Musings from Think Somatics + Kristin Jackson

Stress is a public health crisis. Our bodies are designed to handle stress in small doses. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and protests against racial injustice entered the equation, Americans were dealing with chronic stress related to pressures of family, work, finances, environment, climate, digital media, and more.  When stress becomes long-term or chronic, it can have serious effects on our bodies.  As a Clinical Somatic Educator I see more and more new clients presenting with higher levels of pain, exhaustion, anxiety, inability to focus and an overall low sense of personal agency. Somatic Education helps people better understand how their brains, nervous systems and bodies react to stress. All humans and animals have a fight/flight/fawn/or freeze response to fearful events with full-body muscle contractions called reflexes. Reflexes keep you safe, like when you reflexively pull your hand away from a hot burner or, eons ago, ran from a sabertooth tiger. Once safe, your nervous

There is a lot of great research about how what we eat keeps our bodies and brains healthy. Particularly fermented foods that provide probiotic bacteria to improve gut flora . This article from John Hopkins explains the gut brain connection . I usually have a batch of homemade kombucha and sauerkraut going at all times. Both are super easy-peasy to make. There is little hands-on time required. Just patience to let your concoctions do their thing, i.e. ferment. Here's my basic recipe for sauerkraut. Ingredients 1 head of cabbage  1.5 tablespoons of pickling salt Yep, that's it. Salt and cabbage. There are discussions galore about which salts to use. Don't use salt with iodine in it. Beyond that, you can experiment and decide which you prefer--sea salt, kosher, etc.  I always use green cabbage for my kraut. I'll explain more in a bit. Let's get back to how to make the kraut. Tools A large bowl (Wooden, ceramic, glass, stainless steel. No plastic.) Two hands OR you ca