Ease your nervous system now with this simple practice,

You're frantically trying to finish your grocery shopping on a Sunday night in your favorite grocery store, when someone yells your name! 
You realize you're moving way too fast when you feel like you jump a foot in the air in surprise. 
You awkwardly laugh it off with your friend who spotted you from behind, and then continue on your mission.

Now you're aware that your body is a little overreactive, so you take a deep breath, and promise to slow down. 
But before you know it you knock something off shelf, and just barely catch it before it hits the floor. And after you load up your bags in your car, you jump again when you return your shopping cart and the store clerk says, "have a great night!"

"Why am I so jumpy?" You think. 
And then it hits you, ever since you woke up this morning, you felt unsettled, and it started with an odd dream you had about your childhood that brought up big emotions. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Awareness is the first step in shifting anything. 
But what do you do once you're aware that you've departed from a state of ease?


I've recorded a 7-minute video with one of my favorite simple practices to build a sense of safety and create ease in your nervous system right now. 

You'll enjoy this video if:
💜 You're feeling triggered or reactive and are ready for a reset
💜 You're feeling numb or shutdown and are ready to reconnect
💜 You're feeling like slowing down is nice, but isn't making the shift you need
💜 Your mind is negative and/or your body is holding fear

The latest video is shared below, let me know what you think!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

In need of a calming reset? Our summer drop-in special is here, sign up below!
_________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

Your Summer slowdown guide!

Embrace the Summer Slowdown:

A few simple ways to slow down this summer:

💜 Make white space in your calendar. Alternate booking out weekends with unplanned space, where you can follow spontaneity or rest!
💜 Recharge on the earth EVERY SINGLE DAY. Ground your feet, get in the water, and spend time in the sun.
💜 Follow what lights you up, choose more activities that feel like play. Or play more, even in the activities that feel like work. 
💜 Connect with folks that leave you feeling inspired, and spend less time with folks that drain you. 
💜 Watch the sunset/sunrise.
💜 Make meals in accordance with what's growing around you. Take advantage of your local farmer's market and eat with the season.


Ready to slow down and re-connect? Our summer drop-in special is for you, check it out below!
_________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

An eye-opening perspective on happiness

So, what really is happiness?

Is it the warm sun on your face?
Is it the feeling of appreciation for good company?
Is it the celebration at the finish line of long race?

I was recently listening to an interesting book, in which the author shared the following three forms of happiness; pleasure, grace, and excellence. The idea is that a complete picture of happiness is created by some combination of all three of these. 

B. Weist says,
"There are three primary forms of happiness, the happiness of pleasure, the happiness of grace and the happiness of excellence.
The happiness of pleasure is largely sensory like a hug, a good meal when hungry or the smell of air after it rains.
The happiness of grace is gratitude, its basically like taking inventory of what you do have.
The happiness of excellence is like falling in love with the hike, the meaningful work and its flow, this builds character."

To expand, the happiness of pleasure, is the sensory experiences of life that bring you joy, make you pause and notice something, or make you sigh or smile. Think of something that brings pleasure to each of your senses!

The happiness of grace, is how you express gratitude and appreciation for what's around you. It's the opposite of patterns of lack, but embracing the abundance you already have here and now, be that as small as clothing and water to as large as a way that you contribute positively, a supportive network and the freedoms you have.

The happiness of excellence, is about the journey rather than the destination, who you become when you commit to something outside of your comfort zone or something challenging. It could be a physical activity, or it could be the steadfast commitment to respectfully parenting your children. Attaining an education, or learning a language or musical instrument!

If you'd like to bring more happiness into life, here's a few simple exercises to get the most of this awareness:

💜 Note: which forms of happiness are most present in your life today?
💜 Specifically: how is the happiness of pleasure, grace, and excellence experienced in your life?
💜 Note: which forms of happiness are not present in your life? 
💜 Ask: how can I practice these forms of happiness?
💜 Ask: might this practice bring more wholeness to my life's experience?


And most importantly, where can you create happiness today?
_________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

What's on the horizon?

With June, comes a new season, Summer. 

Reflect back for a moment, what happy memories have been made in this season? Maybe as a kid you had more time to play, time to integrate, to let settle all you've been focused on in school. Maybe as a young adult you were able to slow down, rest more, get in the sun more, and let your being thrive and grow. Maybe it brings memories of connections with friends, family, and loved ones from afar, or even new experiences outside of your everyday. 

These are all wonderful components that support healing, growth, integration, and pattern change. 

This is a season of opportunity and a great season to practice living in a more coherent way. It's not about getting caught up in everything, although that can easily happen. It's about tapping into the energy of possibility and following the joyful momentum to rest, work, and play!

Summer is a great season for a nervous system reset because:

The days are long, there's ample opportunity to get into nature, & to connect and be in community. Both of which create coherence!

We may feel more open to exploring new places, & having new experiences during this season. Exploring and being curious is one way to open up your systems bandwidth!

 Slowing down, might not be the "norm," but creating pauses and restful moments will decrease stress and tension from building on. Meaning more energy to process & live life real time!

Warmth is comforting, vitamin D is nourishing, & your bare feet on the earth is grounding.

Like a child on Summer break, Summer can provide an opportunity to break from the habits & patterns you have a start fresh!

Adults and kids may find that their nervous system integration work goes further when they take advantage of the gifts of Summer. 


What are you looking forward to most with the season?
_________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

Press the “ease” button!

More harmonious living,

Ever have one of those mornings where you are distressed because you're running late, so you accidentally spill your coffee, and bump your head on the way into the car? OUCH.

It probably started the night before when your mind was racing about this important meeting. Now you're coffee stained, and due to arrive 5 minutes later with a bruise on your forehead. 

In this case, your mind took over, your mental rhythm racing you into the future and misplacing time. Your heart was pounding to keep up, and your soul didn't make it to the meeting, to show the best parts of you. 

This is a prime example of moving about your day in-coherently. Your system was not working coherently together and hence the outcome less than synergistic. 

Now, let's see what may have happened that night before if you got into a state of coherence...

Coherence is physiological state that occurs when the rhythms of the body - the breath, heartbeat, brain rhythms, and hormonal response are in sync with each other (per Heartmath Institute).

The more time our physiology spends in this state the more the mind, body, and soul learn to integrate and work together cohesively. From this state, our day to day life tends to flow with a little more ease.

The next morning, you wake feeling hopeful and excited to set your best foot forward. You eat a healthy meal to feel balanced, and you set out a little early, the meeting even goes well. 

Coherence can release the heart happy hormone oxytocin, which offers protective factors to your health, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects are just a few benefits of this state. 

  Can you think of times where you have been moving from coherence versus out of coherence?
How did you feel in your body, and how did the outcomes differ?

Do you have any practices in mind that create coherence?
Meditation, gratitude, prayer, nature, time with animals, cuddling a loved one?


PS - Looking for an opportunity to experience it yourself? You're invited to our upcoming coherence circle (details below), and welcome to bring a friend!
__________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

___________________________

Join us:
Women's Coherence Circle
Monday, May 20th, 5-7pm

Gather in sisterhood and fill your cup in this coherence circle!
We will be exploring the energy of "mother" and it's roles and influences in our lives. This is an inclusive circle for all who identify as women (you do not need to be a human mama to participate!). We'll create a safe space to share the beautiful and challenging aspects of this energy, role, & aspect of our lives!
We will be led by nervous system healing practitioner, Jessica Goyke, and graced by the presence of life coach, Arianna Neff, and Reiki master & restorative yoga teacher, Rach Huff. 
The evening will include a coherence meditation, sharing circle, and meaningful conversation with introspective prompts, and will end with restorative yoga postures and hands-on reiki, if consented.

Investment: $20

Reserve your spot here!

Increase your capacity with nature’s help,

Do you know that the energy of Earth has a certain frequency? 
The Earth's natural frequency is called the Schumann Resonance.

When your nervous system comes into contact with the frequency of stress and chaos, it's more likely to feel and create more stress and chaos. On the flip side, when your nervous system comes into coherence with the frequency of the earth, nature, plants, and cycles your nervous system is more likely to feel grounded, connected and have increased capacity.

How do I access it?

  Tuning into the rhythm of nature, the sounds, the smells, and beauty all around you will trace your nervous system into a more grounded space, where it has more resources. 

The key is to spend at least 15-20 minutes outside. (This is about the time it takes to fully reset the nervous system.) 
Use your senses to take in all that is around you. 

Notice the rhythms of nature, what's moving fast, what's slow, or steady?

 Getting your bare feet on the ground, or touching plants, trees, and water will help to connect you and get you into a more coherence state.

Another way to connect with this frequency is through your senses in a meditation. Simply close your eyes and imagine you're in your favorite place in nature. Feel the earth come up and support you under your feet, or bottom. Imagine the sights, smells, tastes, touches, and sounds around you. Let nature guide you, settle your mind, and deepen your breath. Finish with gratitude in your heart.


PS - if you know anyone who would benefit from this info, please feel free to forward them this email :)
__________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

Alarm or False Alarm?

Life is lived through your nervous system. Daily and over your life you're taking in information through your senses, which includes your sight, smell, taste, touch, sound, and intuition (the gut feeling) is an extension of the nervous system.

This input informs your nervous system so it can adapt, maintain health, and keep you safe:

A healthy flexible nervous system may notice:
"That horrible driver is a threat"
or "that food is definitely moldy, pass"

If the stress of life begins to build on over time, the imprints of small or large stressors of the past can cause an increase in threat signals.

You may be thinking: "this is fine I can handle it" to an embarrassing situation with colleagues.
While your nervous system is saying "emergency, shut down, run away and hide!"

Your perception system can become skewed by life's unprocessed events, signaling a threat due to having less flexibility than your nervous system optimally does. 

The beauty is - you can build flexibility, here are three ways I recommend:

  Integrate the stressors that have accumulated, clearing the noise and cobwebs in the nervous system, reminding the system it is safe can do wonders! (Body work that addresses the nervous system, like neural integration, or subconscious reprogramming work, like To Be Magnetic, breath work and more can have this effect!)

  Practice oscillating between the state of threat and the state of peace, or the state of expansion and contraction. Exercising this muscle helps to build and train flexibility in the nervous system again. Feel each state and move back and forth, informing your nervous system that it is safe to explore these ranges.

  For a period of time, reduce the inputs that are outside of your bandwidth and increase those within your bandwidth (watch befriend your bandwidth for more about this)

Have you ever felt worse after scrolling on your phone, versus the vast contrast of how open and hopeful you feel after hiking to see a stretching summit view?
Vision is one way that we practice oscillation daily, if you've been staring at the screen for the last 5 minutes reading this email, take 1 minute to look out into the distance or to the horizon. (watch this video on the connection between your nervous system and vision for more)

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

Patterns of tension & the nervous system,

 Life is lived through your nervous system.

Day-to-day events like unexpected traffic, challenging conversations, long to-do lists, as well as big life stressors like loss, trauma, and/or transition can often be found outside of your nervous system's capacity, or bandwidth. 

Patterns of tension are created as a way for your body to hold onto the information your NS cannot fully process. With the intelligent plan to process, integrate and grow in the direction of more wholeness when it has more resources to do just that.

Patterns of tension can build on like layers of an onion, and overtime or one day we just don't have the energy we once had, our mood or outlook seems jaded, and/or our body is feeling less than optimal.

Here is a short video that will shed light on these patterns of tension and help you to deepen your understanding of your body & nervous system.

You'll benefit if:

  you are noticing your body feeling less than optimal, but unsure why
  you're feeling like you're slipping backwards in the game of health/life
  you would like to become more balanced and adaptable
  you are curious to learn more about your nervous system!


You''ll find it above, and please as always, reach out if you have any questions!


__________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

Shifting gears in life,

There are some myths out there that having a healthy nervous system means that you are always calm.
Whereas the truth is that a healthy nervous system can ride the waves of life, it can move in and out of all experiences (anger, sadness, frustration, etc) and return to balance. 

A vibrant nervous system will be able to experience the sensation of calm more of the time (or joy or bliss, etc), but it is also going to shift gears throughout our days and that's actually a really great thing!

Flexibility in your nervous system is key to a vital life.

Here is an 8-minute video that I previously recorded to share more about how you and your brain shifts gears, and how to optimize this flexibility to help you find balance and bliss!

You'll benefit if:

  you are struggling with riding the waves of emotion in life
  you're beating yourself up because you are burnt out again
  you would like to become more flexible in life
  you are wanting to learn more about your nervous system


You''ll find it above, and please as always, reach out if you have any questions!
____________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica

Are you surviving or thriving?

Are you resisting or growing?

There's no right or wrong answer, but when you bring awareness to where you are, that's when things begin to shift. 

That's when struggles melt away. 
That's when you start to become the person you've always dreamed of becoming.

This week, you'll want the inside scoop on the two forces (PUSH and PULL) that influence our wellbeing and quality of life, with a few questions you'll see where you are at and how to make movement towards optimal.

You may benefit if:

💜  you are afraid of _______ (health, relationships, finances, world) getting worse or something terrible happening
💜  you feel like if you added one more thing to your plate you might crumble
💜  you would like to say a full body yes to growth and change, but aren't clear on a path forward
💜  you are open to learning and healing for the good of everyone

I recorded a 5-minute video to introduce you to the two forces that control our lives and wellbeing, push & pull. You'll walk away with an understanding of which one controls you at this time, and a couple of questions to provoke the healing that comes from each of the two forces. 

You''ll find it below, and please as always, reach out if you have any questions!
____________________________________

In gratitude & good health, 
Dr. Jessica