Returning to Us
Parenting and educating children is one of the greatest experiences in life, but it comes with plenty of emotionally draining challenges. Join behavioral health specialist Lauren Spigelmyer each week as she discusses strategies and tips for how to hack your brain, build and strengthen relationships, and teach people how to recognize and neutralize their emotional states. If you aren’t happy with a child’s behavior, are feeling stressed out, or just want to learn more about emotions and the brain, then this show is for you.
Episodes
187 episodes
Why Freeze State Happens in Two Different Ways (and Why it Matters)
Ever felt completely stuck in the face of stress—unable to act, speak, or even think clearly? Or do you find yourself saying “yes” just to avoid conflict, even when you don’t want to? These are nervous system responses—freeze and fawn—and they’...
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Season 4
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Episode 52
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23:54
Can Play REALLY Help You to Regulate?
In this episode, Lauren explores the concept of play as a powerful tool for nervous system regulation. While we often associate play with childhood, she reminds us it's just as vital for adults. Whether you're playing with your kids, g...
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Season 4
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Episode 51
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24:41
Daily Habits for a Healthy Nervous System
In today’s episode, Lauren continues her discussion on the nervous system, highlighting simple, effective rituals to support regulation throughout the day. By focusing on small, manageable practices instead of drastic changes, she makes consist...
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Season 4
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Episode 50
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23:54
Nature's Role in Nervous System Regulation
In this episode, Lauren explores the powerful connection between nature and nervous system regulation. Spending time outdoors can lower cortisol levels, activate the vagus nerve, improve heart rate variability, and heighten sensory awaren...
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Season 4
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Episode 49
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21:54
Rhythms That Regulate
In this episode, Lauren delves deeper into nervous system regulation, exploring how rhythm can be a powerful tool for finding your window of tolerance—both reactively and proactively. She explains how engaging with steady, predictable rhy...
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Season 4
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Episode 48
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16:31
The Power of Cold Exposure: How the Cold Can Calm Your Nervous System
In this episode, Lauren continues to explore ways to reset the nervous system. Today, she talks specifically about using cold exposure to activate the vagus nerve to promote calm and build resilience. She shares a handful of cold exposure metho...
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Season 4
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Episode 47
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25:30
Beyond Deep Breaths: Surprising Ways to Reset Your System
Today, we're diving into the power of breath—but with a twist. You've probably heard about deep belly breathing or box breathing, but what about humming, sighing, or even yawning as breathwork? In this episode, we’ll explore non-traditional bre...
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Season 4
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Episode 46
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24:37
Polyvagal Theory - what in the world is it and why should I care?
So, what is Polyvagal Theory? This theory was developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, and it helps us understand how our nervous system shapes the way we experience the world—especially in terms of safety, connection, and stress. Now do yo...
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Season 4
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Episode 45
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32:52
Vagus Nerve: The Key to Calm
Today we’re diving into one of the most fascinating parts of your nervous system: the vagus nerve. Often called the body’s "superhighway of calm," the vagus nerve plays a crucial role in regulating your stress response and overall well-being. F...
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Season 4
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Episode 44
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25:50
How Stress Changes Your Brain and Body
In this episode, Lauren dives into how prolonged stress impacts the brain and body. She explains how chronic or traumatic stress rewires key areas of the brain—such as the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus—shifting us into survival m...
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Season 4
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Episode 43
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35:00
The Link Between Technology and Nervous System Dysregulation
In this episode, Lauren dives into the profound impact of our hyper-connection to technology on our nervous system and explores how we can reclaim regulation through a digital detox. Constant notifications, endless scrolling, and exposure to sc...
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Season 4
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Episode 42
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20:25
Find Your Way Back to the Window of Tolerance
In this episode, Lauren delves deeper into the significance of expanding and maintaining your Window of Tolerance. She shares practical strategies to help you identify when you've stepped outside your Window of Tolerance and introduces evidence...
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Season 4
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Episode 41
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25:40
Micro Changes Macro Results
In this episode, Lauren reintroduces the concept of the Window of Tolerance and shares practical tips for breaking behavioral patterns and resetting your nervous system. She explains how to identify your current state of dysregulation and sugge...
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Season 4
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Episode 40
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14:02
Sounds That Heal
In this episode, Lauren explores the use of sound and music as therapeutic tools for achieving a calm, meditative state. She delves into two specific types of audio—binaural beats and isochronic tones—and explains how listening to them for just...
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Season 4
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Episode 39
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20:06
I just can’t stop talking about the nervous system
In this episode, Lauren discusses three highly effective techniques to quickly regulate your nervous system. She re-introduces the Window of Tolerance framework and shares three actionable tips to help your nervous system return to regulation. ...
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Season 4
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Episode 38
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21:59
Impacting Organizational Culture: Explaining the Second 2 Ps
In this episode, Lauren focuses on how to move the second two pillars of the 4 Ps—Policy and Practice—out of survival mode using the 5 Ives Framework. Lauren dives into the sensory elements of physical spaces (Practice) that influence regulatio...
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Season 4
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Episode 37
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20:28
Impacting Organizational Culture: Explaining the First 2 Ps
In this episode, Lauren dives into the first two of the 4 Ps—Practitioner and Patient—focusing on strategies to move organizations from a survival state into a healthier, more regulated space. She begins by explaining the 4 Ps (Policy, Practice...
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Season 4
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Episode 36
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23:17
Using Our 5-Category Regulation Framework in the Workplace
In this episode, Lauren introduces the 4P framework, a tool designed to evaluate and improve workplace culture. It focuses on four key areas: Policy, Practice, Practitioner, and People—each representing a different facet of an organization. By ...
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Season 4
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Episode 35
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19:21
A 5-Category Regulation Framework - Five Ives!
In this episode, Lauren explores the "Five Ives" framework, a powerful tool for understanding and navigating emotional regulation. She explains how each stage—from *Survive* to *Hive*—represents a natural response to life's challenges and empha...
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Season 4
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Episode 34
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13:59
Surviving the Storm: Balancing Recovery with Forward Momentum
In the third and final episode of this microseries, Lauren and her Five Ives partner, Jessica Doering, explore practical steps to move forward from a survival state. They discuss the importance of recognizing and appreciating progress, ev...
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Season 4
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Episode 33
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22:13
Surviving the Storm: Using the Window of Tolerance After a Natural Disaster
In this second episode of the microseries, Lauren is joined again by her Five Ives partner, Jessica Doering, to discuss the concept of the window of tolerance and its role in healing from trauma. It can be difficult to consider the window of to...
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Season 4
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Episode 31
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28:32
Surviving the Storm: Calming Your Nervous System After a Natural Disaster
In this episode, Lauren is joined by her Five Ives partner, Jessica Doering, to explore the first part of a 3-part series on navigating the "Five Ives" framework, with a focus on regulating your emotional state after natural disasters or unexpe...
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Season 4
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Episode 31
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24:12
Problem Solving Recurring Behaviors and Triggers
In the final episode of the emotional regulation series, Lauren dives into the third step: problem-solving. If you haven’t listened to the previous two episodes, be sure to check them out first. Sometimes, emotional dysregulation stems from a r...
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Season 4
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Episode 30
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17:23
Window of Tolerance
In this episode Lauren re-visits her framework for helping kids recognize emotional dysregulation. Emotions are abstract and recognizing the spectrum of emotions can be hard, especially for kiddos who have so many stimuli that can knock th...
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Season 4
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Episode 29
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16:32
Regulation Strategies to Use Right Now
If you haven't listened yet, go back and listen to the past 2 episodes of this series on going back to the basics of emotional regulation. Today Lauren is giving us strategies for how to up or down regulate on the spot - in the moment that the ...
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Season 4
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Episode 28
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12:35