Stress doesn't cause your symptoms. But it can keep them going.
A five week live class on the GI Stress Cycle, and how to interrupt it.
Join the WaitlistWhat this is
Five weekly sessions, live and online, in a small group.
Each week covers one piece of how stress and digestive symptoms feed each other, and builds one practice: diaphragmatic breathing. Not a menu of techniques to try. One practice, taught the way a GI psychologist would teach it, so that by the end you can do it and you know when to reach for it. Recordings included so you can keep practicing at home.
Who it's for
- People who are already working with a doctor and still dealing with symptoms
- People who have noticed that stress makes things worse, and are tired of that being where the conversation ends
- People who want to understand what is actually happening in their body, not be told to relax
No prior knowledge assumed. You do not need to have done anything like this before.
The cycle you'll learn to interrupt
Stress sets it off, and often the stressor is the symptoms themselves. The nervous system shifts into a heightened state and digestion gets deprioritized. The gut brain connection falls out of sync and symptoms get worse. Then how we react to those symptoms feeds straight back into the stress that started it.
Each part feeds the next. That is why symptoms can persist for years, and why they tend to flare at exactly the times you need them not to.
The loop is also where the opening is. You do not have to interrupt all four parts. You need one reliable way in, practiced enough that it works when you actually need it.
What you'll come away with
Two things, built over five weeks.
Understanding the cycle
By the end you will have mapped your own version of it. What sets it off for you, where it tends to escalate, and the specific points where it can be interrupted.
A practice you can do
Diaphragmatic breathing, built up progressively rather than handed to you in week one. Learning it, refining it, then using it on the spot, before a meal or at the first sign of a flare. You leave knowing how to do it and when to reach for it.
Who's teaching it
I'm Scott Rower, a clinical psychologist licensed in Oregon with specialized training in GI psychology, the field where brain gut science meets digestive care.
I also have Crohn's disease and have been managing it for nearly 20 years. That combination is what sent me looking for these tools in the first place. What I found was well researched, genuinely useful, and almost entirely absent from standard GI care.
Where things stand
I'm building this now and running the first group in early 2027.
I don't have dates or cost finalized yet. Add your name and I'll email you with details when they are set. Nothing to do between now and then.
The first group will be limited to people living in Oregon. That is a licensing constraint rather than a preference. If you're somewhere else, join anyway. Knowing where people are is part of how I work out where I can run this next.