decide they need to look outside the standard medical framework in order to get some answers. That process ends up leading people to feeling empowered and educated by doing their own research and trying to find someone who can really help them heal. The most supportive practitioners help people by letting them know that they are present to guide them through their process and that they will help them to not be stressed by the experience. Practitioners need to help educate their patients and guide them in accessing the information they need in order to heal. People nowadays are their own health advocate and they're the ones making the lifestyle changes and decisions. Practitioners should give their patients the information that can help them along the healing path to hopefully make it more efficient and successful. You Are Not Your Diagnosis Sometimes what can happen in the conventional medical system is there's a diagnosis made and then the person feels kind of stuck with that diagnosis. It’s important to understand that a diagnosis is not permanent; it can change. With almost all of the chronic illnesses, the diagnosis can be reversed. There are tons of autoimmune reversal stories, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Lupus, MS, and more. It is so inspiring to see that happen. People can then step back, rethink and say, “hey is this really the definition of myself or my life or who am I really in this life?” Your medical diagnosis doesn’t have to define you. The diagnosis can change and at the same time there's an important level of acceptance too. It’s important to reconnect and recognize what your body is trying to tell you and what you need to do to help your body heal. There has to be belief. A belief that it's possible to heal. That you're going to take the necessary steps and have that outlook in life that anything is possible. That mindset is super powerful across many healing stories. Sometimes people can be overwhelmed and asking themselves “how am I going to do this” and yet at the same time sometimes it's these small changes that add up to big changes in the long run. Some of the simple stuff can be the most powerful, like the anti-inflammatory diets can be super powerful and then people say the joint pain is gone or the brain fog is gone. When they start to see progress, and they realize it’s something that they can do, a huge mindset change happens. Also, simple things like implementing the acronym C.A.R.E., starting with clean eating and adequate sleep, recovery activities and exercise. Those are things that we can do every day and they can have a huge impact on our health. We lose track of all this because we get very distracted with all the external messages and to do lists, and we put ourselves last, and we can lose sight of the importance of the foundational daily activities and how essential they are for us and our well-being. Once you start feeling better, you realize what your body needs in order to maintain that feeling and it becomes a lot easier to keep this new lifestyle. Sometimes all we need is a little bit of inspiration from others to remind us what they're doing and that we can do it too. If you want to reach out to Casey and learn more about how her healing stories can help you, please make sure to check out her Rebuilding My Health website. She is also on social media as @rebuildingmyhealth (Instagram) and @Rebuilding My Health (Facebook). You can also check out her Rebuilding My Health Radio Podcast. If you want to learn more about how stress and trauma affect us, and how to heal so that you can be better and more present in your relationships, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. If you’re interested in a safe and effective body, mind and spirit detoxification that will actually make you feel better and that you can do without affecting your daily routine, you can check out my New 14-Day Detox Program here. In the Detox Program I teach you to connect with yourself, and use mind-body tools, such as biofeedback, to process emotions. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  

In this episode I'm going to be covering how I guide women to get HPV virus to negative and keep it negative. I feel is extremely important for women around the world to know that it is possible to support your body to clear HPV. What is HPV? HPV is the human papilloma virus and it's a very widespread virus. Most all of us will be exposed to it at some point in our lives, and it’s associated with risk of cancer - cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, anal cancer, oral cancer and in men, penile cancer. More and more women around the world are finding out that they're positive for the HPV virus. I think that the standard medical system is not doing enough to help these women to address this virus and prevent it from causing abnormal cells. Right now, what's happening around the world is medical practitioners will do a pap smear to test for abnormal cells on the cervix, which is important because this way we can identify abnormal cells hopefully before they turn into cancer. Then, if severely abnormal cells are present, practitioners will remove the abnormal cells or remove the area where the abnormal cells are located. The issue is that these procedures don’t kill the virus so it can continue to cause abnormal cells over and over again. Many women are going through years of addressing abnormal cells caused by HPV without practitioners being able to help them prevent it. This is really upsetting to me because for more than 20 years I have been helping women address this virus and get it to negative so it stops causing abnormal cells. Through many years of practice, I have been able to identify a protocol based on what I find to be effective at successfully helping women eliminate the virus and be free of the risk of cancer caused by HPV. You Need a Strategic Plan to Get Rid of HPV What I find helps is to make a very clear and strategic plan. A plan that can guide women out of the state of stress that is caused by HPV and into a heroine’s journey of healing and supporting their bodies to protect them from the virus. We know that the human body can fend off HPV. This has been shown and proven. So, what I find is helpful is to start with the question: why is it that for some women their body is not fending off the virus? And when we ask that question, we start to uncover susceptibilities. These susceptibilities are leaving women vulnerable and if we don't address them, the virus can remain positive for years. Studies show that having a diagnosis of HPV increases the level of stress for women. This is because there's so much misinformation and lack of guidance around this virus. Women are then stuck in a state of fear and stress, and that stress actually ends up increasing the risk of cancer. What we need to do is understand how stress impacts us each as individuals so that we can then reverse those effects. For me, the best way to identify susceptibilities is to think about it in terms of how stress, trauma, and potentially abuse in a person's lifetime has then had an impact on their mind and body, which is then leaving them vulnerable because of the imbalances caused by stress. If we can identify those imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, and other effects of stress, and address them, we can rebalance and give the body what it needs to heal. Then the body can fend off HPV. I've seen this in my patients time and time again. What Are the Common Susceptibilities to HPV and How Stress and Trauma Play a Role Let's start with stress. When we're exposed to stress and trauma (even from our childhood and not just psycho emotional stress, but also physical stress, toxins, infections, injuries, etc.) we are exposed to a whole cascade of reactions in our bodies. We do have a healthy stress response system that helps protect us from stress, but the issue is that often we're exposed to ongoing stress and so our stress response system never gets a break. We are living in a constant state of stress or what I call stress mode. We're going from one thing on our To Do List to the next. We have work, we have family responsibilities, we have financial responsibilities, we go from waking up in the morning to going to bed at night and we hardly have a chance to do any kind of stress recovery. What happens in that situation is it disrupts our stress hormones (our stress hormones get stuck either too high or too low) cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones are made by the adrenal glands and what happens is our adrenal glands go into a state of dysfunction which has a negative influence on our bodies. If cortisol or adrenaline are either too high or too low, your body is experiencing it as if you're still in that stressful situation because the hormones are reflecting a stress response. So, in order to heal we need to get the cortisol and adrenaline back to optimal and effectively erase all traces of the impact of stress on your stress hormones and your physiology. If your cortisol and adrenaline remain too high or too low, it can cause other disruptions in the body which then also make you susceptible to HPV. For example, digestion can get disrupted by stress and cortisol or adrenaline imbalance. We can develop something called leaky gut where our food is leaking through the intestinal wall and triggering food sensitivities and inflammation. We end up not digesting our food well, not absorbing our nutrients, which leads to nutrient deficiencies, weakening our immune system and our body’s ability to fend off HPV. This also results in imbalances in the gut microbiome, and we know now from research that there is a connection between the gut microbiome and the vaginal biome. When there’s an imbalance in the vaginal microbiome, bacteria and yeast can overgrow, inflammation increases, and this all increases the risk of HPV. In addition to disrupting digestion and vaginal health, stress and imbalanced stress hormones can also disrupt our other hormones including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and DHEA. This also leaves us susceptible to HPV. Thyroid and insulin function can get disrupted by stress, leaving us susceptible to HPV. Imbalances in our blood sugar levels can increase the risk of HPV as well as other health issues. Irregularities in the menstrual cycle (irregular periods, heavy periods, and fibroids) caused by stress can lead to anemia from heavy bleeding. Anemia can be due to iron deficiency, B12 and/or folate deficiency. All of these nutrients are important for helping to fend off HPV. Also our neurotransmitters become depleted when we ae under stress. Serotonin and GABA (our calming neurotransmitters that help us counterbalance stress) become depleted which means we're even more affected by stress. Dopamine can also be affected by stress. Toxins as a stress are an issue because they can disrupt the digestion and microbiome, and also decrease antioxidants in the body, overwhelming liver detoxification, which can also affect the way that we detoxify estrogens, adrenaline and other toxins. In this way, toxin exposure makes us susceptible to HPV. Other infections including COVID can make us susceptible to HPV. There's now research showing that the COVID virus, which most of us have been exposed to, can increase the risk of HPV related cervical cancer. Any trauma and abuse we might have been through makes us susceptible to HPV. Particularly narcissistic abuse has been shown to increase risk of HPV related cancer, so if you have any kind of history of abusive relationships whether in childhood, in your work environment, or in your intimate relationships, that also increases the risk. How to Recover from Stress to Get Rid of HPV We can recover from stress. It is not about getting to zero stress. Some stress is necessary and even healthy for us to function. It’s about giving your body the support it needs to recover from stress. To do that we need to first identify how stress has affected you uniquely, we need to figure out what it is for you and what we can do to help your body recover. The first step is to do some testing that we can get from standard labs and blood work. We just need to be able to know exactly which test to order which is what I guide women to do in order to help them identify nutrient deficiencies and hormone imbalances. From there we're going to need to use some specialty tests if we want to know if there is leaky gut and food sensitivities, or if we want to know cortisol and adrenaline levels throughout the day. Then we can address them very specifically. The treatment is different for high cortisol than for low cortisol for example, so we need to know what's happening for you specifically. A good way to start is with my stress type quiz. In this quiz I guide you through questions that help us discover your imbalance of cortisol and adrenaline, which is what I call your stress type. Now, if you really want to know exactly what your cortisol and adrenaline are up to, you're going to want to do a urine and saliva test through my office. This way we can identify your exact levels and then I can help you to get those levels back to optimal. In doing so we effectively eliminate any traces of the impact of stress and we support your body to clear HPV, as well as many other health issues. What About Supplements and Natural Remedies for HPV? The strategic plan to get rid of HPV plan includes natural substances in addition to recovery from stress. There are a number of nutrients and herbs that support the immune system and others that are directly antiviral. Some of them you've probably heard about but the issue I find is that most women who come to meet with me are not taking clinically effective doses to get HPV to negative. So, what I do is guide you to determine the best doses for you. Because of my background and my experience, I know which substances and doses are going to be most effective. The important thing here is to individualize it for you. Otherwise, you’ll keep trying and trying, not getting anywhere, feeling more frustrated, and HPV will still be there. Sometimes it does require that you persevere, that you put yourself into this vulnerable state of prioritizing yourself and looking at the routines in your life and what is your body telling you. We have to learn to listen to the signals our bodies are giving us and have awareness also for our thoughts and our emotions. This is why I also encourage women to learn mind-body techniques even as simple as breathwork, biofeedback, guided imagery and meditation, because we can use these tools not only to be anti-stress signals to your body, but also to guide your body in the direction you want it to go. We change from a state of fear and stress to a state of being empowered and in charge of our health. I call this the heroine's journey. If you are dealing with HPV and you've been trying everything you can find and you're looking for more solutions to get this virus to leave you alone, whether you currently have abnormal cells or not, whether you have mild, moderate, or severe abnormal cells, or potentially even cancer cells, I can still help you to get this virus to stop and to go to negative, so you can move on with your life. Just imagine if we could actually decrease the rates of cervical cancer from third most common cancer to off the list. I believe that it's absolutely possible to decrease risk of all different kinds of cancer associated with HPV by implementing this approach, thinking it through, using the science and the clinical information to help more women get rid of this virus for good. If you are ready to get rid of HPV for good, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here. To learn more about my approach, listen in to the HPV masterclass, available now. If you want to learn more about how stress and trauma affect us, and how to heal so that you can be better and more present in your relationships, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. To know your Stress Type, which is your unique cortisol and adrenaline levels based on how stresses have affected your adrenal function, you can take the quiz I developed. You can find the Stress Type® Quiz in the book and on my website. Then, if you’re ready to start rebalancing your cortisol and neurotransmitters, to help your adrenals reset after stress exposure, you can start by ordering this home test kit. And you can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Online Program to guide you here. If you’re interested in a safe and effective body, mind and spirit detoxification that will actually make you feel better and that you can do without affecting your daily routine, you can check out my New 14-Day Detox Program here. In the Detox Program I teach you to connect with yourself, and use mind-body tools, such as biofeedback, to process emotions. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  

In today’s episode I'm interviewing Dr. Jessica Higgins. Jessica is a Licensed Psychologist and Licensed Professional Counselor. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and a M.A. in Counseling Psychology. She is also a certified Dream Builder Coach and Life Mastery Consultant. Jessica offers an integrative and comprehensive blend of psychology and coaching. She specializes in helping couples shift and transform their ways of relating, guiding them on a path from confusion and heartache to clarity and authentic connection. She is also the founder and creator of Connected Couple, a comprehensive, research-based, transformational, relationship program. This program helps couples at any stage in their relationship or marriage. Today we talk about how to achieve new levels of success, meaning, and aliveness in our relationships. From a very young age Jessica had an inclination towards people, and by the time she was in junior high she knew she wanted to become a psychologist. A few years later, after going through her own relationship struggles, she started to go deeper in her own personal journey and felt very inspired and motivated to help people have access to more relationship principles that cultivate lasting love and long-term intimacy. Healthy Relationships Have Health Benefits Studies show that being in a healthy relationship or having a companion in life can actually improve our longevity. Attachment is the emotional connection that we form as infants with our main caregivers. According to this attachment theory, the healthier the bonding and relationship we had with them the better our relationships with other people will be throughout our lives. There are also FMRI studies that show how someone holding the hand of a loved one, like a significant partner, will experience less pain, so there's a sense of resilience when we can have that partnership. There is also evidence of better recovery rates in hospitals when people have significant partners with them. There are so many benefits physiologically and psychologically that we experience from being partnered. From cradle to grave we are wired to need this bonding. It is as necessary as breathing - we need connection. How Relationships and Intimacy Can Trigger Past Trauma We all have an attachment system, meaning the way that we are going to think about others in the world and how people are going to respond to us. It is affected by whether we feel safe and our needs are met. It's intellectual, so our mental thinking and our beliefs, but it’s also physiological, like our nervous system, as well as emotional. So, it's really this whole triad in the working model and that gets developed at a very young age. Zero to three are the formative years and it's the relational imprint of you. This comes through the patterning of how people responded to us, if our caregivers were responsive, if they showed up for us when we cried, if they were attuned and available, etc. Or maybe they were overwhelmed or under unfortunate circumstances if there's been abuse in the family lineage. So, if we fast forward, people can have insecure attachment tendencies in adulthood if they didn't get exposure to consistent care givers in childhood. One of the ways this may show up is by being protective. They turn away from relationships, rely on themselves, and not reach out to others for help. When caregiving was inconsistent, another possibility is to be more anxious in relationships and doing more double checking for connection, such as saying “Are we still good, is everything stable, are you still with me?” That’s a hypervigilance tendency. For both of these attachment styles, the studies and medical findings show that there's a lot of activation. It doesn't look like it on the outside. It can look a little indifferent, but what's happening inside the person is the heart rates increases and all the physiological symptoms of stress. So, it doesn't feel relaxed and calm and secure when connecting with another person. It’s interesting to notice that these activation responses don’t occur with all relationships. It tends to occur in our most intimate relationships. The nervous system sees our close relationships as necessary for survival, so one might say the nervous system is going to respond similarly to being chased by a bear. The nervous system might get triggered just as much if, for example, your husband is giving you a look and is upset with you and having an issue with you. So, that threat happens when we are deeply committed, and we get vulnerable, and if the stakes are higher, like having children together. Whatever it is that intensifies that connection is going to affect our nervous system and our attachment system gets more activated. That’s when those previous insecurities might emerge and we might be surprised by them. Stages of Intimacy There are various stages in the development of intimacy. The first stage is the romance stage or even referred to as the honeymoon stage, and it's highly fueled by neurochemicals, like dopamine and oxytocin. They get us in that super excited high and we tend to over romanticize, and project and imagine who they are, but we really don't really know them yet. After 9 to 18 months we enter into the second stage, which is the power struggle stage. This is the place where we are like, “oh, that's how you do that?” or feeling the upset of the differences. At this stage we’re working on how we understand each other, how we learn what we're both feeling, and how we can work together. But oftentimes many of us don't know how to do conflict very well. Conflict feels threatening, and all these things are emerging, and it can be difficult to sift through. Navigating The Complexity of Conflict One of the biggest traps we can fall into is when we might have certain expectations that aren’t being communicated clearly. So, for instance, say there's a heated discussion. Partner A grew up in a family where there was a sense of connection. During a disagreement, it might get a little charged or people might yell but they all know they love each other so they're going to repair to get to a better place. Then there is Partner B, whose family is a group where they’re not going to say anything hurtful and they're not going to speak in any tone that has any ounce of upset. They might pause before talking to be more regulated, or sometimes maybe they don't come back, and they don't talk about things at all. We have to recognize these very different orientations to know how to address a conflict. There are 7 to 8 irreconcilable differences that every couple has. That could be ‘the spender’ and ‘the saver’, ‘the planner’ and ‘the spontaneous one’, it could be ‘the social one’ and ‘the introvert’, or it could be ‘the one that's on time’ and ‘the one that's always late’. We have to be able to see all these differences when we're living life together and be willing to works towards communicating our needs and trust our partner will do the same. How to Be More Curious When Conflict Feels Like Criticism The core of most disagreements is that people don't feel heard, and then they aren’t feeling like they're able to collaborate and work together for a win-win. It is very common for us to describe the thing that we do not like and hope that our partner will be able to interpret and understand what we are feeling and needing. But that's a lot of decoding that most of us do not know how to do. If it's not a clear signal most people are not going to give what you’re asking of them. It's not an easy thing to access, but if we can slow down and say “I wonder what he/she is feeling” or “I wonder what he/she needs right now?” because it's not about him/her criticizing me, it's about there's something happening for him/her that he/she wants and I’m not actually hearing it. So, we could prompt our partner to uncover what might really be at the core of it with questions like, “Well what's this about?” or “Can you tell me about what you're wanting?” or “How does this have value for you?” and then hopefully this will reveal the real feeling underneath the perceived criticism. When we express the feeling that is driving our usual first commentary, our partner – if they are the right partner -- will want to show up for that. No one is interested in showing up for a negative critique, but if we can understand what the other person needs, we can then pivot towards that. That's where the win-win starts to come in, but that's hard to get at when we don't slow down and identify and reveal, and then start to work with those deeper layers. Regulating Your Body can Have a Huge Impact on Having Regulated Relationships If we can support the nervous system to feel more regulated, then we can have access to have more productive conversations. Also, if there's past experiences or trauma and we haven't experienced safety in these types of conversations, then it makes perfect sense that there's going to be a lot of activation around perceived conflict. There's a concept in psychology and neuroscience where our nervous systems are constantly harmonizing and picking up information from the people around us. So, if the tone of voice changes or the facial expressions and nonverbals being perceived, we might not know why, but we'll feel the agitation of that before we have an intellectual understanding of why. We could just start to feel things ratcheting up and we might not even have a real awareness around what's really happening. That’s where the importance of slowing down comes in, even to allow the nervous system to get regulated before we get into those conversations. How to Deescalate and Find Clarity Jessica finds it is helpful to create a new cycle together because that's going to create more safety and more connection in the communication. Oftentimes we're aware of the secondary emotions, the tendencies of how we might perceive our partner, but that doesn't get at the deeper layer of what is actually happening and the core of why we reacted that way. And so, we really have to work on slowing down to get to understand the deeper layer. When we can get to a place to just say “Oh, I’m acting this way because I feel nervous or scared” and here's what I'm thinking, here's where I want to go, or here's what's happening internally for me. Historically, couples wait too long to access therapy as support. But you don’t have to start there. If the conflict is at a low level, if the charge on a scale from 1 to 10 is like a 3 or 4, start with journaling to unpack these difficult emotions. Keep digging deeper. The first layer will most likely be writing about why you believe you are in the right, but then you should keep writing. Why did it make you feel like that? Did it remind you of something else? If you would like to get a good journal and start doing this this you can find one here. Often times even just by having this unfiltered space where no one else but us can dictate what is going on, we can start to soften. This is because we are making ourselves feel heard and starting to come closer to the truth of why we are reacting in a certain way. And once you get closer and practice more with peeling back those layers and getting to that vulnerability that you were hiding, you can see yourself more clearly, and that maybe you were acting out of fear. Then the next step is learning to share that vulnerability with your partner. When your partner responds kindly and openly to your vulnerability is when real intimacy can be built. If the charge is higher on the scale, and there is also a backlog of problems, that’s when it’s probably time to seek additional support. How Can We Change Patterns Individually to Get Unstuck Together If we realize we want to make a change in our own lives, but we shy away from that change or delay on these types of conversations, while it might feel less conflictual in the moment, it can cause more difficulty in the long term. There's a term in psychology called differentiating in which we can hold on to ourselves when our partner is doing something different or even disagrees with what we’re doing, and we can tolerate some of that discomfort and it can actually be highly attractive. So, we should look at change as something that has the potential to be very positive not just for the individual, but for the relationship as well. When you are hiding yourself for the perceived continuation of the relationship, that can start to resemble something closer to enmeshment or codependence. In healthy interdependence, we do rely on each other, but we can also nurture and listen to our own development and our growth. If we can do a little preparation before these conversations that we know might cause some defensiveness or tension, and if we can understand what we're needing or what that deeper request is or desire or what's not working, then we will most likely have much more productive and understanding conversations with our partners. If we can make a reveal of vulnerability and/or a request in a vulnerable way, those conversations are going to happen in a much more productive and efficient way. The Importance of Unconditional Positive Regard for Yourself Our attachments exist on a spectrum. We are not purely anxious or avoidant. So, it can take time and difficulties in relationships before we are ready and have the history to see where we need healing. As you start to get more curious about yourself, you can start to accept what your own patterns are. As you practice this more, you can realize when you are starting to act on a recurring pattern and choose to change it. That decision to change is a scary step into vulnerability, and what you have to remind yourself in those moments, is that no matter what happens with this person, you will always have your own back. Even if that person doesn’t choose you after you show them vulnerability, that’s okay because you are showing up for that part of yourself that's scared and feeling anxious about being rejected or abandoned. You can say to yourself “I hear you, I see you, I got you.” You will know you are with the right person if these signals or bids of vulnerability are met with a softening and a reciprocal tenderness. Vulnerability is a Risk, But the Reward Can be Beautiful Beyond Measure If you are parenting and you are taking the opportunity to work on these tough and sometimes scary emotions, you will be modeling these steps that are critical for authentic connection and bonds. Children in turn get to see that and it can shift their future relationships and their experience as a human. Being vulnerable is the same as being brave, and can have a ripple effect into future generations, positively affecting the way people build relationships in the future. In neuropsychology there’s this idea that we have to ‘name it to tame it’, so even just recognizing the intensity of the emotion and giving space for it (even if it's not resolved right at that moment) will help us start to regulate, and then we're in a much better position to deal with it. But if we're not willing to name it, a lot of things can happen and we will do all types of things to hide, to avoid, and to suppress. A lot of injuries happen in relationship and so when we have the tools for healing, it has profound impact on cultivating repair and resilience and health and all the good things. If you want to reach out to Dr. Jessica and learn more about how she can help you, please make sure to check out her website’s Shifting Criticism guide: https://drjessicahiggins.lpages.co/shifting-criticism-for-connected-communication/.   She is also on social media as @drjessicahiggins (Instagram) and @EmpoweredRelationship (Facebook). You can also check out her Empowered Relationship Podcast. If you want to learn more about how stress and trauma affect us, and how to heal so that you can be better and more present in your relationships, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. In the book, I describe what I refer to as SelfC.A.R.E. based on your Stress Type. C stands for Clean Eating, A for adequate sleep, R for recovery activities, and E for exercise. I share the research behind how C.A.R.E. works in a daily routine to help us process stress and overcome trauma. To know your Stress Type, which is your unique cortisol and adrenaline levels based on how stresses have affected your adrenal function, you can take the quiz I developed. You can find the Stress Type® Quiz in the book and on my website. Then, if you’re ready to start rebalancing your cortisol and neurotransmitters, to help your adrenals reset after stress exposure, you can start by ordering this home test kit. And you can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Online Program to guide you here. If you’re interested in a safe and effective body, mind and spirit detoxification that will actually make you feel better and that you can do without affecting your daily routine, you can check out my New 14-Day Detox Program here. In the Detox Program I teach you to connect with yourself, and use mind-body tools, such as biofeedback, to process emotions. For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here. We're here to help you! Connect with Dr. Doni:    Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON   Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON   YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND   Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW     -   Additional Resources:    If you want to work on your gut health and microbiome you may want to sign up for my Heal Leaky Gut Program (https://doctordoni.com/leaky-gut-program) where I teach you how to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol.    If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to healing HPV you can find my new HPV Recovery Guide here (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/hpv-guide/).    If you are tired of this virus and are really committed to erasing it from your life forever, you can sign up for my Say Goodbye to HPV 12-Week Program here (https://drdoni.lpages.co/hpv-12-week-program/).   You can also sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here (https://doctordoni.com/stress-program).    Also, if you want to learn more about how to recover from stress so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to read my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/). In the book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/)   For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/)   Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.