Nervous System Care & Healing

Liz Zhou
  • 4.8 (12)
  • Mental Health

A podcast about how to take care of our nervous systems while we navigate systems that were designed to keep us dysregulated. Hosted by Liz Zhou, a neurodivergent therapist of color. If you’re a highly sensitive or neurodivergent person — or have always felt different from others, like you belong nowhere — then I hope this podcast will feel like a “welcome home” for you. Here, we approach difference with curiosity, not judgment. We affirm that there is nothing “wrong” with you, that none of us are broken — but the systems around us are. If you’re curious about individual healing & collective liberation, this podcast is for you. Join us as we heal our nervous systems & take good care of ourselves and each other. You are welcome here.

  1. 2d ago

    Building an Intentional Relationship with Social Media: From Doomscrolling to Discernment

    Have you ever found yourself doomscrolling on Instagram - and before you knew it, 2 hours had passed?  Do you feel low-key addicted to social media - like you can’t imagine your life without it, even though a part of you hates it? Social media platforms - like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok - are designed to keep us scrolling for as long as possible. They’ve been criticized for their addictive design, negative impacts on mental health, and privacy concerns.  Yet many of us engage with social media on a regular basis. Flawed as these apps are, they offer opportunities for the connection & community that we are wired to seek. This episode invites you to reflect on your relationship to social media - bringing curiosity, discernment, and intentionality. We’ll explore both sides of the equation: challenges of social media: social comparison, emotional activation due to “rage bait”, addictive cycles, sensory overload, & loss of nuance due to surface-level conversationsbenefits of social media: accessible way to connect & find info/resources; space for creative expression, sharing your message, advocating, relationship-building, & movement-building I’m not here to convince you that social media is “all good” or “all bad” - because the conversation is more nuanced than that.  Instead, I’ll share reflections on how to build a healthy relationship with social media - one that honors your capacity, your consciousness, and your attention. QUOTE: “A question to consider: does social media make your world feel bigger or smaller? Does it make you see things in a more expansive way & consider new ideas? Does it help you stay connected and meet new people? Or does it make your world feel smaller and more contracted? Notice if your relationship to social media is contributing to your sense of aliveness and liberation, or if it's activating your nervous system to the detriment of all other parts of your life.” 🌿 Resources >> To view research referenced in episode, click HERE 🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado & Oregon (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves. Her specialties include: Brainspotting, EMDR, IFS, Psychedelic Integration, & Nervous System Intensives (deep-dive, accelerated therapy). 🌿 Connect with Liz >> Join my email newsletter, where I share insights on how to understand your brain & take care of your nervous system: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> Follow on IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist >> To work 1:1 with Liz: learn about Nervous System Healing Intensives here (focused sessions, using Brainspotting & Internal Family Systems, to help you heal deeply & connect with your authentic self) 🌻

  2. Oct 18

    The Link Between Creativity, Healing, & Collective Liberation [Replay]

    What if we saw creativity as not just a nice-to-have extra thing, but as an essential part of the human experience, the healing process, and the work of collective liberation? We are all creative beings (yes, even if you think you’re “bad at art” or “not creative”).  In this episode, I’ll explore the link between creativity, healing, & collective liberation. 01:48 Creativity can look so many different ways - from picking an outfit for the day to knitting a sweater to singing a song 04:33 Creativity is a part of healing - individual & collective 06:12 Creativity is a way to connect to Self 07:26 Creativity is a shared experience with community 08:34 Creativity is a means of pattern disruption, allowing the brain to build neuroplasticity 11:24 Creativity is an antidote to toxic perfectionism, challenging capitalistic standards of productivity 13:14 Creativity is a means of hope & world-building 15:48 How do you experience creativity? The intention of this episode is to inspire you to be your most creative Self. Quote: “Creativity is a stepping stone to world-building. It is the ability to look around us, to challenge the parts of the status quo that are not working, and to come up with something different and hopefully better.” 🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado & Oregon (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves. Her specialties include: Brainspotting, EMDR, IFS, Psychedelic Integration, & Nervous System Intensives (deep-dive, accelerated therapy). Liz’s services are available online in CO & worldwide. 🌿 RESOURCE >> Explore art as resistance: www.rebelyellcreative.com/library 🌿 Connect with Liz >> Join my weekly newsletter, where I share insights on how to understand your brain & take care of your nervous system: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> Follow on IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist >> To work 1:1 with Liz: learn about Nervous System Healing Intensives here (focused sessions to help you heal deeply & connect with your authentic self) 🌻

  3. Oct 12

    How to Access Your Intuition (to Live a More Joyful Life), w/ Nanae Ito

    What is intuition, how does it work, and how can accessing our intuition help us live more joyful & fulling lives? Join me & Nanae as we unpack these questions - with thoughtfulness & nuance. Nanae shares about her journey as a therapist & social worker who was completely skeptical about things like intuition, souls, & higher self - to actually becoming an intuitive & energy healer herself.  If you’ve ever struggled with feeling stuck, in despair, or depressed - like something is off in your energy or in your life, but you can’t figure out why or where to go from here - I invite you to listen to this episode. You might enjoy the practical & insightful reflections that come up in this conversation. Topics covered: How do you define intuition? 04:50What’s the difference between intuition & a conditioned bias toward something? 08:14Personal experiences that helped Nanae understand how intuition works 11:13Why listening to your intuition is not the same thing as feeling your emotions (& why it’s easy to mix up these two experiences) 17:37How intuition can help you live the life that you’re uniquely designed to live (aka: what we lose if we don’t use our intuition) 19:20 What if someone doesn't believe in intuition, higher self, or the soul? Would intuition still “work” for them? 23:23 How intuition can help us move through despair & depression 27:34 What’s the difference between mental health counseling & intuitive healing? What happens if we bring these two different paradigms in conversation with each other? 30:45 Practical ways to access your intuition - so you can live a more joyful & fulling life 36:39 How Nanae takes care of her nervous system as an intuitive healer: the power of breath 41:54 🌿 About the Guest Nanae Ito (she/her) is a trained intuitive and energy healer with a background in social work and mental health therapy. At the heart of it, she is a teacher that makes spiritual truths about the Universe digestible and understandable to the every day person. She sees this knowledge as the key to reclaiming their inherent ability to resolve life's problems and create a life that they were uniquely designed for, on a soul level. She works mainly with people who are in states of despair, like depression and overwhelm, to direct them back to their own brilliance, power, and intuitive gifts. 🌿 Connect with Nanae >> Visit Nanae’s website to sign up for her newsletter: www.kokokaratherapy.com >> Nanae offers complimentary webinar Q&As to dive deeper into topics like intuition, creation and manifestation. Registration links are shared through her newsletter. 🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado & Oregon (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves.  🌿 Connect with Liz >> Join my email newsletter: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist

  4. Oct 5

    Embracing Cycles & Seasons to Deconstruct from Capitalism

    If you’ve ever criticized yourself for being “lazy,” “unproductive,” or “not trying hard enough”, you may be struggling to conform to capitalistic standards of productivity. But that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with YOU - it means you’re navigating a system that wasn’t built to account for your full humanity (like your body’s need for rest). Under capitalism, we’re taught to base our worth on our productivity. Any hour spent resting, playing, or otherwise not working, is considered an hour “wasted.” This is an exhausting way to live - especially if you’re also navigating disabilities, neurodivergence, chronic illness, or anything that makes it harder for you to keep up with the (unsustainable) pace of capitalism. In this episode, I share how embracing cycles, seasons, and a nonlinear relationship to time can help us deconstruct from capitalism & live more fully. We’ll explore: how capitalism runs on linear time, while nature runs on cyclical timewhy it’s not realistic to expect ourselves to be constantly productive - we are humans, not machineswhy it’s important to honor cycles in nature & in our bodiesexamples of cycles that appear in nature & in cultural traditions: the 4 seasons (fall, winter, spring, summer); the phases of the lunar cycle; and the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac Let this episode remind you: your life is not a productivity project. You deserve to live fully and freely, and in collaboration with your true nature - not against it. 🌿 Resources Related to Episode Topic >> How Indigenous ideas about non‑linear time can help us navigate ecological crises >> A Brief Economic History of Time >> A brief history of (linear) time 🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado & Oregon (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves. Her specialties include: Brainspotting, EMDR, IFS, Psychedelic Integration, & Nervous System Intensives (deep-dive, accelerated therapy). 🌿 Connect with Liz >> Join my email newsletter, where I share insights on how to understand your brain & take care of your nervous system: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> Follow on IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist >> To work 1:1 with Liz: learn about Nervous System Healing Intensives here (focused sessions, using Brainspotting & Internal Family Systems, to help you heal deeply & connect with your authentic self) 🌻

  5. Sep 27

    How to Tend to the Nervous System as a Highly Sensitive Person, w/ April Snow

    If you experience the world through a highly sensitive nervous system - and often feel stuck in overstimulation, or more deeply impacted by stress compared to others - this episode is here to support you. Join me & April in a soothing conversation on: What is the HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) nervous system & how does it differ from non-HSP nervous systems? | 05:52How to care for your highly sensitive nervous system: Calming Portals & Tending Practices | 08:11How lifestyle shifts can support your HSP nervous system | 14:12Why April wrote the book: Big Feelings, Big Joy | 22:47How April tended to her nervous system while writing this book | 28:18The HSP community: HSP traits show up across cultures, races, genders, sexualities, ages, and identities | 32:10April shares practical tools that you can begin to practice today, to help your nervous system shift from overstimulation to calm, regulation, and joy.  Let this conversation remind you: >> Your sensitivity isn’t a flaw. Though there are challenges that come with being highly sensitive, HSPs also experience unique gifts & strengths.  >> When we’re proactive & intentional about taking care of our nervous systems, it’s easier to access the joys & best parts of being highly sensitive. >> Your sensitivity doesn’t make you “weak” or “fragile.” Due to a phenomenon called “differential susceptibility,” your nervous system has a deep capacity for joy & resilience. 🌿 Resources for Highly Sensitive People >> Big Feelings, Big Joy (Book): www.bigfeelingsbigjoy.com/book >> Tending Practices 🌿 About the Guest April Snow, LMFT (she/her) is a licensed psychotherapist, author, and consultant who specializes in working with highly sensitive people to help calm the storm of overload, guilt, and self-doubt to allow their innate sensitive strengths to shine through. April supports HSPs around the world through her Sensitive Circles community, Sensitive Sessions workshops, Sensitive Stories podcast, and her latest book: Big Feelings, Big Joy. 🌿 Connect with April >> www.sensitivestrengths.com >> www.instagram.com/sensitivestrengths   >> www.tiktok.com/@sensitivestrengths 🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves.  🌿 Connect with Liz >> Join my email newsletter: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist

  6. Sep 20

    A Gentle Practice to Soothe the Nervous System

    The nervous system communicates in different “languages,” and one of those languages is sensation - like muscle tension, heart rate, breathing patterns, and other internal bodily experiences.  The nervous system can also communicate through other languages - like emotions that you feel, thoughts that you think, images that you see in your mind’s eye, or an inner voice that you hear. In this episode, I share a gentle practice to help you soothe & resource your nervous system - focusing on the language of sensation.  Across time, this practice can help expand your brain & body’s capacity to access calm, joy, and contentment. Please follow along as you feel called, adjusting or pausing as needed to make this practice work for you. Enjoy.  🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves. Her specialties include: Brainspotting, EMDR, IFS, Psychedelic Integration, & Nervous System Intensives (deep-dive, accelerated therapy). 🌿 Connect with Liz >> Join my email newsletter, where I share insights on how to understand your brain & take care of your nervous system: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> Follow on IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist >> To work 1:1 with Liz: learn about Nervous System Healing Intensives here (focused sessions, using Brainspotting & Internal Family Systems, to help you heal deeply & connect with your authentic self) 🌻

  7. Sep 13

    Reconnecting with Our Roots Can Bring Intergenerational Healing, w/ Denise Jauregui

    How are our lives shaped by the experiences of our parents, grandparents, and ancestors? How can we honor our family's stories - of migration, survival, assimilation - without having those stories define/limit our future? Why do some people feel disconnected from their cultures/lineages… and how can reconnecting with our roots help us heal & feel a sense of belonging?  Join me & Denise in a heartfelt conversation, where we discuss: the importance of community-based spaces for healing & educationhow our nervous systems carry the experiences of our ancestors - even if we don’t consciously know what those experiences werehow adverse childhood experiences (like neglect, bullying, or not feeling loved) shape our lives - but that doesn't mean the future is set in stonehow the need to survive, assimilate, & blend in can disconnect us from our cultural roots - why it’s never too late to reconnecthow nature, food, music, stories, art - and anything else that calls to you - can reconnect you to ancestors We share some of our personal experiences as first / second-generation immigrants, navigating multicultural upbringings in the U.S. If you’re curious about intergenerational healing, this episode is for you. Remember: understanding the past can help us find meaning in the present... and your ancestors are rooting for you.  🌿 Resources Mentioned in Episode >> You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation, by Julissa Arce >> ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8882933/ 🌿 About the Guest Denise Jauregui, LCSW (she/her/ella), is the founder of Cultivando Wellness, a bilingual mental health practice and education organization rooted in the belief that healing is deeply connected to culture, community, and the systems that shape our lives. As a first-generation daughter of Mexican immigrants, her work explores the intersections of intergenerational trauma, migration, identity, and belonging. Through psychotherapy, speaking, consultation, professional education, and community-centered gatherings, Denise partners with individuals and organizations to cultivate more culturally responsive, connected, and affirming spaces. 🌿 Connect with Denise >> Instagram: www.instagram.com/cultivandowellness  >> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisejauregui >> Continuing Education for Therapists: www.cultivandowellness.com/continuing-education-offerings  🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves.  🌿 Connect with Liz >> Join my email newsletter: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist

  8. Sep 6

    Sensory Rest: An Antidote to Burnout

    If your nervous system can’t tell the difference between being chased by a bear and checking the news (or checking your email, or receiving a text that says “we need to talk”)… you’re not alone. You’re among the many people who feel overwhelmed by the pace & intensity of modern life, and you may be experiencing sensory burnout & overload. In this episode, I explain what “sensory rest” is, and why it’s a necessary antidote to burnout. We’ll explore how sensory burnout is caused by the systems & environment around us: auditory overstimulation through noise pollutionvisual overstimulation through screen exposureconstant transitions that disrupt attention, including ads & algorithmsextreme temperatures through climate change Then, I’ll share a simple plan for sensory rest: Minimize sensory inputMinimize transitionsBe intentional about screens & technology useCreate soothing sensory rituals This episode brings a holistic, ecological, systemic lens to the topic of nervous system burnout, and will leave you with practical ideas to support your mind, body, and spirit.  🌿 RESOURCES >> To view research mentioned in the episode, click here 🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves. Her specialties include: Brainspotting, EMDR, IFS, Psychedelic Integration, & Nervous System Intensives (deep-dive, accelerated therapy). 🌿 Connect with Liz >> Join my email newsletter, where I share insights on how to understand your brain & take care of your nervous system: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> Follow on IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist >> To work 1:1 with Liz: learn about Nervous System Healing Intensives here (focused sessions, using Brainspotting & Internal Family Systems, to help you heal deeply & connect with your authentic self) 🌻

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4.8
out of 5
12 Ratings

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A podcast about how to take care of our nervous systems while we navigate systems that were designed to keep us dysregulated. Hosted by Liz Zhou, a neurodivergent therapist of color. If you’re a highly sensitive or neurodivergent person — or have always felt different from others, like you belong nowhere — then I hope this podcast will feel like a “welcome home” for you. Here, we approach difference with curiosity, not judgment. We affirm that there is nothing “wrong” with you, that none of us are broken — but the systems around us are. If you’re curious about individual healing & collective liberation, this podcast is for you. Join us as we heal our nervous systems & take good care of ourselves and each other. You are welcome here.

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