The Nourished Nervous System

Kristen Timchak
  • 5.0 (22)
  • Alternative Health
  • Updated Weekly

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

  1. 4h ago

    The Harvest Season: Finding the Fullness of Perimenopause

    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.comResources: 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

    The Harvest Season: Finding the Fullness of Perimenopause

  2. 6d ago

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

    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 itMaking 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 everythingThe 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 experiencesWhy 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 intentionalWhy 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 transformativeThe 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 spreadListening as the first hug — Aaron's understanding of what genuine attunement and presence offer, and why being truly heard is itself a form of touchThe 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 addressedWatch 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.orgInstagram Cut ProjectInstagram Dark and Tender FilmResources: 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

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

  3. Sep 3

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

    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 supportWhy 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 identityWellness 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 failingWhether aesthetic medicine and wellness can become unhealthy coping mechanisms — an honest, nuanced conversation about where genuine support ends and external fixing beginsWhat healing actually looks like beyond supplements, skincare, and optimization — rebuilding self-trust, emotional safety, and internal regulation as the real foundation of midlife vitalityThe 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 platformInstagram Dr. NatalyaInstagram Unveil YouResources: 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

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

  4. Aug 27

    Flashback: The Low Down on Adaptogens: Herbs for Resilience

    Send us Fan Mail This is a "Flashback" episode of an episode that originally aired in September of 2024. You most likely have seen the word "adaptogen" on some type of herbal product or beverage in the past few years.  They are incredible herbs with an intelligence that helps our bodies adapt to stress. The thing is, they are so amazing that many companies use this word to market products that don't actually have adaptogens in them. In this informative episode I introduce listeners to adaptogens, a fascinating class of herbs celebrated for their ability to enhance the body’s resilience to stress.  And hopefully give some insight into what an adaptogen truly is so that you can be more savvy when buying products with these incredible herbs. The conversation starts with the rich history of adaptogens, from their ancient roots in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine to their discovery in the West during extensive USSR research.  Key adaptogens such as ashwagandha, American ginseng, and Rhodiola are highlighted, alongside the criteria that make an herb an adaptogen: non-toxic, non-specific stress response, normalizing effect, and impact on the HPA axis and SAS (sympathoadrenal system).  The episode also provides practical advice on choosing reliable adaptogenic products and emphasizes the importance of integrating herbs with a balanced lifestyle. Listeners are encouraged to explore adaptogens further and consider their potential benefits alongside lifestyle changes. In this episode: Introduction to AdaptogensHistory and Discovery of AdaptogensDefining AdaptogensPopular Adaptogens and Their BenefitsUsing Adaptogens Wisely Related Episodes: Episode 55 - Nervous System Herb Allies Episode 53 - The Window of Resilience References: Winston, D., & Maimes, S. (2007). Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina and Stress Relief. Healing Arts Press. (n.d.). The Definitive List of Adaptogens. Rasa. https://wearerasa.com/pages/what-are-adaptogens#definitive-list 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

    Flashback: The Low Down on Adaptogens: Herbs for Resilience

  5. Aug 20

    Ritu Satmya: The Ayurvedic Art of Easing Into the Next Season

    Send us Fan Mail This is a quickie episode — and honestly, the fact that it's a quickie is kind of the point. I came to record today feeling blank and tired, with a bigger episode still in the works. And then I realized: that feeling is exactly what this episode needed to be about. Because if you're feeling that way too right now — like your reserves are dwindling, like you're treading water, like everything's a little drier and a little slower — you are not failing. You are in a season. Today I'm talking about ritu satmya — one of my favorite Ayurvedic concepts, and one that feels especially alive right now. What we cover: What ritu satmya actually means — ritu (season) and satmya (wholesome, suitable, what we're habituated to) — and why the key word is graduallyThe concept of ritu sandhi — the junction between seasons, which like the joints of the body is both more vulnerable and more potentWhy this late summer moment is such an important transition point — we are moving from pitta season (fire, heat, intensity, irregularity) into vata season (air, dryness, movement, lightness) — and how we navigate this junction shapes how we feel all the way through autumnWhat ritu satmya actually looks like right now — small, practical, doable shifts including warming the food a little, bringing oil back to the skin, rebuilding morning or evening routine, noticing what you actually have capacity for, and choosing movement that grounds rather than depletesWhy routine is medicine for the nervous system — and why this natural re-entry into structure as summer ends is something to embrace rather than resistA gentle reminder that this accumulation of tiredness is not a personal failure — it is the season arriving in the body, right on schedule Coming soon: The Ayurvedic & Somatic Perimenopause Toolkit — practices to actually get into your body.  Join the email list to be the first to know when it's available.  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

    Ritu Satmya: The Ayurvedic Art of Easing Into the Next Season

  6. Aug 13

    It Was Never About the Food: On the Path of Healing Disordered Eating from the Inside Out with Amber Caudle

    Send us Fan Mail Today's guest is Amber Caudle — chef, author, speaker, and coach devoted to helping women heal their relationship with food, their bodies, and themselves.  She is the founder of The Source Cafe, a health-focused restaurant in Southern California, and the author of Hungry: Finding Food Freedom and Reclaiming Body Peace. Amber's story is one of the most honest I've heard — decades of a very public career nourishing others while quietly struggling behind closed doors, and the long, non-linear journey toward something she describes not as being cured, but as being on the path. This conversation felt very close to home for me personally, and I think it will for many of you too. What we cover: Amber's story — 30+ years of binging and restriction, exercise obsession, diet pills, laxatives, drugs and alcohol, and the exhausting performance of looking healthy and successful while deeply unwell, and what finally cracked things openFood as emotional language — the core reframe of Amber's work: the food was never the real problem. It was the language available for much deeper unmet needs — safety, connection, worth, rest, and belongingWhat our cravings and behaviors are actually communicating — every impulse toward binging, restricting, or emotional eating as a divine message that something is out of alignment, and how to get curious instead of shamefulThe shame piece — why this lives so deeply in the shadows, how shame actually perpetuates the cycle, and what begins to happen when we name what's happening with honesty and self-compassionHow nervous system regulation changes digestion — the science of eating in a sympathetic state, why up to 60–70% of our digestive capacity is cut off when we're in fight or flight, and why slowing down is one of the most powerful things we can do for our relationship with food and our bodiesThe practice of slowing down — what this actually looks like in practice, the pattern interrupt, talking out loud, naming what's happening, and why even pausing before a binge is meaningful progressBiohacking can't replace the basics — why red light therapy, cold plunges, peptides, and supplements become Band-Aids when the foundation of rest, nourishment, hydration, connection, and nervous system safety isn't in place firstAging strongly — what this means to Amber at 50 and why she feels more vital now than she did in her 30s and 40sThe resonances between Amber's work and Ayurveda — you are not what you eat, you are what you digestA note on this conversation: If this topic touches something personal for you, Amber's work is a beautiful place to start — and specialized support is always available.  The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness helpline is available at 1-866-662-1235. Connect with Amber: Website The Source Cafe, Hermosa Beach, CaliforniaBook — Hungry: Finding Food Freedom and Reclaiming Body PeaceLinkedInInstagramResources: 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

    It Was Never About the Food: On the Path of Healing Disordered Eating from the Inside Out with Amber Caudle

  7. Aug 6

    Shedding the Skin: Who You Are Becoming in Perimenopause

    Send us Fan Mail We are at the height of summer here in Maine — that peak of the pendulum swing before it begins its long arc back toward the quiet of winter. And I've been feeling that shift in my own body, that sense of the tide beginning to turn. It felt like the right moment to talk about something I've been sitting with for a while. We have no shortage of conversation about the physical symptoms of perimenopause. And those symptoms are real and deserve to be taken seriously. But I rarely see the other side of this transition named — the awakening, the shedding, the emergence into a version of ourselves that is more whole, more embodied, more able to speak our truth and follow what we actually need. This episode is about that other side. What we cover: The pendulum of the seasons — how the arc of summer into autumn mirrors the arc of our own lives, and why recognizing those rhythms matters in a culture built around samenessPerimenopause as portal — why this transition is not just a hormonal event but an identity shift as profound as puberty or becoming a mother, and why the disorientation of it makes complete senseThe snake shedding its skin — what it feels like to have previous versions of yourself fall away, and why the essence underneath was always thereThe archetypes: maiden, mother, virgin, crone — how we move through different versions of ourselves at each major hormonal threshold, and why none of those previous versions ever fully disappearsThe midlife virgin archetype — not sexual initiation, but wholeness. The person who is whole unto themselves, whose validation comes from within rather than without. Like virgin wool, virgin forest, virgin olive oil — undiluted, pure unto itself.Doing from being — why this season isn't about doing less, but about the doing coming from a place of being rather than the being being a result of what you doThe ripple effect — how the women who are navigating this transition consciously are doing it not just for themselves but for every younger woman watching, and for the cultural narrative around what midlife actually means for womenThe invitation — who are you when you're not people pleasing? What actually lights you up? Who is emerging on the other side of this fire?Resources & people mentioned: Kimberly Ann Johnson — mother circle training, The archetypes of maiden, mother, virgin, and crone in women's wisdom traditionsResources: 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

    Shedding the Skin: Who You Are Becoming in Perimenopause

  8. Jul 30

    The Hidden Cost of Masking: Neurodiversity, the Nervous System & Energy Healing with Nicole Theron Parks

    Send us Fan Mail "You're so successful — you must be fine."  But what did it cost to get there?  In this conversation, psychologist and energy healing coach Nicole Theron Parks shares her journey to being diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and OCD at 32, and what she discovered on the other side of that diagnosis: that the exhaustion, chronic pain, and decades of anxiety weren't character flaws — they were the cost of trying to fit into a world that wasn't built for her.  This is a rich, layered, deeply honest conversation — about what it costs to mask, what it feels like when the wellness world's advice doesn't fit your nervous system, and why energy clearing has offered something that talk therapy alone couldn't reach. What we cover: Nicole's story — growing up in a small traditional town feeling like she was observing everyone else from the outside, the emotional abuse she named while the adults around her denied it, and the high school experience that turned her autism from a difference into a disabilityThe diagnosis at 32 — why getting a name for what she'd been experiencing her whole life felt like finally being able to breathe, and the profound release of shame that followed: "It wasn't my fault"What neurodiversity actually means — why the Rain Man stereotype leaves so many people undiagnosed, what it looks like to be "silently drowning" while appearing successful on the outside, and why "you got a doctorate, so you must be fine" misses the point entirelyIs the anxiety inherent, or is it the system? — a fascinating conversation about whether anxiety is part of neurodiversity itself, or whether it's largely a product of trying to exist in a world that wasn't built for neurodivergent peopleWellness practices and neurodivergent nervous systems — why the pressure to have a perfect morning routine, journal every day, and heal on a timeline can actually cause more harm than good, and what a more flexible, shame-free approach to healing looks likeThe connection between neurodiversity and chronic pain — Nicole's own journey with chronic migraines, the pattern of control and self-suppression she traced beneath them, and the "at what cost?" question that runs through this entire conversationEnergy clearing — how Nicole describes it as moving the folder to the trash rather than opening it every day, why it works gently in the background without requiring you to re-live memories, and how it helps clear layer by layer in a way that talk therapy alone couldn'tA guided energy clearing meditation for anxiety — Nicole leads us through a full practice connecting above and below, clearing anxiety patterns from the body, and filling in with light and safety. Have your headphones ready — this one is genuinely beautiful.A message for anyone who has been gaslit by a doctor, therapist, or the people around them: there are practitioners out there who will believe you, accommodate you, and meet you where you.Connect with Nicole: Website: https://www.nicoleparkescoaching.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleparkescoaching/1:1 Energy Healing Packages:  https://www.nicoleparkescoaching.com/servicesResources: 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

    The Hidden Cost of Masking: Neurodiversity, the Nervous System & Energy Healing with Nicole Theron Parks
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About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Kristen Timchak
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    170
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Nourished Nervous System
  • Show Website
    The Nourished Nervous System

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