• Movement
  • Nervous System Regulation
  • Science-Backed Education
  • Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing
  • Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Movement
    • Nervous System Regulation
    • Science-Backed Education
    • Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing
  • Shop
    • Products
    • Cart
    • My Account
  • About
    • About Me
    • Services
    • Shop My Favorites
  • Contact
  • Contact
  • Meet the Team
  • FAQ
  • Mobile Menu Widgets

    Connect

    Search

get PT complete

PT Complete

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

  • Home
  • Blog
    • Movement
    • Nervous System Regulation
    • Science-Backed Education
    • Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing
  • About
    • About Me
    • My Approach
    • Services
  • Contact

body awareness

morning joint stiffness

December 9, 2025 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

Understanding Morning Joint Stiffness: Causes and Simple Relief Tips

Morning joint stiffness happens because synovial fluid thickens and inflammatory chemicals build up during hours of stillness, and it usually eases once you start moving. Stiffness that’s been gradually taking…

Read More

nervous system reset

December 2, 2025 · In: Nervous System Regulation

Why You Need a Nervous System Reset (and How to Actually Do It)

When you feel stuck in stress, tension, pain, or overwhelm, it can seem like your body won’t let you rest, no matter how much you try. That’s because your nervous…

Read More

reconnect with your body

November 25, 2025 · In: Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing, Navigating Long-Term Pain

How to Reconnect With Your Body (When You’ve Felt Disconnected for Years)

When you’ve lived in chronic pain, stress, or burnout, it’s easy to feel disconnected from your body. You might stop trusting its signals or feel like it’s constantly working against…

Read More

nervous system overload

November 4, 2025 · In: Nervous System Regulation

Nervous System Overload: What It Is and How to Calm Your Body

Do you ever feel tense, overstimulated, or completely drained, but unable to rest? That’s a sign your body might be in a state of nervous system overload. This happens when…

Read More

stress muscle tension relief

August 26, 2025 · In: Nervous System Regulation

Stress and Muscle Tension Relief: How to Ease Tightness and Restore Calm

Stress doesn’t just live in your head. It shows up in your body; the tight shoulders, clenched jaw, an achy back. For many women, that tension becomes the quiet background…

Read More

diaphragmatic breathing

August 5, 2025 · In: Nervous System Regulation

Diaphragmatic Breathing: How to Breathe Correctly

When stress, fatigue, and chronic pain play a part in your daily life, something has to change. I’ve been there. I understand the struggle. It’s hard to find our way…

Read More

  • ← Previous
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 7
  • Next →

Primary Sidebar

Meet Tera

Meet Tera
hi friends!

I'm a practicing physical therapist based out of sunny SoCal who loves to educate others and share information and knowledge. You can typically find me hard at work trying to manage normal life or cuddled up under a blanket enjoying coffee or desserts I can never seem to get away from!

More About Tera

Connect

join the list

Categories

  • Movement
  • Nervous System Regulation
  • Science-Backed Education
  • Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing

Search

Archives

Advertise

SiteGround Ad

Featured Posts

how to start exercising again after a chronic pain flare

How to Start Exercising Again After a Pain Flare or Long Layoff (Without Setting Yourself Back)

woman experiencing pain that moves around the body, chronic pain explained

Pain That Moves Around Your Body: What Your Nervous System Is Trying to Tell You

woman practicing real rest for chronic pain, calming her nervous system

What Real Rest Actually Looks Like for Chronic Pain (And Why Sleeping More Isn’t the Whole Answer)

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.
Follow on Instagram

Footer

On the Blog

  • Movement
  • Nervous System Regulation
  • Science-Backed Education
  • Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing

Info

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Disclaimers
  • Terms of Use

stay in the know

.

This website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Copyright © 2026 · Theme by 17th Avenue