Our Services
Sound Familiar?
You push through exhaustion. Your mind won’t slow down. You finally sit down to relax and your body is still tight, restless, on edge. You wake up tired. You feel “on” all the time, even when there’s no reason to be.
Your jaw, shoulders, or hips are always holding tension, or you’re dealing with pain that never fully lets up.
That’s not a mindset issue. It’s your nervous system staying on guard. Stress isn’t just a thought pattern you can outthink. It’s a full system response. Your mind, your body, and your nervous system are constantly influencing each other.
You can understand what’s happening and still feel stuck. You can try to relax and still feel on edge.
That’s because the body holds the pattern, not just the mind. Real change happens when the whole system is involved.
What affects the body affects the mind. What affects the mind affects the body.
We offer somatic experiences designed to help you understand and shift how your body responds to stress. Through breathwork, neurogenic tremoring, and guided movement, you begin to recognize these patterns in real time and learn how to change them.
This is about learning to work with your nervous system, not against it, so you can release tension, build capacity, and feel more steady, clear, and in control.
Our Offerings
I'm committed to making breathwork accessible to all. If the investment isn't right for you right now, send me a note, and we'll find a way.
Why I Built The Nervous System Studio
Hi, I’m Karen. Yes, the good kind.
For years, I did what many high performers in Washington, DC do. I pushed through. I managed. I delivered. From the outside, everything worked. On the inside, I was anxious, exhausted, and living with chronic pain. A demanding career, divorce, major health challenges, and the complexity of blending a family took a toll I could not outwork.
When I found breathwork, it felt like I had finally connected the dots between my stress, my pain, and my nervous system. None of my doctors, including my pain specialist, had ever mentioned the nervous system as the missing piece.
Breathwork gave me something I had not experienced in years: regulation, relief, and capacity.
I am an internationally certified, trauma-informed Conscious Connected Breathwork Facilitator. My training is accredited by the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance, reflecting high professional standards in breathwork education. I am also an Oxygen Advantage® Functional Breathing Instructor and am certified in Restorative Breathwork® (IAYT), Pranayama (YA), and am working toward certification in Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE®).
I am still human. Always learning. But I know what it feels like when calm becomes unfamiliar. And I know it is possible to find your way back.
I built this studio because I know what it feels like to carry too much for too long.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Science:
Research shows that your breath isn't just keeping you alive - it could be your most powerful tool for change.
We’re constantly bombarded by wellness trends promising quick fixes. Breathwork sometimes gets lumped in with them. But the research tells a different story. Universities and medical institutions are now validating what practitioners have long observed: breathwork produces measurable physiological and psychological effects, making it a valuable complement to traditional therapy.
Measurable Brain Changes
Researchers at the Clinical Neuroscience Department of Brighton and Sussex Medical School used advanced brain imaging to observe people during conscious connected breathing. They found that this rhythmic pattern activated regions tied to emotion and memory, supporting natural release and insight.
Deep Emotional Access
Real-time tracking confirmed that participants could safely access and process stored emotion and memory. The deeper the breathwork session, the greater the positive shift. Across studies, participants reported less fear, fewer negative emotions, and no panic reactions.
Psychedelic-Level Benefits Without Substances
In related studies, scientists described breathwork as a “powerful, non-pharmacological tool” capable of producing metabolic and neurological changes comparable to those seen in psychedelic-assisted therapy, yet achieved entirely through breath and music.
Clinical Improvements in PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression
Research from the Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience in Berlin and the MIND Foundation in Frankfurt found that participants’ well-being improved within a week of conscious connected breathwork, with reductions in depressive symptoms. Other breathwork studies have shown that:
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PTSD survivors experience major reductions in trauma symptoms
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People with anxiety report better sleep and emotional regulation
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Burned-out healthcare workers show lower stress and fatigue
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Those with depression report improved mood and vitality
Breathwork Physiology
During conscious connected breathwork, carbon dioxide levels drop and blood pH rises (becoming more alkaline). Low CO2 causes blood vessels to constrict slightly. At the same time, the Bohr Effect means hemoglobin holds oxygen more tightly, temporarily altering oxygen delivery to tissues. These changes can create tingling or muscle tightness while increasing activity in emotional and memory centers of the brain. Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex (the "thinking mind") quiets, allowing deeper awareness to surface. As normal breathing resumes, the body naturally rebalances.
What This Means for You
The evidence is clear: breathwork changes how the brain functions, how the nervous system regulates stress, and how we experience emotion. These are not placebo effects, they’re measurable biological shifts that support real healing and transformation.