Hydrate, Eat, Sleep, Move, Cry, Repeat with Lauren Starnes

Send a text

PTSD 101: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1027246/episodes/18786915

Healing doesn’t begin and end in the mind. We’re kicking off a new season as the Trauma Doc with a candid, practical deep-dive into what your body has been trying to tell you—especially if trauma taught you to live only from the neck up. Joining me is physician assistant and nervous system specialist Lauren Starns, founder of The Resilient Healer, who helps translate the signals we’ve learned to ignore into simple, repeatable practices that restore safety and capacity.

We start where survival mode hides: the basics. Hydration as a quiet cue that steadies the system. Feeding as a nervous system strategy, not a moral battle. Sleep as nightly repair that makes every other intervention stick. Movement as gentle somatic medicine—neck mobility, slow walks, micro-stretches—that brings sensation back online. With each pillar we share actionable tactics: habit-stacking your first 30 minutes, intuitive swaps that honor your body’s yes/no, sleep tracking that informs your day, and five-minute flows that downshift without chasing adrenaline. Expect real talk about alcohol as a chronic downgrade, the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and why automation beats willpower when your system is tired.

Only after safety is built do we go down and in. Lauren reframes crying as a body-led release—short, self-limiting waves that clear stored activation without feeding the story. For many of us, anger and fear are shells over grief; when the body trusts it’s held, tears do their clean work. The outcome is tangible: a wider window of tolerance, fewer spikes, and a steadier presence for life, work, faith, and relationships. If you’ve felt buzzy, brittle, or numb, this conversation offers structure, compassion, and tools to help you feel again—without flooding your system.

If this resonates, follow the show and share it with someone who needs the reminder that healing starts below the neck. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: which body practice will you start this week?

You ARE:
SEEN KNOWN HEARD LOVED VALUED