The ultimate guide to gut-brain therapy at Oshi

If you live with ongoing digestive concerns, you know how much they can impact every part of your life. Finding true, lasting relief can feel out of reach—especially when symptoms flare up for reasons that aren’t always clear.

At Oshi, we understand that gastrointestinal (GI) health affects more than just your gut. That’s why our team-based approach looks at your symptoms from every angle, including the powerful connection between your brain and gut.

Through gut-brain therapy, our specialists can help you understand—and improve—the conversation between your mind and gut.

What is gut-brain therapy?

If you’ve ever felt butterflies in your stomach during a stressful moment, you’ve experienced the gut-brain connection in action. Your gut and brain are in constant conversation, working together to help regulate digestion. Brain-gut behavioral therapy (BGBT) is all about understanding—and harnessing—this powerful line of communication in the nervous system between the gut and brain.

Unlike traditional talk therapy, which focuses on your thoughts and feelings, gut-brain therapy blends behavioral approaches with cognitive strategies. This type of therapy recognizes that what happens in your digestive system can deeply affect your mental well-being (and vice versa).

Read more about how it compares to traditional talk therapy.

Next, we’ll walk through the specific gut-brain therapy options offered here at Oshi.

Gut-brain therapy at Oshi

Did you know that GI treatment that incorporates medical, dietary, and gut-brain care leads to more sustainable results in the long run? And research shows this combined approach is more effective than treating physical symptoms alone.

Here’s what gut-brain therapy at Oshi entails, and how it can help you regain control of your symptoms.

Education on the gut-brain axis

One of the most powerful parts of gut-brain therapy is learning how your mind and digestive system are deeply connected.

Oshi’s gut-brain specialists are here to help you unravel the science behind how your gut and brain “talk” to each other through nerve pathways like the vagus nerve and chemical messengers. This makes it easier to see why stress, worry, or big emotions can show up as GI symptoms.

Suddenly, flare-ups aren’t so mysterious. And they feel easier to address.

Education is about more than just the facts. It’s about giving you tools to break out of frustrating symptom cycles. With your gut-brain specialist, you’ll explore:

• How the nervous system in your gut (sometimes called your “second brain”) and the one in your head are in constant communication
• Why a healthy gut-brain dialogue can smooth out digestion, ease discomfort, and help you feel more in control
• How the body’s stress response (fight-or-flight) can act like static on a phone line, disrupting these messages and sometimes fueling symptom flare-ups.

A gut-brain specialist can help you make sense of this connection, spot your own patterns, recognize triggers, and discover new ways to support your gut and mind.

Strategies to calm the nervous system

When your nervous system is on high alert, your gut often feels it too. Calming these stress signals can help relax your digestive system and make it easier to manage GI symptoms and stress-related flares.

Here are practical tools you can use at home and with your care team:

Diaphragmatic breathing

This technique involves deepening and slowing your breathing, which results in a connected brain and gut, better digestion, and fewer GI symptoms.

Think of this as a reset button for your nervous system. Diaphragmatic, or “belly” breathing, encourages you to breathe deeply and slowly from your diaphragm, not your chest. This rhythmic breathing tells your body you’re safe, helping quiet the fight-or-flight response that often triggers GI discomfort.

Try this:

• Place one hand on your chest, one on your belly
• Inhale slowly through your nose, feeling your belly rise
• Exhale slowly through your mouth or nose, letting your belly fall flat

For tailored guidance, our gut-brain specialists are here to listen and help build a plan that fits your needs.

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR)

Tension can sneak into your muscles and linger, sometimes worsening digestive symptoms. Muscle tension can also be a sign of fight-or-flight nervous system activation.

PMR is a technique where you systematically tense and then release different muscle groups, teaching your body the difference between tension and calm. It helps relax the muscles and triggers the nervous system to switch to a “rest and digest” state. This reconnects the brain and gut, leading to improved symptom control.

Try this:

• Start with your toes, gently scrunching them for a few seconds, then letting go
• Move up your body (legs, stomach, shoulders, jaw), pausing to notice each release

If you’d like personalized support, our gut-brain specialists are here to help.

Mindfulness meditation

When your mind is racing over worries and what-ifs, your gut often follows. Mindfulness meditation helps anchor you in the present moment, reducing anxiety and helping your nervous system settle.

And you don’t need to meditate for long. Even a few minutes of mindfulness practice can be helpful.

Ways to get started:

• Listen to a guided meditation recording to help you get the hang of being present in the moment
• Create a calming environment that makes you want to decompress (think dim lighting, a springy yoga mat, or even a cozy chair)
• Focus on your breath if you’re having trouble clearing your mind

Guided imagery and visualization

Your imagination is a powerful tool for healing. Guided imagery invites you to picture calming scenes or sensations, like floating on gentle waves or walking through a peaceful forest. These mental images send soothing signals to your body, including your digestive system.

Ways to get started:

• Try a guided recording (your gut-brain specialist can also guide you through a visualization session)
• Let your senses guide you, notice colors, sounds, textures around you

Therapies for rewiring your gut-brain patterns

A faulty gut-brain connection can leave you in a loop of stress signals and uncomfortable symptoms. It’s also something you can fix with gut-brain therapy.

Oshi gut-brain specialists work with science-backed tools to help you “rewire” your nervous system. Here’s how the most effective approaches work:

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) helps you notice and change unhelpful thoughts and perceptions that can make GI concerns feel more overwhelming.

For example, you might catch yourself expecting the worst before a meal or dreading social plans because of unpredictable symptoms.

CBT gives you strategies to:

• Identify those unhelpful thought patterns
• Challenge and reframe them with more supportive beliefs
• Build new routines that support your mind and gut

Studies show that CBT can help reduce GI symptoms and even improve bathroom habits.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)

Avoidance is a natural human instinct, especially toward something that causes discomfort, like certain foods, places, or even feelings tied to your gut.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) helps you see these avoidant tendencies with fresh eyes.

Instead of anxiously trying to avoid triggers, ACT can help you:

• Notice the ways avoidance might actually be increasing your stress and GI symptoms
• Dig deeper into your fears around flares, and learn how to respond to those emotions in a way that doesn’t stress out your gut further
• Make space for the ups and downs of living with digestive concerns, rather than letting them control your life
• Lead a full and meaningful life with a chronic health condition by identifying and taking actions consistent with your values

Gut-directed hypnotherapy

Gut-directed hypnotherapy is about harnessing the power of your mind to reshape the conversation between your gut and your brain. Through guided imagery, relaxation, and gentle suggestions, you can shift the way your body processes discomfort.

Sessions might focus on:

• Easing sensations of pain, bloating, and urgency
• Calming the internal alarm system that can make symptoms feel worse
• Strengthening your sense of confidence over your GI symptoms

There are user-friendly apps and digital tools designed to guide you through these techniques at your own pace. You can use them on your own or alongside a gut-brain specialist.

Research shows that gut-directed hypnotherapy can help ease symptoms even when other treatments don’t seem to bring relief.

Takeaway

You don’t have to choose between caring for your mind or your gut. At Oshi, we know the whole you matters. By blending science-backed strategies, emotional support, and practical tools, our gut-brain specialists meet you where you are.

With the right support and a little self-compassion, you can feel more in control over your digestive health and discover what it means to find lasting relief.