Effective Tools for Stress Reduction with Audrey Rose

Feeling like you're constantly running on empty? In this episode, registered nurse and nervous system regulation coach Audrey Rose breaks down what it really means to regulate your nervous system—and no, it's not about being zen 24/7 or quitting your job.

We dive into Audrey's personal burnout story from her time as a lead nurse during the pandemic, the science behind fight-or-flight vs. rest-and-digest, and her four-step RISE method for managing stress in real time. You'll learn practical tools like EFT tapping, box breathing, and sound healing that actually work when you're dealing with 700 unread emails, screaming kids, or an overwhelming inbox.

This conversation is packed with science-backed strategies you can use right now—whether you're locked in a bathroom for five minutes or winding down at the end of the day. If you're a high-achiever who wants to keep your ambition without burning out, this episode is for you.

Check out the detailed show notes (https://tarakermiet.com/podcast/) and leave your thoughts or questions about today's topic.

To connect with Audrey Rose:

• Instagram (https://instagram.com/helloaudreyrose)
• Ready to Rise Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-to-rise/id1541500424)
• The Happiness Mini Bundle - use code BADASS (https://www.helloaudreyrose.com/happiness)

Need a little more balance and a lot more badass in your life? Check out my 1:1 coaching sessions designed to help you tackle your biggest challenges, manage stress, and create a personalized plan for success. Your first 30-minute session is free! Visit tarakermiet.com to get started. 

Want to turn your dreams into reality? Check out my 7 Days to Crushing Your Goals mini-course! This course is packed with practical lessons and hands-on activities designed to help you define your “why,” leverage your strengths, and take decisive action. By the end, you'll have a clear plan and the tools you need to crush your goals. Visit tarakermiet.com/crushyourgoals to join the course and start making things happen! 

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome + Meet Audrey Rose
• 4:19 What Is Nervous System Regulation
• 5:07 Audrey’s Burnout Story
• 8:11 Audrey's Sabbatical: Trying New Modalities & Discovering Sound Baths
• 12:57 Real-Life Regulation Tools: EFT Tapping, Breathwork & 5-Minute Resets
• 16:18 Sympathetic vs Parasympathetic Nervous System
• 20:34 Chronic Activation, Burnout & Finding Balance
• 23:35 Spotting Toxic Fight-or-Flight
• 24:46 R.I.S.E Step 1 — Recognize Your Stress Signals
• 25:56 R.I.S.E Step 2 — Interrupt the Spiral
• 27:11 R.I.S.E Step 3 — Somatic Regulation
• 30:38 R.I.S.E Step 4 — Embody the Calmer You
• 33:56 How You’ll Know It’s Working
• 39:59 Quick Reset Hacks
• 42:34 Balanced Badass Definition

Transcript

Tara: [00:00:00] All right, friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Balanced Badass Podcast, and I'm so excited to welcome Audrey Rose. She's a registered nurse and nervous system regulation coach. She's also the founder of the Rise Movement and host of the top. Podcast, the Ready to Rise podcast, which actually we were talking about kind of backstage that, um, it's a global phenomenon now at this point, so that's really awesome.

Audrey Rose: thank

Tara: Um, yes. So Audrey, you help high achieving women regulate their nervous systems and reconnect with our true happiness without losing their ambition and. Your work is really a blend of somatic healing, sound medicine and spiritual wisdom, and that's all stuff that I'm really interested in. And I love that you are really emerging as this voice in the mental health space coming from.

What I think is a really unique [00:01:00] and really special lens. And so I'm just looking forward to our conversation today because I know from what you've shared from your, you know, previous experiences and just following you on social media that

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: have been where a lot of my listeners have been.

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: kind of know.

What that feels like, especially as a, as a nurse in the medical field. Um, and so you know that things aren't always perfect, but we really owe it to ourselves to care for ourselves. So I'm just so excited to welcome you to the Balanced Badass Podcast. And as I do, I'd love for you to kind of open up the floor and just share with us like what's something that you're loving in your life right now.

Audrey Rose: Oh. Oh my gosh. I love this question. Start us off. Start with kind of the good. You know, the exciting, I am home right now. We were just talking about this too, and like, not everybody gets this opportunity and I'm so freaking obsessed right now to just be [00:02:00] home. My dog just had surgery and so we're in this recovery period and did work quite a bit to like.

Be able to set myself up for this moment to, to really be able to take like two weeks off. I have a couple podcast things I'm doing and that's pretty much it. And I'm just, I'm feeling so blessed. I've been binging Halloween movies 'cause it's that time of the year and just really just like honestly resting and it feel, it feels really, I'm loving it.

I'm obsessed with this right now.

Tara: I love that. That's awesome. Um, yeah, I had, I think you know this, I had knee surgery like probably six. Well, actually we're at like the six month mark.

Audrey Rose: No way. Oh my gosh.

Tara: yeah. Which is wild. It really does. Um, but I took a full like month off for that recovery and really it turned into more like two months because things didn't go always as planned.

But um, that was like. Really nice to be able to have that time [00:03:00] and to just have that ability to be able to do so and the freedom to do so. And I'm actually planning to do the same in December for the holiday, so I'm gonna take some time, like almost the entire month of December off. So super pumped about that.

Audrey Rose: yes. 

Tara: It'll be like the first time ever

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: been able to do that. So.

Audrey Rose: Good. Yeah.

Tara: Well thanks for sharing that and I'm, I'm glad to hear that the little baby's doing well. Um, you know, I am a dog lover myself, so I know how much they can stress us out, but also how much we care for them. Alright, well let's get into it.

So, a lot of what I love about your work is. Really the different lenses that you come from because you do have this nurse background and health and so you're blending science as well as like soul into the work that you do. And I, I really do appreciate that. And I know a lot of people here about nervous system regulation.

I talk about it a lot with [00:04:00] folks as kind of your first line of defense to burnout. And they think that it's just about relaxation, but it's. So much deeper than that. So for, for those of us listening, can you just break down what nervous system regulation really means and why it can really make a difference, especially for high achieving women?

Audrey Rose: Yeah. So I have to start with like the short version of my story because I think it's so like, relatable to,

Tara: Mm-hmm.

Audrey Rose: get to how we get here. And I know you talk about this a lot too, and there's so many different ways to get really burned out. it's really easy to do, especially as women. for me personally, all happened, you know, in relation to the pandemic.

Like, I, I was a fairly new nurse. I was, I think five years in or something like that. Into my career, which is pretty young They just kind of like handed, I was voluntold, you know, they just handed it to me. Yeah, you're gonna run this unit, [00:05:00] you're gonna be one of the lead nurses, blah, blah, blah. I didn't even know like what, being a lead nurse, I didn't, I didn't know.

I just knew that's the person I asked my questions to. When I'm at work, I. And I was there. And then of course, you know, like the important people state all these, you know, regulatory, like people were coming and making sure that we were up to regulation and that we had everything going correctly and all of that.

And and I was like, whoa, I don't even know what I'm doing. So like, now these people, these really scary people are like checking on me. And it was just one thing after another like that where I just kept, you know, kind of getting like really freaked out and, you know, in this kind of like. Just freaked out, you know, phase and then I worked a lot and that's what really did it in, was I worked so much. Something happened to me. And, sorry, if you can hear my dog in the background, she's like trying to get all my attention. Of

Tara: So.

Audrey Rose: Um, but, but something happened to me where I just was like, you know. I need to work. I, I [00:06:00] took full ownership of that place. And of course there were other people doing the same job as me.

They didn't need me to be there 24 7, I wanted to work constantly. I thought that I had to do this. I thought that I was so needed and I was so important and all these things, and I would work. They, they didn't have the same regulations on us as usual because it was like a state of emergency. So I was allowed to work extra. I would work as much as I could. 'cause I just felt this responsibility for some reason. And I would work, you know, nine days in a row, 14 days in a row, crazy amounts of, of these 12 hour shifts, you know? And I remember my mom telling me, you are going to burn out. And I was like, no lady. Like I'm fine. I'm young, I'm great.

I'm, you know, I'm like on living on autopilot at this moment. You know? I didn't even have to do my own laundry. The hospital's doing everything. It's cool. sure enough, as we got to the tail end of that time period, I. be home on the couch. I just remember basically like [00:07:00] super, just exhausted, tired, you know, it was like literally just a vegetable, like a couch potato all day long.

But if I was at work, was on point and I, because the alarms and the stimulation and I would get back into that fight or flight mode when I was there. anyways, yeah, long story, uh, long, I just ended up super burned out and I just could barely function when I was home on my days off. So. That led me into learning a lot about this, you know, somatic healing and, and how we can start to kind of change.

I had to take a sabbatical off work. My doctor kind of forced me to do, you know, to do this. She was like, you, you have to take a, a long break, like as soon as it's a good fit for you. And it's, it's. Time for you that you can do this, you know, you've gotta take time. It started with two weeks off and ended up being three months and I still didn't quite feel like myself, but during that time she made me like literally like sign a plan that like I was going to do nothing for two weeks, but sleep and [00:08:00] watch like movies. And then it progressed into like, let's try yoga, let's try sound healing. Like you have to try new things and you have to check in with me and show me that you're trying them. Um, yeah, so I just tried all this new, new things and I tried, what really landed was the sound healing. Sound healing just ended up being something I became obsessed with, where I was like, I need to like, like this is calming me down.

It feels really good. And of course that led into more and more like breath work and, and all these different things, but. Just finding those kinds of techniques to kind of calm me down. And I didn't even know at the time like what it was doing. And now I do, now I can pair kind of my, my background as a nurse into understanding the physiology of like what is happening in my body when like a sound bath happens. And so it's so fun to like blend that kind of like woo woo side of things with, just, you know, the, the nervous system regulation, the physiology of it.

Tara: Yeah. That's so cool. Um, I [00:09:00] appreciate you sharing your story and especially recognizing. A lot of folks that I talk with do work in healthcare and you really do hear very similar pieces. One of the, the trauma that came with

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: CID and, and still lingers to this day, I know I have a lot of friends that work in healthcare too, and we talk about just how much their approach to work has changed because of everything and.

The thing that you, you said about like the, the alarms and the constant, like just stimulation going on at work you felt like was energizing you, but really was zapping your energy Because by the, by the time you get home, you have nothing left to give in the tank. Um, and that's, you know, folks feel that so often.

And I know for myself too, like when I got burned out, it was, [00:10:00] it took. The like severe bodily reaction for me to realize like, dude, something's not right. And uh, as much as you probably didn't love it in the moment, I love that your provider was like, no, no, I'm holding you accountable to this because we need that as humans.

Especially when you're in that, in that moment because you're not thinking clearly, you're not up able to do it. So having that person to kind of push you and nudge you to try new things. 'cause I mean, I don't know about you, but like I, I wouldn't have thought about doing sound healing originally,

Audrey Rose: Yeah, remember

Tara: awesome.

Audrey Rose: Just like have to share a quick side note. I remember I, I almost didn't even go inside. I finally showed up and I'm sitting in the parking lot and I was like, this is gonna be some weird cults thing. I don't even know. Like I don't, I don't know what this is. And then I remember just.

Finally like being like, no, we need to try things. We need to heal and [00:11:00] going in. And then, yeah, like I became every, I just became like addicted like every single Monday night. I kept going to the same place and yeah. But, but really, I mean, it's, it's easy to be skeptical of some of these things and not really wanna try them.

And so I'm so glad I did.

Tara: Yeah, and what I, you know what I talk to people about when, when we're trying and experimenting, and that's what a lot of my approach in my coaching style is just like, let's experiment, let's try things out because at this point you've already hit rock bottom. Like what do you have left to lose?

Audrey Rose: Really.

Tara: So, so what?

You go into a sound healing session, I don't even know what it's called. Clearly I have not done one. Um, but you go into one and you're like, I'm gonna feel awkward. I'm not gonna know what to do. Nobody else is paying attention to you, first off. Like you're not that special. Hate to break it to you, but also, so what if it doesn't work out and it doesn't work for you?

The worst thing you've lost is just a [00:12:00] little bit of that time.

Audrey Rose: That's so true.

Tara: Which you probably needed a little bit of time to not do work anyways, so you're fine.

Audrey Rose: Right.

Tara: But yeah. Well, okay, so kind of moving on and, and you talked about like this fight or flight. Once someone kind of realizes, okay, my system is fried or maybe frozen, maybe they're in that free state.

What are some of those first few ways that they can really start to like wake it back up and bring it back online? And I'm talking like real life here, right? We've got deadlines. Folks have full inboxes. I was just talking to someone earlier today and she's like, I've been off for a week. I'm gonna come home and or go back to work and there's gonna be 700.

Emails in my inbox and I'm like, that's bonkers. Folks. Have kids running around, dogs running around, like what does regulation actually look like [00:13:00] in the middle of all of that?

Audrey Rose: yeah. Okay. So there's a, a couple of things I, I want to say, but I know like so often we think that regulation literally means that we're able to stay calm all the time. And Zen and I go to yoga every single day and it's like, that is not real life. Like I love telling women like. Like, I think that so often we think as like high achieving, very ambitious women that, you know, getting a regulated nervous system means we have to take a year off of work or we have to quit this like corporate job that we like worked so hard to get, you know, and. That's not the case. We just have to learn the simple techniques that will make this life more manageable and give us more capacity to do all the things because we can. And like I am a highly ambitious woman and like, so I, so I'm like, oh, I feel you. I'm on your side. Like, I'm not gonna tell you to quit your job, but. We can add in simple tools, and that's why I love just simple kind of somatic healing. [00:14:00] Just, there are nervous system regulation techniques that work on the body, and that's what I like to teach. So mainly I like to teach EFT tapping. Sound healing and breath work, and they're really simple things. They can be an hour long, you know, deep immersive experience. Or we can do a five minute EFT tapping, or we can do a quick round of box breathing. And it's just similar to like what you mentioned as how you were saying you teach. or nervous system regulation as like that first line of defense because there's obviously deeper patterns we can uncover and there's deeper work we can do. But in the moment when your kids are running around and you're about to go yell at your significant other, and you might like, I almost yelled at my boss back when I was like the director, like the boss boss back in those days. and I, you know, I know how it feels like when you're right in the middle of it. Just slow down. a couple of tools, do a couple of, you know something, a box breathing session. I still do this. We're [00:15:00] I'll literally at work in the middle of stress, you know, stressful time. Like obviously not when I have to be at the bedside, like, you know, coding someone or something. But you know, when it.

I feel like thing the pressure's starting to rise, and I can take a minute, I'll go lock myself in the bathroom and do a few rounds of box breathing. Just something simple or, you know, even just a quick meditation. Like I, I love to throw them up on my YouTube channel, just like quick five minute meditations or something like that.

But just go find, you can find them for free. over the internet, right? There's so

Tara: Right.

Audrey Rose: nowadays. So just go and do something that's gonna bring you back down and kind of calm your nerves when we let ourselves continue, and I'll, I can talk about this, um, kinda when I go through like the rise method, we can talk in a little bit more detail, maybe I should right now just talk about kind of like the sympathetic versus the parasympathetic response because. When we're in like a fight or flight type response and it keeps building up, the [00:16:00] stress response keeps building up. we don't start to unpack some of that stress response in our body, we're gonna keep going until we get to where I was, where I had to take three months off work and I was forced to take three months off work.

Right. So kind of what happens, I think it would be a perfect time to kind of dive in is what happens in our body is we get into, like this really primal part of our brain when we start to get stressed or when we think that there is like a, a threat happening and it's literally like the caveman part of our brain, like the earliest part of our brain before it developed into everything it, you know, it is now. We sense a threat very similar to what our ancestors did when like, you know, they lived in a cave and there was literally like such a need for food and shelter and like a tiger came out of nowhere, right? You get this big threat and you go into a full blown stress response. And what happens is our nervous system has a couple of different parts and um. For, [00:17:00] you know, I'm not gonna go through all of that, but of the little pathways is called the sympathetic response, and that's where our whole like nervous system kind of goes into fight or flight mode, which we hear about often. you know, muscles need more blood so that it can run away from the tiger. So it pulls blood away from our digestive system. We get, you know, more like oxygen needed to our lungs, right? We literally, even our eyes like change so that we can just focus on the threat that's ahead and we have this whole entire stress response. Our body completely changes and that's the sympathetic, I like to call it like the gas pedal.

It's literally like we're just full on in gas pedal mode, like we are trying to race outta there, get going. What happens is that's when we release all of those stress hormones, the cortisol, all of that kinda stuff, right? And we just get so hyped up and amped up and if we live in that state for too long, we start to get used to living from there.

We, we have less time where we [00:18:00] come into the opposite state, which is like the parasympathetic state where we do relax and you know, we have our digestion and we're just kind of able to chill. And so when we stay in the sympathetic and we're there too often, we start to get really used to that. Our body kind of craves that stress.

We start to just stick to that. We want to. Let our bodies have a stress response when it really needs to, when there really is a threat. Maybe you have a big deadline coming up, you want some stress. Maybe you, you know, something almost happens, right? And you run and you like fix the thing or you know, whatever. we also need to be able to come into that parasympathetic response. And I like to say that that's kind of like the breaks. your car, right? you go on a nice like scenic drive, you wanna have like a little gas and a little brake, and that's how we really wanna live our lives not fully in one or the other all the time. There's just kind of a time for both. So guess that's like the easiest way to describe is like the karth situation. So we kind of do a little bit [00:19:00] of, of each one. And you wanna live life, so like when you're in that stress response, a lot of times nowadays we think that everything is a stress response because we just get so overwhelmed. There's so much happening. There's constant notifications on our phone. It's our boss is like coming in. Like my boss the other day came in and like interrupted me while I was like. Work, like at work, like working at the mo, you know, bedside like with a patient and I was like, this is not the place for you to talk to me. But like we see all these things happen, right? And we get interrupted and our body just thinks it's a threat even if it's not. And so we go into that whole response with the gas. And so we really just want to come in with some tools in the moment when, when you can, and bring us back until like give pump the brakes, basically come back into that kind of parasympathetic response to, to calm down.

Tara: What I appreciate and, and I think what I can relate to really well is the normalization of, of [00:20:00] being in that. Just constant chronic stress. And that's where, you know, trying to make and help folks understand, like the distinguished pieces between stress is not inherently bad. Like it, it exists in our bodies for a reason.

It's when. It becomes this normal state in your body that that's where the concerning factor kind of comes into play, at least in, in my work. Like, you know, when you're trying to distinguish between regular work stress and then what makes it burnout? Well, burnout is when you don't go back into that parasympathetic like ever,

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: you're just in that chronic state of.

Stress at work and to the point where it's not managed well and you haven't figured out those methods or systems to be able to bring it back down to equilibrium. I, I really appreciate that gas pedal break kind of [00:21:00] analogy too. 'cause if you think about it as well, there's a way to. Slam on the gas or gently touch the gas, there's a way to slam on the brakes or slowly come to a stop.

And that's really recognizing when you're kind of putting the pedal to the metal versus when you're slowly either letting up the gas and slowly putting on the brake because those transition points too can cause a lot of stress for us. Um. And, and I also really thought of, and this may be a weird analogy, but you know, we, we hear the, like, the parable of the story.

I don't know of the boy who cried wolf. Right. And I, I think about when we're in this constant state of stress and we're constantly saying, I'm overwhelmed, I'm stressed, I'm whatever, we no longer have the ability to really identify.

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: stressors and dangers,

Audrey Rose: Absolutely.

Tara: that to me is like the [00:22:00] concerning factor there when you start to normalize the stress, especially I think like in the workplace, when I start to see people essentially gaslighting themselves or justifying the environments that they're in, where I'm like, no, it's like a toxic, dangerous place for you to be in, but you have just been in this constant state of fight or flight that you don't even realize that you need to be.

Leaving, like getting out.

Audrey Rose: I love that.

Tara: Let's get into a little bit more of the rise method. Um, 'cause I know obviously you talked through some of it, but I really love for you to walk more deeply through those four parts. Um, and even a little bit more about how someone can like tangibly use this method during either a stressful workday or a tough emotional moment.

'cause I know for me, I emote quite often through my eyeballs, even if it's. Really just any extreme emotion. It's happy, sad, joyful, [00:23:00] whatever. Tears are gonna come outta my, my eyeballs. So walk us through this and maybe some, some like tangible practices for us.

Audrey Rose: totally. Um, so the first part is really recognizing it so we know, like I wanted to give you that backstory of the gas and the brakes earlier, or kind of like, you know, the science of that so that you kind of know what's happening in your body, but recognizing that you are in a stress response, recognizing that you are like hitting the gas, the pedals, like to the metal, like whatever, right? And whatever those signs are for you, because for everybody they might be a little bit different, but start to notice what's happening to you that that shows that you're in a stress response. For me, there is a lot of snapping involved. Like my husband knows she's not okay. a lot of me being really short and snippy with him, especially. Also for me personally, there's a lot of isolation. When I'm really stressed, I notice myself just kind of [00:24:00] like, you know, just not texting people back, not calling people back. I don't want to be social. So paying attention to what those signs are for you, that you know, Hey, I'm getting a little stressed.

You might even just be breathing a little bit quicker. Um, you know, not wanting to talk to people, snapping at people. A lot of those things start to come up. And the second part that I is to interrupt it. So I want you to like notice that this is happening. You know, I'm about to chew my boss's head off, whatever I'm snapping it like, like when I was lead nurse back then, when I was really stressed, I would snap sometimes at some of the nurses, which is not cool and not nice.

I would be really, really, really just overwhelmed. So. Before we hit that point, you know, you feel it coming up. We need to interrupt that response. We are stressed out, we're frustrated, we're overwhelmed, whatever. So pause. you're in a place that you can walk away, please do. If you are in the middle of answering a bunch of emails, just close that tab or like [00:25:00] minimize the tab, right. You know, if you're gonna yell at your husband, walk away. can have a little code word. Even I think that's something that I need to implement, but like, I'll just tell my husband, you know, literally, I'll just tell him like I'm super overwhelmed. I love you so much. Give me a minute and just take that minute. Take a pause. I, you know, put myself in timeout. Like, I'll literally go sit in my room or, you know, if I'm at

Tara: I do the same.

Audrey Rose: so good. Or like, like I was saying earlier, like, if I'm at work, I'll go to the bathroom. Right. get yourself away from the environment. And then the third part is to do some kind of somatic regulation.

So there are multiple stress reducing techniques like you can, like there's so many people are talking about so many things. just want. You to keep it simple if you can, like I said, like a quick box breathing. Literally it's like the four count breath in, four count, breath hold, four out, and then four holding it out so it creates a box [00:26:00] that's like the simple, you know, one that everybody kind of does. can go, um, I have all my sound bowls behind me, so sometimes I will like do a sound bath for myself. You can go online, right? Or anywhere you can find a sound bath. You can find a quick meditation, like I was saying earlier, a lot of people do different kind of tapping. Like if you know, um, EFT tapping like a simple EFT, um, emotional freedom technique, tapping. Or even just tapping, like if you can cross your arms and just tap bilaterally on your shoulders or even your thighs or something, just something to kind of signal your body that you're okay. The vagus nerve is one of the biggest nerves in our body. It's huge. I've literally like been so like blessed to like learn about these things, um, and see this like in anatomy, which is so cool. And. This nerve can actually bring in the signals from our environment to our brain. So this is a really easy way to like do a lot of [00:27:00] people talk about vagus nerve because it's going to bring a. The, the cues from our environment back into our brain to let us know that we are safe. So, you know, you've sensed the threat, you're having a stress response, and we want to, you know, interrupt it.

And then when we do that somatic regulation, do something that's going to be either like tapping works, um, but breath work works really, really fast to tell that vagus nerve that you're safe. It's just gonna carry that signal back to your brain to kind of override that response. That's what we really wanna do.

That's our goal here, is to let our body know that like this response was amazing. Like, thank you body, like you're doing all the right things, but I don't need this response right now. I'm not truly running away from a tiger. I'm not truly like starving, you know, threatened by having no shelter or no food or something like that.

Like just because my boss emailed me, this isn't a massive stress response that I need to have right now. So breath work is really, really, really quick. That's why the box breathing is one of my favorites, even though [00:28:00] it's really simple, is it's literally going to activate the vagus nerve. It's going to change the way your diaphragm is breathing right now is, you know, moving so it can rub on the vagus nerve and actually.

Give you that response really quickly. And again, the EFT tapping is great. Um, I also love sound healing. It like vibrates ourselves. It like vibrates everything on a cellular level, so it kind of just carries these signals and there's so much science behind how all of this stuff works. But I think that's like the important thing to know is that with somatic healing, these are like scientifically, scientifically proven, even though they're very like woo woo.

Kind of tools where you're just like, oh, I'm gonna sit in a bathroom and like tap on my face for a while. But like EFT tapping is proven to reduce cortisol levels by 43% in an hour and an hour's a long time. We're not gonna lock ourselves in the bathroom for an hour, but just imagine like even five minutes is going to reduce those levels. Bring us back down, let us breathe again, and then we can go back out, you know, to whatever task we need to go back to [00:29:00] from a different state of mind. And so the fourth step, the e. Is embody and that's where it's like we come back, a calmer person, we're a little bit more regulated and I want to like stay in that a little bit more often. more often that we go through these steps and then embody that personality, like that version of us who's. Got a little bit more capacity to get stressed out, but come back down and chill, but allow stress to, to come and have that stress response that's gonna create the neuroplasticity to where we're going to have, you know, the ability to come back down into that calmer person more often.

We're gonna go through the stress response and our brain's going to remember that it's okay. We don't need to be this stressed out, and it's gonna happen more often. So. Just really building that, that neuroplasticity or that new pathway. the more often we do that, the more we get to embody that version of ourselves who's able to kind of, you know, handle stress a little bit differently.

Tara: [00:30:00] Mm-hmm. Yeah. I. I was thinking too, that was an interesting stat with

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: the, the tapping and how much of a drastic difference that can really make. And like you said, sure, we're not gonna lock ourselves in the bathroom and do it for an hour. But if you think about also with that embodiment as you're building these small five minute increments, they're going to compound on one another and be able to like.

Kind of have that line of defense where it becomes like the natural response for your body. Whereas right now, like most of our natural responses is like, what's going on? Like, I don't know what to do. We wanna the, I we wanna interrupt that. It's a, it's all about this pattern interruption too, and I really, I think that that's where, that's the hard part is that, that stepping away the.

Putting ourselves in timeout. Um, I [00:31:00] can relate to so much what you were saying. I too am a snapper. So if, that's usually my sign that I'm like stressed. If I start snapping at my husband or even the dogs, like if I start just getting really agitated at things that like

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: they're dogs, leave them alone. Like, then I know something's not right here.

I'm at, I'm off balance a little bit. So. I'm, I'm really in intrigued too. 'cause once someone does start to embody this and really kind of embrace this newer version of themselves, that's a little, not stress free, but more, I always say like, burnout resistant. So stress resistant. When folks do start doing this work more often, you know, especially I think.

As a woman, speaking as a woman, we often wanna know like, how will I know this is working? Like if I give this a shot, how am I gonna know [00:32:00] that this is doing what it's supposed to be doing? What are some of the subtle signs that your nervous system is actually healing? Not just that maybe you're coping better, but that you're actually managing

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: what you need to be managing and that you're regulated a little bit more.

Audrey Rose: Yeah, I think some of the, the biggest thing, you know, the biggest things are really gonna be the awareness and the capacity changes. So you are going to notice a lot quicker that you are in a stressed. State, you're gonna have so much like that heightened awareness of, whoa, that is stressing me out. And I think that the big thing that that does is allow us to start to do the deeper work of like setting boundaries or why is this my pattern?

Or all that kind of stuff. want to be able to, you know, notice like this is going to set me over the edge. Maybe, you know, our significant other asked us to do something else on our list or whatever. And so instead of just snapping at them and yelling like, I [00:33:00] can't, you know, handle that, to like take a step back, respond a little bit more calmly and kind of set a boundary of, you know, hold on, that's gonna be a little too much for me right now.

I don't think I can commit to that, but you know, whatever. Whatever you wanna say to end that. And then another thing is going to be us just. a little bit more capacity. So noticing that you are not getting as stressed out as you used to, right? Like there may be a little bit, you know, uh, I guess the same amount of tasks on your plate. You notice that when you start the day and you're looking at, you know, your calendar for the day, your schedule for the day, you're not like overwhelmed and hating your life right away. You wake up feeling a lot more like in control. You know what, this is just, this is literally just the fact that I need to email this person back, or, Hey, this is just a phone call I need to make today.

It's not the end of the world because it doesn't set us into that full blown stress response because we have built more of that, like vagal tone or we've. [00:34:00] But more of that, that capacity, the gas and the brakes, their little, they're doing their little dance. so you'll notice just a lot of these changes of like, whoa, I, I handled that, you know, I'm less reactive.

I handled that a lot differently than the old me would've. The old me. Would've been, you know, an hour deep into a fight with her husband by now. But today I was able to just kind of, you know, put myself on time out for a minute and then respond kindly. you'll notice these changes. And it just truly, to me, that, you know, like the ultimate goal is just a happier life.

That's like what I always think. And so it really can lead us into just not a, not a toxic positivity state or like a state of bliss at all times, but a more content and peaceful life. And I think that's really the goal.

Tara: Yeah, and I, I can see the connection to the recognizing piece of the rise method because the more you're tracking. [00:35:00] Both the struggles and the negative kind of responses, the more you can also start to recognize when those aren't happening. And, and that's what like a lot of times I work with folks on energy mapping because I wanna see the trends of how your energy changes and like for certain triggers, like if you, if you notice like checking your inbox is something that you dread and that eats up a lot of your energy.

When we start to implement some of the strategies that I work with folks on, are we noticing that that changes and shifts? Because that's data that can really help inform you on what's working and what's not working, which I think is important. Gonna to your point of like, try all these different methods, see what's gonna stick for you.

'cause it's not gonna be. Everything's not gonna work for everybody and you need to really find, I'd say at least like two or three of your like core practices that are really gonna [00:36:00] be what works for you. And they can be simple, they can be a little bit more complicated, but knowing where the difference has changed, kind of where that delta is, if you're talking like in the research kind of concept, is really, really interesting.

And you can kind of see how that rise method. Almost ccu like circles amongst itself. Like it's a, a constant cycle with the embodiment feeding back into the recognition piece and so on and so forth.

Audrey Rose: and just remembering that like, I think it's such a simple acronym to hopefully remember like it as long as you can just remember it right in the moment. Like, hold on, uh oh, this is happening. Okay, rise. And then

Tara: Mm-hmm.

Audrey Rose: through it, you know?

Tara: Yeah, and that helps with that. Pausing for a second with, in that pattern interruption too.

Audrey Rose: Totally.

Tara: I even say too, um, one of the best tips that I got from my therapist, because like I said, I emote through my eyeballs and,

Audrey Rose: [00:37:00] Right.

Tara: um, uh, back in 2018, my dad passed away when I was at work. Those months afterwards, like I, I was having I even more obviously like emotional responses to everything and I was talking to her and I was like, listen, I just wanna stop crying at work.

Like, I don't see a fault in crying at work. It's just right now, like it's a little excessive here. So can, what can I do? Um, and a few of her tips, one of them was she's like, sip cold water through a straw because that. Whatever science is there, does something in your brain that puts you kind of in the present moment.

Um, and then another thing too that she had me do, which is something that I still use to this day, is like if you're able and have the like space and ability to stand on one leg, because

Audrey Rose: that's

Tara: your focus goes to

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: You can literally no longer [00:38:00] cry while doing that. I've tried it. It really works. Like I have literally tried to cry through while balancing and I can't do it.

So

Audrey Rose: good.

Tara: don't know what the voodoo magic is there, but that's a tip that is pretty easy and allows you to quickly pause and just kind of reset for a minute. Um,

Audrey Rose: I

Tara: and so I really appreciated that.

Audrey Rose: like, there's like a vagus nerve link there, which, so

Tara: Yeah.

Audrey Rose: it, but yeah. That's really cool.

Tara: I, I figured as much after you were talking about that, I was like, oh, that's probably the cold water situation. Um, and it was very funny 'cause she's like, she was very specific. She's like, it has to be through a straw. 'cause it's also

Audrey Rose: Yeah.

Tara: I guess with the sucking motion and all that. I don't know.

Audrey Rose: My god, this, I could like

Tara: Wild.

Audrey Rose: so much right now. Will we do

Tara: I dunno.

Audrey Rose: Yeah. I'm like, I won't, don't wanna get into it. I don't want people to take any medical advice, but there's a certain, uh, thing that can happen with your heart that we would do that with people.

Literally, clinically. We would just like give 'em a straw and be like, okay, try to suck as hard as you can, you know, or blow out. So, um. Yeah, it just activates

Tara: [00:39:00] Yeah.

Audrey Rose: But that vagus nerve brings us back to that parasympathetic response, and it just so

Tara: Mm-hmm.

Audrey Rose: override that stress. So

Tara: Mm-hmm.

Audrey Rose: worked for you.

It's so good.

Tara: Yeah. Yeah. And I even use it sometimes, like in the middle of the night when I'm like, mind racing. I will do that too. Or I'll get, I'll stand up out of bed and stand on one leg just to kind of like. Stop thinking about that. Um, so,

Audrey Rose: good.

Tara: well, I, I know I'm looking at the time here, so I, I wanna get to my last question, um, before we wrap up.

And that question is just how do you define being a balanced badass in your own life? Because this podcast is really all about balanced living with badass results. And I like to hear everyone's different perspective on what being a balanced badass is like.

Audrey Rose: I feel like this might get a controversial response. 'cause some of the, you know, all the yogis and the gurus are gonna be like, you shouldn't say that, but honestly, like. Do it all. [00:40:00] Like go do like I like, let's go freaking conquer the world. Like to me, that is so badass to be like a woman. I'm like, I always speak to women, but you know, a woman, a man, like who, whoever you are, just go be a human. That is doing everything that you wanna do and like living your best freaking life, but like, not to the point that it's stressing you out and, you know, making you just, uh, suffer in any way. But I want you to go, like, do all the things, like live your best freaking life and hopefully, you know, by incorporating some, you know, stress reduction techniques and things like that, you have the capacity to go do it all.

Tara: I love it. What a great way to end too. Like just go freaking do it all. Um, live your best life. Love it. Well, thank you so much. I could literally talk to you all day. So I really do appreciate you for sharing your insights and and all that. And for anyone who's listening that might want to dig more into your [00:41:00] work and connect with you, what's the best place for them to start learning from your experiences or even work with you firsthand?

Audrey Rose: Yeah. Oh, I have two things I wanna share with you guys. So, of course, Instagram, like, Instagram's the place, you know, hello Audrey Rose. You can find, that's just where I share everything. Um, but I would love to share with you guys like a free little bundle of my three favorite tools. So if you go to hello Audrey rose.com/happiness, and then use Code badass, you'll get like the free, um, it's my free little, it's like a little bundle. And it's just a little duo of my favorite tools, uh, tapping sound healing in a little breathwork session, so they're a little longer than something you could do locked in a bathroom, but definitely a perfect way to like end your night or start your day with a little bit of that, like, you know, the breaks.

Tara: Awesome. Well thank you so much for that gift. I will be signing up, that's for sure. Um, [00:42:00] really appreciate that. And, and folks, I'll be sure to link those in the show notes. And, um, I really encourage anyone listening to give Audrey Rose a follow. She really shares a lot of great stuff and just start exploring her resources because.

You deserve to feel calm, to feel clear, and to feel connected without losing your edge, with being able to be that badass that you are. And if you took something away from today's episode, I hope that you would send this to a friend who's maybe been running on empty who could use a little bit of this encouragement and reminder that it's okay to put.

Themselves first. Sometimes the most supportive thing that we can do is to remind someone that they're not broken, they're just overdue for a little self-love. So thank you again, Audrey Rose. Really appreciated it. And um, I guess just take care friend.

Audrey Rose: Yes, you.