The Female Nervous System Was Never Meant To Live Only Indoors - Nor in Pointy Shoes!
Dear Members,
I just returned from a very beautiful and meaningful Thermalist® retreats— our Thermalist® Women’s Retreat in Sweden.
And honestly, I am still processing the experience.
There is something incredibly powerful about bringing women together in nature to slow down, breathe differently, move differently, recover differently, and finally begin listening to their bodies again.
Not through restriction.
Not through pressure.
But through regulation.
Throughout the retreat, we explored women’s health from multiple perspectives — metabolism, stress, nervous system regulation, hormones, recovery, movement, and longevity.
We were incredibly fortunate to have inspiring talks from Kayla Barnes, who shared deep insights into women’s health optimization and what biomarkers and measurements women should actually pay attention to when it comes to long-term health and performance.
We were also joined by our own Thermalist® Instructor and women’s health expert, Mirjam Stein, whose calm, grounded, and deeply knowledgeable approach created some truly meaningful conversations among the group.
But one of the moments that stayed with me the most happened outside.
We were generously gifted a pair of barefoot shoes from Vivobarefoot, and together we went on a long nature walk along the breathtaking and windy Swedish coastline.
What began as a simple walk turned into hours of conversation about feet health, posture, grounding, metabolism, nervous system regulation, movement patterns, and how disconnected many people have become from the surfaces they walk on every single day.
The feet are one of the body’s richest sensory interfaces with the external world.
Every step sends information into the nervous system.
When we restrict movement in the feet, flatten sensation, and disconnect ourselves from natural terrain, we also reduce sensory input that helps regulate balance, posture, stability, and even stress responses.
Walking in barefoot shoes across uneven natural terrain requires presence.
Your nervous system pays attention.
Your posture adjusts.
Your gait changes.
Your breathing changes.
And slowly, your body begins to organize itself differently.
Modern research increasingly supports what many people intuitively feel after spending time outdoors:
Nature regulates us.
Exposure to natural light, uneven terrain, fresh air, natural sounds, and fractal visual patterns found in forests, coastlines, and landscapes helps shift the nervous system toward parasympathetic activity — the state associated with recovery, digestion, hormonal balance, emotional regulation, and metabolic repair.
Studies have shown that even short periods in natural environments can:
reduce cortisol levels
improve heart rate variability (HRV)
lower blood pressure
improve glucose regulation
restore cognitive focus
support immune function
The nervous system does not separate “mental health” from physical physiology.
Everything is connected.
And perhaps this is one of the reasons why so many women at the retreat described feeling calmer, clearer, lighter, and more emotionally regulated after just a few days immersed in this environment.
Not because we “escaped life.”
But because we returned to conditions the human organism still recognizes.
Throughout the retreat, we also guided multiple Thermalist® sauna sessions combined with our sound experience.
And once again, I watched participants enter the sauna carrying tension, overwhelm, and mental noise — only to slowly soften into presence, stillness, and regulation.
These moments affect me deeply every single time.
Because as a scientist, you spend years studying physiology, biomarkers, mechanisms, and nervous system responses on paper.
But witnessing regulation happen in real time — seeing someone’s breath slow, their shoulders drop, their eyes soften, their nervous system shift from survival toward safety — that is something entirely different.
Those honest moments are why I continue this work.
Seeing people reconnect with themselves is what I live for.
This retreat reminded me again that women’s health is not only about hormones, supplements, or optimization.
It is also about environment.
Light.
Nature.
Movement.
Temperature.
Breath.
Connection.
Safety.
Rhythm.
Recovery.
The female nervous system was never designed to live permanently overstimulated, indoors, disconnected from natural cycles and sensory input.
And perhaps part of healing is not adding more complexity — but removing enough noise that the body can finally regulate again.
In clarity and balance,
Dr. Susanna Søberg
PhD in Metabolism | Founder of the Thermalist Method®
soeberginstitute.com