Think of a piece of paper that's loaded with scribbles, thousands of little words, doodles, notes, etc.. it's quite chaotic to look at. If I asked you to "Please find the word "No" on this piece of paper", you might notice that it might take some time. Now imagine your nervous system is just like that piece of paper. Moving through and around in it are lots of thoughts, most uninvited, lots of emotions and sensations floating in the background we're not consciously noticing... or some we are noticing but we don't feel we can focus on them without getting anxious, overwhelmed or taken down by them. Lots of those scribbles being stress responses our bodies picked up and are still holding onto. Point being, there's a lot going on there.
Now what if we made that page way bigger? So everything had more room and space and it could hold more. It might be easier to find the "no" or "red flag" or how you really feel about something. Nervous system work allows us to create more space/capacity in our nervous system (second image), and clear out significant amounts of chaotic "scribbles". Now if I asked you to find the "no" on the second image, the same image but with less "stuff", you can very easily hone in on that word/sensation/emotion. We're making the page larger and able to hold more, and along the way we clear out all the scribbles (undigested emotional material, trauma, conditioning, etc). We're creating safety and capacity in the nervous system so we can more easily hear and discern the innate wisdom of our body and in this way, it doesn't get overwhelmed as often or as easily.
Healing our nervous system is about first reconnecting with the body, only then can we learn to hear a "yes" or "no". "Okay, that's great but how do I do that?" It all starts in our smaller daily moments: when you're doing the dishes can you focus a little attention on your breath or shoulders (without needing to change anything)? Can you take 30 seconds in a meeting at work or while you watch a show to internally notice your posture or any tension or sensations you might be feeling? How about when your kiddo is having a melt down or you're just sitting outside in nature, say watching a beautiful sunset or feeling in awe of something? The more we can drop into our felt sense throughout the day, the more we can really begin to heal and expand our capacity.
Until we connect with our body, we move through life reacting to all the scribbles, following the wrong lines, stuck in our unhealthy patterns, disconnected from our felt sense and inner knowing. When we start to create more space on the page, we can more easily access that inner knowing which leads to healthier choices and a more effortless way of moving through life. Nervous system healing takes time and is definitely a marathon and not a race so give yourself permission to slow down as much as you can remember to and notice what's happening in the body, it all starts there. đ