Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk

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Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk

Disclaimer: Actual results may vary.

This page does not dispense medical advice or recommend the use of any supplement or technique as a replacement for treatment or advice for physical, mental or medical problems which should be directed by your medical

01/01/2026

I’m taking a deep dive into Polyvagal Theory this week in a class I’m teaching and talking about how the Vagus Nerve and particularly having flexibility in our Vagus Nerve, benefits, our brain health and our longevity… all the pillars of brain health that I talk about are impacted by the Vagus Nerve Healthy vagal tone supports flexibility across brain health pillars, helping the nervous system shift efficiently between activation and restoration, which influences sleep quality, emotional regulation, immune balance, metabolic health, and the brain’s capacity for repair and plasticity.
Practices that strengthen your brain health pillars—movement, breath, social engagement, nourishment, stillness, and meaning—directly influence vagal signaling, reinforcing a bottom-up sense of safety that allows higher cortical networks to function optimally. warm social connections, intentional, and conscious breathing working on nervous system, regulation and healing trauma are several of the ways we can work with the Vagus Nerve for brain health. Sending you all wishes for love and good health and of course, peace inside your homes and peace through throughout the world! When we take care of our individual nervous system systems, we definitely impact the nervous system of the planet!

11/06/2025

Magic happens! Right? I think you have to believe it does, and then it does. About three months ago, my son asked me if I’d ever go to India, and I said I’d only go if I could do service work and meet the Dalai Lama. Fifteen minutes after I sent those words out into the universe, I received an email and was invited to do exactly that by , an incredible organization. I bring my personalized brain and emotional health strategies with me and I’ll share them in the next post!

10/27/2025

For those of you who were at my talk called “A Blueprint for Brain and Mental Health” on Saturday, thank you for coming. I loved sharing that breathing technique and the butterfly tapping with you too! I defined BRAINSPAN as living long, and living with strong thinking abilities. Nobody wants to have a long life with dementia 😔Thanks to the Daily Camera for that excellent article that you wrote about my work, and for recognizing that we’re in a world where building resilience and tapping into our inner (and outer) resources is a key strategy for supporting our brain + emotional health! Anxiety and fear are rampant. We can build stress resilience and brain longevity though healing our traumas (yes, plural), and implement ting an integrative approach; moving our bodies more, eating more (and varied) vegetables, challenging our brains, varying and upticking our exercise routine, having a growth mindset, loving ourselves and each other more, (and more often), and oh, so much more. May many people implement these health optimizing pillars of wellbeing!!

10/24/2025

Dear friends! This weekend is an amazing gathering at !
Aging at Altitude (Saturday, October 25th, 8:30a-2p) is a place where you can find so many resources on optimizing aging and longevity in Colorado.

I’ll be giving a talk called
“Your Personalized Blueprint for Brain Health”
which of course includes nervous system health and building stress resilience!
(my favorite topics to share with you!)

This is a free event, join me!

10/20/2025

Clap if you think this is the cutest thing!!!
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

10/02/2025

Jane Goodall died peacefully in her sleep. She was 91. It will take our togetherness and kindness to make heaven a place on earth. I met Jane Goodall a number of years ago and she typified warmth as she adored, bugs, animals and humans with the same spacious compassion and acceptance. My prayers on this Holy day is that we can all dig more deeply into our compassionate and kind nature and change rigidity into curiosity, and fear into hopefulness. This tribute was posted on FB. Thank you . “She walked softly through the forest, yet her voice thundered across continents.

Jane Goodall was not merely a scientist; she was a soul entwined with nature’s breath.

With patience as her compass and compassion as her creed, she listened to the whispers of chimpanzees and taught humanity to hear.

Her legacy is etched not in stone, but in the living pulse of every creature she defended.

She stood against extinction, against indifference, against despair; undaunted, unyielding.

Her eyes saw not just animals, but kin.

Her hands planted hope where others saw ruin.

And now, though she walks no more among the trees, her spirit rustles in every leaf, echoes in every call of the wild.

Let us carry her torch; not as mourners, but as stewards.

For Jane Goodall did not vanish.

She became the forest” send you love

09/02/2025

Feeling anxious sometimes? S And anxiety takes so many forms doesn’t it? Some people experiencing anxiety as racing thoughts some people feel their heart beating more quickly or don’t even notice that they’re breathing higher in their chest and more rapidly. No one experiences anxiety in a quite the same way, but there’s some really important common features: to feel of trembling and unease about the future, to worry about your health often and become preoccupied with somatic symptoms. To avoid social@situation l

07/25/2025

🌿 Feeling anxious or disconnected? It’s time to come home to your body.

Join Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk on Friday, August 15th at 12pm MDT for Vagal Toning for Nervous System Resilience: Befriending Anxiety, Part Two — an hour of nervous system regulation, embodied healing, and Polyvagal-informed community connection.

✨ You’ll explore practices to:
🌀 Enhance your nervous system health
🌬️ Feel more anchored in your body
💫 Cultivate a sense of aliveness and calm

Whether you’re moving through trauma recovery or simply want to grow your resilience, this session offers a warm, supportive space to expand your capacity for wellbeing.

Open to learners and practitioners of all levels — no prior experience needed.

🧘‍♀️ Register here: https://www.ilenenaomirusk.com/vagal-toning

07/22/2025

I’m sharing some of my glimmers with you, and they all add up! Seeing how we can potentiate joy and build emotional resilience means so much to me as I have the privilege of guiding people on this healing journey called life. These are a few of my joyful moments in the past week; 1. Growing things in my garden and harvesting them feels like a miracle each time. 3. Eating the bounty makes my gut Microbiome happy 3. Moving my body and stressing myself in the best possible way (that my mum always taught me to do) regarding exercise 4. Teaching my community about gentle ways to heal trauma, build stress resilience and support brain health lights me up 5. And being in nourishing relationships with family colleagues who inspire me tops off my glimmer list. Praying and meditating stabilize and anchor me, reminding me that I’m privileged to be alive. I hope this inspires you too take a glimpse at your own glimmers, and notice how they can be additive for you during your day. ’s medicine

07/17/2025

The last few weeks have been very intense, with lots of travel, speaking engagements, as well as some grieving. Personal and collective tears. I’m sharing some ways I built my own stress resilience, befriend my anxiety and work to help my patients do the same. 1. I look for + (try to create) beauty wherever I go and 2. spend time being vulnerable with people I feel safe with. 3. I keep working on my relationship with my parents who are now in their late 80s, and 4. healing my own trauma continues as an ongoing process, which I welcome and do not dread. 5. Meditating and 6. moving in nature have been my two biggest allies…So much of my work since the 1990s has been to help people find ways to enhance the connections between body, brain, and soul ; to feel more connected to ourselves, to each other so that we can better serve + savour this delicious and precious life.

06/04/2025

🌀 Curious about the vagus nerve and how to support your nervous system? Join me online for a mini Q&A + guided exercises to support growth, regulation, and resilience 💗🌿

This 45-minute interactive session is a chance to refresh the “Recipe for Regulation” practices we’ve explored in Polyvagal Toning.

Whether you’ve been attending or are just starting, this is a supportive space to ask questions, reconnect with your body, and build nervous system strength.

🧘‍♀️ Friday, June 13
🕛 12:00–12:45pm MDT
💻 Register: ilenaomirusk.com/vagal-toning

05/28/2025

🧠 I’m excited to invite you to my upcoming talk, Brain Health Roadmap for Optimal Longevity—a deep dive into what the latest research tells us about protecting our brains and emotional well-being as we age.

We’ll explore the full landscape: the history of Alzheimer’s research, why pharmaceutical treatments often fall short, and how data-driven lifestyle changes can truly support cognitive vitality.

I’ll be sharing the six core pillars I work with in my clinical practice—nutrition, movement, sleep, stress management, cognitive stimulation, and social engagement—as well as insights into how stress and nervous system dysregulation can impact memory and mental clarity.

Whether you’re looking to mitigate cognitive decline, support emotional resilience, or simply feel more mentally vibrant, this session will offer tools you can apply right away.

📅 June 30, 2025
🕠 5:30 – 7:00 PM
📍 Boulder JCC | 6007 Oreg Ave, Boulder, CO 80303
🔗 Register at www.boulderjcc.org/events

Looking forward to seeing you there and sharing this important work with our community. 💛

Address

2523 Broadway Suite 200
Boulder, CO
80304

Website

http://healthybrain.clinic/

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