Tight Chest, Racing Thoughts? Meet Your Nervous System Reset

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✨ Ever notice how your body tightens right when you’re about to step into your power? That chest pressure, racing thoughts, or sudden urge to shrink isn’t weakness, it’s your nervous system running an old protection program.

In this practical episode, I’ll guide you through why your body’s alarm system activates in moments of growth whether it’s speaking up, setting boundaries, or even receiving a compliment and what to do about it. Instead of pushing through or shaming yourself, you’ll learn how to send your nervous system the safety signals it needs.

Together, we’ll move through a complete guided practice using my three-step approach:

• Name the pattern so you stop fighting yourself
• Send safety signals through simple physical cues
• Rewire the connection between power and safety

I’ll also share how these tools carried me through my most devastating personal crisis, not by bypassing grief or fear, but by helping my body return to safety even when life cracked open.

Your nervous system isn’t broken—it’s protecting you. And every time you practice, you show it a safer way forward.

🎧 Download your free 7-minute Reset Meditation at www.liftoneself.com/freegift

🌿 Learn more about my Emotional Sobriety Workshop at www.liftoneself.com/emotionalsobriety

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
Have you ever noticed how the moment you start
stepping into your own power,your body pushes back.
Maybe your chest tightens, yourheart race, your thoughts swirl
around, or you feel the urge toshrink.
That's not weakness.
That's your nervous system doingwhat it learned a long time ago,
bringing an alarm to keep yousafe.

(00:26):
Think about it.
Maybe you wanted to speak up ina meeting, but your throat
closed, or you were ready to seta boundary and suddenly your
stomach dropped and your chestgot tight, or even in the middle
of joy, like someone giving youa compliment, your body pulled
you back with tension or doubt.
That's the nervous systemsounding the alarm.

(00:47):
It doesn't always look likepanic.
Sometimes it's that subtlecontraction that keeps you
small.

And here's the thing (00:53):
most of us try to push through it with
willpower, or we shame ourselvesfor not being stronger.
Yet what your body actuallyneeds in those moments is
safety, proof that it's okay tohold more of yourself.
That's why today we're not goingto just talk about it.
I'm going to guide you through afull practice so you can feel it

(01:17):
in your body.
Because when you feel it, that'swhen the change sticks.
So let's begin.
Welcome to the Lift One SelfPodcast.
I'm your host, Nat Nat, and thisis the space where we practice
emotional sobriety, the abilityto feel what's real without
being hijacked by it, so we canreturn home to ourselves with

(01:38):
steadiness and presence.
Before we dive in, I want toinvite you to grab your free
seven-minute reset meditation atliftoneself.com forward slash
free gift.
It's a short but powerful toolto help your body come back to
safety when overwhelm hits.
And if you're ready to godeeper, my emotional sobriety

(01:59):
workshop is open now.
It's a live experience where webreak down emotional patterns
and practice somatic tools inreal time.
You'll find the link in the shownotes.
On most episodes, we do amindful moment, just a few
breaths together.
Yet today, we're going to go alittle further.
I'll still weave in some of thepractices I normally use, yet

(02:21):
this time we'll do a full guideof practice to help you shift
the nervous system from alarminto grounded safety.
So if you can, find a placewhere you can sit and be present
with yourself.
Let's begin.
Now, you may, if it's safe to doso, close your eyes or soften

(02:41):
that gaze.
Or if you need to, keep youreyes open, whatever feels safe.
Now, step one is naming thepattern.
When that inner alarm goes off,the tight chest, the racing
thoughts, maybe your heartbeatsgoing booom boom boom booom.

(03:04):
Instead of battling it, we nameit.
Say to yourself, this is aprotection pattern, not the
truth.
My nervous system thinksstanding in my power is unsafe.
But that's just old wiring.
By naming it, you stop thefight, you separate yourself

(03:28):
from the alarm.
Now, step two is sending safetysignals.
It's by giving your body proofthat it's safe.
Drop your shoulders, unclenchyour jaw, unknot your stomach.

(03:50):
Place a hand on your chest orbelly or both and feel the
warmth of your own touch.
Breathe slowly in and out.
Say, I'm safe right now.
It's okay to expand.

(04:12):
I don't have to shrink back.
This is your nervous system'slanguage, physical cues that say
no danger is here.
Your touch is a powerful one.
Your breath is your doorway tocome back home.

(04:33):
Step three is rewiring powerwith safety.
Instead of leaping into thebiggest version of yourself,
start small.
Think of one moment where yourpower felt steady and natural.
Maybe guiding your child,holding space for a client,

(04:54):
playing some sports, or speakinga truth you needed to say.
Bring that moment into your bodyright now.
Feel what it was like to standin your power without fear.
Remind yourself, my body is safeto hold my power.

(05:16):
Take a slow breath in and alonger breath.
Another deep breath in.

(05:37):
Take a slow, take another breathin.
And when you exhale, let it allgo.
That's it.
Name it sense safety, rewirewith grounded power.
That's the practice.
Take a moment and feel into yourbody.

(06:05):
Each time you do this, you'reteaching your nervous system a
new story.
The story that your power isn'tdangerous, it's sustaining you.
Now I want to pause here becausemany of you might think, okay,
if I do this practice once ortwice, I've mastered it.
I don't need it anymore.
But that's not how the nervoussystem works.

(06:28):
This isn't about checking off abox.
It's about embodiment, aboutbuilding a way of being.
Practices like this are how youlearn to care for your nervous
system while navigating theunpredictability of life.
Because life is never static,it's always bringing
uncertainty.
And your mind will always cravecontrol and predictability.

(06:53):
That's why you keep coming backto the practice, not because
you're failing, yet becauseyou're training your body to
remember how to return home wheninstability shows up.
This is how emotional sobrietytakes root, not in perfection,
in repetition, in reminding yourbody over and over again, I know

(07:16):
the way back to safety.
I know the way back home.
When I was in the hospital withNatalie in those final days, so
many people asked me, how canyou be so calm?
How can you be so present in themiddle of this?
And the truth is, it wasn'tbecause I wasn't feeling it.
Oh, surely I was.

(07:37):
The grief, the heartbreak, thefear, it was all there.
Many times my skin was on fireand I wanted to run the hell out
of that room.
But I didn't collapse because Ihad practice.
These tools were alreadyembodied in me.
On the outside, it looked likesteadiness.
On the inside, I was usingeverything I share with you

(08:01):
here, breathing with my body,softening my jaw, loosening my
shoulders, naming the alarm,sending safety signals.
That's why these practicesmatter.
They're not just for the easydays.
They're what carry you when lifecracks open, when you need to
stay present in the hardestmoments.

(08:22):
This is embodiment, not theory,not bypassing, but living the
work when life demands it most.
This is emotional sobriety inreal time, not pushing past your
alarms, but meeting them withsafety and giving your body a
new experience to hold.
If this practice landed for you,remember to download the free

(08:45):
seven-minute reset meditation atliftweneself.com free gift.
It's designed to support you inexactly these moments.
And if you're ready to deepenthe work, come join me in the
Emotional Sobriety Workshopwhere we go through these
practices together in community.
Thank you for being here.

(09:05):
Take this truth with you.
You are not broken.
Your body is simply protectingyou.
And every time you practice, youshow it a safer way forward.
Remember, your breath willalways be the doorway home.
Welcome home.