Vibrana Consulting with Erika Shepard, MSN

“Since our first session I’ve had this sense that I could actually have a good life. I haven’t had any panic attacks or even the beginning of one.”

That’s what happens when you connect to yourself and it’s POWERFUL. Connection medicine. That’s what I do. I help you connect your mind, body, and heart.

This client came to me to get help with anxiety and panic attacks and she wanted a more holistic approach.

In our sessions we went the rabbit hole of her inner world, did some meditations and energy work, and she was prescribed journal work in the 2 weeks between the 1st and 2nd session. Just after one session and at her 2nd appointment she reported:

⚡️Significant shift in sense of well-being and optimism for her future.
⚡️Anxiety down from a 7/10 (10 being worst) with panic attacks to 5/10 daily with NO panic attacks.
⚡️Daily joy is UP from a 2/10 daily (10 being most) to 5/10 daily.
⚡️Feeling more at peace with her family and her relationships (the people in them didn’t change, but she did).
⚡️Increased motivation to eat healthier and exercise where she felt more blocked before.

This is the power we have to heal when we get what we truly need. I can’t wait to hear what she reports in a few weeks.

If you haven’t tried resetting your nervous system through connecting your mind, body, and heart, I invite you to book a free 15 minute discovery call with me with the link in my bio. If you’re ready, let’s do it 🧡✨ Xo Erika

Life is full of ups and downs, but what keeps it alive is connection to our hearts and each other’s hearts. If you aren’t doing that, you aren’t fully living. Grateful for this friend and business partner of mine that was born out of nothing but Connection to the universe ✨🧡✨. Who did you meet you can’t believe you met like you did?

Being ok when things around you aren’t.

So many good things have been happening lately I could pinch myself. And also, some pretty stupid hard things.

My cat dying unexpectedly a week before TedX. Some people I love dearly are struggling and there’s nothing I can do except say, “I love you and I’m here.”

But I do have control of how well my inner world is. For the first 30 years of my life I controlled my outer world to feel at peace. This included hyper-focusing on my body, codependency and codependent relationships, not taking what I perceived as risks, withholding vulnerability.

Controlling our outer worlds and the people in them is a battle we never win, and a constant energy drain.

And I’ve spent the last 6 years focusing on healing the chaos of my inner world. This has been TOTAL FREEDOM, and truly the key to peace. Peace was never outside of me, it was always in me. It changed my life so much I wanted to give it back to people, which is why I got trained in mind body techniques for healing the inner world.

When I see clients finally addressing and clearing the chaos in their inner world, I love hearing the follow ups on how that’s translating to the freedom in their lives and increasing their well-being.

I invite you to start addressing your inner world by checking out the nervous system reset sessions I provide , both locally and remote by clicking the link in my bio.

My invitation is to start focusing on your inner world, y’all. I promise that’s where some good healing is at! 🧡 E

I’m feeling blissful. Yesterday I had the honor of giving a Ted Talk at TedX High Point here in my state of North Carolina.

My talk, “What I Learned About Love from Working on Psych Wards,” is an opportunity for us to take a look at human connection… how much we need it, what’s missing, and how we can navigate our way back to our hearts to optimize how we are connecting. This is an invitation to live out of our hearts and not simply our minds.

I feel like I could just float. It’s weird when big dreams come true. Or maybe I just need to get used to it 🤪. Maybe we all could!

I’ll post when the video is available. In the meantime, keep following, join my movement, Capable Hearts, and keep choosing to open up your heart. 🧡

Well I feel like this is my best school picture yet 😂😂😂. I kid I kid. BUT I do NOT kid that I did partner up with to bring you 1:1 mind body sessions to help reset your nervous systems on Thursdays, both locally and remote!

It’s super official, and we are now signing up clients. I had my first several clients last week, and let me tell you… they released some serious energies, emotions, old thought patterns that were stuck in their systems for a long time. They left feeling lighter and more peace after just one session.

As a psych nurse and nurse practitioner, I saw that an overactive and overloaded nervous system was the root cause of many people’s ongoing problems, in the mind, body, and spirit. I had enough of seeing it and not be able to truly do anything about it, so I took my many years of mental health medical expertise and coupled with training in holistic healing modalities, such as mind body medicine and theta energy healing. Then I weaved it all together… and voila!

• Are you doing all of the right things, but know you’re missing a piece to your healing puzzle?
• Are you feeling tired, overloaded, and burned out?
• Does the sound of feeling at peace in your body most of the time feel good to you?
• Are you ready to tap into your full power and badassery?

Then this may be for you! Click the link in bio for nervous system reset to schedule a FREE 15 min consultation, or DM me with any questions or curiosities. 🧡

I have had major depression several times in my life. It’s awful.

A big study came out this week that reviewed scientific studies over the years, and found that there is no evidence that people with depression have lower or abnormal serotonin levels (the neurochemical where we feel happy) than people who do not suffer depression.

As a nurse and mental health advocate, I want people to be empowered to make the best decisions for themselves and know the benefits and risks of any treatment.

Before I go on any further, there is no shame in taking medication if you feel that is what’s best for you. AND it’s important to know how your medications work, how they perform versus placebo, etc.

Antidepressants do not perform much better in symptom reduction than placebos, as has been shown study after study. And for the massive amount of side effects that come with them, this is also highly problematic for me. As someone in healing and medicine, this has been disappointing since the beginning of my career. You want things that can help people and not cause harm along the way.

My invitation is for us to look at more holistic and root cause related approaches to depression, because that is what I have seen has actually work long-term for people.

I am not anti meds…

I am very pro getting to the root of the problem and supporting the body in ways that are helpful without doing harm.

Depression goes so much deeper than the brain. I’ve seen depression as an imbalance of the heart and spirit, and then it shows up in how we feel in our brains and nervous systems. That is what I’ve seen be the root. My highest advocation is for treating the stress and sadness of the heart and the spirit.

Continued in comments.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!! 📣📣📣

I am pleased to announce that starting mid-August, I have partnered with the Integrative Medical Clinic, Thrive Carolinas , and will be offering 1:1 Mind Body Sessions on Thursdays, both in person and remotely! These are designed to help reset your nervous system so you feel more relief on a consistent basis.

From over a decade working as a nurse and healer, I’ve seen that an overactive nervous system is the root cause of many people’s issues. In particular, the people who are doing EVERYTHING right… good nutrition, yoga, proper supplements, exercise.

But the body still feels overloaded, fatigued, burned out, and overall well-being doesn’t feel optimal.

Often, this is due to an overloaded nervous system.

There is hope! You can get to know your nervous system patterns and reset them. I use a very unique, heart-centered approach, because I’ve seen how the nervous system is influenced by what’s going on in our heart space.

By getting to know how your nervous system operates and why, you can reset it thanks to neuroplasticity, meaning the nervous system's ability to change and adapt. You do not have to live with how your nervous system is operating now. We do this resetting using:

- Mind-Body Healing
- Heart-Centered Meditation
- Inner Child Work
-ThetaEnergy Healing (for those who are open to it)

When you reset your nervous system, you can start to feel:
-relief
-more clarity
-increased energy
-letting go of stuck emotions or energy
-healing in the body

Nervous System Resets are for people ready to take responsibility for their healing and step into their power. I won't heal you, but will show you the power you have to heal yourself.

If you’re interested in a free 15 min consultation to see if this is right for you, message me or call 704-390-7170 to book your call today!

I can’t wait to connect with you!

Xo,
E

How your nervous system contributes to relating to partners and people…

Our nervous system wires itself based on our childhood experiences. Period. It also wires itself on how to view people and intimate relationships, and meaning in communication.

If we want to improve our relationships, we have to improve the wired narratives around intimacy, repressed emotions, shame, traumas, and perceptions in our system (mainly in the subconscious). Communication is everything, but if these things above are going to drive your communication, that makes things hard, and sometimes nearly impossible to connect. This goes for any kind of relationship… personal, professional, or otherwise.

I’m grateful to have a partner who shows up. Does he trigger some old wounds for me? Yep. I have them, even after all of the work I’ve done. But going deep with someone also means going deep into the layers of your system, and learning how to work together in it all.

Want to reprogram your nervous system and relate better to yourself and others? Tune in Wednesday to find out how 🧡

E

Purging.

The act of letting go. My nervous system has been a little overloaded the last few weeks for many reasons. But one thing I’ve come to learn is that if my space is starting to get overloaded with junk, it means I’m energetically loading on old energy myself, and I can start to feel it in my nervous system.

It can feel like:
•Heaviness
•Lethargy
•Fatigue
•Apathy
•Overwhelm

What are you holding onto that no longer serves you? How can you start to shed things within you so you can start to shed outside of you as well?

Follow my stories today as I purge clothes on clothes to help energetically clear my space (and holy crap does it feel good in my system).

Want to help clear old energy and help calm down your nervous system? Tune in a week from today for a BIG announcement on what I’ll be offering to help reset your system✨✨✨.

Inability to rest is a trauma response 😵‍💫.

If rest is highly uncomfortable, or impossible for you, it’s because your nervous system is wired to be on constant overdrive. This is due to trauma, and for everyone, the “why” is different. However, the nervous system on overdrive is the response.

Inability to rest can look like:

•Sitting, but constantly thinking about the next thing or fidgeting.
•Feeling guilty for resting.
•Only feeling good about yourself when productive or accomplishing tasks.
•Distracted often, feeling like your mind is on a hamster wheel.
•Can feel or hear your pulse increase when resting… like a nervous feeling.

Who can relate?

Helping to re-regulate your nervous system comes down to rewiring it on the subconscious levels to get your body to know you are safe when resting.

Tell yourself when you start to feel ancy when resting:
✨I am enough while resting
✨I am worthy of rest
✨I am supported while resting… I don’t have to do everything.
✨Rest helps me be my best self.

Start rewiring your nervous system today by taking a 5 min break and affirming these to yourself. Get some rest, y’all.

If I had to give a tagline to my spirit, it would be DISRUPTOR OF ALL THAT IS NOT LOVE🔥🧡👊🏽.

It’s kind of my thing I’m finding, and what seems to happen every time I’m around. What isn’t love blows up into a trash fire 🤷🏼‍♀️. Instead of being ashamed of this (which I used to be greatly ashamed of my disruptive nature), I’ve done a lot of work to embody and embrace my essence. This also broadcasts the energy to welcome in people who embody and embrace me for who I am… and it had to start with me.

What would your spiritual tagline or spirit name be?

Let’s reintroduce ourselves… hi, I am disruptor of all that is not love. What’s your name? 👊🏽


Photo: 🧡

When you laugh so hard you p*e a little…

I’ve known some of these women for 30 years. All of them at least 20. We may live states apart, very different lives, but this weekend reminded me that some bonds continue regardless of where life takes you. We’re still weird and hard to explain, but in the really good way.

My stomach still hurts from laughing so hard. Congrats to and , my lovely brides!

How long have you know some of your OG homies?? 👇

I played it safe from 0-30, but lacked desire. Safety then got a bad report with me because I needed so much more.

I indulged in desire from 30-34, but then lacked safety. Turns out, after the rush, it didn’t feel good either.

We want desire, AND safety. And yes, we can have them both…

How many of you can relate trying to find the sweet spot?

I want to reconstruct what it means to be safe in our relationships. If we want to feel safe in a way that is super fulfilling and sustainable in order to be expansive, it has to be a kind of safety that has plenty of room for desire.

Whether it’s a partner, job, or sex… we NEED to feel safe in order for our nervous systems to relax into what we are experiencing. AND we get to do that in a way that excites our hearts and spirits.

What would it look like if you felt safety AND desire in different aspects of your life?

Are you confusing love with empty validation?

Listen… first a disclaimer. We all need validation, so I’m not here to throw validation away. HOWEVER…

A lot of us are getting love and care confused with empty validation. When I say empty validation, it just means there is no heart energy behind the validation or compliment. It’s supremely superficial, and you’re not going to get much from the person other than that. You may feel complimented to no end… but the seemingly great connection kind of ends there.

Love and care go soooo much deeper than validation and compliments (and those are great when they’re genuine or not used as a means of manipulation or control).

You don’t just deserve to be told how great you are, but TREATED that you are great. And that goes wayyyyy beyond words.

It always starts with you. Tell yourself how beautiful and amazing you are, and then welcome a person in who doesn’t just tell you this, but treats you like the great being you are. ✨✨ Xo.

May is month (although in my world, every damn day is mental health awareness day).

Being a mental health professional (and simply a human on the earth plane), I have come to find that mental and emotional health issues are a conversation around needs versus character.

These include:
👉🏻needs of the heart and spirit (safe connection, safe relationships, adequate support, creative outlets, purpose)
👉🏻physical needs (gut health and balanced micro biome, optimal nutrition, movement, rest)
👉🏻time in nature (sunlight, fresh air, sounds of nature)
👉🏻social needs (money, housing)

Those are just a few. We don’t need more pills (even though they can help and have a place), but more pills are being prescribed because people are not getting what they truly need.

If you’re struggling with mental and emotional health, you aren’t alone. More so recent stats are showing 1 in 4 adults in the US are struggling with mental health (and those are the people who are just being honest and forthcoming). If you’re struggling, don’t judge yourself and start asking, “What do I need?” You matter, and therefore so do your needs. 🧡

Trust and safety are foundational in building connection. You can’t build a sturdy house without a solid foundation.

Whether it’s your romantic partner, friend, family member, or team in your organization, if the dynamics lack safety and trust for those involved, there will be more time and energy spent in an overactive nervous system and in defense mechanisms than actually connecting and leaning into one another.

What would you need to feel more safety and trust?

Well this is weird and amazing… I’m honored to announce I have been chosen to give a Ted Talk at TedX HighPoint!

I’ll be presenting my Ted Talk, “What I Learned About Love from Working on Psych Wards,” at the August 4th TedX Event. I will be challenging what it means to love and be loved… and how it’s mental health patients who taught me what the truth and nature of love really is. I hope this will transform how we show up in the world and shift how we relate to one another as humans, in everything from work relationships to romantic relationships.

I am still in a little bit of shock, but so excited!!! Can’t wait to share this idea worth spreading!

From TedX HighPoint:

Our next TEDxHighPoint speaker is Erika Shepard!

Time for another TEDxHighPoint Speaker!

Next up, Erika Shepard!

Erika Shepard, RN MSN is a speaker, nurse, and heart-led consultant. She is CEO of Erika Shepard LLC ( a mental and emotional wellness platform) CEO & Co-Founder of Vibrana Consulting. She is focused on elevating emotional well-being by optimizing human connection through her unique approach of addressing mental & emotional health through heart health.

Erika is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of both Arizona State and Georgetown University. She spent her career having a front row seat to human heartbreak through working as a psychiatric, trauma ICU, and forensic nurse, as well as family nurse practitioner and mind body healer. Working with people at their most vulnerable showed her the power of the human heart, and the necessity of deep connection to one another.

She spent day in and day out witnessing what brings us to our best and to our worst. She now uses all of her experience and expertise around human connection and emotional well-being within her businesses to guide leaders as they develop, and help shift corporate and organizational cultures as they grow. Erika knows from her years of experience that love and care can’t be known, they need to be experienced. It is Erika’s mission through her Movement, Capable Hearts, to help make it safe for us to open ourselves up to express more love and care so we can better experience the connection we have to one another.

Use code: PSYCH to get 25% off of tickets and sponsorships!

#

How safe do you feel being around someone?

It matters. I was having a DM convo with a friend today after I posted the question, “But does he relax your nervous system?” in my stories. She said, “I thought I was an anxious person, but it turns out I was anxious because of the kind of men I was with.”

Oh yes and yes. Looking back over my life, I certainly had some anxious/avoidant attachment styles and anxiety around vulnerability and intimacy… but I can see now that more so I was anxious because I was with emotionally unsafe people.

I let people in who
•had really poor boundaries
•were controlling
•had a lot of insecurities and grabbed at me to feel better about themselves at my expense
•were secretive and lacked transparency
•were not consistent with honesty
•did not take accountability for what was theirs
•could be unpredictable (felt like I could step on a bomb at anytime)

These are just some ingredients that make a dynamic emotionally unsafe. My body and heart knew (more than my conscious mind did), and it tried to tell me through anxiety.

Last year I made a proclamation to the universe: I GET TO FEEL SAFE, AND I CHOOSE TO BE SAFE.

Safe does NOT mean: boring, not taking risks, not going big, holding back, or lacking passion. Safe means we get to listen to our nervous systems and create a path and environment for our deepest desires in a way that feels f***ing delicious and expansive. Safety is freedom.

We are damn powerful and choose who and what we let into our sacred space. Don’t change anyone… step into your power and own your yes’s and no’s. You, too, get to choose 🧡.

I was reminded that on this day 3 years ago, I (with a group of utterly badass women) reached the base camp of Mt. Everest at 17,598 ft.

I’ve done a lot of hard things. I’ve done a lot of cool things. This was quite the culmination of cool and hard.

This trip reminded me it’s not so much about the destination as it is the journey along the way…. And the people you choose to take it with. Cheers to more mountains and the journeys that take us there.

Whewie!!! Last night I got to dress up in my boho pro attire and speak live IN PERSON for the first time this year!

I was a little hesitant to deliver my keynote “Reigniting the Fire,” as my audience last night was more seasoned in age, and I was going to be talking about mental health, burnout, connection, emotions. These are topics that have not be OK to talk about in previous generations.

BUT, to my surprise, I got so many questions at the end. They were so engaged, curious, and ready to open up. That’s what I love about speaking and storytelling (y’all know I tell stories and it’s what I do)… it’s opportunity for all of us to connect to ourselves and each other more deeply.

Y’all, this pandemic and all of the virtual platforms are an absolute blessing. So glad the world has embraced the hybrid. However, for me, nothing beats being in front of real people, in person.

If you’re looking for a speaker to deliver keynotes or workshops for your audience addressing mental and emotional wellness that are very intimate and engaging, then I would love to chat.

Thanks again to and the Huntersville Rotary for having me!

Y’all remember when I left medicine and took up working for the airline instead and started traveling the world solo? Yeah, that was solid. It felt goooooood. And I want you to lean into what feels good, too, and I tell you all about it in my latest interview with VoyageRaleigh Magazine! (Link in bio).

Life’s journey isn’t meant to be linear, or feel hard and miserable (although there will be moments), but it CAN be easy, flowy, feel good. Key is you need to listen to how you feel and be brave.

In the article I discuss this journey for myself, how I navigated it, and integrating it all. A little teaser… I am going back to medicine part-time aside from speaking and consulting. More deets to come on that later and why!! But ultimately is my journey of what feels good is taking all the things I’ve done and putting them together. Stop shoulding your life, let go of what you THOUGHT it should look like to feel good, and start FEELING what ACTUALLY does. You may be surprised beyond your wildest dreams… click link in bio to read more. Cheers friends. XO, E

Life’s too short not to sparkle. ✨✨✨

Do the things, wear the things, choose the people, the jobs, the hobbies, the music, the relationships and partners that make you feel like smiling the biggest smile you can’t control.

Sparkle big, loves. Life is too short.

Speaking of sparkle, if you haven’t read my latest blog, “Forgiving when we can’t forget,” check it out with link in bio 🧡✨🧡✨🧡

I take Fridays off and play. This is my new playground. We need it y’all. Do what’s playful for you!!! 🎿 🧡

NEW BLOG ALERT 💥 💥💥💥.
“Forgiving When We Can’t Forget.” Click here to read: https://erikashepard.com/2022/03/02/forgiving-when-we-cant-forget/

Over the years one of the top things people came to me to heal from was held up resentment and trouble with forgiveness.

As I worked with them and helped bring the subconscious to the conscious, I learned a lot about resentment. Did you know the root of resentment is envy, and that resentment really mirrors 🪞 to us our deeper needs and desires?

When I was faced with intense resentment during the pandemic, I was faced with taking the forgiveness process on. When I struggled so hard, I decided there was another perspective I needed to explore.

In this blog I discuss what forgiveness and resentment are, how to redefine it, and what I’ve found is the key to unlocking forgiveness, freeing ourselves from resentment.

Click, read, and let me know your thoughts. I’ll see you there darlins. Xoxo, E

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT BREW & BOND!!!

Thanks to everyone who came out. This pandemic has been a kick in the pants when it comes to connection.

Laurie and I have initiated monthly brew & bond’s here in Charlotte to create safe space for real human connection to happen. Business and networking is a byproduct of this, but not the priority.

If you’re looking to let your hair down, be yourself, have some great laughs and meet wonderful, authentic people in Charlotte, then come to our next one!

NEXT BREW & BOND: Thursday, March 24th at 545 at NODA Wooden Robot. Bring a trustworthy friend, bring your kids, all are welcome. See you there!

I’ve struggled with forgiveness over the years with people who have hurt me badly. In particular, people who do not show remorse or care that they did.

Many of us struggle with forgiveness, and I think it’s a matter of redefining what forgiveness is in order for it to be more accessible.

It’s not about the action, but accepting the person as is and letting go.

Learning to let go of people being who we need them to be, and allowing ourselves to be who we need. When we can be who we need (the lover, the protector, the nurturer) then we can let in what can love in our space and keep away what can’t love in our space.

With those boundaries in place, we can come into acceptance of the other with who they are and where they’re at, which is totally different than condoning anyone’s actions. When we can let go and accept, we can be free… Free from resentments, hatred, grudges, and emotions that if we don’t let go, we ultimately hurt ourselves.

Forgiveness isn’t letting people off the hook for what they did or didn’t do, but really coming to acceptance within ourselves that their energy or their actions weren’t or can’t be what we needed. Forgive people for what they are and what they’re not, where they are and where they’re not, love big, and set boundaries accordingly.

Attention heart centered professionals and entrepreneurs of Charlotte! Come join Laurie and I next Wednesday at NoDa Brewing for our February Brew and Bond!!!

If you’re someone who cares deeply about what you’re doing in the world and the people around you, and you’re looking to connect more with others in town, then this is for you!

Fun little fact… when we set the camera up we did not see that heart 🧡 engrained in the wood until after. Totally unplanned!

Link in bio for meet-up. Starts at 545 and it’s free to attend! See you there!