but to become more deeply connected to yourself?

In this first guest conversation on Designed to Thrive with Dr. Brooke, I’m joined by my mentor and dear friend, Dr. Mel Krug—creator of the INSPIRE Method.

Dr. Mel is a chiropractor, somatic practitioner, and transformational facilitator whose work bridges nervous system science, emotional healing, identity work, and embodied living. She helps women move beyond simply understanding their patterns intellectually and create lasting change that is felt within the body.

In this episode, we explore what it means to build a Million Dollar Nervous System—not just to create success or financial abundance, but to develop the capacity to hold more peace, courage, fulfillment, connection, and impact.

Together, we discuss why so many women can look successful on the outside while feeling exhausted, disconnected, or unfulfilled on the inside.

We explore:

✨ Why knowing your next step isn't always enough to take action
✨ How your nervous system influences confidence, decisions, and growth
✨ The intersection of business strategy and biological alignment
✨ Why women are being called back into their bodies and feminine wisdom
✨ How cultural conditioning impacts our relationship with success, self-worth, and our bodies
✨ The importance of discovering your own life design
✨ Why courage isn't the absence of fear—it is learning to move with fear
✨ What it means to cultivate a Million Dollar Nervous System
✨ Why true wealth includes time, relationships, purpose, and legacy

One of my favorite moments in this conversation is when Dr. Mel shares:

“Most people know their next step. It's just their body has so much fear and density.”

This conversation is a reminder that transformation is not about fixing yourself or becoming someone new.

It is about remembering who you are.

And when we do that work within ourselves, we don't just change our own lives—we create a ripple effect for generations to come.

If you've ever felt like you know what you want, but something inside you keeps holding you back, this episode is for you.

Connect with Dr. Mel Krug

Follow Dr. Mel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.melkrug/

Learn more about the Million Dollar Nervous System experience: https://drmelkrug.com/million-dollar-nervous-system

Key Takeaways

• Your nervous system is the bridge between knowing what to do and actually taking action.
• Transformation happens when strategy aligns with biology.
• Many women are successful on paper but disconnected from themselves.
• Healing begins by questioning inherited beliefs and patterns.
• Embodiment helps us move through fear with courage and resilience.
• A Million Dollar Nervous System is about capacity—not perfection.
• True wealth includes time, relationships, purpose, and fulfillment.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
02:54 The INSPIRE Method: Bridging Business and Biology
05:59 The Importance of Embodiment for Women
08:54 Cultural Conditioning and Feminine Energy
11:49 Understanding Mother and Father Wounds
20:53 The Mind-Body Connection
24:52 Facing Fear and Taking Action
28:25 The Million Dollar Nervous System
34:00 Qualities of a Million Dollar Nervous System
40:30 Cultivating Your Million Dollar Nervous System Experience

In this episode, Dr. Brooke shares two powerful lessons from her own healing journey through a thyroid cancer diagnosis. She unpacks why "normal" labs don't always mean optimal health, what most doctors miss when testing thyroid function, and how she discovered an entirely different way to assess what's happening in the body — through frequency and bioenergy testing.

Dr. Brooke dives into the science (and soul) of frequency: how everything in the universe carries a vibration, how our emotions and words shape our cellular health, and why tuning into your body's signals matters more than chasing "normal" results.

✨ You'll learn:

• The thyroid lab most doctors skip — and why it matters
• Why "normal" labs may not be normal for you
• How bioenergy/frequency testing offers a different lens on health
• The fascinating link between emotions, words, and the water in our bodies

🌊 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Power vs. Force by Dr. David R. Hawkins — https://www.hayhouse.com/power-vs-force-paperback
• Transcending the Levels of Consciousness by Dr. David R. Hawkins — https://www.hayhouse.com (search title) or https://www.amazon.com/Transcending-Levels-Consciousness-Stairway-Enlightenment/dp/1401945058
• Map of Consciousness® chart — https://veritaspub.com/map-of-consciousness/
• The Hidden Messages in Water by Dr. Masaru Emoto — https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Hidden-Messages-in-Water/Masaru-Emoto/Masaru-Emoto-Legacy-Library/9780743289801

You're not broken. You're becoming. 🌿

#DesignedToThrive #ThriveWithDrBrooke #NervousSystemHealing #PolyvagalTheory #StressResponse #EmbodimentHealing #TraumaHealing

Through the lens of Polyvagal Theory, she breaks down the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses, and why stress is more nuanced than simply “fight or flight.” You’ll learn about the stress defaults of fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and fitting in — and how recognizing your own patterns can create more compassion, self-awareness, and healing.

Dr. Brooke also shares a vulnerable reflection about how understanding the fawn and fit-in responses helped her release shame around a past experience and meet her body with more grace.

This episode is an invitation to understand your body’s protective responses, build more nervous system capacity, and remember that you are designed to thrive.

A gentle note before listening: This episode includes mention of sexual rupture and a non-graphic reference to rape/sexual coercion. Please listen with care and honor what feels supportive for your nervous system.

Chapters

00:00 — Understanding Stress and the Nervous System
Why stress responses are not simply mindset issues, but nervous system patterns.

06:40 — Polyvagal Theory Explained
A simple breakdown of the autonomic nervous system using the gas pedal and brake pedal analogy.

13:48 — Responses to Stress: Fawning and Fitting In
How stress can show up as people-pleasing, blending in, or saying yes when something inside you wants to say no.

17:48 — Healing Through Awareness and Embodiment
How understanding your nervous system defaults can bring compassion, release shame, and support deeper healing.

Key Topics

Polyvagal Theory and stress
The autonomic nervous system
Fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and fit in
Why fawning can look like saying yes when your body is signaling no
Recognizing your default stress patterns
Releasing shame through nervous system understanding
Building capacity to return to safety, neutrality, and ease

Sound Bites

“Stress responses are nuanced and individual.”
“Sometimes we say yes outwardly when something inside of us is saying no.”
“Your nervous system is not betraying you — it is trying to protect you.”
“You are designed to thrive.”

Resource Mentioned

Call of the Wild: How We Heal Trauma, Awaken Our Own Power, and Use It for Good by Kimberly Ann Johnson

Dr. Brooke mentions learning more about Polyvagal Theory and the nervous system through Kimberly Ann Johnson’s work, especially her book Call of the Wild, which explores trauma healing, nervous system resilience, embodiment, sexuality, boundaries, and reclaiming personal power through the wisdom of the body.

Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/Call-Wild-Kimberly-Ann-Johnson/dp/0062970909

Keywords

nervous system, Polyvagal Theory, stress response, fight or flight, freeze response, fawn response, fitting in, embodiment, trauma healing, chiropractic care, women’s healing, Designed to Thrive

Connect with Dr. Brooke

Website:
https://thrivewithdrbrooke.com

Email:
drbrooke@thrivewithdrbrooke.com

After noticing a monthly pattern of anxiety, self-doubt, and the urge to “burn everything to the ground,” Dr. Brooke began to recognize that her body was speaking through a rhythm she had never been taught to truly honor. What started as curiosity led her into a deeper understanding of the menstrual cycle — not just as a biological process, but as a God-designed rhythm filled with wisdom.

Rather than turning cyclical living into another list of rules, this conversation invites women to see each phase of the cycle as an inner season with its own gifts:

• Menstruation as inner winter — a time to rest, reflect, and release.
• The follicular phase as inner spring — a time for renewal, fresh energy, and beginning again.
• Ovulation as inner summer — a time for expression, connection, and allowing yourself to be seen.
• The luteal phase as inner autumn — a time for discernment, truth-telling, completion, and refinement.

Dr. Brooke also speaks to women who are not currently bleeding — whether because of pregnancy, birth control, hysterectomy, perimenopause, menopause, or irregular cycles — reminding them that cyclical wisdom is still available and deeply valuable.

This episode is an invitation to stop overriding your body and begin honoring the wisdom woven into your design.

You are not meant to live in one energy all month long.
You are designed to live in rhythm.
You are designed to thrive.

In This Episode

Dr. Brooke shares:

• The monthly pattern that first helped her recognize her cycle’s emotional wisdom
• Why cyclical living is not meant to become another checklist
• How the menstrual cycle mirrors the rhythms of nature
• The four inner seasons of the cycle
• How to honor your body whether you currently bleed or not
• Why the luteal phase may be one of the most misunderstood gifts of the cycle
• How each cycle can become an upward spiral of growth, release, renewal, and deeper self-trust

Recommended Books for Exploring Cyclical Living

If this episode sparked your curiosity and you want to learn more about cyclical living, menstrual cycle wisdom, and honoring your body’s rhythms, here are a few books I recommend exploring:

• Do Less by Kate Northrup
• In the FLO by Alisa Vitti
• Wild Power by Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer
• Period Repair Manual by Lara Briden
• Period Power by Maisie Hill
• Code Red by Lisa Lister

If this conversation stirred something in you and you’d love to learn more about honoring your body’s cyclical design, stay connected. Dr. Brooke will be sharing more soon about an upcoming masterclass on cyclical living and the wisdom of your body’s natural rhythms.

And if this episode spoke to you, share it with a woman in your life who needs the reminder that her body is not something to override — it is something to listen to.

In this episode of Designed to Thrive with Dr. Brooke, Dr. Brooke continues sharing lessons from her thyroid cancer healing journey and opens a deeper conversation around perception, emotional healing, and nervous system transformation. Through personal stories of divorce, resentment, faith, motherhood, and healing after cancer, she explores the powerful idea that every life experience has two sides: benefits and drawbacks, pain and purpose, challenge and growth.

Dr. Brooke shares how learning to see both sides of painful experiences helped her release stored emotions like guilt, shame, and resentment — and how that emotional shift created a profound change not only in her mind, but also in her body.

This episode is an invitation to look at your own life with new eyes. Not to bypass the hard things. Not to pretend pain didn’t happen. But to begin asking: Where did this shape me? Where did it strengthen me? Where did it bring me closer to who I am today?

Because healing is not always about fixing what happened.

Sometimes, it’s about finding the place inside you where the story finally softens.

You’re not broken. You’re becoming. And you are Designed to Thrive!

In this episode of Designed to Thrive with Dr. Brooke, Dr. Brooke continues her series on the lessons she learned through her thyroid cancer healing journey. She shares how her own search for “the reason” opened the door to a deeper understanding of the body, the nervous system, and the many layers that can contribute to dysfunction.

Through the lens of chiropractic and nervous system health, Dr. Brooke explores the three T’s — thoughts, traumas, and toxins — and how mental, emotional, physical, and chemical stress can all shape the way the body expresses health or imbalance.

This conversation is an invitation to move beyond blame, fear, or endless searching for one single root cause, and instead begin asking: What next? What is my body trying to show me? How can this become a catalyst for who I’m meant to become?

Your body isn’t broken. It may be speaking. And healing begins when we learn how to listen.

In this episode of Designed to Thrive with Dr. Brooke, we’re talking about the powerful reminder that done is better than perfect — and why taking messy, imperfect action is often the very thing that creates clarity, confidence, and momentum.

Dr. Brooke shares how this lesson has shaped her own life, from growing up with perfectionistic tendencies to launching this podcast and learning to take action before everything feels polished or fully figured out. Through personal stories, nervous system insight, and faith-based reflection, she explores how perfectionism can show up as procrastination, over-preparation, self-doubt, comparison, and even the need to please or fit in.

This episode is an invitation to stop waiting for the perfect time, the perfect words, the perfect plan, or the perfect version of yourself before you begin.

Because the first version was never meant to be the final version.

And when we choose progress over perfection, we give life room to move.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Why perfectionism can delay growth, obedience, and opportunity
• How the nervous system can default into fawning, fitting in, or people-pleasing
• The difference between excellence and perfectionism
• Why messy action builds confidence through repetition
• How faith, motherhood, business, and personal growth all require us to let life be messy
• What we model for our daughters when we release the need to perform perfectly

If you’ve been waiting until you feel more ready, more clear, more confident, or more prepared… this episode is your gentle nudge to begin.

Start before you’re ready.
Let it be messy.
Choose progress over the pressure to be perfect.

Because you don’t have to do it flawlessly to be faithful to the next step.

You are designed to thrive.

Through a personal reflection on childhood experiences, the power of using her voice, and a concept she learned from her mentor Dr. Alok Trivedi — “your voids drive your values” — Dr. Brooke explores how the experiences that shape us can also reveal our mission, purpose, and path forward.

This conversation invites you to look at your own life with curiosity and compassion. What moments shaped your values? What experiences influenced the work you feel called to do? And what if the very places that once felt like wounds are also connected to the wisdom you’re here to share?

Rooted in nervous system healing, embodied living, faith, and God-designed rhythms, this episode is an invitation to reflect on your story, reconnect with your purpose, and remember: you are designed to thrive.

I also reflect on the power of language and how the words we use can shape the way we experience our health, our struggles, and ourselves. This conversation explores what it means to trust the wisdom of the body, to hold space for both truth and uncertainty, and to stay open to healing even when it doesn’t look the way we expected.

As I recorded this during a meaningful anniversary week, I also share how a recent experience at the Vortex Experience with my mentor, Dr. Mel Krug, brought many of these lessons full circle. From stretching my edges to reflecting on how much growth can happen in safe, supportive spaces, this episode is both a personal reflection and an invitation.

If you’ve ever faced a hard diagnosis, questioned your body, or found yourself in a season of stretching and becoming, I hope this episode reminds you that healing is not always linear, but transformation is possible.

You are not broken. You are becoming.

After my diagnosis in 2014, I began walking a very unconventional healing path. Along the way, I learned that healing is deeply personal, that not everyone will understand the choices you make, and that taking care of yourself is not selfish — it is necessary.

In this episode, I talk about:

• why there is no one “right” way to heal
• how to trust the path that feels aligned for you
• what it looks like to care for yourself in the middle of motherhood, marriage, and responsibility
• why some seasons require you to put your healing first
• how to stay focused on healing without missing your life in the process

I also share a few personal stories from that time in my life, including the tension of making choices others didn’t understand, the guilt that can come with prioritizing your own wellbeing, and the moment I realized healing should support life — not completely pull you out of it.

Whether you’re navigating your own healing journey or supporting someone you love, this episode is a reminder that you are allowed to listen inward, honor your body, and trust that aligned healing may look different than expected.

You are not broken. You were designed to thrive.

In this conversation, I share two powerful lessons: the importance of taking an honest look in the mirror when your body is signaling that something is off, and the truth that you are not a victim of your genes. Through my own story, we explore symptoms as signals, the role of environment in gene expression, and how hard seasons can become invitations to change, heal, and grow.

If you’ve ever faced a health challenge, felt stuck in old patterns, or needed the reminder that you are not broken, this episode is for you. You are becoming — and you are designed to thrive.