Your Nervous System Is Not the Enemy—It’s the Key

My Mental Health Month Message for Anyone Tired of "Fixing" Themselves

For most of my life, I thought mental health was all about mindset.

Fix your thoughts.

Control your emotions.

Power through.

Sometimes, I focus on the body: work out, eat clean, and get sleep.

Those things helped, sure, but something always felt missing.

It wasn't until the last few years, after delving into the work of Deb Dana, Polyvagal Theory, and Positive Neuroplasticity, that it all clicked:

It's not just your mind. It's not just your body.

Your nervous system runs the show.

This understanding empowered me to heal in a new way.

It changed the way I teach.

And it cultivated a more compassionate way of treating myself.

So, for Mental Health Month, I'm not here to hit you with toxic positivity or spiritual bypassing.

I'm here to talk about nervous system regulation, fundamental tools, and what it means to come home to yourself, when your body has forgotten what safety feels like.

🧠 Understanding Polyvagal Theory (The Nervous System Decoder)

Dr. Stephen Porges introduced Polyvagal Theory, and Deb Dana made it practical.

It breaks down our nervous system into three core states:

• Ventral Vagal (Safe + Connected): Where you feel calm, grounded, present. This is where healing happens.

• Sympathetic (Fight or Flight): Where you feel anxious, activated, edgy. The world feels unsafe and fast.

• Dorsal Vagal (Shutdown): Where you feel numb, disconnected, or frozen. Like you're here, but not really here.

  
  

Most of us cycle through these states without knowing it.

But when you notice your state and shift it, everything opens up.

This is where healing becomes possible.

Coming Home to Yourself Starts with the Nervous System

Mental health is not just about positive thinking.

It's about learning how to feel safe in your body, breath, and life.

And that's what the nervous system has given me.

No more hacks.

No more pressure to "do better."

But a way back home.

So here's what I want to offer you this month:

Tools, reflections, and actual practices that help you reconnect and regulate, especially when you feel anything but regulated.

🔒 Anchor Yourself in Safety

Your nervous system is constantly scanning for cues: Am I safe? Am I supported? Am I alone?

So the work begins by creating anchors that tell your system: You're okay now.

✅ Try This:

Choose something that makes you feel calm. It could be a song, a photo, a scent, a place, or a person.

Could you spend a few minutes with it every day?

Let your body learn what safety feels like again.

🌬️ Activate Your Vagal Brake (Your Inner Calm Switch)

Your breath is a direct dial to your nervous system.

And long exhales are like a "brake" on the stress response.

✅ Try This:

Inhale through your nose.

Exhale slowly through your mouth, with your lips like you are using a straw, making the exhale longer than the inhale.

Repeat 4–5 times.

Let your body drop into calm.

🌳 Create a Safe Space—Even If It's Just in Your Mind

Visualization isn't woo; it's regulation.

✅ Try This:

Close your eyes. Picture a space that feels peaceful and safe.

Real or imagined.

What does it smell like? Sounds like? Feel like?

Let your nervous system live there for a few minutes.

📓 Track Your States (Awareness Is Power)

One of the most powerful things you can do? Notice your patterns.

✅ Try This:

Keep a journal or log.

Note when you feel safe (ventral), agitated (sympathetic), or shut down (dorsal).

What triggered it? What helped?

This helps you respond instead of react, and this is when freedom and power begins.

🤝 Micro-Moments of Connection Matter

You don't need deep conversations to heal. Sometimes, all it takes is 10 seconds of human connection.

✅ Try This:

Smile at someone.

Make eye contact.

Text a friend.

These tiny moments pull you back into the ventral vagal state, the place of connection and safety.

🦶 Ground Yourself When You're Spinning Out

If you feel untethered, come back to the body.

✅ Try This:

Feel your feet on the floor.

Grab an object and focus on its texture.

Name 3 things you can see.

Come back to here.

✨ The Power of Glimmers (The Opposite of Triggers)

Triggers are cues that send you into stress.

Glimmers are cues that bring you back to calm, joy, and safety.

✅ Try This:

Look for glimmers:

Sunlight on your face.

Your kid is laughing.

The smell of coffee.

Let yourself feel them.

Savour them.

Write them down.

You're building a new library of what "safe" feels like.

🧭 The Takeaway: You're Not Broken—You're Wired

If your system is overwhelmed, shut down, or constantly anxious…

That doesn't mean you're weak.

It means your body is trying to protect you.

And the work isn't about forcing calm.

It's about creating space for it.

Breath by breath.

Step by step.

State by state.

Mental health isn't about fixing what's wrong with you.

It's about coming home to what's already correct.

🎁 Free Toolkit: Peace in Your Pocket

This Mental Health Month, I'm giving away my Radical Reset toolkit. This

a nervous system-first guide with quick tools you can use anytime stress hits.

📥 To access The Reset Kit, email jody@jodywilliams.ca and put the word "Reset" in the subject line. I will send it to you. This Toolkit is optimized for your Mobile Device.

I'm also offering:

• Custom meditations designed to help your nervous system downshift:

  https://www.jodywilliams.ca/mindfulness

  
  

• 1:1 coaching for nervous system support and emotional regulation

  https://www.jodywilliams.ca/coaching

  
  

You're not meant to heal alone.

And you're not meant to hustle your way to wholeness.

Let's make this month about reconnection.

Let's make it about coming home.

Here is a sample for this month's Meditation of the Month:

NeuroAwakening to Reset the Nervous System

Check it out here:

https://www.jodywilliams.ca/free-meditations

Much love and peace to you,

Jody