Dr. Lindsay Jernigan

Dr. Lindsay Jernigan Providing individual and couples therapy, workshops and seminars, and supervision.

It’s really quite simple.
03/29/2026

It’s really quite simple.

I remember being a kid and wishing I could bounce on top of the fluffy clouds. I wouldn’t just wish, though…I would IMAG...
03/21/2026

I remember being a kid and wishing I could bounce on top of the fluffy clouds. I wouldn’t just wish, though…I would IMAGINE. I could FEEL it. I could LIVE it. I knew exactly what it would feel like to do that.

I can still conjure it. I can bring myself into that state of being, even though it’s impossible.

Can’t you?

So imagine how effectively you could bring yourself into a desired state if being that IS possible, just by choosing to conjure it?

Think of a feeling you want to outgrow or let go of. Call it your undesired state. Fear of disappointing others? Judgment of yourself? Hopelessness?

Now imagine the alternative state that you want to grow into. The one that’s waiting for you, the one you are ready to embody. Your desired state of being. Self-assuredness? Confident authenticity? Hopefulness, gratitude, or optimism?

Let yourself FEEL it. What would it feel like in your body to be in that state of being? What would your thoughts sound like? What would it BE like in your heart? In your spirit? Take your time. Close your eyes. Imagine it into embodiment.

If you can know what it feels like to bounce on a cloud, you can know what that next state of being feels like. You can conjure it into existence for yourself. Yes, we often have to spend some time exploring the blocks, or the reasons the old state of being exists and what purpose it serves. But we also have to choose to call in the new, desired state of being. We have to spend time in that new soil to be able to grow something new.

Call in what your desired state feels like, body, mind, heart and spirit. You won’t stay there every minute of everyday, but when you realize you can conjure it, you can CHOOSE to bring yourself there by KNOWING what it feels like.

You get to come back to it again and again.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

There’s nothing wrong with you. Your brain and your body are doing exactly what they are designed to do when they sense ...
01/26/2026

There’s nothing wrong with you. Your brain and your body are doing exactly what they are designed to do when they sense threat.

Have patience with yourself. Don’t expect yourself to feel as productive as usual.

Try this:

1) If you are in imminent danger, let your fired up system help you activate to do whatever you need to do to get to safety. If you’re NOT in imminent danger, use your internal self-talk to remind yourself that you are safe in this moment. Do things that soothe your central nervous system: movement, breathing, mindfulness, baths, laughter, tea, etc.

2) That will help you get your prefrontal cortex back online, at which point you can make intentional decisions about the next steps you want to take. Is it a day to focus on your job, or being with your friends and family? Is it a day to go to a rally, call your lawmakers, write that op-ed, or reach out to an organization you feel aligned with to see how you can help?

Most of us are getting caught in an uncomfortable neurological liminal space where our brains are firing for crisis —we are holding images and sounds of crisis in the palm of our hands even if our boots aren’t on the ground. This sends our brains into a survival-based go-mode that makes regular life hard…but without a clear way to make good and immediate use of that neurological go-mode we end up frozen, distracted, stuck in a brain-state that doesn’t fit the moment.

If you can get your brain state to match your moment you get your full neurological resources back. It’s not about just calming yourself down to maintain your individual peace…it’s about getting into a brain state where you can more effectively decide your next move.

In the meantime, have patience. The distraction you feel is your body doing this just right. That doesn’t make it comfortable…but don’t go judging yourself about it. This is what you were made to do.

#2026

I’m not sure what I love more…this little piece of art, or the fact that someone I love thought of me when she saw it. S...
01/06/2026

I’m not sure what I love more…this little piece of art, or the fact that someone I love thought of me when she saw it.

Surround yourself with people who love the same things about you that you love about life.

Surround yourself with people who polish your shine without judgment or exception.

Surround yourself with people who really see you, and who remind you of what you love about yourself.

And the message on the art?! YES!! Photo two is me right now after a long work day that was full of connection and inspiration and deep presence. I’m surrounded by twinkle lights, with belated holiday gifts waiting to be boxed and mailed strewn across my dining room table in my peaceful little home…
“balancing the wild and wonderful things that make up life.”

At the end of 2025, I moved into a new office! I LOVE it. I really took my time curating it, and every single item in he...
01/01/2026

At the end of 2025, I moved into a new office! I LOVE it. I really took my time curating it, and every single item in here is intentional and brings me either joy or grounding…from the big things like the bold turquoise sofa, to the little things like the rocks from the beach in La Jolla that sit beside me.

I love being able to make my clients tea as we settle into the deep work of Intensives together.

I love that there are candles burning all day long.

I love the plant window…and I welcome plant-mama tips from everyone who walks in the door.

If you want to do some work together, I look forward to welcoming you in! It’s the most proud I have ever been of a space. 🥰

I am a solar powered human. I love the heat. I love jumping in natural bodies of water. I love ridiculously long days an...
12/14/2025

I am a solar powered human.

I love the heat. I love jumping in natural bodies of water. I love ridiculously long days and the sound of peepers. I love fireflies and warm rain and hot sand. I love hiking and paddle boarding and cool grass when it’s not too prickly. I love a deck railing covered in wet towels, after-dinner sunsets, and chronically dirty feet.

But…I live in Vermont, and we are in the season of the darkest days.

So in case you, like me, are a solar powered human, here are some friendly reminders from your psychologist up north:

1. VITAMIN D!! Lots of it. Seriously. It helps.

2. Get outside and move your body, even when it’s cold. Even when you think you don’t want to. The “feels like” was 17 degrees when I stopped to take this photo mid hill on my skate skis. I promise you, it was worth it.

3. Make heat. Light fires, take hot baths and showers, do sweaty workouts. Fix hot drinks. Eat hot food. Counterbalance the cold on the inside by making your insides warm!

4. Even though we sometimes feel like we just want to hibernate in the winter, research suggests our most healthy and natural instinct is to INCREASE social contact in the winter…just like…wait for it…emperor penguins!! Isn’t that the best?! Coming together warms us up, physically and emotionally.

5. Speaking of making heat and coming together…🙄sex is a great way to stave off seasonal mood drops. Not only does it generate heat and feelings of connection, but it lowers stress hormones and increases mood-boosting hormones. S*x is also a great source of exercise and it promotes higher quality sleep, our two most potent non-pharmaceutical anti-depressants.

(p.s…Did you know we earliest sunset has already passed?! It doesn’t happen on the same day as solstice because of, well, some science stuff. So from here on out the sun sets later and later, and the shortest day of the year is right around the corner! You can do it!!)

Right before my 22nd birthday, I hopped in a car with a friend and moved from Boston to San Francisco. I didn’t have a p...
12/06/2025

Right before my 22nd birthday, I hopped in a car with a friend and moved from Boston to San Francisco. I didn’t have a plan other than finding an apartment with my college bud. Luckily he already had a job, which gave me a little wiggle room — he could cover rent until I could pitch in.

It didn’t take long. I signed on with a temp agency and started working random jobs covering for sick receptionists and filing backlogged projects in staffed offices.

After a few weeks I landed a job as front line staff, second shift, at a residential program for teenage boys in Lower Haight…and so began the adventure!

I couldn’t have predicted, then, where that path would lead. But I’m grateful. I couldn’t have known that the risks would pay off. But I am grateful.

And I couldn’t have know that now, thirty years later, my brave and intrepid daughters would be launching themselves into the world fueled by their own courageous curiosity and thirst for adventure, and that they would give me a chance to return to my youthful haunts and see it fresh through their eyes. But I am grateful.

Coming back here taps me into parts of myself that live in the quiet whispers of my established adult life. The parts that don’t need to know what comes next. The parts that see a whole life full of opportunity and wonder stretching ahead. The parts that know my wings are strong.

And I am grateful.

Sometimes the contributions you make will be things you didn’t know would be so powerful. Little decisions. Creative dec...
11/29/2025

Sometimes the contributions you make will be things you didn’t know would be so powerful. Little decisions. Creative decisions. Even playful decisions.

Like my sister-in-law telling me to wear her clothes while I am staying at her place — it’s like getting a hug from her every morning.

Or like the person who chose the color of the lifeguard stands on the beach (huts? shacks? booths? cottage-itas? What are they called?).

Whoever made that choice adds to the aesthetic peace and joy and beauty for thousands of beach walkers every day. Do you think they had any idea how wide reaching the impact of that little decision would be? Do you think it even occurred to them, after the fact, that it was enhancing a million moments for a million people? My guess is they are more focused on evaluating the decision, wondering if they made the right choice, wondering if people like it.

You’re like that, too. You have an impact you probably don’t know you have. Something you do, or something you are, or something you say, or some way you show up is a contribution and a gift beyond your wildest dreams. Maybe you know the people you impact. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you even know you’re having that impact. But most likely you don’t.

Chances are you have no idea how important your light is.

ps - The color choice on the lifeguard hobbit house in the second photo is pretty great, too. :-)

A reminder as the sun sets on Thanksgiving week…Sometimes holidays are really hard. If you are missing someone you loved...
11/29/2025

A reminder as the sun sets on Thanksgiving week…

Sometimes holidays are really hard.

If you are missing someone you loved and lost,
if you are alone not by choice,
if you know this might be your last Thanksgiving with someone who holds a special seat at your table,
you are not alone.

Grief during the holidays can make what we want to feel light feel heavy, instead.

Let it roll through you. Try not to resist it. Your grief is a version of love, and it honors the people you hold in your heart.

Let it come in waves. No need to shrink it. Your grief has the power of the ocean, and like the ocean, it will rise and fall, all on its own, no effort required.

Let it rise and let it set. No need to dim it. Your grief has the beauty of a sunset— a rich and nuanced celebration of a day gone by.

Let it be. Tomorrow is a new day.

This isn’t where I meant to be, but I stumbled into this incredible spot and, along with it, a reminder of all that can ...
11/25/2025

This isn’t where I meant to be, but I stumbled into this incredible spot and, along with it, a reminder of all that can happen when you let go of expectations.

I fell in love with a trail on the cliffs above this beach in La Jolla last month, but when I went back yesterday it was closed for construction. I was disappointed. I had wanted to share it with my daughter, and we didn’t really have an alternative plan that fit in our free window of time. We started to drive away, plan-less and wishing for a good way to enjoy the California sun for an hour, but we asked one more question before we drove off: “Can we walk on the beach?”

The answer was yes.

“Can we walk for a pretty good distance on the beach?”

Yes.

So we did.

When I walked on the top of this cliff, I had no idea how gorgeous it would be from below. Thank goodness for broken plans and unmet expectations.

Sometimes the best moments happen when things don’t go as planned, when the smooth path gets bumpy, and when what we had hoped for doesn’t come to pass.

May your path be full of happy accidents that gift you beautiful views.

Recently, a thoughtful friend reminded me to not play small. After I posted a series of pics in my story taken out the a...
10/20/2025

Recently, a thoughtful friend reminded me to not play small.

After I posted a series of pics in my story taken out the airplane window as I flew across country, a friend DM’ed me to thank me for “never ever posting a bad picture, ever,” and for boosting the loveliness of her online world.

And ya know what I did?

I did the good old poopoo-the-compliment move like any modest, self-respecting female has learned to do. I played small. I claimed there was no way to take a bad photo in such a beautiful place.

But I’m so grateful to this friend for not accepting my demurring response. “Just take it, girl,” she said. And she went on to honor my eye, my presence to what’s around me, and my ability to capture it in a tiny box through a tiny lens. She doubled down on her original message, thanking me for not “subjecting” the people who share this space with me to the kind of visual crap that pops up in front of us all day long.

She saw me. And then she saw me acting like I shouldn’t be seen. And she said nu-uh, not on my watch.

Many of us are raised to see pride as toxic; we find it more natural and automatic to feel shame than to feel pride. Think about that for a second…we are socialized to believe it’s better to feel badly about ourselves than to feel good about ourselves!

We are raised to believe it is honorable to be invisible and selfless.

We are taught to minimize our strengths and our capacities, rather than risk rising.

We are taught our light might make others uncomfortable. So we dim it down, again and again.

This is a space to say, “nu-uh, not on my watch!” Be big. Be bold. Be proud. Love yourself. Know your strength and your power and your creativity and the majesty of your SELF. Know your own beauty. Know you are one with all the beautiful things around you, and you deserve to take up space just like the sea, and the rocks, and the trees. You deserve to shine just like the sunset.

To my friend who didn’t let me get away with pushing the dimmer, you know who you are, and thank you!!

OPPORTUNITY ALERT!Hi! I’m over here offering awakening work for women and transformational couples therapy, and I’ve jus...
10/17/2025

OPPORTUNITY ALERT!

Hi! I’m over here offering awakening work for women and transformational couples therapy, and I’ve just expanded my schedule! Now is the time to reach out, before my new spots fill up.

I offer Intensives, which are longer sessions that meet less frequently than typical psychotherapy. The traditional “53 minute hour” is entirely arbitrary and driven by insurance regulations, but the truth is, it usually leads to getting cut off right when the work is really opening up. I prefer to work in a rhythm that optimizes your process and helps us meet your goals and desires more efficiently, more deeply, and with the freedom for more creativity.

I work in two or three hour sessions, which gives us time to settle in, dive deep, and get into and through the gray matter to where the light starts to shine back through — the light of insight, clarity, hope, potential, healing, and new vibrancy. Intensives give us time to uncover the critical cycles that are holding you back, pull the invisible dynamics to the surface, and actually experience the freedom of stepping into something new.

With deeper work like this, we don’t need to meet every week. In fact, I recommend that we don’t! Our goal is to avoid having repetitive conversations, and instead experience real change that needs a little time to integrate between sessions.

You can schedule a series of four sessions spread out every two weeks, guaranteeing yourself the commitment to and the space for a two month growth process. I also offer Intensives on an as needed basis; you can start with one, and if you want more, we will schedule based on what feels most supportive and convenient for you.

My new openings come with a new office in Waterbury, VT, which I’m decorating as we speak! Too far away? Telehealth is always an option, too. Now’s the time to jump into all this new spaciousness.

You can learn more at www.DrLindsayJernigan.com, and you can reach out via email at info@drlindsayjernigan.com

See you soon!

Address

185 Tilley Drive Ste 14
South Burlington, VT
05403

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 1:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 1:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 1:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 1:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 1:30pm

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