The tiny tool that transformed my whole nervous system.
I spent decades searching for a big, fancy solution to my chronic illness. Then I discovered something ridiculously simple: pressing play and receiving tiny, fundamental experiences of safety.
Buckle your tiny little seatbelt. I’m about to share the simplest, most easeful tool I ever found for healing my heart, brain, and body. After 17+ years of significant chronic illness, chronic stress, unhealthy relationships, depression, anxiety, and so many more “conditions”, I am almost embarrassed by how simple the most helpful tool is.
How I found this tiny tool
For years (decades, actually) I’d been trying to figure out the most complex solution to my complicated collection of symptoms, which had layers of devastation and hopelessness woven within them. After so many years of working my ass off to figure it all out, I finally gave up.
I didn’t give up hope, though.
I gave up control.
I gave up the old, deep pattern of grinding myself to the bone.
I stopped researching and analyzing…and
I started feeling my body more.
I stopped making complex lists and plans…and
I started listening to what I truly needed moment-to-moment.
I stopped trying to find the next answer out there…and
I started asking my deeper self what was true for me.
I stopped rushing…and
I started moving slowly like a sloth sometimes (which cracked me up, so I kept doing it).
I stopped focusing on what I had missed out on…and
I started creating little internal experiences that felt like precious gifts.
I stopped wishing someone would come along and save me…and
I started tending to myself with gentle care.
I stopped trying to take big momentous steps.
And I started making myself tiny little audio recordings like these, to give myself small doses of the love, peace, joy, and permission I had been craving all my life.
As I kept listening to my recordings, I began to feel- for the first time ever- permission to be exactly as I was, in that moment. I began to feel a sense of relaxed hope.
Because the more I helped myself feel held, loved, safe and secure, the more my entire body-mind shifted from hyper-vigilance and reactivity to deep peace and authentic joy.
Not long after this simple new approach, I began to see see changes in my health. My symptoms started softening, and then dissolving, on their own. Without any specific “work” on my part. Remember, I had given up trying to manage and control my symptoms. Instead I was almost completely focused on meeting my deepest inner needs.
I had been getting sicker and sicker.
These guided nourishing experiences were born out of a deep, dark dip in my physical health and my mental state. I was barely functional. I was profoundly exhausted from the years of trying to fix myself. Even though I was working hard to find the answers, I could tell that my efforts were falling flat. I just kept getting sicker.
One day, as I surrendered my attempts to manage my symptoms, I started asking myself over and over: “What do I really need right now, what is my system yearning for, begging to experience, deep down?” Eventually a tiny little answer would bubble to the surface. Usually it was something super basic, like “I just need to feel held”. When I had a feel for my most fundamental unmet need, I would create a little recording, pretending to give myself exactly what I needed.
I could feel my nervous system settling.
I would listen to the same recording of myself over and over, for weeks, until the frequencies of that kind of care had actually started to sink in.
It’s hard to explain, but it felt like a deep, foundational layer of relief. When I felt like that particular kind of need had been fulfilled, I’d repeat the process. I would ask myself “What do I really need right now, what is my system yearning for, begging to experience?” And again I would just be very quiet, very still, and just listen.
Eventually, I’d get a glimmer of an answer. It might be something like: “I need to know that I am welcomed and loved.” I’d take out my phone and make a new recording that would help me experience this next core needed experience.
I’d listen to that recording for days or weeks. When I felt sort of “full” of that kind of nourishment, I’d ask again and make another recording. After six months or so, I had a beautiful little collection of loving guided experiences, all stacked neatly in my Dropbox folder. Every morning, every night before bed, and whenever I felt stressed, I’d open up my folder and pick which kind of nourishing experience my system was craving.
After a while, I noticed that I began to spontaneously feel these frequencies in my body, as I was going about my day. I had been guided through these nourishing experiences so many times that my brain and body now had pathways to follow, new thoughts and feelings that started to feel familiar.
My meditation library kept growing organically
Eventually, I started making new recordings for fun. Not because I couldn’t survive without listening to them, but because I wanted to expand my capacity to receive even further. My little audios became a source of great expansion and delight.
When I started working as a mentor in the Primal Trust Academy and Community (where people come to heal from chronic stress & chronic illness), I shared a few of my audio experiences with clients. People loved them. So I started creating little recordings during group classes or 1:1 mentoring sessions.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve received so much gratitude for these recordings from students and clients. I’ve heard people say it was the most effective tool they’ve used. This sort of shocked me, but it’s how I felt too!
So I’m beginning to make recordings to share with you. I’ve set up a little shop on my website, and I am looking forward to filling it with nourishing experiences!
The first meditation is ready for you now. It’s called: “Permission to Thrive”.
What if every cell in your body could feel completely at ease and fully alive, right here in this moment?
“Permission to Thrive” is an invitation to …
~ relax the grip.
~ soften your breath.
~ remember what you already know.
As you listen, you may begin to sense:
the quiet steadiness of peace
the natural rising of joy
the restoring rhythm of vibrant health
With soft dreamy music in the background, this experience offers a soothing presence to help your whole system settle and receive. It’s a space where your body can breathe again, and where joy and peace begin to feel safe. Where you receive permission and guidance to return to your natural state.
No effort required.
Simply listen and allow.
Who this is for
If you live with anxiety, depression, chronic stress, or illness, your nervous system may feel like it’s always “on.”
Always braced.
Always waiting for the next thing to go wrong.
This guided practice was made for you.
Because your body deserves relief.
Your heart deserves abundant joy.
And you deserve peace. Not just someday, but today.
This meditation is here to be a refuge. A way to give yourself full, loving permission to slow down and just be. To reorient your system toward the experiences that are your birthright: peace, joy, and vibrant health (even if those feel far away right now).
What you’ll feel inside this meditation
This isn’t about fixing yourself.
It’s about being with your true self in a new, deeply compassionate way.
Inside the “Permission to Thrive” meditation, Candace gently guides your body, mind, and nervous system through a series of sensations and suggestions that invite:
Safety: signals to your whole body that it’s safe to be here
Softness: a physical and emotional unwinding from tension
Letting go: of control, old habits, or misaligned pressure
Joy: a smile for no reason, a moment of delight in being alive
Cellular ease: a felt sense of peace at the deepest level
Vibrant health: as the natural result of restoring peace and joy
You’ll remember that you deserve to feel good.
That your body knows how to return to center.
And that peace, joy, and vitality aren’t indulgences; they are your home.
How to use this meditation
This is a resource to weave into your everyday life.
You can use it to set the tone of your mornings.
For winding down in the evening.
Or anytime your body feels like it’s forgetting.
Length: 14 minutes
Listen: Once or twice daily for the first week, then as often as you like
Instructions: There’s nothing to do. Just listen. Be still. Receive the nourishment your system has been craving. Return often, to help your system become familiar with the sensations of thriving.
Delivery: Download instantly after purchase. This MP3 file is yours to keep forever, and listen to on any device. You may want to save it to a special folder where you can create a collection of audio experiences that support your well-being.
Your permission slip is waiting
If you’ve been waiting for someone to tell you:
It’s okay to feel good,
It’s time to enjoy being alive,
It’s safe to let your nervous system exhale,
It’s your birthright to thrive …
This is that moment.
This easeful, nourishing audio experience is 14 minutes long, and it’s meant to lay a deep foundation in your body and mind. It will remind you that you deserve to enjoy your life, and it will guide you toward peace and joy right here, right now, in this moment.
I hope you enjoy the embodied experience of listening, and I hope you’ll come back for more when you’re ready. I’ll be creating more meditations soon, and my goal is to support you in the most delightful and accessible ways I know how.
Sending you so much love across space and time.
