The Emotion Code: Releasing the Emotional Roots of Physical Pain
Dr. Brian Ruggiero, DC
Reset
Your
Nervous System
Michael Klau-Stevens, LCSW, MPH
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Still Searching for Answers?
Have you exhausted every medical professional seeking help for your
Did you know tick-borne diseases and mold toxicity may be the hidden cause of your chronic urinary tract infections?
Meet Dr. Pamela Cipriano
A nationally recognized Lyme disease and functional medicine expert, Dr. Cipriano goes beyond symptom management to find and treat the root cause of complex health issues. She is an ILADS member, researcher, and speaker. She is also on the Task Force with the World Health Organization for Research on Long Covid.
Beginnings
Spirituality
24 A Year of Gratitude: Honoring Community at The Mantra Room By Haley Proto
What’s Blocking Your Abundance? By Agnes Daddona, Psychic Medium & Angelic Channel 38 Where Energy Flows: Designing Outdoor Spaces for Balance and Beauty
Mary Grace Peak, Founder, Energy and Grace
Elevate Fearlessly: A Transformative, SoulPowered Retreat for Women in Sedona, Arizona
Melissa Wooldridge Breton, APRN
Hey, I’m Dr. Diane!
This will be the hardest publisher’s letter I’ve ever had to write. On March 28, my beautiful mom crossed over peacefully at her home. I had been there visiting with her for about an hour. She walked with me down the hall to the foyer like she always does. I told her I loved her and gave her a hug. We did the “look back,” and I left. Less than an hour later, the assisted living facility called me to tell me she had passed. At 92 years old, this shouldn’t have come as a shock to me, but it still did. I guess I thought she would live forever—or at least we would have one more summer together. To say I will miss her terribly is an understatement. Until you’ve lost your mom, you can’t truly understand the depth of grief and the profound, life-altering void you feel. It leaves a hole that I’m sure will get smaller in time, but never fully close.
“I want to dedicate this magazine to her and honor the wonderful mother she is and the life she lived... She was one of a kind, and to be loved by her was truly something special.”
—Dr. Diane Hayden, PhD
I want to dedicate this magazine to her and honor the wonderful mother she is and the life she lived. Born January 31, 1934, my mom spent her whole life in the town that she loved, Avon. She was an only child, like me, and her family was her whole world. She was an exceptionally talented professional tap dancer and performed at talent shows and benefits all across the state, winning many contests. In later years, she loved to ballroom dance and continued well into her 80s.
My mom was a very talented artist and painted hundreds of oil paintings throughout her life. She especially loved to paint winter scenes, nature, and birds. Many of her paintings were sold along the shoreline in art galleries and boutique stores. She continued painting watercolors at her assisted living facility right up until the end of her life. She loved nature and the ocean, spending many summers in Ocean Grove, NJ, and Old Saybrook, CT. She was fascinated with the moon and astronomy, the changing seasons, and occasionally waking up to hear the first bird to sing at daylight.
My mom immediately lit up any room she entered and made an impact on so many people. Every day you could count on her being dressed to the nines with matching jewelry, hair perfectly set and colored (she refused to go gray), and her signature red lipstick—even on the day she died. She inspired others around her to do the same. She had a smile and a kind word for everyone. She was honest and spoke her mind; you never had to guess what she was thinking. A quick wit and amazing sense of humor, she made so many people around her laugh.
She loved lobster, the ocean, her cat Lily, bowling, dancing, a gimlet or vodka martini, littlenecks, lilacs, fresh sheets on the line, gardening, painting, writing poetry, decorating her home for every holiday, hot fudge sundaes, the full moon, astrology, reading Yankee and Natural Nutmeg magazines, German sugar cookies, giraffes, Johnny Cash, Sid Caesar, country music, the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox and Dustin Pedroia, UConn women’s basketball, doing puzzles with her favorite nurse Elzer, and talking every night with her best friend Evelyn.
She was one of a kind, and to be loved by her was truly something special.
Mom, I hope you are dancing with Dad, and I know you will always be with me— a whisper in the wind, a whiff of Windsong, the salt spray of the ocean.
Wishing you health and happiness,
Dr. Diane Hayden, PhD Publisher & Owner, ELM Publishing
Our mission is to provide valuable insight, information, and resources that will allow our readers to maintain a healthy, active, sustainable lifestyle. Natural Nutmeg contains timely information on natural health, complementary and alternative medicine, nutrition, fitness, personal growth, green living, and the products and services that support a healthy lifestyle.
PUBLISHER/OWNER
Dr. Diane Hayden, PhD Diane@naturalnutmeg.com
DIR. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/OWNER
Christopher Urso Curso@naturalnutmeg.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Lori Hubbard lori@naturalnutmeg.com
DESIGN DIRECTOR
Ashley Frament layout@naturalnutmeg.com
MARKETING DIRECTOR
Colleen Lee colleen@naturalnutmeg.com
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Frank Aieta, ND
Adam Breiner, ND
Mark Breiner, DDS
Deanna M. Cherrone, MD
DISTRIBUTION
Greater Hartford and surrounding counties, please contact Natural Nutmeg. FFC—Tom Cossuto, Man In Motion, LLC
In keeping with our concern for the environment, Essential Naples is proudly printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks.
Natural Nutmeg is a free publication supported solely by our advertisers and distributed throughout Connecticut. Please call for a location near you. (860) 508-0894 or email to publisher@naturalnutmeg.com.
A Celebration of Health, Wellness, and Community from all corners of Litchfield County!
Following the incredible success of its debut in 2025, the Litchfield Wellness Festival returns on June 27, 2026, bringing together over 100 leading wellness businesses and an expected 1,000+ attendees for a full day dedicated to health, vitality, and holistic living.
Hosted in the heart of Litchfield County, this one-ofa-kind event celebrates wellness in all its forms—yoga, fitness, nutrition, natural skincare, alternative therapies, energy healing, and preventive care. The festival’s mission is to inspire individuals to live healthier, more balanced, and deeply connected lives while supporting local and regional wellness practitioners, makers, and businesses.
Attendees can enjoy interactive classes, live demos, artisanal products, and health-conscious foods while connecting with a vibrant community of wellness enthusiasts and professionals. The event is free to attend and family-, kid-, and pet-friendly.
Vendors—You Can Still Join for 2026!
We are still accepting exhibitors and vendors in the following categories: Physical & Mental Health; Emotional & Spiritual Wellness; Movement & Fitness; Holistic & Alternative Wellness; Healthy Living & Environment; Wellness Hospitality (spas, restaurants, hotels); Local Organic Farms; Nutrition & Food Vendors; Beauty Products & Skincare; and more.
Take advantage of this opportunity to connect face-to-face with new clients, showcase your products, and help promote wellness. Together, we’re making Litchfield County a premier destination for a healthy, mindful, and sustainable lifestyle.
Learn more and sign up: LitchfieldWellnessFestival.com
Learn more and sign up: LitchfieldWellnessFestival.com • LitchfieldWellness.co
Angela Johnson, RN, BSN, NC-BC: Nursing Support
Before You Check In
The path to recovery feels overwhelming, scary, and uncertain, but the steps seem clear: find a therapist, attend a meeting, or commit to a treatment program. And access to a nurse? That’s reserved for after they check in to a facility, when they’ve hit rock bottom or that choice has been made for them. But why? Nursing is meant to connect people to wellness resources, support informed choices, and celebrate progress.
Angela’s work lives in the space before those decisions—meeting people where they are, and helping them understand their patterns, explore resources, and trust that their choices will lead to lives they want to live, not just sobriety they have to maintain.
As a board-certified nurse coach with 12 years of experience in mental health, neuroscience, and addiction, she combines nursing expertise with coaching theories and holistic, person-centered care to support people in their recovery goals.
Through one-on-one coaching, Angela shows up with the presence of a nurse who knows how to hold space for real, hard things, and the curiosity of a human who sees potential even in the most stuck places. Her clients feel heard and build confidence in their path forward–so each step feels aligned and unavoidable.
In 2025, Angela lost her brother to alcohol addiction. Now she’s creating the accessible support she wishes had existed for him— nursing care outside treatment facility walls—because support from a nurse shouldn’t be reserved for crises.
Angela Johnson, RN, BSN, NC-BC. Contact Angela at 860.323.3119 or letsgrow@kudzucollab.com. Visit Kudzucollab.com, FB: Kudzu Collaborations, LLC, and Insta: @nursecoachangela to learn more.
Jodi Brown Bluebird Natural Healing, LLC
The journey began 20 years ago, backpacking and harvesting medicinal herbs in the mountains and foothills, which led me to my work with Orthomolecular Facial Analysis. This work grew from a deeply personal place—months of searching for answers for myself and my daughters, listening to the quiet ways the body speaks when words and lab results fall short. One of my most cherished memories is watching a client’s face soften into tears as she realized her story was finally being seen. Moments like that guide my vision to grow Bluebird Natural Healing into a haven where those navigating autoimmunity, Lyme disease, and general wellness can feel held, understood, and gently guided back toward their own inner light.
Autoimmune conditions and Lyme disease often leave people searching for answers that traditional testing doesn’t always provide. Symptoms fluctuate, inflammation ebbs and flows, and many individuals feel unseen in their healing journey. Orthomolecular facial analysis offers a refreshing, noninvasive way to understand what the body is communicating—long before deeper imbalances become chronic.
This approach is rooted in the idea that the face reflects internal mineral patterns, lymphatic flow, and systemic stress. Subtle changes in tone, texture, puffiness, and lines can reveal where the body is struggling to keep up. For those navigating autoimmune challenges or the lingering effects of Lyme disease, these facial markers often appear early and persist despite treatment. Facial analysis helps identify why.
At Bluebird Natural Healing, each assessment blends traditional herbalism, modern bioenergetics, and homeopathic biphasic dose therapies. The goal is to support the body’s natural ability to rebalance—gently and effectively. Personalized protocols may focus on restoring mineral reserves, improving lymphatic movement, easing inflammatory load, and supporting immune modulation rather than suppression.
What makes this work unique is its dual benefit: clients often experience improvements in both their symptoms and their skin. As internal systems regain balance, the face naturally reflects greater vitality—brighter tone, fewer wrinkles, reduced puffiness, softer lines, and a more energized appearance.
For individuals seeking a deeper understanding of their health, Orthomolecular Facial Analysis offers clarity, validation, and a path forward that honors both beauty and biology.
Jodi Brown • Bluebird Natural Healing, LLC
1.360.209.4012
info@bluebirdnaturalhealing.com
BluebirdNaturalHealingLLC.com
Instagram & Facebook: @Bluebirdnaturahealing
Coupon Code [Nutmeg25] for $25.00 o your first service
Delia Corsi Sanctuary Pilates & Yoga
AtThe Sanctuary Pilates & Yoga, wellness is more than movement—it’s a return to yourself.
I’m Delia, owner of The Sanctuary Pilates & Yoga at the Quarry Walk in Oxford, CT.
The Sanctuary was born from my own journey through chronic Lyme, healing, grief, and selfdiscovery. I moved through seasons that challenged me, stretched me, and ultimately changed me. And in that process, I realized I was searching for something that didn’t quite exist—a space that felt safe yet elevated, structured yet soulful. So I created it with a little help from my friends!
I wanted a place where people of all shapes, sizes, and experience levels could walk in and feel seen, supported, and inspired—without pressure, without judgment.
Everything we do at The Sanctuary is rooted in what I call MAGIC—Movement, Authenticity, Growth, Intention, and Community. These values are woven into every class, every interaction, and every experience we offer.
Yes, we offer Reformer Pilates, heated mat Pilates, yoga, and strength-based classes—but what makes this space truly special is what exists beyond the physical. We hold space for real life here. From grief circles and women’s circles to workshops like The Art of Saying No, everything is designed to support deeper healing and personal growth.
In addition to our classes, we have Audrey, our in-house Reiki Master and acupuncturist. She brings a grounded, intuitive presence to The Sanctuary through Reiki, acupuncture, and Gua Sha facials, and leads many of our women’s groups centered on embodying your highest self. She adds a powerful layer of healing that beautifully complements the movement practice.
We’re open seven days a week because I wanted this to be a space you could return to consistently—something that fits into your life, while still feeling like an escape the moment you walk through the door.
Every detail here matters to me. The energy in the room, the intention behind each class, and the way you feel when you leave—it’s all by design. Because at the end of the day, The Sanctuary isn’t just about how you move.
It’s about how you feel when the body, mind, and spirit are aligned. What we do here goes beyond fitness. It’s about creating an experience that feels intentional, supportive, and deeply personal—a place where you can reconnect with yourself in a real way.
Delia Corsi • The Sanctuary Pilates & Yoga
332 Center Rock Green, Oxford, CT 06478
203.204.9987 • thesanctuaryct.com
Dr. Nina Jatuparisuthiseen Nina Acupuncture
Beforetransitioning into healthcare, I led what many would see as a successful life— balancing a career as a merchandising manager in Norwalk with practicing licensed massage therapy and esthetics. Outside of work, I stayed active as a dancer and athlete. But beneath that outward achievement, I was profoundly burned out. By the age of 38, years of chronic stress had taken a serious toll, leaving me in constant, widespread pain, low immunity, and searching desperately for answers.
Acupuncture became a turning point for me. After years of treatment, my acupuncturist made a simple suggestion: “You should become an acupuncturist.” That single comment opened a door I never imagined. Through this medicine, I not only found relief but experienced true transformation. I went from enduring fibromyalgia-like pain to living fully and pain-free—without medication. When faced with another condition that seemed destined for surgery, acupuncture once again provided a natural, effective path to healing.
I am a board-certified diplomate in acupuncture through the National Certification Board for Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine (NCBAHM). I hold a doctorate in acupuncture from Pacific College of Health Sciences and have extensive training in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Sports Medicine Acupuncture Certification Program, the Electro Acupuncture Institute, and trigger point therapy. My additional clinical training in theoretical and clinical acupuncture, moxibustion, Tuina (Chinese medical bodywork), and health preservation at Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China further enriches my practice.
Today, I bring this firsthand experience to my practice. I specialize in treating both chronic and acute pain conditions—including back and neck pain, sports injuries, knee and shoulder pain, sciatica, and post-surgical recovery—as well as stress, anxiety, insomnia, digestive issues, respiratory congestion, and women’s health concerns such as infertility, pregnancy support, and postpartum care. By integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine with evidence-based approaches, I help patients move beyond symptom management toward lasting balance and restoration. Time and again, I have witnessed the body’s remarkable ability to heal—whether by alleviating illness without depending on heavy medication, providing alternatives when surgery isn’t the only answer, or accelerating recovery when it matters most.
Lifestyle medicine is another cornerstone of my practice. I am certified in lifestyle and wellness coaching through Harvard Medical School Executive Education. Each year, I offer The Circadian Retreat—an immersive program designed to help participants reset and synchronize their biological clocks with nature. This retreat optimizes alignment between internal organs and the body’s natural rhythms through workshops, Qigong, Yoga, breath work, and a compassionate community.
I believe healing begins with being truly heard with a customized treatment plan. My vision is to help people reconnect with their bodies, build resilience, and experience a deeper sense of well-being. When one person heals, that healing extends outward, creating a meaningful ripple through families, communities, and beyond.
Dr. Nina Jatuparisuthiseen • Nina Acupuncture
8 Lincoln Street, Westport, CT • 203.858.4929
nina@ninaacupuncture.com • ninaacupuncture.com
Darryl Brennan, LMT Body of Work Therapeutic Massage
At Body of Work Therapeutic Massage, I’m passionate about helping people reconnect with their body, mind, and spirit for lasting wellness.
My work combines targeted therapeutic techniques with a personalized approach to relieve pain, a ddress root issues, and restore healthy movement and posture.
My name is Darryl Brennan, owner and proprietor at Body of Work Therapeutic Massage. I’m a client centric, energetic massage therapist with a wide range of knowledge, techniques, and experiences. In 2013 I graduated from the Massage Therapy Program at Harrisburg Area Community College in Central Pennsylvania and began to practice in a parttime capacity. At the end of 2020, I left my corporate job of 22 years in information technology to pursue my passion of helping people bring balance back to their lives.
A lifelong passion for athletics and fitness led me into this work, where I developed a deep understanding of how powerfully these elements are connected. As my knowledge grew, so did my passion for helping others restore balance, move better, and function at their best.
My work experience has also been a mixture of physical labor and office. I understand the demands of both environments on the body and what needs to be done to alleviate muscle tension and pain.
My favorite moments are when clients realize that their body isn’t “broken”—that even after pain, stiffness, or injury, with the right approach and mindset, change is possible—and you can see that shift happen right before your eyes.
I’m focused on creating a wellness space that blends effective, results-driven care with a welcoming environment where clients can consistently invest in their well-being. This is my Body of Work—I’d be honored to be part of yours.
Darryl Brennan, LMT
Body of Work Therapeutic Massage East Windsor, CT 860.337.9410
bodyofworkmassage@yahoo.com bodyofwork-tm.com
Sue Martovich Salt of the Earth Sanctuary
AtSalt of the Earth, we specialize in a variety of holistic therapies that address the “whole” body, physically, mentally, and emotionally. We are here to help you realize your true healing potential and act upon it. Transformations and breakthroughs happen frequently at our healing center in many ways.
My husband and I started our journey some years ago, when both of us were stricken with autoimmune disorders. Between working in the high-stress, corporate environment, family tragedies, and financial challenges, our health began to deteriorate. We knew it was time for a change. We shifted our diet, lifestyle and therapies, and we felt the improvements in our energy in less than a year. Our conditions became easier to manage. Our children began following natural healing methods and our family became happier, healthier, and more balanced. Today, we share these methods with others through our services and invite you to join us on our journey for health and wellness.
The natural elements of fire, water, air and earth, are vital to our health. The mind, body and spirit work together in unity to nurture the whole self. When this delicate harmony becomes disrupted, it gives rise to disease. At Salt of the Earth, we correct these imbalances through natural therapies that restore harmony, improve wellbeing, and prevent disease. As a society, we are starting to see a change in the way we take care of ourselves. We wholeheartedly support this wellness movement and encourage others to adopt a healthier way of life.
Using salt, energy, ionized air, light, vibration, frequencies, and sound, we offer a combination of state-of-the-art technology with natural healing techniques that have been proven effective time and time again. In addition, Salt of the Earth is the only facility in Connecticut with a unique dual-air system operating in our salt rooms, providing the ultimate healing experience.
The evolution of light and energy in relation to healing is more relevant today than ever before. Sue Martovich • Salt of the Earth Sanctuary 787 Main Street S., Woodbury, CT 06798 203.586.1172 • naturalsalthealing.com
GreenGoo began with a simple but powerful belief: first aid and skincare should help the body heal, not burden it with unnecessary chemicals. Long before “clean” products became a trend, my family and I were asking why so many products people used every day on cuts, scrapes, irritated skin, and chronic skin issues were filled with synthetic ingredients, petroleum, and potential endocrine disruptors. We wanted to reinvent first aid by going back to what made sense to us: whole plants, slow infusions, time-honored herbal traditions, and ingredients gentle enough to support the body instead of fight against it.
Our roots were humble and deeply hands-on. My sister was growing and wildcrafting herbs like calendula and chamomile, drying them on an old screen door, and infusing them in oil using the warmth of the sun. We made our first salves the same way you would in a home kitchen and sold them at farmers’ markets, where we could talk directly to customers and hear how hungry people were for something different. What started as a small family effort grew because the products worked and because the mission resonated: people wanted plant-based solutions they could trust.
What still sets Green Goo apart is that we never lost that original intention. Even as we grew into a nationally distributed brand, we stayed committed to herbal infusions, purposeful ingredients, and formulas designed to nourish the skin rather than just sit on top of it. To me, skin is not just a surface to manage. It is the body’s largest organ, rich in receptors and deeply connected to the nervous system and overall health. When you care for skin with ingredients that nourish and support it, you are doing more than addressing a cut, rash, dryness, or irritation. You are supporting one of the body’s most important protective and communicative systems.
That is why I am so passionate about this work. I care about helping people rethink what healing can look like, both for acute needs and for chronic skin challenges. Plant-based skincare is not just about what you leave out, though removing harsh chemicals and endocrine disruptors matters. It is also about what you put in: botanicals and nutrient-rich ingredients that work with the body, support resilience, and contribute to long-term health and vitality.
One of my favorite memories as a business owner is those early days of making product in small batches and selling it face-to-face at farmers’ markets with my family. There was something incredibly meaningful about watching people connect with the products, hearing their stories, and realizing we were building more than a business. We were helping create a new path in first aid and skincare, one rooted in trust, plants, and a more holistic view of wellness.
And even now, after all the growth, that purpose remains the same. We are still driven by the belief that caring for your skin is one of the most powerful ways to care for your whole self.
Jodi Scott, CEO • Green Goo by Spry Life LLC
512.738.7527 • jodi@greengoo.com • greengoo.com
By Lauri Ingram
For years, I told myself stories. That I wasn’t worthy, that it was too late for me to change, that I didn’t deserve to be happy. I tried thinking and journaling myself out of those patterns, reading all the self-help books, and doing what I thought I needed to do. And here is what I learned: those patterns were running deep beneath my thinking mind.
If you’ve tried to change something, perhaps a job, a relationship, a habit, a story you tell yourself, and nothing shifted, the problem wasn’t your effort. It was the approach. More specifically, it was where the approach was aimed. Real change doesn’t live in the thinking mind. It lives underneath it. Feeling “stuck” rarely announces itself with a name. There’s no crisis, no breakdown, just a low hum of restlessness under the surface you can’t quite explain.
When Sarah* first came to see me, she said she had “nothing to complain about.” Good job. Beautiful family. A life that looked exactly as it should. But she was exhausted and could not name why. She shared, “I’m restless, life feels stagnant. Like I’m waiting for something.” She’d journaled, read the books, and made the lists. Nothing moved. That’s the giveaway. When thinking harder doesn’t help, the issue isn’t in your thoughts; it’s below them.
I spent years in the corporate world doing work that looked successful based on my title and responsibilities. Inside, I felt hollow. I thought about change constantly but was stuck, as if in quicksand. I assumed I just needed more willpower, more motivation, and a better strategy. I knew in my heart that my spirit was begging me to move in a different direction, but I just couldn’t take the first step. What I didn’t understand then is what I now know: you cannot think your way out of a pattern that lives below the level of thought.
It’s OK to Break the “Rules” Research suggests that roughly 95% of our behavior is driven by the subconscious mind— ingrained beliefs and emotional patterns that operate far below awareness.
You’re Not Stuck— You’re Being Run by Patterns
These aren’t character flaws. They are rules you wrote long ago to stay safe, to belong, to survive. And they are very good at their job.
For many of us, those rules whisper things like: “Don’t take up space.” “You don’t deserve more than this.” “Change is dangerous.” And so, we stay put, not because we are weak, but because a part of us has never been shown it’s safe to move. This is why willpower alone doesn’t always work. The conscious mind can set the goal. It cannot override the subconscious pattern. In hypnosis, the brain enters a state of focused receptivity. The critical, analytical mind softens, and in that space, we can begin to examine and rewrite the old stories.
Sarah didn’t find her way forward by making another list. She found it when she uncovered a quiet belief she’d been carrying since childhood. She discovered that she believed her needs came last, that she didn’t matter.
For so long, putting herself first had been a trigger. Choosing herself stopped her in her tracks, stirring guilt, doubt, and an almost automatic retreat. Once we uncovered the deep belief, we were able to change the story she told herself. In that softening, she found space. Space to choose differently. Space to move forward on her own terms.
If you are hearing the hum of restlessness, here’s what I want you to know: the problem is not your lack of effort, discipline, or desire. No one ever showed you the door to the room where the real work happens. That room exists. And the moment you get curious about what’s running beneath the surface, that’s exactly where we begin.
*Name changed to protect client privacy.
Lauri Ingram is a Life and Well-Being Coach specializing in hypnosis, spiritual exploration, and mindfulness-based change work. www.lauriingram.com. See ad on page 15 >
“What I didn’t understand then is what I now know: you cannot think your way out of a pattern that lives below the level of thought.”
—Lauri Ingram
Reset Your Nervous System
By Michal Klau-Stevens, LCSW, MPH
“Seeing each day as a gift rather than as a burden allows us to appreciate the time we have and use it well.”
—Michal Klau-Stevens, LCSW, MPH
Are you feeling more stressed than usual these days? You are not alone! Our modern world exposes us to information about tragedies, catastrophes, and stressors from all around the world. Compared to just a few decades ago, the average person is exposed to hundreds of times as many data points now as in the 1980s. Digital data moves quickly, and much of it is designed to elicit an emotional response in us. This places a huge amount of strain on our analog brains. Our nervous systems are being pushed to their limits by the overflow of information while trying to keep us out of harm’s way. Accelerated Resolution Therapy helps reset the nervous system by processing physical sensations in the body and changing visual associations to threats. Stress reduction has longterm benefits that affect quality of life in the present and longevity into the future.
Our brain screens every piece of information that comes into our awareness to determine whether it poses a threat. Our nervous system’s fight-or-flight response reacts instantaneously, bypassing rational thought, and primes the body for a rapid escape. This is important when the threat in our environment is real, such as a speeding car approaching us or a loud noise indicating a gunshot or explosion. But now our brains are working overtime to keep our bodies primed to escape threats that are not an immediate physical risk, like those we encounter while doomscrolling or watching the news.
We feel this in our bodies as increased heart rate and breathing, stomach issues, headaches, shaking in our hands or feet, and difficulty focusing our attention. Alternatively, if our mode of protection is to freeze, we may feel sluggish, heaviness in our limbs, and brain fog. Over time, our bodies change to continually process high levels of stress hormones, and we end up feeling either stressed or exhausted all the time. We often call these ongoing symptoms anxiety, depression, PTSD, or they get diagnosed as a physical malady. These are all signs the nervous system needs rest and repair.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy for Stress Management
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) can help to quickly reset the nervous system in two ways. First, eye movements and bilateral brain stimulation are very calming. Throughout the session, while focusing inwardly on bodily sensations and applying bilateral stimulation, people feel tension and stress move and release within their bodies. The heart rate slows, and muscles relax. Breathing becomes more regular. The body calms, and so does the mind. The soothing effect on the nervous system is felt deeply and meaningfully throughout the body.
Second, the associations between perceived threats are reduced. Imagine your brain keeps a “memory + feeling + threat” file on everything you’ve experienced in your life. As you perceive a
thought or feeling now, your brain matches it to a memory or felt sensation from the past. This can create a feedback loop that keeps your nervous system on high alert. With ART, we can change the visualizations in the mind to create new, more positive associations. Like cleaning out the old files, the brain has less threat material to search and fewer negative associations to process. This further allows the nervous system to rest and repair.
Because ART works directly with how the brain stores and processes distressing experiences, it often reduces the emotional intensity tied to those experiences without requiring individuals to relive them in detail. This can feel empowering, especially for people who have avoided seeking help because they fear revisiting painful memories.
In addition to formal therapy, incorporating small, consistent habits into daily life can support the nervous system and reinforce the benefits of ART. Practices such as mindful breathing, limiting exposure to distressing media, spending time in nature, and maintaining regular sleep patterns all help signal safety to the body. When paired with therapeutic interventions like ART, these habits create a supportive environment for healing and resilience. Over time, this combination can help retrain the brain to respond to life’s challenges with greater calm, clarity, and balance.
It’s important to reduce stress. In the short term, quality of life is better when lived in a positive state of mind rather than a stressed-out one. Good days make life more meaningful and enjoyable. Seeing each day as a gift rather than as a burden allows us to appreciate the time we have and use it well. In the long term, scientific research shows that ongoing stress affects our physical and mental health. Stress makes us more susceptible to some chronic health conditions, like heart disease, high blood pressure, autoimmune illnesses, and other diseases. Those affect both quality of life and longevity, so managing stress now can have a positive impact on your future.
If you are feeling the effects of chronic stress, explore how Accelerated Resolution Therapy can help you reset your nervous system to find relief.
Michal Klau-Stevens, LCSW, MPH, is the owner of Azure Psychotherapy LLC. She specializes in treating trauma, supporting substance use recovery, and working with women before and during pregnancy and during early parenting years. She is a Master Accelerated Resolution Therapy Practitioner and a Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Provider. Licensed in CT and MA, she offers office sessions, telehealth, and in-home services in select locations. See ad on page 17 >
WAKING UP AT WORK?
WAKING UP AT WORK?
Your career is not "it" anymore, now what do you do?
Your career is not "it" anymore, now what do you do?
I work intuitively with you to blend the modalities that will best support you moving forward in this next chapter of your life.
I work intuitively with you to blend the modalities that will best support you moving forward in this next chapter of your life.
Your destination for Conscious Living and Energy Resource Center
Offering a wide array of physical, mindfulness, and spiritual holistic therapies, we have the perfect treatment for you. Join us for a personal or group session.
Here at Salt of the Earth you will find state of the art energetic/frequency based systems designed for restorative healing and transformation. Call today to begin your personal journey to better health.
Winner in Natural Nutmeg’s 10 Best 2020-2025 Reader Nominated Award for Esthetician/ Holistic & Organic Spa
Empower Your Body to Heal with These 3 Weird Tricks
By Katie Cavenagh, Owner, Sacred Cocoon Healing
The“We believe that we’re “anxious” or “incurable” or “broken.” In reality, that’s not our essence.”
—Katie Cavenagh
body is designed to heal itself. Cuts scab over, the liver regenerates, and bones knit themselves back together. It can be fast or slow, depending on your state of being. The way we respond to our experiences shows whether we’re empowering the body to heal.
Energy systems make up our physical reality, and as conscious humans, we use our attention to shape that reality. Our focal point shapes different perspectives and choices about our healing, shifting our experience.
These energetic shifts are subtle, but make a huge impact over time. Here are some weird tricks you can use to focus and shift your attention towards healing.
Talk to Your Body in the Mirror
Louise Hay is known for her “mirror work.” There’s something extremely powerful about talking directly to your reflection. It may seem silly at first, but if you reference Dr. Masaru Emoto’s famous water crystal or rice experiments, there’s scientific proof that what we say matters.
The instructions we give our body are either constructive or destructive. You can trick the subconscious into adopting a new perspective and instructions by talking positively to and about yourself, and getting the feelings to follow.
Hating, shaming, and berating yourself when you look in the mirror only invites more of those feelings. This energy doesn’t allow for change and keeps you locked in a destructive cycle.
Whatever you tell your body, it responds accordingly. Can you look yourself in the eyes and say, “I love you”? What do you say to yourself on a regular basis? Are you willing to change it to something more constructive that feels better?
Go into the Pain
Quite often, when we’re in pain, we try to get rid of it. Physical or emotional pain is never fun, but many of us have been taught that it’s “bad” and should be avoided.
Of course, we want to soothe the pain, not dismiss it. But what about going into the pain? By pinpointing where the intensity lives in your body as you’re feeling it, and letting it run its course while you stay present?
What would it feel like to focus on the one spot in your body that’s screaming for attention? Could you imagine being inside your body, experiencing the sensation from both sides? Can you create space for the pain to exist as it is, without trying to change or chase it?
The trick is you’ve got to go in to get out. Physical or emotional, your body’s signaling it
needs your attention. It seems counterintuitive, but what would happen if you gave it a try?
Write a New Story
The stories we tell ourselves on repeat about our identity solidify and eventually become our beliefs.
We believe that we’re “anxious” or “incurable” or “broken.” In reality, that’s not our essence. It’s a character part we’ve chosen to play, refusing to give up the role after the final performance.
You get to decide when that final show is. The moment you begin to write a new narrative, everything shifts. Each new choice you make changes the trajectory of your timeline.
You write a new story when you’ve decided you’ve had enough of the old one. When you go out on a limb and experience new things. If you choose differently when caught in an old pattern. At first, the new story might feel unfamiliar or even untrue, and that’s okay. You’re not trying to force belief overnight; you’re practicing a different direction. The mind tends to cling to what’s known, even if it’s limiting, so stepping into a new narrative requires patience and repetition. Each time you catch yourself defaulting to the old story and gently redirect, you loosen its grip.
Eventually, you start feeling differently about yourself and life. That’s when you might notice things have shifted on the outside. What once felt like pretending begins to feel natural. This is how identity shifts happen—not in one grand moment, but through small, consistent choices that reinforce who you’re becoming.
What are you telling yourself as your default story? Is it empowering or disempowering? It might seem weird, but your words matter more than you think. The biggest trick to healing is aligning your words to what you’re creating for yourself.
If you want your body to heal, do your words, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions reflect that? If not, what needs to change to be more aligned?
Katie Cavenagh is a licensed hypnotist, spiritual mentor, and consciousness coach who leads you back to your power. Through various techniques, including NLP, sound healing, and psychic readings, she teaches how to create massive, lasting changes in life. Get right to the root of any challenge and walk away with a clear, actionable path for resolution. Free yourself of stagnant energy, imprints, and conditioning that keep you stuck. Ready to create and live a life you love? Text/call 860.655.5527 or email info@sacred-cocoon.com to schedule an in-person or online session. More info at sacred-cocoon.com. See ad on page 19 >
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Understanding the Culprits of Neurologic Conditions: Lyme Disease, Infections, and Toxins
By Dr. Zachary Moran, ND
In health care today, inflammation is increasingly discussed and recognized as a root cause for many ailments. We hear about how it causes a range of diseases and symptoms, including weight gain, joint pain, fatigue, and gastrointestinal issues. We see natural products and diet plans flooding our email inboxes and social media accounts, all promising ways to reduce inflammation.
“Western
medicine is very poor at recognizing neuroinflammation, resulting in inadequate management often with psychotropic pharmaceutical medication like antidepressants, stimulants, and mood stabilizers.”
—Dr.
Zachary Moran, ND
Unfortunately, one thing we don’t hear about is that the current inflammation epidemic is at its worst in our brains. We see the increased rates of dementia, cognitive changes, mood changes, and other neurologic conditions, but few are aware of the root cause, inflammation. All neurologic conditions can be traced to an inflammatory origin, but testing and managing inflammation in the brain are nonexistent in conventional medicine.
Uncovering the causes of brain inflammation is life-changing but is rarely, if ever, addressed. It is one of the greatest blunders of modern medicine.
One of the challenges in addressing brain inflammation is that its symptoms are often subtle, gradual, and easily attributed to stress, aging, or lifestyle factors. These changes can develop silently over years, making early detection difficult and intervention delayed. This lack of visibility not only prevents timely care but also reinforces a cycle in which underlying inflammation continues unchecked.
What Is Neuroinflammation, and What Causes It?
Neuroinflammation is exactly what it sounds like. It is an immune response in the brain and central nervous system that can damage brain cells and alter brain function. We see inflammation presenting in most kids and adults daily
through mood change, memory decline, cognitive changes, fatigue, behavioral changes like ADHD, seizure activity, and so on. But these symptoms of inflammation are rarely linked to the root causes of immune triggers, such as infections and toxins.
Neuroinflammation results from multiple immune triggers. Often, that immune response is triggered by exposure to an infection, toxin, allergen, or food. In my practice, some of the most common neuroinflammatory culprits, as research has shown, are Lyme disease, viral infections, toxins, and inflammatory dietary foods. These triggers alter the brain’s chemistry and function.
Our lifestyles can also perpetuate the inflammatory process. Highly processed inflammatory foods can add to inflammation in the brain. Poor sleep habits cause reduced oxygenation of the brain. Poor detoxification of our brain’s lymphatic system allows waste to accumulate and toxicity to develop. Poor hydration and sedentary lifestyles result in poor circulation to the brain, which further reduces oxygen and impairs brain detoxification. The list goes on.
Symptoms, Diseases, and Treatment
Associated with Neuroinflammation
Symptoms can vary significantly. Commonly, headaches, head pressure, brain fog, fatigue, memory changes, cognitive focus, depression, anxiety, irritability, and neuropathy are clues that there are higher amounts of neuroinflammation than is normal. In children, additional symptoms such as behavioral changes, seizures, and bed wetting can be signs of neuronal inflammation. Through clinical and research-based testing, many neurologic conditions have connected
neuronal inflammation as their cause, including autoimmune diseases of the brain like multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer’s and dementia, most mood changes like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar, ADHD, as well as inflammatory cascades like PANS and PANDAS.
Unfortunately, Western medicine is very poor at recognizing neuroinflammation, resulting in inadequate management often with psychotropic pharmaceutical medication like antidepressants, stimulants, and mood stabilizers. And the worst part is that very few even realize that reversing the inflammatory cascade is very possible. Those who do identify the cause can resolve the inflammation, regenerate, recover, and heal.
My Approach to Neuroinflammation
The most important thing you can do to fix neuroinflammation is to identify the trigger and eliminate it with proper testing, which is rarely used in the conventional medical model. While the root cause has been identified and addressed, neural information can be managed effectively through supplementation, diet, and lifestyle. High doses of antioxidants, bioflavonoids, omega-3s, herbal formulations, and brain-specific nutrients, along with a quality, nutritious diet and adequate hydration, help stabilize neuroinflammatory symptoms. Avoid compounding inflammation by reducing sugar and processed foods and toxicants like alcohol and smoking, and get adequate sleep for oxygenation and recovery.
Addressing infections and toxins can take time, but they play a significant role in improving and resolving neuroinflammation. For those who have personally had or have known someone with neuroinflammation, it is important to realize that our current model of neurologic management is outdated and inadequate. There are tools to identify and treat the root causes of neuroinflammatory conditions and reverse the disease process.
Dr. Zach Moran of Roots Natural Medical Center is a board-certified and licensed naturopathic physician and has completed a medical residency program. He has an extensive research background and specializes in chronic infectious disease and environmental toxicity, which he believes to be at the core of most chronic diseases. Roots is a Naturopathic Medicinal Center that focuses on addressing foundational root causes of complex chronic diseases. The clinic aims to properly identify, diagnose, and treat patients with unexplained chronic illnesses. Our services areindividualized and patient-focused, as medicine should be. Visit rootsmedicalcenter.com, email info@rootsmedicalcenter.com, or call 860.471.1434 to learn more. See ad on page 43 >
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When the Rhythm Breaks: Circadian Disruption and Autoimmunity
By Dr. Lyndsey Maher, ND, MSAc
“While not universal, prolonged stressors, irregular routines, increased demands, poor sleep habits, long work nights, and repetitive exposure to blue light after dark can prime the system for autoimmune diseases.”
—Dr. Lyndsey Maher, ND, MSAc
Part 1 in the March/April 2026 issue explored the manifestations of a dysfunctional circadian rhythm and o ered ways to restore balance. However, it le unanswered the question of what occurs when such dysfunction persists for decades.
Cortisol, produced from the adrenal glands, is inherently anti-inflammatory. When a circadian rhythm is consistently misaligned, it becomes challenging to manage chronic inflammation, directly impacting the immune system. A well-functioning circadian rhythm ensures cortisol production during the day, peaking with sunlight, and declines as night falls, allowing melatonin production to increase. Both hormones play crucial roles in immune regulation: cortisol as an anti-inflammatory and melatonin as a potent antioxidant.
During the day, cortisol’s anti-inflammatory properties help the body interact with its environment, including food, stress, and pathogens. At night, the body shifts to repair mode, facilitated by melatonin’s antioxidant effects. Cortisol also promotes alertness, especially in the morning. Consistently poor sleep disrupts the timing of cortisol production, leading to fatigue and grogginess the next day. This fatigue often leads to increased consumption of caffeine and sugar, further exacerbating sleep irregularity.
To support this hormonal balance, daily habits must reinforce—not fight against—your circadian rhythm. Consistent sleep and wake times, morning
sunlight exposure, minimizing artificial light at night, and managing stress are foundational practices that help regulate cortisol and melatonin naturally. When these inputs are aligned, the body is better equipped to maintain immune balance, reducing the likelihood that inflammation spirals into dysfunction. Over time, small, consistent choices create an internal environment where hormones can communicate clearly and effectively.
Cortisol and melatonin are hormones, small messengers that communicate with the body to perform specific tasks, akin to a game of telephone. If communication breaks down, the intended job fails to materialize. Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system attacks its own tissues. However, this explanation may not fully capture the complexity of these diseases, given the typical treatments, symptoms, and timing of diagnoses.
Understanding Autoimmune Diseases
Autoimmune diseases are described as the body’s immune response directed against its own tissues; essentially, the body is attacking itself. I don’t find this to be the entire story, given the typical treatments prescribed to individuals with autoimmune diseases, as well as the symptoms and the timing in which these individuals are often diagnosed. Steroids, commonly prescribed for autoimmune diseases, are bio-identical cortisol, implying the body’s inability to produce sufficient cortisol on
its own. While not universal, prolonged stressors, irregular routines, increased demands, poor sleep habits, long work nights, and repetitive exposure to blue light after dark can prime the system for autoimmune diseases.
While this is not the only circumstance, longstanding stressors, irregular routines, increased demands, poor sleep and waking habits, long nights at work, and persistent exposure to blue light after dark—you name it—have a way of priming a system ripe for what is referred to as autoimmune disease.
Compounding the issue, 75–80% of those diagnosed with autoimmune conditions are women. Many are diagnosed in their 20s, but diagnoses accelerate in women entering perimenopause, between 45 and 50 years old, when progesterone production declines. Progesterone is highest during pregnancy, working with a specific form of estrogen to down-regulate the immune system and prevent the body from rejecting the fetus. In nonpregnant women, progesterone peaks after ovulation, during the two weeks before menstruation. This is the time when things get turbulent for women in perimenopause—of course, the aches and pains settle in, while the irritability is unmatched.
Although estrogen production decreases, estradiol, a potent anti-inflammatory, also declines. As women lose these long-standing anti-inflammatory mechanisms, the body must adapt. This is why a woman’s life before menopause can predict her post-menopausal experience.
Consider a woman in her early 40s. She is busy, capable, and accustomed to managing a full life. Sleep has never been perfect, but it’s all she knows. Meals are inconsistent, though she eats relatively well. She is raising young children, caring for aging parents, and holds a high-level corporate job that requires monthly travel. This persistent stress is about to catch up with her. Cortisol has done its best, but without proper support, as estradiol and progesterone plummet, it struggles to control inflammation.
Hormones are messengers. What messages are you sending them to convey?
Dr. Lyndsey Maher, ND, MSAc, is a naturopathic physician and founder of Soleil Acupuncture and Naturopathic Wellness in Hamden, CT. With specialties in acupuncture, hormone health, and holistic aesthetics, she combines evidence-based therapies with individualized care to help patients optimize their health from the inside out. She is passionate about empowering individuals and entire organizations to take an active role in their well-being; blending the best of science and natural medicine to create lasting, meaningful change. Call 203.871.3262. See ad on page 11 >
Autoimmune Encephalitis and Lyme Disease: An Overlooked Cause of Seizures
By Dr. Pamela M. Cipriano, DNP, ACNP-BC
Seizures are often attributed to primary neurological disorders such as epilepsy, brain injury, or genetic conditions. But what happens when a patient develops seizures without a clear cause— and does not respond to standard treatment? Increasingly, research and clinical experience suggest that in some cases, the underlying issue may not be purely neurological, but immunological and infectious in origin.
When Seizures Are Not “Just Epilepsy”
In clinical practice, patients with Lymeassociated autoimmune encephalitis may present with new-onset seizures without prior history, seizures that are difficult to control with medication, cognitive decline or memory impairment, and psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression, or hallucinations.
“Rather than direct damage from the bacteria alone, the immune system becomes dysregulated, leading to ongoing inflammation even after the initial infection.”
—Pamela M. Cipriano, DNP, ACNP-BC
One emerging and underrecognized connection is the role of Lyme disease in triggering autoimmune encephalitis, a condition that can manifest with seizures, psychiatric symptoms, and profound neurological dysfunction.
Understanding Autoimmune Encephalitis
Autoimmune encephalitis occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the brain, leading to inflammation. This inflammation can disrupt normal neuronal signaling and result in symptoms such as seizures, memory loss, confusion, behavioral changes, and psychosis.
In many cases, autoimmune encephalitis is associated with antibodies targeting neuronal receptors, such as NMDA or GABA receptors. However, what is often overlooked is the trigger for this immune response in the first place.
The Infectious Trigger: Lyme Disease
Lyme disease, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, is well known for its ability to affect multiple systems in the body. While early symptoms may include fatigue, joint pain, or a rash, the infection can also invade the nervous system—a condition known as neuroborreliosis.
In some patients, Lyme disease appears to act as a trigger for autoimmune activity in the brain. Rather than direct damage from the bacteria alone, the immune system becomes dysregulated, leading to ongoing inflammation even after the initial infection. This mechanism is similar to that seen in other post-infectious autoimmune conditions, where the body’s attempt to fight an infection inadvertently causes damage to its own tissues.
These patients are often diagnosed with epilepsy or a psychiatric disorder, while the underlying cause remains unrecognized. Standard imaging and routine lab tests may be normal, leading to further confusion and, in many cases, delayed treatment.
This connection is not just theoretical. In my published, peer-reviewed case series, “Autoimmune Epilepsy Temporally Associated with Lyme Disease: A Report of Two Cases,” I documented patients who developed seizure disorders linked to Lyme-triggered autoimmune processes, highlighting the importance of recognizing infection as a potential underlying cause.
The Role of Inflammation and Immune Dysregulation
One of the key features of Lyme-associated neurological disease is chronic inflammation. The immune system, once activated, may remain in a heightened state, producing cytokines and antibodies that continue to affect brain function. Additionally, Lyme disease is frequently accompanied by co-infections such as Bartonella or Babesia, which can further complicate the immune response and contribute to neurological symptoms.
Challenges in Diagnosis
Diagnosing autoimmune encephalitis related to Lyme disease can be challenging for several reasons:
• Lyme testing is not always sensitive or reliable
• Autoimmune markers may not always be present or may be overlooked
• Symptoms can mimic psychiatric or neurological conditions
As a result, many patients go undiagnosed or are treated symptomatically without addressing the root cause. A thorough clinical evaluation— including a detailed history of tick exposure, symptom progression, and associated systemic symptoms—is critical.
A More Comprehensive Treatment Approach
When Lyme disease is suspected as a contributing factor, treatment must address both the underlying infection and the immune response. This may include antimicrobial therapy targeting Lyme and co-infections, anti-inflammatory and immunemodulating strategies, nutritional and metabolic support, and seizure management when necessary.
In some cases, patients who have not responded to traditional seizure medications begin to improve once the underlying inflammatory process is addressed.
Why This Matters
The connection between Lyme disease, autoimmune encephalitis, and seizures is not yet widely recognized—but it has profound implications. For patients, it can mean the difference between lifelong seizure management and identifying a treatable underlying cause. For clinicians, it highlights the importance of looking beyond conventional diagnoses and considering infectious and immune-mediated contributors to neurological disease.
Moving Forward
As research evolves, it is becoming increasingly clear that the immune system, infections, and environmental exposures all play a role in neurological health. Lyme disease, in particular, has demonstrated an ability to disrupt this balance in complex ways that are still being understood.
Seizures are not always what they seem. They may signal deeper immune dysfunction triggered by infection. Recognizing the potential link between Lyme disease and autoimmune encephalitis opens the door to more accurate diagnoses, more effective treatments, and, most importantly, better outcomes for patients who have too often been overlooked.
page 39 >
Pamela M. Cipriano, DNP, ACNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner specializing in internal medicine, functional medicine, and complex chronic illnesses, including Lyme disease, mold toxicity, and autoimmune disorders. She is the founder of The Practice of Health and Wellness in Thomaston, Connecticut, an ILADS-trained Lyme specialist, national speaker, and award-winning clinician dedicated to educating patients and providers about the hidden manifestations of tick-borne diseases. See ad on page 4
Dr. Brian Ruggiero, D.C.
A Year of Gratitude: Honoring Community at The Mantra Room
By Haley Proto
This June, The Mantra Room celebrates its oneyear anniversary—a milestone that feels less like a finish line and more like a moment to pause, reflect, and give thanks.
“And when we take a moment to truly look, there is so much to appreciate—the connections formed, the healing that has begun, the simple act of showing up.”
—Haley Proto
When this space first came to life, it was built on a simple intention: to create a place where people could slow down, listen deeply, and reconnect with themselves. Like any beginning, there was uncertainty woven in with hope. There were questions about what it would become, who it would reach, and how it would grow. But what has unfolded over the past year has been something far more meaningful than anything that could have been planned.
It has become a community.
And with that comes an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
Spreading Gratitude
We have gratitude for every person who has walked through the door—whether they came seeking rest, healing, connection, or simply curiosity. Each presence has shaped the space’s energy in a way that cannot be replicated. There is something powerful about a room filled with people who are choosing, even for a moment, to be still, to be present, and to care for themselves.
Gratitude for the shared experiences that have filled this space. The gentle hum of singing bowls, the quiet of meditation, the collective exhale at the end of a session—these are small moments, but
they carry a depth that lingers long after they pass. Sound has offered a way to soften, to release, and to return inward, again and again.
Gratitude, too, for the lessons that come with building something new. The first year has held growth, challenge, adjustment, and trust. It has been a practice in patience—in allowing things to unfold naturally rather than forcing them into shape. In many ways, this mirrors the very work we do in this space: learning to listen, respond, and honor what is present.
In a world that often encourages constant striving, gratitude asks us to pause and recognize what already is. It shifts our focus from what is missing to what is here. And when we take a moment to truly look, there is so much to appreciate —the connections formed, the healing that has begun, the simple act of showing up.
Gratitude also extends to the unseen threads that continue to weave this space together—the quiet intentions set before each session, the care held by those who facilitate, and the openness carried by those who return again and again. There is a kind of trust that builds over time, not always spoken but deeply felt, creating a foundation that allows this space to evolve while still remaining grounded in its purpose. It is in these subtle layers that the true essence of this work lives—not only in what happens within these walls, but in what each person carries with them beyond it.
The Mantra Room has never been about perfection or performance. It is about creating a space where people feel welcome as they are. A space where slowing down is not only allowed, but encouraged. A space where sound, stillness, and presence can guide us back to ourselves.
Celebrate with Us
This anniversary is not just about marking time—it is about honoring the people who have made this space what it is.
From June 19 through June 21, The Mantra Room will host a three-day open house to celebrate and give back to the community that has supported it. These days are an invitation to step into the space, experience the offerings, and connect in a relaxed and welcoming environment. Whether you have been part of this journey from the beginning or are simply curious to explore, you are welcome here.
At its heart, this open house is an expression of gratitude. Gratitude for the conversations, the shared silence, the laughter, the vulnerability, and the trust that have been built within these walls. Gratitude for a community that continues to show up with openness and intention.
As we move into the next year, that gratitude remains at the center. It is what grounds the space and guides its growth. There is excitement for what is to come, but also a deep appreciation for what already exists.
Because when we slow down enough to notice, we realize that the most meaningful parts of the journey are often the ones we didn’t plan—the connections, the moments of stillness, the quiet shifts within.
So as we mark this first year, we do so with full hearts. Thank you for being part of it.
Haley Proto is a dedicated and passionate yoga teacher at The Mantra Room. With a profound belief in the harmony between movement and stillness, Haley’s classes seamlessly blend the principles of Yin & Yang yoga, fostering a balance of physical exertion and inner peace. Specializing in Vinyasa, Yin, and Restorative yoga, Haley’s teaching style embodies mindfulness and awareness, guiding students towards holistic wellness. Beyond traditional yoga practices, Haley integrates sound healing, essential oils, and Reiki, creating transformative experiences that nurture the mind, body, and spirit. IG: @ themantraroomct FB: facebook.com/profile. php?id=61576708816546 See ad on page 17 >
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The Missing Piece in Neuropathy Care
“These changes tend to reflect deeper physiological shifts toward optimal aging, rather than temporary symptom relief.”
—Dr. Dana Lapointe, ND
By Dr. Dana
Lapointe,
ND, LMT, CHt, CMWC
Neuropathy is often described in terms of symptoms—numbness, tingling, burning, or altered sensation in the hands and feet. Clinically, however, it’s more useful to think of neuropathy as a process of dysfunction within the peripheral nervous system, often developing gradually in response to metabolic, vascular, or inflammatory stressors.
Peripheral neuropathy is frequently framed as a progressive, irreversible condition. While it’s true advanced nerve damage may not fully reverse, this perspective overlooks the body’s capacity for repair—particularly in earlier or moderate stages, and when multiple aspects of the condition are addressed simultaneously. This is good news.
For many, especially those with longstanding blood sugar dysregulation, neuropathy is closely tied to metabolic damage. Diabetes is the most common cause, but not the only one. Nutrient insufficiencies, chronic low-grade inflammation, chemotherapy and other medications, neurotoxicity, and impaired microcirculation from peripheral artery disease or hypertension can all influence nerve health and repair capacity. This variability is one reason neuropathy can be so persistent—and why outcomes differ depending on the approach taken.
Conventional management often emphasizes symptom control, typically through medications that modulate nerve signaling. While this can reduce discomfort, it does not directly support nerve regeneration or address the underlying conditions that contributed to the damage.
Rethinking What’s Possible
A more nuanced view recognizes that nerve health is dynamic. It’s influenced by metabolic control, vascular integrity, inflammation, and nutrient availability—all of which can be modified.
A comprehensive, functional approach addresses the factors that influence nerve integrity and healing: glycemic control, vascular supply, mitochondrial function, and the availability of key nutrients involved in nerve repair. From this perspective,
care shifts from symptom suppression to restoring a healthier internal environment.
For individuals struggling with neuropathy, this opens the door to a different kind of care—one that is not limited to managing symptoms, but instead focuses on improving function, supporting regeneration, and addressing the broader context in which nerve damage develops.
The Role of StemWave Therapy
Acoustic StemWave therapy has emerged as a valuable tool in this context. By delivering targeted mechanical energy to affected tissues, it promotes localized improvements in circulation, cellular signaling, and regenerative activity. In neuropathy care, this can help stimulate nerve recovery and improve function over time.
Most StemWave providers use StemWave as a standalone therapy for musculoskeletal conditions, and it is highly effective in that role. However, neuropathy presents a unique clinical challenge: reduced or altered sensation limits a patient’s ability to provide real-time feedback during treatment. As a result, therapy must be applied conservatively to ensure safety and avoid overstimulation of compromised tissue. This measured approach is appropriate but generally extends the treatment timeline when local therapy is used in isolation. But outcomes and timelines tend to improve when local therapy is paired with systemic support.
Enhancing Outcomes Through Integration
While StemWave works at the level of tissue stimulation and repair, the broader physiological environment determines how effectively those signals translate into healing. If blood sugar remains unstable, inflammation persists, or key nutrients required for nerve regeneration are lacking, progress may be slower or less complete. When these underlying factors are addressed alongside treatment, the effects of StemWave are often amplified. An integrative plan may include:
• Targeted nutritional strategies to improve glycemic control
• Anti-inflammatory interventions to reduce ongoing nerve irritation
• Detox strategies when appropriate
• Micronutrient support, particularly those involved in nerve structure and signaling
• Strategies to enhance microvascular circulation
In this context, acoustic therapy becomes part of a coordinated effort to stimulate repair while creating the conditions for it to occur more efficiently.
Clinical Implications for Patients
From a patient’s perspective, this distinction matters. Two individuals may receive the same local therapy but experience very different outcomes depending on the internal environment in which that therapy is applied.
Patients who address both the local and systemic aspects of neuropathy often report more consistent improvements—not only in sensation, but in balance, stability, and overall function. These changes tend to reflect deeper physiological shifts toward optimal aging, rather than temporary symptom relief. This approach also allows for more individualized care. The contributing factors in neuropathy are rarely identical, and identifying each person’s unique drivers is paramount.
Choosing the Right Approach
For those exploring treatment options, it’s important to look beyond any single therapy and consider how care is being delivered. For neuropathy, outcomes are strongest when treatment includes both targeted, tissue-level therapies and a broader strategy addressing metabolic health, inflammation, and nutrient status.
Working with a practitioner who understands both the clinical nuances of neuropathy and the safe application of therapies like StemWave, while also addressing underlying metabolic and inflammatory drivers, can make a meaningful difference in both the speed and capacity for regeneration.
Dr. Dana Lapointe,“The Lifestyle Doc,” is a Connecticut-licensed naturopathic physician specializing in functional diagnostics and naturopathic care of chronic degenerative diseases, including neuropathy, chronic pain, joint conditions, and soft tissue injuries. Her approach combines advanced therapies like StemWave with targeted nutrition and lifestyle medicine to address underlying causes. She sees patients in-office and offers remote health coaching and online programs. Call or text 860.217.1171 or visit SustainableHW.com See ad on page 25 >
By Agnes Daddona, Psychic Medium & Angelic Channel
Abundance is often spoken about as something we must chase, earn, or work harder to deserve. But true abundance begins much deeper—within our energy, our beliefs, and our connection to the soul. When that inner alignment is missing, even effort can feel exhausting, and hard work can leave a person wondering why life still feels like a struggle.
Abundance Blocks
“This awareness is deeply powerful because when you understand why something has been happening, you are no longer trapped in confusion.”
—Agnes Daddona
One of the most common concerns I hear from clients is this: “I feel stuck. I don’t have enough. I’m trying, and I still don’t understand why it feels so hard.” These are not people who are careless or irresponsible. They are doing their best. They are working, hoping, praying, trying to stay positive, and searching for a way forward. Yet underneath it all, they feel overwhelmed by money, uncertain about how to create stability, or burdened by the stress of not having enough.
Through years of working with clients, I have seen that these experiences are rarely just about finances. They are connected to the emotional, energetic, and spiritual layers of a person’s life. Money can carry fear. Receiving can carry guilt. Success can awaken old wounds around worthiness, safety, and visibility.
In my work, I guide clients as both a teacher and intuitive channel, connecting with divine energy, the Angelic Realm, and higher guidance to reveal what is truly happening beneath the surface. Together, we begin to understand the beliefs, patterns, and energetic imbalances that may be keeping them in cycles of lack, confusion, or struggle. What often blocks prosperity is not a lack of desire, talent, or effort. It is an old internal pattern that has never been fully seen, understood, or healed.
We are often taught that abundance is the result of hard work alone. While action matters, effort is only one part of the picture. True abundance flows when your inner world is aligned with what you are asking for. If fear, self-doubt, guilt, or unresolved emotional pain are underneath your desire for more, they can create resistance no matter how hard you try.
Many abundance blocks are subtle. They are not always obvious in the conscious mind. Instead, they are often rooted in past experiences, childhood conditioning, inherited beliefs, or unresolved emotional wounds. Some of the most common patterns I see include fear of instability, scarcity learned in childhood, guilt around having more than others, difficulty receiving support, overgiving, undercharging, or feeling undeserving of wealth and success. This is why so many people feel frustrated. They may still feel blocked. They work hard but feel unsupported. Money comes in, but quickly goes out. Opportunities appear, but do not last. They secondguess their value, feel uncomfortable receiving, or remain stuck despite doing all the “right” things. When these experiences repeat, it is often a sign that something deeper is asking to be seen.
How Spiritual Insight Can Help You Understand Money and Prosperity
In my sessions, I help clients understand the deeper layers of their relationship with abundance. Through intuitive guidance and connection with the Angelic Realm, I can often identify the emotional roots behind financial patterns, energetic blocks that limit receiving, repeated cycles around
fear and worth, and the deeper truth of what the soul is ready to step into. This awareness is deeply powerful because when you understand why something has been happening, you are no longer trapped in confusion. You can begin to shift it.
I also help clients reconnect with their soul’s true potential—the part naturally aligned with expansion, support, and possibility. When that connection strengthens, something beautiful begins to open. I often describe it as creating an energetic flow of abundance, where receiving no longer feels forced, fearful, or far away. Clients begin to experience greater clarity around how they are meant to create wealth, and many start attracting support, opportunities, and openings from unexpected places.
One of the most important shifts I guide people through is moving from chasing abundance to becoming open to it. Chasing often carries urgency, pressure, and fear. Alignment carries openness, trust, and flow. Abundance is not something you have to force. It is something you allow when you come back into alignment with your soul, your worth, and divine support.
If you have been doing everything you can and still feel blocked, I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with you. There may simply be something deeper asking to be seen, understood, and healed. Through intuitive readings, I will support you in uncovering what has been holding you back and guide you into a more aligned, open, and abundant state on every level.
When you start to notice your thoughts, your reactions, and the emotions that arise around receiving, you open the door to transformation. Awareness softens resistance. Compassion dissolves shame. And with each layer you gently acknowledge, you create space for a new experience to emerge. Abundance is not something that suddenly appears overnight— it unfolds as you deepen your relationship with yourself, your energy, and your ability to receive.
If you feel ready to manifest abundance, I invite you to explore a session with me.
Melissa Wooldridge Breton, Nurse Practitioner
• Functional Medicine Nurse Consultant
• Integrative Health & Wellness Nurse Coach
• Crystal Sound Bowl Emissary
• Reiki Energy Practitioner • Yoga Instructor
A Co-Creative Healing Arts Studio
Alternative & complementary modalities. One-on-one, group, private and community o erings.
A sacred space for well-becoming on our healing-growth-recovery journey together!
Agnes Daddona, MA, Intuitive Counseling, is one of the best psychic/ mediums and healers in New England. The gift of intuition runs in her family for generations. For more than 20 years, Agnes has worked with thousands of people worldwide through psychic readings, mediumship, channeling angels, counseling, healing, and teaching in English and Polish. Agnes has transformed many people’s lives to meet their dreams. She continues to solve the most difficult issues when it seems no one else can help. To book your Intuitive Reading, contact Agnes at: www.AgnesDaddona.com, email at: agnes@ IntuitiveCounselingllc.com, or call 860.941.2667. See ad on page 27 > 30 Hebron Avenue, DERR Plaza,
Dr. Mark A. Breiner, Featured in the Netflix Documentary "Root Cause" and Best Selling Author of "Whole-Body Dentistry"
Optimize Your Smile and Your Health!
Comprehensive traditional and holistic approaches to oral health care. We understand the "mouth-body connection." Come to the source:
Dr. Breiner is a pioneer and recognized authority in the field of biological and holistic dentistry.
Unlock Your Body’s Potential: The Benefits of Stretch
“Instead of reacting to aches and tightness, you’re proactively supporting your body’s long-term mobility and overall well-being.”
—Kevin Ramsey
By Kevin Ramsey, Body Care Innovation Manager
You’re
feeling stiff. Tight. Rigid, even.
Maybe your back protests every time you stand up, or your shoulders have practically fused with your ears. And because you don’t think of yourself as a “flexible person,” you’ve long assumed stretching just isn’t for you. But what if we told you that improving your range of motion doesn’t have to mean hours spent in yoga poses or failed attempts to touch your toes?
That’s where relaxation stretch, relief stretch, or mobility stretch comes in.
Whether you’re an athlete seeking to boost performance, a desk worker fighting screen-time aches, or just want to stay mobile, assisted stretching helps push the limits of what you thought was possible for your body, helping you move better. And when you move better, you live better.
What Is Assisted Stretching?
Maybe you’ve tried stretching on your own and felt like you just couldn’t get deep enough to really feel the burn. Assisted stretching brings the benefits of regular stretching to the least flexible among us, helping you safely extend your muscles further than you could alone. But is assisted stretching really worth it?
The short answer: yes! Unlike stretching on your own, assisted stretching is a guided, handson approach in which a trained professional helps you move deeper into stretches safely and under controlled conditions. The session is tailored to your body’s unique needs and movement goals, targeting areas of tension and providing assisted stretching benefits, such as improved flexibility and mobility.
What Are the Benefits of Stretching?
While you may think of stretching as just something to do before and after a workout, assisted stretching does help a lot more than your mile time. Here are some of the top assisted stretching benefits:
• Improved flexibility and mobility: Assisted stretching helps keep muscles and joints limber, putting less stress on the muscles when you move around during workouts or everyday life.
• Clearer mind: The deep, synchronized breathing techniques that accompany the stretches help relax both your mind and body.
• Better posture: Sitting at a desk all day? Staring at a screen for hours? These habits can lead to slouching and poor posture, which can
cause discomfort over time. By increasing your flexibility, stretching can also help improve posture.
The benefits of assisted stretching make it one of the easiest and most effective ways to care for your body. When you make it a regular part of your routine, it not only helps you move better, but also live and feel better.
Over time, consistent assisted stretching can become more than just a way to relieve tension—it can transform how your body feels on a daily basis. Many people notice that simple movements, like bending, reaching, or even walking, start to feel smoother and more natural. This is because regular sessions help retrain your muscles and joints to move efficiently, reducing stiffness before it builds into discomfort. Instead of reacting to aches and tightness, you’re proactively supporting your body’s long-term mobility and overall well-being.
What to Expect from Relaxation Stretch, Relief Stretch, or Mobility Stretch
Now that you understand a bit more about the benefits of assisted stretching, you may be curious about what to expectwhen you schedule a Relaxation Stretch, Relief Stretch, orMobility
Stretch session at a Massage Envy franchised location near you.
Your session will begin with a quick consultation where your provider will chat with you about your body’s history and any areas of tension or discomfort. This helps them tailor the session to address your specific needs and movement goals.
Sessions take place in a calming, private room designed for ultimate relaxation. Once you’re settled in, your provider will guide you through a series of assisted stretches, starting at the neck and working their way down to your feet. This hands-on approach helps you go deeper into your stretches, release tension, and improve flexibility throughout your entire body.
The Rapid Tension Relief enhancement uses percussion technology to quickly ease minor aches and pains. Or, if you have an area that needs extra support, try the Kinesiology Tapeenhancement to help reduce discomfort or provide extra support for an injured part of your body.
Ready to discover the bend-efits of stretch for yourself? Make Relaxation Stretch, Relief Stretch, or Mobility
Stretch sessions a regular part of your routine when you sign up for a Massage Envy membership today. For more information, call 860.233.8890 or email Clinic0825@massageenvy.com. See ad on page 3 >
A Different Way to Understand Autoimmune Disease
By Kerry Martin, RN-CHC
Iwant
to say this right away, especially if you are someone living with autoimmune disease: You are not broken.
Your body is not attacking you because it is defective. Your body is communicating. And the way we’ve been taught to understand autoimmune disease, while helpful in many ways, is also incomplete. As a registered nurse and holistic health coach, I have spent years inside the medical system. I understand the lab values, the medications, the protocols. I respect them. They have their place. But what I also see over and over again are people who are doing everything right medically…and still don’t feel well.
They are exhausted. Inflamed. Disconnected. Confused about their own bodies. That’s where I come in.
What If Your Body Is Trying to Recalibrate You?
Autoimmune disease is often described as the body “attacking itself.” But I want to offer you another perspective. What if your body is not attacking…but responding? Responding to chronic stress, emotional suppression, environmental overload, nervous system dysregulation, or living out of alignment with your natural energy.
From a clinical lens, we see inflammation, antibodies, and dysregulation. From a human lens, I see something else: A system that has lost its rhythm.
How You’re Living Matters More Than You Think
When I work with clients, I don’t start with protocols. I start with a simple question: How are you living right now? Not just what you’re eating. Not just what supplements you’re taking.
But how is your energy throughout the day? Are you constantly pushing through exhaustion? Do you feel safe in your body? Are you resting…or just stopping? Are you constantly in your head?
Many people with autoimmune conditions are living in a near-constant state of subtle survival. They may look “fine” on the outside, but internally, their nervous system is on high alert. And when the nervous system is dysregulated, the immune system follows.
The Missing Link: Your Nervous System
This is where things begin to shift. Your immune system does not operate independently. It is deeply connected to your nervous system. If your body perceives stress, whether physical, emotional, or environmental, it will adapt. This can look like
Fire, Water, Earth, and Air—Where Are You out of Balance?
Your body follows patterns. When you understand your pattern, you can begin to shift it. This quick self-check can help you gently identify where your system may be out of balance. Read through each element and notice what resonates—no need to overthink it.
FIRE: Energy and Output WATER: Rest and Emotional Flow
When balanced: Motivated, clear, able to take action without forcing
When out of balance: Constantly pushing or overworking; burnout, inflammation, irritability, depleted energy
Ask yourself: Am I always “on,” or completely drained?
When balanced: Calm, adaptable, able to rest deeply
When out of balance: Difficulty relaxing or slowing down; overwhelmed, emotionally stuck; poor sleep, inability to recharge
Ask yourself: Do I truly rest, or just stop moving?
EARTH: Grounding and Stability AIR: Thought and Perspective
When balanced: Steady, supported, connected to your body
When out of balance: Scattered or disconnected; difficulty staying present; feeling stuck, rigid, unable to shift
Ask yourself: Do I feel grounded in my life or like I’m just getting through it?
What This Means for You
When balanced: Clarity, perspective, mental ease
When out of balance: Overthinking, constant mental activity; anxiety or looping thoughts; difficulty making decisions
Ask yourself: Is my mind supporting me or overwhelming me?
Most people are not just out of balance in one area, but in multiple. And that’s where the work begins. Not with fixing everything at once. But by noticing. Awareness is the first step in bringing your body back into alignment.
A Simple Way to Begin
Choose the one element that stood out most to you. Start there. Small shifts, done consistently, can create meaningful change.
If it’s Fire, create space to slow down
If it’s Water, allow yourself to rest more deeply
chronic inflammation, hormonal disruption, digestive issues, and immune confusion. Your body is not trying to hurt you. It is trying to protect you, using the tools it has.
Understanding How You’re Designed to Live
So many people come to me after trying many things, including diet changes, functional medicine protocols, supplements, and medications. And again, these can be incredibly helpful. But there is often a missing piece: No one has helped them understand themselves. Not just their diagnosis. But their pattern. Their energy. Their tendencies. Their environment. Their way of moving through life. This is where my work is different.
If it’s Earth, reconnect with your body and environment
If it’s Air, quiet the mental noise, even briefly
I look at your life through a different lens. Not just what’s wrong, but what’s out of alignment. I use a combination of your daily rhythms, stress patterns, energy output, environment, and your natural tendencies (including tools like Human Design and elemental frameworks). This is not about labeling you. It’s about helping you see yourself clearly. Because when you understand how you’re designed to function, you stop fighting yourself.
The Elemental Approach to Healing
One of the ways I simplify this process is through the elements: fire, water, earth, and air. This is not abstract. It’s practical. Each element represents a way your body and life function.
“Many
people with autoimmune conditions are living in a near-constant state of subtle survival.”
—Kerry Martin, RN-CHC
“This is not about labeling you. It’s about helping you see yourself clearly. Because when you understand how you’re designed to function, you stop fighting yourself.”
—Kerry Martin, RN-CHC
• Fire: Energy and Output
• Too much: burnout, inflammation, overdrive
• Too little: fatigue, lack of motivation
• Water: Rest and Emotional Flow
• Too much: stagnation, heaviness
• Too little: anxiety, tension, inability to relax
• Earth: Grounding and Stability
• Too much: rigidity, stuck patterns
• Too little: disconnection, scattered energy
• Air: Thought and Perspective
• Too much: overthinking, mental overwhelm
• Too little: lack of clarity, direction
Most people with autoimmune conditions are out of balance in more than one of these areas. And no supplement alone will fix that.
Small Shifts, Not Overhauls
This is where I guide people differently. We don’t overhaul your life overnight. We make small, meaningful shifts. Because your body doesn’t need more force. It needs support. That might look like:
• Learning how to truly rest your nervous system (not just scroll your phone)
• Adjusting your daily rhythm to match your energy—not fight it
• Creating moments of safety in your body
• Reducing internal pressure, not just external stress
• Reconnecting with nature in simple, accessible ways
These are not complicated strategies. But they are powerful.
The Role of Medical Care
I want to be very clear: This is not about replacing medical care. It’s about expanding it. You can take your medications. You can follow your doctor’s guidance. And begin to understand your body more deeply. This is the bridge I stand on: Western medicine + human experience + nature-based recalibration
What I See in My Clients
When people begin to understand themselves… Something shifts. They stop: Forcing themselves through exhaustion. Ignoring their body’s signals. Living in constant internal tension. And they start: Making decisions that support their energy. Feeling more grounded and less reactive. Experiencing less internal conflict. Do their diagnoses disappear overnight? No. But their relationship with their body changes. And that matters more than most people realize. Healing is not a linear process. There will be days when your body feels more regulated, more energized, more like “you”—and days when symptoms resurface or fatigue returns. This does
not mean you are back at the beginning. It means your body is continuing to communicate, adjust, and recalibrate. When you shift from frustration to curiosity, you begin to meet your body differently. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with me?” you start asking, “What is my body asking for right now?” That subtle shift alone can change everything.
Over time, this approach builds trust. You begin to trust your body’s signals instead of fearing them. You learn that rest is productive, that slowing down can be powerful, and that alignment creates a kind of energy no supplement can replicate. This is not about perfection. It’s about awareness, consistency, and compassion for yourself in the process. Because true healing is not just physical—it’s relational. And the most important relationship you will ever rebuild is the one you have with your own body.
You Are Not Meant to Live in Constant Struggle
If you are living with autoimmune disease, I want you to hear this: There is another way to approach this. Not from fear. Not from constant fixing. Not from chasing the next protocol. But from understanding. From alignment. From working with your body instead of against it.
A Different Kind of Support
At Wise Concierge Wellness, I work with people one-on-one. We look at: How you are living right now. Where things are out of balance. What your body may be trying to communicate. And then we create a simple, personalized way forward. Not overwhelming. Not complicated. Not one-size-fits-all. Just real. Autoimmune disease is complex. But you are not a collection of symptoms. You are a whole person. And your body—no matter what it’s going through—is still on your side. If you begin to listen differently… to live differently… to support yourself differently… You may find that healing is not just about eliminating symptoms. It’s about coming back into relationship with yourself.
Kerry Martin, RN-CHC, is a registered nurse and holistic health coach, and the founder of Wise Concierge Wellness in Woodbury, Connecticut. She works one-on-one with clients to help them understand how they live, identify where they are out of balance, and gently recalibrate their lifestyle through nature-based practices, nervous system support, and personalized insight. Email kerry@ wiseconciergewellness.com, call 203.405.1616, and visit wiseconciergewellness.com to learn more. See ad on back cover >
Reclaiming Confidence Through Whole-Life Healing
By Ray Beyor
Living with Lyme disease and autoimmune challenges changes how you inhabit your body—and how you relate to time, trust, and support. For many of us, especially within queer and polyamorous communities, navigating chronic illness also means navigating invisibility, medical dismissal, and the pressure to “keep up” relationally and professionally while our nervous systems are already overwhelmed.
My own experience with Lyme and autoimmune symptoms taught me this truth: healing is not just about eliminating symptoms. It’s about rebuilding confidence in your body and your choices, slowly, compassionately, and across your whole life.
Lyme disease and autoimmune symptoms are frequently overlooked, minimized, or misattributed, especially when test results don’t tell a clean or familiar story. Many of us are taught, directly or indirectly, that professionals, partners, or systems know better than we do. Over time, we learn to doubt our own experiences and ignore the body’s quieter signals. This mirrors how emotional cues get dismissed as “too much” or “not rational enough,” leading us to override what we already sense isn’t working.
Confidence Coming Out
As a queer, polyamorous person, I learned early how easy it is to overextend—emotionally, socially, and physically—to preserve connection. Chronic illness makes that pattern unsustainable. The body eventually says “no,” often long before we do. What I discovered is that confidence isn’t a personality trait you lose when your health falters. It’s a remembering, supported by learning key listening skills, that allows you to reveal what’s been hidden behind the disease all along.
That insight is at the heart of my CCC (Confidence Coming-Out Course) work. CCC supports people in reconnecting with their internal signals, sensations, emotions, and needs and translating them into clear, compassionate boundaries. This matters profoundly for those living with Lyme and autoimmune conditions, where flares are often exacerbated by chronic stress, people-pleasing, and nervous system overload. In my work, I regularly support clients living with chronic illness who report fewer flare-ups, clearer
communication with partners and providers, and increased energy once they stop overriding their limits. As self-trust returns, their bodies often respond with greater stability and resilience. Rather than treating health in isolation, CCC considers seven interconnected areas of life, as an imbalance in one often strains the others.
Physical health involves learning to read fatigue, pain, and capacity honestly, without shame or comparison. Emotional health means allowing grief, anger, and fear without suppressing them to stay “easy” or likable. Mental health includes untangling beliefs like “I should be able to handle this” or “I’m a burden.” Spiritual health reconnects people to intuition and meaning, especially when certainty disappears. Relational health focuses on communicating limits, renegotiating expectations, and asking for support with consent. Career health redefines productivity, so work supports well-being rather than depleting it. Financial health addresses the real stress of medical costs and limited energy without self-blame.
Restoring Agency
For my clients—many of whom are queer, non-monogamous, or otherwise outside dominant health narratives—this integrated approach restores agency. When people stop abandoning themselves to meet external demands, the nervous system settles. When the nervous system settles, the immune system often follows.
This work isn’t about positive thinking or pushing through. It’s about reconditioning trust— trusting your body’s language, your right to pace, and your ability to know what supports healing. When confidence is rooted in self-honoring choices across all areas of life, well-being becomes more attainable, physically, emotionally, and relationally.
Ray (they/them) is the founder of RAY Life Coaching LLC and creator of the Confidence Coming-Out Course. Their work blends nervous system regulation, consent practices, and lived experience to help queer and polyamorous clients build embodied confidence and sustainable, whole-life health. See ad on page 15 >
“It’s
a remembering, supported by learning key listening skills, that allows you to reveal what’s been hidden behind the disease all along.”
—Ray Beyor
The Hidden Beginnings of Autoimmune Disease
By Dr. Tamara Sachs, MD
Autoimmunity doesn’t begin with symptoms or a blood test. It unfolds quietly, often over years or even decades, long before a symptom is felt or a diagnosis made. By understanding what drives this process, we can often change the outcome.
Autoimmune diseases are increasing at an alarming rate. We know there is a genetic predisposition involved, and we do have better lab tests, but neither can account for a nearly 20 percent increase yearly. Something else is happening. Or many things, simultaneously.
Ultimately, for autoimmune as well as for most chronic diseases, the root cause is the same. We are asking our biology to function in an environment it was not designed for. Simultaneously, we deprive our biology of the tools to adapt to and survive our environment.
The environment and our lifestyle choices both contribute to the chronic diseases that are all too common and are affecting younger and younger people. Processed food, toxic exposure, chronic stress, poor sleep, lack of movement and connection, reduced microbial diversity, the list goes on. In fact, much about our modern life makes it hard to stay healthy, and ill health often starts with our immune system staying overactivated.
Life Hits Hardest in the Gut
If there’s one place where modern life hits hardest, it’s the gut, the home and school of the immune system.
Your gut is not just a digestive tube. It’s an immune organ, a sensory organ, another brain, and home to trillions of bacteria that are trying to protect and heal you. Young immune cells learn discernment here. A healthy microbiome helps maintain a thick, protective mucus layer, lining the intestines. This barrier is critical to a healthy gut, immune system, and brain.
But when the microbiome becomes imbalanced—through poor diet, antibiotics, toxins, stress, lack of plant fiber diversity, or just our modern life—that barrier begins to weaken. If the nutrients that sustain and feed the microbiome are not provided, it can’t maintain the barrier, that mucus layer that keeps the contents of the gut separate from the rest of us.
When the mucus barrier fails, tiny molecules and particles that should stay inside the gut start slipping out of the gut. Your immune system notices immediately. That’s its job. It asks, “Why is this here? This doesn’t belong here.” And it reacts.
First, this response is appropriate. But if this continues day after day, month after month, the
immune system remains activated. And a constantly activated immune system becomes dysregulated. If the underlying causes are not addressed, the system can become increasingly reactive over time.
At this point, some people start to experience symptoms. Food sensitivities may start or escalate. GI symptoms develop or increase. In general, chronic low-grade inflammation makes us feel off, just not right. Brain fog and irritability are common.
Early, subtle signals matter—fatigue that doesn’t resolve, new sensitivities, changes in digestion, sleep disruption, or mood shifts. These are not random or disconnected issues; they are often early expressions of imbalance. Learning to recognize and respond to these signals gives us a window of opportunity to intervene before deeper dysfunction takes hold.
Healing, then, is less about fighting the body and more about creating the conditions for it to recalibrate. The immune system is not broken—it is responding to the inputs it receives. When we begin to change those inputs consistently, the system can shift. This requires patience and curiosity rather than urgency and fear. Small, sustained changes—how we eat, sleep, move, think, and connect—compound over time. And while there is no one-size-fits-all approach, there is a common principle: when we align our daily lives more closely with what our biology needs, the body has an extraordinary capacity to restore balance.
Immune Tolerance
If the immune system stays stuck in overactivation, the threshold that determines “this is a problem” gets lower until, eventually, the immune system starts reacting indiscriminately. At that point, discerning self from non-self is no longer the immune system’s top priority.
When that discernment, called immune tolerance, starts to fail, we have a problem. Because once tolerance is lost, the immune system doesn’t just react to food proteins or bacterial fragments. It can start reacting to your own tissues, as if you are the threat. And that is the start of an autoimmune disease.
Thyroid. Joints. Skin. Brain. In time, this is diagnosed as Hashimoto’s, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis. The list is long. Each type of tissue involved has its own named disease.
Chronic immune overactivation, especially in folks with a genetic predisposition, is the underlying cause of autoimmune disease. But instead of asking, “What drug matches this disease?” Functional medicine asks, “Why did this happen to this person, now?” We look at gut health, microbiome diversity, nutritional status, toxic burden, stress physiology, sleep, connection, and all that goes into living a fulfilling life—because these are the inputs shaping immune behavior.
Sometimes autoimmune disease starts differently, starts much faster. Infections and toxic exposures, anything that activates or confuses the immune system can contribute. Viral infections, medications, environmental toxins like mold or pesticides, toxic smoke, and heavy metals can all trigger loss of immune tolerance and autoimmunity. As can severe or chronic stress, which shifts immune balance. It is not uncommon to develop symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis six months or so following severe emotional trauma. Sleep deprivation impairs immune regulation and repair.
Psychoneuroimmunology
Grief, trauma, chronic overwhelm—these are not just emotional experiences. They are biological events that shape immune behavior. This is what psychoneuroimmunology is about—the interplay between your mind, your two brains and nervous system, and your immune system. You cannot separate them.
Here’s the empowering part:
This process is modifiable. Not always reversible— but often improvable. And sometimes dramatically so. To reduce autoimmune risk, start with the gut. Clean up the diet (less processed, more real food). Increase plant diversity; colorful plant foods are required to feed the microbiome. Prioritize sleep, move more, and spend time in nature. Minimize toxin exposures. Address stress at all levels-not just intellectually but emotionally, spiritually, and in your body. Nurture connections and gratitude. If you have a diagnosed autoimmune disease, please learn about the benefits of low-dose naltrexone, the only medical treatment I am aware of that safely rebalances a part of the underlying immune system’s dysfunction.
Nutrition, sleep, movement… all this lifestyle advice is not organ- or disease-specific. All our biology, our physiology, is built on the foundation of our nutrition and our lifestyle choices. Genetic potential is shaped by context; genes are expressed or silenced within the environment we create. For good or bad, the choice is ours to make every day.
Tamara Sachs, MD, is a Mount Sinai–trained physician who completed her Internal Medicine training in New Haven, CT. She began her career in molecular biology, followed by years in emergency and primary care medicine. Since 2003, she has focused exclusively on Functional Medicine, seeing patients and lecturing frequently. Functional Medicine & Integrative Care LLC. 1 Booth House Lane, New Milford, CT 06776. Call 860.354.3304, email mail@ tsachsmd.com, and visit tsachsmd.com to learn more. See ad on inside front cover >
“Your immune system notices immediately. That’s its job. It asks, ‘Why is this here? This doesn’t belong here.’ And it reacts.”
—Tamara Sachs,
MD
“Energy flows better with plants with softer, rounded leaves because they promote gentle energy, though diversity in the garden is always beneficial for the local ecosystem.”
—Mary Grace Peak
Where Energy Flows: Designing Outdoor Spaces for Balance and Beauty
By Mary Grace Peak, Founder of Energy and Grace
Asthe warmer months arrive in New England, many of us are drawn outside to our gardens, relax on our patios, or simply reconnect with nature. Our outdoor spaces can be more than just places for recreation. They can become restorative environments that support wellbeing. By applying the principles of Feng Shui, an ancient practice of arranging environments to promote balance and the flow of energy, we can design gardens and even small outdoor living areas that foster balance, beauty, and healthy energy flow. Gardens naturally contain the elements I seek to balance when working on exteriors—wind, water, plants, sunlight, and earth—making them ideal spaces for cultivating positive energy, or chi.
The heart of energy-conscious design is the idea that chi should flow gently and freely through a space. In the garden, this flow can be influenced by the placement of natural or paved pathways, plants, and outdoor features. Rather than straight, rigid walkways, curved garden paths are often recommended. Softly winding paths slow the movement of energy and create a sense of discovery as you move through the landscape.
Equally important is reducing clutter. Outdoor areas can accumulate unused pots, tools, or broken furniture, interrupting the flow of energy. Clearing these items not only refreshes the space energetically but also improves safety and ease of movement.
Balancing the Elements
Mindful landscape design also emphasizes balance among the five natural elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Gardens already contain many of these elements, but intentional placements and
selection of objects can enhance their presence. Here are some ways to incorporate them:
• Wood appears in trees, shrubs, and structures such as fences, pergolas, and raised beds.
• Earth is represented through soil, stone pathways, flowers, and clay planters that ground the landscape.
• Fire energy can be introduced through lanterns, candles, red geraniums, or any other red flower, and through fire pits that encourage gathering, conversation, and warmth.
• Metal may appear in sculptures, wind chimes, patio furniture, or decorative planters, adding brightness and clarity.
• Water can be represented with fountains, birdbaths, pools, and ponds. Flowing water is believed to attract prosperity and vitality while creating a calming sensory experience.
Plants play a central role in shaping the garden’s energy. Healthy greenery symbolizes growth and renewal, while flowering plants invite pollinators and birds, bringing vibrant life to the landscape. Energy flows better with plants with softer, rounded leaves because they promote gentle energy, though diversity in the garden is beneficial for the local ecosystem. Be careful with cacti and other thorny vegetation. While they can offer an interesting aesthetic, it is best not to place them near entrances and walkways as they can impede the smooth flow of energy.
Lighting and Seating
Outdoor seating areas are another opportunity to create harmony and even utilize the energy of color! It is often recommended that seating have a sense of support behind it, such as a hedge, stone
wall, fence, or tree, while remaining open in front. This fosters a feeling of comfort and protection, while allowing the garden to unfold visually ahead. Bold colors in fabrics and pillows can make a space feel more yang and vibrant. Choosing neutral fabrics will infuse a sense of calm and yin energy.
Lighting can further enhance the energy of the space. Soft solar lights along pathways, warm string lights above a patio, or lanterns placed among plants can extend the use of the garden into evening hours. Gentle lighting creates an inviting atmosphere while maintaining a sense of calm.
Thoughtful Landscaping
Where Lyme disease is prevalent, thoughtful landscaping can also support a healthier outdoor environment. Practices such as keeping grass trimmed, creating clear walking paths, and removing leaf litter or dense brush around frequently used areas can help reduce tick habitat while maintaining a beautiful garden. Gravel or wood-chip pathways create pleasant transitions between spaces while forming natural boundaries between lawn and wooded areas. These design choices not only support Lyme awareness but also align with Feng Shui principles that emphasize clarity, order, and smooth movement through the landscape.
Finally, consider creating small intentional spaces within the garden. A bench beneath a tree, a quiet meditation corner where you can place spiritual statues or deities to call in their energy and protection. A small water feature can become a place for reflection and restoration. These moments of pause remind us that outdoor spaces are not just landscapes to maintain, they are environments that nourish our mental and physical well-being.
Harmonious outdoor design encourages us to observe nature more closely and work in partnership with it. By designing outdoor spaces that support the flow of energy, promote ecological balance, and encourage mindful enjoyment, we can create gardens that feel both peaceful and vibrant.
With thoughtful adjustments, any backyard or patio can become a place where harmony thrives, and nature supports our well-being.
Mary Grace Peak is a certified Feng Shui Consultant, Interior Stylist, Reiki II practitioner, and Founder of Mary Grace Peak and Co. Her work blends energetic healing with intuitive design, helping clients create aligned, soul-nourishing spaces that support personal evolution. Through private healing and decor consultations, sacred space styling, and a curated wellness shop exclusive to clients, she guides individuals ready to transform not only their environments but also their lives. Learn more at energyandgracedesigns.com. See ad on page 17 >
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Clarity in Motion: A Grounded Way to Move Through Overwhelm
By Kelly L. McCarthy
“Instead of asking how to fi x everything right now, we ask what the next grounded step is, and we take it with presence.”
—Kelly L. McCarthy
There are seasons in life when everything seems to arrive at once. Responsibilities stack up, decisions feel urgent, and the nervous system stays quietly on edge, as if it’s bracing for impact. In those moments, many of us default to pushing harder, thinking more, doing more, trying to control every outcome. Yet often, the most productive and healing shift isn’t more effort, but a change in how we relate to what’s in front of us.
Meet Life with Intention
One simple practice that can create this shift is taking a few minutes to separate what truly requires your energy from what you are trying to force out of habit or fear. When we bring conscious clarity to what is actionable now and what can unfold in its own timing, the body softens, the mind steadies, and a surprising amount of energy becomes available again. This isn’t about avoidance or giving up; it’s about discernment. It’s about meeting life with intention rather than urgency. When we stop tightening around every outcome, something interesting happens. Tasks move forward with less resistance. Conversations feel easier. Support shows up in ways we might have missed when we were in full survival mode. Things that felt stalled often begin to resolve not through strain, but through steadiness. This isn’t mystical thinking, it’s the nervous system moving out of constant alarm and back into a regulated, responsive state where clarity and creativity can surface.
So much of our culture equates growth with pressure. We’re taught that progress requires struggle, that ease is suspicious, and that rest is earned only after exhaustion. Yet aligned action feels different in the body. It feels grounded, focused, and sustainable. It feels like forward motion without burnout. When we slow down just enough to choose where our energy actually belongs, we widen our perception. We notice opportunities. We hear intuitive nudges. We recognize the support that was already there.
The Shift
In spiritual language, this shift is sometimes described as a shift toward higher consciousness or moving beyond reactivity. But it doesn’t need to be so abstract. It can be deeply practical. It’s answering an email without bracing for conflict. It’s having a conversation without rehearsing worst-case scenarios. It’s taking the next step without needing to solve the entire future in one moment. Instead of asking how to fix everything right now, we ask what the next grounded step is, and we take it with presence.
This approach doesn’t bypass responsibility. It doesn’t pretend that challenges don’t exist. Life still brings deadlines, emotions, and unexpected turns. The difference is that tension and urgency no longer run the internal world. When we shift from reaction to response, we engage with what’s real from a more centered place. Decisions come
from intuition and clarity rather than fear and pressure. And from that place, progress tends to be more sustainable, kinder to the body, and truer to who we are.
Let It Go
Many people find that when they let go of the need to control every detail, life meets them halfway. Support appears, timing aligns, and what once felt overwhelming becomes manageable. Not because life suddenly became easier, but because the relationship to life became more conscious. This is where clarity becomes a lived experience rather than a concept.
Sometimes growth looks like pushing forward with determination. And sometimes it looks like loosening your grip, trusting that clarity will reveal itself step by step. When we learn to tell the difference, overwhelm becomes information rather than an identity. Anxiety becomes a signal rather than a constant companion. And life, even in its complexity, becomes something we can meet with steadiness instead of strain.
Over time, this way of relating to life builds trust—not just in circumstances, but in ourselves. We begin to see that we can handle what arises without preemptively exhausting our energy trying to control it all. There’s a quiet confidence that develops when we respond instead of react, when we allow space instead of filling every moment with urgency. That confidence doesn’t come from everything going perfectly; it comes from knowing we can meet imperfection with steadiness. And in that steadiness, we find a deeper sense of agency— one that isn’t rooted in force, but in presence. In a world that often celebrates urgency, choosing clarity with intention is a quiet but powerful act. It allows us to move through our responsibilities with presence, to honor our limits without shame, and to create a rhythm that supports both productivity and well-being. That kind of clarity isn’t dramatic. It’s practical, sustainable, and deeply human. And for many of us, it’s exactly what we need.
Kelly L. McCarthy, owner of BeyondWordsNWisdom in Winsted, CT, is a Soul Reader, Energy Guide, and Intuitive Graphic Artist. She unlocks stagnant energies, reflecting others’ true selves.
Her ancestral wisdom and intuitive skills expand your awareness, opening your heart and mind to life’s possibilities, personally and professionally. Kelly offers in-person and remote opportunities to work together. Visit beyondwordsnwisdom.com, email Kelly at kelly@beyondwordsnwisdom.com, or call/text 860.806.9684. See ad on page 31 >
ADAM BREINER, ND STEVEN MURPHY, MD DAVID BRADY, ND, CCN
ELENA SOKOLOVA, ND JOHN D'ANGELO, MS, RPT SEAN ALTMAN, PT, DPT, CPT
The Emotion Code: Releasing the Emotional Roots of Physical Pain
By Dr. Brian Ruggiero, DC
Have“There is no need to relive difficult memories or process trauma in an intense way. The body releases what it is ready to let go of.”
—Dr. Brian Ruggiero, DC
you ever noticed that certain aches seem to linger no matter what you do? Or that your pain flares during times of stress, grief, or overwhelm? In my years of practice—blending chiropractic care, acupuncture, bioenergetic assessment, and integrative healing—I’ve seen a consistent truth: the body doesn’t just store physical injuries . . . it also stores emotional experiences. Many patients come in seeking relief from neck pain, back discomfort, headaches, or chronic tension. Structural care often helps significantly. But sometimes symptoms only partially improve or return without a clear physical cause. When this happens, it invites us to look deeper—beyond structure and into stored emotional stress within the body.
Listening to the Body’s Subtle Signals
Often, the body communicates long before symptoms become chronic or disruptive. Small cues— like intermittent tightness, fatigue without clear cause, or heightened sensitivity during emotional stress—can be early indicators of stored imbalance. When we begin to listen with curiosity instead of frustration, these signals become valuable guides rather than inconveniences. By acknowledging the connection between emotional experiences and physical responses, we create space for earlier intervention, deeper awareness, and a more compassionate approach to healing. Over time, this shift in perspective empowers patients to participate actively in their own well-being, fostering not only symptom relief but a stronger sense of internal balance and resilience.
The Emotional Imprint on the Body
The work of Dr. Bradley Nelson introduced a powerful framework for understanding how unresolved emotions can become “trapped” in the body’s energetic field. When emotions such as fear, grief, anger, or shock are overwhelming, the nervous system may not fully process them. Instead, the energetic imprint can remain stored within the body.
Over time, these trapped emotions may contribute to muscular tension, joint restriction, fatigue, or recurring pain patterns. Many people intuitively recognize this connection—tight shoulders during stress, digestive upset with anxiety, or low back pain during prolonged pressure. The body reflects what we carry emotionally.
How The Emotion Code Works
The Emotion Code is a gentle, noninvasive technique used to identify and release stored emotional energy. Through focused questioning and muscle testing, we determine whether a trapped emotion may be contributing to a patient’s symptoms. Once identified, the release process is simple and calming.
A magnet is passed along the body’s central energy pathway—specifically over the Ren Meridian, which runs along the midline of the body. This movement helps signal the nervous system to release the trapped emotional frequency. There is no need to relive difficult memories or process trauma in an intense way. The body releases what it is ready to let go of.
Why Magnetic Energy?
The body is bioelectrical in nature. Every cell communicates through subtle electrical impulses. Magnetic energy interacts naturally with this system, helping restore flow where energetic congestion once existed. Think of a trapped emotion like an energetic knot. The magnet acts as a catalyst, helping the body unwind stored tension and rebalance itself.
Patients often report feeling lighter, calmer, and less physically tense after a release. Sometimes the shift is immediate; other times it unfolds gradually as the nervous system integrates the change.
Integrating Emotional and Physical Healing
In my practice, The Emotion Code is integrated with chiropractic adjustments, bioenergetic scanning, and personalized wellness support. A spine may be structurally aligned, but if emotional tension continues to drive protective muscle patterns, symptoms can persist. By addressing both physical structure and stored emotional energy, we often see deeper and more lasting healing outcomes.
Healing at its deepest level occurs when the body, mind, and energy are brought back into alignment. Many chronic complaints have emotional components—whether recent or long past. When these imprints are gently released, the body often responds with improved regulation, reduced pain, and greater resilience.
An Invitation to Heal at the Root
You don’t need to force healing or relive painful experiences. You simply allow the body to release what it no longer needs to carry. If you’ve been navigating persistent discomfort, recurring pain patterns, or symptoms that haven’t fully responded to traditional care, it may be time to explore the emotional roots of your health concerns.
Your body has an incredible capacity to heal. Sometimes it just needs the opportunity to let go.
Dr. Brian Ruggiero is the owner of Ruggiero Family Chiropractic & Rehabilitation Center and Quantum Essence Integrative Healing in downtown Manchester, Connecticut. For over twenty-five years, he has been dedicated to helping patients move beyond symptom-based care by uncovering and addressing the deeper root causes of imbalance. Blending chiropractic, acupuncture, hypnotherapy, and bioenergetic approaches, his work supports healing across the physical, emotional, and energetic levels - guiding patients back toward balance, clarity, and overall well-being. To learn more or begin your healing journey, visit: ruggierofamilychiro.com and quantumessencehealing.com. See ad on page 23 >
Holistic Medicine Individual Care
The Miracle and Magic of Rolfing®
“I approach my work with a miracle mindset— anything is possible when chaos and disorganization are replaced by balance and order.”
—Sharon Sklar, BFA, LMT, CAR
By Sharon Sklar, BFA, LMT, CAR
Iwastwenty-two years old when I got Rolfed. My lower back gave me trouble, but mostly I felt ungrounded, uncentered, and unsettled. My life changed forever during those ten remarkable sessions.
Now, forty-five years into my own Rolfing practice, I am still amazed at the results my clients achieve during their ten-session series. It seems nothing short of magic, and I am a witness to the miracles!
I have seen people get rid of chronic neck and back pain, headaches, discomfort when sitting, and many other chronic issues. I have seen older people in their eighties shift into being more comfortable, happier, looser, and more stable. I have seen teenagers grow into their bodies and feel strong, safe, and ready for their futures. I have seen babies start to walk a day after some work to help them feel their heels.
How Does Rolfing Work?
Rolfing is hands-on, direct manipulation of the body’s connective tissue or soft tissue—everything but the bone. It is not a deep massage. We concentrate on the alignment of the entire body, on the premise that pain or discomfort occurs when some body part is not supported by other body parts. Think of a bunch of blocks that need to be stacked properly. Like the game of Jenga, the blocks below need to support the blocks above. Fascia, the connective tissue that binds the entire body together, is the primary focus of this work. When the body is injured, the fascia releases a gelatinous fluid that helps keep everything moving.
Over time, that liquid dries out and begins to act like glue. If you’ve ever seen someone who just had a car accident, on the first day or two, they’re moving normally. Seeing them a month or two later, their necks are now attached to their torsos and stiff, so movement comes from their waists. Everything has gotten glued down and stuck. Layer by layer, body part by body part, we release the stuck, thickened fascia, allowing the body to resume more natural movement. Turning the neck musculature with ease, rather than from compensatory lower-torso twisting, is the goal of the work after that car accident.
What makes Rolfing unique is not just the physical changes, but the profound sense of embodiment that often follows. People report feeling more present in their lives, more connected to themselves, and more resilient in the face of daily stress. As the body reorganizes, the nervous system follows, creating a deeper sense of calm and stability. It is as though, by aligning the structure, we also align the person’s experience of being in the world.
The Miracle of Rolfing
Years ago, I worked with a woman in her midsixties who had very serious scoliosis—curvature of the spine. It was so bad that her doctor wanted to remove two of her lower ribs because the pressure of her curvature was causing her ribs to curl upward and inward. Her doctor was afraid her lung could be punctured if that condition persisted. She learned about Rolfing, and we completed the 10-session series. I would hear from her every Christmas for several years—she never
needed that surgery. We created enough space and de-rotation that she was saved from extreme surgical and quite painful measures.
I was pleasantly surprised by the results of another client who showed up about two years after having had a Harrington rod put into her spine to correct very severe scoliosis. After finishing graduate school, she had an intensive surgery to straighten her spine and have a metal rod implanted. She healed well and took a full-time job across the country to begin her adult life. About a year later, she began to feel twisted.
When they put in the Harrington rod, the connective tissue was not addressed. She was twisting around her straight spine. Bones don’t move themselves—all the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia move the skeletal system. We had to release the soft tissue to stop her body from rotating.
Her Rolfing series stopped the spiraling cycle and allowed more symmetry and mobility to emerge. Two years later, she was pregnant. During and after her pregnancy, she had no further Rolfing and was doing great! She credited her Rolfing experience with straightening her out and allowing her to live a pain-free life.
I am in awe of how many people have been helped over the years of my practice. I learned a trade, a sort of recipe. This is the work of Dr. Ida Rolf, a pioneer who developed this process over fifty years. Because getting Rolfed was so powerful for me, I approach my work with a miracle mindset— anything is possible when chaos and disorganization are replaced by balance and order.
We come out of whack with those car accidents, bad falls, stress, years of bad posture, and even childbirth. We must pay attention to those aches and pains because that’s the signal that something is off. In a Rolfing consultation, I ask the prospective client to come in with their medical history written down so we can discuss each incident. Our bodies tell a story, and we all want that happy ending. I’ve seen miracles and magic. Are you ready to shift into your easier, more pain-free life?
Sharon Sklar is in her 45th year of private practice as a Certified Advanced Rolfer. She has been voted one of Natural Nutmeg’s 10BEST Bodyworkers for the last seven years and is very grateful for that confidence and support. Sharon works with direct manipulation of the body’s soft tissues and movement re-education over a 10-session series to help her clients feel freer, become more balanced, and reduce chronic pain. Great for athletes, children, and adults recovering from the stress, injuries, or traumas of life. Inquiries are encouraged! State Licensed. Call 860.561.4337 for more info or to schedule a consultation. SharonSklarRolfing.com See ad on page 39 >
Thermography asks, ‘How is the body behaving right now?’”
—April Beaman, RDH, CTT
By April Beaman, RDH, CTT
Fatigue. Pain.
Brain fog. For millions of people living with autoimmune disease, these symptoms are part of everyday life—yet they often go unexplained for years. Traditional testing doesn’t always detect what’s happening in the early stages. But what if inflammation could be seen before it appears on standard tests?
This is where thermography is shifting the conversation. Thermography is a noninvasive imaging technology that detects subtle heat patterns in the body. Because inflammation produces heat, this technology can reveal areas where the body may be experiencing increased inflammatory activity. For individuals navigating autoimmune conditions—or those who simply feel that something isn’t quite right—it offers a unique window into how the body functions. And sometimes, seeing truly is believing.
When the Immune System Turns on the Body
Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. Instead of protecting the body from viruses or bacteria, it begins targeting joints, nerves, glands, skin, or internal organs. There are more than 100 known autoimmune conditions, affecting millions of Americans. Some of the most common are rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves’ disease, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, Sjögren’s syndrome, and type 1 diabetes.
Although these conditions affect different areas of the body, they share one major underlying factor: inflammation. Inflammation is the fuel that drives autoimmune disease. It triggers flare-ups, causes pain, and, over time, contributes to tissue damage. The challenge is that inflammation is not always easy to measure, especially in its earlier stages.
Many people with autoimmune disease describe a long, often frustrating path to diagnosis. Symptoms may include chronic fatigue, joint pain or stiffness, brain fog, digestive issues, muscle aches, skin rashes,
numbness or tingling, and sensitivity to temperature. The problem is that these symptoms overlap with many other conditions. Blood tests may appear normal. Imaging often looks for structural damage rather than early immune activity. And autoimmune diseases tend to fluctuate; one week can feel unbearable, the next manageable. Thermography introduces a unique way of looking at the body.
What Thermography Actually Sees
Thermography uses a highly sensitive infrared camera to detect temperature differences across the body’s surface. Why does this matter? Because inflammation creates heat.
When tissues become inflamed, blood flow increases and metabolic activity rises. These changes produce subtle temperature variations that can be captured and rendered as images, mapping the body’s heat patterns. Hot spots may correspond to areas of increased inflammatory activity. These patterns can help illustrate how the body may be responding internally.
What Thermography May Reveal
Thermographic imaging doesn’t diagnose disease, but it may highlight patterns of inflammation or changes in circulation. For example:
• Inflamed joints: Conditions such as rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis may appear as warmer thermal patterns around affected joints.
• Circulatory disturbances: Some autoimmune conditions impact blood vessel regulation. Thermography may reveal unusual circulation patterns, particularly in the hands and feet.
• Nerve involvement: Certain autoimmune disorders affect the nervous system. Because nerves influence blood flow and temperature, thermography may reveal asymmetries associated with nerve dysfunction.
• Systemic inflammatory stress: In some cases, broader heat patterns may suggest the body is under overall inflammatory stress.
While thermography cannot provide a diagnosis, these insights can offer valuable clues about what the body may be experiencing.
People living with autoimmune disease often become highly attuned to their bodies. They notice how stress, diet, sleep, and lifestyle choices can influence flare-ups. Thermography offers a way to visually track those changes.
Why Some People Turn to Thermography
Thermography focuses on function rather than structure. Traditional imaging asks, “Is something damaged?” Thermography asks, “How is the body behaving right now?” For those managing autoimmune conditions, this can be especially meaningful. It offers a way to observe how inflammation patterns may shift over time, providing a more dynamic view of health.
Because it is radiation-free, noninvasive, painless, and safe for repeated use, thermography can serve as a monitoring tool. Some individuals choose periodic scans to monitor how their bodies respond to lifestyle adjustments, medical treatments, or other efforts to reduce inflammation. Thermography offers a different perspective— one that looks at physiological activity earlier in the process. For those dealing with chronic, unexplained symptoms—especially those linked to inflammation—this can be eye-opening. Many first-time patients express a similar reaction: “I had no idea my body was doing that.”
Sometimes the images validate what they’ve been feeling for years. Other times, they open the door to deeper conversations about inflammation, lifestyle, and whole-body health.
A New Way to Look at an Old Problem
Autoimmune diseases are complex, multifaceted, and often unpredictable. No single test can tell the whole story. But thermography offers something different: a way to visualize patterns in the body that may reflect inflammation. And for many people, that changes everything.
Because when fatigue, pain, and brain fog finally have something visible to point to, the narrative begins to shift. Symptoms are no longer invisible. And for the first time, what’s happening beneath the surface may finally be seen.
April Beaman, RDH, CTT, is a certified medical thermographer with the Professional Academy of Clinical Thermology and a professional member of Breast Thermography International. Beaman has worked in the wellness industry for over 15 years and provides medical thermal imaging for both women and men. She is the founder of CT Thermography, located in Farmington, with satellite offices throughout CT and MA. Connect at 860.415.1150 or CTThermography.com. See ad on page 23 > Join Dr. Diane in... THE PATH TO HEALING: CONVERSATIONS WITH NATURAL NUTMEG EXPERT PRACTTIONERS
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Elevate Fearlessly: A Transformative, SoulPowered Retreat for Women in Sedona, Arizona
By Melissa Wooldridge Breton, APRN, FNP-BC, AHN-BC, HWNC-BC
There are places in the world where the land feels alive, and the wind whispers your name, calling to you. Sedona, Arizona, is one of those mystical sanctuaries. Known for its charged, energetic Vortex, breathtaking red rock formations, and expansive desert sky, Sedona offers more than natural beauty; it cultivates a lived experience of connection, reflection, and spiritual transcendence. It was here, within this sacred landscape, that we gathered March 16–21, 2026, for the Elevate Fearlessly Women’s Retreat, a deeply immersive journey of self-discovery, healing, and awakening. From the moment we arrived, there was a palpable shift toward slowing down, breathing more deeply, and listening more intently. Surrounded by towering sandstone centurions rich with iron oxide, we were reminded that even the Earth is shaped through time, pressure, and fire. We were to soon discover the same elemental alchemy amplified within us.
Our Elevate Fearlessly Retreat Itinerary
Our Elevate Fearlessly Retreat unfolded with intention and presence, weaving together movement, stillness, learning, and exploration. Each experience building upon the next, creating a container where we could arrive fully as ourselves—leaders, healers, seekers, and visionaries—ready to be both held and expanded. Together, we flowed through a series of holistic modalities designed to engage us wholeheartedly, mind, body, spirit:
• Opening Ceremony—grounding into intention, connection, and sacred space
• X2 hikes:
• Cathedral Rock (1.2-mile hike with 741 ft elevation)—ascending one of Sedona’s most iconic formations, embodying strength, courage, and perspective
• Bell Rock (4,919 feet above sea level)— exploring a renowned energetic site, attuning
to the subtle frequencies of the contoured guardians
• X2 Panel Discussions—rich, dynamic conversations with medical experts and holistic business entrepreneurs
• X8 Facilitated Workshops, topics including:
• Mandala Making with Poetry
• Astrological Natal/Birth Chart Readings
• Ancestral Patterning and Programming, Intergenerational Trauma & Wounding
• Business Mastermind and Financial Success
• X3 Yoga Classes—cultivating breath, movement, and nervous system regulation
• X3 Sound Immersions—experiencing vibration, resonance, and coherence
• BioCharger Meditation—engaging cutting-edge light pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) frequency technology for cellular alignment and vitality
• Sacred Lands Walk and Shamanic Journey— connecting with ancestral wisdom, spirit, and the unseen realms
• Off-site excursions to:
• Chapel of the Holy Cross—an architectural and spiritual sanctuary carved into the red rocks
• Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park—a place of prayer, stillness, and global intention
• V-Bar-V Heritage Site—honoring ancient petroglyphs and Indigenous history
• Closing Ritual—integration, gratitude, and honoring the journey
Each contributing component of the Elevate Fearlessly Retreat itinerary and offerings opened a unique doorway into awareness. Whether we were hiking the sacred terrain, sitting in stillness beneath the vast cosmic sky, or engaging in creative, mindful, and reflective practices, we were continuously invited to return to our sacred retreat circle.
The Power of Place and Presence
Sedona’s wisdom keeper landscape became both a mirror and a guide. As we stood atop Cathedral Rock, gazing across miles of desert and sky, many experienced a profound sense of perspective— recognizing both the vastness of the world and the significance of our own lives within it. At Bell Rock, we explored the concept of energetic vortexes—not as something external to chase, but as something we could feel and access within.
Moments of stillness became as transformative as moments of movement. In sound immersions, feeling deeply held, as if layers of tension floated downstream. In workshops, insights surfaced clarity around purpose, healing around past experiences, and renewed trust in the magic and mystery of the not-yet-known that the Universe has in store for us.
The visits to sacred and historical sites added another dimension to our experience. Standing within the Chapel of the Holy Cross, suspended between rock and sky, feeling a sense of reverence and surrender. At the Amitabha Stupa, prayer flags danced in the wind as we reflected on global connection and collective healing. At V-Bar-V Ranch, ancient petroglyphs reminded us that humans have long sought meaning, expression, and connection to something greater.
Sisterhood, Support, and Shared Transformation
Perhaps the most powerful element of the Elevate Fearlessly Retreat was the bond formed within our retreat community. We traveled the distance (New England, Florida, Colorado, and Hawaii) to Sedona with open hearts and a shared willingness to grow. Through conversation, laughter, vulnerability, and presence, a deep sense of sisterhood emerged. Elevate Fearlessly Retreat was about authenticity. It was about creating space for each one of us to be seen, heard, and supported exactly where we were in the sacredness of place. In doing so, something remarkable happened: individual transformation became collective conscious expansion.
Gratitude and Acknowledgment
A heartfelt thank you to our extraordinary retreat facilitators and participants. Each of you brought your divine feminine energy, wisdom, and presence. Your gifts helped bring the entire retreat experience to life!
•Dr. Diane Hayden, Publisher, Natural Nutmeg magazine and co-creator of Elevate Fearlessly Retreat, Sedona, Arizona 2026
•Lara O’Neil, Integrative Pediatric APRN, Author of Rescuing Ourselves, Thrive Center for Health, Glastonbury, CT
•With deep appreciation, we also acknowledge our gracious co-hosts and collaborators:
•Our dedicated on-site concierges, Nancy and Ehlora of Travel That Heals: Retreats and More by Webkinex
•John, Concept Developer and Leader of Human Kind Center, Sedona, Arizona
Carrying the Experience Forward
As we departed Sedona, we carried more than memories; we carried a felt sense of alignment, clarity, and possibility. The work does not end when the retreat concludes; it continues in the awareness we cultivate, the frequency and vibration we embody, and the light we share with the world moving forward. Elevate Fearlessly Retreat is a remembrance. A return to self and the power of our sisterhood. A reconnection to Earth and sky. An invitation to ELEVATE FEARLESSLY living with intention, presence, meaning, and purpose. For information about our future 2027 Retreat with early VIP access, please reach out directly to Melissa Wooldridge Breton, ECLIPSE Holistic Living, 860.614.7588, EclipseHolisticLiving.com.
“Elevate Fearlessly Retreat is a remembrance. A return to self and the power of our sisterhood. A reconnection to Earth and sky. An invitation to ELEVATE FEARLESSLY living with intention, presence, meaning, and purpose.”
Melissa Wooldridge Breton, APRN, FNP-BC, AHN-BC, HWNC-BC, MSN, RN, is a board-certified family nurse practitioner, advanced holistic nurse, functional medicine nurse consultant, integrative health and wellness nurse coach, yoga instructor, Reiki Master, and sound emissary.Her approach at her practice, ECLIPSE Holistic Living in Glastonbury, models wholeperson-centered care, attending to your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions of what health, wellness, and healing mean for you. Visit ECLIPSEholisticliving.com or call 860.614.7588 to learn more. See ad on page 29 >
—Melissa Wooldridge Breton, APRN
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
ACUPUNCTURE
Stan Baker Acupuncture
Stan Baker, LAC 35 Nod Rd, Avon, CT 860.836.1068 acupuncturestanbaker.com
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FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE
Tamara Sachs MD
Functional Medicine & Integrative Care LLC
New Milford, CT • 860.354.3304 mai@tsachsmd.com • tsachsmd.com
With over 30 years in the medical field, Dr. Sachs is a pioneer of Functional Medicine and Integrative Care. Her focus is in preventing and treating chronic illnesses by addressing the underlying causes, not just the symptoms. She creates holistic wellness plans, personalized to your specific and unique health goals.
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HOLISTIC CENTER
Melissa Wooldridge Breton
ECLIPSE Holistic Living, LLC
Glastonbury, CT • 860.614.7588
melissa@eclipseholisticliving.com
eclipseholisticliving.com
Eclipse Holistic Living is a cocreative healing arts studio in Glastonbury. A destination to envision your future self and actualize your potential. With alternative and complementary modalities, Eclipse is the portal for all who enter to embody conscious awareness through intentional holistic living— well-becoming on our healing-growth journey.
HOLISTIC DENTISTRY
Dr. Mark Breiner, DDS, FAGD, FIAOMT Fairfield, CT • 203.371.0300
WholeBodyDentistry.com
A recognized authority in the field of holistic dentistry, Dr. Breiner treats patients for a myriad of dental concerns including sleep breathing disorders, TMD, mercury toxicity, and hidden infections from cavitations and root canals. “If you have unexplained symptoms that won’t go away, the answer could be in your mouth.”
Led by Dr. Courtney Holmes, APRN, The Alchemista, our award-winning holistic spa blends science and soul. The Glow Guild team offers advanced facials, chemical peels, microneedling, IPL, waxing, IV therapy, hormone care, and massage—integrating aesthetics and wellness to help clients rejuvenate naturally and radiate confidence from the inside out.
Live your dreams! Restore your passion, confidence, and motivation; transform habits; and achieve goals. Wake up each day to a life you are eager to live! Online sessions are available.
INTEGRATIVE NURSING
Dr. Pamela Cipriano, DNP, APRN The Practice of Health and Wellness
Thomaston, CT • 860.309.0054
130 South Main Street, STE 1C pcipriano@ppmlinc.com
Dr. Pamela Cipriano exemplifies excellence as an Integrative Nurse Practitioner, uniting clinical expertise with holistic healing. Her evidence-based, compassionate approach advances mind-body wellness, empowers patients, and promotes whole-person care. Through leadership, innovation, and advocacy, she inspires transformative nursing practice and elevates integrative healthcare across diverse populations.
Wise Concierge Wellness helps women experiencing burnout, emotional overwhelm, or feeling “off” regain clarity and stability. Led by a Registered Nurse, sessions combine nervous system regulation with personalized energy design insights to identify misalignment, restore balance, and create simple, sustainable lifestyle shifts for lasting emotional and physical well-being.
Lauri Ingram offers spiritual coaching, subconscious healing (NLP, hypnotherapy, EFT), and energy practices including Crystal Dreaming® and Reiki. With 40+ years of experience and advanced certifications, she helps clients release patterns, reclaim clarity, and step confidently into purposeful, aligned living by integrating conscious coaching, subconscious modalities, and spiritual depth.
MASSAGE THERAPY
Kristina Mozzicato
Abundant Health Massage Therapy & Wellness
Farmington, CT • 860.778.0315
info@abundanthealthct.com abundanthealthct.com
Kristina Mozzicato is Board Certified in Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork by the NCBTMB and has been practicing massage therapy since 2009. She provides professional, therapeutic, customized sessions, including cupping, Thai Herbal Facial Poultice, and The Lymphatic Brush. Kristina is a professional member of the NGH and offers hypnosis sessions.
METABOLIC PSYCHIATRY
Dr. Lori Calabrese, MD
Innovative Psychiatry
South Windsor, CT • 860.648.9755 info@loricalabresemd.com loricalabresemd.com
Metabolic psychiatry is where we use our deep psychiatric expertise, metabolic mastery, and approach to nutritional ketosis to transform your brain energy, lift depression, put bipolar into remission, tamp down anxiety, and produce clear thinking. Let Touchpoints 180TM restore your mitochondrial health to get you back to your best self.
Dr. Aieta is a naturopathic Physician with over 20 years of experience helping patients uncover and treat acute and chronic illness by supporting the body’s inherent ability to heal itself. He works to identify the underlying causes of illness and develops personalized treatment plans to address them.
Dr. Adam Breiner, ND Fairfield, CT • 203.371.8258
WholeBodyMed.com
Focusing on brain health and Lyme disease, Dr. Adam Breiner offers cutting-edge therapies that include hyperbaric oxygen, neurocognitive therapies, including sophisticated brain-imaging equipment to evaluate brain injuries and brainwave patterns associated with metabolic imbalances, infections, and allergies. Conditions treated include concussions, TBI, stroke, PTSD, ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, and more.
Dr. Dana Lapointe, ND, LMT, Esth.
Sustainable Health & Wellness
Canton, CT and Virtual • 860.217.1171
SustainableHW.com
ConnecticutNaturopathic.com
Advocating for innovative, noninvasive treatments since 2010, Dr. Dana has been at the forefront of bringing StemWave to her community. Specializing in lifestyle medicine for chronic conditions (especially gut, skin, weight, and pain syndromes), and mental wellness coaching for those seeking alternatives to pharmaceutical mental health interventions. In-office, telemedicine, and group wellness programs.
Riverstone Naturopathic Health
63 West Street, Suite B1
Litchfield, CT • 860.361.9494
Christina Amicone, ND, is a naturopathic physician seeing patients at Riverstone Naturopathic Health in Litchfield, CT. Her focus is on oncology/ cancer (supportive therapies during conventional cancer treatments), naturopathic detoxification, gastrointestinal health (including IBS, IBD, SIBO), women’s health (hormone imbalances, menstrual problems, menopause), autoimmune diseases, and food sensitivities.
Dr. Nicole Klughers, ND, PHARMD, MSAC
Vis Wellness Center
Rocky Hill, CT • 234.222.8362
hello@drnicoleklughers.com drnicoleklughers.com
Dr. Nicole Klughers offers all-natural solutions to restore optimal health and help individuals reclaim a life of energy, balance, and joy. Formerly a pharmacist, Dr. Nicole serves as your “health detective” by listening attentively and utilizing detailed testing to identify and address the root cause of any health concern.
Soleil is a holistic clinic specializing in integrative and functional medicine. We are pleased to offer IV and IM nutrient therapy, craniosacral therapy, and general and facial acupuncture, with our roots in naturopathic medicine. We are passionate about using our tools to get our patients feeling their best!
Agnes Daddona is one of the best Psychic/Mediums in New England. She is also a Counselor, Healer, and Spiritual Teacher. For more than 20 years, Agnes has worked with thousands of people across the world in both English and Polish. Her Holistic Spa in Avon, CT, is a one-stop shop and offers high vibrational healing for the mind, body, and soul.
Focuses on Women’s Pelvic Health. Uses an integrative approach combining evidence based physical therapy with complimentary wellness services to support your mind, body and spirit. Personalized care for improved Pelvic Health for symptoms such as peri/menopausal symptoms, pelvic pain, bladder/bowel concerns, and pregnancy care. Participates with several major insurance plans.
Discover the transformative power of Red Light Therapy at Aura Wellness, LLC. In just 10 minutes, experience full-body photobiomodulation—a non-invasive light therapy designed to boost cellular function, enhance skin health, reduce inflammation, and support muscle recovery. Begin your wellness journey toward renewed vitality and rejuvenation.
Rolfing®—The Art and Science of Body Change. A dynamic 10-session bodywork series that eases pain, improves movement, and restructures your body when you feel “out of whack.” A hands-on and educational approach that establishes order and balance after life’s injuries, stresses, and accidents. Since 1981.
THERMOGRAPHY
April Beaman, RDH, CTT
CT Thermography
Farmington and Glastonbury, CT 860.415.1150 • ctthermography.com
CT Thermography specializes in medical thermal imaging. Breast thermography is a compression and radiation-free screening tool used to monitor breast health to detect physiological changes that may be early warning signs of a disease process. As a certified thermographic technician, I help empower women to take a proactive approach following their thermography screening for optimal breast health.
Are you experiencing physical symptoms of nervous system dysregulation, such as:
+ Constant tension + racing heart + broken sleep, like your body feels like it won’t shut o ?
+ Daily bloating, nausea, or heartburn that keeps coming back no matter what you do?
+ Drained, foggy, and wired at the same time like your body forgot how to relax?
I help you to gently recalibrate your lifestyle to release these symptoms from their root cause, using a blend of holistic nursing, nervous system support, and personalized insight.
