Living in Survival Mode: Calming an Overwhelmed Nervous System

Why do so many of us feel constantly overwhelmed, anxious, emotionally exhausted, and unable to truly relax?

In this heartfelt and informative episode of Healing Our Kindred Spirits, Donna explores how nervous system dysregulation impacts our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Together, we talk about chronic stress, survival mode, burnout, anxiety, overstimulation, emotional exhaustion, chronic pain, hypervigilance, and why so many people feel stuck in fight-or-flight responses.

This compassionate conversation gently explains:

• Signs of a dysregulated nervous system 
• Why your body may struggle to feel calm or safe 
• How stress and trauma affect the mind and body 
• The connection between overwhelm, fatigue, insomnia, and emotional burnout 
• 5 Simple, grounding ways to support nervous system regulation and healing 

If you’ve been feeling exhausted but unable to rest, emotionally overwhelmed, overstimulated, or disconnected from yourself lately, this episode will help you feel seen, validated, and supported.

Please be sure to listen to the original companion guided mindfulness meditation. 

Please visit our Facebook Group page for resources and connecting with other kindred spirits.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/201596883015602/?ref=share_group_link

Please visit our Facebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572383604134

Please reach out via email at healingourkindredspirits@gmail.com

Transcript

When Rest Still Feels Impossible

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever noticed that even when you finally sit down to rest, your body still doesn't feel calm? Maybe your mind keeps racing, maybe you feel guilty for slowing down, maybe you're even exhausted, but somehow still wired at the same time. And maybe lately everything just feels like too much. The noise, the responsibilities, the emotions, the uncertainty, and of course the pressure to keep going when your body is quietly begging you to pause. I think so many people right now, myself included, are walking around in survival mode, and I and we don't even realize it. But the truth is that doesn't just affect our stress levels, it affects our sleep, our relationships, our health, our emotions, concentration, patience, even our joy, and even the ability to feel safe in our own bodies. So today I want to have a real conversation about nervous system dysregulation. Not in the scientific sense, not in a medical sense, but what it actually means, why so many people, and I really mean so many people are experiencing it right now, and how we can begin to gently reconnect with ourselves without shame or judgment. And if you feel disconnected from life, overwhelmed by the simplest things and feeling numb from life, then maybe your nervous system is simply overwhelmed. And if that's where you are right now, I want you to know you are absolutely not alone. Please listen to the very end of the episode because I have some exciting things to share with you about the podcast. Let's begin. Welcome

Why So Many Feel In Survival

SPEAKER_00 1:44

back to Healing Our Kindred Spirits. I'm Donna Godet, and I'm glad you are here with us today. Today's episode is one that feels personal to me, and I truly believe so many people are silently struggling with this right now. You know how when you're scrolling on social media and these animated videos will come up, and sometimes I'll just scroll past them. You know, the ones that I know are not for me, but lately there has been this one theme showing this woman so disconnected from her relationships, from her job, from her friendships, from life. It was actually an ad for some kind of app or program. I really don't remember which one it was, but it was the context of the video where I felt such a visceral response. When this happens, I usually need to explore this a little further, what this feeling is. Because sometimes I can't come up with a name for it or I can't explain it away. Uh, because honestly, I saw myself in this because we all know, we all know that art can imitate life. So because when we are so overwhelmed, overdone, whichever way you want to describe it, we see ourselves in situations from the outside looking in. And it's not just people with anxiety diagnosis, not just people who've experienced trauma, not just people with chronic illness, grief, or anything else. Honestly, I think this touches almost everyone in some way. Because we are living in a world that constantly, constantly overstimulates us, whether we realize it or not. Because we are absorbing information nonstop. And whether we realize we're doing it or consciously or subconsciously, we are carrying so many emotional burdens. We are worrying about finances, health, relationships, aging, uncertainty, grief, caregiving, burnout, loneliness. The list is endless. Don't get me started on the news cycles. Things are things are thrust upon us, even though we may do our best to avoid listening or hearing. And it's not about burying our heads in the sand, it's about self-preservation. And many people have never truly been taught how to feel safe enough to rest. We've been taught, we've been taught how to push through, how to stay productive, how to keep functioning, how to put a smile on our face when we're feeling crappy. Sound familiar? And I think for many sensitive people and past caregivers, survivors, or those living with chronic stress or chronic illness, our bodies eventually start waving a white flag. Not because we're weak, but because our systems were never meant to stay in survival mode indefinitely. So please listen to the very end because I have an upcoming episode series that I'm excited to share with you that can help you continue your healing journey, even may help you with a dysregulated nervous system. Now, I promise I am not going to turn this into a science lecture. I just want to explain this in a very human basic way. Your

Your Body’s Safety Alarm System

SPEAKER_00 4:53

nervous system is essentially your body's communication and safety system. It's constantly scanning your environment and asking, Am I safe right now? And the nervous system responds accordingly. When we feel safe, when we feel grounded, connected, supported, our body can relax. Our breathing softens, our muscles loosen, our digestion improves, our thoughts become clearer, we sleep better, and we feel more emotionally balanced. We can feel safe in our body, we can rest without guilt. We can recover from stress or stressful situations more easily. And we end up having emotional flexibility. We become less hyper-vigilant. We have the ability to experience joy and connection the way it's meant to. And we feel grounded instead of constantly bracing for something bad to happen. But when the nervous system perceives danger, whether it's emotional danger, physical stress, trauma, chronic overwhelm, grief, conflict, uncertainty, illness, or even nonstop over stimulation like doom scrolling, the body shifts into survival response. But the important thing to understand is this the body does not always know the difference between a true physical emergency and chronic emotional stress. Yeah, that's that's an eye-opener for me as well. When

Fight Flight Freeze And Fawn

SPEAKER_00 6:23

we talk about the nervous system dysregulation, you'll often hear people mention the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. These are automatic survival responses the body uses when it stretches, when it senses stress, danger, overwhelm, or even an emotional threat. They're not character flaws or signs of weakness. They are protective patterns the nervous system develops to help us survive difficult experiences. It's kind of built into us. So fight can look like irritability, anger, your need to control situations, your being defensive, or feeling constantly on edge. The nervous system stays prepared to protect itself by pushing back against perceived danger. Now, fight is the urge to escape. This can show up as someone who maybe overworks. They stay constantly busy, busy, busy. Uh, anxiety, restlessness, perfectionism, even, or feeling like you can never truly relax. The body feels safe as when it keeps moving. Do you know people like this? I know several people in my life like this, and I didn't understand them until I started doing research for this topic. And it fits them perfectly. Sometimes even myself. Freeze happens when the nervous system, when it becomes overwhelmed, and what it does is essentially quote, shuts down, unquote. People may feel numb, disconnected, exhausted, stuck. They may feel emotionally flat, unable to make decisions, you know, analysis, paralysis. It's like the body hits an internal pause button to protect itself. Like I can't make a decision, so I'm gonna do nothing. Kind of like burying your head in the sand. And fawn is something many people don't hear talked about enough because it's you know, fight, flight or phrase, but fawn is a response that often develops in people who learn to stay safe by pleasing others, by avoiding conflict, caretaking, or putting everyone else's needs ahead of their own. And you may struggle to say no, you fear disappointing people, or lose touch with your own needs and boundaries. While researching this topic, I realized that my go-to mechanism for dealing with this overwhelm was most of the time gone because I felt like I needed to please everybody, make sure everyone was okay. And I I learned something about myself while researching this subject. And to say that see yourself in something that's so front and center is really eye-opening. But the important thing to understand is that these responses are not conscious choices most of the time, they are nervous system adaptations that can develop from trauma, chronic stress, grief, unstable environments, medical trauma, caregivings, or even years of feeling emotionally overwhelmed. And many of us move between several of these responses without even realizing it because we've learned to adapt, haven't we? Situation comes up, we have to adapt. Something comes up, something comes our way. We have an unexpected thing that came up, or an event that came up, or a situation financial. We learn to adapt. So even if there isn't an immediate danger in front of you, your body may still be reacting as though it is. And when this becomes chronic, which means it keeps happening over time, that's where nervous system dysregulation can begin. So this can happen a lot when people are holding on to things from their life or constantly feel that they're in danger, or the body feels they're in danger. So it's system nervous system dysregulation and overwhelm. I'm going to use those terms interchangeably in this podcast. Uh, so it's basically the same thing.

Subtle Symptoms And Foreboding Joy

SPEAKER_00 10:31

So this is the part where I think many of you are going to recognize yourself in this conversation because nervous system overwhelm or dysregulation does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like everyday exhaustion. And who isn't exhausted today? We're dealing with life, we're dealing with bills, finances, kids, parents, family, medical, we're dealing with so much. And an overwhelmed nervous system can often feel like constant anxiety or dread, overthinking everything. You're overwhelmed by everything sight, sounds, senses. You have brain fog, you feel emotionally reactive, you emotionally are shutting down, you feel exhausted, but no matter how exhausted you are, you're not able to relax. And many of us have insomnia, and then we end up doom scrolling for hours, and that leads to chronic muscle tension, and then we have digestive issues. And if you're someone who lives with chronic pain, that can institute a chronic pain flare. It can really aggravate your symptoms and cause a pain flare. And we become irritable, we have chronic fatigue, we become numb or disconnected, we can't concentrate. We go to people pleasing, and maybe we even startle easily. Because even feeling unsafe when nothing else is actually wrong, we still feel it. And then when we when we rest, we feel guilty for resting. It's like a vicious circle, isn't it? And one that I personally struggle with the most is always waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Is this you? You everything is going good in your life, and you are not used to that, and then all of a sudden you stop and say, My goodness, things have been going good for a little while. I gotta prepare for something bad to happen. How many times have you thought of this, or how many times have you been down this road? Because many people don't realize these are often nervous system responses, not character flaws. For me, I become so used to things going wrong or having to deal with one thing or another my entire life that when things actually go right, I almost don't know what to do with it. So instead of relaxing into the moment, my mind starts scanning for what I missed. Did I miss this? Did I miss that? Did I miss a sign? Did I miss a signal? Did I forget a date? Did I I start waiting for the other shoe to drop because somewhere along the way, stress and disappointment became more familiar to me than peace. And I believe Dr. Brene Brown refers to this as foreboding joy. It's that moment when life feels calm, maybe even beautiful, and instead of fully enjoying it, your mind suddenly jumps to the worst-case scenario. Because deep down you become conditioned to expect loss, stress, or maybe even pain. And honestly, that can become a vicious cycle. Because when the nervous system stays trapped in fear and hypervigilance for way too long, it becomes very difficult to rest, to feel safe, to receive joy without racing for something bad to happen next. And that's not a good way to live. It really isn't. And that kind of chronic emotional tension takes a toll on both the mind, the body, and the spirit. And I think one of the saddest parts of all of this is that many people have lived in survival mode for so long. They no longer recognize what calm even feels like. Even to someone like me who practices meditation, who does things to relax or try to relax, and the back, those things are still there. And it doesn't take much to come to the surface. It is a learned thing that you can change over time, but it takes work. It really does. Because sometimes it's habit and sometimes it's conditioning, and sometimes we simply don't know how to stop. So I can relate to the deep, I can relate to that deeply only because for years I didn't understand what was happening. I thought something was wrong with me. I thought I was broken or damaged somehow. Because good things would happen, and I know I should feel joy, but instead I often just felt empty. And sometimes calm can actually feel uncomfortable. And I know that sounds strange, but if you know, you know, and I and I know you do. Because when you've spent years emotionally bracing yourself for the next crisis, slowing down can feel unfamiliar or even make you feel unsafe.

Adrenaline Living And The Crash

SPEAKER_00 15:22

For me, there was a period of my life where I was working full-time in corporate America, caring for my dad who was living with us and was diagnosed with terminal cancer, while also trying to build a holistic healing practice. And I was constantly on the go. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. If I wasn't working, I was taking care of my dad, taking him to an appointment, uh, getting my wellness center going. I was constantly on the go. There was no downtime. If it wasn't physical exhaustion, it was mental exhaustion, emotional, emotional exhaustion, even. And if I'm honest, even spiritual exhaustion. I was running on adrenaline for years. And what has that done? My cortisol levels are through the roof. My last lab showed my cortisol level at 34. Normal, I think, is under 10 or under 12. Mine's at 34. So even though I've made changes in my life, my body is still holding on to that. And I have tried everything, and I'm still trying everything to change that. And then suddenly everything changed. My dad passed away. I had to leave my job because of stress and declining health. And for the first time in a very long time, I wasn't consumed by constant responsibility and crisis. But instead of feeling peaceful and settled, I felt completely lost. I didn't know what to do with myself. Our home went from being full of people and activity to just my husband and I. There was finally quiet. There was calmness, but honestly, that calm felt anxiety-provoking because my body and my nervous system had become so conditioned to stress and overstimulation. I didn't know what to do. I was, I always say it felt like I went from living in the fast lane to sitting in the breakdown lane, trying to figure out how to function in an entirely different life. And that's the thing many people don't realize. When your nervous system becomes so used to chaos, peace can feel unfamiliar. And it can even cause you some anxiety. The act of not making changes is going to be a lot worse along the way. So you need to make changes, even simple ones to help balance your energy. But you know what? That that wasn't weakness, it's just adaptation.

How Early Patterns Get Wired In

SPEAKER_00 17:52

And for many people, these patterns start early in life. Maybe you grew up walking on eggshells. Maybe you experienced trauma, maybe you became a caretaker too young. Maybe you learned to suppress emotions just to survive. Maybe you lived through unimaginable grief, incivility, chronic illness, emotional unpredictability, or even medical trauma. So if you think back on your own life, was there something that quietly set you on this path? For me, I can trace some of it, or all the way back to my childhood. My mom struggled with what I now recognize was likely undiagnosed OCD centered around cleaning. My mom cleaned constantly, morning until night, even when the house was already spotless, with six kids in the home, and my mom and dad, I was the oldest and the only daughter with five younger brothers. And there was a lot of responsibility placed on me at a very early age. You never knew quite what emotional space my mom was in. So you learned to anticipate moods, problems, tension before they happened. You learned to walk on eggshells because an undiagnosed illness, whether it's OCD, anxiety, um, all of the above, can really inhibit the environment that you live in. So by the age of 11, I had already become the quote, mother hand, unquote, to my younger brothers. By 12, I was babysitting regularly. And honestly, it was incredibly stressful. I always felt like I had to take, I had to stay two steps ahead of chaos. And you know what? They knew that it got to me. They knew that it stressed me out, and the more it did, the more they did it. But they were kids. So I became over time hyper-aware, hyper-vigilant, always anticipating problems before they happened. And then at 12 years old, I experienced one of the deepest griefs of my childhood when my grandmother, who was truly my safe harbor and the light of my life, passed away. And I didn't even find out from family. I went to school that day, and a friend at school quietly told me she was sorry that my grandmother had died. Because her mother knew my aunt, they were good friends, and she her mom had told her that my grandmother had passed. And I still remember that moment. I was devastated. I ended up curled in the fetal position in the nurse's office, quietly crying until it was time to go home. My mother had planned to tell me herself after school, and she was heartbroken that I found out the way that I did. It wasn't anyone's fault. It was just one of those painful moments that life sometimes hands us. But looking back now, I can see how deeply my body carried stress and emotion even then. I spent a lot of time in the nurse's office growing up from grade two on up. Back then, people would often say, like, oh, it's just growing pains. But now I understand something I didn't understand then. I was an incredibly sensitive, empathic child. I absorbed everything around me. I was I was in a life and in a family that wasn't equipped to handle my emotional sensitivity. I was, for all better words, a unicorn because I just was very different. I felt like I was just dropped here from another place and people just didn't understand me. And you learn at a very young age to protect your energy that way. Because I was sensitive around picking everything up, whether it was arguments, tension, people being sad or people crying, overstimulation, picked up on emotional energy. And as a child, I I didn't know what was happening to me. And many of you may feel that way too. When you were growing up, you didn't have the tools or support or the means to be able to understand what was going on around you. And as adults, we still carry that into our life and we still have that emotional baggage with us. And I didn't know what anxiety was back then. I didn't know anything about, you know, being overwhelmed, your nervous system, you know, being overwhelmed. I just knew that certain environments caused me physical pain. And I wonder how many of you listening can relate to that. I would love to hear from you or hear your story. So please do reach out. I really would love to hear from you. And how many of you felt things deeply long before you had words for it? Because we didn't know. Because the truth is the body remembers. Even when the mind tries to move on, it still remembers. So what are some of the physical effects of chronic um emotional overwhelm or dysregulation?

The Physical Toll Of Chronic Stress

SPEAKER_00 23:05

This is something I really think we need to talk about more openly. Because chronic stress doesn't affect just our emotions, it affects the body and the mind and the spirit. Because long-term nervous system overwhelm can contribute to inflammation, hormone imbalances, a weakened immune function, headaches, fatigue, even digestive issues. And for someone with chronic pain, you could have increased pain flares. There's sleep disturbances, memory and concentration difficulties. You could be increased, you can have an increase in sensitivity to stress, muscle tension, burnout, and there's so much more. The list is endless. And for people already living with chronic illness or invisible illness, stress and nervous system overload can absolutely intensify your systems. And I think this is why many of us we work so hard to protect our energy. We're careful where we go, who we're around, what situations we allow ourselves to be in, because there's always a price to pay. And so we try to protect our energy that way. Because the body and the mind are not separate systems, they are deeply interconnected. I think a lot of people become frustrated with themselves because they believe they should simply think positive or calm down. I actually talked about this quite a bit in my last episode on toxic positivity. Please give it a listen to you. You'll be surprised what you can learn from it. But nervous system healing is not about pretending everything is okay. It's about helping the body slowly relearn what safety feels like. And honest, and honestly, in full transparency, I'm still a work in progress myself. I still do therapy once or twice a month because there's always something that comes up that I thought I dealt with. But there could be a simple little trigger that starts it all over again. And I also want to gently say this: if you are struggling with any of this, please consider reaching out to a qualified therapist or mental health professional. Conversations like this can be validating and educational, but sometimes we need deeper support and guidance to help us heal. And I know there were times in my own life when professional support truly helped me, as it as it still does.

Why Overwhelm Feels Everywhere Now

SPEAKER_00 25:25

So why are so many feeling why are we feeling so overwhelmed right now? I mean, we've done it many, many years, but why right now? Honestly, I think many of us are collectively overstimulated. As a society, we are constantly consuming information, emotions, noise, stress, and expectations, whether we realize it or not. We were never meant to process this much input all the time. Think of news cycles, social media, financial stress, health concerns, emotional exhaustion, the pressure to hustle, the pressure to stay productive, the pressure to appear okay even when we're struggling. That is the hardest one. And I think many people don't even realize that they are truly resting anymore. We don't know what that feels like. I know for me, I've been battling insomnia since November. And there are times that I don't go to bed till three o'clock and I'm awake at six. And yeah, I ended up taking a nap during the day because I am so exhausted. And I'm trying to be better with that. I'm trying to make better choices, I'm trying to do things to help regulate my overstimulated nervous system. So, when was the last time that you did absolutely nothing? Honestly, I can't remember either. Even when I'm sleeping, it still feels like I'm doing something. Because distraction is not always rest. Scrolling is not always rest, numbing out is not always rest. Constant noise is not always rest. Real rest often requires us to feel emotionally safe to slow down. And for sensitive souls and empaths, this can feel even more intense. Because sensitive people tend to absorb environments deeply, they notice tension, they internalize the emotional energy, they pick up on unspoken undercurrents around them. I know I do. And when boundaries are weak or stress becomes chronic, their nervous systems can become overwhelmed very quickly. And this is true for kids as much as adults, for older adults, it's for anyone. Chronic stress and chronic overwhelm does not have any boundaries as to who it would affect. We would be surprised at how much our children, teens, kids take on and how overwhelmed and overstimulated they are. And for many people, myself included, learning how to slow down and feel safe in stillness, it's not easy. So practices like mindfulness and mindfulness meditation really can help. And it does for me, but it was a long time, it was a journey to learn and to be accepting of it because my mind wanted to go somewhere else. But they are exactly that practices. They require patience, consistency, and even some self-compassion. And some days are easier than others. Because you know what, you're not lazy. And I really want you to hear this part because I think so many people secretly carry shame around with their exhaustion. They try to hide it, they try to pretend it's not there, they try to be okay, try to look okay, but it does show and it is there, and until we address it, it's not going to get better. So if your nervous system has been overloaded for a long time, you may even struggle with motivation and maybe procrastinate, feel frozen, you know, just not wanting to do anything, not able to do anything. You may want to do things, but feel mentally and physically unable to start. This is me from get to go. This is me from start to finish. And that doesn't necessarily mean you're lazy. Sometimes overwhelm shuts the system down. And sometimes it shuts it down to preserve, and sometimes it shuts it down because you're just not sure what to do. Sometimes when overwhelm shuts the system down for me, I get over when I get overwhelmed, I shut down and I do nothing. To me, what happens with the way I look at it is it's self-preservation. At least that's what I tell myself. Because sometimes the body is conserving energy because it no longer feels safe. And it's not always about physical safety either. That's why the nervous system dysregulation can sometimes look like avoidance, isolation, brain fog. You're emotionally numb, you have fatigue, and you even procrastinate because not because someone doesn't care, but because their system, your system is overloaded. And I think many people need compassion instead of criticism, especially for ourselves. So, how many of us have spent so much time in our lives pushing through exhaustion that we no longer recognize what true rest feels like? And that's that's a loaded question. I may take naps during the day, but am I resting? I don't think I am. I think it's just an automatic response because I'm tired. I close my eyes and I sleep, but I don't feel rested when I wake up. So

Five Gentle Ways To Regulate

SPEAKER_00 30:31

I want to talk about five gentle ways that you can use to support your nervous system. I want to be very clear, there's no magical overnight fix, and the nervous system healing is not linear. You may feel like you have conquered it one day, and the next boom, you're back to feeling overwhelmed and overdone. So these are gentle things that can help support regulation over time. And I've used them and I still use them. And it doesn't have to be done perfectly or instantly, but gradually. And you may have heard me talk about these before, but it bears repeating. So, number one, slowing down your sensory overload. Sometimes we don't realize how overstimulated we are. So think about soft lighting, less noise. If you can be in nature, listen to gentle music, quiet moments, reduce nonstop input, and that usually means the screens. Even small sensory shifts can help the nervous system. Exhale and take a deep breath. And number two, it brings me to breath awareness. Not forcing deep breathing, not performing relaxation, but just noticing your breath. Even placing your hand over your heart and slowly exhaling longer than you inhale can help signal safety to the body. You want it to be gentle and not forced. And number three, grounding your body. Many people live entirely in the heads, huh? That's me. Always in my head, always in the clouds. So grounding can help reconnect us to the present moment. So things like walking barefoot in the grass, also called earthing or grounding, holding something warm like a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, your favorite beverage, doing some gentle stretches. And if you live near a beach or have the opportunity to go to a beautiful beach, walking barefoot in the sand is so extremely grounding when you you can rock gently back and forth. I do this a lot without realizing it. I'm rocking back and forth and feeling the sunlight on your skin if it's safe to do so. Placing a hand on your chest and just telling yourself, I'm okay, I'm safe. I do this quite a bit. I do this quite a lot, especially when I go out and I'm in the car, not driving, but a passenger, and I feel overwhelmed by everything around me because I do not get out much. I will place a hand on my chest and I will say, I'll rock gently back and forth, I am safe. I am safe, nothing will happen to me. I am safe, I am protected. So find what mantra works for you. You can notice textures around you. Sometimes just touching something tactile can help you relax. So these small things sound simple, but they do help the body orient towards safety. Number four, giving yourself permission to rest without earning it. When was the last time you truly felt safe enough to exhale? Not just physically, but emotionally. Because this one is huge. So many people believe rest must be deserved. There many times when you were growing up, and I know I grew up in the 70s, so maybe it's going back a little further. We could not play or have fun or do anything until all of our chores, homework, everything was done. There was no play, there was no happy times, there was no TV, there was nothing until our responsibilities were met. How many of you grew up thinking this mentality and brought it into your own adulthood? And here I am telling you to just not pay attention to that. Because we feel that rest must be deserved, but it's not. Because as human beings, we're not machines. You don't have to collapse before you're allowed to pause. Because rest is not laziness, rest is part of healing. Number five, a safe connection. Healing rarely happens in isolation. It very rarely happens. And I'm guilty of this because I don't go out very often. I've been a homebody by nature my entire life. Not that I'm antisocial, but I've just been a loner my entire life. So healing hardly ever happens in isolation. Safe conversations matter. So I have social media. I have my podcast, that's my conversations. Feeling heard matters. Being emotionally validated matters. Every time a person feels safe, it helps regulate their nervous system. Which is honestly part of why I think spaces like podcasts and communities, even online groups, can matter so much. I belong to a couple of groups on Facebook, and I find them so empowering and enlightening and connecting that sometimes you see yourself in a situation that someone is having, and it really does make a difference. But sometimes people simply need to hear, you're not crazy, you're overwhelmed. And I don't mean to word use crazy in that sense, but people will sometimes think, oh my God, I'm losing my mind. But you're not, you're just overwhelmed. And that validation can soften something inside of you, and it can feel validating. So what about this spiritual and emotional connection of this? I

Stillness As Emotional And Spiritual Care

SPEAKER_00 35:45

also believe that the nervous system healing is not only physical, it's emotional, spiritual, energetic. And I know not everyone connects to spirituality in the same way, and that is up to you, but you, your faith in what you believe in or don't believe in. But I think many people have become disconnected from stillness. And the stillness can be spiritual in its own way, because we have become disconnected from ourselves, from presence. And sometimes regulation begins with those little tiny sacred moments, like watching the sunrise, lighting a candle, sitting quietly with a tea or your favorite beverage, listening to the rain, prayer, meditation, breath work, journaling, nature walks, music, doing something creative. Not because these things magically erase pain, but because they remind the body, you are here. You are safe in this moment. And sometimes healing begins in that sacred moment. So the most important thing I want you to remember, if there's one thing I hope you take away from this episode, it's this. Your nervous system is not trying to betray you, it's trying to protect you. Even when the response no longer serves you, even when you feel exhausted, your body adapts the best way it knows how. And healing is not about becoming perfect or calm all the time. It's about slowly building moments of safety, softness, awareness, regulation, and even self-compassion. Little by little, breath by breath, moment by moment, it will happen.

New Chakra Series And Guided Meditations

SPEAKER_00 37:19

So I imagine at the beginning of the episode about a podcast series series that I want to share. I've been wanting to do this for a while and I needed to be ready to do it. A lot went into it. A lot of my body, mind, spirit, and soul went into it. And over the next several weeks, I'm going to be introducing a brand new chakra series here on the podcast called Journey Through the Chakras. And the podcast episode that are they're going to be around 15 to 20 minutes in length, along with an original separate guided companion meditation that's going to be created to help support balance within your body, mind, and spirit. And it'll also have journal prompts at the end of the episode description for that meditation. So whether you've been studying uh chakras for years, or whether you don't know what they mean, we're going to talk about them. Uh, or if you've never heard the word before, this series is truly for everyone. Beginners, seekers, sensitive souls, empaths, the spiritually curious, or those simply looking for a deeper sense of grounding and peace. There's nothing woo-woo about it. Uh, it's it the the chakra system has been talked about for thousands of years, but there will be something here for everyone. And we'll be talking about the chakras in a way that feels relatable, practical, and supportive, not in a scientific woo-woo or weird way. So, no matter where you are on your journey, and honestly, if you've never explored chakras before, you may be pleasantly surprised by how deeply connected this work is to do every day. It helps your emotional, your physical, and even your spiritual well-being. We'll begin with the root chakra and gradually move up through the seven chakras, main chakras, all the way to the crown chakra. And as someone who has personally practiced chakra work in energy healing for more than 20 years, I can genuinely say this has been one of my most meaningful and profound and grounding holistic practices, especially during difficult seasons of my life. And with each chakra, we'll include the student, there'll be two standalone episodes, podcast discussion, and the original guide to meditation. And that's going to be designed to help you gently connect and support that particular energy center. And we'll be re releasing two chakras each week. So the first week will be the root and the sacral, the following, the solar plexus and the heart, then the throat and the third eye, and then the crown. So over those, over the month of June, we're going to be releasing those. And I have other episodes in between that's not related to the chakras that I'll be releasing as well. And at the end of the series, we'll come together for a powerful, empowering, insightful, inspiring, full chakra guided meditation experience designed to help you feel more connected, empowered, balanced, and at peace. And I may, may, may do this as a live, as a live stream in our Facebook group. I'm not sure yet, but I may, as well as the podcast episode. I also want to gently say that while these episodes are never ever meant to replace medical care or mental health support or professional treatment, they can absolutely be used as a complimentary practice alongside the care and support you already receive. I never want you to stop taking your medication, seeking medical help or advice based on something you hear on this podcast, because it is meant to work with what you have going on, what you've got, what you're working with, whether through doctors, therapists, whatever it is. Because acts of self-care, mindfulness, inner healing, and loving kindness are never ever wasted. Because in a world that feels so overwhelming right now, maybe this become a small sacred space for you to breathe, reconnect, and simply be reminded that your well-being and your self-care matters. So I'm truly excited to share that series with you, and I hope you'll join us as we begin the journey together. So, in

Soft Closing And Permission To Rest

SPEAKER_00 41:30

closing, if you've been feeling overwhelmed lately and emotionally exhausted, anxious, unable to rest constantly on edge, I hope this episode helped you feel a little less alone and maybe even a little less vulnerable. I hope it helped you understand that your body may not be failing you and may simply be carrying too much for too long, something many of us are battling. And maybe healing doesn't begin with forcing yourself to push harder. Maybe it begins with listening more gently to what your body has been trying to say all along. All you need to do is listen. Because you know what? Silent and listen have the same letters. Thank you for spending this time with me today. And wherever you are right now, I hope you give yourself permission to soften a little, to breathe a little deeper, to release the idea that you must constantly survive in order to deserve peace. Until next time, be gentle with yourself. And remember, healing is not a race. And sometimes it's simply the quiet moment when your nervous system finally realizes it no longer has to fight quite so hard. And as always, I want you to remember that you are never too much, and you are always, always enough. Thank you.