When Intense emotions that are negative or positive, like joy or love, are too big to be contained on a page in your journal, they need to be released in another way. These feelings are your body’s way of letting you know what is happening within you — they are like an email or text message that is needing a ‘Read’ receipt. Once the body knows you have received and accepted the message, the energy behind the emotion will start to soften.

To process fiery emotions, dance it out !

By embracing compassion that we are all doing the best we can during a very unusual and not normal time we can ground our nervous systems, just a little bit, into ease and grace during tumultuous times.

At Flourish!, the vagus nerve is the connector between our treatment models in psychotherapy and our nutritional services and programs. By working with clients to develop vagal tone so they can regulate their cognitive, emotional and social behavior response they can accept the body’s anxious response—rather than resist it—ensuring healthy communication and processing during stressful times. Eating the right foods to ensure healthy digestion and elimination also plays a big role in developing vagal tone.

The body not only keeps the score but it also keeps a calendar. My entire body knew an anniversary of a terrifying event was coming up and this anniversary was approaching at a time when there were several stressors happening in my life. My internal protectors knew before I did that I did not have the strength or capacity to be with all I was holding and, thankfully, dropped my nervous system in a dorsal vagal state so I could get by on the bare minimum until I had more capacity on board to deal with all the things that were happening in the here and now.

While therapy that brings awareness and tools that can be applied to your physiological state our four legged canine friends can help you regulate your nervous system outside of the therapy room.    Their unconditional love for their caretakers, their non judgemental presence and the joy they can bring from just watching them do something endearing can shift your nervous system, even if it is a brief shift, into parasympathetic, where there is a sense of ease and calm.  

Often a traumatic experience from a long time ago can show up in the here-and-now and most people won’t be aware that their response to something in the present moment has roots in something from years ago.