* Listen on Spotify * Listen on Apple * Listen on Youtube * Listen on Pocketcasts In this deeply honest and wide-ranging episode of The Six Figure Author Experiment, Lee and Russell dive into the often-overlooked connection between bodywork, burnout, creativity, and financial success. Drawing from neuroscience, somatic tracking, chronic illness research, and lived experience, they explore why mindset work alone often fails — and how unregulated nervous systems keep authors stuck in cycles of exhaustion, anxiety, and self-criticism. This episode reframes success through the lens of safety, regulation, and joy, offering practical tools for healing, creativity, and sustainable growth in 2026 and beyond. Topics Covered: * Why writer’s block and income plateaus often originate in the body, not the mind * The mind-body connection: psychosomatic symptoms, TMS, and neuroplastic pain * Burnout as a survival response, not a personal failure * How hustle culture disconnects creators from their bodies * Why affirmations alone don’t work without somatic safety * Somatic tracking and checking in with the body throughout the day * The role of chronic stress in shutting down creativity and desire * Trauma responses and internal “protector parts” formed in childhood * How negative self-talk operates below conscious awareness * Why your nervous system doesn’t understand language — only sensation * Rest vs. productivity: redefining what “success” feels like * Neutral thinking and releasing judgment as a path to peace * Parasympathetic vs. sympathetic nervous systems explained simply * Why anxiety is not a signal of danger — and when it actually matters * Fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and people-pleasing as stress responses * The myth of boredom and anxiety as opposites * How animals regulate stress — and what humans forgot * Breathwork basics: resonant breathing, 4–7–8 breathing, and why box breathing isn’t enough * Why most adults don’t breathe properly (and how to fix it gently) * Pain reprocessing therapy, Curable, JournalSpeak, and brain retraining * Yoga, stretching, movement, and ancient regulation practices across cultures * Religion, ritual, and community as nervous system regulation tools * Why creativity and marketing require safety, play, and embodiment * The danger of perfectionism and the value of “good enough” action * Closing stress cycles instead of suppressing emotion * Why emotions naturally last 90 seconds — and what keeps them looping * Radical acceptance of self, others, and life events * Why most things actually work out for most people * The “dog on the nail” metaphor and choosing relief sooner * How fear-driven busyness blocks inspiration * Why rest creates better ideas faster than grinding * Cutting spinning plates instead of sustaining exhaustion * Doing fewer things better as the true path to scaling * Reverse time-blocking: designing work around life, not the opposite * Why regulation is the foundation for creativity, income, and joy * Choosing softness, safety, and pleasure as a radical success strategy * Teaching the next generation emotional regulation as a superpower * Redefining “paradise” as presence, peace, and creative flow This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sixfigureauthorexperiment.com
