Episode 100
100 Episode Celebration: Most Important Lessons So Far
Show notes
Grace celebrates 100 episodes by revisiting the most powerful healing lessons from the past two years—the ones listeners say changed everything. She unpacks why healing is never linear (and why your brain needs to hear that on repeat), how recovery stories actually rewire your nervous system toward safety, why food fear keeps symptoms stuck, and how to retrain your brain around eating, and what listener messages reveal about migraine relief, being able to eat again, and preventing caregiver burnout.
Grace also shares her own journey with the podcast—the mumbling, the doubts, and why repetition is the key to building new neural pathways. You'll leave with a clearer understanding of what this work is really about: reminding your body it's not broken, it's not failing, and that healing is absolutely possible when you have the right tools and support.
How to work with Grace:
- Practitioner Training-Mind Body Integtration Method Founding Cohort
- Mind-Body Healing Method Course – Regulate your nervous system now
- Free Masterclass: How to Know If Your Nervous System Is Behind Your Symptoms
- Work with us in private mind-body coaching
- Subscribe to my Substack for the deeper how-to's
Connect with Grace
Read the transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, hello, and welcome to the 100th episode of the Heal with Grace podcast.
[00:00:07] Honestly, it's a little surreal. I can't even process it. I've been sitting here meditating
[00:00:13] before recording this and thinking like, oh, you know, have this magical lesson come to me
[00:00:19] and let me speak with words of wisdom. And I'm not gonna lie. I don't have anything specific,
[00:00:25] like amazing to share with you. I have notes and everything I am going to share from. But sometimes
[00:00:30] I don't know about you, but I'm that person where if I hit a milestone or I do something important
[00:00:35] in my life, I don't often feel the effects of it right away. I'm not often like, oh my gosh,
[00:00:40] this is amazing. It usually hits me a little bit after. So maybe later this week or something,
[00:00:45] when I look back, I'm a little bit of a delayed response person. So that all being said,
[00:00:50] I very still much am excited and really looking forward to this episode. It just feels like there's
[00:00:56] nothing special necessarily about the number, but a hundred episodes. That's huge. And I'm barely at
[00:01:00] the end of year two. And this podcast has grown so much more than I could ever imagine.
[00:01:06] Starting this podcast, I didn't have much of a plan. All I knew was that I wanted to share
[00:01:10] more than I could share on these little Instagram posts and TikTok posts. Like I just,
[00:01:15] I needed more, more, I need to say more and share more and help more. And I feel like I've done that
[00:01:22] so far, more to come for sure. Okay, let's go ahead and get into some of the most important
[00:01:27] healing lessons that I have shared here on the Heal with Grace podcast and what we've all
[00:01:32] learned together and what we have to look forward to. Hey there and welcome to Heal
[00:01:37] with Grace. I'm your host, Grace Secker, and I'm a holistic licensed therapist and
[00:01:42] nervous system coach who believes that the chronic and often unseen symptoms you're living with
[00:01:46] are a sign of something deeper going on. A sign that your nervous system needs attention. In each
[00:01:52] episode, I'll share the science behind the most common chronic health disorders plus holistic health
[00:01:57] tips using mental, physical, and spiritual practices. You'll hear what I've learned in
[00:02:02] my journey and the true stories from our trusted guests so you can feel less alone in your
[00:02:07] experience and give yourself grace no matter what you're going through. So without further ado,
[00:02:12] settle in and get cozy. It's time to heal with Grace. Alright, so like I said, when I hit record
[00:02:19] for the very first time, I never imagined we'd be here at a hundred episodes or just didn't even
[00:02:24] think about it. It just didn't even cross my mind. My goal with this podcast was to put out
[00:02:29] one a week for the first year. One a week, first year, that was my goal and I hit it
[00:02:33] and then I just kept going and I really wanted to grow it and I'm not going to lie. I
[00:02:37] just want to share this one thing with you. So I've been trying to figure out how to grow my
[00:02:41] business in different ways and help you more and create things that can just help people. And
[00:02:45] I was chatting with ChatGBT about how to grow my podcast and I was like, okay, so in 2026, how do
[00:02:51] I grow this? And in my mind, I was kind of thinking like, I wonder if I go down to every
[00:02:55] other week or I keep the weekly cadence of podcasts and ChatGBT said in order to grow,
[00:03:02] you need to be putting out six to eight episodes a month, y'all. But if I'm going to preach like
[00:03:08] staying in tune with your body and regulating your nervous system, that's a horrible idea.
[00:03:12] That's a lot. So I said, okay, nope, I'm going to stick with fuels, right? And that's once a week
[00:03:16] and that's what I've done for year two as well. And y'all apparently really like it and you're
[00:03:21] getting a lot from it. So I'm really happy about that. For sure. I just never imagined
[00:03:26] that it would grow and y'all would get so much from it. I think if you've listened to my
[00:03:30] earlier episodes, you know that I have always actually struggled with speaking and sharing
[00:03:35] my words in a concise and clear way. I struggled with a lot of learning disabilities growing up
[00:03:41] and struggled a lot in school. And so that kind of kept me quiet. I didn't really put myself out
[00:03:46] there. And so when I started this podcast, all I know is that I wanted to do it. I just felt
[00:03:51] this calling. I'd been thinking about it for a long time. Again, I just wanted to have a
[00:03:55] bigger platform to share more instead of just little social media posts. And so I knew that
[00:04:00] I would have a couple hurdles. One, I can mumble sometimes. I've been told that. I think that is
[00:04:07] my mechanism to kind of stay small and hidden is I mumble over my words because if we're talking
[00:04:13] about negative beliefs here, I think I have a negative belief that I don't have the space
[00:04:17] or time to be heard. You know, there's a lot of people going fast and they don't
[00:04:21] have the space or time to hear me. And that is obviously further from the truth
[00:04:26] because of how much this has grown. So I really did work on it though. I worked on it in early
[00:04:31] episodes. I worked on my mumbling. And sometimes when I get excited, I can talk fast and it
[00:04:36] might happen. When I get really passionate about something, I just share more. I talk fast
[00:04:41] and I can start to mumble. But I have really come far with that. So proud of myself.
[00:04:45] Another reason that I started this was because when I started my journey with healing
[00:04:49] chronic symptoms, I had absolutely no idea what was out there. There were other programs
[00:04:54] and things out there, but I didn't know about any of them. There were no podcasts. Podcasts
[00:04:59] were still kind of, I mean, they were getting popular, but it wasn't like there's a podcast
[00:05:03] for everything now. There just weren't a lot of resources. And man, if I had this
[00:05:08] when I was healing, when I was learning about all this, I cannot imagine it would have been
[00:05:13] so helpful because I've always been a podcast person. I will be loyal to one that helps me
[00:05:17] and I will listen to all the episodes. I'll take it all in. And so I really just wanted a place
[00:05:22] where I could build some more community. I could really help you in what you're struggling with.
[00:05:27] And I think that I've been able to put out there what you need based on what I hear from my clients,
[00:05:34] what I hear from your reviews. And when you DM me, you know, what you're requesting,
[00:05:38] what you're telling me that's helping you, keep sharing with me. Write a review,
[00:05:41] tell me what's working, what's not. Tell me what you want to hear more of.
[00:05:45] It helps me put out the best content, right? And then I obviously very much so pull from my
[00:05:49] own personal experience in healing this work and doing this work. And then obviously as my
[00:05:54] professional background as a therapist and nervous system coach and all of the trainings that I
[00:05:58] have had. So I put all of that together to really give you the best content that I hope
[00:06:03] will help you. So with that being said, I'm actually going to share for the bulk of this
[00:06:08] podcast episode, some of the episodes that I've done really well that y'all really enjoy
[00:06:12] that's helped you. I'm going to share some of the lessons that I've had the most responses from
[00:06:17] from people being like, Oh, this one helped me so much. And oh my gosh, that was like the best
[00:06:21] episode that really hit home. Now, obviously, everyone's a little bit different. Some things
[00:06:26] hit for people differently than others. But as a whole, the most episodes that have been
[00:06:31] downloaded, I've taken some of those lessons and I'm summarizing them all to really help
[00:06:35] you solidify some of this work because, well, we know that this work needs to be heard
[00:06:40] and repeated over and over and over and over again for our brains and our nervous systems to
[00:06:47] grab onto this work. I mean, I've been doing this work for 10 plus years and there are still times
[00:06:54] and there will continue to be times where I'll hear something and be like, Oh yeah, I've probably
[00:06:57] heard that a million times, but I could totally forget about that. And that really helped
[00:07:01] me right now. You know, our brains will always look for what's wrong. Our brains will always
[00:07:05] look for what we used to know the patterns we always repeat. So if we start giving it
[00:07:09] new patterns, new information that helps build new neural networks to retrain the brain, to
[00:07:14] retrain the nervous system, we can start to build that safety and regulation and healing
[00:07:19] by repeating the safety regulation and healing patterns that we want to input into our brains
[00:07:24] and our bodies. Instead of the negative healing patterns and negative neural pathways
[00:07:29] that our brains have developed that are danger signals that send our bodies
[00:07:33] danger like symptoms and pain. I want to help you get out of that. And the way to do that
[00:07:38] is to continue to repeat patterns and lessons. So first up, our first lesson that has been very,
[00:07:45] very popular with everyone. And I know I need to hear it often is that healing is not linear.
[00:07:50] Are you sitting there being like, yeah, duh. Yeah, it's usually the ones that we go, oh, duh too,
[00:07:55] that we're like, Oh yeah, I forgot that when I'm in the worst of my spirals and I'm in the
[00:08:00] depths of my pain during a day, like we totally forget that, right? We completely forget the
[00:08:04] healing is linear. More often than not, healing looks like spiraling and then a straight line.
[00:08:10] We're going to make some progress. We're going to learn something new. We're going to implement it.
[00:08:13] We're going to find safety in our bodies. And then we're going to hit a little bit of a
[00:08:17] danger signal. We're going to hit a little bit of a downfall, a downward spiral that,
[00:08:23] you know, is not so fun and create some danger in our brains. And then we're going to be
[00:08:28] reminded that healing is not perfect. It is not linear. And it takes as long as it takes.
[00:08:33] I know that sometimes it's annoying to hear, but it is very, very true. Because I can tell you,
[00:08:38] I don't know one person who has learned this work, who has healed, who's gotten over it,
[00:08:43] and has never experienced it again. I've heard the stories. I have. There's been a few, for sure.
[00:08:48] And actually, I guess I have had probably a couple on my program, my body healing method,
[00:08:52] but it's not necessarily the norm and it doesn't mean they never suffer again.
[00:08:56] Because life is not about getting over everything and being fine and perfect for the rest of
[00:09:00] your life. Healing is about learning to ride the waves of life, of difficult experiences,
[00:09:06] of hard times. But it's not about being in symptoms and pain and illness. So I want to be
[00:09:12] clear about that. When I say healing isn't linear, I don't mean you need to experience
[00:09:16] symptoms the rest of your life. And it's just about managing them. No, I'm not here to help
[00:09:21] you manage your symptoms. I'm here to help you actually healing move through them and decrease
[00:09:26] them if not eliminate them. Everyone's different. And it obviously depends on what kind of
[00:09:30] symptoms and illness you're coming in with. But it is possible to actually recover. And I like the
[00:09:37] word recovery because it means that we have moved past a certain pattern. So for example, maybe you've
[00:09:44] had some hip pain or back pain or maybe migraines for however many years. Most people I hear are
[00:09:51] like, I've dealt with this for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and you are starting to do
[00:09:56] this work. You're starting to see some progress. Usually what happens is you start to increase the
[00:10:01] amount of time that you don't have symptoms. So maybe you go like a week without anything and
[00:10:06] you're like, oh my gosh, I just realized I haven't had that pain or I haven't had a migraine in a week.
[00:10:11] That's incredible. That is recovery. And when I mean it's not linear is, okay, maybe next week
[00:10:18] you have a day or two that sucks. You're in pain, you have a headache, you have your symptoms
[00:10:22] and it's annoying. But it doesn't mean you're failing. It doesn't mean you're going backwards.
[00:10:26] It just means your brain and your body are used to that pattern. And they're going to
[00:10:30] keep staying in that pattern as you work on this. But it's about these smaller incremental changes
[00:10:35] where we realize in certain scenarios where you used to have symptoms, they're not there anymore
[00:10:39] or they're decreased or you go longer without them or you go to a family function and you're
[00:10:44] okay and you're not miserable. Those things really matter. Those times matter. And over
[00:10:49] time, that builds up to, oh wow, yeah, I don't have to worry about that anymore. Those symptoms
[00:10:54] are gone. It really can happen. It's possible. I've done it. And yes, it's taken time and I've been
[00:10:58] that person who's had all different kinds of symptoms from pain to illness to fatigue to
[00:11:03] histoines to all the things you can go back and listen to my story. And it's taken time,
[00:11:08] truly, truly has. But I can confidently say actually, especially in my life right now,
[00:11:13] I don't have to be afraid or look out for symptoms or bubble wrap myself in my life
[00:11:19] because I'm afraid of doing things. Even last year I was afraid of doing things because of a lot of
[00:11:24] symptoms I was having. Now I'm not. I'm not afraid of travel. I'm not afraid of social plans.
[00:11:29] Not afraid of signing up for a 20, 30 mile bike ride where I used to be or I would sign up and
[00:11:35] I'd cancel. Things like that. Like I'm not afraid of that anymore because I know that
[00:11:39] my body is okay and can handle it. More importantly, I've built the safety, which is
[00:11:45] learning lesson number two, finding safety in your nervous system. I've learned to build
[00:11:49] safety within my nervous system to remind it that it's okay to experience difficult situations
[00:11:54] in life. It's okay to experience heart emotions. And since I have imprinted that
[00:12:00] code, if you will, if I've imprinted that lesson within my body and my brain to say,
[00:12:05] hey, if we experienced something hard, we can feel it. We can handle it. It's okay. You don't
[00:12:10] have to shut me down. You don't have to send me signals to take me out of life. You don't have
[00:12:14] to send me the pain that I used to have. I can be in my life. That is the switch from
[00:12:19] constantly having symptoms to recovery mode when our nervous systems and our brains know that.
[00:12:24] And it takes practice of feeling emotions, being in our life, expanding our window of
[00:12:30] tolerance, which I'll talk about in a second, to be able for our bodies to be like, oh, yeah,
[00:12:35] we got this. All right, I don't need to send you danger signals. I don't need to shut you down with
[00:12:39] fatigue. I don't need to shut you down with pain. Or we could say it's protecting us, right? Our
[00:12:44] bodies are protecting us with those things. And so number two is about how we create safety
[00:12:49] in our nervous system. So one of the most popular episodes, which actually I'm coming
[00:12:54] up to in my holiday edition, we're going to share it again, is how to find authentic ways
[00:13:00] of creating safety in our nervous systems with Vanessa Blackstone. That episode still
[00:13:04] today is number one. Everyone loves it. It's so, so helpful. And one of one of what we talked about
[00:13:10] was sometimes safety looks telling your safety looks like telling yourself, it's okay not to
[00:13:16] be okay. It's okay not to be okay. I know you may not want to say that, but what that does
[00:13:24] to your nervous system is say it's an exhale. It's an exhale and a nervous system and a body
[00:13:31] that you've probably been tightly controlled. You've been fighting yourself, avoiding yourself,
[00:13:37] just not able to actually be with yourself. And instead of trying to say you're okay,
[00:13:43] say it's okay, it's okay, I got this, just telling yourself it's okay not to be okay
[00:13:46] sometimes can really bring about a lot of safety. It doesn't mean it's great and happy
[00:13:51] and you're grounded and wonderful. It's just that you're meeting yourself where you are.
[00:13:57] You're taking a really good look or really good feeling of your nervous system, your body right
[00:14:02] now. And you're saying, okay, I see you. Yeah, we're not okay right now. And I'm just going
[00:14:07] to sit here with it and hold you. That's one of the most powerful things you can do for your
[00:14:12] body for your nervous system. Because again, the whole reason your body is in this pattern
[00:14:18] of illness and pain is because it's trying to protect you from actually being with you
[00:14:23] or being in your life, which is with you. Does that make sense? So it is that your place of
[00:14:29] solitude, it's your place of exhaling, of pausing, where you start to build that safety.
[00:14:37] And sometimes I get it that is so hard to do. I mean, oh, yeah, and my moments of spiraling
[00:14:44] and really deep fatigue and pain. That was hard. I'm not just going to sit there and meditate with
[00:14:49] myself. But if you can find a mantra to help yourself feel okay or safe in those moments of,
[00:14:55] you know what, this is temporary, it's not going to last or it's okay not to be okay.
[00:14:59] Something that can help you just be in tune with yourself for a second. Just meet you where
[00:15:04] you are. Because what we want to do is stop the fight. Stop the fight with yourself.
[00:15:09] Stop bringing about this unhappiness with who you are and what you bring to life.
[00:15:15] Hey, friends, it's Grace. If you feel like you've been doing all of the treatment protocols
[00:15:20] and all the different modalities to heal and you're still not feeling better and it's just
[00:15:24] kind of managing things, I'm here to talk to you for a second. So it's not because you're
[00:15:29] doing it wrong or you just haven't found the answer yet. It's truly because your nervous
[00:15:34] system and brain are still operating in protection mode. And your nervous system and brain, when it
[00:15:40] perceives danger, physical or emotional danger, and even just ongoing stress, it keeps your body on
[00:15:46] high alert. So none of those treatment modalities are actually going to stick or work until you
[00:15:51] work with the bottom line, which is your brain and nervous system. Because when you're in
[00:15:55] the danger mode state, your digestion, immune system, hormones and pain signals all get
[00:16:00] affected. It's like trying to heal while the alarm bells are still ringing in the background.
[00:16:06] And that is why so many people get stuck. You can do all of the treatment things you want,
[00:16:11] but if your system isn't regulated, your body can't access its natural healing state.
[00:16:17] This is exactly why I created my four month signature program, the mind body healing method.
[00:16:23] It's a step by step process that helps you calm your system,
[00:16:26] rewire old stress patterns and retrain your brain to feel safe again. So you can finally start to
[00:16:32] heal for good chronic pain and illness. This is a true recovery program, not just management.
[00:16:38] You'll get guided lessons, nervous system practices, live support, individual and group
[00:16:42] support and a community that actually understands what you're going through.
[00:16:47] Enrollment is now open. So you can find the link below in the show notes
[00:16:51] or go to elevatetherapywellness.com slash mind body healing method. Because until your brain
[00:16:57] and body feel safe, no protocol or treatment plan will actually work. When your nervous system
[00:17:04] works, everything starts to heal, which brings me actually to my next one. Number three,
[00:17:10] authenticity will heal you. I know this isn't the exact maybe like protocol or nervous
[00:17:16] system skill that you want to hear. Or maybe you will, I don't know, I don't want to put
[00:17:20] words into your mouth. But this one is so, so big, especially if you've kind of been in this work
[00:17:25] for a little bit, maybe you've learned some skills, some tools, maybe you've been in the
[00:17:29] mind body healing method for a little bit, or in a different program. And you started to learn
[00:17:34] how to find some safety, how to ground, how maybe you've recovered from some of your
[00:17:38] symptoms, but you're still on this work. There's still some lingering things happening.
[00:17:43] It really takes a good hard look at yourself and your life to figure out where you are
[00:17:48] not being authentic. Sometimes it's pretty hidden. I mean, there's plenty of times where I truly didn't
[00:17:53] see it at all. And then realized, yeah, I'm trying to be someone that I'm not, or I'm trying to do
[00:17:58] this thing like someone else, and I really don't like it. It doesn't fit me. Or I'm actually friends
[00:18:03] with these people that I don't actually feel comfortable around. They don't really uplift my
[00:18:07] life. You know, actually they kind of bring me down. Or maybe you're in a relationship that
[00:18:11] you're unhappy in, but you haven't really wanted to look at it because I mean, that's
[00:18:15] really freaking scary, you know? And so where you're not being authentic to yourself and your
[00:18:21] life is a huge place to look at in this journey. It takes looking at how are you talking to yourself?
[00:18:28] How are you viewing yourself? How are you taking care of yourself? Might not see it all
[00:18:33] now, but it will unravel. Because if you don't look at this, it's still going to be
[00:18:38] dangerous signal scent from your brain and your nervous system because it's protecting you
[00:18:43] from this place of an inauthenticity that you're in. Now, I said this before, Dr.
[00:18:47] Gabor Maté talks about this all the time. I'd highly recommend googling him, finding him on
[00:18:51] YouTube, and he has videos everywhere. But his whole thing is literally, if you are
[00:18:56] inauthentic, it will make you sick. Our brains and our nervous systems are wired to keep us
[00:19:00] safe. And they keep us safe from ourselves if we feel like ourselves are not okay to be.
[00:19:06] So that has been one that I've kind of threaded through in some of these episodes.
[00:19:11] This authenticity place. But I really wanted to bring that home so that you can see how much it
[00:19:18] matters, especially if you're sitting here like banging your head against the wall because you're
[00:19:22] stuck. How are you talking to yourself? How are you viewing yourself? Where are you creating
[00:19:27] shame? Where are you shaming yourself for showing up or not showing up in the world?
[00:19:31] Where are you afraid to be yourself? I want you to take a look at that.
[00:19:34] The next one, one of the episodes that also was really popular was navigating a higher
[00:19:40] needs nervous system with Christy Weepie. I love that episode. We both shared personal
[00:19:45] stories. We shared client stories. The whole premise of it is that you can be a sensitive
[00:19:50] person if you have identified with being a highly sensitive person or you just kind of,
[00:19:55] you just know you're sensitive to things. That's okay. You can still do that and heal.
[00:19:59] You can still be sensitive to your environment, to people, to emotions, and still recover
[00:20:05] because through this work, what we're doing is regardless of where you are on the sensitivity
[00:20:09] scale, we are expanding your window of tolerance to tolerate life essentially because what's
[00:20:16] happened over time is your window of tolerance has become really small. And what that means
[00:20:21] is when it becomes really small, any little thing, whether that is an environmental toxin,
[00:20:26] an emotion, a conflict in a relationship, a work issue, food, ride in the car,
[00:20:32] something that you sit on. All of these things are going to impact you because your nervous system,
[00:20:38] your window of tolerance is really small. It doesn't have the capacity to deal with what we
[00:20:42] associate as danger. And so as we decrease the danger signals, we recognize that actually
[00:20:47] sitting is not bad for you. Food is not bad for you. Environmental toxins are not going to
[00:20:52] make you sick in a really detrimental way. Mold is actually not something that you
[00:20:57] should be afraid of. All of these things, once we learn that and associate that in your
[00:21:01] brain, you expand your tolerance for these things. Now, obviously, I'm not saying like go
[00:21:07] and sit in a dumpster forever or something, right? I'm in breath and all the toxins,
[00:21:14] but I am saying that your body, your nervous system is so strong and powerful. It is so wise.
[00:21:24] We just don't give it enough credit. It can handle a lot. So only if we can give it
[00:21:30] the space and the power to do so. So, okay, I'm getting a little off track here.
[00:21:34] So again, you can be someone that's a little more sensitive. That's totally fine. Sativity can be a
[00:21:40] superpower, especially if you're someone who kind of reads people well and you always can take the
[00:21:45] temperature or the pulse of the room. You say that you take on people's emotions like you
[00:21:49] care for people and can feel them. That's all great. But if you take it on all the time,
[00:21:54] that's not healthy. Being sensitive is being empathic, being loving, being in tune with yourself
[00:22:00] and others in a boundary way. And when we expand our window of tolerance for these things, we can take
[00:22:06] on a lot more, not that I'm trying to pack on everything in your life. I just don't want you
[00:22:10] to be afraid of more. That's the thing. Don't want you to be afraid of your life,
[00:22:14] afraid of experiences, afraid of relationships, afraid of emotions, afraid of food. I don't
[00:22:19] want you to be afraid. So when we expand our window of tolerance, you expand your capacity
[00:22:23] for things in life and decrease the fear around them. And that's huge. And you learn to take care
[00:22:29] of yourself. Like I'm a boundary person with my routine for a reason because it helps me.
[00:22:33] It sets me up. I can't do this work if I'm not boundaryed and taking care of myself.
[00:22:38] So that's important. But it used to be that I was so afraid of a busy schedule. I was so
[00:22:42] afraid of taking on more. I truly couldn't handle it. My nervous system would shut me down.
[00:22:47] Now, man, I've expanded my capacity a lot. So much so that sometimes I have to question it.
[00:22:52] And I'm like, all right, Grace, how much are you taking on? But again, it's not from a place of fear.
[00:22:56] It's from a place of just like, okay, all right, let's see what's appropriate right now.
[00:22:59] And last but not least, what we have realized that has really helped you is storytelling. So the
[00:23:06] episodes that I tell either my story or a client's story or the guests that I have on that
[00:23:11] share their stories, you all seem to really resonate with that, which makes so much sense,
[00:23:16] right? Like we actually very much so know through research that sharing healing stories,
[00:23:21] the power of that makes a huge difference in someone's recovery. Because if your brain is sitting
[00:23:26] here thinking like, well, I can't heal, I'm sick, I can't, I have this, this, and this wrong with
[00:23:31] me. But then you start to hear other stories of people who have healed in this mind body way.
[00:23:36] It creates an opening and hope for you. Because essentially we're asking you, I'm asking you
[00:23:41] to look at your health in a completely different way than what you've been told or taught
[00:23:45] in normal Western culture, that physical is physical. And that's it. That's just boxed
[00:23:50] in. It's like only physical issues can be treated physically. And I'm asking you to
[00:23:54] change that narrative and to look at the research and the science and the stories
[00:23:58] behind people that have healed from retraining their brains and understanding their nervous
[00:24:02] systems. I'm asking you to look at that. And so I could talk to you all day long,
[00:24:06] but I'm just one person, the more people that share their stories that share how they've
[00:24:11] healed and what's helped them, more power we have and know that this work works.
[00:24:17] Because there's plenty of people, which I get it, plenty of people that are skeptical
[00:24:20] and you might be sitting here too being like, I don't know about this. There's so many people
[00:24:23] I've had consult calls with who are like, I don't know, maybe, you know, but if they hear more and
[00:24:30] more stories of people just like them experiencing similar symptoms, heal through this work,
[00:24:35] through mind body healing work, then maybe they'll give it more of a chance. Maybe they'll
[00:24:40] open their minds to it, right? Oh, stories matter. And if you're listening to this and
[00:24:45] you have a recovery story that you would like to share, please, please reach out to me.
[00:24:49] I would love to, if it's appropriate, if the story's appropriate, I would love to have you
[00:24:54] on the podcast. I want to host more and more healing stories so that all of our listeners
[00:24:59] can know it's possible because I can share mine, but I'm just one person, you know?
[00:25:03] So the next thing that I want to do is I want to share a few messages that we've
[00:25:07] received from people. How much did this help them? Because it just kind of warms my heart
[00:25:12] and I think it'll help you as well, just continuing to reiterate, like we said,
[00:25:16] stories matter, right? I've had people say, like, I started decreasing symptoms, specifically
[00:25:22] migraines just by listening to your podcast. My doctors were amazed and tried to take credit,
[00:25:27] but I wouldn't give it to them. I laugh because I love that, right? Like, yeah, what I think,
[00:25:33] again, once we can listen to these lessons and hear the stories, it actually helps our
[00:25:37] brains release the danger signals and releases the tension that we're in the fight, fight,
[00:25:42] place. Someone else said your podcast helped me be able to eat again and decrease symptoms.
[00:25:47] If you have not realized so far, if you haven't listened to as many of my episodes, you will start
[00:25:53] to realize how much I talk about the association with food. There's so much fear around food out
[00:25:58] there that creates fear in our bodies. And when we fear food, our brains and our bodies legit
[00:26:04] reject them. It completely will reject the food if you're afraid of it. But in order to
[00:26:09] actually be okay with the food, we have to retrain our brains and our bodies to recognize
[00:26:14] that they can be okay to eat that, that the food is not danger. Food is not the problem.
[00:26:18] That is the hill I will die on. Food is not the problem. You're not sensitive to it. We can
[00:26:23] rewire that. I'm very, very clear on that. Now, how long that takes or what it looks like
[00:26:29] is different for every person, but I know that it is possible. Okay, I'll get off my food
[00:26:32] soapbox. Someone else said, I'm really enjoying your podcast. I've recommended them to friends
[00:26:37] and finding things to work on myself to avoid career caregiver burnout and be healthier. So,
[00:26:42] thank you caregiver burnout. That's a big one. I've heard people say they share my podcast to
[00:26:48] their family members or people that kind of help them along the way. So they can learn a little
[00:26:52] bit more about this process, right? And actually what's going on because so many people just
[00:26:57] don't get it if they've never experienced chronic symptoms. And how could they? They don't know.
[00:27:03] They don't know what it's like. But if they can start to hear maybe some more stories or lessons
[00:27:08] and just get a little bit more of a gist of what's going on, they might be able to help you more,
[00:27:13] just be more empathetic, be open to your experience. So I think that's a really important
[00:27:18] part of this process, right? Our family members and friends that are watching us go through this.
[00:27:23] Okay, I just want to take a minute to thank all of you listening. I am very, very serious.
[00:27:30] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here, for sharing it, for listening,
[00:27:35] for doing your work. The more that you do this, the more that you recover, the more ripple effect
[00:27:40] you have in your life. So it's not even about how many episodes you've listened to.
[00:27:47] It's about you doing this work and continuing to help yourself and recover because the more
[00:27:53] people we have recovered from this work, the more people, one, that obviously can share
[00:27:57] their stories, but also too, can just live their best lives. And when we can live our best lives,
[00:28:03] we have such a ripple effect on the rest of the world and the people around us. It is in the
[00:28:07] highest and best interest of you to be your highest and best self, to be your most recovered self
[00:28:13] and loving self so that we can continue to make this world and this planet a better place.
[00:28:17] I very, very much so believe that. So thank you so much for being here and thank you so
[00:28:22] much for showing up and doing your work. It is not easy. I think this is one of the
[00:28:26] hardest things that someone can go through and someone can do. This work changes your life
[00:28:30] for the better. Oh my gosh, I would be a completely different person if I didn't go through this.
[00:28:34] I'd probably be a very miserable person if I didn't go through this. And I am more myself
[00:28:38] than I ever have been in my life because of this work. And that's why I'm able to show up
[00:28:42] here and help you. So again, thank yourself. Thank you for being here. I am so, so happy
[00:28:48] for this milestone and I'm really excited for the next 100 episodes. I'm excited to keep
[00:28:53] sharing lessons. I'm really excited to continue to share more stories. So again, if you feel like
[00:28:58] you have a story or you know someone new as a recovery story, you do not have to be 100%
[00:29:03] healed, right? Because we know that healing is linear. You just have to show up and share some
[00:29:07] of your story. So I would love to have you if you are interested. You can DM me or find a link
[00:29:13] below to contact me. And I'm going to bring up some pretty interesting guests in the next 100
[00:29:17] episodes next year. So stay tuned. I'm really excited. Some cool names out there. I'm going to
[00:29:23] keep bringing on some really fascinating guests and people that are very in-depth in this field
[00:29:29] and do really amazing work. So stay tuned because I just I can't wait for them. Just remember that
[00:29:34] this podcast is really about reminding your body that it is not broken. It's not wrong.
[00:29:41] It's not failing. And that healing is possible and that you do not have to do it alone.
[00:29:46] So please share this podcast with a friend. I would absolutely love it if you'd leave a review
[00:29:53] so that we continue to grow it. The more we grow, the more that this podcast,
[00:29:56] different platforms will push it out to more people. You know how the algorithm will like
[00:30:00] give you a podcast that might resonate with you. The more reviews and likes that we have,
[00:30:05] the more that it does that. So it would be really helpful if you could do that so we
[00:30:08] could share it. And if you have been listening and you're grasping some of these lessons,
[00:30:13] you're really kind of grabbing on to this work and you want to go a little bit deeper.
[00:30:17] You want some more support. That is where my mind body healing method comes into play for you.
[00:30:22] It is my signature group program that is four months long. You get group support every
[00:30:27] single week with a mind body coach, including me, as well as you get individual sessions
[00:30:33] included in the four months as well. And then you get the content, you get all of the
[00:30:37] practices for lifetime. It is a very special community because again, I never had a community
[00:30:42] people that do this in isolation, that you're trying to be at home doing it on your own.
[00:30:46] You can make progress totally, but more often than not, what I find is that people make progress
[00:30:51] on their own, but they still find themselves really stuck. And it's because we can't see
[00:30:55] everything about ourselves. I would not have been here at all if I did not have the support
[00:31:01] for my therapist and coaches and mentors. There's no way I'd be here without it.
[00:31:05] It's really important to get that feedback and that support. So if you feel like it's
[00:31:09] time for you, find the link below for the mind body healing method. You can ask me any questions
[00:31:13] and I would love to have you. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for being here.
[00:31:18] Here's for the next 100 episodes together and keep healing with grace.
[00:31:23] If this podcast means something to you, it would mean so much to me if you could do these
[00:31:27] couple things. One, go to the heal with grace show page wherever you listen and tap
[00:31:32] the plus sign or click on the follow button so you don't miss an episode. It helps both
[00:31:36] of us out. While you're there, if you could give a five star review so that this podcast can reach
[00:31:42] more people, it would mean so much to me. So I can continue sharing episodes that help you
[00:31:47] as well as others. Thanks for listening and I hope this brings you hope on your journey.
[00:00:07] Honestly, it's a little surreal. I can't even process it. I've been sitting here meditating
[00:00:13] before recording this and thinking like, oh, you know, have this magical lesson come to me
[00:00:19] and let me speak with words of wisdom. And I'm not gonna lie. I don't have anything specific,
[00:00:25] like amazing to share with you. I have notes and everything I am going to share from. But sometimes
[00:00:30] I don't know about you, but I'm that person where if I hit a milestone or I do something important
[00:00:35] in my life, I don't often feel the effects of it right away. I'm not often like, oh my gosh,
[00:00:40] this is amazing. It usually hits me a little bit after. So maybe later this week or something,
[00:00:45] when I look back, I'm a little bit of a delayed response person. So that all being said,
[00:00:50] I very still much am excited and really looking forward to this episode. It just feels like there's
[00:00:56] nothing special necessarily about the number, but a hundred episodes. That's huge. And I'm barely at
[00:01:00] the end of year two. And this podcast has grown so much more than I could ever imagine.
[00:01:06] Starting this podcast, I didn't have much of a plan. All I knew was that I wanted to share
[00:01:10] more than I could share on these little Instagram posts and TikTok posts. Like I just,
[00:01:15] I needed more, more, I need to say more and share more and help more. And I feel like I've done that
[00:01:22] so far, more to come for sure. Okay, let's go ahead and get into some of the most important
[00:01:27] healing lessons that I have shared here on the Heal with Grace podcast and what we've all
[00:01:32] learned together and what we have to look forward to. Hey there and welcome to Heal
[00:01:37] with Grace. I'm your host, Grace Secker, and I'm a holistic licensed therapist and
[00:01:42] nervous system coach who believes that the chronic and often unseen symptoms you're living with
[00:01:46] are a sign of something deeper going on. A sign that your nervous system needs attention. In each
[00:01:52] episode, I'll share the science behind the most common chronic health disorders plus holistic health
[00:01:57] tips using mental, physical, and spiritual practices. You'll hear what I've learned in
[00:02:02] my journey and the true stories from our trusted guests so you can feel less alone in your
[00:02:07] experience and give yourself grace no matter what you're going through. So without further ado,
[00:02:12] settle in and get cozy. It's time to heal with Grace. Alright, so like I said, when I hit record
[00:02:19] for the very first time, I never imagined we'd be here at a hundred episodes or just didn't even
[00:02:24] think about it. It just didn't even cross my mind. My goal with this podcast was to put out
[00:02:29] one a week for the first year. One a week, first year, that was my goal and I hit it
[00:02:33] and then I just kept going and I really wanted to grow it and I'm not going to lie. I
[00:02:37] just want to share this one thing with you. So I've been trying to figure out how to grow my
[00:02:41] business in different ways and help you more and create things that can just help people. And
[00:02:45] I was chatting with ChatGBT about how to grow my podcast and I was like, okay, so in 2026, how do
[00:02:51] I grow this? And in my mind, I was kind of thinking like, I wonder if I go down to every
[00:02:55] other week or I keep the weekly cadence of podcasts and ChatGBT said in order to grow,
[00:03:02] you need to be putting out six to eight episodes a month, y'all. But if I'm going to preach like
[00:03:08] staying in tune with your body and regulating your nervous system, that's a horrible idea.
[00:03:12] That's a lot. So I said, okay, nope, I'm going to stick with fuels, right? And that's once a week
[00:03:16] and that's what I've done for year two as well. And y'all apparently really like it and you're
[00:03:21] getting a lot from it. So I'm really happy about that. For sure. I just never imagined
[00:03:26] that it would grow and y'all would get so much from it. I think if you've listened to my
[00:03:30] earlier episodes, you know that I have always actually struggled with speaking and sharing
[00:03:35] my words in a concise and clear way. I struggled with a lot of learning disabilities growing up
[00:03:41] and struggled a lot in school. And so that kind of kept me quiet. I didn't really put myself out
[00:03:46] there. And so when I started this podcast, all I know is that I wanted to do it. I just felt
[00:03:51] this calling. I'd been thinking about it for a long time. Again, I just wanted to have a
[00:03:55] bigger platform to share more instead of just little social media posts. And so I knew that
[00:04:00] I would have a couple hurdles. One, I can mumble sometimes. I've been told that. I think that is
[00:04:07] my mechanism to kind of stay small and hidden is I mumble over my words because if we're talking
[00:04:13] about negative beliefs here, I think I have a negative belief that I don't have the space
[00:04:17] or time to be heard. You know, there's a lot of people going fast and they don't
[00:04:21] have the space or time to hear me. And that is obviously further from the truth
[00:04:26] because of how much this has grown. So I really did work on it though. I worked on it in early
[00:04:31] episodes. I worked on my mumbling. And sometimes when I get excited, I can talk fast and it
[00:04:36] might happen. When I get really passionate about something, I just share more. I talk fast
[00:04:41] and I can start to mumble. But I have really come far with that. So proud of myself.
[00:04:45] Another reason that I started this was because when I started my journey with healing
[00:04:49] chronic symptoms, I had absolutely no idea what was out there. There were other programs
[00:04:54] and things out there, but I didn't know about any of them. There were no podcasts. Podcasts
[00:04:59] were still kind of, I mean, they were getting popular, but it wasn't like there's a podcast
[00:05:03] for everything now. There just weren't a lot of resources. And man, if I had this
[00:05:08] when I was healing, when I was learning about all this, I cannot imagine it would have been
[00:05:13] so helpful because I've always been a podcast person. I will be loyal to one that helps me
[00:05:17] and I will listen to all the episodes. I'll take it all in. And so I really just wanted a place
[00:05:22] where I could build some more community. I could really help you in what you're struggling with.
[00:05:27] And I think that I've been able to put out there what you need based on what I hear from my clients,
[00:05:34] what I hear from your reviews. And when you DM me, you know, what you're requesting,
[00:05:38] what you're telling me that's helping you, keep sharing with me. Write a review,
[00:05:41] tell me what's working, what's not. Tell me what you want to hear more of.
[00:05:45] It helps me put out the best content, right? And then I obviously very much so pull from my
[00:05:49] own personal experience in healing this work and doing this work. And then obviously as my
[00:05:54] professional background as a therapist and nervous system coach and all of the trainings that I
[00:05:58] have had. So I put all of that together to really give you the best content that I hope
[00:06:03] will help you. So with that being said, I'm actually going to share for the bulk of this
[00:06:08] podcast episode, some of the episodes that I've done really well that y'all really enjoy
[00:06:12] that's helped you. I'm going to share some of the lessons that I've had the most responses from
[00:06:17] from people being like, Oh, this one helped me so much. And oh my gosh, that was like the best
[00:06:21] episode that really hit home. Now, obviously, everyone's a little bit different. Some things
[00:06:26] hit for people differently than others. But as a whole, the most episodes that have been
[00:06:31] downloaded, I've taken some of those lessons and I'm summarizing them all to really help
[00:06:35] you solidify some of this work because, well, we know that this work needs to be heard
[00:06:40] and repeated over and over and over and over again for our brains and our nervous systems to
[00:06:47] grab onto this work. I mean, I've been doing this work for 10 plus years and there are still times
[00:06:54] and there will continue to be times where I'll hear something and be like, Oh yeah, I've probably
[00:06:57] heard that a million times, but I could totally forget about that. And that really helped
[00:07:01] me right now. You know, our brains will always look for what's wrong. Our brains will always
[00:07:05] look for what we used to know the patterns we always repeat. So if we start giving it
[00:07:09] new patterns, new information that helps build new neural networks to retrain the brain, to
[00:07:14] retrain the nervous system, we can start to build that safety and regulation and healing
[00:07:19] by repeating the safety regulation and healing patterns that we want to input into our brains
[00:07:24] and our bodies. Instead of the negative healing patterns and negative neural pathways
[00:07:29] that our brains have developed that are danger signals that send our bodies
[00:07:33] danger like symptoms and pain. I want to help you get out of that. And the way to do that
[00:07:38] is to continue to repeat patterns and lessons. So first up, our first lesson that has been very,
[00:07:45] very popular with everyone. And I know I need to hear it often is that healing is not linear.
[00:07:50] Are you sitting there being like, yeah, duh. Yeah, it's usually the ones that we go, oh, duh too,
[00:07:55] that we're like, Oh yeah, I forgot that when I'm in the worst of my spirals and I'm in the
[00:08:00] depths of my pain during a day, like we totally forget that, right? We completely forget the
[00:08:04] healing is linear. More often than not, healing looks like spiraling and then a straight line.
[00:08:10] We're going to make some progress. We're going to learn something new. We're going to implement it.
[00:08:13] We're going to find safety in our bodies. And then we're going to hit a little bit of a
[00:08:17] danger signal. We're going to hit a little bit of a downfall, a downward spiral that,
[00:08:23] you know, is not so fun and create some danger in our brains. And then we're going to be
[00:08:28] reminded that healing is not perfect. It is not linear. And it takes as long as it takes.
[00:08:33] I know that sometimes it's annoying to hear, but it is very, very true. Because I can tell you,
[00:08:38] I don't know one person who has learned this work, who has healed, who's gotten over it,
[00:08:43] and has never experienced it again. I've heard the stories. I have. There's been a few, for sure.
[00:08:48] And actually, I guess I have had probably a couple on my program, my body healing method,
[00:08:52] but it's not necessarily the norm and it doesn't mean they never suffer again.
[00:08:56] Because life is not about getting over everything and being fine and perfect for the rest of
[00:09:00] your life. Healing is about learning to ride the waves of life, of difficult experiences,
[00:09:06] of hard times. But it's not about being in symptoms and pain and illness. So I want to be
[00:09:12] clear about that. When I say healing isn't linear, I don't mean you need to experience
[00:09:16] symptoms the rest of your life. And it's just about managing them. No, I'm not here to help
[00:09:21] you manage your symptoms. I'm here to help you actually healing move through them and decrease
[00:09:26] them if not eliminate them. Everyone's different. And it obviously depends on what kind of
[00:09:30] symptoms and illness you're coming in with. But it is possible to actually recover. And I like the
[00:09:37] word recovery because it means that we have moved past a certain pattern. So for example, maybe you've
[00:09:44] had some hip pain or back pain or maybe migraines for however many years. Most people I hear are
[00:09:51] like, I've dealt with this for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and you are starting to do
[00:09:56] this work. You're starting to see some progress. Usually what happens is you start to increase the
[00:10:01] amount of time that you don't have symptoms. So maybe you go like a week without anything and
[00:10:06] you're like, oh my gosh, I just realized I haven't had that pain or I haven't had a migraine in a week.
[00:10:11] That's incredible. That is recovery. And when I mean it's not linear is, okay, maybe next week
[00:10:18] you have a day or two that sucks. You're in pain, you have a headache, you have your symptoms
[00:10:22] and it's annoying. But it doesn't mean you're failing. It doesn't mean you're going backwards.
[00:10:26] It just means your brain and your body are used to that pattern. And they're going to
[00:10:30] keep staying in that pattern as you work on this. But it's about these smaller incremental changes
[00:10:35] where we realize in certain scenarios where you used to have symptoms, they're not there anymore
[00:10:39] or they're decreased or you go longer without them or you go to a family function and you're
[00:10:44] okay and you're not miserable. Those things really matter. Those times matter. And over
[00:10:49] time, that builds up to, oh wow, yeah, I don't have to worry about that anymore. Those symptoms
[00:10:54] are gone. It really can happen. It's possible. I've done it. And yes, it's taken time and I've been
[00:10:58] that person who's had all different kinds of symptoms from pain to illness to fatigue to
[00:11:03] histoines to all the things you can go back and listen to my story. And it's taken time,
[00:11:08] truly, truly has. But I can confidently say actually, especially in my life right now,
[00:11:13] I don't have to be afraid or look out for symptoms or bubble wrap myself in my life
[00:11:19] because I'm afraid of doing things. Even last year I was afraid of doing things because of a lot of
[00:11:24] symptoms I was having. Now I'm not. I'm not afraid of travel. I'm not afraid of social plans.
[00:11:29] Not afraid of signing up for a 20, 30 mile bike ride where I used to be or I would sign up and
[00:11:35] I'd cancel. Things like that. Like I'm not afraid of that anymore because I know that
[00:11:39] my body is okay and can handle it. More importantly, I've built the safety, which is
[00:11:45] learning lesson number two, finding safety in your nervous system. I've learned to build
[00:11:49] safety within my nervous system to remind it that it's okay to experience difficult situations
[00:11:54] in life. It's okay to experience heart emotions. And since I have imprinted that
[00:12:00] code, if you will, if I've imprinted that lesson within my body and my brain to say,
[00:12:05] hey, if we experienced something hard, we can feel it. We can handle it. It's okay. You don't
[00:12:10] have to shut me down. You don't have to send me signals to take me out of life. You don't have
[00:12:14] to send me the pain that I used to have. I can be in my life. That is the switch from
[00:12:19] constantly having symptoms to recovery mode when our nervous systems and our brains know that.
[00:12:24] And it takes practice of feeling emotions, being in our life, expanding our window of
[00:12:30] tolerance, which I'll talk about in a second, to be able for our bodies to be like, oh, yeah,
[00:12:35] we got this. All right, I don't need to send you danger signals. I don't need to shut you down with
[00:12:39] fatigue. I don't need to shut you down with pain. Or we could say it's protecting us, right? Our
[00:12:44] bodies are protecting us with those things. And so number two is about how we create safety
[00:12:49] in our nervous system. So one of the most popular episodes, which actually I'm coming
[00:12:54] up to in my holiday edition, we're going to share it again, is how to find authentic ways
[00:13:00] of creating safety in our nervous systems with Vanessa Blackstone. That episode still
[00:13:04] today is number one. Everyone loves it. It's so, so helpful. And one of one of what we talked about
[00:13:10] was sometimes safety looks telling your safety looks like telling yourself, it's okay not to
[00:13:16] be okay. It's okay not to be okay. I know you may not want to say that, but what that does
[00:13:24] to your nervous system is say it's an exhale. It's an exhale and a nervous system and a body
[00:13:31] that you've probably been tightly controlled. You've been fighting yourself, avoiding yourself,
[00:13:37] just not able to actually be with yourself. And instead of trying to say you're okay,
[00:13:43] say it's okay, it's okay, I got this, just telling yourself it's okay not to be okay
[00:13:46] sometimes can really bring about a lot of safety. It doesn't mean it's great and happy
[00:13:51] and you're grounded and wonderful. It's just that you're meeting yourself where you are.
[00:13:57] You're taking a really good look or really good feeling of your nervous system, your body right
[00:14:02] now. And you're saying, okay, I see you. Yeah, we're not okay right now. And I'm just going
[00:14:07] to sit here with it and hold you. That's one of the most powerful things you can do for your
[00:14:12] body for your nervous system. Because again, the whole reason your body is in this pattern
[00:14:18] of illness and pain is because it's trying to protect you from actually being with you
[00:14:23] or being in your life, which is with you. Does that make sense? So it is that your place of
[00:14:29] solitude, it's your place of exhaling, of pausing, where you start to build that safety.
[00:14:37] And sometimes I get it that is so hard to do. I mean, oh, yeah, and my moments of spiraling
[00:14:44] and really deep fatigue and pain. That was hard. I'm not just going to sit there and meditate with
[00:14:49] myself. But if you can find a mantra to help yourself feel okay or safe in those moments of,
[00:14:55] you know what, this is temporary, it's not going to last or it's okay not to be okay.
[00:14:59] Something that can help you just be in tune with yourself for a second. Just meet you where
[00:15:04] you are. Because what we want to do is stop the fight. Stop the fight with yourself.
[00:15:09] Stop bringing about this unhappiness with who you are and what you bring to life.
[00:15:15] Hey, friends, it's Grace. If you feel like you've been doing all of the treatment protocols
[00:15:20] and all the different modalities to heal and you're still not feeling better and it's just
[00:15:24] kind of managing things, I'm here to talk to you for a second. So it's not because you're
[00:15:29] doing it wrong or you just haven't found the answer yet. It's truly because your nervous
[00:15:34] system and brain are still operating in protection mode. And your nervous system and brain, when it
[00:15:40] perceives danger, physical or emotional danger, and even just ongoing stress, it keeps your body on
[00:15:46] high alert. So none of those treatment modalities are actually going to stick or work until you
[00:15:51] work with the bottom line, which is your brain and nervous system. Because when you're in
[00:15:55] the danger mode state, your digestion, immune system, hormones and pain signals all get
[00:16:00] affected. It's like trying to heal while the alarm bells are still ringing in the background.
[00:16:06] And that is why so many people get stuck. You can do all of the treatment things you want,
[00:16:11] but if your system isn't regulated, your body can't access its natural healing state.
[00:16:17] This is exactly why I created my four month signature program, the mind body healing method.
[00:16:23] It's a step by step process that helps you calm your system,
[00:16:26] rewire old stress patterns and retrain your brain to feel safe again. So you can finally start to
[00:16:32] heal for good chronic pain and illness. This is a true recovery program, not just management.
[00:16:38] You'll get guided lessons, nervous system practices, live support, individual and group
[00:16:42] support and a community that actually understands what you're going through.
[00:16:47] Enrollment is now open. So you can find the link below in the show notes
[00:16:51] or go to elevatetherapywellness.com slash mind body healing method. Because until your brain
[00:16:57] and body feel safe, no protocol or treatment plan will actually work. When your nervous system
[00:17:04] works, everything starts to heal, which brings me actually to my next one. Number three,
[00:17:10] authenticity will heal you. I know this isn't the exact maybe like protocol or nervous
[00:17:16] system skill that you want to hear. Or maybe you will, I don't know, I don't want to put
[00:17:20] words into your mouth. But this one is so, so big, especially if you've kind of been in this work
[00:17:25] for a little bit, maybe you've learned some skills, some tools, maybe you've been in the
[00:17:29] mind body healing method for a little bit, or in a different program. And you started to learn
[00:17:34] how to find some safety, how to ground, how maybe you've recovered from some of your
[00:17:38] symptoms, but you're still on this work. There's still some lingering things happening.
[00:17:43] It really takes a good hard look at yourself and your life to figure out where you are
[00:17:48] not being authentic. Sometimes it's pretty hidden. I mean, there's plenty of times where I truly didn't
[00:17:53] see it at all. And then realized, yeah, I'm trying to be someone that I'm not, or I'm trying to do
[00:17:58] this thing like someone else, and I really don't like it. It doesn't fit me. Or I'm actually friends
[00:18:03] with these people that I don't actually feel comfortable around. They don't really uplift my
[00:18:07] life. You know, actually they kind of bring me down. Or maybe you're in a relationship that
[00:18:11] you're unhappy in, but you haven't really wanted to look at it because I mean, that's
[00:18:15] really freaking scary, you know? And so where you're not being authentic to yourself and your
[00:18:21] life is a huge place to look at in this journey. It takes looking at how are you talking to yourself?
[00:18:28] How are you viewing yourself? How are you taking care of yourself? Might not see it all
[00:18:33] now, but it will unravel. Because if you don't look at this, it's still going to be
[00:18:38] dangerous signal scent from your brain and your nervous system because it's protecting you
[00:18:43] from this place of an inauthenticity that you're in. Now, I said this before, Dr.
[00:18:47] Gabor Maté talks about this all the time. I'd highly recommend googling him, finding him on
[00:18:51] YouTube, and he has videos everywhere. But his whole thing is literally, if you are
[00:18:56] inauthentic, it will make you sick. Our brains and our nervous systems are wired to keep us
[00:19:00] safe. And they keep us safe from ourselves if we feel like ourselves are not okay to be.
[00:19:06] So that has been one that I've kind of threaded through in some of these episodes.
[00:19:11] This authenticity place. But I really wanted to bring that home so that you can see how much it
[00:19:18] matters, especially if you're sitting here like banging your head against the wall because you're
[00:19:22] stuck. How are you talking to yourself? How are you viewing yourself? Where are you creating
[00:19:27] shame? Where are you shaming yourself for showing up or not showing up in the world?
[00:19:31] Where are you afraid to be yourself? I want you to take a look at that.
[00:19:34] The next one, one of the episodes that also was really popular was navigating a higher
[00:19:40] needs nervous system with Christy Weepie. I love that episode. We both shared personal
[00:19:45] stories. We shared client stories. The whole premise of it is that you can be a sensitive
[00:19:50] person if you have identified with being a highly sensitive person or you just kind of,
[00:19:55] you just know you're sensitive to things. That's okay. You can still do that and heal.
[00:19:59] You can still be sensitive to your environment, to people, to emotions, and still recover
[00:20:05] because through this work, what we're doing is regardless of where you are on the sensitivity
[00:20:09] scale, we are expanding your window of tolerance to tolerate life essentially because what's
[00:20:16] happened over time is your window of tolerance has become really small. And what that means
[00:20:21] is when it becomes really small, any little thing, whether that is an environmental toxin,
[00:20:26] an emotion, a conflict in a relationship, a work issue, food, ride in the car,
[00:20:32] something that you sit on. All of these things are going to impact you because your nervous system,
[00:20:38] your window of tolerance is really small. It doesn't have the capacity to deal with what we
[00:20:42] associate as danger. And so as we decrease the danger signals, we recognize that actually
[00:20:47] sitting is not bad for you. Food is not bad for you. Environmental toxins are not going to
[00:20:52] make you sick in a really detrimental way. Mold is actually not something that you
[00:20:57] should be afraid of. All of these things, once we learn that and associate that in your
[00:21:01] brain, you expand your tolerance for these things. Now, obviously, I'm not saying like go
[00:21:07] and sit in a dumpster forever or something, right? I'm in breath and all the toxins,
[00:21:14] but I am saying that your body, your nervous system is so strong and powerful. It is so wise.
[00:21:24] We just don't give it enough credit. It can handle a lot. So only if we can give it
[00:21:30] the space and the power to do so. So, okay, I'm getting a little off track here.
[00:21:34] So again, you can be someone that's a little more sensitive. That's totally fine. Sativity can be a
[00:21:40] superpower, especially if you're someone who kind of reads people well and you always can take the
[00:21:45] temperature or the pulse of the room. You say that you take on people's emotions like you
[00:21:49] care for people and can feel them. That's all great. But if you take it on all the time,
[00:21:54] that's not healthy. Being sensitive is being empathic, being loving, being in tune with yourself
[00:22:00] and others in a boundary way. And when we expand our window of tolerance for these things, we can take
[00:22:06] on a lot more, not that I'm trying to pack on everything in your life. I just don't want you
[00:22:10] to be afraid of more. That's the thing. Don't want you to be afraid of your life,
[00:22:14] afraid of experiences, afraid of relationships, afraid of emotions, afraid of food. I don't
[00:22:19] want you to be afraid. So when we expand our window of tolerance, you expand your capacity
[00:22:23] for things in life and decrease the fear around them. And that's huge. And you learn to take care
[00:22:29] of yourself. Like I'm a boundary person with my routine for a reason because it helps me.
[00:22:33] It sets me up. I can't do this work if I'm not boundaryed and taking care of myself.
[00:22:38] So that's important. But it used to be that I was so afraid of a busy schedule. I was so
[00:22:42] afraid of taking on more. I truly couldn't handle it. My nervous system would shut me down.
[00:22:47] Now, man, I've expanded my capacity a lot. So much so that sometimes I have to question it.
[00:22:52] And I'm like, all right, Grace, how much are you taking on? But again, it's not from a place of fear.
[00:22:56] It's from a place of just like, okay, all right, let's see what's appropriate right now.
[00:22:59] And last but not least, what we have realized that has really helped you is storytelling. So the
[00:23:06] episodes that I tell either my story or a client's story or the guests that I have on that
[00:23:11] share their stories, you all seem to really resonate with that, which makes so much sense,
[00:23:16] right? Like we actually very much so know through research that sharing healing stories,
[00:23:21] the power of that makes a huge difference in someone's recovery. Because if your brain is sitting
[00:23:26] here thinking like, well, I can't heal, I'm sick, I can't, I have this, this, and this wrong with
[00:23:31] me. But then you start to hear other stories of people who have healed in this mind body way.
[00:23:36] It creates an opening and hope for you. Because essentially we're asking you, I'm asking you
[00:23:41] to look at your health in a completely different way than what you've been told or taught
[00:23:45] in normal Western culture, that physical is physical. And that's it. That's just boxed
[00:23:50] in. It's like only physical issues can be treated physically. And I'm asking you to
[00:23:54] change that narrative and to look at the research and the science and the stories
[00:23:58] behind people that have healed from retraining their brains and understanding their nervous
[00:24:02] systems. I'm asking you to look at that. And so I could talk to you all day long,
[00:24:06] but I'm just one person, the more people that share their stories that share how they've
[00:24:11] healed and what's helped them, more power we have and know that this work works.
[00:24:17] Because there's plenty of people, which I get it, plenty of people that are skeptical
[00:24:20] and you might be sitting here too being like, I don't know about this. There's so many people
[00:24:23] I've had consult calls with who are like, I don't know, maybe, you know, but if they hear more and
[00:24:30] more stories of people just like them experiencing similar symptoms, heal through this work,
[00:24:35] through mind body healing work, then maybe they'll give it more of a chance. Maybe they'll
[00:24:40] open their minds to it, right? Oh, stories matter. And if you're listening to this and
[00:24:45] you have a recovery story that you would like to share, please, please reach out to me.
[00:24:49] I would love to, if it's appropriate, if the story's appropriate, I would love to have you
[00:24:54] on the podcast. I want to host more and more healing stories so that all of our listeners
[00:24:59] can know it's possible because I can share mine, but I'm just one person, you know?
[00:25:03] So the next thing that I want to do is I want to share a few messages that we've
[00:25:07] received from people. How much did this help them? Because it just kind of warms my heart
[00:25:12] and I think it'll help you as well, just continuing to reiterate, like we said,
[00:25:16] stories matter, right? I've had people say, like, I started decreasing symptoms, specifically
[00:25:22] migraines just by listening to your podcast. My doctors were amazed and tried to take credit,
[00:25:27] but I wouldn't give it to them. I laugh because I love that, right? Like, yeah, what I think,
[00:25:33] again, once we can listen to these lessons and hear the stories, it actually helps our
[00:25:37] brains release the danger signals and releases the tension that we're in the fight, fight,
[00:25:42] place. Someone else said your podcast helped me be able to eat again and decrease symptoms.
[00:25:47] If you have not realized so far, if you haven't listened to as many of my episodes, you will start
[00:25:53] to realize how much I talk about the association with food. There's so much fear around food out
[00:25:58] there that creates fear in our bodies. And when we fear food, our brains and our bodies legit
[00:26:04] reject them. It completely will reject the food if you're afraid of it. But in order to
[00:26:09] actually be okay with the food, we have to retrain our brains and our bodies to recognize
[00:26:14] that they can be okay to eat that, that the food is not danger. Food is not the problem.
[00:26:18] That is the hill I will die on. Food is not the problem. You're not sensitive to it. We can
[00:26:23] rewire that. I'm very, very clear on that. Now, how long that takes or what it looks like
[00:26:29] is different for every person, but I know that it is possible. Okay, I'll get off my food
[00:26:32] soapbox. Someone else said, I'm really enjoying your podcast. I've recommended them to friends
[00:26:37] and finding things to work on myself to avoid career caregiver burnout and be healthier. So,
[00:26:42] thank you caregiver burnout. That's a big one. I've heard people say they share my podcast to
[00:26:48] their family members or people that kind of help them along the way. So they can learn a little
[00:26:52] bit more about this process, right? And actually what's going on because so many people just
[00:26:57] don't get it if they've never experienced chronic symptoms. And how could they? They don't know.
[00:27:03] They don't know what it's like. But if they can start to hear maybe some more stories or lessons
[00:27:08] and just get a little bit more of a gist of what's going on, they might be able to help you more,
[00:27:13] just be more empathetic, be open to your experience. So I think that's a really important
[00:27:18] part of this process, right? Our family members and friends that are watching us go through this.
[00:27:23] Okay, I just want to take a minute to thank all of you listening. I am very, very serious.
[00:27:30] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here, for sharing it, for listening,
[00:27:35] for doing your work. The more that you do this, the more that you recover, the more ripple effect
[00:27:40] you have in your life. So it's not even about how many episodes you've listened to.
[00:27:47] It's about you doing this work and continuing to help yourself and recover because the more
[00:27:53] people we have recovered from this work, the more people, one, that obviously can share
[00:27:57] their stories, but also too, can just live their best lives. And when we can live our best lives,
[00:28:03] we have such a ripple effect on the rest of the world and the people around us. It is in the
[00:28:07] highest and best interest of you to be your highest and best self, to be your most recovered self
[00:28:13] and loving self so that we can continue to make this world and this planet a better place.
[00:28:17] I very, very much so believe that. So thank you so much for being here and thank you so
[00:28:22] much for showing up and doing your work. It is not easy. I think this is one of the
[00:28:26] hardest things that someone can go through and someone can do. This work changes your life
[00:28:30] for the better. Oh my gosh, I would be a completely different person if I didn't go through this.
[00:28:34] I'd probably be a very miserable person if I didn't go through this. And I am more myself
[00:28:38] than I ever have been in my life because of this work. And that's why I'm able to show up
[00:28:42] here and help you. So again, thank yourself. Thank you for being here. I am so, so happy
[00:28:48] for this milestone and I'm really excited for the next 100 episodes. I'm excited to keep
[00:28:53] sharing lessons. I'm really excited to continue to share more stories. So again, if you feel like
[00:28:58] you have a story or you know someone new as a recovery story, you do not have to be 100%
[00:29:03] healed, right? Because we know that healing is linear. You just have to show up and share some
[00:29:07] of your story. So I would love to have you if you are interested. You can DM me or find a link
[00:29:13] below to contact me. And I'm going to bring up some pretty interesting guests in the next 100
[00:29:17] episodes next year. So stay tuned. I'm really excited. Some cool names out there. I'm going to
[00:29:23] keep bringing on some really fascinating guests and people that are very in-depth in this field
[00:29:29] and do really amazing work. So stay tuned because I just I can't wait for them. Just remember that
[00:29:34] this podcast is really about reminding your body that it is not broken. It's not wrong.
[00:29:41] It's not failing. And that healing is possible and that you do not have to do it alone.
[00:29:46] So please share this podcast with a friend. I would absolutely love it if you'd leave a review
[00:29:53] so that we continue to grow it. The more we grow, the more that this podcast,
[00:29:56] different platforms will push it out to more people. You know how the algorithm will like
[00:30:00] give you a podcast that might resonate with you. The more reviews and likes that we have,
[00:30:05] the more that it does that. So it would be really helpful if you could do that so we
[00:30:08] could share it. And if you have been listening and you're grasping some of these lessons,
[00:30:13] you're really kind of grabbing on to this work and you want to go a little bit deeper.
[00:30:17] You want some more support. That is where my mind body healing method comes into play for you.
[00:30:22] It is my signature group program that is four months long. You get group support every
[00:30:27] single week with a mind body coach, including me, as well as you get individual sessions
[00:30:33] included in the four months as well. And then you get the content, you get all of the
[00:30:37] practices for lifetime. It is a very special community because again, I never had a community
[00:30:42] people that do this in isolation, that you're trying to be at home doing it on your own.
[00:30:46] You can make progress totally, but more often than not, what I find is that people make progress
[00:30:51] on their own, but they still find themselves really stuck. And it's because we can't see
[00:30:55] everything about ourselves. I would not have been here at all if I did not have the support
[00:31:01] for my therapist and coaches and mentors. There's no way I'd be here without it.
[00:31:05] It's really important to get that feedback and that support. So if you feel like it's
[00:31:09] time for you, find the link below for the mind body healing method. You can ask me any questions
[00:31:13] and I would love to have you. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for being here.
[00:31:18] Here's for the next 100 episodes together and keep healing with grace.
[00:31:23] If this podcast means something to you, it would mean so much to me if you could do these
[00:31:27] couple things. One, go to the heal with grace show page wherever you listen and tap
[00:31:32] the plus sign or click on the follow button so you don't miss an episode. It helps both
[00:31:36] of us out. While you're there, if you could give a five star review so that this podcast can reach
[00:31:42] more people, it would mean so much to me. So I can continue sharing episodes that help you
[00:31:47] as well as others. Thanks for listening and I hope this brings you hope on your journey.
