We are complex as human beings, with spirit, soul, and body, and we get to take care of our whole selves .  As a follower of Jesus, I aim to put my spirit first, but my body is where my spirit and my soul resides, and they are all important!  I have been given this amazing body, and a beautiful soul (mind, will, and emotions), and a reborn spirit, and I get to nourish it all. I believe that Jesus is our healer, but that I have a role to take care of me, and the free  will to do so.  For the body; I focus on the autonomic nervous system, lymph system (and immune system), the musculoskeletal system and bio-mechanics.  For the soul (mind/will/emotions); I focus on our thoughts, our words, how we choose to spend our time, our influence, and on allowing emotions to move through us rather than stay and take over and rule us.  I choose.  The spirit; I get to nourish and support by feeding it the word of God and choosing to praise God.  The word of God is also food to the body and soul, and it is "life" and "health to [one's] whole body".  (Prov 4:20-22 NIV).

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This life is full of things that can wreck havoc on your nervous system, your thoughts, and your entire body, without the proper foundation.  Trauma is not our fault, but we get to make the choice to receive the freedom Jesus paid for, and renew our mind to that truth. The true healing is from God, but there are pieces I have choices in.  Since one of my many past diagnoses is considered genetic, I had been living in some amount of nervous system dis-regulation from birth.  Then it worsened with emotional, and physical traumas, and the environmental impact of a broken world.  So it wasn’t about getting back to a place of regulation for me, but learning what nervous system regulation could be for the first time.  Whether it’s getting back to a place of regulation after a short time out of it, or a long time, or for the first time in your life; the same tools apply! Our autonomic nervous system is amazing.  It controls things like heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, visual range, muscle tension, digestion, breath rate, etc. These things just happen in our body, unconsciously, but we now know we can choose to have a conscious effect on them.  There are many ways to do that, and I will discuss some below. Let’s start off talking about using the physical body and sensation to do that:

 

Somatic exercises are one of my favorite tools! 
They are when we use our physical body and sensation to help our body change from an autonomic nervous system state of fight/flight, freeze or shut down, to one of rest and digest/ parasympathetic / ventral vagal presence.  We can use things like light tough, eye movements, body movements, muscle contractions, etc., to stimulate the vagus nerve and let the autonomic nervous system know that all is well. We are here now; in this time and place. We are not running from something from the past, and we don’t need to be in a stress response.  This is the focus of my somatic classes. It is such an amazing tool.  It also gives us a flood of positive neurotransmitters (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins - DOSE), and replaces those stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and nor-epinephrine (CAN).  We get to learn to care for our body because it's an amazing gift, rather than to either ignore it, or be in a fix-it mentality.  I use my Doctorate in Physical Therapy skills and understanding to help in these classes too!

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Self-lymph massage is another helpful tool, one I used for countless hours in my journey to freedom.  It is such a kind, caring practice, a great way to practice calm, soothing support of our entire body.  Self-lymph massage is great way to practice caring for our amazing gift of a body; not from a fix-it mentality, but out of love.  The lymphatic system is amazing, it is a huge component of the immune system, and carries white blood cells throughout the body, as well as moving and cleaning up waste / toxins. It also transports proteins and digestive fats.  The lymphatic system supports the cardiovascular system, since the cardiovascular system dumps or leaks fluid throughout the body, and the lymphatic system picks it up and takes it back to the cardiovascular system, filtering it as it goes. When we help the lymph system flow and move, it cleans the whole body (including the brain), and puts it in a position to restore an rebuild tissue.  We want the lymph fluid to be moving. We don’t want stagnancy in the fluid of our body, especially the immune system. We want it turned on and supported. Lymphatic or lymph massage is a gentle way to stimulate the flow of lymph fluid throughout the body. It is truly amazing how self-lymph massage can reduce many different symptoms.  Plus, the gentle touch stimulates the vagus nerve, so we get the bonus of supporting the autonomic nervous system as well. I am a Certified Manual Lymphatic Drainage Therapist.

 

Laughter is another great tool. As I discuss on the laughter page, it increases the DOSE neurotransmitters (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins), and gets the body out of a stress responses. It increases blood flow, and oxygenation. Laughter as exercise is just good fun! If you have never done it, it may feel very awkward at first to choose to laugh as exercise.  However, it becomes natural, and you get all the DOSE brain chemistry and other beneficial benefits even with simulated laughter. Then natural laughter will come more and more easily. Plus, you get that amazing benefit of it being easier to choose laughter in the circumstances of daily life!
 

Changing our thoughts is another key way to regulate our nervous system.  Thoughts are real things. They take up real estate in our brain. What we think about grows. It’s not about changing a single thought, that will not change our heart rate or the function of other autonomic systems.  However, if we change an entire neural pathway, or stronghold, or core belief over time it does affect those autonomic functions.  We do that with the help of the Holy Spirit, and a conscious catching of all our thoughts, and redirection of them to life and truth.   So that is what we get to do. See more below in the mind renewal paragraph.

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Changing our words is just as important as changing our thoughts, and they go hand in hand.  "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Matt 12:34 NIV.  Therefore, we want to change our thoughts, and notice and catch our words, so that we are speaking life over ourselves and others.  Then our words help change our thoughts, and they start to align with our new thoughts, and the word of God.  "Life and death are in the power of the tongue". Prov 18:21 HCSB

 

Mind renewal is also such an important tool for your healing journey. The bible says to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom 12:2 NIV). Or to "let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." (Rom 12:2 NLT). I have seen that transformation to be true. Learning our identity as a new creation in Christ is powerful, and renewing our mind to that truth even more so!  If you have made that choice to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior and follow Him, then you are a new creation in Christ. God has so many promises and words of life that he speaks over us. Learning the promises of God, and speaking our personal amen (I agree) with those promises is a start of mind renewal. Living and acting from a place of completely knowing that you are an adopted, beloved child of God, is mind renewal.  When our thoughts, words, and actions align with the word of God, then our mind is renewed in that area. I love getting to help people do that through praise and worship, scripture reading, prayer, speaking life and truth, lifting each other up, pointing each other to Christ, and standing together.

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Musculoskeletal system and bio-mechanics

From my background as a Physical Therapist, a year round competitive swimmer, hiker, outdoor enthusiast, and lover of laughter, dancing, and all things movement, I have lots of experience with the musculoskeletal system and bio-mechanics.  I can also pull from my extensive personal background with physical trauma, injuries, and musculoskeletal disease diagnosis.  I love to share the gems I've learned along the way, usually in the form of extra classes, workshops, etc, but sometimes one on one as well.