The power of you and your brain.

ME/CFS is called a neurological illness for a reason. And it's also classified as a "syndrome" for a reason. The definition of a syndrome is group of signs and symptoms (subjective experiences) that consistently occur together, characterizing a specific medical condition, abnormality, or disorder, often without a single, clear-cut root cause. So when doctors can't help you make progress or offer you a cure for this, it is quite literally because they weren't taught how to. Root causes aren't something widely studied or talked about in western medicine/chronic illness, it's more so what drug helps an illness the most. Helloooo that's why big pharma makes so much damn money! But anywho, thankfully, we do know the root cause for ME/CFS, because thousands of people have recovered using the SAME modalities to heal it. This "neurological illness" is a nervous system issue. Neuro means brain. Brain is the main processing unit of the entire nervous system, do you follow? But what could possibly cause my brain and nervous system to make my body feel this bad, you may ask? It's suppressed trauma, suppressed emotions, suppressed subconscious chronic stress, limiting beliefs that we learned in early life and misalignment. All of these things dysregulate the nervous system over time. This dysregulation can reach a point where our physical bodies can not longer hold it anymore, so the brain switches into a chronic fight or flight response, and the cup runneth over into physical pain and other chronic symptoms. But not only are these symptoms here to let us know we are misaligned, they are a messages.

So how can we use our brain to heal?

Every healing journey is unique, because everyone's trauma and childhood experiences are unique. What dysregulated each person to their breaking point is different for everyone. Also when I say trauma, that can come from many different things. It of course can come from larger life events, death, breakups, loss, abuse, etc. But it is also really any time that you experienced something difficult (at ANY point in your life) and were not validated, supported or able to express emotion around it safetly. Maybe you were abandoned, invalidated, ignored, constantly criticized or not comforted - by friends, family, a parent, a partner, over and over... this reaffirming to your nervous system that you are not safe as you are or to feel your feelings. Over time this puts our bodies into a flight or fight, or hyper vigilant state. That's when we begin to subconsciously brace or scan for danger. Our brains (the amygdala) can get stuck in this loop. Especially when stress is chronic. But the great news is, our brains our neuroplastic, and we can over time rewire and reprogram our brains to release these beliefs.

If you aren't sure where your trauma stems from, this is where somatic tracking within body comes in. Somatic coaches & therapists can help you identify these parts of you through somatic tracking. (I can help with this too!) You actually have the power to tune into your body yourself and allow old beliefs and emotions to arise. Through releasing stored energy, emotional processing and nervous system regulation, your brain will stop sending signals of danger, your body will slowly come out of it's chronic state of survival that it's been stuck in and you will find relief (and yourself).

This is why programs like DNRS, Primal Trust, the Gupta Program, etc work. As well as releasing suppressed emotions through techniques like Journal Speak. But the real work is consistently using these tools for months and months, sticking with them even when you feel awful and bravely facing your discomfort to rewire your brain. Trust me, healing is not a quick fix. It requires patience, self-compassion and so much self love. But it is a deeply transformative and profound journey within you and it is absolutely worth it.

Remember, YOU and your brain hold the power to recovery. No one else. You are responsible for your healing. I know that sounds scary, but don't let it. You can heal!

Every emotion, memory, experience, lives in our body somewhere. Our nervous system holds all of this. We are more connected to our bodies than we know.