Dear Fellow Body,

Have you ever had the privilege of feeling…like you were losing your mind?

Do any of these symptoms sound like your life?

• difficulty focusing or concentrating
• brain fog!
• anxiety, worry, panic attacks
• trouble relaxing, tendency to be tense
• learning disorders, diminished comprehension
• manic depression, thoughts of death or suicide
• easily upset, snappy under stress, impatient, edgy
• fatigue, insomnia OR excessive sleeping
• PMS with tears, or anger,
• depression
• forgetfulness, easily distracted, memory lapses
• obsessive behavior, compulsive, perfectionist

The answer may be found in your brain, but it could just as easily be found in your enteric nervous system, which Dr. Gershon (pioneer in the field of neurogastroenterology) has dubbed our “second brain”.

When we are mere embryos in our mum’s tummys, the gut and the brain are formed from the same embryonic tissue. Eventually they become connected by the vagus nerve (the vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve, long enough to make a connection between the gut and the brain). In the brain, and in the gut’s enteric nervous system, are biochemicals called neurotransmitters.

Here’s a fun lil’ graphic for you…

Neurotransmitters are responsible for relaying messages from neuron to neuron, both in the brain, and in the gut.

Some examples of these neurotransmitters and their associated feelings are:

• GABA
  Calming, stabilizing, tranquilizing
• Serotonin
  Positive, playful, proper sleep inducer, serenity
• Dopamine
  Stimulating, active, motivated, “on it”
• Acetylcholine
  Memory, creativity, attention

Too much or too little of any one neurotransmitter can have an equally negative effect.

Here’s another thought…the gut can upset the brain, just as the brain can upset the gut.

This makes it very important to care for your gut, as well as your brain.

• Listen to it – take 15 min and assess your gut “feelings”
• Soothe it – with 1 – 2 cups of homemade stock a day
• Culture it  – work up to at least a 1/2 cup a day of fermented foods

If you would like to learn how to lessen or eliminate any of the symptoms above, and would like to know how to balance out your neurotransmitters…I might have just the learning opportunity for you.

Together with three fellow nutritional therapists, I have put together an amazingly comprehensive course that is all about Balancing the crazy, Energizing the lethargic, and Calming the mind. In fact the course is called A Calm Mind: Heal your Moods by Healing your Body.

Click on the picture below to find out more!
I’d love to have you join us.