You’re More YOU When You’re Regulated | How Nervous System Healing Helps You Be Your Best Self
How Nervous System Healing Helps You Be Your Best Self
These days, we hear a lot about nervous system healing.
It’s often described in terms of relief. It’s something to help you feel calmer, less anxious, and more grounded.
And yes, regulation can offer that… But that’s only the beginning.
Because nervous system healing doesn’t just help you feel better. It helps you be your best self.
Not a shinier version of you.
Not a performative, optimized self.
But the version of you that’s grounded in presence.
Rooted in compassion.
Connected to truth.
Aligned with your deepest values and intentions.
The version of you who knows how to pause before reacting.
To speak with care.
To lead with love.
To respond to life with steadiness and heart.
And it’s not just poetic… It’s physiological.
The Neuroscience of Being Your Best Self
When your nervous system is in a state of regulation, something powerful happens in your brain.
You gain more and more access to your prefrontal cortex - the part of your brain responsible for self-awareness, emotional regulation, long-term planning, and values-based decision-making.
This part of your brain allows you to:
Think with nuance and flexibility
Consider other perspectives
Make decisions that align with who you want to be
Regulate your emotions without suppressing them
Stay anchored in complexity, empathy, and reflection
In other words: the prefrontal cortex gives you access to your best self.
But here’s the key - It’s only fully available when your body feels safe.
Because when your nervous system is dysregulated, when you’re overwhelmed, anxious, frozen, or reactive, your brain reroutes. It shifts energy away from the prefrontal cortex and into more primitive survival structures, especially the amygdala.
The Role of the Amygdala: Why Dysregulation Pulls You Away From Your Best Self
When you’re dysregulated, your nervous system shifts into survival mode.
This is the body’s automatic way of protecting you when it perceives a threat, whether that threat is physical, emotional, relational, or even internal.
In survival mode, your brain begins to rely more heavily on a structure called the amygdala which is a part of the limbic system responsible for detecting danger and activating your stress response.
The amygdala’s job is simple: keep you alive.
It scans your environment constantly, looking for anything it might interpret as a threat.
And when it senses something unsafe, it mobilizes you to react - quickly, instinctively, and without reflection.
But here’s the thing: The amygdala doesn’t care about connection. Or curiosity. Or long-term consequences. It doesn’t care about your vision, your values, or your relationships.
It only cares about protection.
So when the amygdala is in charge, it filters the world through a narrow, binary lens:
Safe or unsafe
Right or wrong
For me or against me
This is what researchers often refer to as black-and-white thinking or threat-based perception.
And when you’re stuck in this kind of dysregulated, survival-oriented state, you lose access to the parts of your brain that support the person you want to be - specifically, your prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for emotional regulation, complex thinking, and aligned decision-making.
That’s why, in dysregulation, your thoughts and behaviors shift.
You might:
Snap at someone even though you value kindness
Shut down or dissociate in a moment that actually needs presence
Spiral into criticism or judgment
Struggle to hear nuance or perspective
React in a way that doesn’t reflect who you truly are
This isn’t a sign that you’re broken. It’s a sign that your nervous system has moved into protection, and your brain is doing what it’s designed to do under perceived threat.
But what’s protective in the moment can pull you away from the parts of yourself that you most value - your wisdom, your warmth, your integrity, your ability to choose.
That’s why nervous system healing matters so much.
Because it helps you shift out of survival and return to the inner resources that allow you to connect to your best self.
Nervous System Healing Doesn’t Just Bring You Back, It Moves You Forward
So far, we’ve explored how nervous system healing helps you come back to yourself:
To clarity. To compassion. To choice. To the grounded presence of your best self.
But here’s what’s equally important:
Nervous system healing also helps you move forward.
It expands your capacity to stretch into the life you’re meant to live.
Because the truth is:
You can’t dream bigger than your nervous system feels safe to hold.
You can’t fully express yourself, show up with courage, or create a more aligned life if your body is bracing for danger underneath it all.
This is why regulation matters even when things are going well.
Joy can be just as activating as pain. (So can visibility, intimacy, success, or rest - especially if your nervous system was shaped in environments where those things didn’t feel safe.)
Without healing, your system may interpret growth itself as a threat.
You might shrink back from an opportunity you wanted.
You might feel a mysterious wave of tension after something good happens.
You might struggle to stay present in the very moments you most long for.
You might find yourself slipping back into old patterns just as something new begins.
Not because you’re broken, but because your body is working overtime to keep you safe in unfamiliar terrain.
This is where nervous system healing becomes a path of expansion.
The same practices that help you regulate in distress can also help you regulate in joy.
They can help you stay steady when you take a brave step forward.
They can help your body learn that safety is possible in growth.
And from that place, something beautiful happens:
You begin to live with more expression.
More creativity.
More self-trust.
More joy.
You soften into who you really are AND who you’re still becoming.
This is the deeper promise of nervous system healing: Not just returning to your best self, but also becoming someone even more whole, more free, and more alive than you thought possible.
Ready to Experience This for Yourself?
If you're ready to reconnect with your best self (not just in theory, but in your body), in this episode of Somatic Healing Meditations, I guide you through a gentle, effective regulation practice. This is one of my favorite techniques, and it’s something I come back to again and again in my own life.
Whether you’re feeling anxious, ungrounded, or simply wanting to reconnect with yourself, this exercise can help you shift - from stress into steadiness, from overwhelm into presence.
And while even one practice can offer relief, nervous system healing is like building strength or endurance. Just like a single cardio workout won’t change your whole body, a single moment of regulation won’t rewire your nervous system overnight.
But with consistency (even just a few minutes at a time), your system begins to change.
Your capacity grows.
Your sense of safety deepens.
You begin to feel more like yourself, more often.
That’s why I created Somatic Healing Hub - to help you build a steady, supportive practice. Inside, you’ll find live weekly regulation classes, monthly workshops, group coaching with me, and ad-free access to my full podcast library. If you want to make this work part of your everyday life, SHH is a beautiful space to receive ongoing guidance and support. You’ll find the link in the show notes if you’d like to explore more.
Try this Nervous System Healing Exercise now!
Episode timing:
00:00 - How Nervous System Healing Helps You Be Your Best Self
04:14 - Nervous System Healing Helps You Expand and Grow
08:46 - Simple + Soothing Nervous System Regulation Exercise
21:37 - Conclusion
Want to Heal Your Nervous System?
If this kind of gentle, body-based healing speaks to you, I’d love to invite you into Somatic Healing Hub - my membership community where we practice this work together.
With live classes, workshops, and coaching you’ll:
Create a steady rhythm of nervous system regulation, so you can feel calmer, clearer, and more grounded in daily life
Gently process the emotions held in your body, instead of getting stuck in reactivity, overwhelm, or shutdown
Break free from chronic stress patterns by addressing what’s underneath - not just managing the surface
Reclaim your attention from spiraling thoughts or anxiety, and reconnect with what your body is truly asking for
Feel supported and not alone, inside a community that honors your sensitivity and your pace
BONUS: You’ll also get AD-FREE ACCESS to my entire podcast library! (Somatic Healing Meditations)
How did that gentle nervous system healing exercise feel to you?
What shifted within you? Do you feel like you have more access to the best parts of you?
Please let me know in the comments!
➡️ If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would subscribe, rate, and review this podcast!
And please join me every Friday on this beautiful journey out of your head, and into your more embodied and authentic self. 🩷🩷🩷
Thanks so much for joining me today!
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Enjoy more like this: Regulation Exercises
About me
Hey, I’m Karena!
I’m a somatic emotional healing coach here to help you quickly identify and heal the subconscious blocks, old emotional wounds and self-sabotaging core beliefs that are holding you back!
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