We’re living in what experts now call a pandemic of chronic stress. The American Psychiatric Association’s 2024 Mental Health Poll found that 43% of American adults feel more anxiety from stress than they did the year before.

But not all stress is the same.

Everyday stress—like running late or meeting a deadline—comes and goes. It challenges you, then fades once the moment passes.

Chronic stress, on the other hand, lingers for months or even years. It quietly reshapes your brain, weakens your immune system, and creates emotional wounds that affect how you think, feel, and connect with others.

The good news? Your brain and body are incredibly adaptable. With the right support — you can rewire these patterns, calm your nervous system, and create a life that feels safe, grounded, and peaceful again.

Psychotherapy works through the mind—helping you understand, process, and reframe the stories and emotions that drive stress.
Reiki and Energy Healing work through the mind, body, and energy field—they are forms of somatic healing that release the stress and trauma stored in your physical and energetic systems. Together, these approaches address the whole person: mind, body, and spirit, supporting deep and lasting emotional healing.

The Difference Between Stress and Chronic Stress

Think of stress as a short wave that comes and goes. It can motivate you to grow and change.
Chronic stress is more like living in a storm that never ends. Your nervous system stays “on,” even when life is calm. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline flood your system daily, keeping you hyper-alert and unable to rest. Over time, this chronic survival mode damages your brain and body, and even your ability to feel safe or loved.

Stress is temporary.
Chronic stress becomes a pattern — and that pattern can rewire your brain.

Chronic Stress and Emotional Wounds

Chronic stress doesn’t just affect your body; it creates emotional wounds that can last for decades. Constant tension shortens patience and clouds communication. Small disagreements can feel overwhelming. You might shut down, pull away, or struggle to be emotionally present — even with the people you love most.

Relationships often mirror the stress you carry inside.

Root Causes of Chronic Stress

Chronic stress usually builds over time from both outer pressures and deep inner conditioning.

• Inheriting ancestral or parental patterns of anxiety and trauma
• Growing up in chaotic or unpredictable environments
• Overloaded work or school demands
• Toxic or emotionally draining relationships
• Financial strain or uncertainty
• Major life changes (grief, illness, divorce)
• Coping habits that reinforce the dopamine-cortisol burnout cycle

“Rodrigo has been very impactful in my life. His therapies can´t be explained with words. Every time I go to him, I feel renewed, invigorated, and I am at peace. The first time when I was having a Lupus flare and he improved my health. Besides, he made me realize all the traumas that I had since I was a child without me even knowing, and were affecting my health. I went through a successful healing process, and I am forever thankful for that. I still go to him when my mind and soul need direction and healing, the outcomes are always fantastic and I am able to find clarity and make positive changes in my life. Thank you Rodrigo, you are a blessing!” — GISELLE R

️ Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Chronic Stress

Science confirms what many intuitively know — early life stress shapes the adult brain and body. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic or stressful events that occur before age 16, such as neglect, household conflict, or emotional unpredictability.

When children grow up surrounded by yelling, harsh punishments, neglect, frequent moves, sudden changes, emotional unpredictability, or even just constant tension, their brains are flooded with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These chemicals are designed to protect us in short bursts, but when they’re present all the time, they change how the brain is wired.

According to the CDC and Kaiser Permanente ACE Study, people with high ACE scores are more likely to experience:

• Chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders
• Anxiety, depression, or addiction
• Trouble regulating emotions or forming healthy relationships
• Higher cortisol and inflammation levels throughout life

Why? Because the developing brain learns to survive rather than thrive.

How ACEs Affect the Brain and Nervous System

• Amygdala: Stuck in “fight or flight” (your brain’s alarm system) becomes overactive, creating anxiety and hypervigilance.
  • Results: constantly feel anxious, on edge, or easily triggered — even when nothing dangerous is happening.
• Hippocampus, which manages memory and emotional balance, can shrink with prolonged stress exposure.
  • Results: Anxiety and depression. Struggle with memory, focusing, or feel “stuck” in emotional patterns. (Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 2023)
• Prefrontal cortex, responsible for focus, planning, impulse control, and decision-making, develops more slowly.
  • Results: struggles with self-control, make impulsive decisions, or have difficulty solving problems logically.
• Nervous system becomes wired for “fight, flight, or freeze,” staying stuck in survival mode.
  • Results: Muscle tension, chronic anxiety, trouble sleeping, or feeling “wired but tired.” (Harvard Health Publishing)

Even decades later, the body may respond as if danger is still near — causing chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, or autoimmune issues.

But here’s the hopeful truth: the brain can rewire itself.

The Good News: The Brain Can Change

Here is the magic. The brain is neuroplastic — meaning it can rewire and heal throughout your entire life. When you calm your nervous system, create safety, and practice self-compassion, your brain begins to shift.

The overactive alarm systems quiet down, the body softens, and new, peaceful patterns form. That’s where both science and spirituality come together beautifully.

Science-Proven Ways That Rewire the Brain

Modern neuroscience and holistic healing both confirm what many intuitively feel — the brain can change throughout life. When you calm your nervous system and nurture emotional safety, your brain literally begins to rewire itself for peace and resilience.

Healing works best when science and spirituality work together.

Evidence-based approaches like psychotherapy help the mind process emotions and build new thought patterns, while Reiki and Energy Healing soothe the nervous system and clear the energetic imprints of stress and trauma. Together, they create a foundation for deep transformation — healing the mind, body, and spirit at once.

Here are some of the most effective, research-backed ways to retrain the brain from chronic stress to calm:

1. Psychotherapy and Emotional Awareness
   Psychotherapy — especially trauma-informed therapy — helps the brain process painful memories safely and integrate emotions that were once overwhelming. Unlike other practices that focus on relaxation or energy flow, therapy helps restructure thought patterns and emotional responses through insight, reflection, and connection. When combined with Reiki or mindfulness, it accelerates emotional healing and rewiring.
2. Reiki and Energy Healing
   Reiki heals the body, mind, and emotions at the same time, working through the body’s biofield. Restore flow and harmony in your nervous system. Research shows Reiki can lower heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol while increasing deep relaxation (NIH, 2024). Reiki helps the body remember safety and teaches the brain how to rest.
3. Meditation and Mindfulness
   Regular meditation lowers cortisol, thickens the prefrontal cortex, and increases gray matter in brain regions tied to calm and compassion. Even 10 minutes a day can change your brain’s wiring over time (Harvard, 2011).
4. Deep Breathing and Yoga
   Slow, conscious breathing activates the vagus nerve — your body’s natural “reset switch.” Yoga combines movement, breath, and awareness, reducing inflammation and improving mood.
5. Healthy Social Connection
   Genuine connection and emotional safety release oxytocin — the “bonding hormone” — which naturally lowers stress and supports brain healing.
6. Sleep, Rest, and Self-Compassion
   Quality sleep and rest clears toxins from the brain and balances hormones. Self-compassion reduces activity in the amygdala, helping you feel emotionally safe again.

A New Way Forward

If chaos shaped your childhood, you are not broken — your brain and body adapted to help you survive. And that means you also have the power to help them thrive. With the right support, the overactive alarm systems can quiet down, emotional wounds can heal, and new, healthier patterns can take root.

Reiki and Energy Healing are gentle yet powerful ways to support that transformation — healing not just your past, but your present and future too. Over time, they can help you build a new baseline: one where your body feels safe, your thoughts are kind, your emotions are stable, and your spirit is free to grow.

✨ In short: Growing up in chaos rewires the brain — but healing can rewire it again. With science-backed understanding and spiritually grounded practices like Reiki and Energy Healing, it’s possible to transform the effects of the past into a future filled with peace, resilience, and joy.

About Wendy Wisner: Your Reiki Master & Intuitive Energy Healer

Wendy Wisner is an Intuitive, Spiritual Healer, Jin Kei Do and Usui Reiki Master, and educator. She runs Radiant You, a holistic wellness center, that offers Reiki and other types of energy healing as well as Reiki Master, Intuitive Energy Healer, and Energy Clearing certification programs. Wendy blends energy healing with Divine insights to guide your release of limiting beliefs to heal your body and emotional wounds from trauma. With Wendy, you reignite your passion for life as you rediscover the radiant you within—healing your emotions and relationships.

With expertise in Reiki, Chakra Healing, Intuitive Energy Healing, Sound Healing, Energy Clearing, Psychic Spiritual Readings, Dowsing, and Access Bars, Wendy empowers clients to heal themselves and others.

Restore your belief that, “I’ve got this” with Wendy Wisner or Rodrigo Ortiz as your Reiki Master, Intuitive Energy Healer, or teacher to heal yourself and others. Rodrigo provides healing in Spanish. If you first language was Spanish, consider this to unlock those childhood traumas in the language they were created. Both Rodrigo Ortiz and Wendy Wisner are Reiki Masters in the Usui Shiri Hyoo and Reiki Jin Kei Do traditions.

All services complement allopathic medical and psychological care provided by traditional healthcare practitioners.

Connect With Us

Radiant You Healing | Reiki Healing | Energy Clearing | Chakra Balancing | Holistic Wellness
Falls Church, VA | In Person and Virtual Sessions Availabl

All services complement allopathic medical and psychological care provided by traditional healthcare practitioners.