Meditation Didn’t Work—Until I Understood This

When I was told I was dealing with anxiety and depression, the advice made perfect sense on paper.

Meditate.
Do yoga.
Slow down.
Be mindful.

It all sounded logical. Almost obvious.

But when I actually tried to do it—when made the time and sat down, closed my eyes—I realized something I wasn’t expecting:

I still couldn’t do it.

Not because I didn’t want to. But because being alone with my mind felt overwhelming. My thoughts were loud, restless, and constant. The idea of “finding peace” felt almost ironic when the moment I stopped moving, everything inside me sped up.

That’s when I understood something important: I didn’t just need discipline. I needed support. So I looked for help. 

At the time, I was recommended the conventional path. Something faster. Something designed to “fix” how I was feeling. And while I understand that route has its place, it didn’t feel aligned for me at the time. So I started asking different questions: 

What could I incorporate into my life that felt sustainable?
Something I could take daily, without fear.
Something that wouldn’t create more problems while trying to solve one.

That search led me to plants and the Gut-Brain connection.

Through studying medicinal plants and the gut-brain axis, I started to understand that what we feel mentally is deeply connected to what’s happening physically. It’s not all about the Gut, but it has a role, and understanding it helped me find support in a way I didn’t expect. 

You see, the gut and the brain are in constant communication through what scientists call a bidirectional system—meaning they influence each other all the time. Further, your digestive system isn’t just processing food. It’s interacting with your nervous system, your immune system, and even producing neurotransmitters involved in mood regulation.

Basically the gut communicates with the brain through pathways that influence mood and stress response.

So suddenly, things started to make sense.

It wasn’t just about “thinking differently.”
It was about supporting the system that influence how I think. 

At that point, I also had to face a harder truth: we live in a society that is overfed and undernourished.

We’re constantly consuming—food, information, stimulation—but very little of it is actually supporting our bodies. Ultra-processed foods, high sugar intake, and constant stress have become normal. And because they’re normal, we don’t question them.

We just keep going.

We eat because we’re told we need to consume x amount of calories.
We push through because we’re told to over perform.
We numb ourselves because it feels normal. 

But at some point, your body starts asking for something different. And the problem is, most of us are too disconnected to hear it.

Learning to Stop Running From Myself

What this journey really forced me to do wasn’t just change what I consumed—it forced me to sit with myself.

Slowly. Imperfectly. But consistently.

Because the truth is, there’s no one who can read your body better than you. Not a trend, not a label, not a protocol. Most of what we experience today isn’t random—it’s the result of patterns. Of disconnection. Of constantly looking outside instead of listening inward.

And no, the solution isn’t isolation. We are not meant to disconnect from the world. We are meant to learn how to exist within it—without losing ourselves in the process.

Where Adaptogens Came In

Not as a miracle. Not as a replacement for deeper work. But as support.

Plants like reishi and ashwagandha are studied for how they may support the body’s stress response and help maintain internal balance. Not by forcing calm, but by working with the body’s natural systems—what many researchers connect to pathways like the HPA axis, which plays a role in how we respond to stress over time.

What mattered to me was this:

• They weren’t going to impact other organs or systems in my body, negatively.
• They were GRAS- Generally Regarded As Safe.
• They’re something that supports me, not numb me. 

And that made all the difference.

This is about  choosing things that support you instead of deplete you. About building rituals that you can sustain. About reconnecting with your body in a world that constantly pulls you away from it.

Because the reality is: stress isn’t going anywhere :(

Happy Dösing, 

Valeria-