Accidentally Sabotaging Your Wellness Journey?

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Our urgency to heal can keep us trapped in sympathetic nervous system dominance, preventing the very healing we seek. The pressure of constantly adding more wellness practices often backfires when it creates another stressful to-do list that triggers fight-or-flight responses instead of facilitating rest and recovery.

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Episode Transcript

Emily Feist (00:00):
What if your urgency to heal is actually
keeping you stuck?
You try to get on that fasttrack to heal, adding more and
more healthy habits, so much sothat you need five timers on
your phone to remember to dothem all, and the weight of
doing them all right keeps youawake at night and it starts
feeling counterproductive toyour mental health.
And the list just keeps growing.

(00:22):
Today's episode is all aboutsomething that no one talks
about in the wellness spaces thepace of healing.
Because here's the truthnervous systems heal in slowness
and if you're putting the samehustle, urgency and pressure in
your healing journey that youdid when you were living in
survival mode, your nervoussystem doesn't feel safe and it

(00:44):
won't let go.
Welcome to 'It Starts at Vagus',where holistic health meets
modern day living Through theeyes of a massage therapist and
that's me.
I'm Emily, and I am aneuromuscular massage therapist
that helps people every dayrelax their mind and their
muscles, and we're going to begoing through the philosophy of
the vagus nerve it's the body'sultimate key to calm, connection

(01:07):
and overall well-being.
So if you have stress, anxietyor that burnout, feeling that
you're just stuck, you're in theright place.
Take a deep breath in, settledown and let's explore how we
can use our nervous system tosupport our bodies.
Let's dive in.
Last episode we talked aboutembracing a slow, calm life and

(01:27):
today we are talking about thepressure of forcing yourself to
heal, because feeling safe andcalm cannot be your default if
you add more and more urgency topractices that bog you down.
So just a quick overview yournervous system is in two states
either sympathetic orparasympathetic.
Sympathetic is that fight orflight mode where we have that

(01:51):
urgency, scared feeling and wedon't feel safe.
Your brain is aware andscanning everything to see what
to do in case something happens,while your parasympathetic
state that is our rest anddigest mode it's where we feel
calm, it's where our body says,okay, we feel safe enough to

(02:13):
digest our food properly andthat's a state that we want to
be in most of the time.
But when we pile on urgency,even with good intentions, that
keeps you stuck in the fight orflight.
So trying to force calm is likeyelling relax at someone during
a panic attack.
It just won't work.

(02:34):
Now do you remember the phrase?
Slow and steady wins the race?
Health is very much like a slowrace.
Our bodies like consistency,especially our vagus nerve.
It allows predictability andpast events that were helpful
and safe.
But when we rush to do all thethings and try to add every
single aspect of healthy habits,it will ambush our nervous

(02:56):
system.
It can create more pressure orperfectionism and eventually
that becomes unsustainable Forme
.
I like to look at what's thebare minimum that I can do with
the biggest positive impact tomy life and health goals.
I like breath, work androutines and finding ways to
smoothly combine them if I can.

(03:19):
For example, I have a puppythat gets up early and wants to
run, so I take her to our fencedarea and let her get out her
morning energy.
While she plays, I take off myshoes and allow myself to feel
the dirt and the grass.
I breathe in some slow breaths,I soak up that morning sun and
I'm doing this all while mypuppy plays.

(03:39):
When I have my older dog, shetypically just stays next to me
smelling scents around us andit's a great calm morning for us
.
But I also get to take care ofwhat needs to get done.
It's not forced, it's just theflow that we have.
On another note, I'd like tomention that rest and lazy are

(03:59):
not the same thing.
Rest is essential.
Our bodies need it mentally andphysically.
Laziness, on the other hand,can be a byproduct of a lack of
life focus.
It can lead to depression,while rest leads to health.
Rest isn't a reward, it's arequirement.
It's fundamental.

(04:20):
We need it.
At the beginning to 'It Startsat Vagus' rest, but know that it
is well worth it.
The dishes and laundry can wait20 minutes.
So stillness, breath, rest,laughter, even gentle movements
all of these things are good andthey keep us in Vagus that
parasympathetic mode, but youshould enjoy them, not stress

(04:45):
out about crossing them off ato-do list, and you want to be
brave enough to listen to yourbody, how it makes you feel.
Other examples of nervoussystem regulation include slow
walks, warm tea humming which isa bonus again to get that vagus
nerve having low lights onaround your house.
It's time that is set aside todo nothing productive and

(05:08):
honestly, that's one of mybiggest weaknesses.
Ideally, healing should berelational, not transactional.
Your body is not a machine tooptimize.
It's a relationship to rebuildand support without the overload
.
Discover what you enjoy andwhat makes you feel calm longer
throughout the day.
Look at your goals and decidewhat healthy practices should

(05:32):
and should not stay and thenadjust accordingly.
You're not behind, you're notbroken.
Your nervous system isn'tasking for more effort.
It's asking for less of theunnecessary.
So go ahead, take notes, seewhat works great for you, find
your flow and remember to sootheyour nervous system and reclaim

(05:54):
who you are.
Thanks for listening to ItStarts at Vagus.
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Until next time, rememberwellness starts at Vagus.