Your Body Is Not Broken: Trauma-Informed Movement and the Wisdom of the Nervous System

w/Special Guest Joi Edwards, DPT, LMT

In this episode of Wellness Wednesday, Andrew DeGroat, N.D. TheBodyworkDoctor is joined by Dr. Joi Edwards, DPT, LMT of @owlchemymassage to explore trauma-informed movement as a conversation with the nervous system, not a performance.

Together, they reframe patterns like tension, fatigue, and avoidance as intelligent adaptations, while offering practical, compassionate approaches centered on choice, safety, and internal awareness to help reconnect with the body and restore a sense of agency.

Beyond Burnout: Regulation, Capacity, and the Restoration of Agency

w/Special Guest Holly Richmond, PhD

In Part II, Andrew DeGroat, N.D. reframes burnout as a nervous system state, not a character flaw. Drawing on the work of Stephen Porges and Daniel J. Siegel, this episode explores how chronic stress narrows capacity, reduces flexibility, and creates state-dependent limitations often mistaken for laziness or resistance. Joined by Dr Holly Richmond PhD, the conversation unpacks why pushing through backfires, how regulation restores agency, and why safety must precede change.

Dr. Richmond is a somatic psychotherapist, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, and Certified Sex Therapist, recognized as one of North America’s leading experts in sexual health and relationship wellness. She is the author of Reclaiming Pleasure: A Sex‑Positive Guide for Moving Past Sexual Trauma and Living a Passionate Life and serves as Associate Director of the Modern Sex Therapy Institute. She helps individuals, couples, and gender-diverse clients navigate intimacy, desire, and healing. 

Burnout isn’t weakness.

It’s adaptation.

Your Body Is Not Lazy: Burnout, Freeze, and the Cost of Pushing Through

In this Wellness Wednesday episode, Andrew DeGroat explores why burnout, freeze, and chronic exhaustion are so often misnamed as laziness or lack of motivation. Drawing from trauma physiology, polyvagal theory, and The Body Worth Doctrine, this conversation reframes shutdown as an intelligent survival response; not a personal or moral failure.

Designed for clinicians, bodyworkers, wellness professionals, and clients, the episode offers an ethical, embodied approach to care that prioritizes safety, agency, and regulation over discipline and shame. With practical supports for working with burnout and nervous system overwhelm, this episode invites listeners to listen to the body rather than push it past its limits.

Regulate, Don’t Just Relax

w/ Special Guest Shawnti Refuge 

As we enter 2026, wellness is shifting away from hustle, forced calm, and “just push through” mentalities and toward nervous system regulation.

In the Season 6 premiere of Wellness Wednesday, host Andrew DeGroat, N.D.  explores why true wellness isn’t about forcing relaxation, but helping the body feel safe enough to return to balance. Grounded in The Body Worth Doctrine and informed by the work of Dr. Peter Levine, this episode reframes stress and chronic symptoms as adaptive biological responses not personal failures.

You’ll learn how stress impacts the nervous system, why symptoms are signals rather than weaknesses, and three simple, evidence-informed tools you can use today to support regulation.

The episode also features returning guest Shawnti Refuge, founder of Shawnti Refuge Journals, on how journaling can support nervous system safety, clarity, and healing.

✨ Healing doesn’t begin with force. It begins with listening.