The Nourished Nervous System

An exploration of stress, the nervous system, and resilience through the lenses of Ayurveda, Somatic Practice, Herbs, Neural Plasticity and much more!

The Nourished Nervous System is a health podcast hosted by Kristen Timchak, with 172 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Kristen Timchak hosts The Nourished Nervous System, a health show with 172 episodes published.

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  Episode #171

  Brain Retraining for Menopause: Nervous System, Neuroplasticity & the ReNew Program with Natalie Riven

  Sep 30, 202640 min

  Send us Fan Mail Today's guest is Natalie Rivans — co-CEO of ReOrigin, certified menopause coach, somatic practitioner, and mindfulness teacher. Natalie shares her story with us: years as a Metropolitan Police officer in London, living with undiagnosed ADHD, overriding her body's signals in a high-pressure environment, and eventually experiencing a complete physical collapse with chronic pain, digestive issues, and debilitating symptoms that no specialist could explain. Her turning point came sitting in a car overlooking the sea, listening to a podcast about neuroplasticity. That moment led her to ReOrigin — and eventually to becoming its co-CEO and co-creating ReNew, a menopause program that has produced remarkable pilot results. What I love most about Natalie is that she brings both the lived experience and the science. And she is deeply, genuinely compassionate about what women are moving through. What we cover: Natalie's story — from Metropolitan Police officer to chronic illness to complete collapse, the thousands of pounds spent on specialists, the spreadsheet tracking symptoms, and the moment sitting by the sea that changed everything What brain retraining actually is — a structured way of working with neuroplasticity to recognize and interrupt automatic patterns that keep the brain and nervous system in a heightened, protective state; it is not toxic positivity or positive thinking, it is deliberate, repetitive, embodied change Neuroplasticity explained accessibly — the brain's natural ability to adapt and change through experience and repetition; like learning to drive, new neural pathways are built gradually through practice The nervous system as common thread — why so many chronic conditions (fatigue, pain, anxiety, digestive issues) share nervous system dysregulation as a component, and why the brain-gut connection is central to all of it The window of tolerance — how prolonged stress and trauma narrow our capacity, making small demands feel enormous, and how pacing, titration, and pendulation at ReOrigin help gradually widen that window Menopause and the brain — how estrogen and progesterone interact with receptors throughout the brain, not just the reproductive system; why the limbic system becomes more reactive during the transition; and what is actually happening physiologically during a hot flash Limbic loops — the repeated cycles in which a sensation or thought triggers an automatic emotional response (the sleep example is particularly recognizable), and how ReNew helps women identify these without self-blame The ReNew program — education, neuroplasticity, somatic practices, sleep support, mindset and self-compassion, movement, community, and body kindness; built from thousands of peer-reviewed studies The pilot results — by day 90: 77% of participants described overall wellbeing as good (vs 13% at baseline); 80% improvement in sleep; depression lowered by 80%; anxiety lowered by 83% Perimenopause as threshold — a beautiful closing exchange about how this transition is not an ending but a doorway into a more authentic version of ourselves, and why being in the body matters so much right now Connect with Natalie & ReOrigin: ReOrigin ReNew menopause program Instagram 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.mynourishednervoussystem.com and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

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  Episode #170

  The Stories We Live Inside: Nervous System, Human Design & The Unexpected Story with Shannon Presson

  Sep 23, 20261h 2m

  Send us Fan Mail Today I'm joined by Shannon Presson — author of The Unexpected Story , which includes a healing fable called "Lumina's Journey" and a reader guide called the Dragonfly Path. Shannon spent 20 years as a corporate event planner before a disruptive menopause transition cracked her open and led her into coaching and writing. Her work sits at the intersection of story, nervous system, and what it means to find your way back to yourself. This conversation went so many places I didn't expect — and I loved every one of them. What we cover: Shannon's origin story — two decades in corporate event planning, a disruptive menopause transition, and how following what she couldn't explain led her to write The Unexpected Story Brain vs. body wisdom — how the brain deletes, distorts, and generalizes reality, and why the heart and gut offer a more grounded, truthful signal How survival-mode storytelling keeps us contracted — the stories we tell ourselves that once protected us and now keep us small, stuck, and separate from what's actually possible Fables as healing tools — why indirect story (like the fable "Lumina's Journey") can reach places that direct teaching cannot Empaths and borrowed emotions — how highly sensitive people absorb others' emotional states and how to begin distinguishing what is yours from what you've taken on Human design — defined vs. open centers, energy types (projectors vs. generators), and what this framework reveals about nervous system needs and how we're designed to give and receive energy Reframing stuckness as winter — why the composting, fallow, apparently unproductive season is not a failure but a necessary part of becoming Ancestral and cultural narratives — the stories that aren't even ours but live in our bodies and shape our sense of belonging Perimenopause as threshold — including the astrological context of Chiron and Saturn returns, and why this time of life is a doorway into deeper sovereignty rather than a decline Shannon's noticing practice: Identify a repeated story you tell — about yourself, your life, a relationship — and ask: What do I get from telling this story? Not as self-criticism, but as genuine curiosity. The answer is often illuminating. Shannon's book & work: The Unexpected Story (includes "Lumina's Journey" fable + Dragonfly Path reader guide): [insert link] Website: theunexpectedstory.com Free gift: [insert link from end of episode] 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.mynourishednervoussystem.com and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

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  Episode #169

  The Harvest Season: Finding the Fullness of Perimenopause

  Sep 16, 202626 min

  Send us Fan Mail This one came straight from the heart — no notes, no plan, just something I had been wanting to say for a couple of weeks. I'm coming off a deeply nourishing retreat at Limina Renewal Center in Searsport, Maine — three days of Ayurvedic bodywork, classes, ocean air, and beautiful people — and I settled into this episode with something I've been sitting with all September: the idea that perimenopause corresponds not just with transition and difficulty, but with harvest, abundance, and fullness. What we explore: The Ayurvedic seasons of life — childhood as kapha (spring, building, unctuous), pitta as the long summer of life (fire, flowering, fruiting, doing), and vata as fall and winter (lighter, drier, subtler, quieter). Perimenopause is late summer — technically still pitta season, but feeling the shift toward fall. Late summer as perimenopause season — the variable weather, the hot days followed by cool ones, the storms and the sunshine. Sound familiar? The fullness of this time that we forget — the tomatoes still ripening, the dahlias blooming, the harvest happening even as some things are dying back. This is also a time of bounty: decades of experience, all the women we've been, the wisdom we're stepping into. The messy garden as a metaphor for a life — it doesn't look the way we planned. There are weeds. But if we pull back and really look, there are still flowers. There is still so much growing. And the non-traditional path has fruited in ways we might not have expected. The virgin archetype — not the uninitiated woman, but the woman who is whole unto herself — like a virgin forest or virgin wool. The archetype that lives between mother and crone. Coming into that wholeness even in the midst of still mothering, still building, still doing. Being with what is — a practice Chandra Cantor spoke about in an earlier episode. How can we see the wholeness of what actually is — weeds and flowers both — without needing it to be perfect or what we imagined? Creating our own rites of passage — our culture offers none for this transition. But we can offer them to ourselves. Guided meditation: The Fullness of All You've Been I close the episode with a spontaneous guided practice — a gentle time-travel meditation that visits the child, the teenager, the young adult, and the current self, gathers all those versions together, and finally glimpses the version of you stepping through the perimenopause portal to the other side. Previously mentioned: Erik Jackson — digestion episode Chandra Cantor — "being with what is" episode Limina Renewal Center, Searsport, Maine: liminarenewal.com 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.mynourishednervoussystem.com and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

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  Episode #168

  Dark and Tender: Filming Black Male Tenderness & Challenging the Black Brute Narrative with Aaron Johnson

  Sep 10, 202654 min

  Send us Fan Mail Today I'm joined by Aaron Johnson — public speaker, facilitator, filmmaker, and touch activist whose work centers on the emotional and relational lives of Black men. Aaron is the founder of The Chronically UnderTouched Project — the CUT Project — and the director of Dark and Tender , an 18-minute documentary that follows ten Black men during a retreat on Whidbey Island, Washington. It has been called one of the most quietly revolutionary pieces of film in the healing space right now. Aaron's work begins with a simple and devastating observation: that Black men in America are among the most chronically touch-deprived people in our culture — and that this deprivation has profound consequences for mental health, emotional regulation, nervous system health, and the capacity for genuine connection and community. The CUT Project exists to change that. What we cover: The Black brute archetype — the deeply entrenched cultural narrative of Black men as dangerous, aggressive, and hypersexualized, how it has been constructed and maintained, and what it costs Black men to live inside it Making Dark and Tender — what it took for Aaron, as both director and facilitator, to create the conditions of genuine safety that allowed ten Black men to be soft, tender, and vulnerable on camera — and why that safety was everything The retreat — what actually happened in the room: men tucking each other in, holding hands, singing, walking barefoot on the earth together, and the extraordinary range of men who showed up — different ages, economic backgrounds, sexualities, and life experiences Why diversity within the group was essential — how having a 24-year-old and a 77-year-old, cis and queer and trans men, men from very different economic circumstances, all in the same space together was not incidental but deeply intentional Why this footage matters — how seeing tender Black masculinity documented and made visible begins to create an alternative to the Black brute narrative in our cultural imagination, and why representation at this level is genuinely transformative The ripple effects — how the film is already moving through the world, the conversations it is opening, the permission it is giving, and why Aaron believes the impact will continue to spread Listening as the first hug — Aaron's understanding of what genuine attunement and presence offer, and why being truly heard is itself a form of touch The resonance between Aaron's work and the nervous system — what chronic touch deprivation does to a body, and what happens physiologically when that deprivation begins to be addressed Watch 9 minute preview of Dark and Tender : cutproject.org/tender Aaron's invitation: If this conversation moved you, share the film. Let someone see it who needs to. That is how the ripple spreads. Connect with Aaron: The CUT Project: cutproject.org Instagram Cut Project Instagram Dark and Tender Film 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.mynourishednervoussystem.com and @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

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  Episode #167

  Why You've Stopped Feeling Like Yourself: Hormones, Nervous System,Midlife and Your Skin with Dr. Natalya Borakowski

  Sep 2, 202647 min

  Send us Fan Mail Today's guest is Dr. Natalya Borakowski — a physician with nearly 20 years of experience in women's health and cosmetic dermatology, founder of Desert Bloom Skincare, and creator of Unveil You, a platform dedicated to helping women understand the biological, emotional, and cultural forces shaping how they feel about themselves in midlife. Dr. Natalya combines science, psychology, and compassionate education to help women move from burnout, self-criticism, and overwhelm toward self-trust, vitality, and genuine confidence. What I love about this conversation is that it goes to the root. So much of the conversation around women's health in midlife focuses on what to do — what to take, what to put on your skin, how to optimize. Dr. Natalya asks a different question: what is actually happening underneath? What we cover: Why high-functioning women often live in chronic survival mode without realizing it — what this looks like from the outside, why it is so easy to miss, and why the women who seem to have it most together are often the ones most in need of support Why so many women suddenly stop feeling like themselves during perimenopause — the intersection of hormonal transition and nervous system overload, and why this combination creates such a profound sense of disconnection from identity Wellness as performance pressure — the difference between true nourishment and wellness becoming another item on the to-do list, another standard to meet, another way to feel like we're failing Whether aesthetic medicine and wellness can become unhealthy coping mechanisms — an honest, nuanced conversation about where genuine support ends and external fixing begins What healing actually looks like beyond supplements, skincare, and optimization — rebuilding self-trust, emotional safety, and internal regulation as the real foundation of midlife vitality The pendulum between beauty extremes in midlife — a refreshing and non-judgmental conversation about the two poles women often feel pulled between: the "fixed" approach of dye, filler, and cosmetic intervention on one side, and the "natural" approach of gray hair and bare skin on the other. Dr. Natalya's perspective is that neither is right or wrong — what matters is whether the choice is coming from a place of self-expression and genuine desire, or from fear, shame, and the need for external validation. Judge neither. Ask only: is this coming from love or from fear? The resonance between Dr. Natalya's work and Ayurveda — the understanding that true beauty and vitality come from nourishing the inside, that ojas is what we're actually seeking, and that a settled nervous system is the beginning of everything Connect with Dr. Natalya: Free Gift Unveil You platform Instagram Dr. Natalya Instagram Unveil You 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

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