Grieving Is a Skill: HRV, Intention, and the Biology of Resilience with Dr. David Rabin (Part 2)Grieving Is a Skill: HRV, Intention, and the Biology of Resilience with Dr. David Rabin (Part 2)
The Biology of Trauma™ With Dr. Aimie
Dr. Aimie and Dr. David Rabin discuss heart rate variability, intention, and grief as practical skills for building resilience and nervous system safety. The conversation emphasises simple daily practices, agency, and hope for meaningful healing from trauma and anxiety.
23:44•16 Jul 2026
Grief, HRV and Gratitude: Building Resilience with Dr. David Rabin
Episode Overview
- Heart rate variability acts as a practical, measurable window into resilience and vagus nerve health.
- Anxiety often disguises itself as focus by pulling attention into past regrets or future fears.
- Simple practices like slow, deliberate breathing can strengthen present-moment attention and reduce anxiety.
- Grieving is described as a skill that lets the energy of sadness move through the body instead of remaining stuck.
- There is strong emphasis that trauma and mental illness are not life sentences, and that small daily choices can rebuild agency and hope.
“Grief is actually a skill. Grieving is a skill.”
Curious about how others manage their grief, stress, and anxiety while staying present in everyday life? This conversation between medical doctor and trauma specialist Dr. Aimie and neuroscientist-psychiatrist Dr. David Rabin looks at the nuts and bolts of resilience in a very practical way. The focus lands firmly on heart rate variability (HRV) as a key sign of how resilient someone’s nervous system might be. Dr.
Rabin explains how HRV reflects vagus nerve activity and why watching it improve over weeks and months can hint that “we’re becoming stronger, faster, more resilient, better at bouncing back from stress.” He also talks about tools like the Apollo technology, designed to increase HRV through sound and touch. From there, the pair shift into intention and attention. Anxiety, they suggest, often pretends to be focus, while actually yanking attention into past regrets or future worries. Dr.
Rabin shares simple, body-based practices—like choosing slow, deliberate breaths—to “bodybuild” the brain’s attention muscle and bring someone back into the present. Grief is where the conversation really hits home for anyone in recovery. Dr. Rabin calls grieving a skill, describing it as a way of “transmuting” the raw energy of sadness through crying, movement, or expression so it doesn’t get stuck in the body. Feeling safe enough to feel becomes the foundation for reorganising life after loss.
There’s also a candid look at therapy and psychiatry, including how stabilising medications may be overused long term, and why safety and non-judgement in therapeutic spaces matter so much. Threaded through everything is a strong message of hope: that mental illness is “not a life sentence,” that PTSD might be reliably curable within years, and that small daily choices—like practising gratitude—can slowly rebuild a sense of agency.
It’s a conversation that might leave you asking: what’s one small thing you’ll do today to give yourself a better tomorrow?
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