Emma Toms - The Confident Wellness Coach

05/11/2025

Yesterday, I contacted the GP for the first time in four years.
Not because I was sick — but because I wanted a check-in. To see how my body’s doing after years of managing autoimmune recovery, stress, and a busy life.

It’s no longer easy to see a GP. You speak to an admin. Maybe a clinician calls you. Labs are ordered. But you never get the chance to talk about the whole picture — your emotions, your stress, your history.

I got my bloods ordered, yes. But I didn’t get seen.
And if I — someone who understands the system — find that hard, how do others feel when they don’t have that knowledge or confidence?

This isn’t about blame. It’s about awareness.
Because when healthcare becomes transactional, people become data points — and we lose sight of the person behind the results.

This is why I’m so passionate about bridging systems and stories through lifestyle medicine.
It’s where prevention, nervous system regulation, and communication meet real, sustainable health.

If you’ve ever felt dismissed, rushed, or unseen in your care — you’re not alone.
Join me and .jenwilson at Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine and learn how to rebuild trust with your body, your clinicians, and your health.

🩺💫 Link in bio for details — still a few spaces left.

05/11/2025

The Body Keeps the Score — But It’s Also Trying to Speak

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had so many conversations with people who are only just discovering how deeply trauma and chronic stress can affect the body.

We often think of trauma as something that lives in the past — an old memory, a painful story.
But trauma, when unresolved, doesn’t stay in the mind.
It takes root in the body.

👉 Muscles tighten
👉 Hormones dysregulate
👉 Digestion slows
👉 Inflammation rises
👉 Sleep and focus decline

This isn’t “in your head.”
It’s in your system.

The science is clear: early life stress and chronic trauma are linked to long-term changes in the nervous system, immune function, and even gene expression. (Research shows this connection between the brain, immune system, and stress response in what’s known as the psychoneuroimmunology model — the study of how thoughts, emotions, and beliefs shape our biology. [PMCID: PMC3318917])

When emotions, thoughts, and beliefs aren’t processed — they’re somatised.
Meaning, the body becomes the storyteller.

The fatigue, the autoimmune flare, the chronic pain…
sometimes they’re the body’s way of saying:

“Something needs your attention.”

This isn’t about blame — it’s about understanding.
And with understanding comes choice.

The body is always communicating.
The work is learning to listen. 💫

✨ If this resonates, this is exactly the bridge I help clients build — from awareness to regulation, from the mind to the body. Through IEMT, SSP, somatic practice and gentle nervous system re-education.

05/11/2025

Why Lifestyle Medicine Matters More Than Ever

When I first began studying integrative health, I realised something powerful — most of us are taught to manage illness, not build wellness.

My own journey with Graves’ disease taught me that healing isn’t found in one prescription or one supplement. It’s found in the small, everyday choices that communicate safety and stability to the body — how we eat, move, rest, connect, and find purpose.

That’s the heart of Lifestyle Medicine — a science-based approach that uses daily habits to prevent, treat, and even reverse chronic stress and disease. It’s grounded in research, but deeply human in practice.

The science:
– A Mediterranean-style diet lowers inflammatory markers like CRP and IL-6.
– Movement boosts vagal tone and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), building resilience.
– Deep sleep supports hormone balance and brain repair through the glymphatic system.
– Breathwork, yoga, and social connection calm cortisol and support immune function.
– A clear sense of purpose even reduces inflammation and extends lifespan.

Our habits aren’t just behaviours — they’re biological signals. Every choice sends a message to your nervous system about whether the world is safe or stressful.

When we begin to regulate instead of react, nourish instead of numb, and connect instead of cope — the body starts to remember how to heal.

That’s what we’ll be exploring in Pillars of Health: An Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine — a friendly, evidence-based workshop I’m co-hosting with .jenwilson

Together we’ll share the science, the stories, and the small steps that build real change.

🗓️ Sat 22nd November
📍
💷 £65
🎟️ Link in bio

Because healing isn’t about being perfect.
It’s about beginning — with one pillar, one practice, one choice at a time.

—

04/11/2025

Graves’ disease is so often misunderstood.

People hear “thyroid issue” and assume it’s just fatigue, medication, and moving on.

But Graves’ is an autoimmune condition — where your immune system attacks your thyroid and floods your body with hormones, sending your metabolism, mind, and emotions into chaos.

The symptoms go far beyond the physical:

Racing heart and tremors
Heat intolerance and exhaustion
Anxiety, panic, and emotional volatility
Changes in appearance, mood, and relationships

It’s a full-body, full-life experience — and one that is chronically under-supported.

➡️ The facts:

Only around 30–70% of people achieve remission after treatment, depending on their medical care, stress load, and lifestyle factors (Cleveland Clinic; PMC 2023).

Emotional and psychological symptoms are significantly higher in thyroid patients, with studies linking untreated Graves’ to depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal.

Relationship strain is common — not because we stop caring, but because the disease changes energy, libido, emotion, and communication.

It breaks my heart to see so many women trying to hold life together while their bodies scream for help.

They’re not dramatic — they’re dysregulated.
They’re not weak — they’re exhausted from surviving.

I’m creating a local thyroid support group, under the guidance of Thyroid UK, to provide connection, understanding, and real conversation. Because this shouldn’t be faced alone — not anymore.

If this speaks to you, comment 💙 or DM me for details.
I want to build a space where the misunderstood can finally feel seen and heard

04/11/2025

Are you tired of chasing health answers that never seem to stick?
Leaving doctors appointments more confused than when you walked in?
Trying one solution, only to end up with three new problems?

You are not alone. And you are not broken.

🌿 Six Pillars Workshop
📅 Saturday 22nd Nov | 14:00-17:00
📍 The Wellbeing Hub, Bridgeton, Glasgow
💷 £65

This 3-hour immersive workshop is your invitation to step out of the maze of health struggles and finally begin to understand what your body truly needs.

Together, we'll explore the Fundamental Pillars of Wellness—a framework that moves beyond quick fixes and conflicting advice, offering you sustainable practices that restore balance and resilience.

This isn't another lecture.
This is real, practical change.

💡 In this workshop you'll:

✨ Learn how the Six Pillars interconnect to support lasting health
✨ Take home practical tools you can begin using right away
✨ Experience the power of "slowing down to feel and heal"

Your Guides:

I Am Jen Wilson, The Healing Rebel – Founder of The Healing Rebel, living proof that you can reclaim your health after Crohn's, endometriosis, and eczema.

– Integrated Wellness Coach who moved herself into remission after years of autoimmune struggle.

Together, we bring lived wisdom, practical tools, and a deeply compassionate approach.

Limited to 15 spaces for an intimate, experience 💚

Light refreshments, take-home resources, and a supportive community included.

👉 drop me a message for the booking link

Emma and Jen
Members of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine and Recovery in Action, The Voices of Lived Experience

03/11/2025

The Misunderstanding Around Graves’ Disease

When I was first diagnosed with Graves’ disease, I had no idea how misunderstood it really was.
Most people hear “thyroid problem” and think of being a bit tired, gaining weight, taking thyroxine, and carrying on.

But Graves’ disease is NOT that.
It’s an autoimmune condition — meaning your immune system attacks your thyroid, pushing it into overdrive.
Your heart races. You shake. You sweat. You can’t sleep. Your eyes may bulge.
Your mind spins at 100 miles an hour. You’re anxious, restless, irritable — often mistaken for being “dramatic” or “unstable.”

And yet, what’s happening is deeply physiological.
Your body is flooded with thyroid hormones.
Your nervous system is on constant alert.
Your emotions feel raw, unpredictable, and magnified — because the line between body and mind is gone.

This is why I find it incredibly sad and frustrating that so many people with Graves’ are being dismissed, misdiagnosed, or left to cope alone. Hashimotos too

Thyroid conditions are often minimised — treated as simple endocrine issues, when in truth, they affect every system of the body: cardiovascular, digestive, neurological, emotional.

I’ve spoken to so many people — mostly women — who have been told “it’s just anxiety,” when what’s really happening is a storm within their biology.

💔 The emotional cost is huge.
Isolation. Self-doubt. Shame. Being told you’re overreacting when your body is literally in crisis.

And that has to change.

I’m currently in the process of preparing a local thyroid support group under the guidance of Thyroid UK, so that no one else has to navigate this journey feeling alone, misunderstood, or dismissed.

Because education matters.
Empathy matters.
And being believed — truly believed — can be the first step to healing.

Have you ever felt dismissed by a health professional when your body abd Soul knows different?

Let me know on the comments 👇

31/10/2025

The Journey Back to Wholeness

A Conversation with Hollyanna from Bee’s Journey Wellness

So much of healing is not about doing more — it’s about remembering who we were before the world told us to forget.

In this conversation with Hollyanna — founder of Bee’s Journey Wellness and hollyannavellichor.com
— we explore what it means to return to ourselves through story, nature, and soul-led living.

Hollyanna’s work weaves together trauma-informed awareness, ritual, and creativity — an approach that feels both ancient and deeply relevant for modern healing.

We talk about:
🌿 The body as a compass for truth and safety
💫 Reclaiming voice and feminine power after trauma
🔥 Creativity as medicine and movement as prayer
💛 Learning to slow down, listen, and live from the heart

This conversation is both grounding and expansive — a reminder that healing is cyclical, not linear; intuitive, not instructional.

🎥 Watch the full video here → https://youtu.be/M5fDaWqKWko

Because every journey back to wholeness begins with a single, sacred remembering.

In this conversation, I sit down with Hollyanna, founder of Bee’s Journey Wellness and hollyannavellichor.com to explore what it means to return to wholeness...

30/10/2025

Reframing Recovery: A Conversation with Chris from Freer Thinking

When we talk about recovery — from illness, burnout, or trauma — it’s easy to focus on what we’ve lost.
But what if recovery isn’t about going back to who we were… but discovering who we’ve become?

In this conversation with Chris from Freer Thinking
, we explore how mindset, awareness, and the courage to question old stories can completely shift the healing journey.

Chris brings deep insight from both lived experience and years of work in performance, coaching, and wellbeing — and this conversation is full of grounded wisdom for anyone navigating change, stress, or uncertainty.

We talk about:
✨ The power of reframing and self-inquiry
✨ Moving from survival to curiosity
✨ Why recovery is not linear — and that’s okay
✨ Building self-trust through presence and perspective

🎥 Watch the full video on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/mYrduRLHSbI

Let’s keep building bridges between lived experience and professional practice — because real healing happens when both worlds meet.

In this episode, I sit down with Chris from Freer Thinking to explore what it really means to reclaim your mind and rebuild your life after challenge, trauma...

30/10/2025

"She looked different. She spoke different. She felt different.”

— Case study, Myxedema Madness Revisited (1949)

I saw this shared in a hypothyroid group recently, and honestly — it made me both fascinated and furious.

Because this is exactly what worries me:

▪️the massive lack of education around thyroid disease
▪️the way women are still being dismissed, medicated for “anxiety” or “low mood,” while their thyroids are quietly waving red flags.

In this 1949 report, a woman was admitted with delusions, paranoia, and hallucinations.

She was labelled “mad.”
But she wasn’t crazy — her thyroid was.

Her body had slowed so dramatically that it began to alter her mood, cognition, and even her personality.
Once she was given thyroid hormone, her voice lightened, her colour returned, her mind cleared.
Her grocer didn’t even recognise her — that’s how different she looked.

That’s how powerful the thyroid is.

It’s not just a gland.
It’s the conductor of your entire orchestra — metabolism, brain chemistry, hormones, energy, mood.
When it goes off-beat, everything does.

And yet, this still isn’t common knowledge.
We hand out antidepressants, we label people as “burnt out,” “hormonal,” or “menopausal,” but how many are actually hypothyroid and unheard?

This is why I do what I do.
Because it’s 2025 — and we should not still be losing decades of women to “mystery fatigue” and “stress.”

It’s not all in your head.
It’s in your biochemistry, your nervous system, your thyroid — and it deserves to be understood.

Let’s start teaching that.
Let’s start bridging that gap.

—

30/10/2025

At Men Matter Scotland, something powerful happens every week.

Men from all walks of life come together to talk openly, be listened to, and connect without judgment — within a safe, peer-led environment where you’re supported by equals, not professionals.

It’s one of the few spaces where men can simply be themselves — where speaking honestly or sitting quietly are both equally welcome. Because sometimes, healing begins not in advice, but in being seen.

I’m proud to offer 1:1 Integral Eye Movement Therapy (IEMT) sessions at the Hub.

IEMT is a gentle yet effective modality that helps the brain process unresolved emotional patterns and create new states of calm, confidence, and connection — without needing to retell difficult stories.

It’s particularly supportive for men experiencing:
🧠 Stress, anxiety, or intrusive thoughts
💭 Guilt, shame, or anger
😔 Emotional overwhelm or burnout
💤 Sleep or focus difficulties
🌱 A sense of disconnection or loss of direction

These sessions complement Men Matter’s approach beautifully — bridging community connection with individual nervous system regulation.

30/10/2025

"The body keeps the memory of what the mind can’t always name. Here’s how trauma and stress shape our immune system — and how to start rebuilding safety.

When I first began to recover from autoimmune illness, I believed healing would come through supplements, rest, and better habits.

All of those helped — but they were only half the story.

What I hadn’t understood then was how deeply my nervous system shaped every process in my body.

The stress I carried wasn’t just emotional; it was physiological.

It lived in my cells, my hormones, my breath, my sleep — and in the way my immune system had learned to stay on alert..."

https://open.substack.com/pub/emmatoms/p/the-roots-beneath-trauma-stress-and?r=18e95h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true