Welcoming a p a u s e,

Most people I meet have this desire to move towards a more optimal life. This can look vastly different from having an abundance of time, to the quality of their relationships, to an area of their physical health, and beyond.

Many of those people haven't made the connection that what's contributing to where they are currently is an accumulation of past thoughts, feelings, actions, and beliefs.

It's those past thoughts, feelings, actions and beliefs that get recycled day in and day out to generate your current reality physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Essentially who you were yesterday, and who you were 4 years ago strongly shapes who you are today. From the moment you wake up, you press play on the same spot you left off at yesterday by picking up your phone, by walking the exact same way to your coffee machine, and by checking your email. 

The momentum created to keep those past experiences alive and present for you is the often the same momentum that is keeping us aligned with a less than optimal path. 

Inviting in a pause is the way to slow that momentum, to create change in your thinking, feeling, believing, and acting. 

So, what if instead of rushing around from the moment you wake up, you take a pause from your phone and to do list for half an hour? Perhaps you take three deep breaths expressing something you're grateful for? In these simple acts, you're beginning to change the cycle of momentum and create a new trajectory for your life. 

Let's say you've been on your healing path for a while and have a full regimen of morning routines, but it feels daunting and uninspiring. What if you take pause to simply go outside place your feet on the ground and say thank you for a new day? This pause creates a change in the cycle of momentum. 

Day by day, moment by moment we can change the cycle of who we have been, and recalibrate in a direction of who we want to become, more relaxed, more kind, more present, more vibrant, and so much more. 

So think about who you'd really like to be in 2024, and invite a pause into any areas of your life that are not aligned with this version of you. 
I see you, and celebrate you for all that you are and all that you are becoming.

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In gratitude & good health, 
 Dr. Jessica

Taking inventory on your bandwidth,

Your nervous system's bandwidth is your capacity to process life in the moment. Experiences within that bandwidth you have the capacity, and the resources to digest, to make sense of, to grow from. Experiences outside of that bandwidth, you did not have the capacity or resources to fully process in that moment so your brilliant body holds onto that information in your nervous system, with the intention of processing it with rest, time, or movement.

On a day to day basis your bandwidth will vary. Based on life's curveballs and experiences, as well as your baseline or set point (where your nervous system is comfortable, or feels safe).

Where is your bandwidth?
 Can you identify a time in your life where you had a lot of capacity for life?
Can you identify a time in your life where you had little capacity for life?
Where do you fall on that spectrum today?
Which way are you trending?

There is not right or wrong here. There are seasons of life, and periods of growth, and I truly believe that it is all happening in your favor. 

These are some general guidelines that I follow to live in harmony with my body and my bandwidth and to trend towards optimal in the life long game.

When your bandwidth is limited:
Sleep, hydration, and focusing on processing and integration are the KEY! These are simple foundational pieces that will get you far. The more they are prioritized, the quicker I tend to see folks expanding back into a more spacious and adaptable bandwidth.

When your bandwidth is abundant:
This is the optimal time to try something new, to challenge yourself physically, mentally or emotionally. It's also a time for deeper integration in a proactive way (inner healing that happens without a stimulus or trigger). 

Do you find yourself working with your biology, or against it? Let me know what lands most with you!

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PS - did you attend Kate Northrup's Flow workshop? She just opened doors to her annual program, Relaxed Money, and it's literal gold if you're looking to finally heal your relationship with money or expand into more abundance in your life. I am a current student and would love to answer any questions you have, or just connect if you decide to dive in as well! She hit home in Flow that there's never been a more important time to be in a powerful relationship with money, so that we can give back to what matters most, and truly make a positive impact on the world around us. Don't walk if you know you're interested, she's offering a $500 savings through 10/26!
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In gratitude & good health, 
 Dr. Jessica

How to know if depression is a RESET

I mentioned this on social media a couple weeks ago and it deserves a spot in my newsletter as well. 

Listen with me for a moment, depression gets a lot of bad wrap. 
Now, I am not trying to downplay any one's experience, but the vitalist within me sees this differently than most folks. A vitalist sees that every symptoms or sickness has a greater purpose, a greater design to bring about healing and balance to the body. 

So, if you are anything like me, and have trended towards feeling anxious or hyper-reactive in other portions of your life, an episode or sense of depression could actually be a sign of your body trying to find a deeper sense of balance and homeostasis. 

In metaphors, we can look at the feelings of depression as a Deep Rest from who you've been. Or a Deep Reset, from the person who has been anxious, negative self talk, always trying to do more to earn their worth, speeding around in survival mode, reacting to every stressor. 

I personally experienced this Deep Rest after having my son, and because of the lens of vitalism I could deeply trust myself and my body to find greater balance on the other side. I wasn't afraid to move slow and to rest. It wasn't easy, but I had my rhythms like movement, nourishment, and support circle in place to help me through it. 

If this resonate, or you could use support moving through your own deep rest. You are not alone. Please reach out, I would love to support or point you in the direction of some helpful resources. 

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With love and gratitude, 
 Dr.Jessica

How to navigate a downward spiral!

The downward spiral,

Feeling low? Beating yourself up more than you ought to be because you're feeling this way?
I get it. It can be scary to let yourself feel this way, but I assure you it is part of the process of change and evolution.

I've been there too, and I have learned to lean on what I call 
life principles; phenomenons that are true in nature, and undeniably true in the face of emotional distress, or things going differently than I had planned. These allow us to see the bigger picture and to support ourselves back into balance. 

Here's one to help you through the downward spiral. Down to a cellular level we are constantly contracting and expanding, think of a heart cell helping the entire structure of the heart organ to pump blood by squeezing and releasing tension. All day long, it is doing this mechanism which maintains life. There is no label of good, bad, right, or wrong, about which part of the contraction or expansion it is in, it just simply is, and so are you.
It is literally impossible for our biology to constantly create feel good hormones, hence we naturally cycle through what we perceive as highs and lows, and the less we attach to them being good, bad, right, or wrong the easier I have found for it to be to just simply move onto the next one. 
 
If you've taken Lighten Your Load, you know I go into many of these natural principles that support understanding our greater growth and evolution. 

Now, sometimes hearing them can feel like an aha moment, or a resounding truth, and other times they can be hard to accept because of the layers of past built up in our perception system, our nervous system. 

If you are feeling the latter, there is nothing wrong, notice that sensation and the stories that are coming up for you. I always like to encourage writing about how you feel, that alone can begin the process of relaxing built up emotion and allowing you to move a little closer to balance. 

Every piece of discomfort is an opportunity for transformation. Practice getting uncomfortable in little ways in your life, walking a different way, trying a new exercise, etc. When you do this, finding that feeling of neutrality or acceptance for the ebbs, flows, ups, downs will feel easier and easier. 

Onward you go!
Cheering you on in every way. <3
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With love and gratitude, 
 Dr. Jessica

Is your story hurting or helping?

I missed writing to you last week. I've been a little preoccupied with the best "job" in the world, parenting ;) I could tell you stories about my energy levels, and my limited resources for self care this past week but I'm super conscious of the words that I choose to use, and the story that I tell with them.

Why?
Our words and stories are strongly tied to emotions, and our emotions are strongly tied to past experiences. Past experiences are stored in our nervous system, and our nervous system is like a detection system, whatever it is set to focus on expands. When we retell the same story over and over we're essentially recreating it in our body and in our world. 

So, think about what you want to be experiencing in your life; do you want to keep playing the story of being tired, not having enough time, spinning your wheels, having aches and pains, or lacking motivation?

My guess is that you do not. The great thing about knowing the power of your words and stories is that you can also use this to your advantage. You can tell yourself new stories that evoke new feelings and sensations in your body, that help you step out of the past and into a new future. 

Try this, next time you wake up in the morning: tell yourself how you would like your day to go, how you would like to show up, and how you would like to feel when your day is done. Next time you come in for a session, take a moment to pause, set an intention for anything you'd like to process and integrate on the table, and how you'd like to feel on the other side. 

Catch yourself when you're repeating your old stories, it will happen, and that's ok. I am a work in progress, give yourself permission to be too. Learning to soften and be kind to yourself is part of this!

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With love and gratitude, 
 Dr. Jessica

Avoiding Pain or Chasing Pleasure will keep you Unhappy 💜

From a young age we learn the "ways of the world" from our parents and adults around us.  These are like the non-verbal "rules" or "guidelines" on what is acceptable or not as a human, like what kind of play is acceptable to do at home but maybe not in a public library... etc.  

We will all differ based on personality traits, sensitivity levels, and what drives us, but at the end of the day - we are pack animals. We are born to want to be a part of the pack - and hence these non-verbal "rules" stick with us and shape us as adults today because they keep us from be outcasted from "our pack"
They become learned patterns below the level of our awareness, also known as subconscious.

As children we observe and learn, most of us have in very subtle ways learned to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. 
For example, your parent may have been overly protective about you getting hurt, to a point where you were afraid to take safe risks, and this translates to you avoiding getting out of your comfort zone as an adults. Now you're feeling stagnant and stuck, and don't know why.
Another example, you were taught to solely seek pleasure and always be happy. So in your everyday life unless there is a party you feel really under-stimulated and dissatisfied, you constantly need to create the party or you don't feel happy. You also might have taken on an exhausting role of always trying to make others happy.

The solution to both avoiding pain and pleasure seeking is to transcend this dualistic way of thinking and to find your POWER.

For as long as we try to avoid pain, and solely seek pleasure we will oscillate between the two. We'll all experience highs and lows in life, but they will feel extreme if we are living this way subconsciously. If we can accept the uncomfortable moments in life, and even train ourselves to find comfort within the discomfort, and if we can enjoy the highs equally as much as every other shade of life, we will have met our power. 

Our power is almost like finding neutrality amongst these two opposites, pain and pleasure. If you've been in this loop, you've most likely been numbing out other feelings too. It may feel like a sigh of relief to hear this or like there are a lot of other feelings below the surface. Pause, breathe, it's perfectly okay. You'll know you're on your way to a powerful place when you are not afraid of, resisting, or grasping at the highs or the lows, instead you allow yourself to move through them and the lessons that each has for you. 

Practice getting comfortable with something uncomfortable today, or finding neutrality in a high or low moment of your day. You've got this! :)

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With love and gratitude, 
 Dr.Jessica

The Key to a healthy nervous system!

Do you have a place where you feel most inspired? Maybe where your creative ideas or perspective comes flowing in? The shower? In nature? With a good friend?

I feel really inspired after a couple of hours in nature, and often by myself :)

I was on a delightful little trail hike overlooking the river, no other people insight, hand on a lovely ponderosa pine when I heard a deep purring sound. 
I heard it a couple of times when my brain started scanning all the common outdoor noises until it concluded, not an airplane, not the river, etc.... I have never heard this before and it sounds like a big cat - it must be a MOUNTAIN LION.

My peaceful moment quickly turned into an increased heart rate and all my muscles preparing to RUN. 

This here is a fine example of the switch from calm to fight/flight - parasympathetic to sympathetic tone in our nervous systems, which is by design. If I were truly in danger, this ancient technology in my nervous system is to my advantage to be able to help me get away!

However, thankfully, after a few moments of observing and listening, I found that there was no threat.

Now, this next part is a KEY sign of a healthy nervous system - after a few breaths, orienting myself, starting to feel safe again, my nervous system switched gears back into rest and relax mode. 

I walked back to my car and was actually inspired to share this story, which to me is another sign that I moved out of stress mode. Inspiration, love, gratitude, enthusiasm are high emotional states. They don't fire at the same time that fear and stress do. 

The key is switching gears, this is not a comparison game, based on our varying life experiences, healing, and coherence in our nervous systems we will all adapt uniquely, and it's perfectly ok if you don't "switch gears" until you get home in a safe familiar environment. 

This is just one example of how quickly a sound or a mental thought can cause our bodies to perceive stress. Stress is not the enemy, we can actually befriend the cycles of stress and relaxation. The thing about stress is: this fight/flight mode actually switched off my logical thinking, running wouldn't be the smartest thing to do in the face of a mountain lion, and it wasn't the appropriate time of day to see a mountain lion.
So, can you imagine how stress might be switching off your logical thinking in other scenarios?? Like, someone says something that makes you feel embarrassed or angry, you switch gears into fight/flight and are suddenly reacting with a fraction of your intelligent mind online!

If you find yourself in fight/flight mode over the course of hours, days, months or years, your mind gets shut down AND your heart and soul go offline. You're no longer led by the joys and pleasures of life, and what uniquely light you up, instead you're stuck in survival mode.

Sadly, this is super common today and if you are here right now, I want you to know that you do not have to stay there. 

Our bodies are incredibly resilient and adaptable with the right information they can learn how to fire and run new nervous system programs that better serve you and allow you to feel more free, "like a teenager again" I heard someone say the other day!

What would come alive in you if were less stuck in survival mode?

Check out:
+ Well-Resourced Woman (Free Webinar)  
To start your nervous system healing journey, or attune back into it if it's been some time.

I will also be sharing more about my in-person work next week as truly transformational work to re-pattern your nervous system out of survival mode & into thriving!

Your next step 💜

Your next step,

We've spent the last few weeks looking at each of the neural centers. I hope that now you have a better understanding of how they work and where you might have patterns locked.

(If you are new here, you can find the past 7 neural centers on my blog here.)

Where you hold the most patterns is also your biggest area of potential for growth.

And once you've identified what that is for you, you might be asking- what do I do now?

You may have already taken a big step in the direction of creating more coherence by receiving neural integration sessions regularly. Or by joining our monthly Creating Coherence gathering. Both created to help you connect with your body and to create more coherence in your nervous system.

As you start to offload all the patterns from your nervous system, you integrate and process them, and it allows your nervous system to move to a parasympathetic tone. 

A parasympathetic tone is rest and relaxation. You release dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin, all the feel-good hormones. It allows you to reach homeostasis, where your cells, tissues and organs are doing precisely what they're designed to do.

And as a result, your quality of life goes through the roof, and you can start to envision a different future for yourself, full of new possibilities beyond your present.

It's all about developing more coherence. The question is, how do you do just that? 

Coherence is not something you switch on and off, and you can't develop it overnight.

Just like your patterns built up over months and years of experiences accumulating and getting stuck, waiting to be processed, your level of coherence also doesn't change in an instant.

Coherence takes time. 

But you can start today by simply developing awareness.

Try asking yourself if your lifestyle, your behaviors, your conversations, and your beliefs are moving you towards higher states of coherence or deeper into those old patterns. If they are moving you towards your higher self, or replaying the old biological loops of your past.

Focus on small, daily actions in the right direction. For me today it was choosing a workout and a short meditation before my work to set the tone of my day.

Focus on the one choice you have in front of you at this moment, on the one thing you can do right now to move you towards more coherence.

And just take that next step.

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Central Oregon folks, I have a special offer coming your way!
I have not done this since I opened Heart of Life in 2017.
I'm going to be offering a limited number of initial consultations at 50% off in September. It's the perfect time to "Fall" into a new & supportive routine. Please fill out an application HERE for a new client to be considered! They'll be scheduled in a first come, first serve basis. And YES, you can absolutely share this offer with a friend or family member.
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In gratitude & good health, 
 Dr. Jessica

Becoming magnetic 💜

Let's look at your seventh neural center,

We've finally reached the end of our journey through the neural centers. Today we will talk about the last one and what it holds for you.

We're looking at your seventh neural center, the Pituitary Plexus.

(If you are new here, you can find the past 5 neural centers on my blog here.)

It's located at the top of the head, and governs the right brain, cerebral cortex, upper skull, central nervous system, and skin, the largest organ in the body.

Cultivating your seventh neural center and activating your pituitary gland will affect your entire hormonal system. It's responsible for hormones that control your growth, sexual development, skin pigmentation, and thyroid functions.

It's also responsible for releasing serotonin and oxytocin, your happiness hormones.

The pituitary gland radiates through the entire top of the head, moves through the five energy fields (the physical body, etheric body, mental body, emotional body, and energy field) and opens up the torus field.

Imagine a massive channel of life force that moves through your nervous system, opens up through your head, connects to the unified field, and like a rain shower, falls down the sides of your body. That's what the torus field is.

My experience is that if someone has a fracture in their torus field in one area, say around their right knee, in the coming days or weeks, they will have an injury in that right knee.

Energy issues lead to tissue issues, which then lead to life issues if you don't address them.

Incoherence in this neural center shows up as depression, obsessive thoughts, OCD, confusion, sensitivity to light, toxins, molds or pollutants, chronic exhaustion, poor creativity, ADHD or poor memory and concentration.

But when you bring more coherence to this neural center and you open up that torus field, you become magnetic, powerfully creative with a divine personality. You're at complete peace with yourself, a visionary connected to your higher purpose, powerfully guided by your innate wisdom.

You fully embody your being and contribute to the world in a meaningful way with a vision that is clear and unwavering. You feel loved and supported by the entire universe and know that everything is happening according to a master plan.

When your seventh neural center is in coherence, you can truly see the moving parts of the world around you.

And that's when you can move out of victimhood into creator-ship, building more of what you want to see in the world.

So there we are, the last of the seven neural centers!

I want to close off this journey by answering a question that I get very often and that you may be asking yourself.

When I take people through the seven neural centers and what coherence looks like in each one, it can be tricky to know which one to focus on.

And here's what I'll tell you- they're all connected. You won't have one neural center at 0 in terms of coherence and the rest at 100%.

Think of a hose for watering your garden. If you've got a kink in the hose, the water won't get through, and everything down the line won't have any water flow.

The same happens in your nervous system.

Until you work out the kinks in your neural centers and start integrating your patterns, your life force, your intelligence, and the electrical impulses that flow through them will struggle to get through to the rest of your system. 

Simply starting to create more coherence in any of the centers will increase life energy, and support you from the inside out. Before I wrap up this topic, do you have any questions?

Ps - please join us virtually or live for Creating Coherence in September
~a monthly supportive container~ for integrating old stored patterns, and creating new neural pathways that fully support you and all you're here for!
Full details in events

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In gratitude & good health, 
 Dr. Jessica

Master your consciousness 💜

Let's look at your sixth neural center,

This week I'm going to take you on a journey into my favorite neural center.

We're moving to the sixth, the Pineal Plexus. 

(If you are new here, you can find the past 5 neural centers on my blog here.)

If you go to the area one inch above your eyebrows and then all the way to the middle of your brain, that's where it's located.

It governs your eyes, ears, nose, sinuses, the left (or analytical) brain, and the pituitary and pineal glands.

The Pineal Plexus is the center of consciousness. 

You see, the journey we've been taking started with working through the neural centers, through the 95% of the autonomic nervous system below your level of consciousness. And now, you activate the pineal gland and your center of consciousness.

When you open up your pineal gland and develop conscious awareness, everything within the universe begins to open up to your nervous system, and you become highly intuitive.

You start to perceive beyond your five senses, beyond your current 3-D reality that is weighed down by your old patterns. 

You can see how everything is connected, and you are no longer attached to what happens out there in the universe because your life perspectives are totally harmonized.

Incoherence in this neural center shows up as neurological issues, headaches, or sinus problems. You may struggle to feel wonder, wholeness or connection with others. You may be predisposed to addictions or self-destructive behaviors, looking for happiness in all the wrong places and defining yourself by the things out there. And if you struggle to tap into your analytical mind, you'll have difficulty learning new things.

But when you develop coherence here, you feel completely free from attachments and positive in your thinking. You feel wholeness, and you feel peace.

You can generate insightful creations and experience higher levels of intuition; you see the patterns and the true meaning behind your life experiences.

When your sixth neural center is in coherence, you feel a deep self-love and a deep connection to the universe and all the people in it. 

If you've heard me speak about my story, you'll know that I grew up very sensitive to the world around me, and lacking confidence and self-love. I had a lot of patterns built up here, I chased addiction to outer feel good substances and had self-destructive behaviors. These were covering up my intuitive gifts, and left me feeling pretty alone in the world.

My Pineal Plexus was so closed and needed so much work that it was my greatest area of potential. And today, after so many years of integrating and developing coherence, it's wide open to the consciousness, the awareness and the possibilities of what I can create.

Do you see why it's now my favorite? The same goes for you.

The neural center where you have more incoherence is the one where you have the most potential for growth. 

Next week we're going to bring it all together by talking about the last one; the seventh neural center.

Until then, here's a quick tip for creating coherence here.

TIP: Practice mirror work to begin to deepen feelings of self-acceptance and self-love. 

Read Louise Hay’s description on mirror work and how to receive it's benefits:

“Because the mirror reflects back to you the feelings you have about yourself. It makes you immediately aware of where you are resisting and where you are open and flowing. It clearly shows you what thoughts you will need to change if you want to have a joyous, fulfilling life.

As you learn to do mirror work, you will become much more aware of the words you say and the things you do. You will learn to take care of yourself on a deeper level than you have done before.

When something good happens in your life, you can go to the mirror and say, “Thank you, thank you. That’s terrific! Thank you for doing this.” If something bad happens to you, you can go to the mirror and say, “Okay, I love you. This thing that just happened will pass, but I love you, and that’s forever.”

For most of us, sitting in front of a mirror and facing ourselves is difficult at first, so we call this process mirror work.

But as you continue, you become less self-critical, and the work turns into mirror play. Very soon your mirror becomes your companion, a dear friend instead of an enemy.”

So, give yourself a smile, a high five, or a pep talk this week. See & hear yourself any time you see a mirror. Allow any uncomfortable feelings to arise and journal or reflect on them. Perhaps they are reflecting an outdated belief you have about yourself that you wish to change. Breathe deep, and focus on loving connection.
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Heart hugs, 
 Dr. Jessica