Why Nervous System Safety Comes Before Healing
A client recently asked me, “I keep seeing on Instagram, stories that basically say your body cannot heal unless your nervous system is safe. What does this mean?”
What a great question. In short, when your body does not feel safe, it stays on high alert and cannot rest and heal, no matter how well you eat or what hack you try.
What does it mean to feel safe at a cellular level?
When we are not safe at a cellular level, our body will be in threat (lock down mode), and it won’t matter how well we eat or what hack we do. We have moved from a threat being another tribe or a sabre toothed tiger, to being seen, what others think of us, being criticised, to living in misalignment.
This is the stuff that we must address that goes well beyond the food if we truly want inner healing and health (not just weight loss).
Why breathwork is not enough on its own
It also must go beyond the breathwork. Breathwork is a scaffold, a way of supporting yourself to find a way in. To allow your body to be present, your nervous system to switch to rest, your mind to soften, and your heart to expand. In these conditions, we are likely to be more receptive and open to noticing our patterns, noticing when we are not living in that state of peace, and taking the responsibility that is ours for our own state of mind and body.
Oxytocin and a well regulated nervous system
Have you heard about the hormone oxytocin? The hormone that reigns supreme that is essentially our hormone of coherence and alignment with ourselves. When our nervous system is well regulated, our heart, mind, and body are in alignment with each other. We understand and have awareness of our patterns, and address the ones that are misaligned.
We live from our heart centred values, from the essence of who we are. Not from conditioned beliefs, conditioned habits, from micro managing others around us to be a certain way so that we can be ok.
This work is the hardest work we must do, which is why I was super excited to find TRTP. TRTP is like a cheat code to doing this work.
When you are triggered every day, your body cannot rest
We may build in wonderful breathwork practices, eat well, move well, even sleep well.
But if we continue to be triggered multiple times a day with the nervous system emotions of anger, shame, fear and guilt, we will be signalling to our entire system that we are not safe, and it can’t rest and heal for us. It must remain on high alert. And on a cellular level, it is impossible to live in both states. It is only one or the other. This is where breathwork practices can really help us to become aware of what the different states feel like in our body. Once we have felt presence and peace, we can feel when we are no longer there.
If we pay attention to our body, it will be teaching us. It will be inviting us in to make home within ourselves. And only then will our body truly feel safe enough to allow deep healing to take place.
The foundation of health
Self love doesn’t come from losing weight, it comes from a reconnection with your inner essence, and then in living that truth.
This, in my opinion, is the foundation of health.
Want some support with this?
If this speaks to you, you are very welcome to book a free strategy session. We can talk about what you need and whether health and life coaching is the right fit.
Keep reading
If you would like to go deeper, you might like Oxytocin and Safety, the Missing Piece in Healing and Stress vs Overwhelm, and Why Stress Management Is Not Working.
This post is general information and is not medical advice. Please talk to your GP or health practitioner before you change anything about your health. You can read more in my Disclaimer.
Want to go gently? My free guide, Coming Safely Back, explains why you’re exhausted and what your nervous system needs. Get the free guide.