Ready to increase your nervous systems capacity to manage stress and trauma? Then this episode is for you. The ability to pay attention to the body and notice our internal states is called interoception, which is also what regulates our nervous system.
When we practice interoception and stay in the present moment, we build more resiliency. When we can engage with our world and what is happening (vs. what happened in the past) we can stop the nervous system from going into fight or flight. This builds our capacity and window of tolerance over time.
I love talking about interoception because I understand how important it is for our overall nervous system healing. When we start to feel our sensations, we are able to change the worry, anxiety, trauma loop. That is why this topic is part 1 of a 4 part series for Nervous System November.
In this first episode I offer a brief introduction to the autonomic nervous system and what trauma and stress that do to our brain. (If you'd like a more indepth episode on the nervous system and trauma, check out episode 9: What is somatic trauma resolution.)
I go over the mechanisms of the brain that keep us in higher states of stress and reactivity vs. acting from the "wise mind" and responding logically to our environment and relationships. We know that when we are more stressed, we respond with more stress and have a more difficult time responding to the present moment.
I then explore the relationship between interoception and our muscoloskeletal system; which to me shows the relationship and importance of somatics and healing trauma. We dive into how the langue we use to describe our sensations come from our early experiences. By working with the body and our sensations we can grow our library and our language to more acuratly describe what we are feeling.
I close with a little practice to start working with our sensations in the body and increase our interoception.
After you listen I’d love to know what resonated for you, if you have any other questions for me, or other topics you’d like me to address. If you'd like to work with me on your own somatic process and trauma resolution from a somatic perspective, reach out for a consultation call.
Reminders that you can follow me on Instagram at and see last years Nervous System November in my story highlights: https://www.instagram.com/lesha__nelson/
And on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lesha.nelson11
Music is supplied for free by: Bensound.com track "Tenderness"
Enjoy!
