JournalSpeak - Nicole Sachs
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JournalSpeak is a therapeutic writing practice developed by Nicole Sachs, a psychotherapist and former patient of Dr John Sarno. Rather than being a structured method with a start and end point, JournalSpeak is an ongoing practice that helps people process repressed emotions and reduce the physical symptoms they create. Nicole teaches the approach through her books, online courses, workshops, podcast, and YouTube channel.
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JournalSpeak is built on three core steps:
Rant – Write freely and without censorship about the rawest emotions you can access.
Reflect – Step back and notice the themes or hidden patterns in what surfaced.
Release – Let the writing go (often literally tearing it up) and spend time in meditation or calm.
Nicole recommends 20 minutes of JournalSpeak followed by 10 minutes of meditation daily. The aim is to bring unconscious emotions like anger, grief, guilt or fear into the open, so the brain and nervous system no longer need to generate physical symptoms as a distraction.
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JournalSpeak is not about journalling for reflection or memory-keeping - it’s raw, unfiltered, and never meant to be re-read.
Many people use it alongside other approaches such as Freeme, Curable, PRT, or EAET.
Nicole has built a large community around JournalSpeak, including group workshops, retreats, and regular podcasts.
It can feel confronting at first, and some people need guidance before they feel safe expressing emotions so openly.
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JournalSpeak is grounded in Dr John Sarno’s TMS model, which linked chronic symptoms to unprocessed emotions. While Sarno described symptoms as a “distraction,” many modern practitioners (including Nicole Sachs) frame them as a protective signal - the body’s way of slowing you down and drawing attention to what hasn’t been felt or processed.
By using uncensored writing to express hidden emotions like anger, grief, fear or shame, JournalSpeak helps the nervous system learn that these feelings are safe to acknowledge. Once emotions are given space, the brain and body no longer need to produce physical symptoms as a warning or coping mechanism. Over time, this process can reduce fear, calm the stress response, and create lasting improvements in health.
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Several users on Reddit found daily JournalSpeak practice effective for unraveling long-haul Long Covid and POTS symptoms, describing it as a breakthrough when other treatments had failed.
Source: Reddit r/mecfs discussion “90% Recovery through Journal Speak” ([turn0search0])Community members on TMS Wiki shared how JournalSpeak helped them trust their emotional process, uncover resistance, and ultimately reduce symptom intensity and duration.
Source: TMS Wiki thread “Committing to JournalSpeak” ([turn0search1])Participants with low emotional awareness reported that consistent free-writing - even without full memory recall - gradually allowed suppressed feelings to surface and become physically felt.
Source: TMS Wiki thread “JournalSpeak still working with almost no memories and bad emotional awareness” ([turn0search2])A reviewer of Nicole's new book highlighted recovery from a wide array of chronic conditions (migraine, pelvic pain, ME/CFS, POTS) by applying JournalSpeak and described it as transformative and eye-opening.
Source: Living Proof book review of Mind Your Body by Claire Birnie ([turn0search12])A testimonial on a separate recovery website spoke of “decades-old pain melting away like magic,” crediting the combination of Sachs’ podcast, JournalSpeak, and consistent practice.
Source: Break Awake testimonials ([turn0search5])
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Curable App - JournalSpeak is one of the practices incorporated into the Curable app.
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Books: £10–20 / $15–25.
Online workshops and courses: typically £200–400 / $250–500.
Retreats: higher priced, often in the £1,000+ range.
Free resources: podcast and YouTube channel.
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JournalSpeak as a practice itself is free once learned.
Nicole makes extensive free content available through her podcast and YouTube.
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