The Healing State

You can do all of the right things when it comes to healing, eat the right foods, move your body, bio hack your day, AND still not find the healing you’re looking for and its probably for this one reason…

You aren’t in a Healing State

Stick with me, I'll explain.

The Autonomic Nervous system has two branches

Sympathetic Branch (fight/flight/freeze/fawn)

Parasympathetic Branch (rest/digest)

Your body cannot and will not heal when it’s in the sympathetic branch. All healing is shut off. The only way for your body to heal, is to bring yourself out of the Sympathetic branch and into the Parasympathic. This is what I call, The Healing State.

Let’s talk about how these two states work

The Sympathetic Nervous System

• Regulates blood flow

• Regulates heart rate

• Supports regulation of body temperatures

• Energizes us to take action

When stress is activated, HPA axis (hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal) gets activated which triggers cortisol and adrenaline to move through the body.

In this state:

• You feel awake and alert

• Excitatory Neurotransmitters are released (epinephrine, acetylcholine, glutamate, histamine, dopamine)

• An inflammatory state is created

• Free radical damage occurs

• Immunity is suppressed

• Digestion is shut off (blood goes to extremities to get away from the stressor)

• The body moves into insulin resistance (hello blood sugar imbalance)

• You are in a survival mode

Ideally, this state is to be used for a short amount of time and then turns off, hormones normalize, and you relax (physically and mentally). With chronic stress or trauma, this state remains active. Meaning you remain in that alert space, you’re filling your body with inflammation, creating cellular damage, suppressing your immune system, and not properly digesting and absorbing food. You’re creating more destruction, more dis-ease in the body. There is NO Way the body can heal if you’re chronically in this state.

The HEALING STATE to the rescue

Just because you’ve been living in this sympathetic stressed out state creating dis-ease in your body doesn’t mean you have to stay there forever. Teaching your nervous system how to come out of sympathetic and into parasympathetic is how you active your healing.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System

Is mainly composed of the vagal nerve that wanders through the body and regulates many functions.

In this sate

• You feel rested, sleepy, calm

• Digestion and absorption is optimized

• Inflammation is reduced

• Free radicals are quenched

• Inhibitory neurotransmitters are activated (GABA, Glycine, Serotonin, Dopamine)

• You are insulin sensitive (better blood sugar control)

• You SLEEP

• Your immune system is optimal

• Your body activates the repair mechanisms

THIS IS WHERE YOUR BODY WILL HEAL

When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, the body functions optimally. Your tissues can heal. You can absorb your food. Your immune system is healthy. Your mind is calm and clear. This is how you are meant to live most of the time. With a healthy Nervous System you should be able to cycle into the sympathetic nervous system throughout your day when you need it (think, a car cuts you off in traffic you need this pathway to slam on the breaks). And come back into the parasympathetic after the stressor is over.

The Healing State is a breath away. With a consistent Breathwork routine, you will active The Healing State and your body will heal.

If you haven’t already, get your free 10-minute calming Breathwork session Here!