Why Your Nervous System Is Running the Show and How to Reset It
With Megan Randall and Jillian Gunlicks, Co-Founders of Alchemy House - Sioux Falls, SD
The amygdala is the fear center of your brain. It cannot tell the difference between a slightly annoyed text from a friend and a bear chasing you. That is why your body reacts like the world is ending when it is not. Your fight or flight is working, it is just overclocked.
Amygdala and Fight or FlightMost wellness routines hit the physical and the mental - gym memberships, annual checkups, hormones, therapy. What is almost always missing is the energetic side and what is actually happening at the nervous system level.
The Missing Side of WellnessHalo therapy (salt therapy) releases pharmaceutical grade salt into the air you breathe. It is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial for the skin and the respiratory system. It is used for asthma, eczema, allergies, and chronic sinus issues, and simply for deep rest.
Halo TherapyThe Bio Charger uses four frequencies at once - Tesla coil, light, sound, and PEMF - to stimulate cellular repair. Twelve minutes on the Bio Charger is often equivalent to hours of recovery for high performance athletes and anyone dealing with inflammation or fatigue.
Bio ChargerReiki is now offered at Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic. The placebo effect is not a disqualifier, it is evidence that the body responds to belief, touch, and intention. Dismissing these modalities as "woo woo" ignores both the research and the centuries of use across cultures.
Reiki and ResearchActivate your parasympathetic response through the vagus nerve. Humming, singing, extended exhale breathing, cold water on your face, and gentle sound all target the vagus. Small daily practices move the needle far more than rare heroic efforts.
Vagus Nerve ToolsWhat is a nervous system reset?
Your nervous system has two modes: sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest). Chronic stress keeps most people stuck in sympathetic. A nervous system reset is any practice that deliberately activates the parasympathetic response so your body can downregulate, repair, and recover. At Alchemy House, that happens through halo therapy, the Bio Charger, the vibroacoustic sound table, Lucia light, Reiki, breathwork, and sound sessions. At home, it can be extended exhale breathing, humming, cold water on your face, or simply slowing down.
What does halo therapy actually do?
Halo therapy, also called salt therapy, pumps dry pharmaceutical grade salt into the air you breathe while you relax in a salt room. The salt is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial. It helps conditions like asthma, allergies, eczema, psoriasis, chronic sinus infections, and bronchitis. Most people also find it deeply relaxing, which is a parasympathetic response on its own.
What is the Bio Charger and what does it feel like?
The Bio Charger combines four different frequencies at once - Tesla coil energy, light, sound, and PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field). A session takes about 12 minutes. You sit in front of it, close your eyes, and the device emits frequencies designed to stimulate cellular repair, reduce inflammation, improve energy, and speed recovery. It is popular with athletes, but anyone dealing with fatigue, stress, or chronic pain benefits.
What is Lucia light therapy?
Lucia light uses rapidly flickering white light that you experience with your eyes closed. The patterns trigger a meditative state that is very hard to reach through traditional meditation. Most people describe it as meditation without the work. It is used for stress reduction, insight, creativity, and for people with ADHD or overactive minds who struggle to sit in silence.
Is Reiki real or is it placebo?
It depends on how you define "real." Top hospitals including Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic now offer Reiki as part of complementary care. The placebo effect is often used as a dismissal, but the placebo effect itself is evidence that the body responds strongly to touch, belief, and intention. Whether Reiki works through measurable energy or through the nervous system's response to gentle care, the outcomes people report (reduced anxiety, better sleep, pain relief) are repeatable and consistent with what the research shows.
How do I know if my nervous system is dysregulated?
Common signs: trouble falling or staying asleep, racing thoughts, a short fuse with people you love, feeling wired but tired, digestive issues, jaw clenching, shallow breathing, chronic tension in your shoulders or neck, and feeling like you cannot slow down even when you have time to. You do not need a diagnosis to start working on it. Gentle, daily practices help.
Where should I start if I am new to this world?
Start with something passive and relaxing. The salt room, the Bio Charger, or a vibroacoustic sound table session are all 12 to 30 minute experiences where you just lie down or sit back. You do not need to know anything or do anything. Once you have experienced a parasympathetic shift, you will recognize what that feels like and can chase it through other modalities.
How do I activate the vagus nerve at home?
The vagus nerve responds to the inner ears (sound, humming, singing), vocal cords (chanting, gargling), diaphragm (extended exhale breathing, box breathing), and the face (cold water on your face triggers the mammalian dive response). Five minutes of any of these per day, done consistently, is more effective than a long session once a month.
Energy work is pseudoscience.
If I cannot meditate, nervous system work is not for me.
You need to commit hours a week for any of this to matter.
If you are not physically sick, you do not need this.
The placebo effect means it does not work.
ADHD brains cannot benefit from this kind of work.
MEGAN I think a lot of us are familiar with the term fight or flight. There is a portion of our brain called the amygdala, and that is the fear center of our brain. If you get a text message from a friend that is telling you they are slightly upset with something you have done, or something fairly minimal, and your body is reacting like you are being chased down by a bear, that is a really good example of your fight or flight being overactive.
MELISSA Wellness is confusing. There's a new trend every week. Everyone's got an opinion and half the time you can't tell what's legit and what's just good marketing. And we get it, we're in it too. Welcome to Dialed In Health. I'm Melissa Goodwin. Every episode we bring in the people who actually do this work. Providers, practitioners. The experts who see clients and patients every day. We ask the questions you'd ask if you were sitting across from them so you can find the right people, make better decisions, and feel confident about what's out there.
MELISSA Every day, millions of people are typing their health questions into AI. Why am I tired? How do I lower my cortisol? What does the nervous system actually do? They are getting answers, but they are missing the part that nobody in conventional medicine has time to explain, and that is that your body is not all physical. Your nervous system, your energy, and the way you breathe are running the show under everything else.
MELISSA Today I am at Alchemy House with Megan Randall, a serial entrepreneur with a lot of work in the health and wellness space, and Jillian Gunlicks, also an entrepreneur and an artist. Welcome to the show, both of you.
JILLIAN Thank you. Thanks for coming.
MELISSA How would you describe what you have created here at Alchemy House?
JILLIAN It's a collaborative space with a lot of different opportunities to explore things that are maybe outside of your comfort zone a little bit, but in a welcoming environment. We have a lot of different options for everyone.
MEGAN Our tagline is wellness for your soul. It is very common now to be concerned about our health, to have a wellness routine, to be taking care of ourselves physically and mentally - gym memberships, annual checkups with your doctor, checking your hormones, going to therapy. But quite often we are missing the energetic side of our body, and more importantly, what we are doing to help our nervous system. We tried to gather all of that in one spot.
MELISSA What made you feel like this was needed in Sioux Falls?
JILLIAN For a long time I have wanted a space like this because I have been surrounded with people who do a lot of energetic and nervous system work. I wanted a space where we could all come together, support each other, have community. And a spot where people could come even if they are not doing any of that, where they can have a tea, dip their toe in, know that it is not super weird, and just hang out.
MELISSA If someone is eating well and taking care of themselves physically, how would they know if they are not taking care of their energetic side?
MEGAN One of the words I like to use is vibe. How are you actually feeling day to day outside of your physical health? And when it comes to mental health, a lot of people are going to therapy and it is helping a lot logically, but there is an underlying sense of something not being treated. Accessing that stuff in a more subconscious way through hypnotherapy or breathwork, sound bowls, sound frequency, that accesses a part of your system you are not getting through conventional ways.
JILLIAN We have a vibroacoustic sound table. You lie on it and it plays frequencies through the table itself. It is like being inside the sound. It bypasses the thinking brain and goes straight to the body. People fall asleep on it constantly.
MEGAN Halo therapy is another one, which is salt therapy. Pharmaceutical grade salt is pumped into the air you breathe while you sit in a salt room. It is antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and it is really good for respiratory and skin issues. Asthma, allergies, eczema, chronic sinus issues. Most people also find it deeply relaxing.
JILLIAN The Bio Charger uses four frequencies at once - Tesla coil, light, sound, and PEMF. It is about 12 minutes. People sit in front of it, close their eyes. It is used for cellular repair, energy, recovery. Athletes love it. Anyone with inflammation or fatigue loves it.
MELISSA A lot of people are going to hear "energy work" and think this is woo woo. What is the honest answer?
MEGAN The honest answer is that Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic both offer Reiki now. The placebo effect is treated like a dismissal, but the placebo effect itself is evidence that the body responds powerfully to attention, touch, and belief. Whether the mechanism is energy we cannot measure yet, or the nervous system responding to gentle focused care, the outcomes are real and repeatable.
JILLIAN These are also practices that have been used across cultures for thousands of years. Reiki, sound healing, breathwork, halo therapy. It is not trendy, it is us rediscovering what we already knew.
MEGAN The amygdala cannot tell the difference between an actual threat and a perceived one. If your body is constantly reacting like you are being chased by a bear, your cortisol is elevated, your digestion shuts down, your sleep suffers, your hormones get dysregulated. This is the foundation under everything.
MELISSA Tell me about Lucia light therapy.
JILLIAN Lucia light is a rapidly flickering white light. You close your eyes and the light patterns put you into a meditative state that is almost impossible to reach through traditional meditation. People with ADHD, overactive minds, people who cannot sit still - Lucia light works for them specifically because you are not trying to meditate. The light does the work.
MEGAN We have had clients who have tried meditation for years with no success come out of a Lucia session and cry because it is the first time they have actually felt their brain slow down.
MELISSA How do people activate the vagus nerve at home?
JILLIAN Humming, singing, chanting, gargling. All of those hit the vocal cords and activate the vagus. Extended exhale breathing where your exhale is twice as long as your inhale. Cold water on your face triggers the mammalian dive response. Five minutes a day of any of these does more than a big session once a month.
MEGAN Group classes are a great way to try it. We have breathwork sessions, sound baths, Qi Gong, hypnotherapy. You do not have to commit to a private session to start.
MELISSA What do people feel when they walk out of Alchemy House?
JILLIAN Lighter. Softer. They can breathe all the way down into their belly again. People say they did not realize how tense they were until the tension was gone.
MEGAN And they come back. That is the biggest signal for us. People feel the difference and want to keep coming back.
MELISSA How can people find you and visit?
MEGAN Our website is alchemyhousesd.com. We are on Facebook and Instagram at @alchemyhousesd. We have an after hours mini session event on April 17 at 6pm, and our one year anniversary celebration is May 3. Come hang out.
MELISSA Thank you both for being on the show.
MELISSA Hey, that's our show. If someone came to mind while you were listening to this, please share it with them. Just hit the share button. You never know what one conversation, one episode, or one piece of information can do for someone who's been looking for answers. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do it now. If you're a health or wellness provider and want to be on the show, there's a link in the show notes to get in touch. Thank you for being here. I'm Melissa Goodwin. The line is open. See you next time.