Episode 73: Mind-Body Minute — Beginner Meditation with Michele Spring

Meditation is one of those practices that almost everyone recommends—especially in the autoimmune world. We know nervous system regulation matters. We know stress impacts inflammation. We know slowing down is important.

And yet, actually sitting down to meditate can feel surprisingly difficult. Instead of calm, you might feel restless. Instead of clarity, your thoughts get louder. Instead of relaxation, your body feels uncomfortable.

For many women living with autoimmune disease, this makes perfect sense. When your nervous system has been on high alert for a long time—monitoring symptoms, managing flares, juggling responsibilities—stillness can feel unfamiliar, even unsafe.

In this Mind-Body Minute, Mickey is joined by AIP Certified Coach, Qigong and yoga teacher Michele Spring to talk about why meditation feels hard, what’s actually happening in the nervous system when we try to slow down, and how to begin in a way that feels supportive instead of frustrating.

This conversation reframes meditation as a practice of building safety and awareness—rather than clearing your mind or doing it “perfectly.”

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

1. Why meditation can trigger anxiety instead of calm
2. How nervous system dysregulation makes stillness feel unsafe
3. What meditation actually is (and what it isn’t)
4. Why you don’t need to clear your mind to meditate
5. How moving meditation (like Qigong) can be more accessible than sitting still
6. A simple way to start with just 30 seconds
7. How to structure a meditation habit so it actually sticks

Resources:

1. Free Guided Meditation – Michele’s calming nervous system meditation
2. Michele on Instagram – @ThrivingAutoimmune
3. Michele on YouTube – Michele Spring (Thriving Autoimmune)

Episode Timeline:

00:00 – Why meditation feels so hard

01:26 – Meet Michele Spring

02:34 – Nervous system dysregulation and stillness

06:27 – What meditation really is (and common misconceptions)

10:13 – How to get started if meditation hasn’t stuck

11:57 – Structuring a sustainable practice

13:34 – Free guided meditation invitation

14:39 – Where to connect with Michele

It feels like everybody is talking about meditation

in the health and wellness space.

Your doctor recommends it.

Your therapist recommends it, and your favorite health podcast recommends

it, and we all nod and think, yes, I should definitely be meditating.

Myself included, and then we don't, right?

So sometimes we try, once we sit down, our mind starts racing.

We become hyper aware of every sensation in our body, which for those

of us with autoimmune disease, we're no stranger to, we start thinking

about our to-do list or symptoms or whether we're even doing it right?

And if you're living with autoimmune disease, meditation can feel especially

hard, when your body's been in that fight or flight mode for months or years,

when you're used to monitoring symptoms, adjusting food, managing flares, sitting

still can feel anything but calming.

So today we're going to talk about why meditation is hard, how to get

started in a way that actually feels supportive instead of frustrating.

Welcome back to the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast.

I'm Mickey Trescott, and today we're continuing our Small Bite series with

another Mind-Body Minute, short, practical conversations designed to support not

just your nutrition, but your nervous system and your overall healing.

because while food is so powerful, so is safety, and the state

of your nervous system plays a direct role in inflammation,

digestion, and immune regulation.

To guide this conversation, I'm joined by somebody who brings both deep

compassion and expertise to this work.

Michele Spring is a Certified Health Coach, an AIP Certified Coach, a

Qigong and yoga teacher, and the founder of Thriving Autoimmune.

After being diagnosed with Hashimoto's and Celiac disease while raising two

young boys and working full-time, Michele found herself exhausted, foggy,

inflamed, and frustrated by being told medication was the only solution.

Through healing her gut, regulating her nervous system addressing stored

stress and trauma, she completely transformed her health and now helps

women with Hashimoto's do the same.

She's the creator of the Full Body Health Reboot and the Root because Progression

Map, a structured framework that helps women move beyond symptom management and

rebuild their health from the inside out.

Michele, I'm so glad you're here for this conversation.

Welcome.

Thank you for having me.

I'm so glad to be here.

Truly, meditation is one of those things that we all know is good

for us, especially in the autoimmune world where stress and nervous system regulation

matter so much, and yet it can feel surprisingly difficult to actually begin.

So let's start there.

Why does meditation feel so hard for so many people, especially those

of us living with chronic illness?

Well, it really does start with the nervous system, and I

know we throw around the term nervous system dysregulation a lot these days,

but it comes down to the fact that the nervous system is your brain, your spinal

cord, your nerves, and a bunch of cells in your body that it's like the command

center of your body and one of its main functions is to basically keep you alive.

It's constantly scanning your environment through all of your senses and looking for

anything that might be a threat for you.

Now, this could be a lion running at you, or it could be things

that you barely even perceive that are outside of your awareness.

A lot of this comes from when you were a child, for example.

So if your parent or caregiver maybe yelled at you because you

were sitting and playing video games instead of doing your homework.

They may have yelled at you, or then maybe like another time you were sitting around

and doing nothing and you were supposed to be doing chores or something like that.

Every time this happened, you started to learn it's not safe

to be relaxing or sitting still.

And this happens years upon years, and you get, keep getting proof of

this through your teachers and maybe your boss and just all of these

different people throughout your life.

And your nervous system without you even consciously realizing,

it starts to think, okay, well if I sit, it's not safe to be still.

And then you add on a lot of us, especially women, tend to mask a lot to

feel, not like we, we feel don't, that we're not worthy or we're not good enough.

And so we mask by achieving, by doing, by showing people that we're the

go-to people and that we can overcome things and that often can translate,

again into, it's not safe to be still.

because when we're still, it's like your nervous system starts

to say, whoa, what's wrong here?

Right?

So if you are going through decades of this, and then at like 40, you

decide, okay, I'm going to start a meditation practice, and you sit down.

And you try to be still, your nervous system's going to

say, oh, what's going on here?

This, this isn't safe, this is different.

What's going on?

And it's going to start to make you feel a little uncomfortable.

You might shrug your shoulders a little or scratch your neck

and, and you start feeling a little anxious and uncomfortable.

And then thoughts start to come in like.

Oh, what's for dinner tonight?

Or, oh, did I remember to do the laundry?

Or did I turn off the stove three months ago?

Right?

Like stupid things come into your brain because your body and

your nervous system is trying to distract you into doing something.

Into what it feels is safe.

So if you have tried to meditate and have felt that you are like

feeling more anxious from doing it, there's nothing wrong with you.

It's, it's like you are completely normal 'because it's just your

biology working as it should.

Yeah, I actually have a story.

When I first started a meditation practice, I was home alone and

I went into my bedroom and I was sitting cross-legged in my bed trying

to do a guided meditation, and I had a really bad anxiety attack.

And I remember sitting there being like, why is this so triggering for me?

Why do I feel so bad, but it was because I just hadn't stopped in so

long that like so much came rushing in that I was like, no, please stop.

I actually called a friend of mine who meditates a lot, and I told her and she

was like, yes, this is exactly what you have to work through when you start.

So I love that you're normalizing for people that it is really

uncomfortable when you start and that is why it's so hard to start.

So, can you tell us, Michele, what is meditation really, because there's so

many different ways that you can do it.

And I know sometimes people get really hung up in, you know, doing it right.

Because of course, if we're going to do something, we want to do

something the right way, right?

There's a lot of options.

Let's talk about what it is in general.

Yeah, sure.

I think one misconception is that it is clearing your mind completely of thoughts.

There is a branch of meditation in which you could do that and there's

nothing wrong with that, but I think it's not necessarily practical for busy

women that have autoimmunity and lives.

It's more about becoming aware of your thoughts your brain is meant to

think, that's what it's designed to do.

And trying to clear your mind of thoughts is like trying to

tell your heart to stop beating.

It's just, it's not going to happen.

Right.

So it's, it's about becoming more aware of the thoughts and not

letting them trigger you as much.

Not getting caught up in them.

I like to say it's like a car passing by.

You don't have to get in the car because like if you get in the car, then you

go down the emotional trap that it can lead to all of the other thoughts

that it can lead to, and suddenly that you're just down the rabbit hole.

So it's more just becoming aware that, hey I have thoughts.

Hey, these happen.

They can pass by.

I can come back to my breath or a mantra or whatever it is and just

let the thoughts kind of go by.

It starts to help with emotional regulation when you do this, so

it doesn't trigger you as much.

It also can help with things like downregulating, the inflammation in your

body and getting your body into that healing state because the more you can

do this, the less stressed you are, the more you're going to be able to get into

that parasympathetic rest and digest mode.

It doesn't even have to be sitting there and listening, or like

paying attention to your breath.

Guided meditation is a wonderful way for people to start, especially if you

do have a lot of thoughts because you can listen to somebody else and they

will guide you through the process.

I sometimes liken them to like little coaching sessions while you're

sitting still, so that way you're being productive with something while

also resting, which is productive.

Also things like moving meditation.

I am such a huge fan of Qigong, if you've probably heard of Tai Chi, Tai Chi is a

part of Qigong and what it is, is moving meditation, it's repetitive movements.

You kind of do over and over and it helps to clear your mind, but then also soothes

your body at the same time, and that works really well for you if you tend to be like

more of the hyperactive kind of person.

I have ADHD, and so sometimes just sitting still, it's very, very

hard, especially if I'm stressed.

But if you are like very stressed and you, there's no way that you can sit

still by doing repetitive movements, you can get into that same state,

and so it works really well as well.

I love that you bring that up, Michele, because something that

has happened to me is I have psoriatic arthritis, my tendons are a little bit

wonky and meditation, one of the barriers for me in the past was actually the

joint pain just from even sitting for 10 minutes in a still position causes me

a lot of pain, even when I'm generally not having flare or in a lot of pain.

I've actually recently started a little Qigong practice where it's meditative.

The type I do is called Pangu and there's a little hand movements and there's just

enough movement and then there's counting to kind of give my brain something to do,

give my body a little something to do, and I just feel like it clicked for me.

So for anybody listening, I love that Michele gave so many ideas for different

ways that you can meditate, because that whole stillness clear your mind

part, you know, works for some people, but then also a little more of a

movement practice can be really helpful.

And so if anybody listening has tried meditation before and it

didn't stick, what is your number one recommendation for them to figure

out a practice that works for them?

I will give you a tip first is that move before you meditate.

So whether that's a walk, I think shaking.

If you can do full body shaking, shake your arms, shake your legs,

bounce up and down for 30 seconds to two minutes can really help.

It gets rid of a lot of that excess energy you might have.

And I know some people listening might be like, okay, the chronic

exhaustion, I have no excess energy.

What is she talking about?

Still try it for 30 seconds because it actually can bring you energy as well.

It helps to move blood flow in your body and it helps to just wake

up your body but in a way that's going to be soothing for you.

And then after you've done that, sitting might be actually a lot more comfortable

for you and you won't feel as activated and feeling like you have to move as much.

Then just start very slowly.

Like start, you can do 30 seconds.

Just pay attention to your breath for 30 seconds.

All you're doing is just teaching your body and your nervous system.

Hey, it's safe to sit here.

Look, I didn't die.

Everything's okay.

And then just go from there.

You can move up like to a minute the next time and just try this,

with the goal not trying to be like, you're going to do two hours someday.

It's not that.

You're developing a practice of every time that you have thoughts, you can just

bring yourself back to your breath gently.

Don't shame yourself for it.

Just pay attention to that and just keep doing that.

Or if that really still sounds boring or hard for you, then I would definitely

suggest doing either the guided meditation or the moving meditation.

I love that.

And do you have any tips for people about structuring a practice?

You know, we've gotten into a little bit recently in habit change tips and

tricks here on the podcast, talking about movement and different things.

How do you like to trigger your meditation practice?

Is it something that you like to when you're feeling stressed, or do you

like to have something else in your day that kind of like anchors that, like

you said after exercise or something?

I typically do it every day.

I walk at lunch, so I'll eat my lunch, I will walk for blood sugar regulation, and

then I will do my meditation after that.

But if something is really triggering me, if some event has happened or

something like that, then I will go into probably like a Qigong that will

help to move that energy out as well.

I love thinking about different ways that you

can structure these practices.

'because in my history I've had different issues and different things.

I'm working on different stressors, lately with perimenopause, it's sleeping.

So I've started meditating a little bit closer to when I go to bed, just because I

find that, that like going to bed, falling asleep, even though there is a hormonal

component of that, the mind part of it, just getting my mind clear really helps.

Whenever you want to build a new habit, attaching a habit to

something that you're already doing.

So maybe brushing your teeth or like in the after lunch walk or an

afternoon walk or something like that is a really good way to start a

practice of something that you want to try for a few minutes every day.

Because like brushing your teeth, it takes three minutes, right?

And then attaching something onto that, that's another few minutes.

Usually most of us have the time to do something like that.

So I'd recommend that you guys think about that.

And Michele, you have created a free guided meditation specifically for

listeners who want to try and get started.

Can you share what that includes and how everybody can access it?

Yeah, it's a guided meditation where I just kinda walk you

through the nervous system regulation of it's safe to be still, so that way

your body knows that it can sit there for a few minutes and, not die and be

okay, and just, I guide you through it, there's some slow breaths and it's

just very calming at the same time, but hopefully it's not boring in any way.

You can get it at thrivingautoimmune.com/safe.

Awesome.

And I really love how you frame for autoimmune women, especially meditation as

coming from this place of creating safety.

Because I think a lot of us hear about meditation in more of a like

optimization, perfectionism, how to be better, kind of a angle, which doesn't

really resonate with me personally as someone living in an autoimmune body.

I really appreciate that and thank you so much for being here, for

having this conversation with me.

I love that we've given everyone a way that they can ease into meditation

in a way that supports their nervous system and their healing, and hopefully

wets their feet a little bit to explore more and find out how to

benefit from a meditation practice.

And before we wrap up, can you let everybody know where they can follow

you and learn more about what you do?

Yeah.

Two best places are probably Instagram I'm Thriving Autoimmune or YouTube where I'm

Michele Spring, and that's Michele with one L, my parents blessed me with that.

If you search for Thriving Autoimmune, I probably should pop up as well.

I will be sure to link to all of Michele's social media

and website and the free downloadable meditation in the show notes that

you guys can try it for yourself.

If this episode resonated with you, consider just taking a minute today.

Literally just one minute to pause, breathe, and begin.

Doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful, just create that safe space.

Listen to your breath, and thank you guys so much for being here,

and we'll see you next time.