Dismissiveness and gaslighting aren’t rare “toxic people” events. They’re common social patterns that show up anywhere humans care about comfort, control, or keeping the peace. At Natural Wayz , mental health isn’t treated like a floating concept. It’s anchored in neurobiology, hormones, neurotransmitters, and behavior —because your body doesn’t interpret social dynamics as “drama.” It interprets them as safety or threat. Unsafe dynamics aren’t “uncomfortable.” They’re physio

There’s a version of healthcare that looks professional on the surface but quietly erodes something sacred underneath: Your sovereignty. If you cannot make choices within a practitioner’s framework without being shamed—if “doctor knows best” is treated like a moral law—then what you’re in isn’t care. It’s hierarchy. It’s the belief that because someone is trained in medicine, their voice supersedes your lived experience… as if you can’t possibly know your own psychology, your

The Neuroscience of Inner Child Wounding and Its Impact on Lifelong Health We often speak about “inner child wounds” as if they are symbolic, emotional, or something we should have outgrown by adulthood. From a neuroscience and functional medicine perspective, this framing misses the point entirely. Inner child wounding is not metaphorical. It is biological. It is the result of how a developing nervous system wires itself in response to repeated experiences of stress, instabi

Across healing disciplines—whether chiropractic, functional medicine, bodywork, psychotherapy, or bioenergetic work—there is a recurring pattern that quietly disrupts care. A person seeks help. They book the appointment. They enter a practitioner’s space. And then another voice enters the room. Sometimes it’s a supplement company. Sometimes it’s a partner. Sometimes it's WebMD, ChatGPT, or Dr. Google. Sometimes it’s another practitioner speaking outside their training or scop

A phase almost no one talks about — but almost everyone reaches. There’s a point in personal or spiritual growth where everything becomes unexpectedly still. Not dramatic. Not symbolic. Not emotionally intense. Just… quiet. You may notice you’re not as moved by things that once felt meaningful. You’re not searching for signs or insights. You’re not overwhelmed or exhilarated — you’re simply observing. People often mistake this for disconnection, but this phase is actually a s

There’s a difference between being kind in theory and being compassionate in real life. A lot of people genuinely want to see themselves as supportive. They value empathy. They believe they “walk beside hurting people.” And sometimes they do—when the pain is tidy, when the conversation is inspiring, when the support required is simple, when it doesn’t disrupt their nervous system or their schedule. But compassion isn’t proven in words . It ’s proven in proximity. Proximity is

I’m writing about perception because it’s one of the most underrated drivers of health. Not in a fluffy “think positive” way. In a layered, human way. Perception is the interface between your inner world and your outer life. It’s the lens your system uses—often automatically—to decide what things mean, what is safe, what is threatening, what deserves attention, and what needs a response right now. And from that meaning-making machine flows everything downstream: emotions, tho

Vulnerability has a bad reputation. Somewhere along the way, it was mislabeled as fragility, neediness, or emotional incompetence. We were taught—explicitly or subtly—that showing emotion at the “wrong” time makes you weak, inconvenient, or difficult. That if you fall apart without warning, you’ve failed some unspoken social contract. But here’s the biological truth: vulnerability is not a character flaw. It’s a nervous system response. Vulnerability emerges when the nervous

There’s a persistent myth in modern culture that health, success, and emotional maturity are measured by visibility: how busy you are, how social you appear, how many people orbit your life at once. Large friend groups. Full calendars. Constant engagement. The implication is clear—if you’re not surrounded by people, something must be wrong. That assumption collapses quickly when applied to empaths. Empaths do not lack stimulation. Their inner worlds are already dense, active,

At Natural Wayz, natural and holistic care are not alternatives to science. They are applications of it. The idea that “natural” approaches exist outside of scientific principles is a cultural misconception—not a scientific one. Biology does not stop being biology because an intervention is non-pharmaceutical, lifestyle-based, or systems-oriented. Physics, chemistry, neurology, endocrinology, and biochemistry govern all human function—whether an intervention comes from a labo

Depression is most often described as a mood.Low motivation. Low desire. Low energy. A heaviness that seems to sit both in the mind and the body. Because we experience it emotionally first, we assume it begins in the mind. But mood is not the origin point. Mood is the messenger. Before depression becomes a diagnosis, it is frequently a reflection of nervous system state—specifically, a slowing of central nervous system activity when the demands placed on the body exceed avail

There are honors that arrive wrapped in applause, titles, or public recognition. And then there are the quiet ones—the kind that land gently and stay. A friend of mine, a musician, recently shared that his mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Years ago, I attended one of his concerts and spent the evening sitting beside his mother. She was elderly, sweet, and quietly luminous in the way some people are without effort. We sat together while her son played. She listened

I am an entirely new human from a few years ago. That transformation still holds true. When I first wrote about deliberate cold exposure, it felt radical — almost confrontational to my former self. At that time, I would never have called cold exposure self-love. I would have called it torment. Years of hypothyroidism had trained my body to interpret cold as pain. Anything below eighty degrees felt like a threat that lingered long after the exposure ended. Cold hurt. And becau

We talk about “being good” or “falling off the wagon” like our health is a moral report card. But you’re not flaky or broken. You’re moving through stages of change  — your nervous system’s way of testing safety, capacity, and readiness. Here’s the real map 👇 1️⃣ Precontemplation – “It’s fine. I’m fine. ”Or: “If I look at this, I’ll fall apart.”This isn’t laziness; it’s protective numbness. Your system doesn’t feel safe enough to even see the problem yet.💡 Kind move: Gently

Most people don’t come in saying,“Hi, I’d like a multi-layered, non-linear healing journey.” They come in saying, “Make this pain stop.” “Fix my gut.” “I just want to sleep again.” “I want this gone.” That’s human. When something hurts, the nervous system is wired to want it off. But there’s a big difference between: Chasing a symptom Committing to healing …and if we don’t name that difference, both patient and practitioner will end up frustrated. This is me naming it. What S

I’m going to be honest: When I first learned about Visceral Reflex Analysis (VRA), I thought it was hokey and weird. I was trained in science, anatomy, neurology, pathology—all the usual “respectable” things. We were somewhere in the mountains of North Carolina at a chiropractic office, when someone started talking about muscle testing and organ reflex points and also when my inner skeptic crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Sure. Touch a spot, push on an arm, and suddenly

Healing tends to move through recognizable phases—not in order like a checklist, but in cycles, like a spiral. You revisit them over and over, each time a little deeper. Phase 1: Inspiration – The Spark Something stirs. A book, a conversation, a lab result A moment of “I can’t keep living like this” A quiet whisper: “More is possible.” This phase is fueled by possibility. You feel a little more awake. Motivation rises. You might start gathering information, looking into new w

There is a strange cultural myth that confidence must be loud. That effectiveness requires pressure and force. That authority announces itself with force, volume, or a firm grip. That the practitioner who adjusts aggressively, speaks over others, or moves with theatrical certainty must somehow be “more skilled.” But here’s the truth no one names: Force is not confidence. Force is a noise familiar to dysregulated nervous systems. When a person is used to chaos, a chaotic pract

The psychological dimensions of health are some of my favorite to work with and yet some of the most difficult. I’m clearly not a...