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PT Complete

Promoting fitness and wellness for the mind, body, and soul.

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nervous system regulation

Calm Your Nervous System on Demand in 10-15 Minutes

Simple, science-backed tools you can use anytime stress spikes.

A FREE, evidence‑informed workbook with simple tools you can use anytime stress spikes, overwhelm hits, or you need a reset.

You don’t need perfect routines to feel better. Inside, you’ll get quick practices like physiological sighs, 4‑7‑8 breathing, grounding, gentle Vagus nerve stimulation, micro‑movement, and a full‑body scan. This is all designed to help you shift from keyed‑up to steady in minutes. Created by a licensed physical therapist for real life, not more to‑dos. Download it, try one tool today, and feel the difference.

A Guide to Wellness The Nervous System Workbook Freebie

When stress spikes and your body won’t settle, here’s how to calm your system in minutes.

You’re doing everything “right,” but your body still feels wired, tight, and on edge. The tension in your shoulders. The shallow breath. The racing mind when you’re trying to sleep.

It’s not that you’re failing. It’s your nervous system stuck on high alert. This free, science-backed workbook gives you quick, gentle practices you can use in real life moments. At your desk, in the car, before bed…anywhere you need. Use these tools to shift from overwhelmed to steady and calm in 10–15 minutes. No perfect routine required. No pressure to perform. Just small, easy-to-implement tools that work.

hi, i’m Tera

I’m a licensed physical therapist helping women move through chronic pain, stress, and burnout in a sustainable way.

I saw too many people stuck between rehab that only treats injuries and wellness advice that ignores pain science and the nervous system—so I built PT Complete to bridge that gap. My approach blends science‑backed movement, nervous system support, and realistic self‑care so you can rebuild strength, understand your body, and move through life with more confidence.

Get the FREE Workbook Now
tera vaughn physical therapist

Ready to feel the calm?

Grab simple, clinically informed tools you can use when your body won’t settle.

Calm My System in 10-15 Minutes

What You’ll Get

Instant access to:

  • A 10–15 minute calm reset you can use anytime, anywhere
  • Step‑by‑step breath, body, and mind practices to down‑regulate fast
  • Short “in‑the‑moment” resets you can do at your desk, in the car, or before bed
  • A simple check‑in guide so you know what worked, what didn’t, and where you need more support
  • Daily prompts to build consistency without pressure
  • Recommended blog posts, guided videos, and additional resources to bring you to center and help you thrive

You’re not “too sensitive.” Your body is doing its job. Give it 10–15 minutes, and watch calm become your new baseline.

Questions? I have answers!

How do I calm my body fast without disappearing for an hour?

You don’t need a perfect routine. Use the 10–15 minute reset. It stacks simple breath, body, and mind cues so your system downshifts quickly, even at your desk, in the car, or out in public.

What if I’ve tried breathwork and it didn’t work for me?

There are many different types of breathwork. While there are a few variations provided in this workbook, there are many other techniques. One is not better than the other. You simply have to find one that works. Give the variations in this guide a try and if they don’t work, move on to another tool (not breathwork).

I’m overwhelmed—where do I start?

Start with the physiological sign. It takes no more than 5 seconds. Do it a couple of times if you need to. Then, re-establish how you feel. Choose another tool if you need to, or use the journal prompts in the back of the workbook to help guide you to finding exactly what your body needs.

Can this help when my anxiety spikes at work or before bed?

Yes. You’ll get quick “in‑the‑moment” practices for high‑pressure moments and a simple downshift you can run before sleep so your brain stops looping. I’ve even provided a quick nighttime routine where you can pick an option or two and implement it immediately, no thinking required.

Will this make a difference if I’m dealing with chronic pain?

Calming your system reduces underlying tension, which often lowers pain sensitivity. You’ll learn gentle resets that don’t trigger flares and build trust with your body again. If you’re dealing with a chronic pain flare, these are safe go-to resources. While it probably won’t completely get rid of chronic pain, it can provide you with some relief. Think of this as a supplemental resource.

I don’t want another thing to keep up with. Will I actually use this?

The workbook is built for real life. It provides short, repeatable drills and tiny habit prompts so you can see progress without adding pressure. Once you find what works for you, you can easily implement it without constantly needing to refer to the workbook. Find what works, leave the rest.

Calm isn’t a personality trait. It’s a practice. Give me 10–15 minutes and I’ll show you how.

Ready to feel steady in the next 10–15 minutes?

When your system feels safe, everything gets easier — pain, sleep, focus, all of it.
download the FREE Workbook

Follow Along

@teravaughn22

terasandona

Chronic pain coaching for high-achieving women
Licensed DPT • Regulate first, rebuild second, then layer
👇🏻 Free nervous system workbook

Honeymoon photo dump incoming!! 🏝️☀️🌊👙⛱️🍾💍❤️ Honeymoon photo dump incoming!! 🏝️☀️🌊👙⛱️🍾💍❤️
I stood in front of my fridge for an hour. Couldn’ I stood in front of my fridge for an hour. Couldn’t decide, not even sure I was hungry. Just stuck. And one decision felt like the hardest thing I’d been asked to do all day, even though I’d made decisions all day long without a second thought.

I kept wondering what was wrong with me. Turns out, nothing was.

Fight, flight, and freeze are all protective responses your nervous system reaches for under threat. Fight and flight speed you up. They give you the energy to push back or get away. Freeze does the opposite. It shuts things down because there’s nothing left to fight with or run from.

That fridge moment wasn’t a discipline problem. It was my nervous system running out before dinner could be decided and made.

Freeze doesn’t get talked about as much as fight or flight, but it’s just as real and it shows up in the most ordinary places…a kitchen, a closed laptop, a decision that shouldn’t be hard and somehow is.

If you’ve had a night like this, you already know exactly what I’m talking about.

If this sounds familiar, tell me in the comments, or text someone who’d know exactly what I mean.
I reached for the weights I used to lift before my I reached for the weights I used to lift before my brain caught up.

It took half a second in my garage. The half second was the moment I realized I couldn’t even lift the dumbbell. I registered the gap between the body I used to train and the body I have now.

I dialed back down. Instead of the 30s, I picked up the 10s, and I did the work that fits what my system can absorb right now.

Nobody warns you that the rebuilding work has these moments built into it. The half-seconds when your old identity reaches for a load your current capacity can’t carry, and you mistake the disappointment for evidence that you are failing.

Your current body is not a smaller version of the one you used to have. It is a different body, doing real work, on a different scale.

You can train this one.

Tag the woman who’s still reaching for the weight she used to lift. Remind her she’s not alone.
I currently do not squat, lunge, or deadlift. I g I currently do not squat, lunge, or deadlift.

I get why everyone defaults to these movements. They’re efficient, they build strength, and if your body can tolerate them, there’s nothing wrong with having them in a program.

For a long time, I assumed that if I pushed through it, my body would eventually catch up. That’s not how it works when you’re dealing with chronic pain. Pushing through leads to a setback fast.

Your back is tied directly into what your hips and legs are doing. Careful form can only take it so far out of the equation, especially when weakness is involved.

A few months ago, I was doing bodyweight versions of these same exercises at home. Every time, it aggravated my back. So I stepped back to isolated machines instead.

Here’s what made it click. I couldn’t even tolerate a leg extension machine at 30lbs. I weigh about 120. There was no version of me safely squatting my own bodyweight and that’s still true right now.

Isolated machines do exactly what they’re built for. They isolate one muscle group and take my back out of the equation so I can still train and progressively add weight at a pace that’s safe for my body.

If a compound lift keeps interfering with your back, this is where I’d start looking instead.

If this is the kind of order-of-operations thinking that’s useful to you, hit follow. That’s exactly what I break down here.
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