Jessica Michel 8/21/25 Jessica Michel 8/21/25

Nervous System Regulation – Is it Truly the Holy Grail of Healing?

Regulation is all the rage. It makes sense, right? Expand the body’s ability to hold pressure and stress so you can create, perform or present under pressure! Sounds ideal. How do I start? Well, ironically, this is where it gets a little overwhelming.

Nervous System Basics

The intent behind the concept of regulation is to soothe your nervous system so that it’s no longer in an extreme state of fight or flight – there are broader discussions that also include the states of freeze and fawn. Ultimately, your nervous system is primal and responds to everyday stressors and internalized unprocessed trauma as a threat. Whether it’s an obvious alarm-inducing moment, like a car coming full speed as you cross the street, or a subtle one, like sitting in high suspense during a white lotus episode, your body interprets it all as concerning. We are in danger, the brain says. This is actually normal and healthy. The issues arise when your body is not able to fully physically express its need to “run” or if your nervous system is too burdened to initiate a healthy stress-response and stress-recovery cycle. Regulating your nervous system simply means completing the stress-response and stress-recovery cycle by communicating to your body that it is in fact safe and can relax.

Most modern bodies, yours included, are in a state of continual stress, continual danger, according to the body. Meaning that since you and I were small, our bodies have been navigating the stress-response and recovery cycle. By the time most millennials reached their mid-20s their bodies were starting to show signs of overwhelm and burden. Don’t even get me started on the intensity of modern life for Gen Zs and younger. The information load, the technological stimuli, the financial hits, and most of all the toxin exposures are at an all-time high. Our bodies are evolving and attempting to catch up, but it's not fast enough. To put it bleakly, we are drowning.

High Sensitivity Nervous System Impact

Now, add in your unique sensory processing sensitivity, otherwise known as being an HSP, and this gets a bit more involved. Your body’s alarm-mode is highly-tuned to the world and operates at a heightened level. A potent Anthropology candle your aunt had burning all day in your guest room, the slight furrow of your partner’s forehead, the emotionally tender neighbor that looks to you hopefully for a listening ear, the bright LED office lights just installed, the energetic load of walking through a busy mall, the tag on your new jeans you can’t change out of… it all adds up to create additional layers of stress that the average human is not navigating. I strongly feel that your sensitivity is a calling, a gift and a large portion of why you are here – your purpose, if I may. Your ability to take in far more information than the humans around you makes you a strategic player. If we agree with the concept of survival of the fittest, you are here because your gifting is an advantage to the human race. You are like a well-trained scout, able to see the tracks and the warnings before danger arrives.

You are the classic example of the canary in the coal mine. What you notice and take in is often a reflection of what needs to shift for the betterment of all humanity. That toxic candle? It bothers you for a reason. It’s impacting your liver and brain, and your body is supercharged to recognize that instantly. Those less sensitive than you will not register this. If you courageously requested it be snuffed out and the windows opened and fresh air to once again rebalance the environment, you just lifted a huge weight off of your body, and your aunt’s. She may never realize, understand, or appreciate your impact, but her body will. You are a leader, a change maker, a catalyst, whether you realize it or not. Your needs are the needs of everyone, you’re just a few steps ahead. The resulting effect of your heightened abilities is that your stress-response is quickly and easily activated, and your stress-recovery is challenging to diffuse. The long-term ramifications of this lead us back to the discussion of nervous system regulation.

Nervous System Regulation – Trend or Transformative?

Nervous system regulation is being touted as the solution to everything these days, from money blocks to childhood tantrums to relationship conflict. The safer your body feels the freer it thinks, acts, and emotes. So simple. So bite-size. So sellable…

What if there’s more to it? There is. The body is very layered, intricate, and complex. Our current scientific community is nowhere close to fully mapping out all that it holds, yet we love to believe it is containable, labelable. It makes life feel more stable. We want to be in control, especially of our bodies. No one wants to be trapped in a car without access to the brakes or steering. The trouble is that in our rush to simplify, we often miss the fullness of the body. The obsession with shortcutting the nervous system is no exception.

Your nervous system is guided by your brain. Your brain is an organ that is deeply impacted by the state of your entire body – your immune system, your hormone production, your metabolism – and in turn all these functions are guided by the managers that live in your brain, the hypothalamus and pituitary. It’s a beautiful feedback circle. A regulating cycle.

The actual meaning of regulation is to adjust, to bring to order, to balance the highs and lows in the body, responding appropriately to the situation. This is exactly what we need, but do the current and commonly proposed solutions provide this?

The common go-tos at the moment include tapping, sensation tracking, breathwork, affirmation statements, movement, and if you get deeper it can also start to include frequency work and bio-hacking technology. What’s interesting is that most of these tools assume the body has the ability to complete the first part of the cycle – the stress-response. In other words, the cortisol release, the activation, the flight or fight is assumed, and all that’s needed is the ability to calm it down and prevent the continuation of this heightened state.

Regulation Pre-Requisitions

Interestingly, what I’ve found in my clinical practice is that many HSPs are no longer able to activate their danger reaction. They are burnt out. The organs that initiate the stress-response cycle – adrenals and brain – are kaput. They have lost capacity.

Regulation needs more than just calming and soothing supports. It requires full recovery followed by rejuvenation that ultimately leads to the dream state for us HSPs - resilience. This is what is missing from the nervous system discussion. This also explains why the standard nervous system tools may not have been successful for you. There’s an answer, hope, and robust solutions available for recovery.

Okay, so great, Jess, how do I recover and build resilience?

A deep body reset, at the organ and cellular level. Let me explain.

Your body is working for you. It’s doing its utmost to keep you alive, but this means it has had to put many stressors on the back burner. To be very direct, you are likely a complex collection of digestive distress, organ dysfunction, cellular malfunction, internalized emotional and physical pain, high toxin presence, and multiple unresolved, potentially chronic infections.

This is a lot to hear and consider, but it’s the present result of our modern era and the consistent truth I see over and over again in my health consulting with HSPs. I believe power comes from awareness, then honest and efficient support.

Understanding Your Health Story

How did you get here? Well, your body is brilliant. Over the years as you took on more work, supported your community above and beyond, chose to care for others over your own rest and recovery, took another pill to quick-fix an infection to avoid being sick and disappointing anyone, prioritized weight loss over your need for nourishment, hoped the air, water and construction around you was safe, accepted what the trendsetters and cultural experts said was best for you without honoring what your sensitive heart and body requested, tried your best to believe that you were “fine” and that it was all in your head, just as they said… your body had to adjust and adjust it did, continually compensating left and right, throwing off your natural digestive, detoxifying, and regenerative cycles till they couldn’t hold up the fort any longer.

If you are at the point of zero capacity, dealing with chronic symptoms and still being told you are normal or just need to learn how to manage your emotions and regulate your nervous system, then it’s quite possible that even though externally you appear “fine”, internally your body is vulnerable and tender, inflamed and swollen, slow and sluggish, malnourished and starving, scared and frozen, weary and struggling...if only your body could talk…

It does. Symptoms are messages from your body. It’s not in your head. What you feel is real and it needs to be honored and addressed. We have normalized sickness to the extent that most of your messages go unnoticed or labeled as acceptable by experts. The truth is – anything less than robust vitality is a state of imbalance, a lack of full health, and you deserve to be heard, respected, and supported accordingly.

Wow. I’m the bearer of good news today! I am a very optimistic soul, but what I often see lacking when it comes to health is truth-telling. We sensitives are seen as delicate and as a result healthcare experts tend to walk delicately around us or sugarcoat. I believe we can handle direct honesty when given with care, and actually I feel we need it. I know you are strong enough to consider that this may be your story today. Perhaps not, everyone has their own healthy journey and range, but I am here to support those who have been through the ringer and want to know, really know, what’s going on inside their bodies. If this is you, I see you and I understand what you’ve been through. This was and is my story too.

Resetting a Highly Sensitive Body

Resetting your body is an involved process, but it does not need to happen all at once. In fact, it can’t be. Your sensitive body moves and heals like an onion – layer by layer. This is actually a gift. It means that you simply address what the body presents, and then when that resolves, you wait for the next layer to appear, which could be instant, if you pursue it, or a few years down the road, if you let it build up and get loud. I recommend you get started by working with a highly trained practitioner who understands your innate sensitivity and its implications on body function and, in my humble opinion, even more importantly, knows how to listen to your unique body’s requests. If you’re a self-healing extraordinaire, then educating yourself on the foundational functions of your body, learning how to interpret your body’s messages, observing and honoring the nuanced ebb and flow of detoxing a sensitive body, and creating a daily rhythm to support the rebuilding of your body’s reserves, alongside the standard nervous system regulation tools, are key.

To turn our present human collective around, we, the scouts, the sensitive canaries in the coalmine, need to acknowledge that our bodies come first and live according to what enlivens, not depletes us. This starts with ownership. Ownership first of the beauty and power of sensitivity and, secondly, ownership over the health of our bodies. Though we are in a very challenging time and our traditional health structures and culture are in many ways unsupportive, we must take responsibility for our bodies and gently and consciously start to peel back our onion layers. Nervous system regulation is the answer to many of our blocks, but it can only serve us if the body has the juice to produce the energy required to regulate.

Reset your body’s function, at the organ and cellular levels, and watch yourself open up and transform in every area of your life. A sensitive phoenix, you will be reborn.

Jessica Michel 8/18/25 Jessica Michel 8/18/25

Weekly Energetic Weather: August 18th-24th

Overall Themes

Monday through Friday we are reviewing our commitments, our investments. Where are we giving our time, energy, and focus? Are these intentional or just happening because we fell into them? Re-evaluate their impact on your life. Are they contributing to the life you envisioned for yourself at the start of this year or are they taking you off track?

Some commitments might not be panning out as you desired, but the personal discipline or act of remaining is worth the continuation. I’m not recommending abandoning everything that is not working or going as planned. Devotion to an intention or desired outcome is valuable too, even though low valley moments or seasons. Take this week to simply reflect on your decisions. What’s worth it?

Over the weekend, intimacy and its foundational instigator, vulnerability, is up for play. Your desire to connect and be heard, felt, seen, and known will sharpen. As it does, remember the value of your worth and pause before you give. Your heart, your words, your thoughts, your body – treasure these as they should be treasured. You are of God. Divine in the flesh. You are a gift. Not everyone is ready for or going to be respectful of your value. Note who is and who isn’t and let your actions match it. This is a hot sexy weekend… so the pull is going to be strong… prep yourself and know how you want to wisely channel this energy for the beautiful expansion, enriching connection, and/or vulnerable adventure it can be. You are gold, treat yourself as such.

Moon Schedule

August 18th - Moon Moves Into Cancer

Cancer carries our emotions in our chest. Our breast tissue, our lungs, our upper digestion all come into the spot light today and Tuesday. Give these areas some love. Gentle breast massage is so important for healthy lymphatic flow and cancer prevention. I’ve shared this on instagram – I’m such a fan of coating the breasts in iodine topically to keep them healthy, lifted and fibro/cyst-free. For light support, a water-based iodine is lovely. If you have a cyst or fibroadenoma, then painting the entire breast in lugol’s iodine is wonderful! Wait for it to dry before putting on a shirt. Do it in the morning so that you can benefit from the energy boost it will give you. *How quickly the iodine color is absorbed/fades will tell you how badly your body needs iodine. If under 24 hours, you are in a deficit.

August 20th - Moon Moves Into Leo

Leo brings us to the heart. Staying well-hydrated and well-mineralized will be the key these days. These nights are lovely for foot baths with magnesium flakes or gentle head and neck massages to reduce pressure and improve circulation. If you find you’re catching the end-of-summer cold that’s going around, email me for my go-to Immune tonic and Warming Sock therapy that helps clear this stubborn virus quickly and reduce all the congestion in your throat, sinuses, and head.

August 23rd - Moon Moves Into Virgo

Virgo is ALL about the body. Give yourself some deep love here with the full treatment. Eat nourishing food, drink half your weight in ounces of water, go to bed early, wake up with the sun, meditate, and step straight into a yoga flow… let yourself live your best routine and health days. Your efforts on these Virgo moon days will go extra far. You’ll see and feel the benefits deeply!

Your astrological map is a powerful tool to understand sources of chronic symptoms, health blocks, your body’s vulnerabilities and strengths, and the best preventative measures to stay strong, youthful, vibrant, and dis-ease free. I can introduce you to your map in my single session or use your astrology to dive very deep as a part of your Concierge Reset. Come see me!

Jessica Michel 8/11/25 Jessica Michel 8/11/25

Weekly Energetic Weather: August 11-17th

Overall Themes

This last week was not a pretty or easy one for most of us, but we’ve made it out. It was a moment of very charged, intense, and potentially heartbreaking experiences. If not externally, then definitely internally. Your body may have expressed it with struggling to sleep, feeling exhausted, sudden irritability that isn’t your norm, and or even out of the blue symptoms through your unique vulnerable body zones. From a sore throat to digestive pain to skin expressions, we’re all navigating this as our bodies request. When the Sensitive collective gets “sick” all at once, it always gets my attention, especially now that I’m tracking the energy of the world so closely. I find it fascinating how easily we are naturally influenced and in flow with it all. It gives me even more motivation to support and build up our bodies so that we can be resilient through all the transitions of our world in this new era!

As we look at this week, one word comes to me: release. There is a focus on our obsession as a human race to know, to understand, and to always have reason-based answers for everything we do, everything that happens, and everything that is. The wiser we choose to become, the more this leaves us. The need to know is a trap, a false comfort. One that I often pursue and partake in, as we all do. It’s not natural for us to release and allow. Like most of you, I learn my lessons and experience life through my body. The body is the most primal and intuitive part of us. It doesn’t need answers. It doesn’t need labels. It doesn’t need instructions. It simply needs permission and space to do its thing. The more we tune into this and join in its default mission of health and balance, the more we can experience the freedom that comes from release and flow. This is the lesson of my entire life, as my North Node is in Pisces, the ultimate energy of surrendering to God and flowing with the unknown.

Regardless of your NN, this is the invitation of the moment. You are being welcomed into the possibility of experiencing the juiciness, the esoteric approach, of letting go and just being in this exact moment. However messy it may feel after the last few weeks (perhaps even few years), this is exactly where you are meant to be and simultaneously exactly when you are asked to open your hands and release. God’s got you. Your angels are around you. The future will unfold whether you’re gripping and forcing and mentally whirling or not. What will be, will be. Trust you’ve done enough. If further action is required, allow it to flow out of you naturally and intentionally, instead of from a panic or need-to-know energy. Security can be found in floating with purpose, and eventually it will replace your default of forcing with desperation. What a magnificent day that will be! One step at a time. Lean into trying it out where you can this week.

Two of my favorite subconscious statements that apply beautifully this week:

Open doors. Close doors.
Rejection is protection.

If it’s here, then I can do it or God will provide.

Borrow these or write your own and let them sink into your daily life by listening to them upon waking and then stating them out loud any time you feel your mind start revving up during the day. We’ve got this. Oh and give yourself the rest you need after the last few chaotic weeks. Trust me. Your body needs it!

Moon Schedule

August 12th - Moon Moves Into Aries

Ahhh zone one… our lovely brain and head need all the love and care right now. Our eyes, our minds, our mouths, our nasal cavities, and even a bit of our necks and throats. This is a fabulous time to use lymphatic tools and to incorporate steam to clear any congestion or swelling here. Even drinking steaming tea and breathing in the moist hot air can be lovely for the sinuses. Many of my favorite tools can be found on my little shoppe here. As an Aries sun, I am ALWAYS living this life. Morning and night, using the theracane on my neck and upper shoulders to open up the airways and lymphatics around the head, swinging daily if I’m not on my bleed, gentle facial gua sha with a good film on in the evening, getting a daily walk in and of course always keeping my feet warm to move circulation from top to bottom. Lastly, if you’re ever feeling overstimulated during an Aries full moon or you have strong Aries in your chart, try pausing where you are, covering your eyes with cupped hands and taking 3 deep pelvic floor breaths. It’ll ease it quite a bit. On the positive side, enjoy the extra blood flow to your brain these days!

August 14th - Moon Moves Into Taurus

Thyroid, thyroid, thyroid. How’s yoru metabolism looking these days? This is the time to review and check-in. If you feel sluggish, cloudy, unmotivated and heavy - your metabolism is too slow and your thyroid needs a pick-me-up. If you feel anxious, impatient and buzzy - your metabolism is too fast and your thyroid needs a calmer. Happy to help with this in a single session.

August 16th - Moon Moves Into Gemini

Hello breathe. Take a full inhale of oxygen right now. Allow it to fill you all the way, down to the pelvic floor. Do it again. Continue to make this your priority over this weekend. Your lungs are asking for your attention. If you observe deeper peace and clarity of mind and voice, you are right on track in this area of your body, congrats! If you are struggling to catch your breathe or feeling constricted, like an elephant is sitting on your chest, it’s check-in time. This could be due to vitamin deficiencies, mold spore colonization, toxin exposure, structural misalignment, hyperthyroidism, or other dysfunctions. Come see me and we’ll translate your body’s messages together.

Jessica Michel 8/4/25 Jessica Michel 8/4/25

Weekly Energetic Weather: August 4th - 10th

Overall Themes

Who is truly on your team? Who is truly here for all of you, in light and in dark seasons? It will no longer be concealed from you. This is the first part of the underlying energy of this week.

You are being invited to lead, empower, and be a guide in the intimate spaces as well as the collective communities you’re a part of at this moment, but not as they necessarily want. Instead, you are being asked to be fully and truthfully you, ALL of you, this week. To lead by being the whole you, authentic you, unfiltered you. If you lean into this challenge, then you will quickly see who stays, who gets uncomfortable, who tries to talk you down, and who has to explain or categorize you away. Those who are meant to remain will impress you and those who are meant to leave will make themselves painfully obvious. This doesn’t mean you haven’t impacted them or that the relationship isn’t meaningful, quite the contrary, but they are now meant to follow the activation your honesty brought up in them. It’s on them now to make something of this, not you. You are not here to control them, the outcome of your truthfulness, or even yourself. Release the need to manage and let yourself be.

It will flow from you naturally this week, an inborn presence, power, potential. Sit in it and let it permeate all that you do and say. Forcing is not the vibe this week. Surrender is. With the full moon coming in hot, you may feel some deep emotional tension before, during, and/or after Thursday. You may also receive some clarity or insight that could feel like it’s going to break you, but you will make it through. It’s for the best, truly in the end. Breathe. Move, move, move it out. Then gently take your next step forward in that area and allow yourself to integrate your lessons. To know where this is hitting, check the house ruled by Aquarius in your birth chart, or book a single session with me this week.

This summer is no joke! I know you can glide through this week with ease now that you have the insight in hand here, but don’t forget to give yourself the space, especially this weekend, to feel it all and reflect on your places of leadership, the relationships that need to be released or appreciated, and the clarity that revealed itself.

You are a mentor, here to serve, and to serve with wisdom, you need to experience it and embody it yourself. That’s what this week is about. Let it happen :).

Moon Schedule

August 5th - Moon Moves Into Capricorn

Ahhh Capricorn, the energy of perfection. Let yourself pursue surrender and relaxation, specifically in the muscles and breath. Pamper your skin over this moon. Speak kind words to your face and arms and leg skin as you gently massage and caress it. Invite in healing, regeneration, and juiciness! Be gentle with the dietary fats, lower consumption by half, as the gallbladder may want a little break over this moon as well.

August 7th - Aquarius Full Moon

This is potentially going to be a highly emotional full moon. You’re going to get clarity on something big in your life and as a result - who is here for you and who is not. It’s a moon of upheaval, so step into self-care around it. Aquarius rules chronic illness, so I would not be surprised if what flares in your body is directly related to a relationship or community that needs to be cleared and moved out of your life in order to heal. See what comes forward for you as a glimpse of hope. Once you step away and reset your relationships, this area of your body will find balance again. This is real. Who you engage with directly impacts your health. Pay attention to who is showing themselves to be for themselves and not for you. Your body needs them out of your life for now or forever. Take action next week after the emotional wave dies down and observe the impact it has on your body.

August 9th - Moon Moves Into Pisces

Your internal sea and the flow of surrender meet. Let yourself sit and slow down and be with and by water this weekend. Your heart, body and spirit NEED it. This week is no joke and you may land full of tension, rigidity, rage/frustration, and weariness. Give yourself beautiful moments to journal, monologue, get your lymphatics moving gently, set aside time to breathe soft and deep into your pelvic floor, and most of all hydrate well! Your inner waters need you to release the built up emotions floating in them, so let yourself cry, take potassium, wring your body out with yoga torso bends and light twists and weave in foot or body baths with magnesium flakes. End this week intentionally pursuing internal softness.