Explore every episode of the podcast Nervous System Alchemy: Unleash Your Magic and Flow
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| Episode 22 - Nervous System Regulation in a World on Fire with Dr. Leslie Carr | 27 Apr 2026 | 00:49:24 | |
Is focusing on your nervous system right now a way of opting out of collective reality, or a powerful way to meet it? In this episode, Rachel sits down with Dr. Leslie Carr to explore an important question: does regulation simply mean "staying calm," or is it something far deeper? And when the world feels this urgent, is caring for your nervous system a distraction from what really matters – or exactly what this moment is asking of us? Together, they unpack the difference between true regulation and simply calming down, the impact of doomscrolling and collective stress on the body, how to stay present during challenging times, and why caring for your nervous system is not disengagement – it may be one of the most powerful forms of participation. In This Episode We Explore:
If this conversation resonates, be sure to follow the podcast and share this episode with someone someone feeling the weight of these times. About Dr. Leslie CarrDr. Leslie Carr is a psychologist and an expert in how trauma, stress, culture, and technology impact the mind. She's been active in mental health advocacy and public psychoeducation for over fifteen years, and her work has been featured in The LA Times, ABC News, and Ask Dr. Drew, among many other places. She hosts the podcast The Nature of Nurture, which explores the mental health challenges inherent to being human in the modern age. Despite the difficult subject matter, the show always endeavors to be uplifting, leaving listeners feeling grounded, informed, and empowered as they move through life in the twenty-first century. Learn more at TheNatureofNurture.com About Rachel Hardy Rachel Hardy is a somatic coach and educator who specializes in deep nervous system regulation: the kind that doesn't just shift your state, but actually changes the underlying physiology. Drawing on decades of experience working with the body and the nervous system, training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), and her studies in depth astrology and the Akashic Records, she works with brilliant, creative, spiritually attuned humans who've done the inner work and are ready for the kind of change that lives in the body. She hosts the podcast Nervous System Alchemy and is the author of The Shape of Happiness. Learn more at rachelhardy.com Ready to build a whole new nervous system that responds to stress differently? Drop your email here to be notified about the next round of Nervous System Alchemy. Music Credit "Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. | |||
| Episode 21 - Organizing, Procrastination, and Stored Stress: A Nervous System Perspective | 21 Jan 2026 | 00:44:10 | |
In this episode, I'm joined by my dear friend and colleague Julia de'Caneva, founder of If It's the Last Thing I Do and co-founder of Elemental. Together, we explore why organizing and decluttering – whether it's your physical space, digital files, or inbox – can feel so much harder than it "should." We look beneath the surface of clutter and procrastination, through the lens of the nervous system, exploring stored stress, capacity, and freeze – and how unfinished stress responses in the body can show up as avoidance, exhaustion, decision paralysis, or overwhelm. You'll leave with a new understanding of what's really happening when organizing feels impossible, along with practical ways to meet these tasks with less friction, more flow. 👉 If this resonates, the next step is to move it into real-world action, since nervous system work isn't about mental insight — it's about shifting your body's responses in real time. Join Julia and me on January 31st for a live workshop where we combine somatic nervous system regulation with a practical, guided walkthrough of your email inbox — so you can release stored stress, shift inner patterns related to organization and clutter, and move forward with clarity and ease. We'll also explore a key astrological transit this year that's reshaping how action begins — inviting clarity, courage, and movement that's grounded in nervous system readiness. A recording is included with your registration so you can return to this work as often as you like — revisiting the tools, tracking how your nervous system responds, and watching your patterns around organization and clutter shift over time.
"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission.
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| Emergent Resilience 12 - Embodied Astrology: Opening the Heart to Abundance and Love with Venus in Retrograde | 18 Jul 2023 | 00:17:11 | |
Emergent Resilience 12 - Embodied Astrology: Opening the Heart to Abundance and Love with Venus in Retrograde Retrogrades are a powerful opportunity for re-patterning the deep beliefs, feelings, and energies that unconsciously drive us. Venus rules the heart center, and opening to receive more love. Because money is how we give and receive, Venus also rules our finances and money stories. While Venus is retrograde in the passionate, fiery sign of Leo, you have a unique opportunity to dive into the hidden blocks around money and love... so you can release unconcsious blocks to attracting the love and abundance that you're here to experience.
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Discover your North Node Placement and how it describes your Soul's Mission. Download your complimentary guide here: https://bit.ly/SoulMission-guide
Subscribe to my channel for regular updates, and learn to read the story your natal chart holds: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. paulbriggs.bandcamp.com/ | |||
| Emergent Resilience 11 - When the Mind Doesn't Want to Calm - 4 Keys to Connecting to Your Higher Wisdom | 12 Jun 2023 | 00:26:18 | |
Emergent Resilience 11 - When the Mind Doesn't Want to Calm - 4 Keys to Connecting to Your Higher Wisdom
In this episode, I share about a personal healing journey that's happened recently, what I learned through working in my Akashic Records about my over-attachment to the mind, and the key practices that helped me shift out of being driven by the mind and into deeper connection with my spiritual gifts. ___ Ready to move through your Upper Limits by Regulating Your Nervous System? Grab my three part video series, here. ___ keep in touch! website: https://rachelhardy.com FB group: The Resilient Goddess YT: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy
_____ "Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. paulbriggs.bandcamp.com/ | |||
| Emergent Resilience 10 - Honoring Limits & Pushing Beyond: Strength Training and Nervous System Healing | 07 Oct 2022 | 00:40:18 | |
My guest for this episode is Melinda Hughes, owner of The Strength Shoppe in Los Angeles. We chat about ...
___ Ready to move through your Upper Limits by Regulating Your Nervous System? Grab my three part video series, here. ___ keep in touch! website: https://rachelhardy.com FB group: The Resilient Goddess YT: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy
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"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. paulbriggs.bandcamp.com/ | |||
| Emergent Resilience 09: Somatic Astrology - Venus Conjunct Pluto: Heart-Depths | 14 Dec 2021 | 00:25:59 | |
Episode 09: In this Somatic Astrology Episode, we're taking a dive into the heart space. What happens when the deepest places in our heart are opened up, excavated, and exposed? And what's on the other side?
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Discover your North Node Placement and how it describes your Soul's Mission. Download your complimentary guide here: https://bit.ly/SoulMission-guide
Subscribe to my channel for regular updates, and learn to read the story your natal chart holds: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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| Emergent Resilience 08: Somatic Astrology: Re-thinking Mercury Retrograde... Recalibration & Release | 28 Sep 2021 | 00:30:01 | |
Episode 08: In this Somatic Astrology episode, we'll explore Mercury Retrograde as a powerful period of renewal and release. We'll look at how to work with the "inward turned" energy, rather than fighting it- so that we can move with ease and empowerment through this time of excavation and recalibration.
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Discover your North Node Placement and how it describes your Soul's Mission. Download your complimentary guide here: https://bit.ly/SoulMission-guide
Subscribe to my channel for regular updates, and learn to read the story your natal chart holds: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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| Emergent Resilience 07: The Paradox of Healing & Sudden Shifts | 03 Sep 2021 | 00:38:10 | |
Episode 7: In this episode I talk about the paradox of healing, the polarities of masculine / feminine energy in the transformation process, and how to be with the balance of patience and expectation while on a healing path.
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Ready to Dissolve your Upper Limits? Grab my three-part video series here: https://bit.ly/Upper-Limits
Ways to connect:
https://rachelhardy.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rachel_hardy_coaching/
Resilient Goddess FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/resilientgoddess
Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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| Emergent Resilience 06: Somatic Astrology - Venus Inconjunct Jupiter | 17 Aug 2021 | 00:25:57 | |
Episode 6: This is the first in a series of mini-episodes exploring Somatic Astrology. We dive into what it means to have Venus (our heart center) in an inconjunct (choice point) with Jupiter (our expansion and goodness). Drop into the body and feel where you hold this particular challenge, how it's showing up for you, and what your highest consciousness is urging you to shift or release to allow in your greater expansion and goodness.
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Discover your North Node Placement and how it describes your Soul's Mission. Download your complimentary guide here: https://bit.ly/SoulMission-guide
Subscribe to my channel for regular updates, and learn to read the story your natal chart holds: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. paulbriggs.bandcamp.com/
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| Emergent Resilience 05: Ways of Knowing with Efu Nyaki | 24 Jan 2021 | 00:37:29 | |
Episode 5: In this episode, I chat with Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and SE Legacy Faculty member Efu Nyaki. We talk about her traditional upbringing, the "ways of knowing" learned from her Nyaki clan, and how connecting to the body and to nature is key to accessing our innate capacity for healing and wellness.
Reach Efu here: https://directory.traumahealing.org/practitioner/efu-nyaki/ Follow Efu on IG: @efunyaki Contact AFYA Healing Center or make a donation: afya@afya.org.br Follow AFYA on IG: @afyaorg
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Ready to Dissolve your Upper Limits? Grab my three-part video series here: https://bit.ly/Upper-Limits
Ways to connect:
https://rachelhardy.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rachel_hardy_coaching/
Resilient Goddess FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/resilientgoddess
Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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| Emergent Resilience 04: Re-envisioning Early Education with Jessica Briggs | 26 Nov 2020 | 00:28:23 | |
Episode 4: Building healthy nervous systems starts young. How can we create more resilience and regulation through our models and practices of early education? In this episode, I chat with Jessica Briggs about a wholistic approach to education that honors the path of the child and their own ways of knowing. Find out more about Jessica at https://www.jessicabriggs.me/jessica or follow her at https://instagram.com/lovejessbriggs
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Ready to Dissolve your Upper Limits? Grab my three-part video series here: https://bit.ly/Upper-Limits
Ways to connect:
https://rachelhardy.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rachel_hardy_coaching/
Resilient Goddess FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/resilientgoddess
Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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| Emergent Resilience 03: Following Your Soul's Calling with Dr. Josephine Hardman | 26 Oct 2020 | 00:46:54 | |
Episode 3: In this episode, I chat with Dr. Josephine Hardman about her path from a career in academia to building a business focused around her spiritual gifts. Find out more about Josephine's work at https://josephinehardman.com/ or follow her on IG at @healer.josephine
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Ready to Dissolve your Upper Limits? Grab my three-part video series here: https://bit.ly/Upper-Limits
Ways to connect:
https://rachelhardy.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rachel_hardy_coaching/
Resilient Goddess FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/resilientgoddess
Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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| Episode 20 - Redefining Purpose: Beyond the Box of "Spiritual Work" with Jia Dafu | 05 Dec 2025 | 00:38:20 | |
In this conversation with Akashic Record Reader Jia Dafu, we unpack one of the biggest myths in the spiritual world: that living your purpose has to look a certain way or follow a predetermined trajectory. Jia shares her journey from the corporate world to spiritual entrepreneurship -- and then back to corporate again -- and how her purpose didn't just persist but activated and expanded at every stage. We explore what it actually means to live your spiritual path in a way that's full, alive, and true to you, no matter what chapter you're in. Together, we dive into:
If you've ever wondered whether you're "doing it right" or felt torn between your spiritual calling and your real-world responsibilities, this episode will land deeply. You don't need to be anywhere else in your life to begin living your purpose. It's already here, already moving, already you. Connect with Jia: | |||
| Emergent Resilience 02: My Story, Part 2 | 19 Aug 2020 | 00:57:52 | |
Episode 2: This episode is part two of my own journey: coming off fourteen years of antidepressant medication, turning around a chronic health condition (ME/ CFS), and coming into total wellness and excellent health. Learning to trust my own experience, finding power in creative work, and being at peace in the unknown.
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Ready to Dissolve your Upper Limits? Grab my three-part video series here: https://bit.ly/Upper-Limits
Ways to connect:
https://rachelhardy.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rachel_hardy_coaching/
Resilient Goddess FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/resilientgoddess
Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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| Emergent Resilience 01: My Story, Part 1 | 19 Aug 2020 | 00:51:12 | |
Episode 1: In this episode, I share part one of my own journey, beginning with a strange and sudden mysterious illness that began when I was fourteen. It would would launch an intense physical and spiritual journey and set me on a lifelong path of searching for answers.
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Ready to Dissolve your Upper Limits? Grab my three-part video series here: https://bit.ly/Upper-Limits
Ways to connect:
https://rachelhardy.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rachel_hardy_coaching/
Resilient Goddess FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/resilientgoddess
Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@rachel_hardy?sub_confirmation=1
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| Episode 19 - Sacred Resistance: What Your Nervous System Knows About Pushing Back | 17 Jun 2025 | 00:29:35 | |
There's a kind of resistance that rises right at the edge of change — when something big is asking to move through you. But what if that pushback you're feeling — the shutdown, the procrastination, the discomfort, the annoyance — isn't dysfunction? In this episode, I'm offering a reframe that might change everything:
This is a trauma-informed, somatically rooted look at what's actually happening when "resistance" shows up — in you, or in your clients. In this episode, we'll explore:
🔹 Free Gift: Moving Through Upper Limits— This 3-part video experience reveals why expansion is so often followed by a snapback into old patterns — and how to finally shift this cycle at the root, through your nervous system. 🔹 Waitlist: 1:1 Integrative Somatic Nervous System Work 🔹 Waitlist: Embodied Astrology Certification If this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend. This work is meant to ripple — and your presence matters.
"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. | |||
| Episode 18 - Let it Flow: Trusting the Intelligence of the Body — with Dr. Leslie Carr + Julia de'Caneva | 27 May 2025 | 00:48:25 | |
What happens when you stop trying to fix your emotions — and instead feel the raw energy underneath them?
In this episode, I'm joined by two brilliant colleagues and dear friends, Dr. Leslie Carr and Julia de'Caneva, for a grounded, powerful conversation about how life force energy moves through the body — and what becomes possible when we stop overriding, bypassing, or spinning in the mind, and instead partner with the nervous system to let it reorganize and transform. We talk about everything from public speaking anxiety to cancer, trauma, and collective grief — and how even the most intense emotions can feel strangely good when met purely as sensation in the body. This is an honest, real-world exploration of what it means to stay with what's true, and allow the intelligence of your nervous system to do what it knows how to do. 🌀Meet Today's Guests Dr. Leslie Carr Julia de'Caneva Leslie and Julia are hosting a powerful in-person workshop on June 7 from 3–5pm at Laughing Frog Yoga in Los Angeles. This event blends nervous system regulation, breathwork, and yoga into a community-based space for deep release, integration, and grounded aliveness. ✨ Free Mini- Series from Rachel: Moving Through Upper LimitsIf you've ever found yourself hitting a ceiling — emotionally, financially, or creatively — even when you're doing all the right things, this 3-part video series will show you why your nervous system might be holding the brakes... and how to release the pattern at its root. → start your journey here If this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend. This work is meant to ripple — and your presence matters.
"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. | |||
| Episode 17 - Reclaiming Choice: Unhooking Trauma Loops with Somatic Awareness | 21 May 2025 | 00:27:19 | |
If you've ever felt hijacked by your own nervous system — caught in thoughts you don't believe, feelings you didn't expect, or patterns you thought you'd already moved through — this episode is for you. This week, after an amazing date that stirred up more than I expected, I found myself right in the middle of an old loop. And I used the exact process I turn to when everything's firing at once — sensation, thought, emotion, and meaning — and you need to find your way through without overriding anything. We'll explore:
This is about learning how to stay with what's uncomfortable, charged, or confusing — and still make a conscious choice. 🔗 Links & Resources Join the Nervous System Sanctuary Waitlist for 1:1 work → https://go.rachelhardy.com/hynsat-learn-more Connect on Instagram
"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. | |||
| Episode 16 - From Chaos to Coherence: When Things Feel Worse on the Way to Better | 30 Apr 2025 | 00:22:29 | |
In today's episode, we're diving into a real (and often hidden) part of the growth process: how things can feel messier, heavier, or more chaotic right before they truly expand. This is the work of capacity building — the nervous system learning how to hold more energy, more change, more life without defaulting back into old patterns of survival stress. If you've ever found yourself wondering, "Why do I feel worse even though I'm doing all the right things?" — this episode is for you. We'll explore:
Links & Resources: 🌿 Ready to start supporting your nervous system at a gentle, accessible pace? 🌟 Ready for deeper, transformational work? | |||
| Episode 15 - Feel First, Then Choose: Tiredness as Integration and Completion | 31 Mar 2025 | 00:10:56 | |
What if your tiredness isn't a problem to fix… but a signal that your body is completing something? In this short, real-time episode, I share a personal moment from my own journey—a day when a wave of full-body tiredness arrived, not as a breakdown, but as a breakthrough. We explore the connection between the recent Neptune-in-Aries shift, post-eclipse energy, and the body's natural cycles of completion. You'll hear how I moved through the fog by feeling instead of forcing, and what it looks like to return to presence instead of panic. These waves we're riding? They're not breakdowns. They're breakthroughs in motion. We'll also explore:
🌿 Interested in working with your nervous system at a deeper level? Start slow and steady with my Nervous System Sanctuary membership— a gentle, accessible way to build real capacity and ease into lasting change. Or, if you're ready for deep, transformational 1:1 work, explore Heal Your Nervous System and Thrive — my program for soulful leaders and creatives who are ready to clear outdated survival patterns from their body and step into greater ease, freedom, and creative power.
"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. | |||
| Episode 14 - Foundations of Nervous System Regulation – Building Capacity | 20 Mar 2025 | 00:37:31 | |
In this episode of Nervous System Alchemy, we're diving into one of the most important yet sometimes overlooked aspects of nervous system regulation: building capacity. What does that actually mean? Why is it foundational to real healing and regulation? And most importantly—how do we do it? I'll walk you through: Resources & Next Steps 💬 Let's Talk: I'd love to hear from you! What landed for you in this episode? What questions came up? What would you love to go deeper into in future episodes? Drop me a note: rachel@rachelhardy.com
🌿 Interested in working with your nervous system at a deeper level? Start slow and steady with my Nervous System Sanctuary membership— a gentle, accessible way to build real capacity and ease into lasting change. Or, if you're ready for deep, transformational 1:1 work, explore Heal Your Nervous System and Thrive — my program for soulful leaders and creatives who are ready to clear outdated survival patterns from their body and step into greater ease, freedom, and creative power.
"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. paulbriggs.bandcamp.com/ | |||
| Episode 13 - The Road Awaits: Embracing Flow and Freedom | 11 Mar 2025 | 00:24:40 | |
Welcome to a new chapter of Nervous System Alchemy—a podcast all about unlocking your creative potential and aligning with your most expansive self. In this episode, I'm diving into how my journey of nervous system regulation has led me to the freedom and flow I now experience, traveling the world full-time and navigating life from a place of presence and balance. For most of my life, I lived in a state of chronic survival-- an autoimmune condition, depression, and a dysregulated nervous system. Through years of healing, I rewired my body and mind to create a life of ease, creativity, and resilience. In this episode, we'll chat about partnering with your nervous system to thrive, not just survive. If you want to read more about my healing journey, check out my book: The Shape of Happiness: A Nervous System Alchemy Journey Into Joy In This Episode You'll Learn:
Resources:
"Grace" written and recorded by Paul Briggs and used by permission. paulbriggs.bandcamp.com/ | |||