What if the symptoms you're trying so hard to fix aren't actually the root problem? In this episode of PCOS Unfiltered, Lindsie sits down with holistic health coach, lymphatic drainage therapist, reflexologist, and Reiki Master Teacher Sabrina Hall for part 2, to explore the powerful connection between the nervous system, lymphatic system, emotional health, and chronic inflammation. Sabrina shares her personal journey through autoimmune and inflammatory conditions and explains how it led her to develop a whole-body approach to healing chronic skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea. Together, they discuss why many women remain stuck in cycles of symptoms despite changing their diet, taking supplements, or trying countless treatments. You'll learn how chronic stress impacts the body, why nervous system regulation is often the missing piece in healing, and how small daily practices can create profound shifts in both physical and emotional well-being. If you've ever felt exhausted, inflamed, overwhelmed, or disconnected from your body, this conversation offers a refreshing reminder that healing doesn't come from doing more—it comes from understanding better.
In this episode, we discuss:
Small steps can create big change.
Three minutes of intentional breathing, a moment of self-awareness, or simply asking yourself, "What do I need right now?" can begin shifting your nervous system out of survival mode and into a state where healing becomes possible.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it.
Remember: Healing doesn't come from doing more. It comes from understanding better.
⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine.
(0:00) Small steps can be big wins. My strategy has kind of completely changed (0:09) in how I work with people because those tiny little things that we can do for ourselves (0:17) can amount to huge change and progress. And so, I'd say taking a couple of minutes at the (0:26) beginning of your day is a beautiful way to honor yourself and to recognize that like (0:33) three minutes of breathing and a little bit of inner awareness can bring a different, (0:42) just a different attitude to the whole day.(0:52) Welcome back to PCOS Unfiltered, where we ditch the one-size-fits-all advice. (0:57) I'm Lindsie, nurse turned health coach, author of Healing Beyond the Diagnosis, (1:01) and mindful eating advocate. Here, we go beyond that diagnosis so you can start (1:05) understanding the messages behind your symptoms.Before we get into today's guest, I wanted to (1:11) let you know that I'm looking for 10 ladies to help me up-level my offerings so I can better (1:16) serve you and get you the results that you desire. Be sure to check the show notes for (1:21) the link to book a call with me, a quick call, and grab your freebie. So today, my guest is (1:27) Sabrina Hall, and Sabrina is a holistic health coach and alternative healthcare practitioner (1:33) with advanced training in biology and natural healing modalities.Through her work as a (1:38) lymphatic drainage therapist, reflexologist, and Reiki master teacher, she helps women address (1:44) the root causes of chronic conditions by supporting the body, nervous system, and emotional health.
(1:50) Inspired by her own journey with autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, Sabrina developed a (1:55) whole systems approach to healing and now guides women in overcoming chronic skin issues through (2:00) her eczema and psoriasis recovery system. As a reminder, the content shared on PCOS Unfiltered (2:06) is for informational and educational purposes only.The views and opinions expressed by the host and (2:12) guests are not intended to serve as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare (2:17) professional before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or treatment plan. The information (2:22) shared is based on personal experience and expert interviews and is not a substitute for professional (2:27) medical guidance.Now, get cozy, maybe get ready to take some notes, and let's dive in. Here is my (2:33) conversation with Sabrina Hall. So as you mentioned, you also work hands-on, do some lymphatic drainage (2:49) as well.Many people have never heard about the lymphatic system unless maybe they have dealt (2:56) with some type of illness related to anything like that. So why is the lymph system so important (3:01) when it comes to healing and detoxifying and, you know, inflammation and all that? (3:08) Yeah, so the lymphatic system is, it runs through our entire body. It pretty much is our (3:16) detoxification and garbage removal system.And so if you think about, we've got our circulatory (3:24) system, everybody knows about it, right? We've got our heart that pumps around oxygenated and (3:29) deoxygenated blood through our whole entire body, right? Through the veins and arteries,
(3:34) great. Closed pressure system. The lymphatic system, it has no pump and it is through our entire (3:44) body though.So if you think about each of our cells in the body are like going about their (3:49) business every single day, doing their things, metabolizing stuff. And then when they're done (3:54) with those things, they just put out the trash just outside the cell wall. And it's the lymphatic (3:59) system's job to pick that stuff up and bring it up through the body so that it can be cleaned out (4:06) and gotten rid of.And so the lymphatic vessels at first around the cells, they're just kind of (4:16) like these loose kind of vessels, open vessels more than anything. And it's really just pressure (4:23) changes and movement that can get the lymphatic fluid flowing where it needs to go. So it travels (4:32) up through these loose lymphatic vessels into the lymph nodes and the lymph nodes are our first (4:37) point of call for our immune system.So in the lymph nodes, all of the cells in there are kind (4:42) of like, is this good, bad, evil? Do I need to break it down? Whatever, you know, goes through, (4:48) sorts through stuff. And then the lymph continues to travel through the lymph nodes, through the (4:54) vessels, all the way up into the top portion of our body where it actually, the lymphatic system (5:01) dumps into the heart and then is shunted over to like the liver and kidneys and all of that, (5:05) so that we can eliminate all of the extra stuff. So the lymphatic system for me was super (5:13) interesting because it's a fluid system.And when you talk about energy and frequency,
(5:22) everything is made of energy. And so everything that we see and interact with has an energetic (5:29) vibration to it. And also emotions have an energetic vibration to them.And so when I was (5:38) saying that I had like severe left side lymphatic congestion, I didn't look any different. You know, (5:44) like some people who experience physical lymphatic congestion deal with a lot of water retention, (5:52) just like fluid buildup, swelling, especially in the limbs and extremities farther away from (6:00) the center of our bodies. But mine wasn't physically present at all.It was this deep, (6:08) throbbing, aching, aggravated kind of feeling down the center of my leg. And when I started (6:17) learning lymphatic massage, I didn't have the typical after effects. Like most people, (6:24) it's a wonderful, amazing massage, super relaxing.It's like a nervous system massage. (6:30) But when you're detoxifying, you go from like leaving being like, I feel so light and airy,
(6:37) I'm feeling amazing to a couple hours later, you're like, oh, why do I have a headache? (6:43) And so, but I never really got a lot of that. Mine was always like a couple hours later, (6:49) I'd be like, this is coming up for me.And so years later, I realized I'm like, whoa, (6:58) I was doing a lot of mental emotional detoxification through lymphatic drainage massage. (7:06) Because the things that we experience in our daily lives, any kind of experience or emotion that we (7:15) aren't comfortable with, don't have time to deal with all of that sort of thing, (7:21) or society has told us that that's maybe not an okay thing to be feeling. We stop it, (7:27) we just push it down, right? Oh, deal with that later or never at all if I don't have to.(7:33) And things like that get stuck in our bodies. And, and we can have these different like mental (7:41) emotional blockages and congestions that I really very much believe are the foundation of disease (7:49) and where disease starts from most often times. And so for me, lymphatic massage was like this (7:58) gateway into a modality that helped people move through things and kind of transition through
(8:10) different things that they were feeling from and kind of release in a gentle way (8:18) that maybe didn't have to have them relive and go through it all again.Like I very, (8:26) very much believe in traditional talk therapy. But for some people, when they're holding things (8:34) somatically in their body, they can repeat that story over and over again, because intellectually, (8:44) I think they know what the person wants to hear, right? I'm very good at that. I could go to a (8:49) therapist for years, right? And be like, okay, today, I'm going to talk about this.And I know (8:55) what they want to hear. So I'm going to say this now, right? And it wouldn't actually help me get (8:59) anything out. And so having like a talk therapy combination with a somatic therapy can be super (9:09) amazing, right, to just really help the body release on all of those levels.And it was such (9:16) a foundational piece of my healing that I incorporated into everything now. And so with my (9:23) X-Men psoriasis recovery system program, it's a 12-week program, I don't actually get to anything (9:30) lymphatic until week 11, 10 or 11. Because I want to set the foundation first for nervous system (9:40) regulation, like doing all of those, let's look at your limiting beliefs, let's look at what's
(9:47) keeping you stuck in this current cycle.And, and allowing that gently to come out, (9:55) recognizing the role that real rest has in our lives and being able to take breaks, (10:00) then working on the gut and then working on our detox systems through lymphatic drainage techniques (10:07) that they can do at home. Because if we're, if we're starting with lymphatic drainage, (10:13) or starting with the gut stuff, it's, it's taking them right back into that trying to (10:19) fix a part of their body. And, and that's not usually what's wrong, right? It's usually that (10:25) we need to go into mindset, we need to go into the deeper stuff first, to make real lasting (10:33) transformation happen.Yeah, yeah, I think I mentioned, you know, I tie in some hypnosis (10:40) with my program, you know, but yeah, I mean, my, my, my program only focuses on like two weeks of (10:47) that stuff. But but it but the more that I learned about all of this, too, and the more I meet with (10:53) people like yourself, you know, yes, I realized how even more important that is, like, you know,
(10:58) my big focus is nutrition, but truly, truly, you're not going to get the benefits from changing your, (11:05) you know, your diet and your lifestyle habits and everything until you do some of that, you know, (11:11) deeper, exactly. Yeah, inner work.And I like the point you brought up to about, you know, (11:17) talk therapy, you know, there's definitely nothing wrong with doing a combination of things like, (11:23) and for a lot of people, they do probably need a combination of things. But But like you said, (11:29) there's different layers, there's different layers there that have to kind of be, be hit, (11:34) when you're healing. Yeah.You kind of mentioned that you created that the eczema and psoriasis (11:41) recovery system. And that helps women heal skin conditions holistically. So, you know, (11:48) can you go into maybe more of that? What are some of the biggest pieces that people often miss, (11:54) you know, from your experience with this system, or that, you know, maybe motivated you to create a (11:58) system like that, when they're trying to heal chronic conditions, chronic skin conditions? (12:03) Yeah, it's the, it's the slowing down, and asking yourself what you need first, you know, (12:12) that when I started working coaching, privately at first, that was my first question every single (12:20) time.Are you asking yourself, what do I need? You know, like, what do I need truly in this, (12:27) and putting yourself first, so many women have so many responsibilities, such high expectations put
(12:36) on themselves, and they feel responsible for for the world and everyone in it. And asking them (12:45) to put themselves first is hard. It's really hard.I have a lot of women who struggle with that, (12:53) right? I find that women coming into my area, like my, my Facebook community that I have, (13:03) and then my program itself. It's always, it's always an a surprise that I, I lead with nervous (13:14) system first, you know, like, yes, you have a skin condition, and we'll get to that. (13:21) Let's keep it in the meantime.But first, we're going to deal with, you know, what are your (13:28) stressors? And how is your body reacting to those stresses? How long have they been present? What (13:35) kind of systemic inflammation do you have from those years, decades being caught in a chronic (13:43) stress response, you know, and like, really helping them to understand what true rest and relaxation (13:49) looks like, and what it can do for them. Halfway through the program, I have an easier week that (14:01) actually is turning out to be very difficult. So in that week, I have like a choose your own
(14:07) adventure style plan a day for yourself.That's all about you. That's all about self care. That (14:13) is non negotiable.You are taking care of yourself and doing only the things that you want and need to (14:19) do. And I get like tons and tons of different examples of things that they can do. And then (14:27) help them through it right of like, okay, arrange with the people in your life that they're taking (14:32) care of you today.And they're taking care of your normal things and all of that stuff, right? (14:37) And every single woman has a really hard time. She's like, I just, I just don't know if I can do (14:44) this. I don't know if you know, like, if my husband can handle this, and what are the kids going to do (14:48) in this and that? And it's like, they'll be all right.And you'll be so much better if you do this (14:56) for yourself. And you see that they're all right after it. And you see that you can take time for (15:02) you.You're the most important person in your own equation. And so many women have lost that. Like (15:10) they have completely lost that, that perspective.We've gone from, you know, being very much like (15:18) living in our feminine energy and feeling pushed down by it, right? Like we've got a society and a (15:24) culture that's very patriarchal. It's just, you know, like it's built for, by men, for men,
(15:31) right? Because they are living in their masculine energy most often. They're very, (15:36) you know, like, oh, let's create this structure.And let's fit within the box and compartmentalize (15:42) everything and have goals and tasks. And women really function in the nurturing being, you know, (15:51) just like expansive creative zone that we can be in. And so our perfect world would be structured (15:59) a lot differently, I think, right? And so we've gone from, you know, feeling like we're not equals, (16:05) in North America, at least, to feeling like we are equals, but equal has meant that we are working (16:14) full time, we are homemakers full time.If we have children, we are mothers full time, we are wives, (16:21) we are sisters, we're kids, you know, like we're all of these roles. And it hasn't left a lot of (16:29) time for any of us to truly connect with ourselves. And that, that connection piece (16:37) that is so broken and lost is, is the most important thing to get back to because (16:43) when I went through and did my own healing, you know, like looked at all of the ugly bits and kind (16:50) of just took ownership of them, you know, I was like, All right, well, do I want to choose to go (16:56) like, forward like this? Or, or do I want to choose something differently? And the peace and (17:04) calm that is running through my body now, it's such a different state that I, I truly just want
(17:13) every woman out there to experience.Because I went from feeling probably constantly anxious, (17:24) always vibrating at this crazy high level, right? And it was this, it was my stress response. (17:31) It was I had massive amounts of cortisol, adrenaline, epinephrine running through my (17:36) body all the time. And my other systems had shut down.And that feeling, it just like (17:45) significantly goes down. And then all of a sudden, you're like, I'm living in somebody else's body. (17:51) And it's great.I love it here. Yeah, if you can get to that point, then I think (18:01) so many things are possible, you know, like mental health check, and better physical health. (18:08) For sure.Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and even, you know, something small to start, you know, (18:15) taking just a few minutes a day, and then maybe working yourself up to more and, (18:20) you know, maybe taking a step back again and evaluating, okay, where am I spending my time (18:25) to? Because a lot of women are gonna say, well, I don't have time, you know, like, (18:29) you know, kind of like, it sounds like you're experiencing, I don't have time, (18:32) I don't want to do that, whatever.But but when you take a step back and evaluate to you really
(18:37) have some time in a day, but but I can definitely relate to that as well. Because I was just like, (18:44) put so much stress on myself, the people pleasing the fixing, you know, all that stuff as well. (18:53) And now I'm like, yeah, you can literally feel the weight off your shoulders, you know, when (19:01) Yeah, there's like a happiness and can yeah.Yeah. But yeah, it's really beautiful. (19:08) Yeah.And sure, there might be times where, you know, because it's not a straight line, right? (19:13) Like, it's ups and downs along the way. So there are times where I start recognizing like, okay, (19:18) again, I'm trying to do too much. I need to tell somebody No, I need to take some time to myself, (19:24) you know, whatever it might be, I can recognize that now.Yes. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.(19:31) If somebody wants to, you know, take the first step today, like, you know, if they can really
(19:37) relate to your story, you know, the talk about the nervous system regulation, and, you know, (19:42) listening to our bodies, you know, maybe they've been dealing with flare ups with PCOS, just (19:49) feeling inflamed, probably for years at this point, what would be a good first step to help (19:56) somebody kind of rebuild that trust in themselves again? Like you said, I recognizing that we do (20:05) have time. And small steps can be big wins. I don't like to push anything on anybody.My strategy (20:18) has kind of completely changed in how I work with people, because those tiny little things that we (20:27) that we can do for ourselves can amount to huge change and progress. And so, you know, taking, (20:35) I'd say, taking a couple of minutes at the beginning of your day is a beautiful way to (20:41) honor yourself. And, and to recognize that, like, three minutes of breathing and a little bit of (20:49) inner awareness can bring can bring a different, just a different attitude to the whole day.
(20:58) And so something that I've been doing lately that I really, really love is, it's a vagus nerve (21:06) relaxation exercise, and it literally takes a minute you and you can do it anywhere. So the (21:14) vagus nerve as it travels out of the brain, as it goes through the neck, it's a little bit closer (21:19) to the to the skin surface than it is when it travels like deep through the center of the body (21:25) down into the abdomen. And so this is really fantastic to if you have like a tight neck at all.(21:32) So you make a hand hammock behind your head, and you just relax your head back into it. And then (21:40) you're going to close your eyes, and you are going to wait for a response to happen. And so typically, (21:47) it's going to be you're going to yawn, sigh deeply, or swallow really big.And so you've (21:53) got your eyes closed, and you literally just turn them as far as you can to the left with your eyes (21:58) closed. And then you keep your eyes closed after that's happened. And then you turn them all the (22:11) way to the right.And again, just wait, it could take upwards of 30 seconds, right? If you're like (22:16) really, really tightly wound in a stress response. But that in itself is like, it's a huge exhale for (22:27) the body. And it, it's amazing what just doing that every single day, just once a day, you know, (22:34) or if you're, if you're like having a super stressful day, you're really wound up, maybe you're (22:39) like in the car, you're like, I need to relax before I drive and have road rage, and just (22:46) set your head back in a hand hammock, you know, close your eyes and do this little technique.(22:51) And you can feel your system just come down a couple of notches. It's really, really lovely.
(22:59) It can help with that neck tightness, like I said, too.So if you like really suffer from a tense (23:05) neck, you can turn your head each way before you start and see like what your range of motion is. (23:11) And then afterwards, just with that little bit of relaxation through (23:16) your muscles, usually your range of motion is better to (23:21) gather something today. I love that.I gotta try that. (23:24) I just like a couple of months ago when I was doing some of my like continuing education for (23:29) reflex. I was like, Oh, I'm teaching this to everyone.Yeah, yeah. I mean, it doesn't take (23:35) a lot of time. And, you know, like you said, it's kind of like a big exhale.You know, reset. Yeah, (23:44) I love that. I gotta try that.Yeah. So last question is, how can everybody find you? I'll (23:53) put links in the show notes too. But you know, what's kind of the best way to connect and find (23:57) you? Best way to connect with me is I'm on Facebook a lot.I have a Facebook community. (24:04) So it's a free community of women who like usually 40 plus kind of thing, just because (24:11) when we're in our 40s, we're ready and have time to start dedicating to ourselves again. (24:17) But who suffer from eczema and psoriasis, and rosacea, any of the inflammatory skin conditions.(24:24) And in that group, it's just a really supportive group, I get on and do like live videos a bunch (24:31) of times each week, and just talk through things that you might be going through little tips and (24:36) techniques for, for helping yourself and like starting this healing journey. And then I tend (24:43) to run a masterclass every month. And so this year, I decided that I'm aiming for the 11th of (24:50) each month.We'll see what days those fall on, but I'm into numerology as well. And like I'm
(24:56) life path number one. So for me, the 11, the ones are just like a gateway and an opening to (25:04) a new version of you, if you choose to go through it.So yeah, so I mean, you can usually find me (25:12) on zoom with doing a masterclass that's all about this, right about like, have you thought about (25:18) that it could be your nervous system? And what does a nervous system that's caught in a chronic (25:23) sympathetic stress response look like? What does it do to your body, inflammation, all of that sort (25:29) of stuff. So that's usually the big aha moment for a lot of women where they're like, oh, that's why (25:36) the creams don't work. That's why the prescriptions don't work.That's why the dietary stuff doesn't (25:42) work. Right? It does for a little bit, and then a little bit gets worse. Yeah.
(25:50) Awesome. Well, thank you so, so much. Oh my gosh.I love this conversation. (25:56) It was amazing. Thank you.Yes. So thank you. I think our listeners can get so much (26:01) from this and I really appreciate being here.Yes, me too. Thank you. (26:08) Such a great conversation with Sabrina.I think they're relatable and I'll be sure to link (26:14) everything in the show notes. If you'd like to connect with her, in addition to how to book a (26:18) call with me so I can be sure that I'm offering the programs and events that align with what (26:22) you desire, along with the opportunity to grab my mindful eating guide. And if you loved this (26:28) episode, make sure to subscribe and share it with someone who needs to hear it.Remember that (26:32) healing doesn't come from doing more. It comes from understanding better. I'm sending you so (26:37) much love and I'll see you on the next episode of PCOS Unfiltered.Nourish, heal, thrive.