Awaken Your Inner Whole Woman
Awaken Your Inner Whole Woman
Your Nervous System Needs A Vacation Too
We explore why leaving home helps the body feel safe enough to rest and how travel, nature, and sisterhood create conditions for real healing. Science meets story with retreat moments from Greece, Bali, and the desert, plus a guided grounding you can use now.
• the nervous system’s need for safety and rest
• novelty, dopamine, and neuroplasticity supporting change
• how urgency traps us in survival patterns
• travel as a container for presence and release
• retreat stories that reveal visible shifts
• nature as medicine for regulation and connection
• a simple grounding practice for daily life
• reflection prompts to map where rest is needed
• invitations to retreats and local gatherings
Join us next week for another episode of Awaken Your Inner Whole Woman
If you liked our show and want to know more, check us out at www.awaken2power.com
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Share it with the sister or with the friend who needs this reminder as well.
Join the retreat waitlist for upcoming journeys designed to help you reset, release, and reconnect with yourself.
Watch this video to experience our Bali retreat.
Natolie Warren
Retreat Leader | Breathwork Facilitator | Psychotherapist
Founder of The Whole Woman Experience
Healing and Wholeness for Every Woman
Welcome to Awaken Your Inner Whole Woman, the show for spiritually rooted women who are hungry for change and growth. I am your host, Natalie Warren, and my mission as a personal development strategist and inner healer is to inspire, educate, and motivate women worldwide to stop limiting themselves and settling for less than what they want and were created to be. If you are ready to transform your life by getting out of your own way, hearing your soul's voice above the noise, and activating your life's purpose, you are at the best place. Let's tune in to today's episode of Awaken Your Inner Whole Woman. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Awaken Your Inner Whole Woman Podcast. I am delighted that you chose to be here, that you made a decision just to land in this space at this time. And I know it's not my chance that you're here because you are ready to awaken. Awaken to the truth of who you are, awaken to healing, to consciousness, to your true power. And I am your host, your guide on this journey. And I am Natalie Warren, a therapist, a retreat leader, and a woman who truly believes that there's so much more to who you are and who you were created to be. And you are now listening into our series called Women Who Travel to Heal. Women are traveling to heal. And it's a soulful transformational journey where we're exploring why women across the world are journaling, are journeying to rest, release, and return to themselves. Now, if you listen to our first episode, we talked about the movement that's happening, how women everywhere are traveling not to escape, but to reconnect. And today we're going to go a little deeper. We're going to explore why leaving home, both literally and energetically, helps us to heal. Because the truth is your nervous system knows when it's safe enough to rest. And I often tell women that like we don't rest unless we feel safe. It knows when you have stepped into a space that's different, softer, slower, and freer. And sometimes we have to change our environment for our bodies to believe I can exhale. So we're going to dive into this today, talking through how this looks and why it works. So let's start with the body, understanding the science behind it all, how changing environments actually calms your nervous system. Because healing is not just a mindset, it's a physiological experience. So our nervous system, this beautiful, intricate web of communication between the brain, the body, and the heart, is constantly scanning the surroundings, asking, Am I safe? And when life feels unpredictable and demanding, as it does for so many of us, when we're always on, our bodies move more into survival mode, where our heart rate is increased, our shoulders are tight, our mind is spending. And that's what we call the polybagel theory, based off of Dr. Stephen, that our body does this as a way to keep us alive. But here's what most women don't realize when we live in environments that are filled with constant stimulation, whether that's from work or emails, our family demands, traffic, notifications, noise, our nervous system really never gets to rest. And that's why so many of us feel tired, even after sleeping, anxious, even when we're not worried and disconnected, even when we're surrounded by people. And when you travel to a new environment, specifically one immersed in nature, something incredible happens. Your body receives new sensory cues, the sounds of the waves, the harmony of the birds, slower rhythms of a culture that's often not pushed by rush. Your nervous system says, Ah, this feels so different. And with that recognition, it begins to downshift from protection to connection, from fight or flight to rest and repair. That's the space where healing begins. When women join me on a retreat, I can literally see the moment their bodies drop in. Maybe it's in our first breath work session, or when we wake up to the sunrise, or we realize that no one needs them or us at that moment. You see it literally in her shoulders. I can see it in their faces, in their smile. I can hear it in their laughter. It is this sacred space of safety where a woman can truly, truly exhale. So understanding more about the brain and how the science of all of this works, our brains also love novelty. Whenever we experience something new, whether it's a new sight, a new sound, a new smell, a new texture, the brain releases dopamine and other feel-good chemicals. It isn't just pleasure, it's plasticity, where the brain has this ability to rewire. And when you're in a familiar environment, watch this. Your brain runs on autopilot. It predicts everything, right? The route to work. I know I've done that. I've gotten in the car. And I don't even know where I'm going because the car just feels like I'm just driving. The sound of the washing machine, it knows the rhythm of your daily routine. And while that predictability can feel safe, it also limits your ability to transform. But here is what happens when you step into something completely new, a new setting, whether it's us walking through the rice fields of Bali, sitting under the Moroccan stars, we're in Greece hearing the bumblebees and seeing the blue water, your brain wakes up. You become more present, more receptive, and more alive. And this openness is exactly what healing requires because you can't shift what you're not aware of. So novelty interrupts old patterns. It helps the mind and the body say, maybe things don't have to stay the same. And that's why women often tell me, I don't even, I didn't even realize how much I needed this. Or they'll say, I didn't even know I needed this. With tears with gratitude, the new environment gave them permission for something old to release and something new to emerge. We're talking about how healing, travel can be. So I'm going to share with you a few stories, and these are real moments from women that I've had the honor of journaling, journeying, journaling with. And um hopefully in the future I'll be able to bring some of them on live so you can hear for yourself. But there was a woman in in Greece who had come and she was exhausted from caregiving. Actually, it was more than one, but we're talking about one at this moment. And during one of the morning meditations, we were overlooking the sea. We had this open mashallah, all glass, looking out. And I remembered her saying, I finally can breathe again. I finally can breathe again. I can catch my breath. Not because someone gave her an answer, but because the ocean did. Or another woman joined us in Bali, having months of feeling numb, disconnected from herself, from her creativity. And one day, tears in her face, saying to herself, I was disconnected from the beauty of the moment. Or another woman in Joshua Tree in the desert where it is quiet and without light pollution, she came restless, unsure of her next step in life. On the final day, sitting in the silence, she said, I don't have the answers yet, but I'm finally at peace with not knowing. And the months later, from that experience, she got answers that she had been seeking. Those moments happened not because the place was magical, and some of the places we go to truly are. Though it often felt that way, because the conditions were actually healing because they were present. Present in safety and stillness and sisterhood and in sacred space. Travel ultimately becomes the container that holds the transformation. Now, there's a reason so many of our retreats take place by nature, whether it's the mountains, the deserts, the oceans, the open sky, nature actually regulates us. When you sit under a tree, did you know that your heart rate actually slows down? When you walk barefooted on the ground, your body energy rebalances. When you gaze at beauty, the curve of a flower, the movement of the clouds, your brain actually releases oxygen, the hormone for connection, oxytocin. Rest, nature, and beauty aren't luxuries, they're medicine. They speak to the nervous system in a language older than your words, reminding you of the rhythm, balance, and belonging you so deserve. And because our modern world often has us confused by busyness, right? And busyness is purpose, but the body doesn't heal through speed, it heals through safety, slowness, and softness. And that's why travel matters. That's why I can't stop talking about what retreats and travel can do for you. Because it interrupts the rhythm of urgency and invites in the rhythm of being. And so every woman I've traveled with has said some version of I didn't realize how much I had been missing. And once you see it, baby, once you feel it, you can never go back to living disconnected again. I truly believe it. I have seen it in my own life and in the lives of so many women I've been blessed to walk with. So if you're able in this moment, we're going to do a grounding practice because you don't have to wait for a moment. We can have that moment right now. We are going to allow ourselves permission to pause, placing one hand over your heart and one on your belly, closing your eyelids if that feels supportive. You're going to take a slow, deep breath in through the nose, and exhale through the mouth with a sigh. Feeling the rise and fall beneath your hands, noticing your body, where you're holding any tension, where you can soften. And I want you to imagine imagine you're standing barefoot on the ground. Maybe sand, maybe grass. You feel the texture beneath your feet. You hear the sounds of nature. The wind is moving through the leaves. Waves are meeting the shore. And with each breath, feel yourself settling deeper into safety. Your body is whispering, I am safe. I am here. I am home. Staying here for a few more breaths. Letting your nervous system remember what calm feels like. Whenever you're ready, opening your eyes and carrying this grounded energy into your day, you don't have to wait for a plane ticket to begin healing. You can practice presence wherever you are. But when the opportunity comes to travel, I invite you to say yes. Because sometimes leaving home is what helps you to find your home again. As we reflect on this episode, inviting you to ask yourself, where is my nervous system craving rest? What kind of environment would help my body feel safe enough to let go? And if this conversation resonated with you, I invite you to check out a blog on my website. Women are traveling to heal. Or you can find more information about this and the science as well as the spirituality of it. Or you can simply join the retreat wait list for upcoming journeys designed to help you reset, release, and reconnect with yourself. Some are as local as in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and then many are around the world. Because you deserve spaces that feel like an exhale. And the next sacred space might just be waiting for you, whether it's across the ocean or in a quiet mountain cabin or simply inside the next deep breath that you take. Thank you for listening to this series: Women Are Traveling to Heal. And if this episode spoke to your soul, share it. Share it with the sister or with the friend who needs this reminder as well. And certainly her nervous system will thank you. Until the next episode, bye for now. Thanks for listening to Awaken Your Inner Whole Woman. If you liked our show and want to know more, check us out at www.awakentopower.com. You can also leave us a review on iTunes, and we would love to hear your feedback. Join us next week for another episode of Awaken Your Inner Whole Woman.