A stress check-up for your nervous system.
Most evaluations focus on what you think and feel. This one measures what your body is actually doing under stress — how it reacts, whether it recovers, and what's keeping stress chronic — then turns it into a clear, personalized roadmap.
Understanding stress from the body up.
Standard evaluations focus on what's happening in the mind — your thoughts, emotions, and coping strategies. That matters. But it's only half the picture.
Chronic stress also lives in the body: in how your nervous system activates, how aware you are of what's happening inside you, and whether your body actually recovers between stressors or just keeps accumulating strain. These bottom-up factors — nervous system balance, body awareness, and physiological recovery — are often invisible in a traditional assessment.
This evaluation integrates both. It measures your autonomic nervous system, maps how your body responds to and recovers from real stressors, and connects that data with the psychological patterns that may be maintaining your stress.
Here's what you'll learn: exactly how your nervous system handles stress — and where recovery breaks down.
Multimodal physiological measurement under real stressors. A personalized Stress Recovery Score. Your specific patterns identified and explained in plain language. A treatment plan built from your data and written by me based on what your body actually showed us.
What your report covers
Six sections, each building on the last — from your resting baseline to a personalized treatment roadmap.
Baseline Snapshot
Your resting readings before any stressor is introduced — breathing, heart rate, HRV, finger temperature, skin conductance, and muscle tension. Each compared against clinical norms with a clear status.
Breathing & Heart Rate Variability
Detailed analysis of your breathing mechanics, breath chemistry, and HRV — including what your specific pattern means for your nervous system health and what we can do about it.
Temperature, Skin Conductance & Muscle Tension
Direct measures of your fight-or-flight activation — are your hands cold, is your skin conductance elevated, are you bracing muscles without realizing it? Each tells a different part of your stress story.
Your Stress Profile
The core of the evaluation. We introduce real stressors while recording everything simultaneously. You'll see exactly how your body reacts to each type of stress — and critically, how well it recovers afterward. Color-coded for easy interpretation.
Questionnaire Results
Validated psychological scales that complement the physiological data — connecting your biology with how you relate to stress, your body, and yourself. Includes body awareness profiling and self-compassion assessment.
Summary & Treatment Roadmap
Your strengths and focus areas identified. A co-created treatment plan informed by everything the data revealed — specific recommendations tailored to your unique nervous system.
Your Stress Recovery Score
At the heart of the evaluation is something I developed with a colleague called the Stress Recovery Score (SRS) — a single number from 0 to 10 that captures how well your body is recovering from stress. Higher is better.
The score is broken down two ways: by stressor type (which kinds of stress your body struggles with most) and by body system (which parts of your physiology are stuck and not recovering).
This gives us a concrete starting point — and a number we can track over time as treatment progresses. Most clients find the pattern immediately recognizable: it confirms what they've been feeling, but couldn't articulate.
The SRS framework is part of my ongoing research and teaching, and I share it with clinicians through the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB).
Who is this evaluation for?
Anyone who wants to understand their relationship with stress at a deeper level.
Chronic stress that won't resolve
You've tried meditation, exercise, better sleep — and you still feel like your baseline stress level is too high. This evaluation shows you why, at a physiological level.
Physiological anxiety or dysregulation
Racing heart, muscle tension, dizziness, gut symptoms — your stress lives in your body as much as your mind. The evaluation maps exactly which systems are involved and where recovery is breaking down.
Starting treatment and wanting a roadmap
Rather than trial-and-error, begin with data. The evaluation produces a personalized treatment plan informed by your actual physiology — so we're working on what matters from session one.
Wearable data that concerns you
Your Oura or Whoop shows chronically low HRV or poor recovery. This evaluation goes far deeper — measuring multiple systems under real stressors, not just passive overnight data.
Stress-related medical conditions
IBS, chronic pain, tension headaches, long-haul COVID, dysautonomia, PPPD — conditions where the nervous system is part of the clinical picture.
Data-driven and curious
You appreciate a thorough, scientific approach to understanding yourself. You want to see what your body is actually doing — not just be told how to relax.
How it works
- 1Free 15-minute consultationWe discuss your concerns, your goals, and whether the evaluation is the right starting point. No obligation.
- 2Evaluation session (in-person)One to two sessions in my Redwood City office. I connect you to biofeedback sensors and guide you through resting baselines, stress challenges, and recovery periods — while recording everything.
- 3QuestionnairesValidated psychological scales covering anxiety sensitivity, body awareness, self-compassion, and condition-specific measures relevant to your presentation.
- 4Your personalized reportA detailed written report covering all six sections — your data, your patterns, your Stress Recovery Score, and a treatment roadmap. This is yours to keep.
- 5Feedback sessionWe walk through the report together and co-create a treatment plan. For many clients, this session alone produces significant insight — your body's patterns finally make sense.
Common questions
If something isn't answered here, the consultation is the right place to ask.
How long does the evaluation take?
The evaluation itself is typically one to two sessions (50–60 minutes each). The report takes additional time to prepare. Most clients receive their report within one week, followed by a feedback session.
Do I need this before starting therapy or biofeedback?
Not necessarily. Many clients start with therapy or biofeedback directly, and that's completely fine. The evaluation is especially useful if your presentation is complex or you want a data-driven starting point. We'll figure out the right entry point together in the consultation.
I'm only available for remote sessions. Can I still work with you?
Absolutely. The full in-person evaluation is ideal, but if you're remote-only, we can do a simplified version using remote HRV biofeedback along with the psychological assessment components. Many clients start with remote work and add the full evaluation later if they want deeper data. I'm happy to work with you either way.
What are the stress challenges like?
They're calibrated to activate different parts of your stress response: a cognitive challenge, a conflict task, a motor/performance task, and a personally relevant internal experience. None are extreme — they're designed to reveal your patterns, not to overwhelm you.
Can I track my Stress Recovery Score over time?
Yes — and that's part of the design. The SRS provides a measurable baseline. As treatment progresses, we can repeat elements of the assessment to track improvement.
Is this the same as a biofeedback session?
No — this is an assessment, not a treatment session. We're measuring your patterns, not training them yet. Think of it as diagnostics before the intervention.
Your nervous system has a story to tell. Let's read it together.
A free 15-minute consultation to see if this evaluation is the right starting point for you.