Episode Summary
In this powerful episode, Dr. Stacey sits down with Celeste Barbier—professional vocalist, certified sound healer, ordained officiant, and sacred spaceholder—to explore the liminal space where sound becomes sanctuary. Discover how grief, trauma, and identity shifts can be held and softened through vibrational healing, especially for autistic and neurodivergent women navigating sensory overwhelm, emotional disconnection, and the unspoken grief of midlife transitions.
Celeste shares her journey from childhood trauma to using her voice as medicine, her profound work with end-of-life transitions, and practical tools for using sound to regulate your nervous system when words fail. Whether you're struggling with alexithymia, burnout, or simply feeling disconnected from your body, this episode offers gentle, accessible pathways back to embodiment through vocal healing.
Key Topics & Timestamps
- Opening: Sound as sanctuary for grief and trauma
- Celeste's origin story: Childhood trauma and discovering her healing voice
- When performance becomes medicine: The shift to intentional sound healing
- The difference between singing songs and sound healing vocal toning
- Holding space at end of life: Music as a bridge between worlds
- Pairing with mediums and creating sacred transitions
- The science behind sound healing: Vagus nerve, nervous system regulation
- Working with grief, alexithymia, and emotional numbness
- Creating death rituals to close old identity chapters
- Sound healing for sensory overload and autistic burnout
- How to use your voice at home: Humming, toning, and sacred practice
- Color, scent, and vibration: Layering sensory healing
- Nourish or Numb Segment: Rapid-fire sound healing wisdom
- Reclaiming your voice: Literal and metaphorical pathways
Resources & References
Connect & Community
- Listen: Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms
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- Download the Free Guide: 3 Questions That Change Your Menopause Conversation
Podcast: The Nervous System Eats First
Host: Dr. Stacey Denise | The Neuroaesthetic MD
Guest: Celeste Barbier | Sound Healer, Vocalist, Sacred Spaceholder
Episode: 14
What is The Nervous System Eats First: Autism Spectrum, Menopause & Beyond?
The Nervous System Eats First is a podcast about the midlife body—when masking stops working, menopause hits hard, and your nervous system demands more than just supplements and willpower.
Hosted by Dr. Stacey Denise, a board-certified physician and founder of the Neuroaesthetic MD™ method, this show invites listeners into a new kind of recovery: one where healing begins through the senses.
Each episode blends science, sensory ritual, and somatic insight to help women reclaim regulation—not as a reward, but as a requirement.
This is not “self-care.” This is nervous system nutrition for:
Autistic and ADHD women unmasking in midlife
Black women and women of color navigating medical gaslighting
Women in menopause who feel invisible, exhausted, and emotionally unmoored
Highly sensitive women trying to feel something without getting overwhelmed
If you’ve ever asked, “What is happening to my body?”—this podcast is your permission slip to find out, slowly and with grace.
🎧 The Nervous System Eats First
Where your body is the expert, and your senses are the medicine.