Developing effective self-regulation requires an efficient filtering of sensory stimulation. Think of it as like maintaining a consistent rate of speed while driving. If we want to keep going at 25 mph, we will need to constantly adjust the pressure on the accelerator to allow for changes in the road such as inclines, bends and other traffic. Learning to accelerate, brake, and change gears smoothly takes a lot of time and practice.
Stress affects your physical, emotional, and cognitive energy reserves – and you only have a limited amount of energy to expend each day. Always dealing with emotions like anxiety, shame or anger will quickly deplete them to leave you feeling shut-down, numb or depressed. Cognitive processing can then become disorganised which means you’re less able to make good choices. Communication is also affected – making it hard to speak up, ask for help, set boundaries, or build relationships.
It’s important to remember that feeling anxious, ashamed or angry is not something that you’ve chosen. The process happens outside of conscious awareness in the lower regions of the brain. It’s not you – it’s what your nervous system has learnt from your past experiences.
With self-regulation, you can reshape the nervous system and break this cycle.
First step is to access the relaxation response in the parasympathetic nervous system to slow your physiology back down. When you’re not having to manage a dysregulated nervous system, you’re far more likely to be successful. Just think of all the energy that can be redirected into your passions. You can grow, flourish, thrive and reach your potential.
By addressing how you are thinking and feeling, I’ll help you develop an awareness of how, in the body, psychological events and physical sensations are closely connected. Without this awareness, we can get stuck in a vicious loop which I call ‘the cycle of suffering’.
As The Mind & Body Guide, my aim is to explore these connections to help you gain insight into yourself. This could be looking at present problems or those that are more deeply seated: things you’ve been told or events you’ve experienced which have shaped who you are now.
I have decades of experience in health care. Years spent working as a senior physiotherapist in the NHS. I’ve taught Pilates to hundreds of people. And I’m a qualified psychotherapist with a suite of therapy skills to draw on.
My approach to therapy is to help you to understand yourself mentally and physically. Then, working together, we can plot your pathway to a healthier, happier life.
