Donna's Blog: Writing to Heal

Exploring the Science of Emotion, Trauma, Health, and Healing

Donna Jackson Nakazawa
Photo Copyright © Marshall Clarke

Thank you for joining me in my little corner of the web! I’m Donna Jackson Nakazawa, an award-winning science journalist and speaker passionate about exploring the intricate connections between neuroscience and human emotion. Over the years, my work has been dedicated to uncovering how our early life experiences shape our brains, bodies, and overall well-being. I’ve delved deep into the science of how trauma affects our health and how we can find pathways to healing. 

I offer online courses that empower you to reframe your narratives and heal from past trauma through a powerful journaling process, based on the innovative, trauma-informed, mindful Neural Re-Narrating™ program I’ve taught at universities and behavioral health groups nationwide.

My newest book, The Adverse Childhood Experiences Guided Journal, a workbook that applies my writing-to-heal program through exercises and prompts, will give you the guidance and space to process painful thoughts, feelings and memories to bring you peace, healing, and hope.

Feel free to dig into my blog posts – past and present! If you find the information here insightful and valuable,  I hope you will also join me on my Substack, Healing Together with Donna Jackson Nakazawa, where I aim to create a warm and welcoming space where we can further explore together the profound connections between our emotions, past experiences, and health. I will be sharing insights, stories, and science-based strategies, all grounded in the latest neuroscience research. For now, as I work on building an engaging and supportive community, all my articles and features will be FREE. I hope you’ll consider following and supporting my work as we build this meaningful space together.

My Online Courses

Your Healing Narrative
Write-to-Heal With Neural Re-NarratingTM

Breaking Free From Trauma
3-hour self-paced workshop

Available now!

Neuroscience-Based Writing Practices to Rewire Your Brain from Trauma

The trauma of your past can’t be undone, but you can take charge of how it affects you. This compassionate journal offers a safe space to help you process, heal, and reclaim your power.

Writing to Heal - Recent Blog Posts

  • All Posts
  • Angel and the Assassin
  • Childhood Disrupted
  • Chronic Illness
  • Neural Re-Narrating™️
  • The Adverse Childhood Experiences Guided Journal
  • The Last Best Cure

-June 17, 2015

Increasingly doctors are looking at depression as an inflammatory reaction, rather than a standalone neurological disorder — and in some cases depression may even be exacerbated by an allergic reaction. This theory could lead to never-before-prescribed methods that can be used in conjunction with traditional antidepressants to combat inflammation. This new understanding of depression…

-July 4, 2014

My mom said something recently that really stuck with me. She’s 82. “It used to be that we did everything once, and now we have to do everything twice!” I kind of brushed it off as a subtle sign of aging, but then I noticed, over the next forty eight hours: the washing machine/dryer…

-May 29, 2014

Hope you can come join me on Sunday June 8th at 1:00 at Baltimore’s lovely Breathe Bookstore and Cafe for a chat and booksigning! Sunday, June 8th, 2014 1:00 to 2:30 The Last Best Cure — a Discussion & Book Signing with Donna Jackson Nakazawa

-May 26, 2014

Is Someone Driving you Nuts? Fifteen insights on how to stop thinking about someone who’s driving you crazy. Have you ever found that you just can’t stop thinking about someone and what they did or said, and how bewildered or hurt you were by their actions? When someone hurts us, our children, or someone…

-March 2, 2014

Hi All, I wrote this for the PBS website, Next Avenue, and have recently had a number of requests to share it. So, I’ve included the essay here, and a link to the original below. I’m Not Cured, but I Am Healing After years of pain and chronic illness, an author finds relief through…

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