New Year, New You.
A guide to resetting your nervous system for a calmer and more balanced self
The nervous system and its endocrine accompaniment include the neurotransmitters and hormones that are the signaling mechanism for the functioning of the body. This neuroendocrine axis remains the frontier of science when it comes to understanding the human experience. While not completely understood, knowledge has been gleaned from scientific studies that may be used to approach the body in new ways while also serving to validate and explain certain aspects of traditional and alternative healing methods.
The depth of the subject matter is vast, but to take a quick dive into the subject, and to entice the reader into further inquiry, let us consider some things.
The food you eat will contribute to your physical wellness, and additionally to your mental and emotional health. To generalize, your food is either a poison or a potion, something adding to your wellness or detracting from it. Long-term repercussions of poor eating habits compound into emotional and mental distress and physical sickness. The philosophy of health and wellness from India for example, called Ayurveda, uses food as a primary, foundational tool for wellness. General health consultations assess an individual and strategize an approach to food as medicine via the chemistry of food. A standard dietary adjustment of 3-21 days is expected to begin a reset toward wellness.
Healthy habits add to your wellness. Modern assumptions are that it takes about 30 days to reset a habit. The key here is self-awareness, discipline, and commitment. An application of willpower will be what it takes. Your willpower is your best attribute, when you use it. Small adjustments toward major changes will generally be the better approach. Just like a certain yoga or stretching sequence, an exercise or dietary regimen, or the speed and distance one may choose to run will need to be customized for the individual, your unique combination of causes, reasons, and excuses will need to be dealt with on an individual level. Rest assured that we are not static beings, we are incredibly dynamic and capable of many great things.
If you find yourself having a hard time, have courage, it is a catalyst. Fear may always be a possibility, but courage has to be a choice. Energy put towards frustration, self-judgment, and self-criticism is better served elsewhere. We may say that it is better to put your energy into virtues over vices. Applied knowledge is wisdom, otherwise, it’s only as good as a book on the shelf. Attitude creates an atmosphere that creates culture. Reset your attitude and love yourself.
The nervous system is the repository of the mental, emotional, and physical experiences of the body. In massage and bodywork, we are able to influence the healing process by initiating the parasympathetic side of the nervous system with sedation. Healing from trauma and recovery from injury can take time, and it is important to respect the pace of the process. When we chase pleasure to cope with pain, we are talking about the hormone Dopamine. Dopamine receptors can become overstimulated and downregulate, ending up requiring more of the same stimulus for the same effect. This is the addictive side of things. Happiness on the other hand is related to serotonin, and does not down-regulate. For this reason, chase happiness not pleasure.
In a relaxed, sedated state, the client can catch up on their mental, emotional, and physical backlog; things they haven't had time to process or deal with. This is a meditative state that once experienced and learned, the client can access on their own. The practical aspects of many types of meditation are best summed up in the analogy of a cell phone: you have to plug it in to charge it. Meditation practices are put the body into a sleep-like meditative state, which modern science has termed Non-Sleep-Deep-Relaxation, or NSDR. In this state the body gets a break from the sensory overload and fast pace of the outside world. Meditating when you need it is the key.
The yin side of yin and yang, as a concept of balance, means taking that recovery time so that you can have a strong yang aspect, or go-mode. Rest can be the best medicine. You can't be all gas pedal and no brake pedal when driving, and when you are driving, you obey red lights and stop signs for a reason. Similarly, your body is communicating to you in subtle ways that you can choose to heed or to ignore. Your gut feelings, the intuition, the urge to move or to stretch or to rest, the voice inside your head that says go to sleep and don't binge watch another episode. Listen to that voice and honor it and it will serve you.
Today just do one thing. Breathe out and let your body breathe in what it needs. Focus on, in a relaxed way, coaxing your breath to empty out all its contents, and let your inhale be shallow, medium, or deep for a couple breaths. Do this for ten breaths and you will have an instant nervous system reset.
