Do you have days were just getting out of bed
feels like you are pushing a boulder up a hill?
Those are the days when you have the opportunity to
embrace yourself with kindness and compassion.
It is not your fault.
You are doing the best you can.
And that is enough!
💗Bindu
I often use the phrase ‘healing from the inside out’. The first time I heard it, I wondered what it really meant. I suspect that you also wonder that same thing.
Per the National Cancer Institute, allopathic medicine is a system in which medical doctors and other health care professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. Also called bio-medicine, conventional medicine, mainstream medicine, orthodox medicine, and Western medicine.
A system of health care in which natural, alternative, and holistic practitioners address symptoms using natural herbs, supplements and other holistic modalities, which could include acupuncture, massage, aromatherapy, and many others.
Many of these practitioners work to alleviate symptoms while also exploring and addressing the deeper causes the the illness. It depends on the practitioner, their approach, perspective, training and expertise.
A system of wellness care that uses detective work to identify underlying cause of symptoms and then supports the body in healing itself. This is based on the understanding that the body heals itself. Your entire body was built from 2 cells joining together. Every function in your body was created from those two cells. If the human body is capable of that, then it is also capable of healing almost anything that goes wrong in the body.
It is also important to alleviate symptoms along the way. This is called smart or holistic symptom relief.
The patient or client needs to work with their practitioners to find the right balance of the three models. They each have their own pros and cons.
From my perspective, the body is designed to heal itself. When the body is exposed to stresses, it is designed to meet and resolve the stress and return to homeostasis. When the body is not healthy, it means that the body is not able to meet and resolve the stresses. This can be caused by many factors and in the case of chronic illness, it is that there are more stresses that the body can handle, and the dis-ease process has been initiated.
Our society commonly see symptoms as something bad that needs to be gotten rid of. From the inside out perspective, symptoms are either a sign that the body is healing or a message from the body that something has gone wrong and we need to grab our detective hats and get to the investigation.
When the body is healing itself, there will almost always be a symptom. You cut your finger and it become red, inflamed and sore. That is the body sending energy and healing chemicals to the cut. If you wash the cut, and keep it from getting infected, the finger will heal. Nothing else needs to be done. This is a very simple example, and yet often our symptoms are just that, the body in the process of healing itself.
Imagine that the oil light came on in your car. Rather than putting more oil in the car, you snipped the connection to the light so that the oil light didn’t come on. Without the simple act of adding oil, you might very well burn out or freeze the engine.
Maybe your fatigue is because you aren’t getting enough sleep. Your heartburn is caused by eating too much of the wrong foods. Sure, you can take a medication or supplement to make the symptom go away, but without addressing and resolving the underlying cause, the health of the body may decline, the symptoms may reappear or show up in a different and perhaps a more serious problem.
From my understanding, this is what happens in our body when we use drugs, supplements and other tools to ‘stop’ the symptoms. Sometimes intelligent symptom alleviation is appropriate, but it is best used along with a deeper look and resolution of the underlying cause.
A practitioner who is skilled in assisting an individual to heal from the inside out will have many ways to inquire, identify and resolve the underlying causes of symptoms. As the underlying causes are identified and resolved, then the problematic symptoms simply go away.
I spent a lot of years chasing symptoms with both allopathic medicine and green medicine. In order to fulfill my desire to completely heal myself, I needed to go deeper. I could manage my symptoms with supplements, but I couldn’t make them completely go away. My intention was to be symptom free. So I continued searching.
I studied wholistic health from many angles, including physical, emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual aspects. I am also very intuitive. By blending my studies with my intuition, I was able to identify and resolve the underlying causes of my symptoms and they began falling away.
Now talking with an individual, listening, and asking for questionnaires to be completed I can have a pretty good idea of the areas of stress. Then comes the work of identifying specifics and using the right tools to neutralize the stresses.
Healing from the inside out can seem to take longer and be more expensive than the allopathic approach, but in my experience the opposite is true. It embraces the whole being and becomes an experience of tapping into and neutralizing stresses that you never knew were lurking under the surface. These stresses impact you on all levels, robbing you of your vitality, inner peace and satisfaction in life.
The result of healing from the inside out is that you discover a new you that may be well beyond what you ever imagined possible. That is true healing.
Stayed tuned. Next week, we will look at the kinds of stresses that underlie the experience of fibromyalgia.
Our medical system has no cure for fibromyalgia. Even holistic treatments often fall short of providing relief from fibromyalgia.
Back in the 90’s, after struggling with my health for 20 years, I first heard the word fibromyalgia. I was dumbfounded. Also excited. I thought that now that I knew what was wrong with me, I could get help. But the medical system didn’t have anything that helped. I had already began studying holistic health, so put my focus in that direction. Even though it took a long time, I have improved significantly and many of my symptoms are gone or mild.
Which is quite unique.
This is the result of result of my search for health over the past 40 years. I scoured the medical approach and holistic modalities. This was quite a journey and carried me from one end of the US to another more than once. Personally working with multiple holistic treatments and protocols and practitioners for 20 years. Into a monastery for 3 years, and an ashram for 6 years. 10 years of training in wholistic modalities. Experimenting with diet, exercise and lifestyle choices. Many years of teaching and coaching others. I felt like I was guided by a divine hand showing me the next step and the next for 40 years.
Out of all of this I have developed a very thorough systematic way of restoring health. Based on what really worked and what didn’t. Blending modalities into a synergetic system of rebuilding health addressing all dimensions of our being, body, emotions, mind, spirit, energy and expression. Calling on the power of the body to heal itself.
This is the system that I used to rebuild my health. And now it is time for me to bring it out into the world.
Below you will see an outline and short description of my system. I hope it doesn’t feel too overwhelming. Beginning in September, I will begin teaching group programs taking participants through the process step by step. My hope/intention is to make the process affordable for everyone. By doing this in groups you will have the group support throughout the process.
The Integrative Wholeness Experience
The Integrative Wholeness Experience is designed to teach you how to remain grounded, calm, and centered in the midst of external or internal stress. Accessing your inner wisdom and guidance.
Internal stress prevents our body from healing itself. When we have stress from negative life experiences, trauma, unhappy work, and relationship challenges, our sympathetic nervous system is running the show and we do not have the ability to slow down, rest, recharge, and repair. Or parasympathetic nervous system is keeping us buried in a state of fog and immobility. This can diminish the effectiveness of any health-oriented protocol.
By grounding ourself in our calm inner Presence we can more easily navigate the ups and downs of the healing journey. And you will learn how to neutralize triggers and trauma responses as they arise in your daily experience.
The second essential component to rebuilding our health is taking good care of your body. Without feeding your body the right food for your unique bio-individuality your food can actually contribute to ill health rather than improving health.
Likewise with exercise. Moving your body is essential for your health and knowing what exercises and how much is right for you will support your healing process. Doing the wrong exercise or even too much of the right exercise can work against improving your health.
Oxygen is the most important nutrient on the planet. With our first breath we begin our life on earth. With the last breath we leave our body. The quality of our breath between these two events contributes to the quality of your life and health.
Water is also an essential nutrient. Your body is 70% water. A well hydrated body has a greater ability to detoxify and support normal metabolism.
Rest, sleep, and play are essential to a quality of life. When we are stressed, we become contracted. That contraction reduces the quality of our health. Rest and play bring joy and delight into our system and relaxes the body. The right balance between relaxation and contraction is essential for good health.
Quality sleep is also essential to good health. That is when the body rests, restores, and rebuilds. Healing trauma, negative life experiences and stresses in your life help the nervous system to unwind allowing for deep restful sleep. Also the Integrative Wholeness Experience supports you in remaining calm in the midst of stress.
Much of this is covered in the Integrative Wholeness Experience.
When we have suppressed emotions and unhealed trauma, your cellular memories continuously send a danger signal to your nervous system which keeps you in fight or flight.
The mind jumps in and creates thoughts, stories, and belief systems to attempt to understand and explain the anxiety or depression that you feel. This tends to slow down the true healing process and keeps you stuck in the uncomfortable known.
Trauma and negative life experiences are revealed and neutralized. Reprograming the mind to a health life affirmative perspective. Learning to embrace your emotions in a way that empowers rather than disempowers you.
All done from a place of self love and compassion. You will learn a process that will automatically heal trauma triggers and trauma responses as they arise in your experience.
When the body has been out of balance for an extended period of time, the biochemistry and energetic terrain of the body changes. Even after correcting our lifestyle, stress reduction, trauma healing and spiritual connection, the body needs further assistance to return to an inner state of balance and functionality.
The foundational systems of the body include the neuroendocrine system, digestive system, and the detoxification system. By supporting these systems in the body, we can begin the process of rebalancing the biochemistry of the body.
In addition, it is important to identify toxins that are stored in the body tissues which undermine the healthy functioning of the body. And finally, to repair damage the cells have sustained due to stress and toxicity.
The body is fueled by energy that flows through the meridian system. The meridian system feeds each system in the body and keeps the systems, organs and cells functioning normally. There are many modalities that we can utilize to increase the flow of energy to improve your health.
Another aspect of rebuilding your health is knowing your true self and consciously interacting with the world around you, through work, family, and society. Who are you? What are the gifts that you are here to bring into the world. How do you manage your time and finances? Are your relationships healthy, fulfilling, and nurturing? How do you consciously communicate in the world?
This benefits us in two ways. First, knowing your core values and mission help you to channel your energy into fulfillment and satisfaction. It also helps to pull you forward into health.
This may feel like a lot. And it is. Yet your health and sense of inner peace will grow as you progress through the program.
I am excited and perhaps a bit scared. It is a lot to take on. Yet, I truly feel that this is my mission and destiny in this lifetime. It has been a dream of mine for many many years. Now is the time to bring it out into the world.
I am certainly open to any of your thoughts, questions and suggestions. I am here to serve you.
May you be whole, 💕Bindu
For those of us with fibromyalgia, chronic illness or simply ongoing nagging physical or emotional symptoms, we want the symptoms to go away. We want good health. We want to feel good. As well meaning as this is, our search for health can become a war against the symptoms and our own body.
In my early years of studying holistic health, I was introduced to the idea that symptoms were our friend, not the enemy. At first this sounded outrageous, but as time went on, I began to understand the importance and power of this truth.
Over the years, I have learned the application of this in rebuilding health. The power of this is understanding the underlying cause of the symptoms. That is where your power lies . . . not in fighting a symptom. The symptom is the guide to the underlying cause.
To assist in understanding this, I am going to explore the anatomy of a symptom. I have people who come to me and ask me what they need to do to get rid of a symptom. Without knowing more information about them and their symptoms, my truthful answer is, “I don’t know.” I teach people how to rebuild their health from the inside out rather than try to get rid of a symptom. I take people on a journey of discovering and resolving the underlying causes.
Let’s take pain for an example. If you have chronic pain, there can be many causes. A pain pill might alleviate they symptom but is not addressing the underlying cause. Here are some possible causes of pain:
More often than not, the underlying cause is a combination of the above. You tell me, is there a pill out there or one healing modality that is going to explore and or resolve all these underlying causes? If there is, I haven’t found it and that isn’t from the lack of trying.
In his book, Love Your Disease, It’s Keeping You Healthy, Dr John Harrison explores the impact of our upbringing on our health. It is about how family attitudes and behaviors can imprint an unconscious disease mindset into us from our early childhood.
German New Medicine is a body of medically documented case studies showing the connection between trauma and physical symptoms. Dr Ryke Geerd Hamer spent 40 plus years studying the relationship between trauma and illness and documented over 40,000 case studies confirming his discoveries. He scientifically documented the impact of a shock or trauma on a person and how and why the illness is born and how it is resolved.
The study of homo-toxicology (the impact of toxicity on the human body) by Hans-Heinrich Reckeweg, identifies 6 phases that the body goes though as toxins accumulate in the body. Each phase shows specific symptoms as health declines.
The Chinese 5 element theory describes the interrelationship between organs, emotions, and symptoms and demonstrates how symptoms in one part of the body, mind or emotions, can be caused by something seemingly unrelated.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) is a research study conducted by the U.S. health maintenance organization Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[1] The study has demonstrated an association of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (aka childhood trauma) with health and social problems across the lifespan.
For thousands of years, yogi’s have been aware of the mind, emotion, body, spirit connection. The mind is a subtle body and the body is a gross mind. The thoughts in our subconscious mind are mirrored by the body. This relationship is thoroughly explored the book, Bodymind by Ken Dychtwald.
Bruce Lipton, in his book “The Biology of Belief” also looks at the relationship between subconscious thoughts, the emotions and the body.
Candice Pert, in her book Molecules of Emotions, explores the relationship between the mind, emotions and our body.
The Detox Solution by Dr Patricia Fitzgerald is another wonderful book that explores the impact of toxicity on our health. And what we can do about that.
The Institute of Integrative Nutrition teaches us that our food, isn’t just what we put on our plate, but satisfaction in our relationships, careers, exercise and spirituality all play a part in our health.
In light of this massive body of information, it becomes apparent that a symptom is just the tip of the iceberg. If we understand this relationship, we can use our symptoms as a starting place to discover the underlying imbalances or underlying causes of the symptom. Here are some things that a symptom might be able to lead us to:
The good news is that with awareness and compassion, we can understand the underlying causes of symptoms. With this awareness, we can resolve the underlying causes. We can make changes to our diet and lifestyle. We can recognize and unravel the traumas and suppressed emotions. We can discover our unconscious beliefs and allow them to shift. Awareness is the magic potion to initiate change. Awareness is the first step to change and health.
The challenge that we are faced with when we have physical or emotional symptoms is to discover and resolve the underlying causes of our dis-ease. Discovering and unraveling the underlying causes / matrix of your symptoms is a journey, not an event.
Rebuilding our health is a process of self-empowerment. What can we do to impact our health? What are the underlying causes, what is hiding in our subconscious memory that is impacting our health.
This is where a qualified wellness coach can be helpful. They understand the landscape and can assist you in discovering the underlying causes, resolving them and then bringing the system back into balance.
The longer I work to rebuild my own health and coach others in doing the same, the deeper this understanding goes. I also see how discovering and resolving the subconscious matrix of thoughts, emotions and beliefs is fundamental to our health. I see how powerful the impact of awareness is in shifting our health both in positive and negative ways.
This week:
Be gentle and loving with yourself with this introspection. This isn’t about right or wrong, but its is about getting familiar with yourself and meeting yourself with compassion.
Another suggestion is to read one or more of the above mentioned books. The various perspectives on health and what impacts them is powerful. It will change the way you think about your body and your health.
I recently read a post on twitter by My Name is Fibromyalgia that says that fibromyalgia is progressive. And goes into details of the 6 Stages. It is a good article and quite dire.
It makes me sad when I read posts like this as it projects a negative future for “most” cases of fibromyalgia. It makes me sad because I know many people with fibromyalgia, maybe even most, will go down this path.
Because I know there are options that can change the trajectory. It makes me sad that so many men and women with fibromyalgia are suffering and can’t, don’t or won’t believe that the possibility of improving their health exists. Or don’t even consider it as a possibility.
It is a bit scary to write and share this, as sometimes people with fibromyalgia will be offended by my belief that we can improve. And I truly don’t like to offend people. One of my worst fears is offending others.
Yet, I have written and posted this because I need to share my experience and hopefully plant some seeds of hope that you can improve. You don’t have to go down the road of progressively getting worse. You can turn around your health and improve.
My fibromyalgia symptoms began in my early childhood. I was told the pain I was experiencing was normal, so nothing was done. It also created the belief in me that being in pain was the norm.
It wasn’t until after I graduated from college that I realized that what I experienced wasn’t the norm. I had taken a backpacking class and the final session was to backpack up the side of a mountain and camp overnight. Halfway up the mountain, I had to stop because my shoulder was in such severe pain. I was carrying a camera on that shoulder. I stopped and watched the other people continue up the trail. In that moment, I knew that there was something very different about me. That the pain I was experiencing was not normal. No one else on that trail with me was in severe pain.
My fibromyalgia started in childhood and slowly but progressively got worse. By three years out of college, I was in severe pain, depressed, anxious, severe IBS, fatigued and had severe interstitial cystitis and suffered from insomnia. It was so bad that I ended my job as a CPA to find solutions to my health.
Over the next 40 years, I studied and immersed myself in holistic health and spirituality.
I was really sick. For 14 years, from age 34-48, I lived with my parents as I couldn’t work enough to support myself.
Many of my fibro symptoms are gone completely. Others are mild. Some I am still working on. Here is a summary:
Mild: Pain, depression, anxiety – comes and goes.
Rarely: Brain fog
Gone: Insomnia, fatigue, interstitial cystitis
Some symptoms that came on later: itching and burning skin was very severe for a while-now rarely occurs and if so, very mild.
Right now, the IBS is the greatest challenge, but improving.
I have come so far since those torturous years when I was living with my parents. That is when the pain, fatigue, insomnia, depression, and anxiety were at their worst. I literally wanted to die. I didn’t want to continue living in so much pain.
I am not completely free of fibromyalgia. It still limits me. But I am soooooo much healthier. One of my biggest problems is that now that I can do more, sometimes I push myself too much, which can flare up old symptoms. But, as I balance my work with play and rest, I don’t flare up as often.
All this is a result of what I learned and experienced in my studies of holistic health and spirituality. They go hand in hand.
You get to choose. With a strong intention and commitment, you can improve your health. It can be a challenge, but it is worth the effort.
Below is an article that I wrote several years ago and re-posted last year. I am including it here as a reminder of what is possible. If anything, I invite you to consider the possibility that you can improve your health with some guidance, intention, and commitment.
As I moved through my experience of living with fibromyalgia, with that as my goal, I noticed 5 distinct phases that I went through. They were, in essence, 5 steps of empowering myself in relationship to fibromyalgia. These steps are:
In the simplest of terms, fibromyalgia is an experience of multiple physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms including (but not exclusive) to widespread pain, heightened and painful response to pressure, fatigue, sleep disturbance, joint stiffness, difficulty swallowing, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome, bladder abnormalities, numbness and tingling, brain fog, depression, and anxiety. The exact symptoms and severity of symptoms vary from individual to individual. Fibromyalgia is estimated to affect 2-4% of the population and effects 9 women for every man. The term “fibromyalgia” literally means “muscle and connective tissue pain”.
It is said that there is no cure for fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is not fatal. My experience is that the symptoms do increase over time if not managed and addressed properly. Diagnosis can be difficult and even after diagnosis, finding a practitioner that truly understands fibromyalgia is rare.
Generally medical treatment for fibromyalgia is management of symptoms via medications and lifestyle management. In the holistic arena you will find acupuncture, herbal treatments, “miracle cures”, chiropractic treatments, diet and exercise recommendations galore, and many countless modalities. All of these have their place.
Personally I think that rather than focusing on treating or healing fibromyalgia, we need to focus on healing the individual. I believe that the underlying cause of fibromyalgia is different for each person so the idea of healing or treating fibromyalgia or the individual symptoms may bring some temporary relief, but do nothing to create permanent or lasting change. Treating symptoms only can detract the attention from identifying the underlying cause and thereby making real progress.
Living with fibromyalgia is a difficult endeavor. In my experience, the symptoms can change radically from day to day, leaving me unsure of what I would be capable of accomplishing on any given day. Fibromyalgia can impact every area of your life including career, family, relationships, hobbies, finances, and self-esteem.
It is difficult if not impossible for someone who does not have fibromyalgia to understand what you are experiencing. Many times I heard, “it is all in your head”, “everyone experiences pain”, “you’re just too sensitive”, or “just get over it”.
People rarely understood why I couldn’t keep up with everyone else or often had to say, “I am just going to stay home” simply because I needed to rest. Many times, I would push myself to do more than my body could handle, and end up in extreme pain and miserable.
Truthfully, it took me years of suffering before I understood how to live with fibromyalgia. Trying to push through isn’t helpful. In the years that I did that, I did more damage to my health and paid dearly for it.
Slowly, I began to listen to my body and understand the limitations that it imposed on me. When I fought the limitations, I suffered. As I learned to respect my body and the messages it sent me, I began to be able to manage my symptoms so that they were tolerable and that I could maintain a consistent level of functionality.
By listening to my body, I found foods that were more supportive and exercise routines that worked for me. I discovered how much sleep I needed and what would disturb or enhance my sleep. I found the kind of regular schedule that would support me in keeping the symptoms at a tolerable level. I discovered what kinds of activities I could engage in and others that I needed to avoid. I could tell when my emotions and anxiety were spiraling out of control and learned ways to pull back to take care of myself. I found tools that helped my body to relax and release pain and tension.
As I listened, I began to hear more. I became aware of unresolved emotional experiences and how to release them. I learned to listen to my mind and become aware of the kinds of thoughts I fed to myself and then began to slowly re-script my inner dialogue. I learned to how to take care of myself the times that I was severely depressed. I learned how to take my power back and communicate effectively with others.
I think I have learned more from listening to my body than from any book I have ever read. Although, the outside information was valuable and if I asked for it, I would receive information that was helpful to me. I found that most medications did not work for me so I chose a more holistic approach.
(This doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t take medications. Sometimes they are helpful in managing symptoms while releasing underlying causes.)
Once I accepted the limitations that fibromyalgia imposed on me and learned to manage my experience, I was in a more stable position. From there I could begin to research and experiment and look for the underlying cause of my symptoms.
I had the belief that I could heal myself and I needed/wanted to do that. With this approach, I have been able to root out the underlying causes of my fibromyalgia and put myself on the road to healing. Finding the underlying cause was one step, applying the needed protocols to my life a second step and then re-balancing, detoxing and rebuilding my body was the third step.
Out of my own experiences, I have pulled together the tools and methods that work most effectively as well as an understanding of how to evaluate others as to how to guide and support their exploration.
Fibromyalgia can be an all-encompassing experience. It can become the center point of our life. While dealing with fibromyalgia, it can be helpful to remember that it isn’t the whole of our life or the whole of who you are. We need to find outlets for ourselves and our expression that bring love, peace and enjoyment into our lives while on the journey to healing. We also can look beyond the experience of Fibromyalgia and see or envision ourselves whole, healthy and fulfilled.
As a result of having fibromyalgia I explored areas of myself and experiences in my life that have brought me great peace, contentment, empowerment and inner strength. I am a more whole and complete person as a result of my illness. I have learned a great deal about human behavior, health, wellness and spirituality. I have found my own unique voice and each day give way to my authentic self. This is a result of the inner work that I did along the way.
I am grateful for this and love the person who I have become. Healing all parts of myself, physical, emotional, mental, expression and spiritual, became the journey. That journey will continue as I grow and evolve.
When I talk with women who have fibromyalgia, I can fully relate to their pain and their experience of fibromyalgia. I have no doubt of the real pain, physical, emotional or mental that they experience. I was there. While I didn’t experience exactly where you are and what you experience, I know what it is like to be in massive pain and suffering on all levels.
My wish for you is that you find your unique path to the experience of Beyond Fibromyalgia. My commitment to you is to share my experience and what I have learned in my long and agonizing journey with fibromyalgia. I often think that if I knew then what I know today, I could have saved many years of pain and suffering.
I will continue to offer free information and reasonably priced offerings to assist you on your journey to wellness.
Feel free to ask for assistance. You can reach out through my contact form.
May you be on a journey to beyond fibromyalgia,
❤️Bindu
Honestly, that is a very vague question. So, let me clarify.
The real question is, where are you in regard to your nervous system and how does that impact your life experience and fibromyalgia? And what can you do about it?
Our Autonomic Nervous System controls much of the activity in the body. It has two branches, the Sympathetic Nervous System and the Parasympathetic Nervous System and the Enteric Nervous System.
Today we will focus on the Sympathetic Nervous System and the Parasympathetic Nervous System. Both have a direct connection to the organ systems in your body.
In a healthy person, these two nervous systems balance each other. The Sympathetic gets us up in the morning and keeps us moving during the day so we can function in the world. The Parasympathetic nervous system slows us down so we can sleep, and the body can rest and repair. They both are connected to the organ systems in the body to make sure they function properly and can rest, repair and rejuvenate.
The two naturally work in harmony with each other to keep us healthy.
When we have experienced trauma, negative life experiences and ongoing stress, the automatic nervous system becomes disregulated. We can become stuck in either the sympathetic or parasympathetic or take wild swings from one to the other.
For women with fibromyalgia, this is important because a dysregulated nervous system can be a contributing factor to our fibro symptoms and/or can block healing and recovery from fibromyalgia.
If you know “where you are” meaning “where is your nervous system”, you can take steps to regulate your nervous system and bring it back into balance. That is a big step in fibromyalgia recovery.
Your nervous system can be in a state of Sympathetic Dominance, or Parasympathetic Dominance, or swing wildly from one to the other. Or sometimes both are activated. Or it can be in a balanced or regulated state.
The lists below for each state will provide information for you to consider as you observe your experience. This will help you to understand where your nervous system is.
If your sympathetic nervous system is dominate, you will be in a state of hyper-arousal or fight or flight. Some of the signs of being in Sympathetic Dominance are:
Signs of hyper arousal:
If your parasympathetic nervous system is dominate, you will be in a state of hypo-arousal aka Shutdown or Immobilization. Some of the signs of being in Parasympathetic Dominance are:
Signs of Hypo-Activation
What you may not know is what it feels like to have a normal balanced nervous system, that easily flows from one to the other as needed as your move through your day. If you have had trauma, ongoing stress, or negative life experiences in early childhood, you might have never experienced a balanced nervous system. I certainly didn’t.
What is the experience of a balanced nervous system?
As you read over the lists, what resonates with you? Which state or states do you experience frequently. Here are some questions to consider:
Keep in mind that you will naturally have ups and downs in life. The nervous system will keep moving from parasympathetic to sympathetic naturally. And that both are needed to navigate the normal, natural ups and downs of life. The problem is when one or the other dominates and we get stuck or have wild swings from parasympathetic to sympathetic.
Take sometime this coming week to become more aware of “where you are” in relation to your nervous system as you go through your day. Print out the lists and post them where you can see them or carry one with you.
Awareness is the first step in creating change. Simply by being aware of where your nervous system is will begin to create change. Over the last several blogs and newsletters, I have provided some simple practices that can bring you to a balanced nervous system. The change can be subtle, and it can take some consistent practice over a period of time.
Also in my upcoming programs, Reconnect with Your Calm Inner Presence and An Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience, we will go more deeply into how to create and maintain a balanced health nervous system.
Stay tuned.
May your nervous system be balanced and healthy, 💕Bindu
