My year of 2025 RESET continues, this month I am focusing on resetting my physical health. Making small choices every day to move and nourish my body is a priority. Paying attention to my level of stress and practicing grounding and centering when necessary is part of my routine as well.
In conversations with clients, friends, and colleagues I am hearing stories of feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated. In our fast-paced world with experiences of uncertainty, fear, stress, and divisiveness, it is easy for our nervous systems to get stuck in a state of overarousal. When this happens, our bodies can feel constantly on edge, making it difficult to relax, focus, or even sleep well.
Fortunately, there are ancient spirit practices with proven modern research and science you can adopt to activate your relaxation response and bring your nervous system back to a state of balance, known as homeostasis. I have been taking walks in nature, practicing yoga and deep breathing, connecting with friends, getting massages and acupuncture, and visiting the local farmer’s market. Spiritual and self-care routines offer profound tools to navigate life’s challenges. By integrating these practices into your daily life, you can cultivate a deeper connection to your Center Within and the supportive aspects of the world around you.
The first step is to notice your overarousal, triggers, and physical/emotional/behavioral stress responses.
How is your nervous system feeling? What happens when you are in fight, flight, or freeze?
Here is an article for more details on that process I wrote for a local paper, the Southwest Connector: Living Well in Stressful Times
More from my book, Living From the Center Within: Co-Creating Who You Are Becoming:
The stress response is a natural reaction in our body’s nervous and chemical systems designed to protect us from harm. Our respiratory rate increases, blood is directed to our muscles and limbs, pupils dilate, pulse quickens and our focus and awareness intensifies as we prepare for fight or flight. Left unchecked, this leads to exaggerated fear, distorted thinking, hyper-vigilance, burnout, and dis-ease.
What practices support your nervous system balance and optimal wellbeing?
We can utilize inner and outer resources. You can:
Practice Mindfulness: meditation, breathing, movement, grounding, nature, travel, or journalling.
Here is a blog that goes into these types of practices more deeply.
Take time for self-care essentials: An article I wrote for the Southwest Connector.
Utilize Supportive Health and Wellness Practitioners and Therapies: Healing Touch, Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Sound Therapy, Health and Wellness Coach, Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy
Here is a blog sharing my experiences with amazing practitioners after my knee replacement!
In addition, our nervous systems are continually impacted by the people and environments we are in contact with.
Here is a bit more from my book:
Mirror neuron cells present in various cortex regions of the brain are activated both when we perform an action and when we watch another person perform the same action. They make our brains act as if we ourselves were experiencing whatever the other person is experiencing. This neural mechanism is involuntary and automatic. With it, we don’t have to think about what other people are doing or feeling, we simply know. It is our neurological Wi-Fi. It is important to develop the capacity to maintain our higher consciousness and not mirror another’s nervous system that is more aroused or reactive than our own.
These neurons are part of the process of experiencing empathy, the ability to share someone else’s feelings. They are also involved in learning language and imitation. Both empathy and language are important in relationships. This evidence further illustrates the value of self-regulating and increasing our capacity to stay calm, open and present like the wise Chinese farmer in chapter six. We are continuously attuning to the resonance of each other’s nervous system. It is important to develop the capacity to maintain our higher consciousness and not mirror another’s nervous system that is more aroused or reactive than our own.
By consistently engaging in spiritual practices, self-love, self-care, and skilled healing practitioners support, you can cultivate a strong inner core, allowing you to remain centered and balanced amidst life’s ebbing currents.
You Got This!