When You Feel Stressed, Stuck, Shut Down or Overwhelmed – Transforming Your Nervous System for Ease & Calm.

April 3, 2018

Many of us don’t think about our nervous system, our stress response and how both effect our experience of life.

We get stuck in our head – trying to figure it all out again & again – with very few lasting shifts or changes.

Many experiences happen early in our lives when we disconnect from ourselves, from our sense of self-worth, and from the present moment.

We develop patterns, beliefs and ways of coping with our circumstances that lead to feelings of emptiness, dissatisfaction and emotional pain. Our nervous system becomes activated or shuts down, and we don’t know how to change that pattern in the present day.

During our work together, you will learn to expand your capacity to be present in your body, to feel your feelings more fully, and to move through and complete emotional responses that have yet to be completed.

In time, this process will provide you lasting relief and change in your body, thoughts and heart. You will learn to notice your nervous system response, and develop resilience and emotional self-regulation.

Often, we only begin to pay attention to ourselves and bodies when we have something that happens within us that makes us feel emotional or physical pain or discomfort – such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, pain, insomnia, isolation, excessive thoughts, hypervigilance, exhaustion, working too much, eating disorders and especially when these feelings become chronic.

We use some of our energy each day protecting and defending ourselves.

Our survival energy gets stored in our body when we’ve mobilized to protect or defend ourselves, and sometimes, we don’t get to complete this response. If we are threatened and we can’t fight or flee, we will freeze and our energy becomes stuck in our nervous system.

Without our awareness, we often block our innate ability to release and renegotiate stress – this is our override response. When we attend to our thoughts, feelings, worries and stories about difficult experiences and what has happened before in our lives, we lose touch with our direct bodily experience and stay fixated on our mind’s interpretations – and our nervous system response can’t complete itself.
 
Cultivate Resilience & Emotional Well-Being
We begin by noticing what it feels like to feel safe, calm and present within your body, and allow your mind’s fixations to fall away, while experiencing the direct experience and sensation in the moment.
 
It is part of our instinctual nature that our attention is drawn to danger.

We tend to get either fixated in reliving or reenacting our traumas or in trying to avoid them. These responses keep us out of the present moment. Past and future exist only as mental ideas in our minds – while our life is actually occurring in the now.

 
The possibility of being deeply and thoroughly present is available to each of us.  Yet we often fall into a life of habit and routine, our senses dulled, our sense of wonder intermittent at best.  Somatic, sensory awareness practice offers explorations by which we can reclaim presence – alert and vitally connected with life. 
 
Somatic Experiencing is a simple approach to reconnecting with the living, present moment. Everyday movements, exercises, playful explorations, quiet attentiveness rather than effort, take us to a place of renewed engagement with an ever-evolving world. 
 
Presence towards yourself is fundamental to a life fully-lived. 

Experiencing the presence of others, more fully – and our own sense of presence when we are with them, can deepen our relationships in surprising ways.  Even the busy world of tasks and obligations can be renewed as we bring appropriate presence to all our encounters, even the briefest.

We want to cultivate a feeling of safety in your nervous system.

Here are some things we will practice together:
 
1) Look around. Settle in. Notice the sensation under your legs and behind your back. Orient yourself to what you notice in the space you’re in. Notice what it feels like to be here now.
2) Notice sensations you feel in your body. Ask yourself if you feel grounded in your seat – and safe in the room.
3) Become curious about what you feel like doing now – is it difficult to stay present to feel what you feel in this moment – notice.
4) As you notice yourself and go deeper into your awareness of yourself – what are you aware of now?
5) What meaning do you make of all that you notice? Is it true? How do you know?
 
In order to change how we feel in our bodies, we must slow down and pay attention to our sensations, and the meaning we make of them – we must change the patterns of distracting ourselves, moving to our thoughts and avoiding what is uncomfortable for us.
 
All shifts and changes begin inside of you.

Unwind, slow down, and soothe your nervous system with healing body-centred practices to help you ease your body and ease your mind.

Releasing body tension is essential to grounding our energies and quieting our minds. Settling an anxious mind and rewiring our stress response translates directly to a more relaxed physical state. To cultivate a steadier, more lasting calm in our being and life we need gentle, safe ways to address the discomforts that stop energy from flowing in the mind and body.

Cultivate new awareness and understanding of your self, more self-acceptance and simple, grounded tools that encourage a new found connection to your body and soul.

It’s not easy to keep a clear mind, an open heart and a calm sense of ourselves when we’ve got so much going on in our lives. That’s why it’s so important to create space and take some time for yourself to infuse your life with more awareness, understanding, presence, balance and meaning.

Beneath your feelings and symptoms exists a deep sense of calm, safety, connection and acceptance for all that you are – this is available for you now.

We all have feelings that deserve to be taken out of the shadows and understood – to increase our sense of hope, self-worth, and clarity about how to expand ourselves and be present in our lives. 

with love Kim xoxoxo
 

Pause, slow down, simplify.
What’s in the way of feeling free for you in this moment?

Notice and let it know you see it. Place that concern or worry gently to the side in this moment. Notice what happens within you when you do.

What if your challenges, rather than being problems to be solved, became doorways into the peace you are hoping for.

During our work together, you will feel supported to uncover the conditioning, beliefs and nervous system patterns that you may have been living with your whole life – causing you self-doubt, fear, overwhelm or low self-worth.

You will discover and unravel emotional patterns that keep you out of connection – caught in repetitive loops of feeling disconnected or stuck, when you truly want to connect and share yourself with others. You will transform your feelings, your relationship with yourself and your relationship to others.

Join me for a Heart-Centred Somatic Immersion Sessions – Cultivating Emotional & Physical Wellness, Resilience, Embodied Well-Being, Presence, and Healing Through the Body for Individuals & Couples.

Learn the Art of Relating to yourself and within your relationships – through the body – in an integrative, body-focused, heart-centered, relational way – whether you’re in the Markham/Toronto area or want to work together online.
 
Experience lasting ease within your mind & body.
 
Access your flowing energy and aliveness, cultivate resilience & emotional wellness and a new way of being in your life. Session openings are now available for us to work together – beginning in April and May – I look forward to being with you.

“As I grow into more of who I truly am, I practice the art of letting go and releasing the beliefs and behaviors that keep me safe and small. Doubting my self-worth and worthiness or living inside of fear once helped me survive—but, they do not serve me now.”

“Nurturing yourself is not selfish – it’s essential to your survival and your well-being.”

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Testimonial 1

When I came to you I felt confused, disconnected and broken. Now, I'm on my way to feeling whole. Thank you.
Kim Cochrane
2016-10-06T10:59:12-04:00
When I came to you I felt confused, disconnected and broken. Now, I'm on my way to feeling whole. Thank you.

Testimonial 2

I’m so glad I’m giving myself space to explore what’s happening in my life and to understand my feelings.
Kim Cochrane
2016-10-06T10:59:51-04:00
I’m so glad I’m giving myself space to explore what’s happening in my life and to understand my feelings.

Testimonial 3

I've wanted to do this for a while and I'm so glad I did - I trust myself more now, I feel more calm and open - working together has changed the course of my life.

Kim Cochrane
2016-10-06T11:00:16-04:00
I've wanted to do this for a while and I'm so glad I did - I trust myself more now, I feel more calm and open - working together has changed the course of my life.
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Kim Cochrane