The Nourished Nervous System

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Today's guest is Lori Montry — somatic healing practitioner, author of You're Not the Problem, and creator of The Freedom Formula, a nervous system-based roadmap for sustainable behavior change. Lori helps people who feel stuck in stress, overwhelm, or self-sabotage understand the survival patterns driving their choices so they can build the safety, capacity, and clarity needed to take aligned action in every area of their lives.
There is so much resonance in this conversation — between Lori's work and Ayurveda, between the Freedom Formula and what we talk about every week on this podcast. I think you're going to feel it too.
What we cover:
Why Lori uses the word adaptation instead of problem, habit, or failure — and why that single reframe changes everything about how we relate to ourselves and our patterns
The most common adaptation she sees in women: I'm not enough — and the Mississippi River of coping mechanisms, people-pleasing, overachieving, and self-sabotage that flows from it
What is actually happening at the nervous system level when you know what to do and still don't do it — and why it has nothing to do with willpower
The three things the nervous system needs before behavior change is even possible: safety, capacity, and energy — and why trying to change without these in place is like expecting a seed to bloom in a dark closet with no water
Why nervous system tools sometimes make things worse — and what to do instead
The difference between managing stress and befriending it — and why safety lives in the body, not in the mind
The resonance between Lori's framework and Ayurveda — being situated in the self, the sattvic state, and why regulated nervous systems see reality more clearly
Lori's vision of reaching 50 million people with the message that they are not the problem — and why a more somatic-literate world is one of the most urgent things we need right now
Connect with Laurie:
Website: www.LoriMontry.com 
Youtube: Lori Montry -Somatic Healing Practitioner - YouTube
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/LoriMontry
Instagram: Instagram
 Email List : https://www.lorimontry.com/book-intro

Resources:

Free Masterclass:  The Alchemy of the Perimenopause Portal
Ayurvedic Dosha Quick Reference Guide
Abhyanga Self Massage Guide
Weekend Nervous System Reset
Nourished For Resilience Workbook

Find me at www.nourishednervoussystem.com

and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

Send us Fan Mail
Today we're going somewhere I've been wanting to go for a while — into the neuroscience of oxytocin. Not oxytocin as the cuddle hormone, though it is that too. 
Oxytocin as a brain-changing, nervous system-healing, plasticity-promoting substance that you can actually learn to stimulate intentionally through your daily practices.
What we cover:
What oxytocin actually is — beyond the "love hormone" label, it is a neuroplasticity agent that promotes new neuron growth, reshapes synaptic connections, and helps the brain become more open to change and healing
The oxytocin-safety loop — how oxytocin and the parasympathetic nervous system reinforce each other, and why this is the biological basis for healing happening in relationship and community rather than in isolation
The research on meditation — particularly loving-kindness, gratitude, and compassion-based practices — and why the heart-opening, relational quality of the practice matters more than meditation style alone
Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) — the honest framing of what the research does and doesn't yet show, and why the vagus nerve pathway makes it one of the most direct routes to oxytocin release we have
Seven everyday oxytocin releasers — gentle touch and self-massage, warmth, face-to-face community, humming and chanting, gratitude — and how each maps onto Ayurvedic practices you may already be doing
Free downloads: Grab the one-page guide — 7 Ways to Release Oxytocin Today — with the science and Ayurvedic wisdom behind each practice. Click Here
And my Self Abhyanga Guide Here

Research References
Oxytocin & Neural Plasticity
Pekarek, B.T., Hunt, P.J., & Arenkiel, B.R. (2020). Oxytocin and Sensory Network Plasticity. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 30. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.00030
Froemke, R.C., & Young, L.J. (2021). Oxytocin, Neural Plasticity, and Social Behavior. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 44, 359–381. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-102320-102847
Meditation & Oxytocin
Bellosta-Batalla, M., et al. (2020). Increased salivary oxytocin and reduced anxiety in a mindfulness and compassion-based intervention. Mindfulness. (Referenced in Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2024)
Machida, S., Sunagawa, M., & Takahashi, T. (2018). Oxytocin release during the meditation of altruism and appreciation (Arigato-Zen). International Journal of Neurology Research, 4, 364–370.

Resources:

Free Masterclass:  The Alchemy of the Perimenopause Portal
Ayurvedic Dosha Quick Reference Guide
Abhyanga Self Massage Guide
Weekend Nervous System Reset
Nourished For Resilience Workbook

Find me at www.nourishednervoussystem.com

and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

Send us Fan Mail
Today's guest is Ms Elizabeth Munoz, founder of Soul Haven and creator of the Reclaiming Radiance framework. Elizabeth spent 17 years in corporate — the last 11 in high-stakes technology sales — before her body completely shut down. Two emergency C-sections, a fibromyalgia diagnosis, and the moment her legs gave out walking to an airport when her daughter was three months old were the turning points that changed everything.
What followed was a deep healing journey — through the nervous system, through identity, through grief — that led Elizabeth to build a life and business rooted in joy, regulation, and what she calls reclaiming radiance. She is also certified through the HeartMath Institute, holds a degree in psychology, and brings a deeply personal and deeply practical perspective to everything she teaches.
What we cover:
Why burnout is not a personal failure but intelligent nervous system signaling — and why pushing through only drives it deeper
The too much / not enough paradox that so many women carry, and how it shapes the way we show up in our bodies and our work
The difference between resilience and regulation — and why regulation has to come first
A simple, accessible mirror practice for women who have been overriding their bodies and want to begin rebuilding trust with themselves
What emotional congruence actually feels like in the body — and how micro aligned actions taken consistently are what build it over time
Why our healing is never just for ourselves — and the personal loss that deepened Elizabeth's commitment to this work
Why midlife is not a decline but a reclamation — and why it is never, ever too late
Elizabeth's invitation: You do not have to prove your worth. You were born worthy. The fact that you are here, breathing, in this timeline is proof enough.
Connect with Elizabeth:
Soul Haven
Reclaiming Radiance course
Podcast
Instagram
Linkedin

Resources:

Free Masterclass:  The Alchemy of the Perimenopause Portal
Ayurvedic Dosha Quick Reference Guide
Abhyanga Self Massage Guide
Weekend Nervous System Reset
Nourished For Resilience Workbook

Find me at www.nourishednervoussystem.com

and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

Send us Fan Mail
Here in Maine we're still tiptoeing into spring — warm days that feel like a promise, then snow flurries and the wood stove again. It's been a season of letting go and being with what is, which turns out to be exactly what this episode is about.
A few weeks ago I had a dream. In it, I was on top of a crumbling Lego platform, trying to hold everything together, piece by piece — while a perfectly good staircase sat right there, unused. When I woke up, I couldn't stop thinking about what it meant. This episode is me unpacking that.
Two teachings from one dream:
The first is about taking the stairs — the simple, unsexy, already-available thing — instead of endlessly complicating our way toward health. We live in a world that constantly tells us to do more, take this supplement, follow this protocol, optimize this. And in all that noise, we miss the stairs. The morning sunlight. The consistent bedtime. The seasonal meal. The thing that actually works, hiding in plain sight.
The second teaching is about foundation. It doesn't matter how hard you work at the top of the platform if the foundation is shaky. Whether we're talking about hormonal health, autoimmune disease, perimenopause, or just a general sense of depletion — the small, slow, foundational steps are what make everything else possible. HRT might help. Supplements might help. But if we're not also looking at sleep, stress, diet, and the root causes underneath, we're still just patching the top of a crumbling platform.
And perhaps most importantly: how we talk to ourselves in this process matters enormously. When we notice we've been making choices that aren't serving us, do we take our own hand like a loving friend and say look, there are stairs, we can do this — or do we berate ourselves for not seeing them sooner?
Free resource mentioned: The Nourished for Resilience Workbook — a simple pie chart to help you see where you feel nourished and where you don't, and find your starting place.  Also includes questions for contemplation and a habit tracker.
 Free Workbook Here!
Resources:

Free Masterclass:  The Alchemy of the Perimenopause Portal
Ayurvedic Dosha Quick Reference Guide
Abhyanga Self Massage Guide
Weekend Nervous System Reset
Nourished For Resilience Workbook

Find me at www.nourishednervoussystem.com

and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

Send us Fan Mail
Today's guest,  Michelle Walker is a life coach, self-healing mentor, and retreat guide devoted to embodied awakening and holistic healing. 
In this conversation, we explore the Energy Codes — a seven-step system developed by Dr. Sue Morter — and the profound philosophical reframe at its heart: that our challenges, our symptoms, our struggles are not separate from us or happening to us. They are our lives, and they are feedback.
What we cover:
Michelle shares her own journey — from running a successful retail business while battling chronic pain she couldn't resolve, to discovering the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza and eventually Dr. Sue Morter, and realizing that her condition wasn't something separate from her life to be eliminated. It was an expression of how she was living — and that realization was the gateway to everything changing.
We explore the Energy Codes system itself: how it maps onto the seven chakras, what "circuit building" means and why it matters, and how working at the level of energy rather than trying to force change at the physical level is both more efficient and more sustainable.
We talk about the difference between the protective personality — the ego self that adapted to keep us safe, often in childhood — and the soulful self: the eternal, expansive being that sees life as an adventure it signed up for rather than a threat to survive. And we talk about the quantum flip — the idea that the moment we recognize we've slipped into protection or defense, we can shift back. It doesn't have to take weeks. It can happen in an instant.
There is so much resonance in this conversation with Ayurveda, yogic philosophy, and somatic work — the prana body, the idea of being "situated in the self," the understanding that energy precedes matter. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you'll feel it.
Michelle leads us through two practices:
The Central Channel Breath — a foundational embodiment practice from the Energy Codes that connects cosmic energy above with earth energy below, anchored through the body using Mula Bandha. Grounding, orienting, and genuinely beautiful.
Take It to the Body — a circuit-building practice for working with triggers and difficult sensations. Rather than moving away from discomfort into story, this practice invites you to locate the sensation in the body, embrace it with your breath and attention, and build the capacity to let it move through.
Resources mentioned:
The Energy Codes by Dr. Sue Morter — foundational reading for this work
Dr. Joe Dispenza — Michelle's earlier influence in understanding the mind-body connection
Limina Renewal Center, Searsport, Maine — where Kristen and Michelle both offer retreats and classes
Connect with Michelle: [Add Michelle's website, Instagram, and coaching links here]
Resources:

Free Masterclass:  The Alchemy of the Perimenopause Portal
Ayurvedic Dosha Quick Reference Guide
Abhyanga Self Massage Guide
Weekend Nervous System Reset
Nourished For Resilience Workbook

Find me at www.nourishednervoussystem.com

and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram