WTF #12: Symptoms Are Sacred Messengers with Heather Waxman

What if your symptoms are not signs that something is wrong with you, but signals that something in you needs care?In this episode of Women Around a Table Eating Food, Jen and Nic welcome marriage and family therapist, somatic practitioner, and all-around healing force Heather Waxman, LMFT, (who also happens to be Nic’s wife).Together, we talk about burnout, over-responsibility, nervous system regulation, attachment wounds, and why so many high-functioning, midlife women can look fine on the outside while feeling completely fried on the inside. Heather brings a whole-person lens to healing—one that makes room for the body, the psyche, the relational world, and the truth that insight alone doesn’t always change how we live.(THEN Heather lands the line that basically became the spine of the episode… maybe 2026: Symptoms are sacred messengers.)This one is warm, funny, wise, and wildly validating. It’s about learning to treat your symptoms less like proof that you’re broken and more like signals that something in you needs care, rest, nourishment, or simply a softer way forward. Come for the nervous system wisdom, the chemistry, Heather’s wit, and her desert-island food. Stay for the feeling that maybe healing doesn’t have to be one more impossible thing on your list.(Love what you heard from Heather? Learn more about her here at www.heatherwaxman.com.)Jump To The Goods00:00 Welcome + introducing Heather Waxman05:05 Heather’s origin story and “the wisdom inside my wound”08:21 What talk therapy does beautifully—and where some people want more12:09 Why insight doesn’t always translate into lived change17:44 Why so many high-functioning midlife women feel chronically dysregulated18:44 “Symptoms are sacred messengers”22:16 What that actually means in real life, especially with burnout24:49 Why healing should feel more like an invitation than a psychobabble goose chase26:02 Over-responsibility, caregiving, and the toll on women’s nervous systems33:13 What nervous system regulation really is—and why it does not mean being calm all the time40:49 Gentle starting practices: orienting, inner anchors, and slow nervous system support46:13 How Heather helps people feel safe in their bodies again + where to find her