Relaxing Your Nervous System - by Juna Bobby MD, EdM

COURSE

Relaxing Your Nervous System

With Juna Bobby MD, EdM

Does your brain need to be convinced that relaxation is an important part of self-care? Are you a curious type? If you're the kind who likes to know the science behind your mind and body, how stress can cause disease, and how meditation and lifestyle changes can help offset modern chronic stressors at the cellular level, this course is for you. In this 10 day course, you will learn an overview of the field of mind-body medicine and some of the research behind how the mind-body interaction plays out in our day-to-day psychology as well as at our biochemical, immune, neurologic, and genomic level. Each lesson consists of a mini-review of the science of stress and relaxation and ends with a mini, research-supported technique to elicit your relaxation response, the physiologic opposite of your stress response. By the end of the course, you will have learned the basic concepts of how your nervous system works to keep everything in balance and what you can do to directly influence the wear and tear of everyday stressors on your overall wellness, down to the cellular level. The course ends with an invitation to a 10-day challenge to elicit your relaxation response on a regular basis with a flexible 10- or 20-minute meditation recording provided for your use. All materials and exchanges with Juna Bobby are for informational and entertainment purposes only. Course materials and recordings are not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any health condition or problem. Any questions regarding your own health should be addressed with your own physician or other healthcare provider. Juna Bobby makes no warranties nor expresses or implied representations whatsoever regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, comparative or controversial nature, or usefulness of any information contained or referenced on Insight Timer or any other platform. In using recordings and courses with Juna Bobby, you agree that neither MindBodySpace LLC, Juna Bobby nor any other party is or will be liable or otherwise responsible for any decision made or any action taken or any action not taken due to your use of any information presented.


Meet your Teacher

Resilience building and stress management are powerful tools for wellness. Dr. Juna Bobby is a physician who specializes in teaching mind-body and lifestyle medicine through her podcast Rx Chill Pill and through her curriculum, Top Down Brain planners and digital courses, which teaches students the neuroscience of resilience by tackling the biggest stressors for kids and teens today — overwhelm and distraction. Dr. Juna is a faculty member at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division where she teaches The Science of Resilience for Peak Performance and Happiness. Prior to that, she launched Wellness Lunch & Learns and Mindfulness Exam Prep workshops at NYU SOM and Columbia Law School. She holds workshops at many schools and organizations to teach the skills of resilience and self-care. Her passion is to help kids learn about their brains and bodies, so that they can have an extra edge at success, while still enjoying the day-to-day connections to curiosity and joy for a happier, healthier, life.

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10 Days

16.8k students

4.8 stars

13 min / day

Stress

English


Lesson 1

Mind-Body Medicine

In this lesson, you'll get an overview and research highlights in mind-body medicine. You will understand the three phases of the stress response and the physiologic changes in our body that goes along with stress. We will end the lesson with a short, three-and-a-half-minute elicitation of your relaxation response by focusing on the breath. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced meditator, you can reset your nervous system with mini-meditations anytime, anywhere. Mind-body medicine is a powerful tool for self-care. Use it in addition to regular check-ups with your health care professionals, pharmaceuticals and surgery.

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Lesson 2

Your Nervous System

In this lesson, you get a brief overview of your brain and nerves extending out to the rest of your body. You also learn about the different systems including the autonomic nervous system and the somatosensory nervous system which we exercise at the end of the lesson with a three-and-a-half-minute relaxation response body scan exercise.

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Lesson 3

Your Stress Response

In this lesson, you'll learn about the benefits of the fight or flight, stress response. We'll also cover a brief overview of the psychoneuroimmunology of the stress response and how chronically, biochemical changes can affect us in our day-to-day life by reshaping our brain connections over time. We close with a mini-meditation practice going through the three steps to elicit our relaxation response.

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Lesson 4

Your Intelligent Body

In this lesson, you learn about how intelligent the human body is and the automatic functions that go on in the background to keep us in balance or homeostasis. You’ll also learn the basic concepts of allostasis and allostatic load. We end with a mini-meditation on relaxing the self — mind and body, to elicit our relaxation response.

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Lesson 5

Healthy Adaptation

In this lesson, you learn how brains can literally change in structure and function. Our mental perspectives and behaviors add to the stress balance that has already been preloaded for us — our genes, unique experiences and our environment. We can start to shift the balance toward healthy behaviors, one of which could be eliciting our relaxation response on a regular basis. We end with a mini-meditation with guided imagery toward healthy adaptation.

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Lesson 6

The Relaxation Response

This lesson dives into what the relaxation response is and how to elicit it. The relaxation response is not a technique, rather it's a physiologic state that can be brought on voluntarily and can be reliably reproduced when it meets the criteria of breaking the chain of everyday thinking. We end the lesson with a sun salutation yoga sequence using the three steps to elicit the relaxation response.

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Lesson 7

The Science Of The Relaxation Response

In this lesson, we will discuss important biochemical and physiological research contributions that support the relaxation response as a powerful state that can change us down to the cellular level. It's never too late to start and it's never too early to teach our children about the science of our brains and bodies. We end with the three steps to elicit the relaxation response.

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Lesson 8

Benefits Of The Relaxation Response

In this lesson, you learn about the research-backed benefits that a mind-body curriculum can have on the day-to-day lives of youth and adults. It's never too early or too late to introduce the science of mind-body medicine and lifestyle medicine into our lives. We end with a short body scan to elicit your relaxation response.

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Lesson 9

Shifting Perspective

In this lesson, you'll learn about the five key components of human resiliency. In order to boost resiliency, in addition to the relaxation response, we need additional cognitive and lifestyle changes that help us tip the perception of our experiences toward a more positive emotional valence. We end the lesson with guided imagery to help shift our perspective.

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Lesson 10

Healthy Habits Challenge

In this lesson, we will do a review and summary of what you learned over this course in order to reinforce the concepts for your brain. We will discuss how to start a new lifestyle habit with an invitation for you to continue daily elicitation of the relaxation response for 10 more days. Two free relaxation response meditations, one 10 minutes and one 20 minutes, are available for you under my teacher profile. We end with a guided imagery of your healthy self.

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Ask your teacher

This course includes 118 community questions and 28 audio replies from Juna Bobby MD, EdM. The community classroom and teacher audio replies are only available via the app.

118

4.8 (529)

Recent Reviews

Siri

February 1, 2026

Excellent!

Diana

November 7, 2025

Amazing!!! Thank you so much for this.

Sandra

November 6, 2025

I loved this course. Such a great overview with so much helpful information. Very motivating too. Thank you so much!

Katt

October 5, 2025

Thoroughly enjoyed this course that included both scientific info and relaxing meditation. Packed a lot of "food for thought" into each session spoken in a moderately fast pace with a calm soothing voice,

Ess

September 1, 2025

One of the best things I’ve found on Insight Timet. Thank you!

Karen

September 1, 2025

Full of interesting information about the brain, body connection! ! It wZ great to get reinforcement that meditations daily are helping my brain and that I'm doing a great job!

Teresa

June 18, 2025

Very informative and effective

Christy

June 8, 2025

Transformative learning!

Francesca

May 23, 2025

Informative and practical, as well as inspiring. Thank you Juna!

Alyssa

March 12, 2025

Dr. Juna, Thank you thank you thank you!!! I was recently diagnosed with cumulative stress anxiety and this course helped me learn SO MUCH about the physiology behind all my symptoms - why I am experiencing them and healthy coping mechanisms to “tip the scale” back in the right direction. This knowledge is so powerful and validating. I am so grateful to you and everything you are teaching!!

KayK

November 29, 2024

Excellent overview of the science behind the relaxation response. I also liked the little practical breathing exercises at the end of each session. Well worth and I will listen to it again every now and then and do the 10 day challenge.

Jenna

November 25, 2024

A truly wonderful balance of teaching and practice! I plan to repeat the course to let it all sink in more deeply, and continue on with the ten day challenge!

Warren

November 19, 2024

I think this course is truly life changing. Plenty of useful information delivered in a gentle and confident way in palatable, bite sized chunks together with actual relaxation response practices, every day. I already feel better and I will be continuing with Dr Juna’s meditation recordings.

Dave

November 14, 2024

Excellent, cohesive course with a great balance of information, insight and exercises.

Vicki

October 19, 2024

Thank you! 🙏

Annemiek

September 25, 2024

Thank you for this informative course. I love the evidence based information that is provided. Will look for your meditations🙏

Elin

September 6, 2024

This course has been a fundamental piece in me really dedicating myself to relaxation. Relaxation not as a tool to get somewhere else but as a way of living. A way of treating my nervous system and body always. I am deeply grateful for you sharing your expertise Yuna! And that you give examples of different ways of activating the relaxation respons. For me I realised that using words like “i am calm” and speaking them out loud was what really got me deep into relaxation. Also finding that this combo of information and meditation is a great way for me to learn. Thank you again! Ps. Your voice and way of speaking is amazing! Would love to see more relaxation meditations from you.

tracy

August 17, 2024

Thank you!

Jeannie

August 5, 2024

Great in depth course! Thank you!

Helene

June 26, 2024

I absolutely loved your course! Understanding all th ins and outs is my body, to the cellular level, excites me! It the understanding of its workings on my fright flight freeze response which affects me often as I have PTSD, so my thirst for knowledge in this area is endless! I adore Neuroplasticity and have read some wonderful books I hold as my gold as I have MS and so believe in its ability to be educated to change so many physical states that most would be content to just accept their given state… not this kid!😂 I’m 66 an artist and in the middle of doing a Diploma in Art Therapy and loving it! I am well aware through this Diploma of the huge connection and it’s affects with even our self negative talk. Attitude has such an affect on the outcome of so much..! You’re course was right up my alley! I looked forward to the next day of it! I will re do it several times and gain little jewels of info not remembered or grasped the first time! Thankyou Thankyou ☺️

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