Lifestyle & mind-body health

The way you live is the medicine.

Sleep, food, movement, stress, connection — the daily foundations your health is built on. I help you find the ones that matter most for you, and rebuild them in a way your real life can hold. Grounded in lifestyle medicine and mind-body science; practiced with the care of the wellness world.

Start with a Foundations Consult See all offerings

Lawrence, Kansas · Online

Licensed Professional Counselor · Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor · CBT-I · Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (Level 1) · RYT-200 · ACE Health Coach

Why this work

Mental health and physical health are built on the same ground.

Sleep, food, movement, stress load, nervous system patterns, connection — these are the shared foundations underneath both your mood and your bloodwork. When the foundation is shaky, everything built on top of it is tenuous: the medication that isn't quite working, the diet that isn't sticking, the anxiety that keeps returning. When the foundation is strong, the effects run downstream — energy, mood, digestion, focus, resilience tend to move together. This work serves both your mental health and your physical health, because underneath, they were never separate.

Think of me as a mind-body detective: I help you find the most effective, most efficient changes within the context of your own life. You rarely need a full overhaul. You need the changes with the most leverage.

Abby writing in a journal with a cup of tea
"I've tried everything."

You probably haven't failed at health — you've been handed generic answers to a specific life. What hasn't been tried yet is a systematic look at your foundations, together, in context. Sometimes a small adjustment makes a big difference.

"I already live pretty healthy."

You can be doing everything “right” and still feel wrong. That's unfortunately common — and so frustrating. Often it's a sign that something specific is blocking your progress. Maybe the piece that's off for you isn't on the standard lifestyle checklist, and we need to dig deeper. Maybe your body can't settle into the changes you're making because your nervous system is stuck on high alert. Maybe there's a tweak to your routine that would make what you're already doing more effective for you. Those aren't compliance problems. They're detective problems.

"I can't add one more thing."

I hear that. Most people who come to me are already overwhelmed, and my goal certainly isn't to add to that feeling. I help you leverage what's already built into your day and make the most efficient changes possible in whatever time you have — think substitution rather than addition. In other words: I'll meet you where you are, and we'll make the most of the time, energy, and resources you do have.

The signature offering

One deep look at everything your health stands on.

The Foundations Consult

a whole-life health assessment, and a plan

Most health advice looks at one thing at a time. This looks at all of it, together: a comprehensive review of the daily patterns that shape how you feel, followed by an honest assessment of your highest-leverage changes — and a realistic plan for making them.

Sleep & circadian rhythmMovement patternsNutrition & eating rhythmsBlood sugar & energyGut–brain connectionStress loadNervous system patternsThought patterns & mindset trapsConnection & community

You leave with a written map of your top priorities — what to change first, why, and how. And I don't hand you a plan and disappear: follow-up coaching is there if you want company for the changes themselves — implementing, troubleshooting, and adjusting as real life pushes back.

The consult is optional, and it stands entirely on its own. For self-starters, this is the offering: a map you can follow yourself, for less than the cost of a couple of months of ongoing weekly treatment — knowing exactly where your leverage is tends to pay for itself. And if you'd rather have company for the road, it's also a natural first step into any of my other work. (Starting clinical care? You don't need this first — we begin directly, and assessment is built in.)

Book a Foundations Consult

Focused offerings

Ways of working, shaped to fit.

Some of this work runs a defined course — CBT-I especially — and some is ongoing. All of it is focused, collaborative, and aimed at one thing: you eventually not needing me.

Sleep & insomnia

CBT-I — the first-line, evidence-based approach to chronic insomnia — woven together with nervous-system work and wind-down design, so sleep becomes something your body remembers how to do.

A defined course · typically ~6 sessions

Stress, rebuilt

A whole-person way of working with chronic stress: reframing the stressors themselves, changing the patterns that feed them, and teaching your nervous system a different way to carry your life.

Cognitive + behavioral + somatic

Somatic therapy & mind-body practice

Therapeutic yoga, somatic movement, breath, and nervous-system regulation. Offered as embodied clinical therapy under my license — for when talk alone hasn't reached it — or as wellness practice, one-on-one or in small groups.

Sessions & small groups · therapy or wellness practice

Food, mood & the gut–brain axis

Your gut and your nervous system are in constant conversation — and eating patterns, blood sugar swings, and digestion shape mood, anxiety, energy, and sleep. Functional nutrition education and mind-gut work, translated into changes a busy life can hold.

Education & coaching · no diagnosis required

Lifestyle & health coaching — from plan to practice

The container that holds it all — and the engine of actual change. Knowing what to do was never the hard part: in coaching we implement together, troubleshoot what breaks, and adjust when your real week pushes back — across sleep, food, movement, stress, and connection — until the changes hold on their own.

Ongoing or as-needed · pairs beautifully with the Foundations Consult

Seated meditation in afternoon light

This work lives where health actually happens — in your kitchen, your bed, your body, your days.

I'm a licensed therapist — so all of this is held to a clinical standard, and when what you need is actual treatment (insomnia care, somatic therapy, structured work with anxiety), I provide that under my license. But even then, the frame is different: less endless talking, more assessment, education, embodied practice, and structured change. And if deeper or different care would serve you better, I'll say so and help you find it.

Who I work with

If you see yourself here, you're in the right place.

Burnout & chronic stress Insomnia & poor sleep Anxiety Low mood & depression support Trauma Chronic pain Living with chronic illness Parents & postpartum overwhelm Students Busy professionals "Doing everything right" and still feeling off

What to expect

Clarity first. Then the work.

i.

A conversation

A free 15-minute call. You tell me what's going on; I tell you honestly whether my work fits — and where to go if it doesn't.

ii.

Start where it fits

Want the whole picture first? Begin with the Foundations Consult — optional, and complete in itself. Coming for clinical care like CBT-I or therapy? We start there directly; assessment is built in.

iii.

Focused change

From there, we work the plan — a sleep course, the stress program, mind-body practice — in defined arcs, until you don't need me.

Abby in a Kansas prairie at golden hour

A note for anyone the system gave up on

You're not imagining it. And it's not your fault.

If you've been told your labs look fine, that it's just stress, that it's all in your head — while your body keeps insisting otherwise — I want you to know I take you at your word. I've lived this from the inside: I've put debilitating chronic illness into remission through lifestyle change, and settled a lifetime of anxiety through nervous-system work. I know what it's like to be dismissed, and I know what it's like to get better anyway.

So here is what you can count on from me:

  • I will never blame you for your symptoms or tell you they're all in your head.
  • I will never hand you a one-size-fits-all protocol — this work is individual, because you are.
  • I will never push you into unrealistic changes you're set up to abandon. We build what your life can actually hold.
  • I will never ask you to stop a medication or leave your medical providers — this work happens alongside your care, and with your consent I'm glad to coordinate with your team.
  • We work within your body's current capacity, never past it. Pacing is part of the method.

Not meant to be done alone

Healing happens in company.

Connection isn't a nice-to-have — it's one of the foundations. Nervous systems settle in the presence of other settled nervous systems, and change holds better when someone is walking beside you.

Groups & community

I periodically run small groups for people walking a similar path — shared practice, shared learning, and the kind of support that makes change sustainable. If you'd like to be the first to hear when one opens, join the interest list.

Join the interest list

For organizations & teams

I design and lead workshops, group programs, and wellness offerings for organizations — from stress and sleep programs for busy teams to embodied practices for burnout-prone professions. Built for your people, not off the shelf.

Start a conversation

For physicians & healthcare providers

The lifestyle piece your treatment plans depend on.

Your patients' outcomes rest on sleep, stress load, eating patterns, and follow-through — the part that's hardest to move in a medical visit. I take those referrals, and I work alongside your care, never in place of it.

  • CBT-I for chronic insomnia, delivered in a defined course of about six sessions
  • Whole-life lifestyle assessment and behavior-change planning for patients who need foundations rebuilt
  • Whole-person stress work for patients whose presentation has a significant stress and nervous-system component
  • In-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield for clinical services; private-pay and wellness services available to all
  • Clear communication: with patient consent, you receive a note at intake and completion

For integrative and functional medicine practitioners: I can serve as the behavioral and mind-body arm of your treatment plans — the piece that makes them stick.

To refer, email abbyilardilowry@gmail.com — I'll take it from there.

Refer a patient

About

Fluent in both worlds.

Trained in the evidence. At home in the body.

Health advice tends to come from one of two worlds. One speaks in protocols, outcome data, and clinical trials; the other speaks in breath, movement, and the felt sense of a nervous system settling. Most practitioners live in one. I work in both — because lasting change requires both.

I'm a licensed mental health clinician with training in behavioral sleep treatment, functional nutrition, integrative medicine for mental health, therapeutic yoga, somatic practice, and health coaching. My work meets you exactly where you are: we look at what's actually happening in your body and your days, find the highest-leverage changes, and build them into a life a real person can live.

Beyond the credentials: I live in Lawrence, Kansas with my husband and one curmudgeonly senior dog. Creativity is my center of gravity — I'm wrapping up the first draft of my first novel, I write and perform original songs, and I've been on stage since I was five (you can still catch me in local theater). I've taught yoga since college, and teaching — classes, groups, workshops — is one of my favorite places to be.

As for my own foundations: I love experimenting with new recipes, I've recently gotten into strength training, and long walks are a daily anchor. Singing and dancing are two of my favorite forms of nervous system regulation — proof that the practices I teach can be joyful. There's also a mini herbal-tea apothecary in my house, and I'm forever mixing new blends. The rest is books, people I love, and time outside.

Abby Ilardi Lowry

Training & credentials

  • Licensed Professional Counselor (Kansas)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
  • Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor
  • Certified Mental Health Integrative Medicine Provider
  • Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, Level 1
  • Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200)
  • ACE Certified Health Coach
  • Advanced training in traumatic stress & the nervous system

Fees & questions

Clear prices. Honest answers.

The Foundations Consult
Intake questionnaire, a two-hour deep-dive session (or two one-hour sessions), your written priorities map, and a 30-minute follow-up call.
$450
1-hour individual session
The full, more intensive session — for therapy, CBT-I, somatic work and therapeutic yoga, and deeper dives or troubleshooting in coaching and wellness work. Clinical services are in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield; superbills available for other plans' out-of-network benefits.
$165 / hour
Coaching check-in (30 min)
A focused half-hour for follow-up, troubleshooting, and accountability — wellness services, after an initial full-length session.
$95 / session
Wellness package
Six one-hour sessions of coaching, consulting, or mind-body work (non-clinical services), purchased together. Any hour can be split into two 30-minute check-ins.
$900 / 6 hours ($150 each)
Small groups & programs
Group series and structured programs are priced per offering — announced when enrollment opens.
varies
Is this therapy?

Some of it can be — most of it isn't. My work runs in two lanes. The first is coaching, consulting, and education: the Foundations Consult, lifestyle coaching, mind-body practice, and groups. This is wellness work — no diagnosis, no clinical records, open to anyone. The second is clinical care under my license as a Licensed Professional Counselor: treatment for conditions like chronic insomnia or an anxiety disorder, including CBT-I and somatic therapy. At your free intro call we'll figure out together which lane fits what you're coming in with — and you'll always know which one you're in.

Can I use my insurance?

For clinical services only, and in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Insurance covers care that meets its criteria — which generally means a mental health diagnosis and medically necessary treatment. Coaching, the Foundations Consult, yoga, and groups are wellness services, which insurance doesn't cover; those are private pay. If you have a different insurance plan, I can provide a superbill for clinical services that you may submit for out-of-network reimbursement.

Do I need a diagnosis to work with you?

No. The coaching and consulting lane exists precisely for people who aren't looking for — and may not need — a clinical diagnosis, but want expert help rebuilding sleep, stress, energy, and daily-life health. If what you're carrying turns out to need clinical treatment, I'll tell you honestly, and we'll either shift lanes or I'll help you find the right care.

Do I have to stop my medication or leave my current providers?

No — never. This work happens alongside your medical and mental health care, not instead of it. I will never advise you to stop a medication (that conversation belongs with your prescriber), and with your consent I'm glad to coordinate with your doctors, therapist, or specialists so we're all rowing in the same direction.

Which services fall in which lane?

The Foundations Consult, lifestyle coaching, and nutrition education are wellness and education services. CBT-I for chronic insomnia is clinical treatment. Somatic work and therapeutic yoga can be either — wellness practice, or somatic therapy provided under my license as part of clinical care. Stress work likewise can be either. Where a service can go both ways, we sort out the right lane at intake, not mid-stream.

Online or in person?

Both. I see people in Lawrence, Kansas, and online. Clinical services are available to Kansas residents; coaching, consulting, and mind-body work are available online wherever you are.

Begin

Just start with fifteen minutes.

A free call, by phone or video. Tell me what's going on; I'll tell you whether this work fits — and if it doesn't, who might serve you better.

Prefer email? Write me at abbyilardilowry@gmail.com.