Body Insight
Body Insight is dedicated to the eradication of all aches and pains associated with being human.
26/01/2024
Easing Stress: Chantal Donnelly has the key to settling nerves Chantal Donnelly worked as a physical therapist in her own practice for 20 years — then she had an epiphany.
04/01/2024
Join me and the amazing Deanna Moffitt on Instagram Live today at 11 am PT. We will be exploring the connection between our bodies and the stories we tell ourselves. Go to for the event. See you there.
03/01/2024
I had a blast chatting with Sara Dean on The Shameless Mom Academy. Listen in to hear us share:
▶️My stress quadrant model and how we exist on the stress matrix at all times
▶️Why people internalize stress as a sign of weakness – and the cultural paradox of hustle culture + showing stress being a sign of weakness
▶️How mothers internalize stress and need to manage stress differently than people who aren’t moms
▶️The importance of normalizing the stress that mothers carry and understanding how stress impacts the ability to be patient and empathetic
▶️How rushing and “hurry up-ing” creates dysregulation between our brains and bodies
▶️How moms and dads experience stress differently and how same-s*x parents experience stress differently
▶️Counterintuitive, super simple, super quick (30 seconds) tools for self-regulation
The link is in my bio.
29/11/2023
Save the Date! December 5th at 10 am PT we will be talking about issues we all likely encounter; stress during the holidays!
Join us for "Stress Less: Can we elevate wellness as we wrap up 2023?" as we explore simple ways to replace anxiety with ease and infuse more joy into the season and the new year.
Link in bio to register!
#2023
27/11/2023
Feeling anxious about returning to work after the Thanksgiving break?
My guest episode on the Anxiety at Work Podcast with Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton might be just the ticket to soothe your workplace woes. I share specific tools you can use at your desk to help you feel better during your work day.
Follow the link in my bio to find the podcast. It is episode 173.
22/11/2023
Please come join me and 4 other amazing authors for a shopping and self-care event in Agoura Hills (Los Angeles), CA.
Saturday December 9th from 6:45-9:15 pm at Mixt Fine Things.
There will be food and drinks, discussions with all 5 authors, and a private shopping experience. The $75 entrance gets you $25 towards anything in the store.
Authors will be selling and signing their books (which will make nice holiday gifts!).
Hope to see you there. Register at [email protected] to reserve your spot. Deadline to register is Nov 30th.
❤️Chantal
20/11/2023
Check out my guest episode on the Period Whisperer Podcast with Bria Gadd. She and I talk all things stress and perimenopause. I had such a fun time talking to Bria. Find out what happens when two Canadians (now both living in the states) get together to geek out about all things stress, hormones, and feeling better in our bodies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zPowlWNIpM
11/11/2023
I love being a physical therapist but
my superpower is being a physical therapist who has an understanding of the nervous system.
The body doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Everything is connected.
07/11/2023
At the beginning of August, I had never been a guest on a podcast. As of
today, I have 6 podcasts to share with you (and 6 more coming soon).
Recording a podcast requires a totally different skill set and energy level
than writing a book. Writing necessitates a calm state to tap into your
creativity, while participating in a podcast works best with a moderate
amount of energy (fight-flight arousal) to be engaging and “on.”
As someone who is sensitive to stress, the promoting of my book (doing
podcasts and book events) is MUCH HARDER than writing the book.
That arousal energy I must embrace is super uncomfortable for me. It
requires constant settling of my nervous system. I am having to use
those tools I share in the book - again, and again and again.
Here is a list of the podcasts that are available now:
What do stress and de-cluttering your home have to do with each other?????
Join me as I guest on The Make Room Show with to find out the answer.
Jennifer is a certified professional organizer/life coach, inspirational speaker, and best-selling author of Organize Now!
This 30 minute podcast will give you a better understanding of why you might feel better when your home is organized, but also why you might feel more anxious after( or during) the organizing process. I explain why you might return time and time again to a disorganized, cluttered home despite REALLY wanting to keep your surroundings minimalist and orderly. And, of course, we discuss what you can do about it.
It is a fun conversation! I hope you will listen to it today (the link is in my bio)
14/10/2023
WOOHOOOOO!!! I started recording the audiobook for Settled!
My husband is a sound engineer and music producer so we are recording at his studio (which has the coolest floors - see image in the slide show).
Hoping to get it finished and available for download by the holidays.
Who out there prefers to listen to books instead of reading them? I like to do both. Sometimes I will be reading a book at the same time that I am listening to a different audiobook. Well, not exactly at the same time, but during the same week 🤣.
09/10/2023
I am so excited! As people finish reading SETTLED, they are leaving reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. I could not be more thrilled and honored.
If YOU enjoyed the book, please leave a review on either of those platforms. I would appreciate it soooo much.
And feel free to send me a DM to let me know you posted a review and where I can find it.
❤️ Chantal
25/09/2023
I am so excited to announced that my podcast with Dr. Jessica Higgins is now available.
She and I get into a fun conversation about how understanding your partner’s stress language as well as your own stress language can improve relationships and self-love. To listen to the episode, go to the link below.
https://drjessicahiggins.com/erp-389-understanding-our-stress-language-as-well-as-our-partners-stress-language-for-better-living-and-loving-an-interview-with-chantal-donnelly/
ERP 389: Understanding Our Stress Language As Well As Our Partner’s Stress Language For Better Living & Loving — An Interview With Chantal Donnelly Have you ever found yourself in a heated argument with your partner, feeling like you’re speaking entirely different languages, even though you’re using the same words? In our increasin…
Glimmers are moment that bring you joy and help balance out the stress in your life.
It is unclear who coined the term - it was either Deb Dana or Diana Fosha.
Glimmers are individual preferences; what is a glimmer to me might have no effect on you.
Mary Poppins was heading in the right direction with her “favorite things,” but glimmers are not tangible objects. They can be, but they can also be moments in time.
Glimmers can be found throughout your day-today. Bringing more awareness to them can help to soothe your nervous system (especially when times are tough).
I would love to hear about your glimmers. If you feel so inclined, please tell me about your glimmers in the comments 👇
07/09/2023
I wrote an article for
Check out the link to read
How to Get Yourself Unstuck From Stress.
I cover what happens when we go into a state of Freeze.
I also discuss how Freeze feels different from Fight-or-Flight and how moving out of Freeze requires a slightly different approach than moving out of Fight-or-Flight.
How to Get Yourself Unstuck From Stress | Spirituality+Health A physical therapist offers her best tips—from personal experience—to re-awaken the mind and body after being stuck in stress mode.
Grief is different than stress but the two co-mingle because grief becomes stressful.
As such, body-based, somatic tools for regulating the nervous system can help to relieve the stressful aspects of grieving (change, new responsibilities, red tape).
In addition, grief and stress both create uncomfortable feelings in the body.
One of the goals of regulation tools is to build our capacity to sit with discomfort.
In this way, grief and stress tools can overlap.
It is not the stressor or the grief that shrinks with time, it is our own growth that makes then seem diminished in size and impact.
After reading Settled, Chantal’s copyeditor had some amazing words of praise for the book.
“It has been one of the great delights of my work life so far to read Chantal’s book. Educational, funny, thoughtful, to-the-point—it has pretty much everything I look for in reading-fo-pleasure material. Thank you so much for putting this out into the world.” Michelle Felich
Thank you Michelle for your kind compliment. I am delighted you enjoyed the book so much AND your copyediting talents were also much appreciated.
23/08/2023
I am so excited! I got to be on my friend Karen Osborne’s podcast Living in the Sandwich Zone.
If you have read up to chapter 6 in my book, you know a little bit about Karen. But what you may not know is that Karen and I live in the same town and when the two of us get together, we get talking.
We have had some amazing conversations over the last couple of years and one of them we recorded for her podcast. In this episode, we talk about how common it is for humans to get stuck in stress responses and how being “fluent in stress” can help us get unstuck.
If you like this episode, I encourage you to subscribe to Living in the Sandwich Zone podcast and check out some of Karen’s other episodes. She interviewed Sheri Salata (January 4, 2023) and some other amazing people over the last two years.
Talking to Karen always feeds my soul (and her soothing voice doesn’t hurt either). I hope you enjoy this conversation with her as much as I did.
To listen to the podcast, follow the link below
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/settled-how-to-find-calm-in-a-stress-inducing-world/id1591757579?i=1000625369609
Living in the Sandwich Zone: Settled: How to Find Calm in a Stress-Inducing World on Apple Podcasts Show Living in the Sandwich Zone, Ep Settled: How to Find Calm in a Stress-Inducing World - Aug 23, 2023
19/08/2023
Thanks again to The Resetter Podcast for having me on the show. It was such an important conversation.
Have you tuned into this week's episode with Body Insight to hear all about how to navigate the menopause stress connection, restful sleep, and much more. Tune in now!
Thank you, Chantal, it was great having you.
▪️Listen here >> https://drmindypelz.libsyn.com/
▪️ Full episode on Apple or Spotify now!
▪️ Like our podcast? Subscribe and review us!
15/08/2023
If you are a fan of Dr. Mindy Pelz, don’t miss this conversation she and I have on the connection between stress and menopause.
We talk about what happens to cortisol levels as perimenopausal and menopausal women experience a decline in s*x hormones.
I share somatic tools for managing the increase in stress that is so common during this phase of a woman’s life.
To listen to the episode, click on the link below
APPLE PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-resetter-podcast-with-dr-mindy-pelz/id1503897906?i=1000624371618
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1gkRGnNM90Zd5MeSuSwUl5
YOUTUBE:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUdJhiKVt0M
The Resetter Podcast with Dr. Mindy Pelz: Tools to Navigate the Menopause-Stress Connection with Chantal Donnelly on Apple Podcasts Show The Resetter Podcast with Dr. Mindy Pelz, Ep Tools to Navigate the Menopause-Stress Connection with Chantal Donnelly - Aug 14, 2023
My guest episode with Dr. Mindy Pelz just dropped. Join us in our conversation on menopause and stress and learn some body-focused tools to help settle your nervous system.
19/07/2023
I got interviewed by Authority Magazine. They asked me about mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellness.
Check out the article to read my 3 tips for optimal wellness in each of those categories.
Total Health: Chantal Donnelly On How We Can Optimize Our Mental, Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual… Be friendly and interact with people you encounter throughout the day. The ultimate indicator of enhanced physical wellness is longevity…
12/07/2023
ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview with Chantal Donnelly.
Transforming Pain into Strength: Chantal Donnelly's Vision for a Healthier World with Body Insight - ValiantCEO Welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine's exclusive interview with Chantal Donnelly, the renowned physical therapist and wellness expert behind the groundbreaking Body Insight movement.
21/06/2023
We keep trying to be better, do better, get better.
What if we are already good enough?
What if our perfect, authentic selves are just waiting for us to sculpt away the culture and baggage blocking them from view?
Learning about the nervous system and self-regulation has helped me understand that my perfectionism is a stress response. It is born out of the notion that, in the future, I will become a better version of myself. The longing to arrive at such a destination leads me to fret and panic that I may never get there. So, I hurry. I worry. I doubt myself. I do everything in as perfect a way as possible—hoping to arrive at a better me.
I forget that, like an artist sculpting a masterpiece, my job is to simply remove anything blocking my true form and beauty.
From a place of perfectionism, of stress, I forget to see the lump of clay for what it is. I run around finding the perfect adornments to bedazzle the clay. A silk scarf, a rhinestone, some paint. Anything to make it special. To make it worth something.
What I really need is to sculpt away the excess and unveil the beauty hidden underneath.
Chronic pain is one way the brain can misinterpret signals from the body.
The Way Out: A Revolutionary Scientifically Proven Approach to Healing Chronic Pain by Alan Gordon, LCSW (with Alon Ziv) is a top-down approach to treating chronic pain. Gordon created Pain Reprocessing Therapy — a mind-body approach to managing chronic pain— and this book outlines the process.
18/05/2023
There is a bi-directional relationship between your brain and body. When positive thinking, affirmations, or rational thought have let you down and you can’t figure out why you feel stuck, look to your body for clues.
A collapsed posture can keep you stuck in a stress response.
You may intellectually feel ready to move on but your body continues to feel constricted.
This physical constriction leads to a mental constriction.
Moving your spine in expansive ways can recalibrate your nervous system.
To get unstuck, open up. Stretch. Undulate. Rotate.
The movement will move you out of survival mode.
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