Stress doesn’t start in your thoughts—it starts in your body. In today's episode, we break down the stress cycle step by step and show how everyday triggers like email overload, tense conversations, and uncertainty open loops that only close when your nervous system receives a clear safety signal. Rather than trying to out-think tension, we focus on felt safety through movement, breath, warmth, laughter, crying, and genuine rest so your system can return to baseline without the late-night rumination or “tired but wired” fatigue.

Book Recommendation: Burnout by Naomi and Amelia Nagoski

For more insights on psychology, neuroscience, and mental wellness, you can go to my website, www.natashasheyenne.com for my blog, events, courses, and to sign up for my newsletter.

Thank you for listening to Life, Alchemized.
If something here resonated, let it settle before you rush forward.
Awareness is already movement.

I’ll meet you again soon.

Tension in the room, one honest line, and everyone breathes—that’s the quiet power of inclusive humor. In this week's episode, we dig into how laughter, used with care and attunement, shifts a group from guarded to open, and why that shift isn’t just psychological theater but measurable neuroscience. Shared laughter lowers cortisol, boosts dopamine, and signals safety, which is why people listen better, remember more, and participate more freely when humor lands well.

We contrast connective humor with the power move disguised as a joke. Drawing on leadership research and social neuroscience, we unpack how resonance—not dominance—defines charisma, and how laughter functions as a fast cue of trust and permission. You’ll hear how status signals shape when we laugh, why surprise laughter can bypass hierarchy, and how lightness supports rigor by preventing overload rather than diluting seriousness. We also walk through the SCARF model—status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, fairness—to show how humor can soothe social threat, reinforce belonging, and avoid spikes in defensiveness when it stays inclusive.

Book Recommendation: Humor, Seriously, by Jennifer Aakers and Naomi Bagdonas

For more insights on psychology, neuroscience, and mental wellness, you can go to my website, www.natashasheyenne.com for my blog, events, courses, and to sign up for my newsletter.

Thank you for listening to Life, Alchemized.
If something here resonated, let it settle before you rush forward.
Awareness is already movement.

I’ll meet you again soon.

Your body speaks before your thoughts, and it’s saying more than “I’m stressed.” In today's episode, we dig into how the nervous system shifts between protection and safety—and why chronic activation quietly steals reasoning, empathy, and impulse control. Instead of blaming yourself for reactivity or burnout, we reframe these moments as adaptive responses that can be guided with simple, reliable tools.

We build practical skills you can use today. Emotional granularity shows you how to trade fuzzy labels for precise language. Next, we lean into interoception, the practice of sensing internal cues like breath, heart rate, and tension before the mind creates a story. We also explore somatic awareness and micro-resets—small, consistent actions like relaxing the jaw, adjusting posture, and lengthening the exhale—that measurably influence nervous system state without elaborate routines.

Finally, we zoom out to self-regulation. Better regulation widens perspective, improves decision quality, and helps values translate into behavior at work and at home.

Book recommendation: The Secret Language of the Body by Jennifer Mann and Karden Rabin.

If this conversation helps you breathe easier or think clearer, subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. What signal did your body send you today—and how did you respond?

For more insights on psychology, neuroscience, and mental wellness, you can go to my website, www.natashasheyenne.com for my blog, events, courses, and to sign up for my newsletter.

Thank you for listening to Life, Alchemized.
If something here resonated, let it settle before you rush forward.
Awareness is already movement.

I’ll meet you again soon.