EP 138 Your Body, Your Brain & Addiction: The Missing Connection | Jason TurnerEP 138 Your Body, Your Brain & Addiction: The Missing Connection | Jason Turner
Unpause Your Life
What if improving your mental health and overcoming addiction starts with understanding your body? In this episode of UnPause Your Life, Dr. Cali Estes welcomes Jason Turner, LMSW, a veteran, Tillman Scholar, and founder of e-motion wellness, for a...
29:53•15 Oct 2026
Starting with the Body: Jason Turner on Movement, Environment and Addiction Recovery
Episode Overview
- Starting treatment with movement and the body can make talk-based therapy more effective.
- Group-based fitness and shared effort help reduce inner criticism and build a sense of support.
- Thoughtful environmental design – colours, materials, lighting – can signal safety to the nervous system.
- Simple daily habits like moving, breathing and using heat or cold can stabilise mood and focus.
- Feeling alone in addiction or mental health struggles is common, but reaching out to community is crucial.
“"Nobody’s coming, dude… it has to be you."”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This episode centres on Jason Turner’s journey from drinking and military pressure to long-term sobriety, and how that path led him to build a completely different kind of treatment programme. You’ll hear Jason explain how a terrifying first CrossFit class, where an older man simply ran beside him saying, “I got you,” changed how he thought about support, community, and recovery.
That moment, combined with years in behavioural health, pushed him towards one core idea: if you start with the body, the brain is far more ready to heal. Jason shares openly about sitting in a car, caught in suicidal thinking, and the stark inner message that followed: “Nobody’s coming, dude… it has to be you.” From there he took a huge risk, securing funding and creating e-motion wellness, an outpatient programme built around movement, nervous system regulation, and human connection.
Rather than white walls, plastic chairs and endless talking, his centre treats the gym as a group room, using team-based movement, heart-rate work, cold plunges, saunas and calming design elements to signal safety to the nervous system. Only after the body has shifted do clients sit down for more traditional therapy work, when their brains are clearer and more able to focus. Dr.
Cali Estes highlights how relaxed and “decompressed” she felt in the space, especially in the adolescent area with beanbags and softer lighting, contrasting it with typical clinical set-ups that feel like going back to school. Together, they talk about anger, frustration and other emotions being moved through the body rather than left to churn while someone sits in a chair. Jason’s practical advice for anyone stuck in addiction or mental health struggles? Move first, speak up second, and keep going.
Even a short walk and one honest conversation can be that first step. So what small action could you take today to get your body – and your life – moving again?
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