profile

Hi! I'm Dr. Dominika Zarzeczny, ND

First inspired by the work of Dr. Gabor Mate, Dr. Dominika has focused much of her career on helping her patients connect the dots between early adversity and trauma and their impact on lifelong health and well-being. She knows that the reversal of chronic illness involves the nervous system, and so she has dedicated her practice to helping patients master their own nervous system to positively influence their mind and body, behaviours and ultimately health outcomes. Her explanation of disease doesn't pathologize or blame, but is nuanced, humanized and filled with hope. She trained with various psychologists and experts in the field of psychological trauma. She incorporates the principles of neuroscience, attachment theory, mindfulness, Polyvagal Theory and compassionate inquiry in her approach with patients. Combining these with her naturopathic training, she likes to say that she works at the intersection of science and human experience.

Featured Post

The secret to thriving and longevity isn’t in a protocol

In This Issue: The Secret to Thriving Isn’t in a Protocol The Mediterranean Diet: A Prescription for Longevity Quote Of The Issue The Secret to Thriving Isn’t in a Protocol I was mindfully scrolling the other day (see what I did there? 😆) when I came across psychologist Amanda Hanson sharing that her secret to thriving has nothing to do with biohacking, supplements, or strict routines. She doesn’t obsess over food or data points, because true health isn’t achieved through controlling the...

In This Issue: (5 minute read) What My Almost-Cold Sore Taught Me About Control Your Future Self Isn't Going To Save You What My Almost-Cold Sore Taught Me About Control I want to share a recent personal experience - an almost-cold sore - and what it revealed about control, agency, and emotion.I’ve had cold sores for as long as I can remember. If you lined up my school photos from junior kindergarten onward, you’d see a recurring guest star: me, with a cold sore on my lip. They’ve always been...

Dans ce numéro: Pourquoi le confort nous coûte Quand le futur semble hors de portée Choisissez votre affirmation Pourquoi le confort nous coûte Nous vivons une crise du confort. Encore et encore, nous choisissons la facilité immédiate : faire défiler son écran au lieu de se reposer, grignoter au lieu de se nourrir, se couper de nos sensations au lieu de les ressentir. Ces choix apportent un soulagement immédiat, mais ils nous volent notre énergie et notre vitalité futures. Ce n’est pas une...

In This Issue (4 min): Why Comfort Is Costing Us When the Future Feels Out of Reach Choose Your Affirmation Why Comfort Is Costing Us We are living in a comfort crisis, where we consistently choose immediate ease and avoidance of discomfort in the present, even when doing so creates bigger problems or suffering in the future. It’s the idea that by prioritizing comfort now, we trade away long-term ease, health, growth, and vitality. Again and again, we choose short-term ease - scrolling...

In This Issue: Permission to Ease In (Summer’s Not Over) (<30 sec) The Viral Skipping Trend Really Works! (< 30 sec) Quote Of The Issue Permission to Ease In (Summer’s Not Over) As September rolls in, many of us feel that old cultural pull: shake off the “lazy days” of summer and launch into Fall at full throttle. But pause for a moment: who really benefits from that frenzy? A frantic, anxious person is the perfect consumer. The truth is, this urgency is manufactured. Nature never rushes its...

In This Issue (< 4 min): We Have Become Hormonally Modified Why Being Told What to Do Rarely Works A Mindful Pause We Have Become Hormonally Modified Here we are, we do our very best to avoid foods with added hormones or genetic modification. And yet, without realizing it, we’ve become hormonally modified ourselves. The combination of processed foods, chronic stress (causing stress hyperglycaemia), sedentary lifestyles and food consumption patterns (e.g. overeating, frequent snacking, eating...

woman holding medal that says 10KTO

In This Issue (< 4 min): The Secret Healthy People Aren’t Telling You I Met My Edge And I Liked It Quote Of The Issue The Secret Healthy People Aren’t Telling You We’ve been taught to reverse-engineer health, as if forcing ourselves to eat kale and hitting the gym three times a week will make us healthy. But true health doesn’t start on the plate or at the gym.It begins in the mind.When you know yourself really well and know how to attend to your thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations -...

In This Issue (~4 min): I Don’t Care About Your Diagnosis Getting 10,000 Steps A Day? Not If You’re Just Circling the Kitchen Quote Of The Issue I Don’t Care About Your Diagnosis That’s right. I don’t care about your diagnosis, at least not the way most of medicine does. Your diagnosis is a name. A label. A summary of symptoms. A pattern your body has been running, maybe for years. What I do care about is what happened before the diagnosis. What shaped you. What you came to believe about...

In This Issue (< 5 min): What If Peri-menopause Wasn’t the Problem? Usually, I share three entries in my weekly newsletter, but this week it's just one.Because this message deserves space.Because I want you to linger with it. Keep it open on your phone or computer, and see what bubbles to the surface. What If Perimenopause Wasn’t The Problem? We’ve been taught to reduce this season of a woman’s life to one word: hormones. We’re told our estrogen is dipping, our progesterone is crashing, and...

In This Issue (5 min): When a Diagnosis Becomes a Cage Healing the Split: Reuniting Mind and Body in Modern Medicine Quote Of The Issue When a Diagnosis Becomes a Cage Too often, we walk into a doctor’s office seeking answers and walk out with a diagnosis that quietly begins to define us. "You’re hypothyroid" "You’re depressed" "You're diabetic""You're ADHD" What starts as a medical label can become a psychological straightjacket, constraining our sense of possibility of healing. A seed of...