How to truly rest your nervous system

Rest— the elusive, mysterious rest.

What does it truly mean to be well rested? What does it truly FEEL like to be well rested?

I feel like in our modern society we are a pivot point. For so long, hustle and grind were glorified and to some extent some people still do. But I do think, that we are slowly coming around to the fact that hustle and grind 24/7 is unattainable and unsustainable. Go-go-go mode leads to burnout, brain fog and overwhelm.

Have you been there? Because I have!

So, rest.... we all want the benefits of rest.

Rest where I body turns on it's self healing abilities, its how to best handle and manage strength and it plays an important role in building our resiliency. When we are truly rested, our body is able to heal from illness and injury, recover from performances, workouts and stressful days and perform all the daily maintenance it needs to feel really good AND perform better the next day.

However, many of us have a complicated relationship to rest and truly don't know what it means to actually. First of all, for many people rest feels like a dirty word. It can feel like giving up or giving in. Old Statements such as "no rest for the weary" or "no pain, no gain" have been perpetuated over years and rest has been associated with laziness.

I won't lie— I'm one of those people. I have really truly had to learn to rest and it is a true journey. Some days I love to rest and other days, I struggle to remind myself that rest is best.

I do think we are at a tipping point. Where more and more of us are noticing and understanding that rest is needed to be succesful, stay healthy, enjoy our lives and better show up as humans in this world

On top of that many people don't actually know HOW to rest. Many people think that doing nothing, stretching, self massage, massage, easy cardio or corrective exercises is rest. And they aren't completely wrong but, they're missing one HUGE piece of rest and recovery.
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The one thing they lack is a sense of SAFETY.

Our nervous system craves safety. The way I explain is The Nervous System is Queen, The Queen has ONE job and that is to keep YOU safe. Therefore in order to truly rest and enter into rest and recovery mode, the Queen needs to feel safe.

Entering into the parasympathetic nervous system is what causes the nervous system to feel safe. The parasympathetic nervous system is the "rest and digest" state of your nervous system. When you are in a parasympathetic nervous system state you are in periods of rest, digestion and recovery. Being able to quickly enter a parasympathetic state is essential for feeling safe and connected.
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⁣Therefore when your nervous system feels SAFE, anything and everything you do for recovery and rehab is even that more powerful and impactful.

There are many ways you can get your nervous system to feel safe and some of them depend on what feels best to you.

One really powerful thing during your recovery session is to set up your environment in a way that feel safe to you. Some things you can change are the lighting, the colors and even the smells. For me, the lighting of twinkly lights is soothing to my soul, deep greens, rich teals and peaches make my happy and the smell of incense instantly calms me down. Whether you are stretching, rolling out, practicing breathwork or performing a regen session, setting up your environment for you to feel safe and supported can go a long way.

Another super powerful way to maximize speed and recovery is to practice grounding (one of my favorite things in the whole world)

Grounding is quite literally sticking your bare feet in the dirt, grass or sand. It's as simple as this: go outside, remove your shoes and socks, stand, move, and walk— have some fun. Bonus points if you add some water!

Some of the benefits of grounding:

• Improved Sleep

• Decreased Pain

• Decreased cortisol⁣⁣

• ⁣⁣Decreased inflammation⁣⁣

• ⁣⁣ANS balancing and Parasympathetic NS activating⁣⁣

• ⁣⁣Activate metabolic healing response⁣⁣

• Decreased and speed recovery of DOMS⁣⁣

• ⁣⁣Improved HRV⁣⁣

• Improved immune response⁣

• ⁣⁣Lowers blood glucose⁣

• ⁣⁣Reduced blood viscosity⁣⁣
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  Helping the nervous system feel safe is a really powerful tool for healing and health. I use these techniques and more to help my clients feel safe when they walk through my (virtual) or in person door. Learning how to create a safe environment within you and around you is one of the best things you could do for overall health, wellness and healing.