October 9, 2024 • 31 mins
🙏 Michelle Brown is a speaker of Finding Connection After Relationship Trauma Summit. 🌟
Michelle Brown is a Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Practitioner and clinical herbalist with a Bachelor's degree in Botany. She also holds a certificate as a Mastery Level Biology of Trauma Advanced Provider. She works with clients from around the world to address anxiety, depression, fatigue and other chronic health issues from a root-cause, trauma-informed perspective. This approach addresses nervous system dysregulation and emphasizes the mind-body connection that allows true healing to happen. You can connect with Michelle at www.botanacea.com.
Website: http://www.botanacea.com
How would you like our listeners to reach out to you?
Email: michelle@botanacea.com
Free Mood Fix Assessment: https://botanacea.lpages.co/mood-fix-assessment/
Michelle's Book:
Make Your Day: 5 Things Successful People Do Before 8 am: https://amzn.to/4fllZwg
Energy Reset: Remove the Toxins, Reset Your Hormones, Restore Your Energy (Amazon Best Seller): https://amzn.to/3A1NieU
The Thyroid Hair Loss Solution: https://shop.botanacea.com/products/the-thyroid-hair-loss-solution-1
The Healing Protocol Journal: A Journal For Tracking Your Progress Through An Elimination Diet, Including AIP, GAPS, SCD, low FODMAPS and more: https://amzn.to/4fo2Eus
Connect with Michelle:
https://www.instagram.com/michelle_botanacea/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@michelleBotanacea
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-brown-b48a31205/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellebrownhealthcoach
Join our supportive Facebook group community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/healthrivedream
Connect with me:
Gmail: healthrivedream@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthrivedream_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthrivedream
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@traumarecoveryexpert
Twitter: https://twitter.com/healthrivedream LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenrobinson2022/
Website: https://www.healthrivedream.com/
Podcast: http://healthrivedreampodcast.com/abuse
Loved this episode? Leave us a comment below.
Michelle Brown is a Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Practitioner and clinical herbalist with a Bachelor's degree in Botany. She also holds a certificate as a Mastery Level Biology of Trauma Advanced Provider. She works with clients from around the world to address anxiety, depression, fatigue and other chronic health issues from a root-cause, trauma-informed perspective. This approach addresses nervous system dysregulation and emphasizes the mind-body connection that allows true healing to happen. You can connect with Michelle at www.botanacea.com.
Website: http://www.botanacea.com
How would you like our listeners to reach out to you?
Email: michelle@botanacea.com
Free Mood Fix Assessment: https://botanacea.lpages.co/mood-fix-assessment/
Michelle's Book:
Make Your Day: 5 Things Successful People Do Before 8 am: https://amzn.to/4fllZwg
Energy Reset: Remove the Toxins, Reset Your Hormones, Restore Your Energy (Amazon Best Seller): https://amzn.to/3A1NieU
The Thyroid Hair Loss Solution: https://shop.botanacea.com/products/the-thyroid-hair-loss-solution-1
The Healing Protocol Journal: A Journal For Tracking Your Progress Through An Elimination Diet, Including AIP, GAPS, SCD, low FODMAPS and more: https://amzn.to/4fo2Eus
Connect with Michelle:
https://www.instagram.com/michelle_botanacea/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@michelleBotanacea
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-brown-b48a31205/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellebrownhealthcoach
Join our supportive Facebook group community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/healthrivedream
Connect with me:
Gmail: healthrivedream@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthrivedream_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthrivedream
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@traumarecoveryexpert
Twitter: https://twitter.com/healthrivedream LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenrobinson2022/
Website: https://www.healthrivedream.com/
Podcast: http://healthrivedreampodcast.com/abuse
Loved this episode? Leave us a comment below.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Heal Thrived Dream Podcast, where trauma survivors
become healthy thrivers. Each month will feature a theme in
the trauma recovery and empowerment field to promote your recovery,
healing and learning how to build dreams. Here's your host,
Karen Robinson, transformational coach and therapist.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hi, and welcome to the Healed Our Dream Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Our guest is Michelle Brown. She's a functional nutrition and
lifeself practitioner and clinical herbalis with bachelor's degree in botany.
She also holds a certificate as a Mastery level Biology
of Trauma Advanced Providers. She works with clients from around
(00:49):
the world to address anxiety, depression, fatigue, and other chronic
issues from a root cause informed perspective. This approach addresses
nervous system dysregulation and emphasizes the mind body connection that
(01:09):
allows true healing to happen. So what a unique by all.
I've had one like that before, Like.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I've had functional medicine doctors, I've had nutritionists, but your
blend of things, I'm mostre yous Michelle about the mastery
level biology of trauma.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Can you tell us a little more.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
About that and Hi, by the way, Hello, thank you
for having me here, and it's nice to be here.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
And yes, I you know, I've blended my functional nutrition
background with my practice as a clinical herbalist and then
brun this bilogy of trauma professional piece into the picture
as well, and found that, you know, this intersection of
functional nutrition with understanding trump and this root cause approach
(01:58):
that blends all of that together has been so powerful
and helping clients to really move past some of these
chronic health issues that end up causing people to get
stuck in patterns of anxiety or depression or fatigue. And
so that biology of trauma piece is really looking at
(02:20):
how trauma impacts our nervous system biology right at the
cellular level, even there are things that change, these shifts
that happen on the hormonal level, our immune system are
impacted by our response to trauma.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
And so when.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
I started understanding how the nervous system is really the
underlying piece where all of these chronic health issues, that's
where I really started to notice that I was helping
people actually move forward. They were able to get past
and these chronic patterns that were showing up. So that yeah,
that nervous system biology piece is where I really like
(02:58):
to focus.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
When I'm starting with clients, beautiful, are you well? A
lot of times when I have guests in the show,
they're either trauma survivors or healers. A lot of the
times they're both. Are you also a pistle trauma survivor?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well?
Speaker 5 (03:17):
That's an interesting question because you know, if you had
asked me before I started working with trauma biology, I
said no, Like I felt like I lived a fairly
normal life and had experienced, you know, a regular childhood,
and I didn't really identify as someone who had trauma.
(03:38):
And yet as I learned what trauma was, right, I
begin to understand that trauma is not about something that
we've gone through. It's really not about the event, but
it's about our experience and our body going through a situation.
And that means that, for one thing, trauma looks very
different for one person versus another. And it also means
(03:59):
that trauma is often not what we think it is.
So did I experience trauma?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
You know, I can share more about some situations that
I went through as a teenager. I ended up with
an eating disorder through most of high school and struggled
with that into my early kind of well, late teens,
early twenties, and all of that came about from some
drama that was really happening in my home life, and
(04:26):
yet I had no recognition that that's really what was happening,
that this was actually a trauma response, right, was that
I was going through that was leading me to reach
for food as a coping mechanism basically to try to
deal with this overwhelmed that I was feeling in my
body and in my nervous system.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
That I really didn't have.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Any other healthy coping mechanisms to help me address that
or to deal with it. So you know that that
was my experience of trauma.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So did I go through you know, kind of what
we call the Big tea capital T trauma.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Oh, but I did go through these stressful, overwhelming experiences
in life that definitely impacted my nervous system, my ability
to show up in life fully.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And you know, I have an immune condition hashimotos And
we know that.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
From the work of doctor Vincent Felidi for example, Right,
he's the author of the Adverse Childhood Events Study, and
you've probably seen, of course the ACES study. And there's
a quiz, right, you can take to assess your level
of or adverse childhood events and how they maybe impacting you.
But we know that someone who's gone through certain adverse
(05:38):
events that's in their childhood are more susceptible to things
like autoimmune diseases and other chronic health issues. So that
was part of my story with trauma. But you know,
I think a lot of people are walking around not
really understanding what trauma even is and how it's impacting them.
And so whether you've kind of had that big t
trauma or maybe you are like me and you really
(06:02):
would have said, you know, I hadn't heardy normal childhood.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
My life was pretty good. I didn't go through trauma.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
And yet here we are with these chronic patterns showing
up in our body that are telling us something's out
of balance.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And again that nervous.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
System piece is really where things are being dysregulated, right
on that really fundamental level of our biology.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So it's safe to say that your history had a
draft impact.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
On your career tractory, which you're agreeing with that absolutely.
You know, it's interesting. I mean I was always interested
in nutrition.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
From you know, a younger age, but then you know,
having walked through my own experience with trauma and eating
disorders and chronic health issues. I think definitely impacted my
ability to work with others and to really see how
I could shift my own health and my own biology
and then be able to help up people who we're seeing, right,
(07:08):
we're just stuck in these chronic patterns as well and
not able to understand.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Again, it's really this intersection of our nervous system trauma
patterns and our biology that show up in these chronic
patterns in our life. So definitely a part of my
passion is what I went through myself, and I love
helping others to kind of connect those dots because I
didn't for a very long time, and it was sort
(07:36):
of like slow process of learning about functional medicine and
that root cause approach to some of the chronic health
issues that I was experiencing that I really wasn't getting
answers to from conventional medicine, and then understanding this nervous
system trauma of heath that was like another layer of like, oh,
(07:57):
this is why these patterns are showing up in my life.
And I think this is so true for so many
people that they're walking around feeling really depiculated, dealing with
chronic health patterns, and you know, looking for answers, really
wanting to find out what's going on, and yet they're
not getting those answers from that conventional medical approach. And
(08:20):
so I think we need to talk more about trauma
and our society and how it shows up and why
it shows up, because people are walking around very disregulated
and not recognizing the trauma pattern.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah. I love that you mentioned the connection between trauma
and autoimmune disease and just medical issues in general. A
lot of people out there, though, still don't see the
connection and all about the connection between.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Trauma and eating disorders. Could you be sure a little
bit more about that?
Speaker 5 (08:53):
Sure, I would love to, because again, that was a
big part of my story. And so when I was
a teenager, I again I felt like I grew up
in a pretty normal home. I mean, nobody's family is perfect,
and mine certainly wasn't, but you know, I had two
parents that loved me, took care of me.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We did pretty well.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
And yet when I was a sophomore in high school,
my aunt, my mom, andly sister ended up.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
She was diagnosed with.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
Cancer and over kind of the well. From the beginning
of my sophomore year until about the end or so
that spring, she you know, got sicker and sicker, and
she passed away. And this was a really stressful time
in my family, as you can imagine. And you know,
again my mom's only sister, so really difficult time for
her and her family and her parents, and she didn't
(09:39):
know how to deal with this, and it actually kind
of brought up, I think, some past trauma from their childhood,
and so I feel like this was a period of
time where my two parents really kind of checked out.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I mean, like they.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Still went to work, put food on the table, but
like you know, they weren't really there for each other
emotionally or for.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Us as kids.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
And you know, myself and my brother and sister, and
I didn't know how to deal with all of this
as a fifteen old. It was really overwhelming. So the
only thing I really knew to do to have any
control at that time was to control what I was eating.
And it kind of start out like a diet. And
of course this was the nineties, so you know, like
thin was in and everything was low fat, right, and
(10:21):
so I really started cutting out food and cutting fat
out of my diet and losing weight and just becoming
really obsessed with that number on the scale, even though
I didn't need to lose weight and lean back. Now
I recognized so clearly that it was just this sense
of needing some type of control in my life that
(10:42):
I didn't have at a time. It actually spun out
of control to where I started binge eating and even
hurging for a short time. And then, you know, I
felt so out of control at that point, and yeah,
this was my coping mechanism. When my nervous system felt
really justsregulated. I felt some sense of safety, right, some
(11:03):
sense of control when I could control what I was eating,
or you know, when I would eat overeat right, there
would be at least this ability to stop feeling the
pain right in my body. And when we feel trauma,
we're feeling something in our body, and so I, you know,
eventually I was able to kind of overcome this eating
disorder and move forward, and you know, I got married,
(11:26):
I had kids, and yet many years later, almost twenty
years later, Karen, I found myself in a new place.
I was going through a divorce and moving to a
new city with my three kids, and I mean, I.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Was a health coach by this time.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
It's what I did full time and helping other people
with their health. And yet I found myself in my
kitchen at night after I would put my kids to bed,
getting out a jar of peanut butter and a bag
of chocolate chips and just eating and thinking like what
am I doing? I felt like I couldn't stop, But
I was right around this time started learning about my
(12:01):
nervous system and really not even from a common informed
approach yet, but just understanding what I was feeling in
my body. And I actually was doing this little like
mindset coaching program. And this coach invited us to start
noticing what we were feeling in our body when you know,
whatever was showing up for us.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Everybody of course had their own different issues that were showing.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
Up in different ways, and you know, she asked us
to start noticing what we were feeling. So, you know,
if you think about when you're really truly hungry, if
you're in tune with that, we you know, I'm putting
my hand on my belly here and noticing, like, you know,
there's liss like rumbling in your belly, right, this hunger
that tells you, oh, I need to get up and
go find something to eat.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And yet, if I think of.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
A different sensation of like anxiety, for example, I feel that,
you know, I put my hands here on my chest
and push in because that's the sensation of anxiety for
me and similar for many people, although it may show
up in a different way for other people. But I
just feelt this sense of like someone pushing right standing there,
pushing against me, and it's very uncomfortable even just now
(13:06):
to kind of push in there.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I feel that kind of sense of like.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
You know, the stop and you know, we might feel
another suction, like anger for example, right maybe a tightening
in the back of the neck or the shoulders. And
you know, when we say I'm anxious, I'm angry, or
I'm happy, we feel something in our body. I mean,
we should be able to notice the place in our
body where we feel that. So the next time I
(13:32):
went into pitchin and had that urge to reach for
the jar of peanut butter or the bag of chocolate chips,
I just stopped for a moment and I just noticed
what am I.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Feeling in my body?
Speaker 5 (13:43):
And Karen, like I was floored to recognize that I
was not hungry at all. Of course, I was feeling
this overwhelming sense of anxiety right fear. It was just
like pressing in on my chest. And at that time,
the only coping mechanism I had, the only tool I
had to relieve that was to reach food. So it's
(14:04):
so common, and you know, we beat ourselves up over
these things. We feel really ashamed. I know I did.
I felt really guilty, like why am I doing this?
I feel like I can't stop, It's out of control.
And yet it was the only thing that I knew
to do at that time to relieve this overwhelming sense
of anxiety that I was feeling. And I'm grateful now
(14:24):
that I've gone on to understand how to number one,
feel what I'm feeling in.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
My body, but then to have other tools that I
can use to.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
Regulate my nervous system and response. But I'm just using
that example to show you that, you know, we have
these coding mechanisms that can show up in life when
we feel overwhelmed, when we are stuck in this nervous
system response that we can call the trauma response, because
we can relive this response of our nervous system over
(14:55):
and over if we don't know how to connect with
our body and move through a trauma response or a stresspons,
which are two different things in a safe way.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So you know, again, when we have a.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Coping mechanism, whether we're struggling with food or eating disorders,
or maybe drinking wine or alcohol or other substances, however
things show up as frustrating as they are, as you know,
guilty as we may feel. We need to recognize that
these things are coping mechanisms that are actually helping us
to get through a really stressful, overwhelming since in our
(15:32):
body that we don't know otherwise how to shift right.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Excellent. I really love this discussion because food in controlling
eating and whatever patterns. It's definitely been a theme for
how I've coped with my own trauma, so it definitely relates.
I think it will resonate with people listening. Can you
share a little bit about what healthy coping skills you
(15:58):
use now turning to food when you feel disregulated?
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Well absolutely, I'm just thinking of how Number one I'm
thinking of that nervous system biology piece is the foundation
because when our nervous system biology, we can talk a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
More about what that means exactly.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
But when we're disregulated, often it's so much easier to
feel overwhelmed, to feel that dysregulation, and then we need
those coping mechanisms right in order to feel that sense
of safety and support in our body.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
So I like to.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Start by thinking about that nervous system biology piece. How
can we regulate that so we don't go into overwhelmed
so quickly and easily. But we can also use some
simple tools in order to shift the state of our
nervous system.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
And this is kind of the.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Idea behind somatic work or sematic experiencing, which is a
really lovely foundation for trauma work.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Because, like I.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
Was explaining with that, to feel anxiety in my chest
when I say, I was really amazed to recognize that
anxiety was actually what I was feeling when I thought
I was hungry, because I was so disconnected from what
I was really feeling, I didn't even recognize that I'm
actually feeling this pressure in my chest, this anxiety. We
(17:20):
dissociate from the body when we feel overwhelmed because it's.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Uncomfortable, right.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
We don't like the sensation of anxiety or depression fear. However,
it's showing up in our body that tightens their shoulders,
or maybe we kind of hold tension in our belly
for instance. So many people they dissociate from the body,
they kind of stop feeling our body. So the idea
there is we need to start reconnecting with what we're
(17:47):
truly feeling and experiencing.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
In the body, and just simple.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Some match tools can be really valuable here, really especially
focusing on creating a sense of safety right in the
body of support. And these can be simple, and if
it's okay, I'll share a nice one to start with,
and if anyone's listening, they can try this out with
me if they feel inclined to do so. But as
(18:13):
I'm just sitting here in this room that I'm in,
and I'm going to just like look around a little bit, right,
I'm looking to my right, I'm looking to my left,
looking above me. I'm orienting myself to the space that
I'm in. And it's a really simple thing, but so
often we kind of are in our heads and we're
(18:34):
not really again connecting to.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Our body and what we're actually feeling.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
And you know, the job of the nervous system is
to help us feel sick, right, we're kind of always
in the background.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It's like this.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Computer program that's kind of scanning the background for viruses. Right,
we probably all have on our computers, and that is
basically what our nervous sysdem is doing.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
It's trying to make sure we're safe.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
And so by you know, just looking around, orienting to
my environment behind me, right, I see there's there's no
tiger behind me, right, none's about to jump out and
get me, no monsters under the desk. I'm safe, right,
I'm connecting my body and I'm recognizing that sense of safety.
And that's just one really simple place to start. And
(19:19):
I love to stop and do this sometimes when I'm working,
you know, on my computer or maybe after a call,
because again, we ge't really kind of focused in our
heads and we kind of forget right that we have
a body. Soi'm and it's this ability to kind of
connect then again with ourselves, with our body, with what
we're actually experiencing and feeling. And maybe as I do
(19:41):
that and I start recognizing what I'm noticing in my body.
If I'm feeling like, oh, you know, my back's a
little uncomfortable, maybe I need to move around, maybe I
need to find some support there. Right, We're often holding
these tension patterns that we don't even recognize. Right, So
a little you know, if I say all.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Day and I'm.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Working at my computer and my bag is kind of hurting,
and I'm holding tension there, that's that's a lot of
energy that I'm putting into I may not even noticing,
but a lot of energy is going into holding that
tension in my body.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
If you think of like holding.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
A fist, Right, If I take my fist and I
clench it and I hold really tightly, and I just
do that the whole time that we're sitting here talking.
By the time we're done, like my hand is gonna
be tired, right, it's probably going to be sore a
little bit. And yet we hold these tension patterns in
our body and response to stress and trauma often and
(20:39):
we don't recognize it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
But there's where some of that fatigue.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
Shows up around the trauma response. We often refer to
it as the freeze response as well. Right, And this
just this tightness, this tension, this lack of fluidity. Right,
things can't like blood, for instance, oxygen can't flow when
there's to a muscle, So just beginning with like working
(21:03):
with simple mind body practices. I like to call them
somatic exercises scanning the body. If I notice tensions, it
can work with releasing that if it feels safe.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
That's a really lovely place to start.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
But again I like to start a go back again
to the nervous system biology, because we often have patterns
that are showing up there that are making us more susceptible,
if you will, to overwhelm and stress. And so when
we shift that biology, it's like our capacity of our
nervous system to then shift to handle stress, to deal
(21:40):
with this they come up in our life. It is
just it's just expanded. And so that's why I focus
a lot with that nervous system biology with the clients
that I work with.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Can you run us through what a typical session is
like with you and one of your clients. I know,
like everybody a different health and mental health and hormonal
energy stuff going on, but maybe a case study that
you really felt your work made a difference for Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
That sounds great. You're right.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Everybody shows up a little bit differently, and so that
ability to recognize that and kind of meet clients where
they're at. I think is one of the really lovely
things about a functional approach. You know, there's a lot
of programs out there that are, you know, a detox
program or a keyto program.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
They're kind of.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
One this fits all, and yet a functional nutrition approach
is really looking at the person in front of me
and understanding what are their particular root causes their nervous
system need right now, what is their biology showing up
as that needs to be shifted and addressed. And so
when I'm working with someone, I first start out with
(22:51):
some assessments that I give clients because please tell me
a lot about what's going on with the person in
front of me. I have some assessments that'll get neurotransmitters,
have some assessments that look.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
At biochemical imbalances.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
That are often playing a role for someone who is
dealing with kind of chron anxiety and depression type of pattern.
And so I think it's really fascinating as well, how
there's a certain like constellation of symptoms or patterns that
show up with these different imbalances. So, for example, when
(23:27):
I give someone a neurotransmitter assessment, I know someone who
has low dopamine, which is one of our neurotransmitters. I
like to think of neurotransmitters as like our feel good
chemicals in the brain, and so for dopamine as an example,
it's this neurotransmitter that helps us stay focused and present
(23:47):
and get things done. And if we're low in dopamine,
we're struggling with those things, right, We're dealing with lack
of focus. We're probably like starting things but not able
to finish them. These are the people you often need
like some coffee or caffeine to kind of help them
get back into focus. And yet that's very different than
someone who has a pattern of low serotonin, for example.
(24:11):
And so I can give someone an assessment, just like
the eating disorder of patterns, that's often a picture of
someone with low serotonin or just craving sugar or carbs,
especially late afternoon or evening, maybe not sleeping. While these
are people who tend to feel a little more down tossed.
They may have seasonal depression. And so I give someone
(24:33):
an assessment and they start like checking off all those boxes.
The more I become, you know, suspenating that they are
low in these specific neurotransmitters.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
And then there are.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Specific nutrients herbs in some cases, and you know, acids
that we can use to help actually repair the gap
there that's happening with those neurotransmitters, and just like that
for someone with low serotonin. You know, I'm thinking of
a client I work with who was you know, probably
in mid thirties. She had a few kids who were
(25:04):
like grade school age and she was going back to school,
so life was busy for her, and she was really
struggling with with her eating and reaching for food late
afternoon and you know sugar of course, those carbs that
tend to be the foods we like to reach for,
and of course, you know, it's affecting her weight. And
again there's that like shame and guilt and why can't
(25:27):
I shift this pattern? You know, all the things that
come up with that. And as we just worked on
some neurotransmitter support for her, uh, she.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Really saw that shift.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
And then you know, we did a little bit more
work to address biochemical imbalances and of course worked on nutrition,
but she was really able to shift that pattern of
reaching for food in the afternoon just by addressing the
neurotransmitter support, and then she started just having more energy
that capacity that I to talk about to make the
(25:59):
change we need to make. So she started eating better,
so that weight started coming off of her that.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
She was wanting to see shift.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
And so again, I'm always looking at someone as an
individual sitting in front of me and what's out of
balance for them, And it can be completely different from
the next person I'm working with. But as I start
with some of the assessments, that's where I start to see,
you know, kind of how these patterns are showing up
for clients and where we can bring the most attention
(26:27):
in order to shift those patterns.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
No, that's really wonderful. I think you'd probably be a
really good teacher professor too. You have a nice way
of explaining terms. That's that's really lovely. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I know were a published author. Do you want to
share some about your books or your favorite books or
whatever resonates? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Absolutely, Well, I have a book called Energy Reset that
really helping women to understand and again kind of this
root cause approach to shifting low energy and other chronic patterns,
and a lot of that tells my story. I go
a little more in depth with my struggle with not
only my eating disorder struggle, but my struggle with hashimoto
(27:16):
which is an autoimmune thyroid condition, and how you know,
I just couldn't get the answers that I needed and
how I came into this functional approach. And yet a
lot of women are just not aware that there's even
something they can do to shift these patterns with their diet,
with nutrition, with working on the nervous system response. And
(27:38):
so that's really what Energy Reset goes into. How can
we take this root cause approach where we're looking at
the underlying patterns, like what's causing these low energy patterns,
these autoimmune patterns. And often there's things going on like inflammation,
nutrient deficiencies. Sometimes there's chronic infections like I had an H.
(28:01):
Pylori infection for instance, that I discovered was part of
what was keeping me duck in that kind of chronic
low pattern or low energy pattern. So that's the goal
with Energy Reset, how to kind of understand this root
cause approach. And you know, it's been really a joy
to kind of share that book with women and share
(28:22):
my own story in.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
That book, because so many of my.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Readers have come back and you know, side like, oh,
you know, this is what I didn't know. I didn't
have this perspective on why I've been feeling, you know, tired,
run down dealing with these chronic issues. And so I'm
also working on another book actually on kind of more
from my herbal tradition and that perspective and using herbs
(28:47):
to help support healing of the nervous system from trauma,
which again affects everything, doesn't it right, art, energy, our mood,
and these other health conditions that can show up as
a result of a nervous system that's stuck in a
trauma pattern. And so, yeah, this is definitely an area
I feel really passionate about helping others with because I've
(29:08):
been there myself on that journey.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Because your books look amazing, I can't wait to check
those out more. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
And so I know for our listeners today, you're offering
a guest of it, and we'll have that link in
the show notes, But can you share where listeners should
go if they would like to connect with you or
learn more about you?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Absolutely, you find.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Me online and my website is Botannaca dot com and
that's bo t A n A c e A dot com.
But I'm sure you can put that in the show
notes as well. For your listeners and definitely connect with
me there. You can find my email address on that
site as well. And then yeah, if you if you
(29:56):
grab the assessment, this is one of the assessments I
was about actually that I give clients where it's looking
at show up around low neurotransmitter function. And this is
so valuable because sometimes when we're stuck in these patterns
with low neuro transmitters, low certnentor that assessment also looks
(30:18):
like GABBA as well as endorphins. Then you know, we
often feel overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, we can't get focused, and
again that's going to impact everything in our life, right,
And so by working on some neurotransmitters, that's where I
can give people a quick win, right, just give them
to a place where they're they're feeling better, they have
(30:40):
a little more energy, that capacity to do the things
they need and want to do to move forward in life.
And just like that client I mentioned who you know,
we supported her low serotonin symptoms and she was able
to really shift some longstanding patterns of reaching for food
as a pick me up, right, for not just energy,
(31:01):
but for her mood. And I think everyone will really
get a lot out of that assessment. Use some tips
in there as well about what to do once you
recognize which of your potential neurotransmitter systems might be out
of balance.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Thank you for that, and thank you Michelle for being
I guess I'm here today. It was really really educational
and helpful.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
It was my pleasure. Thank you for having me, Karen.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Thank you for listening in today. Please join us next week,
same day and time. Also, I would love for you
to check out my website, He'll Thrive dream dot com
Welcome to the Heal Thrived Dream Podcast, where trauma survivors
become healthy thrivers. Each month will feature a theme in
the trauma recovery and empowerment field to promote your recovery,
healing and learning how to build dreams. Here's your host,
Karen Robinson, transformational coach and therapist.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hi, and welcome to the Healed Our Dream Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Our guest is Michelle Brown. She's a functional nutrition and
lifeself practitioner and clinical herbalis with bachelor's degree in botany.
She also holds a certificate as a Mastery level Biology
of Trauma Advanced Providers. She works with clients from around
(00:49):
the world to address anxiety, depression, fatigue, and other chronic
issues from a root cause informed perspective. This approach addresses
nervous system dysregulation and emphasizes the mind body connection that
(01:09):
allows true healing to happen. So what a unique by all.
I've had one like that before, Like.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I've had functional medicine doctors, I've had nutritionists, but your
blend of things, I'm mostre yous Michelle about the mastery
level biology of trauma.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Can you tell us a little more.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
About that and Hi, by the way, Hello, thank you
for having me here, and it's nice to be here.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
And yes, I you know, I've blended my functional nutrition
background with my practice as a clinical herbalist and then
brun this bilogy of trauma professional piece into the picture
as well, and found that, you know, this intersection of
functional nutrition with understanding trump and this root cause approach
(01:58):
that blends all of that together has been so powerful
and helping clients to really move past some of these
chronic health issues that end up causing people to get
stuck in patterns of anxiety or depression or fatigue. And
so that biology of trauma piece is really looking at
(02:20):
how trauma impacts our nervous system biology right at the
cellular level, even there are things that change, these shifts
that happen on the hormonal level, our immune system are
impacted by our response to trauma.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
And so when.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
I started understanding how the nervous system is really the
underlying piece where all of these chronic health issues, that's
where I really started to notice that I was helping
people actually move forward. They were able to get past
and these chronic patterns that were showing up. So that yeah,
that nervous system biology piece is where I really like
(02:58):
to focus.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
When I'm starting with clients, beautiful, are you well? A
lot of times when I have guests in the show,
they're either trauma survivors or healers. A lot of the
times they're both. Are you also a pistle trauma survivor?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well?
Speaker 5 (03:17):
That's an interesting question because you know, if you had
asked me before I started working with trauma biology, I
said no, Like I felt like I lived a fairly
normal life and had experienced, you know, a regular childhood,
and I didn't really identify as someone who had trauma.
(03:38):
And yet as I learned what trauma was, right, I
begin to understand that trauma is not about something that
we've gone through. It's really not about the event, but
it's about our experience and our body going through a situation.
And that means that, for one thing, trauma looks very
different for one person versus another. And it also means
(03:59):
that trauma is often not what we think it is.
So did I experience trauma?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
You know, I can share more about some situations that
I went through as a teenager. I ended up with
an eating disorder through most of high school and struggled
with that into my early kind of well, late teens,
early twenties, and all of that came about from some
drama that was really happening in my home life, and
(04:26):
yet I had no recognition that that's really what was happening,
that this was actually a trauma response, right, was that
I was going through that was leading me to reach
for food as a coping mechanism basically to try to
deal with this overwhelmed that I was feeling in my
body and in my nervous system.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
That I really didn't have.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Any other healthy coping mechanisms to help me address that
or to deal with it. So you know that that
was my experience of trauma.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So did I go through you know, kind of what
we call the Big tea capital T trauma.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Oh, but I did go through these stressful, overwhelming experiences
in life that definitely impacted my nervous system, my ability
to show up in life fully.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And you know, I have an immune condition hashimotos And
we know that.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
From the work of doctor Vincent Felidi for example, Right,
he's the author of the Adverse Childhood Events Study, and
you've probably seen, of course the ACES study. And there's
a quiz, right, you can take to assess your level
of or adverse childhood events and how they maybe impacting you.
But we know that someone who's gone through certain adverse
(05:38):
events that's in their childhood are more susceptible to things
like autoimmune diseases and other chronic health issues. So that
was part of my story with trauma. But you know,
I think a lot of people are walking around not
really understanding what trauma even is and how it's impacting them.
And so whether you've kind of had that big t
trauma or maybe you are like me and you really
(06:02):
would have said, you know, I hadn't heardy normal childhood.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
My life was pretty good. I didn't go through trauma.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
And yet here we are with these chronic patterns showing
up in our body that are telling us something's out
of balance.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And again that nervous.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
System piece is really where things are being dysregulated, right
on that really fundamental level of our biology.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So it's safe to say that your history had a
draft impact.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
On your career tractory, which you're agreeing with that absolutely.
You know, it's interesting. I mean I was always interested
in nutrition.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
From you know, a younger age, but then you know,
having walked through my own experience with trauma and eating
disorders and chronic health issues. I think definitely impacted my
ability to work with others and to really see how
I could shift my own health and my own biology
and then be able to help up people who we're seeing, right,
(07:08):
we're just stuck in these chronic patterns as well and
not able to understand.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Again, it's really this intersection of our nervous system trauma
patterns and our biology that show up in these chronic
patterns in our life. So definitely a part of my
passion is what I went through myself, and I love
helping others to kind of connect those dots because I
didn't for a very long time, and it was sort
(07:36):
of like slow process of learning about functional medicine and
that root cause approach to some of the chronic health
issues that I was experiencing that I really wasn't getting
answers to from conventional medicine, and then understanding this nervous
system trauma of heath that was like another layer of like, oh,
(07:57):
this is why these patterns are showing up in my life.
And I think this is so true for so many
people that they're walking around feeling really depiculated, dealing with
chronic health patterns, and you know, looking for answers, really
wanting to find out what's going on, and yet they're
not getting those answers from that conventional medical approach. And
(08:20):
so I think we need to talk more about trauma
and our society and how it shows up and why
it shows up, because people are walking around very disregulated
and not recognizing the trauma pattern.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah. I love that you mentioned the connection between trauma
and autoimmune disease and just medical issues in general. A
lot of people out there, though, still don't see the
connection and all about the connection between.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Trauma and eating disorders. Could you be sure a little
bit more about that?
Speaker 5 (08:53):
Sure, I would love to, because again, that was a
big part of my story. And so when I was
a teenager, I again I felt like I grew up
in a pretty normal home. I mean, nobody's family is perfect,
and mine certainly wasn't, but you know, I had two
parents that loved me, took care of me.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We did pretty well.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
And yet when I was a sophomore in high school,
my aunt, my mom, andly sister ended up.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
She was diagnosed with.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
Cancer and over kind of the well. From the beginning
of my sophomore year until about the end or so
that spring, she you know, got sicker and sicker, and
she passed away. And this was a really stressful time
in my family, as you can imagine. And you know,
again my mom's only sister, so really difficult time for
her and her family and her parents, and she didn't
(09:39):
know how to deal with this, and it actually kind
of brought up, I think, some past trauma from their childhood,
and so I feel like this was a period of
time where my two parents really kind of checked out.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I mean, like they.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Still went to work, put food on the table, but
like you know, they weren't really there for each other
emotionally or for.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Us as kids.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
And you know, myself and my brother and sister, and
I didn't know how to deal with all of this
as a fifteen old. It was really overwhelming. So the
only thing I really knew to do to have any
control at that time was to control what I was eating.
And it kind of start out like a diet. And
of course this was the nineties, so you know, like
thin was in and everything was low fat, right, and
(10:21):
so I really started cutting out food and cutting fat
out of my diet and losing weight and just becoming
really obsessed with that number on the scale, even though
I didn't need to lose weight and lean back. Now
I recognized so clearly that it was just this sense
of needing some type of control in my life that
(10:42):
I didn't have at a time. It actually spun out
of control to where I started binge eating and even
hurging for a short time. And then, you know, I
felt so out of control at that point, and yeah,
this was my coping mechanism. When my nervous system felt
really justsregulated. I felt some sense of safety, right, some
(11:03):
sense of control when I could control what I was eating,
or you know, when I would eat overeat right, there
would be at least this ability to stop feeling the
pain right in my body. And when we feel trauma,
we're feeling something in our body, and so I, you know,
eventually I was able to kind of overcome this eating
disorder and move forward, and you know, I got married,
(11:26):
I had kids, and yet many years later, almost twenty
years later, Karen, I found myself in a new place.
I was going through a divorce and moving to a
new city with my three kids, and I mean, I.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Was a health coach by this time.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
It's what I did full time and helping other people
with their health. And yet I found myself in my
kitchen at night after I would put my kids to bed,
getting out a jar of peanut butter and a bag
of chocolate chips and just eating and thinking like what
am I doing? I felt like I couldn't stop, But
I was right around this time started learning about my
(12:01):
nervous system and really not even from a common informed
approach yet, but just understanding what I was feeling in
my body. And I actually was doing this little like
mindset coaching program. And this coach invited us to start
noticing what we were feeling in our body when you know,
whatever was showing up for us.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Everybody of course had their own different issues that were showing.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
Up in different ways, and you know, she asked us
to start noticing what we were feeling. So, you know,
if you think about when you're really truly hungry, if
you're in tune with that, we you know, I'm putting
my hand on my belly here and noticing, like, you know,
there's liss like rumbling in your belly, right, this hunger
that tells you, oh, I need to get up and
go find something to eat.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And yet, if I think of.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
A different sensation of like anxiety, for example, I feel that,
you know, I put my hands here on my chest
and push in because that's the sensation of anxiety for
me and similar for many people, although it may show
up in a different way for other people. But I
just feelt this sense of like someone pushing right standing there,
pushing against me, and it's very uncomfortable even just now
(13:06):
to kind of push in there.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I feel that kind of sense of like.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
You know, the stop and you know, we might feel
another suction, like anger for example, right maybe a tightening
in the back of the neck or the shoulders. And
you know, when we say I'm anxious, I'm angry, or
I'm happy, we feel something in our body. I mean,
we should be able to notice the place in our
body where we feel that. So the next time I
(13:32):
went into pitchin and had that urge to reach for
the jar of peanut butter or the bag of chocolate chips,
I just stopped for a moment and I just noticed
what am I.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Feeling in my body?
Speaker 5 (13:43):
And Karen, like I was floored to recognize that I
was not hungry at all. Of course, I was feeling
this overwhelming sense of anxiety right fear. It was just
like pressing in on my chest. And at that time,
the only coping mechanism I had, the only tool I
had to relieve that was to reach food. So it's
(14:04):
so common, and you know, we beat ourselves up over
these things. We feel really ashamed. I know I did.
I felt really guilty, like why am I doing this?
I feel like I can't stop, It's out of control.
And yet it was the only thing that I knew
to do at that time to relieve this overwhelming sense
of anxiety that I was feeling. And I'm grateful now
(14:24):
that I've gone on to understand how to number one,
feel what I'm feeling in.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
My body, but then to have other tools that I
can use to.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
Regulate my nervous system and response. But I'm just using
that example to show you that, you know, we have
these coding mechanisms that can show up in life when
we feel overwhelmed, when we are stuck in this nervous
system response that we can call the trauma response, because
we can relive this response of our nervous system over
(14:55):
and over if we don't know how to connect with
our body and move through a trauma response or a stresspons,
which are two different things in a safe way.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So you know, again, when we have a.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Coping mechanism, whether we're struggling with food or eating disorders,
or maybe drinking wine or alcohol or other substances, however
things show up as frustrating as they are, as you know,
guilty as we may feel. We need to recognize that
these things are coping mechanisms that are actually helping us
to get through a really stressful, overwhelming since in our
(15:32):
body that we don't know otherwise how to shift right.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Excellent. I really love this discussion because food in controlling
eating and whatever patterns. It's definitely been a theme for
how I've coped with my own trauma, so it definitely relates.
I think it will resonate with people listening. Can you
share a little bit about what healthy coping skills you
(15:58):
use now turning to food when you feel disregulated?
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Well absolutely, I'm just thinking of how Number one I'm
thinking of that nervous system biology piece is the foundation
because when our nervous system biology, we can talk a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
More about what that means exactly.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
But when we're disregulated, often it's so much easier to
feel overwhelmed, to feel that dysregulation, and then we need
those coping mechanisms right in order to feel that sense
of safety and support in our body.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
So I like to.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Start by thinking about that nervous system biology piece. How
can we regulate that so we don't go into overwhelmed
so quickly and easily. But we can also use some
simple tools in order to shift the state of our
nervous system.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
And this is kind of the.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Idea behind somatic work or sematic experiencing, which is a
really lovely foundation for trauma work.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Because, like I.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
Was explaining with that, to feel anxiety in my chest
when I say, I was really amazed to recognize that
anxiety was actually what I was feeling when I thought
I was hungry, because I was so disconnected from what
I was really feeling, I didn't even recognize that I'm
actually feeling this pressure in my chest, this anxiety. We
(17:20):
dissociate from the body when we feel overwhelmed because it's.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Uncomfortable, right.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
We don't like the sensation of anxiety or depression fear. However,
it's showing up in our body that tightens their shoulders,
or maybe we kind of hold tension in our belly
for instance. So many people they dissociate from the body,
they kind of stop feeling our body. So the idea
there is we need to start reconnecting with what we're
(17:47):
truly feeling and experiencing.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
In the body, and just simple.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Some match tools can be really valuable here, really especially
focusing on creating a sense of safety right in the
body of support. And these can be simple, and if
it's okay, I'll share a nice one to start with,
and if anyone's listening, they can try this out with
me if they feel inclined to do so. But as
(18:13):
I'm just sitting here in this room that I'm in,
and I'm going to just like look around a little bit, right,
I'm looking to my right, I'm looking to my left,
looking above me. I'm orienting myself to the space that
I'm in. And it's a really simple thing, but so
often we kind of are in our heads and we're
(18:34):
not really again connecting to.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Our body and what we're actually feeling.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
And you know, the job of the nervous system is
to help us feel sick, right, we're kind of always
in the background.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It's like this.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Computer program that's kind of scanning the background for viruses. Right,
we probably all have on our computers, and that is
basically what our nervous sysdem is doing.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
It's trying to make sure we're safe.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
And so by you know, just looking around, orienting to
my environment behind me, right, I see there's there's no
tiger behind me, right, none's about to jump out and
get me, no monsters under the desk. I'm safe, right,
I'm connecting my body and I'm recognizing that sense of safety.
And that's just one really simple place to start. And
(19:19):
I love to stop and do this sometimes when I'm working,
you know, on my computer or maybe after a call,
because again, we ge't really kind of focused in our
heads and we kind of forget right that we have
a body. Soi'm and it's this ability to kind of
connect then again with ourselves, with our body, with what
we're actually experiencing and feeling. And maybe as I do
(19:41):
that and I start recognizing what I'm noticing in my body.
If I'm feeling like, oh, you know, my back's a
little uncomfortable, maybe I need to move around, maybe I
need to find some support there. Right, We're often holding
these tension patterns that we don't even recognize. Right, So
a little you know, if I say all.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Day and I'm.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Working at my computer and my bag is kind of hurting,
and I'm holding tension there, that's that's a lot of
energy that I'm putting into I may not even noticing,
but a lot of energy is going into holding that
tension in my body.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
If you think of like holding.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
A fist, Right, If I take my fist and I
clench it and I hold really tightly, and I just
do that the whole time that we're sitting here talking.
By the time we're done, like my hand is gonna
be tired, right, it's probably going to be sore a
little bit. And yet we hold these tension patterns in
our body and response to stress and trauma often and
(20:39):
we don't recognize it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
But there's where some of that fatigue.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
Shows up around the trauma response. We often refer to
it as the freeze response as well. Right, And this
just this tightness, this tension, this lack of fluidity. Right,
things can't like blood, for instance, oxygen can't flow when
there's to a muscle, So just beginning with like working
(21:03):
with simple mind body practices. I like to call them
somatic exercises scanning the body. If I notice tensions, it
can work with releasing that if it feels safe.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
That's a really lovely place to start.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
But again I like to start a go back again
to the nervous system biology, because we often have patterns
that are showing up there that are making us more susceptible,
if you will, to overwhelm and stress. And so when
we shift that biology, it's like our capacity of our
nervous system to then shift to handle stress, to deal
(21:40):
with this they come up in our life. It is
just it's just expanded. And so that's why I focus
a lot with that nervous system biology with the clients
that I work with.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Can you run us through what a typical session is
like with you and one of your clients. I know,
like everybody a different health and mental health and hormonal
energy stuff going on, but maybe a case study that
you really felt your work made a difference for Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
That sounds great. You're right.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Everybody shows up a little bit differently, and so that
ability to recognize that and kind of meet clients where
they're at. I think is one of the really lovely
things about a functional approach. You know, there's a lot
of programs out there that are, you know, a detox
program or a keyto program.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
They're kind of.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
One this fits all, and yet a functional nutrition approach
is really looking at the person in front of me
and understanding what are their particular root causes their nervous
system need right now, what is their biology showing up
as that needs to be shifted and addressed. And so
when I'm working with someone, I first start out with
(22:51):
some assessments that I give clients because please tell me
a lot about what's going on with the person in
front of me. I have some assessments that'll get neurotransmitters,
have some assessments that look.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
At biochemical imbalances.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
That are often playing a role for someone who is
dealing with kind of chron anxiety and depression type of pattern.
And so I think it's really fascinating as well, how
there's a certain like constellation of symptoms or patterns that
show up with these different imbalances. So, for example, when
(23:27):
I give someone a neurotransmitter assessment, I know someone who
has low dopamine, which is one of our neurotransmitters. I
like to think of neurotransmitters as like our feel good
chemicals in the brain, and so for dopamine as an example,
it's this neurotransmitter that helps us stay focused and present
(23:47):
and get things done. And if we're low in dopamine,
we're struggling with those things, right, We're dealing with lack
of focus. We're probably like starting things but not able
to finish them. These are the people you often need
like some coffee or caffeine to kind of help them
get back into focus. And yet that's very different than
someone who has a pattern of low serotonin, for example.
(24:11):
And so I can give someone an assessment, just like
the eating disorder of patterns, that's often a picture of
someone with low serotonin or just craving sugar or carbs,
especially late afternoon or evening, maybe not sleeping. While these
are people who tend to feel a little more down tossed.
They may have seasonal depression. And so I give someone
(24:33):
an assessment and they start like checking off all those boxes.
The more I become, you know, suspenating that they are
low in these specific neurotransmitters.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
And then there are.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Specific nutrients herbs in some cases, and you know, acids
that we can use to help actually repair the gap
there that's happening with those neurotransmitters, and just like that
for someone with low serotonin. You know, I'm thinking of
a client I work with who was you know, probably
in mid thirties. She had a few kids who were
(25:04):
like grade school age and she was going back to school,
so life was busy for her, and she was really
struggling with with her eating and reaching for food late
afternoon and you know sugar of course, those carbs that
tend to be the foods we like to reach for,
and of course, you know, it's affecting her weight. And
again there's that like shame and guilt and why can't
(25:27):
I shift this pattern? You know, all the things that
come up with that. And as we just worked on
some neurotransmitter support for her, uh, she.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Really saw that shift.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
And then you know, we did a little bit more
work to address biochemical imbalances and of course worked on nutrition,
but she was really able to shift that pattern of
reaching for food in the afternoon just by addressing the
neurotransmitter support, and then she started just having more energy
that capacity that I to talk about to make the
(25:59):
change we need to make. So she started eating better,
so that weight started coming off of her that.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
She was wanting to see shift.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
And so again, I'm always looking at someone as an
individual sitting in front of me and what's out of
balance for them, And it can be completely different from
the next person I'm working with. But as I start
with some of the assessments, that's where I start to see,
you know, kind of how these patterns are showing up
for clients and where we can bring the most attention
(26:27):
in order to shift those patterns.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
No, that's really wonderful. I think you'd probably be a
really good teacher professor too. You have a nice way
of explaining terms. That's that's really lovely. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I know were a published author. Do you want to
share some about your books or your favorite books or
whatever resonates? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Absolutely, Well, I have a book called Energy Reset that
really helping women to understand and again kind of this
root cause approach to shifting low energy and other chronic patterns,
and a lot of that tells my story. I go
a little more in depth with my struggle with not
only my eating disorder struggle, but my struggle with hashimoto
(27:16):
which is an autoimmune thyroid condition, and how you know,
I just couldn't get the answers that I needed and
how I came into this functional approach. And yet a
lot of women are just not aware that there's even
something they can do to shift these patterns with their diet,
with nutrition, with working on the nervous system response. And
(27:38):
so that's really what Energy Reset goes into. How can
we take this root cause approach where we're looking at
the underlying patterns, like what's causing these low energy patterns,
these autoimmune patterns. And often there's things going on like inflammation,
nutrient deficiencies. Sometimes there's chronic infections like I had an H.
(28:01):
Pylori infection for instance, that I discovered was part of
what was keeping me duck in that kind of chronic
low pattern or low energy pattern. So that's the goal
with Energy Reset, how to kind of understand this root
cause approach. And you know, it's been really a joy
to kind of share that book with women and share
(28:22):
my own story in.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
That book, because so many of my.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Readers have come back and you know, side like, oh,
you know, this is what I didn't know. I didn't
have this perspective on why I've been feeling, you know, tired,
run down dealing with these chronic issues. And so I'm
also working on another book actually on kind of more
from my herbal tradition and that perspective and using herbs
(28:47):
to help support healing of the nervous system from trauma,
which again affects everything, doesn't it right, art, energy, our mood,
and these other health conditions that can show up as
a result of a nervous system that's stuck in a
trauma pattern. And so, yeah, this is definitely an area
I feel really passionate about helping others with because I've
(29:08):
been there myself on that journey.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Because your books look amazing, I can't wait to check
those out more. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
And so I know for our listeners today, you're offering
a guest of it, and we'll have that link in
the show notes, But can you share where listeners should
go if they would like to connect with you or
learn more about you?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Absolutely, you find.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Me online and my website is Botannaca dot com and
that's bo t A n A c e A dot com.
But I'm sure you can put that in the show
notes as well. For your listeners and definitely connect with
me there. You can find my email address on that
site as well. And then yeah, if you if you
(29:56):
grab the assessment, this is one of the assessments I
was about actually that I give clients where it's looking
at show up around low neurotransmitter function. And this is
so valuable because sometimes when we're stuck in these patterns
with low neuro transmitters, low certnentor that assessment also looks
(30:18):
like GABBA as well as endorphins. Then you know, we
often feel overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, we can't get focused, and
again that's going to impact everything in our life, right,
And so by working on some neurotransmitters, that's where I
can give people a quick win, right, just give them
to a place where they're they're feeling better, they have
(30:40):
a little more energy, that capacity to do the things
they need and want to do to move forward in life.
And just like that client I mentioned who you know,
we supported her low serotonin symptoms and she was able
to really shift some longstanding patterns of reaching for food
as a pick me up, right, for not just energy,
(31:01):
but for her mood. And I think everyone will really
get a lot out of that assessment. Use some tips
in there as well about what to do once you
recognize which of your potential neurotransmitter systems might be out
of balance.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Thank you for that, and thank you Michelle for being
I guess I'm here today. It was really really educational
and helpful.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
It was my pleasure. Thank you for having me, Karen.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Thank you for listening in today. Please join us next week,
same day and time. Also, I would love for you
to check out my website, He'll Thrive dream dot com
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