Who Are You When Life Isn't A Crisis? | Nervous System Healing & Daily Practice

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The cards wouldn't shuffle. Then "Chop Wood" appeared twice. The universe was insisting on one message: transformation doesn't live in breakthroughs. It lives in what you do every single day.

In this episode:

• Why your nervous system resists simplicity (even when you crave peace)
• The real reason "just breathe" makes you roll your eyes
• Who you are when life isn't a crisis and why that scares you
• A guided somatic practice: breath, body, nervous system regulation
• Why consistent tiny practices create more change than dramatic moments

If you've ever wondered why healing feels so unsexy and repetitive, this is for you. We explore the gap between what you want (ease, flow, calm) and what your body chases (adrenaline, problems to fix, crisis to solve). Then we practice together: hand on heart, feet on ground, breath as devotion.

This episode includes a guided meditation you can return to anytime. No props needed. No perfection required. Just you, your breath, and your willingness to choose the sacred ordinary over the dramatic.

After a decade of this work, 250+ podcast episodes, and countless clients, one pattern is clear: the people who transform aren't the ones with the biggest breakthroughs they're the ones who show up to the small stuff consistently.

Keywords: nervous system regulation, daily practice, somatic healing, breathwork, trauma recovery, self-compassion, meditation, anxiety relief, emotional regulation

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
I shuffled these cards to ask what was the
message that was needed, becauseI have so many things popping in
my head.
And in the moment, I wasthinking about betrayal, I was
thinking about hurt and what youdo when people harm you.
And these cards refused tointertwine into each other,

(00:27):
which I found very fascinating.
Then I thought about Jamaica andthe despair and all the stuff
that's going on.
Yet they shuffled, but not verysmoothly.
So then I surrendered and Iasked, what is it that I need to
share?

(00:48):
And as the universe would haveit, this card pulled up.
What's ironic about this card isthat I pulled this same card
four days ago in a podcast I wason as a guest, and the
conversation spoke about exactlywhat chopwood means.

(01:08):
And so I'm listening, universe,and I hope you're listening and
you'll tune in to what messagethis is.
Welcome to the Lift One SelfPodcast.
I'm your host, Nat Mat.
And today we're going to speakabout, you know, what we think
transformation looks like.

(01:29):
So could you like, share, andsubscribe to the podcast so we
can reach to the people thatneed it?
This may be the medicine thatsomeone is looking for.
Many times we have a myth thatwe believe that the big
breakthroughs in therapy, theayahuasca journey, the moments

(01:51):
you forgive your abuser, thedramatic release where you
finally get it.
And those moments happen.
I've had them, you've had them.
Yet here's what nobody tellsyou.
That breakthrough becomes abreakdown if you don't have

(02:11):
daily practices to integrate it.
The real work isn't themountaintop.
It's coming down and washing thedishes, making your bed, which I
hate to do every morning,breathing before you react.
Choosing compassion when yourkids spill milk for the

(02:33):
hundredth time.
And you're like again, and youwant to scream, you want to
freak out, you don't understandwhy this is happening again.
And that's why you need to chopwood and carry water.
Using the practice to regulateyourself.
Why we resist the simple things?

(02:57):
See, what you may not realize isthat your nervous system hates
simplicity.
Yeah, even though you wantpeace, you want to have ease,
you want things to go in a flow.
Yet guess what?
You know why your nervous systemhates simple?
Because it's boredom.

(03:17):
Because there's no fixing,there's no adrenaline, there's
no threat.
And then you have to ask thequestion: who am I when I'm not
in crisis?
And many of us, we don't knowhow to answer that.
When I say to you, just breatheand put your feet on the ground.
I bet you you roll your eyes.

(03:38):
I bet you you say that thiscan't work.
I bet you you're like, oh, notthis thing again.
It's too simple.
It's too easy.
I need more.
That's trauma talking.
Trauma convinces you thathealing must be complicated and
painful as the wounding was.
But it doesn't.

(03:59):
Healing happens in the pausebefore you speak.
The hand on your heart whenyou're overwhelmed.
The five-minute walk when youwant to scroll.
The I'm struggling today insteadof I'm fine.
The choosing to eat somethingnourishing when your body asks.

(04:21):
The going to bed at a decenthour.
This is the work.
This, not the dramatic stuff,the mundane, repetitive, unsexy
daily stuff.
And your ego, it hates itbecause it can't perform it for
an audience.
Here's what I've learned after adecade of this work.

(04:43):
250 plus podcasts, countlessclients, and my own journey
through illness and grief.
The people who transform aren'tthe ones who have the biggest
breakthroughs.
They're the ones who show up tothe small stuff consistently.
And I have to keep remindingmyself that, especially when my

(05:07):
nervous system is looking forchaos.
They're the ones who meditatefor five minutes, even if it
feels pointless.
Feel their feelings even whenit's inconvenient.
Keep coming back to their bodyeven after they've disassociated
for the thousandth time.

(05:27):
And practice self-compassion dayone and on day 1000.
You know what that is?
Devotion.
Not to a practice, not to aguru, not to me or any teacher.
Devotion to yourself, to yourown returning, your own
integration.

(05:48):
Every time you choose the simplepractice over the drama, you're
saying, I matter.
My nervous system matters.
My healing matters.
That's the revolution.
So let's let's go into a mindfulmoment.
Let's practice this right now.

(06:10):
Let's take the unsexy, simple,repetitive thing, the breath and
the body, and let's make itsacred.
Not because it's special,because you're here, because
you're willing.
Now, if it's safe to do so,gently close your eyes or soften

(06:31):
your gaze.
Put one hand on your heart, onehand on your belly.
This isn't complicated.
We're just coming home.
Feel your feet on the ground.
Actually feel them.
The weight, the temperature, thecontact with the ground.

(06:52):
Feel your buttocks against yourchair.
You're supported.
The earth has you.
Now notice your breath.
You don't have to change it,just notice it.
Bring in that awareness towatching it go in and out.
Is it high in your chest?

(07:14):
Is it shallow?
Is it holding?
No judgment, but just noticing.
Now let's add just the slightestinvitation.
Breathe in for four counts.
Hold for four counts.
Out for six.

(07:35):
We're just telling your nervoussystem we're safe enough to slow
down.
So let's begin.
Wherever you are, you're gonnado a gentle exhale.
Now breathe in through yournose.
Three two one.
Hold it.
Two three four.

(07:58):
Exhale.
Five four three two one.
Inhale three two one.
Hold it.
Two three four.
Exhale.
Five four three.

(08:22):
Two one.
Inhale.
Three.
Two one.
Hold it.
Two three.
Four.
Exhale.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.

(08:43):
Now just allow yourself to havea normal breath.
Now bringing your attention toyour hands on your body.
This is you caring for you.
This is devotion.
This is the work.

(09:04):
One more breath.
And when you're ready, you'regonna gently open your eyes
while staying with your breath.
This is what I needed you tohear.
Your healing doesn't need to beimpressive.
It needs to be consistent.

(09:24):
The transformation isn't in thebig moments, it's in the
returning, the repetition, thechopping wood when you'd rather
be somewhere else.
I've said this before, I'll sayit a thousand more times.
Because every time I say it,someone hears it for the first
time and their life changes.

(09:46):
That's why I'll keep showing up.
That's why you need to keepshowing up.
Not for the breakthrough, forthe daily practice, for the
sacred ordinary.
And when you keep doing thepractices and chopping the wood,
that's where you see thetransformation and change.
Because you're not just goinginto a breakthrough in a moment,

(10:08):
you're embodying what you wantthat change to look like.
So chop wood, hairy water,return to your body.
This is the way to develop yourdiscernment for what you need.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for doing the work.
Please remember to be kind toyourself.

(10:31):
You matter.