When the Body Talks - Listen.
Week 1 Recap: Awareness & Baseline Rhythms
When I began logging this, I focused on awareness, not action.
Noticing my patterns without trying to change them yet.
My Week 1 rhythms:
Wake at a consistent time
Hydrate + 10 minutes of morning light before using my phone
No coffee after 12 (I tried no coffee for two days… not for me)
No scrolling before bed
Going into Week 2, I said: No phone in bed. Period…Failed there. Oops. We try & try again.
I did swap espresso for a organic coffee/mushroom blend, which I find so very satisfying. So far it has kept me from needing to reach for a second cup.
Cortisol saliva tests? Not quite yet. I’m not entirely sure I need a test to tell me what my body already knows.
Gentle reminders to self: Healing isn’t linear.
I’ve gone in and out of awareness and presence these past few years. Trying to exist, trying to accept what is, trying to understand the patterns that shaped me. My biggest hope in sharing any of this is to show that it’s possible.
It’s possible to learn, to get to know your system, and to grow into someone who can connect deeply with others and help to build healthier, safer communities.
I’m seeking honesty, awareness, and the ability to choose differently.
There was a time when I didn’t have the language for what was happening in me. When I felt low, I didn’t understand why and I stayed low. Those lows still show up, but I can name, manage, and communicate them. I can feel shame and still reach for connection. I can want closeness without abandoning myself to get it.
The longer I continue with what isn’t working, the heavier it becomes.
I’m learning to sit with that heaviness without running from it. I’m horribly aware of myself and sitting with that awareness in the present moment is part of the process. There’s something here…even when I want nothing more than to get away from it.
Surrendering to the moment, accepting what is, communicating honestly, and using what I have to move things forward.
As much as I wish it were true - it isn’t one big choice or a dramatic transformation.
It’s the in-between. Tiny shifts, micro-moments, slow becoming. The process.
We spend so much time with ourselves that it’s easy to forget where we began - the beauty in the process - the becoming.
But it’s there. It’s real. It’s possible.
Week 2 Focus: Activation
Two weeks ago, I shifted from observing my system to influencing it.
From “What state am I in?” to “How can I support my state?”
I assumed the center of that work would be the vagus nerve - the main communication channel between body and brain. It regulates mood, digestion, alertness, and neuroplasticity. It’s more than a road to calm; it can also increase dopamine and motivation.
I practiced:
Intentional Breathing
I discovered Breathing with Sandy a few years ago, and his practices have been powerful. Every system is different. What calms one person can activate another, but I’ve learned that I love breath holds and rhythmic breathing. It centers me. It brings me to earth. (Link to Sandy’s Channel: Breathe With Sandy - YouTube)
Cold Immersion
Cold water has been one of the greatest tools for my system - and I’ve utilized it consistently over the past 2 weeks. Sometimes it’s the final moment of the shower, other times its submerging or splashing my face in the morning. Brief cold exposure practices increase dopamine, regulates cortisol, and helps the nervous system learn to move from activation back into safety. For people with CPTSD, controlled stress can retrain the body’s threat response.
Singing & Humming
These are simple activators and were easy for me to naturally implement.
Prioritizing Protein
Stress can make eating harder. I’ve experience flux in my appetite and signals between brain and body can get fuzzy. When move through stress, our body breaks down protein faster to fuel and repair neurotransmitter production. (Protein + Carbs = Nourishment for Resilience). Getting creative with cooking & being mindful about the impact it will have on my body has been something I’ve really enjoyed exploring and getting into.
When the Body Talks - Listen.
When I asked myself, “How can I support my state?” the answer didn’t come from a planned protocol. It came from getting into my body and reconnecting with nature.
Just a walk.
Just being there.
Just noticing.
Present.
When I’m outside, my tension melts. I can hear and see clearly. I allow nature to have its way with me.
Buffalo NY is stunning this time of year with migratory birds. Bird nerding didn’t land me success finding a birding buddy to join me - but I still went on my own.
Twenty minutes on a bench listening to birds, watching the sky shift as it said goodbye to another day… it did more for me than the handful of appointments I had scheduled. Just a few minutes by the lake can completely shift me.
Healing rarely follows “the plan.”
Who said there was a plan anyway?
For some silly reason I thought I was going to a 4‑week bootcamp to heal my system. Kinda counterproductive.
(Shaking my head at past Suzie.)
Being honest with this work can bring up a sense of shame - but I also feel a responsibility to share it.
I know I’m not alone in these experiences or this process.
I know that it’s especially difficult navigating through an uncertain and divided time that buzzes with solutions of THIS or THAT instead of guiding us back home to self.
We have our answer.
I’m learning that my experiences aren’t my fault, but it is my responsibility to understand how they’ve shaped my life and relationships.
Fascia : The Body’s Communication Network
Over the past two years, fascia seems to have been everywhere in the health and wellness communities I’m associated with. I’ve heard it in conversations, in my algorithm, in posts from practitioners.
As I sat with the stubborn tension and pain in my body, I (finally) leaned into curiosity.
What’s beneath this?
I’ve been researching the fascial system, and it makes sense to me. I think I am understanding what I’ve been feeling.
Things are starting to click.
Oh, what a journey this will be.
Fascia is an intricate, fluid web wrapping every muscle, organ, nerve, and vessel. It’s more than tissue.
It’s the largest sensory organ in the body, with over 250 million nerve endings.
It’s where tension lives.
It’s where emotion hides.
It’s where unspoken words get buried.
It’s the architecture of our internal world.
It sends 3x more messages from body → brain than the brain sends back.
Its primary job is to communicate what’s happening inside you.
My brain is not the boss.
My body is the narrator.
My fascia is the messenger.
The brain mostly listens, and it does it’s best trying to interpret what the body is reporting.
This is why you can “feel” something before you can name or prove it. It’s why your stomach drops before your mind understands why. Why your chest tightens or your breath becomes shallow before you consciously register stress. Why shoulders creep up before you realize you’ve been on guard or overwhelmed.
Your fascia is constantly talking. The brain is constantly recieving.
There are different levels of this tissue:
Superficial Fascia: Just beneath the skin
Deep Fascia: Wraps muscles, bones, and organs. It shapes our posture, movement, and sense of self
Visceral Fascia: Interfacing with the enteric nervous system (“belly brain”), influencing digestion, emotion, and intuition.
Fascia is influenced by and influences stress, hormones, movement habits, and emotional history.
If you don’t listen to your body, it will make sure that you feel it loud and clear. Trust me.
When Fascia Loses Flow
Healthy fascia is bending, gliding, contracting, releasing. It’s constantly adjusting.
When something overwhelms the system - be it an injury, shock, loss, season of stress, a childhood pattern that never got resolved- your fascia does exactly what it was designed to do.
It protects you.
It tightens, it braces, it holds.
It’s adaptive and its remarkably brilliant.
However, if the stress or emotion becomes chronic without resolution - the fascia stays tight.
It stops gliding and releasing. We get rigid, we’re stuck.
Fascial receptors communicate closely with our fight‑or‑flight system and our vagus nerve. When we’re stuck in chronic activation, the body releases chemicals that increase fascial tension and stickiness. It isn’t a good feeling.
The Vagus Nerve & Fascia Connection
Here’s the hope:
Intentional engagement with the vagus nerve increases vagal tone. This can counterbalance the surge that tells you to brace yourself or run for the hills (sympathetic dominance). When vagal tone rises, tension can soften.
Movement returns. Flow becomes possible agian.
I like to this concept like a brake pedal for your internal system. When vagal tone is high, the brake works smoothly. It helps you make a safe stop. There isn’t much risk of an accident.
When vagal tone is weak, the brake is sticky. You can see that stop sign - but the system can’t respond in time. That’s what chronic stress feels like- rolling into traffic at an intersection you were meant to pause at.
This bidirectional relationship between fascia and the nervous system is the bridge between emotional trauma and physical sensation. It provides an explanation as to why old experiences echo in the body and why body-based practices can finally bring relief.
Embodiment as a Path Back Home
Embodiment is the conscious awareness of your felt sense of self. It’s the difference between thinking about your emotions and actually sensing them.
I’m waking up the connection between fascia and my vagus nerve by:
Noticing tension patterns in my muscles
Tuning into the felt sense of my internal organs
Paying attention to the rhythm of my breath
Sensing intuitive cues and subtle internal shifts
The Formula for Emotional Regulation
I don’t think anyone navigating grief or complex trauma hasn’t had a moment of wanting to just feel “better” or “normal.” For too long I have had my focus on changing how I felt, not understanding it. I was definitely not accepting of “it”.
Last week, Andrew Huberman dropped a timely (as always) episode for me. I listened to the 2.5 hours, and have a white board full of notes & post it notes scattered around so you don’t have to listen to it yourself (you should, though). (How to Better Regulate Your Emotions | Dr. Marc Brackett - YouTube)
This episode helped me see shift my target toward changing my relationship to my emotions.
Anxiety, grief, sadness, frustration, loneliness, anger - they all have function.
Regulation is choosing a conscious response.
Dr. Marc Brackett offers a formula:
Emotional Regulation = (Goals + Strategies) × (Emotion × Person × Context)
It’s living equation that shifts by the moment. I find it to be concrete and brilliant.
Brackett offers the acronym PRIME to identify what the goal is.
Am I trying to:
Prevent unwanted emotions
Reduce difficult ones
Initiate helpful ones
Maintain the good
Enhance what’s working
After you identify the goal, you can add your strategy.
If my goal is to reduce anxiety, going for a walk will help.
If my goal is to initiate energy, listening to upbeat music or getting movement could help.
Strategies are tools that you can use. Different strategies work for different emotional states.
What works well for anger may not fit for sadness. What works for me might not work for you.
The emotion present is the specific feeling being experienced. It could be anger, grief, overwhelm, shame, anxiety - each of these holds a different physiological signature and a may possibly require a different approach. It’s worth the effort to learn, even though it can get messy.
“Person” is you.
Your temperament, trauma history, nervous system patterns, sensory profile, and lived experience. There is emphasis in Huberman/Brackett’s discussion that personality and identity shape what strategies will actually be successful. EveryBODY is different
Context is the situation you are in.
Where are you? Who are you with? What’s happening around you?
Context changes strategy.
You can’t do breathwork in the middle of a meeting. You can’t cry freely in a crowded store.
Okay. Maybe I have cried in public. 1/5. Would not recommend as a strategy.
This is a lot of info - and I hope you’re staying with me.
Your goal + strategy only work if they match:
The emotion you’re experiencing
The person you are
The context you’re in
This is why emotional regulation is not one-size-fits-all. It’s a living equation that shifts moment to moment.
The Meta-Moment
One of the most powerful tools I got from this episode was the Meta-Moment. It’s a way to interrupt automatic reactions and choose a response aligned with your values.
Sense the trigger
Pause (one breath, one beat, one moment)
Imagine your best self. Who is the version of you that you’re becoming?
Respond from that version
It’s not about perfection. It’s about creating space between sensation and action.
It’s the exact space where healing happens.
I’m learning to be gentle through the process. I know I don’t always get it right.
Moving Forward…
I’m moving forward with a different focus:
Not fixing myself.
Not forcing calm.
Not chasing a version of me that doesn’t feel.
Instead:
I’m listening to my body first
I’m choosing strategies based on my actual state instead of the one I wish I was in
I’m trying the Meta‑Moment
I’m letting nature continue to do its co-regulation magic on me
Keep choosing the next honest step.
With Love,
Suzie
