How Posture, Mindfulness, and Epigenetics Work Together to Support Healing

SmarterWellth™
Conversations, Growth, Wellness

Published On

June 6, 2025

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Let’s talk about something wild:

Your body isn’t just following instructions from your brain. Your brain is following instructions from your body, too.

In Episode 12 of the SmarterWellth Podcast, I sat down with Dr. Denny Warren, a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner with a gift for turning science into soul-level insight. We talked about everything from epigenetics to stress regulation, but there’s one thing I can’t stop thinking about:

Your posture might be shaping your healing journey more than you think.

Posture Is More Than a Pose—It’s a Pattern

Dr. Denny explained that posture is one of the most immediate ways we send messages to the nervous system.

Think about it: slumped shoulders, tense neck, shallow breathing—your body thinks you’re in survival mode. And it reacts accordingly: elevated cortisol, low-grade anxiety, foggy thinking.

But here’s the empowering part. When you shift your posture—stand up straight, open your chest, soften your jaw—you’re not just looking more confident. You’re telling your body:

“We’re safe now. We can heal.”

This is what Dr. Denny calls a top-down and bottom-up feedback loop. Mindset alone won’t change your biology. But pairing intentional posture with mindfulness, breathwork, and movement? That’s where the healing happens.

The Science of Epigenetics (Without the Overwhelm)

Dr. Denny also broke down epigenetics—the idea that our daily choices influence how our genes are expressed. And his message was remarkably hopeful.

You are not stuck with the genes you were born with.
You are not doomed by your DNA.
Your body is in constant communication with your environment, and that includes your thoughts, your movement, your meals, your rest… even your stress.

This isn’t just theory. It’s real science backed by pioneers like Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief (learn more here). Lipton’s famous “petri dish” experiment showed that cells responded more to their environment than their genetic code. Dr. Denny brings that same concept into the real world—your kitchen, your calendar, your breath.

All Stress Isn’t Bad

One of my favorite things about this episode is how we reframed stress. Dr. Denny said something that stuck with me:

“Stress is only a problem when you don’t complete the stress cycle.”

In other words, it’s not the stress that makes us sick—it’s the lack of recovery.
If you’re constantly powering through your days without resetting your nervous system, your body starts to think this is just how we live now. Enter: burnout, inflammation, hormonal chaos, anxiety, and that nagging feeling that something is off.

He shared a few small shifts that can help:

  • Daily movement (even 10 minutes counts)
  • Gratitude journaling
  • Taking a posture break: stand tall, ground your feet, roll your shoulders back, and breathe
  • Bringing mindful awareness to your stress—naming it without judgment

These aren’t hacks. They’re invitations. They tell your body: “You’re not in danger anymore.”

Why This Matters for Women

As women, we’re often taught to push through and minimize how we feel both emotionally and physically. Over time, we’ve learned to treat stress as a badge of honor and rest as a luxury (or as something we have to earn).

But functional medicine offers another way. One that says:

  • Your symptoms are not the enemy to be battled.  They are the signal to pay attention.
  • Your body is wise, not broken.
  • Your posture, your presence, your breath—they are tools for coming home to yourself.

Dr. Denny reminded us that healing doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It starts with noticing how your body responds when you pause, when you shift your stance, when you choose a nourishing thought or a short walk instead of another scroll.

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

Ready to listen?

If you’re tired of hearing “just manage your stress” with no follow-up, I think this conversation might feel like an exhale. 

Catch the full episode:
“The Science Behind Why You Can Heal” with Dr. Denny Warren

If this information stirred something in you—hope, curiosity, maybe even a sense of “finally, someone gets it”—we’d love to keep the conversation going.

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