Is exercise important when healing trauma?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มี.ค. 2023
- NOTE: This is a re-release of one of my most popular videos. Even if you've watched it already, it never hurts to review. Here's the original release: • Is exercise important ...
__
As humans, we need intense physical activity to stay healthy and live well. And for many living with untreated early trauma and chronic conditions, the thought of doing something that remotely resembles exercise can seem impossible. In this video, I break down the importance of intense physical activity and how to get physical fitness, aerobic capacity, and muscular strength back online in a safe and titrated way.
Resources I mention in this video:
► You can download my ENTIRE Master's thesis via this link: irenelyon.com/meet-irene/ - simple go to the 'my shiny credentials' section at the bottom of this page, and it is the final link on that list.
► Maria Fiatarone
sydney.edu.au/medicine-health...
► More info on the polyvagal theory and the branches of the nervous system and vague nerve: • The Polyvagal Theory. ...
Additional resources:
► Exercise, Unhealed Trauma, Building Up Muscle Strength, and More!
• Exercise, Unhealed Tra...
► Healing our resistance to making money, exercising, & living in the matrix with Seth Lyon
• Healing our resistance...
__
Thank you for being here!
1. Leave a comment and let me know how this video impacted you. Feel free to leave a question (my team answers them each week!)
2. To get more nervous system health resources, plus learn more about me and my credentials, plus the many ways you can work with me at the practical level, head to my website: irenelyon.com
3. Follow me on social here:
Instagram: / irenelyon
Facebook: / lyonirene
LinkedIn: / irenelyon
SoundCloud: / irenelyon
4. GOT QUESTIONS? Send an email to: support@irenelyon.com
Please know that...
The statements on this TH-cam channel or in videos are simply opinion. Content presented or posted on this channel is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment or a professional therapeutic relationship. Content presented or posted is intended to provide general health information for educational purposes only and you should contact the appropriate healthcare professional before relying on any such information.
My website is a wealth of information, free resources, and information on how to start this work, so here it is one more time: irenelyon.com
.
I just had an „aha” moment when Irene was talking about overriding and feeling shame/defeat. During my childhood I have been constantly reminded of the fact that my sensitivity is not a good quality to have, and I should stick it out etc. Years later it ended up in chronic diseases.
Wow!!!! I am the same. How are you healing?
I have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia for 4 years and I can definitely attest to titration of exercise. I have always thought that it would be *one magic fix* that would suddenly cure me and I would he back to my old active self. Nope. It's tedious and boring as heck but you really do have to crawl up slowly from the bottom.
Check out "The Fibro Guy". I'm just at the end of his program and its amazing, massively recovered
Hey, I have recovered too - so wonderful to see other people going their way :)
I recovered as well. It was a slow process with lots of rest days and even rest weeks to crawl out of zero exercise capacity. It took years but was worth it.
Me too have been slowly building for a year.....walking consistently even with symptoms
You don't know just how much I needed to hear this today. I WILL crawl out of this
There’s a big difference from building armour or muscle and working with getting emotionally back into the body.
The Psoas muscle holds a lot of our trauma. Lower back pain may be a sign of this. The Psoas our initial fight, flight and freeze muscle sits behind the kidneys and adrenal glands. A tight Psoas can last a lifetime and keep your trauma unresolved .
Alan, thank you for highlighting about psoas muscle as the initial freeze muscle and related to back injury. Since following Irene's video, I realize I do suffer from freeze as my survival mode and had lower backpain last August 2022. I am on my way to recovery journey from both getting out of freeze survival mode and from pain in my lower back and lower body pain in general, especially on the right side.
Alan Francis, Jen here from Team Lyon. Yes, for sure it's important to get back into the body in a way that respects one's history and physiology. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Irene's teaches, and she talks a lot about this. If you want to learn more about her teachings, you might check out her New Here page. Here's a link: irenelyon.com/new-here/
She also has a free 3-part Healing Trauma video training which provides a good overview of the types of trauma and this nervous system work: irenelyon.com/healing-trauma
@@ceciliaj3300how are you healing it?
When you were talking about cleaning the house, I realised this is one of biggest triggers for me. I was forced to clean the house all the time in my childhood, so I was tired from that a lot, also I was punished for not doing it good enough. Also, it was gross, to clean after everybody, do the dishes all the time, throw out trash, diapers.
Now I get into shutdown when I'm cleaning, even more so when I get tired. I always knew there's something wrong with me because I could never clean the house at once, or clean windows.
So many years have passed, but I was stuck in froze response, so it wasn't processed at all, I stil feel like this 12-years old girl with too heavy vacuum cleaner, frustrated because I wasn't strong enough to clean all the carpets on time and had no time or energy for play and learning.
Being 24, I was said by the doctor my joins are used as I was 40 already.
I got bound to the bed because my chronic pain as a 37 years old, had to be gentle with myself for 2 years to recover, but still have flares if I use my body too much.
I'm very thankful for you work Irene, you give solutions to those seems-to-be-hopeless situation.
Same. Has not gotten as bad... But nearly all clothes dirty before laundry and dust thick before dusting... It of course possible visit... Cuz SHAME.
Was so connected, alive, healin, thriving, when I worked up to four hot yoga classes a week... Lost in quarantine... Overworked because I could earn, produce, create.... Anywho... Yeah
I learned that the hard way. I wanted to get back to shape, after some time of chronic pain and fatigue from nervous overload. I felt better, energised, so I went to the gym, got exercises from instructor and started. After a week my pain was back, I got fewer, barely could move for 2 weeks and lost my motivation and energy. It's been 7 months and I'm slowly getting back after winter. I feel so weak, I'm doing only some exercises. It feels like one step forward and two back. I have a 7-years old son and I want to keep up with him, go biking and for trips, but I barely can drive him to school.
I still look good and fit, I'm amazed how my body can handle being couch - potato.
I feel that it really helps my anxiety when I exercise. But you have listen to your body
I've been told not to lift weights anymore but do exercises on blown exercise balls but the best exercise that helped me slowly was Qi Cong (sorry forgot how to spell it ;) Very soft exercise but so powerful :)
Incredibly smart and empathetic. Ty so much for this.
1. Exercise is important for health and well being. Cardio and strength training are both necessary,
2. vigorous exercise is what we are building towards, our body is built for it.
3. but we may not be able to stick through, have more injuries because of at least being more in the mind habitually and on the extreme stored trauma.
4. Like all other healing, we need to build exercise in increments, even small mundane movements which we think unnecessary and inconvenient can be done to increase overall movement.
5. Important to pause and feel when we feel the urge to shut down due to intensity.
6. Follow your impulses and express your being more fully and completely with movement
Trigger point work with la crosses ball to deal with crazy tightness, lactic acid... To tell body... release release... Not.. Screw that. This hurts.
This is what I have been doing and my body communicates with me to level up when it feels safe and is ready. I spent decades forcing my body to do what my mind said I should. Until I couldn't. I was basically in paralysis for a year before I was able to start small. It requires patience and mind and emotion management but organic means sustainable. Thank you for the work you do. 💜
I have become more active lately, which has been great., HOWEVER. One thing I do notice is how it can negatively activate me - sometimes when briskly walking home, maybe up a hill, I think my sympathetic system gets activated. Suddenly I`m thinking of everyone who has hurt me, everyone who has acted a fucking fool in my life, every insane doctor, etc. By the time I get home, I am so charged up and furious, I feel like I could hit someone. I don`t know how to deal with this .
Totally relate. But for me it triggers more of a depressive state in the end. Pure exhaustion, adrenaline rush to push my body harder as if I’m pushing the thoughts out of my mind. Learning to let those thoughts past through me.
I struggle with a stress response when I workout too. Basically any increase in heart rate triggers panic attacks. It's so hard to work up any sort of stamina when I'm constantly being triggered.
@@brokenhalo315 I can relate. Such a horrible cycle to be stuck in.
@@brokenhalo315 100% exactly what happens to me! The heart pounding and breathlessness of aerobic and weight training exercises so closely mimic anxiety and panic attacks!! But I try to do relaxation exercises and breathing to regulate my nervous system right after I exercise. This helps a bit. But it’s bitch that exercise has always been the activity I love most and is part of self care which I neglected for several years when I had debilitating CPTSD. Couldn’t move a muscle for a long time. As I heal, I am trying to get back to exercise. But the anxiety/panic-type symptoms afterwards are hard to deal with.
I can speak to how important titration and listening to your body is to starting exercising with CFS. I ended up working with a physiotherapist with a strength training background for support. This is after I completed a few rounds of SBSM, so I was not anymore at rock bottom and had lots of body awareness. I was clear with him about my condition, that I needed lots of rest, and if I said stop, I didn’t want him to push me, like in classical training. He was great. He not only added extra rest weeks even when I felt like pushing on and he gave me some metrics I could monitor to see my progress. It was a slow and steady process but after 2 years I could rock climb, hike, and ski again without my energy crashing 🤸🏻♀️
YES
This is amazing. I'd love to hear more, what sort of exercises did you begin with?
It also changes from day to day for me. Some days I can lift/run normally... Some days I can't even pick up the dumbbell or put my shoes on.
@@arcadia9424 I had done the SBSM program 4 or 5 times by the time I started with strength training. So, I had lots of boys awareness and knew what my limit felt like. I found a physiotherapist who had a background in fitness training and explained my condition, that I would like to increase my fitness tolerance again but that I can’t be pushed to do more like healthy people. He was great. He asked what goals I had(like be able to hike for one hour, or go rock climbing) and gave me gentle body weight exercises to support me in those goals. He asked me to track how hard these exercises felt and for how long I did them. At the beginning I didn’t want to go above a 4-5/10 in exertion. I did these 1-2 times a week and he gave me a recovery week every month where I did nothing. That’s where I started! That’s how I titrated.
A few key points:
-exercise is absolutely essential. Our bodies are designed not only for exercise but to be pushed. We should aim to exercise at times to 80% of our heart rate.
-we need to listen to our bodies. We need to learn to know when it is sending us signals.
-If we are very out of shape or severely exhausted, we need to titrate, or go slow, and not overdo it.
Bottom line, exercise is a must for mental health. Whatever activity we can do during the day is great. Also, the simple act of walking is amazing for the body.
The power of intrinsic motivation! Maria Montessori discovered this and a good Montessori school will provide an atmosphere where this can develop in a child. Unfortunately in our culture most families and schools are completely unaware of how this affects children, and therefore the adults they will become.
I realize that I wanna lie and sleep all the time as I get weaker
Yes and 2 months from 60 it's been about 8 years of laying down when not working and these last couple.years I feel so weak and when I do try to do pretty much anything , I pull a tendon or something. I'm scared and it's become such a viscous circle
What an interesting life you've had, Irene. From exercise to therapy for trauma is not a huge leap and in fact, they're related. For me, it was also the group aspect of dance, yoga and the gym that helped me to heal since I needed to be present to interact with others. Great video!
Brilliant example with the vacuuming. So great to hear someone qualified giving this advice. I live with autoimmune diseases and can't count the times that personal trainers I've engaged to support me have pushed me into flare ups and health setbacks that sometimes lasted for years. Thank you thank you thank you.
AM A BELIVEVER HAVE TO INVEST IN YOUR PROGRAM SHARING WITH MY DAUGHTER NOW THANKS IRENE
I need to watch this video every time I try to do exercise, maybe it will remind me to titrate. Having m.e/cfs and being someone that previously was extremely fit and loved exercise, I find it so difficult to stop, even when I feel my blood pressure drop and my nervous system screaming at me, I even hear the voice in my head saying, ‘stop, rest, now,’ and it’s being able to have the fortitude to stop and be patient, which I think is so hard when you feel like you’ve lost so much. I know exactly how you feel when you said it was so hard for you to do this having been someone that was so physically fit before.
Thank you so much for this video. It is so helpful to have the need for exercise linked to general psychic healing. I appreciate it particularly because i tend to think as if my NS operates independently or something and think exercise, bleah. But i can attest to how starting slow is a good idea --e ven tho i am not healing from physical injury, "just" depression/grief etc. I've been doing Tai Chi Chih and the teacher keeps talking about how at first you don't even feel like you are doing anything, its' so gentle. But it does work gradually and after just a month or so, i can feel the difference and am nearly ready to add in some *more vigorous* walking etc with my dog.
Speaking of titration of exercise, two of the best channels here on TH-cam are Mark Wildman or wildmanathletica and the Knees Over Toes guy. Both of these guys go way out of their way to show how to do movements with injuries, or whatever limitations you have to rehabilitate yourself. I hope this helps.
I have got over many of the mental aspects of CPTSD through working with Journal therapist who has experience in working with trauma, but fibromyalgia still remains. I've had it over three decades.
I live on the beach and love swimming so I have swum right through the year almost every day, even when it's snowing for the last 4 years. It is thrilling, inspiring (I'm now a poet,) it helps me feel in touch with my body and nature, it has helped me regulate my pain and reduce my pain meds under medical supervision.
This is so timely to my life. I started cycling with my new bike and I had such a bolt of serotonin 🎉
It means a lot to me to hear you affirm the part where you listen to yourself...listen to your body, and stop the exercize or whatever. Learning to know what that little "voice" is saying, and that having respect for it is a fundamental part of the healing process! Isn't it the voice that got over-ridden by parents/caregivers/society?
Lots of gold in here as I get back into more rigorous exercise. When you do your video on strength training, will you talk about this?…
I’ve noticed that when I do more more HIIT type training or upper body strength training I’m tired but feel energized after the work. However, on the days I do more strenuous leg workouts, sometimes I start getting nauseous and/or need to take longer breaks between sets. Is it because there is more freeze in the system that needs to be worked with? Too much lactic acid build up? Or other physiological things that are going on?
Donnie Hill, nice to see you here! This is Jen from Team Lyon. I'll definitely pass your suggestion along to Irene for when she creates the video about strength training.
I'll also share a few thoughts for you to consider related to your question, am sure Irene has more to add. The nausea and need to take longer breaks between sets could indicate that there is some freeze in your system that you touch into with these workouts as you suggested.
Another possibility is that if you are recovering from a depleted state, working the larger muscle groups may require more energy and/or run more energy (aka SNS activation) through your body than your system has the capacity for.
If you haven't tried less strenuous leg workouts, you might give that a try and see if the response changes at all.
@@IreneLyon
Nice to see you too, Jen! Thank you for your insights and for sharing my question with Irene. Makes total sense.
@@DH8707, you're most welcome. Good to hear the ideas made sense to you. I imagine you may discover quite a bit as you experiment! I did pass your suggestion along to Irene too.
I don't know how to change my mental attitude towards exercise/movement. I just simply hate it. No pain usually involved (or big physical restraints), it's "just unpleasant/bothersome" activity. Due to moving I decided to walk more (instead of driving) but I still freaking hate it every time and been doing that for 9 months already. :/ The entire time I either spend distracting myself (by thinking about something, usually nothing useful) or wishing I was already there and how annoying it is.
I love this. Ty Irene❤️
Could you talk more about the dorsal vagal response? And how to work on that?
I suffer greatly from this, but didn't know what it was until now 😢
She has and ultimately anything practical leads just to her courses. Which I get. You don't get much practical steps on her channel. But her education is valuable I think
Check the neurosensory playlist for practices. Also I’d search her name and either dorsal vagal or shutdown.
Thank you for this video, Irene.. ❤🙏
additional: personally I experienced a vibrational board as helpful to loosen muscular density(depending on the right pace of the board!).
Thank u for the reminder ❤️
After watching this and another video from yourself on exercise, I walked into a local gym and signed up to 3 PT sessions. I used to do a lot of classes, but always found myself in a cycle of injuries and aches/pains. After my first PT session, I was lifting heavier weights than ever and came out sweating, but happy at my achievement. Today I feel doms but not pain as I would have before. I realise now in classes I would keep pushing myself, but in the gym, I am more focused on my body so I don't go beyond my limit. Thank you for giving me the nudge to act on what I intuitively knew I should be doing. 😊
Ty Irene. I am doing it right😊 one day at a time
I love your videos, so helpful! I need to sign up for your next course
@Gaby-fl9bo, Jen here from Irene's Team. It's great to hear that you're loving Irene's videos!
You mentioned wanting to sign up for Irene's next course so I wanted to make sure you know that you can start her 21 Day Nervous System Tune Up course at any time. It's an online self-study course, and it can be a great way to learn basic nervous system education and practice. You also have the opportunity to ask questions about your experience and have them answered by trained nervous system practitioners. I'll share a link in case you want to learn more.
21 Day Nervous System Tune Up - 21daytuneup.com/
My body broke down and was trembling so much. Then took me 3 years to be able to walk for an hour. I would walk 5 minutes and then sleep for so long! For a while I walked for 1 hour and it was ok. Then stress to move very far from where I lived and unpacking etc. Now sometimes I sleep a lot and other times I have energy. BUT when I have energy and like work in my garden or go for a long walk, THAT DAY AND MOMENT, I HAVE the energy. IT'S ONLY THE NEXT DAY that I'M REALLY SICK AND IN BED for doing too much. IT,S REALLY HARD TO MEASURE. I TRY TO LISTEN TO MY BODY BUT IT SAYS I,M OK :( THE NEXT DAY IS HORRIBLE :( WHAT TO DO???? TIME MYSELF? THAN YOU ❤and I had Zona 3 times! so when I'm tired I could feel the pain.
Carolle - Mara here with Team Lyon. It sounds like you've been working to build capacity in multiple ways. Even if you can walk for an hour, if sometimes that wipes you out for the next day, it's too much. Consider backing off to 15 or 20 minutes for several days and see if that's sustainable so the next day you're not so wiped out. If that works, you might add another 10 minutes at a different time of day, again track if you're ok the next day. If you go over your threshold, just back up again. This is titrating your way to more endurance and capacity, while also learning about and working to improve capacity in your nervous system.
@@IreneLyon Thank so much for your answer. Means a lot ❤
Amazing video, thank you.
Dear Irene, I have a curious question; a theory from my own healing process. I have been working on healing from Cptsd for 5 years now and I see in myself how a lot of trauma is stored in the cells. I have always had resistance to exercise because my entire body would contract and be even more stiff after. I started to work slowly with my body with qi gong. However I have noticed that if I use a foam roller or get a deep massage it can often trigger my nervous system. I started to make the correlation when I did foam rolling on my thighs / ham strings I would almost guaranteed get a reaction later. Like feeling shaky, nervous and as if my nervous system is activating a adrenaline rush out of nowhere. I got reminded about it again today after having a deep massage on my lower back, I took a nap and woke up with adrenaline rushing through my body. Could it be the cells that are unlocking trauma or how can this be explained?
Hi Victoria, Seth here with Team Lyon. It sounds like what is happening here is that you have what are called bracing patterns in your system, which is very common when one has lived through trauma.
This bracing can be in the musculature, and also in the fascia and it can be seen as form of stuck sympathetic activation - the body being constantly prepared to defend itself. So, when you do more intense exercise, and that loosens up a bit, your body then reasserts the bracing afterwards and you feel that stiffness. Same with massage, using the foam roller - you are challenging those bracing patterns, and sometimes, it sounds like you are getting at the sympathetic activation underneath - hence the shaky adrenalized feeling.
That bracing can be loosened up with massage, but it's very important to pause and process that energy as it gets met in the moment during the session, and so you have to feel safe with the practitioner, and for hem to do effective work, they would need to understand all this stuff. What's generally more effective is the form of touch work as taught by Kathy Kain, which is more about attuning and listening to the system through touch, such to promote safety, and not about physical manipulation. You can look for a practitioner of that work at the link below, and/or join SmartBody SmartMind the next time we run it this Fall, as we teach people how to do that work on themselves in that curriculum.
coregulatingtouch.com/find-a-practitioner/
smartbodysmartmind.com/
@@IreneLyon wauw thank you SO much for this answer. It gives me the “missing” link to understand this further. You and your team are life savers 🙏🏻🌸
Thanks you so much ive been struglling with this a lot. I started exercising intensly and felt better with my depression and anxiety. But i got a chronic illness that impeeds me from doing this as much and how much i would like now 😭😭😭😭😭😭 my psychologist thinks im obessed with exercise but it just helped with so many things and i now feel anxious with overexercising because it hurts recovery from my reflux. I try to motivate myself but i cant bring myself to train vigorously without feeling gulity for furthering my reflux illness . I since then feel and act much more depressed than before. But now im trying to revigorate my motivation for this intensity exercise. I tried yoga and it was great also and doesnt cause reflux. But still now i am just so much more concerned with this problem of exercise and this disease i live and feel a sad and demotivated life. I feel like noone understands what im going through. 😢❤
I can imagine what you’re going through. I have chronic pain since the age of 15. I had to learn to divide my activities. In that way I could spend more energy on something I wanted to do really bad.
Dividing my energy wasn’t easy; my mental state of mind was standing in my way.
And to be fair; it still isnt easy. For years I had to learn to listen to my body and act on that, but to stretch my boundaries a little.
And now…i have to learn to stop with what I’m doing and dón’t stretch my boundaries. It is so hard and depressing. For me it means that I have to stop with my job. I love my work so much and I’m good at it, but I have to stop completely for my own mental health. And that hurts so bad…
For some people, too much sustained intensity can actually trigger the sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight) and cause more adrenal fatigue. Moderate exercise can better move things through AND aid in calming the nervous system.
Yoga with Adriene (on TH-cam) has changed my life & I used to be an intense exerciser. The breath combined with body, helps release so much trauma. Reflux is often due to trauma, inability to speak your truth, gut microbiome issues (which affect neurotransmitters...and therefore mental health).
It can be healed, but daily choices to release trama, reset nervous system, regulate emotions are imperative.
The highest level of self care is being aware of your self talk, your internal dialogue. This, and the autopilot nature of it, creates much havoc mentally and physically.
If we had critical, negative, invaliding caregivers...we do that to ourselves, until we get deeply curious and compassionate towards ourselves.
Changing the narratives and getting out of learned helplessness, is the road to empowerment.
Yoga can help (along with other regulating practices) with laying that foundation.
In addition, taking out the toxic dynamics is huge (negative self talk included, of course), such as what news, social media, relationships, that you allow to be in your life and influence you. If you choose to engage in things that activate your sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight) it'll be near impossible to heal. Reflux can not go away with those constant triggers.
Sleep hygiene is deeply, deeply important too.
I wish you healing and peace. It IS possible.
Alpha Centauri, excellent comment!! Another great resource is Cocolime Fitness (on TH-cam and she has a website) which is specifically designed for people with chronic pain & fatigue conditions. Suzanne of Cocolime Fitness provides workouts and workout plans that are all low to moderate intensity and low impact. She has Fibromyalgia & CFS herself and so gets it; she encourages you to listen to your body throughout her workouts. And they’re fun & full of variety!
@Ajmo Sutra I understand. I've had clinical depression for nearly 16 years and learned about 11 years ago that physical exercise is the best medicine for me to lift my mood. There wouldn't be a day in the week I wouldn't exercise to some degree and, despite how hard the initial motivation was sometimes when I was really low, I knew that if I could get going I'd feel better. I'd regularly run, surf, cycle, swim, and do HIIT/circuit training. I caught Covid a year and a half ago and have had long Covid since. I cannot describe the grief of losing physical exercise and cardio as a tool in my toolkit. I feel stripped of the one thing I could always rely on to lift my mood, improve my self-esteem and help me to believe in myself and my recovery. Now I am restricted to gentle yoga, walks, and the odd swim. These are certainly not everyday, and they don't have a fraction of the impact that cardio does on my mental health. To some, I probably still exercise a lot. But compared to how I used to move, I feel like a slug. If I get frustrated and just go for it like I used to, it can set me back for weeks and worsen both my physical and mental health. I think people underestimate the level of loss experienced when a moving person can't move anymore without serious repercussions. People talk a lot about pacing, but on good days I want to embrace life and not reign it in. I feel like a ghost in my own life, and it's hard to explain to others just how much exercise meant to me and how integral it was to my identity. Losing it has shaken my sense of self on many levels and I feel like my mind and body are at war with what they both need, which causes further symptoms. I'm sorry not to bring answers, I'm still finding my way myself. But hopefully my experience shows you're not alone. I am sending so much hope and light your way that you find a way to overcome, or reconcile your situation ✨️
Thank you 🙏🏻 ❤️
I am 66 in a toxic hostile living environment with neighbours triggering old trauma. Also, suffering deep loss. Have auto immune blood problem. Could become cancer but so far so good.
I do not have much capacity, mentally emotionally or physically. I have always been athletic on the go all the time especially with endless DIY & garden tasks.
Exercise I did not enjoy, was forced upon me as a sensitive child. Programmed to be active to point of overdrive. Now don't want to get up in the morning & just want to sleep so I am not conscious. Feel pressure to get act together & move home (flee?) but feels overwhelming. Developed back pain, peeing a lot. Restarted Yoga to titrate but lapsed. Not sure if body wants more exercise or if I should give into sleep. Advice most welcome as what body wants, how much is too much or little is confusing. Often find out at cost.
Thank you for such a wise video.
Some of your advice is good. I will think about. It. Thank you.
Great needed this😂🎉😊
Thanks! So, exercise is too much (even if it is not that much) if it leads to stress reactions in legs and arms, waking you up early or at night? Or can it be just that the system circuits are used to reacting that time of day?
What's your thoughts on Naudi Aguilar's 'Functional Pattens' method?
Sometimes like with me exertion and movement overwhelms quite easily a heart and lungs that are being compromised that basically struggle to work with any amount of stress,,physical emotional…and this easily triggers IBS,,and it’s like you’re going to die. My heart races and I have heavy breathing sitting still…but I know I need to move. I am losing all my muscles.
When doing weight training, I have struggled to let go and release my nervous system during meditation. It takes a few days of rest for my nervous system to return to having the capacity of letting go. When my muscles have tension from training, it is difficult for my body to 'sink' during meditation. I love weight training, but I just had to give it up. All my Qigong/meditation teachers have advised me to avoid weight training.
I always loved weight training, but due to chronic fatigue I wasn't able to do it anymore for a longer period; when I made my attempts to come back to my loved routine I realized that I always possibly overused my muscels, by using too mach weight making too many different exercise, making too short pauses; so I did the other way round: I just do 5 different exercises for the whole body, doing just two or three sets of each; but the most important for me was to cut down the intensity of my training; for example in former days I did bench press with 40 Kilos, when I returned back I began with 2 Kilos, went up very very slow and now do 20 Kilos; and it is really interesting- I made better progress in strength an shape as in former times when I always was trainig up to the limits; one could say: I changed my training intention from figthing against a weak body to a loving routine, giving it a workout that my body loves doing; so a really helpful cool down phase has become a very important part for reminding my body that he is safe - with light and flowing qi gong moves; maybe you want to give it a try - often times less is more :)
@@dergmork3996 Interesting... I am glad you have found a way that works for you. Weight training does bring its joys, so it was not an overnight decision. I was actually making very good progress physically, but my meditation practice suffered. I changed to much lighter weight with reduced repetitions and sets. More focus on stretching the upper body to try remove tension from the muscles. I tried graded body weight exercises. I tried doing the minimum possible without effecting my meditation. Ultimately, I had to relent to my teachers' advice. For me at least, it is far easier to relax, and release tension and contraction in the nervous system - when my muscles are deeply relaxed. Gardening and walking maintains my muscle tone while being gentle on my body.
@@Bill-ni3es Yes, listen to your body; I started with walking and qi gong; it took several trial and errors and much patience until I could go back to exercising; looking back it's really funny how my body said "no, not yet" and I didn't listen and always tried to convince him or override; sometimes we simple need a break ... that's all; one thing that I recently learned is, concerning exercising, is the FUN Forumula: make your goals flexible, upflifting and non-countable: eg, instead of "I want to do 10 pushups three times a week" set the goal: I want to bring more fun movement in my life - and then allow yourself to experiment and discover what you like; we are so cought up in goal setting and controlling our bodies, that we totally forgot that life could just be fun - especially when it comes to movement :)
When we are coming out the fight flight freeze and dealing with fatigue, and inability to recover, I’d love to some guidance on slowly incorporating without it making me crash after
How are you getting on now, what have you found to help the most? A combination or anything stand out as making a shift? Thank you 🕊️
Im so burned out that i feel more dissociated from my body when i do intense workout. I slowly start to listen to my body and start to understand my body for the first time in my life and now i realize that the last 5 years i tried to overwrite my thoughts. But i was actually burned out. What do i do if i get dissociated really fast after a walk or just a 5 minute talk and i feel all my energy drained and i feel dissociated again.
Sometimes when i work out now, and i do an intense run for example. I get my connection back with my body and mind but then i get a lot of adrenaline/anxiety because i ve got so many clear/vivid thoughts and i feel my heart again. And then after 30 minutes i feel disconnected and dissociated from my body again and i feel numb and my thoughts are blurry and really far away. I guess this is a bad sign to do workouts and its better to just go for walks?
Thanks btw for everything Irene! I finally start to understand myself! The 21 day nervous system is a good start! Hope i can follow your other course the next time when i have money again..
And one more question, is body dysmorhpia also a nervous system problem? Because I don’t like my nose for example and i know when i was younger i was always crying and depressed because people bullied me. Now when i come out of dissociation sometimes, i start to feel these depressed emotions again.
I agree with this. I’m exhausted
I learned recently that I didn’t know the answer from a body sense “when is it time to start? And, when is it time to stop?”
@Ingunn Helen did you listen to the video? She starts with saying that intensity is what we are designed for biologically and then the rest of the video is her talking about how it’s so important to listen to your system and not push beyond capacity but begin listening to your needs, impulses, and physiology and titrating. She is exactly saying to slowly pace and listen to your body, not pushing, and your unique nervous system make up and how to rewire and reshape for more capacity.
Has Irene ever done a video addressing titrating into strength training like she said she might?
Hello, Sophia from Team Lyon here. This is a more general video about titration, but not specifically about strength training, however its basic principles are applicable to exercise as well. th-cam.com/video/n50ugTCeomU/w-d-xo.html I hope this helps
So helpful. I have dizziness and shut down.
Hi - what have you found to help the most, or a combination? Thank you 🕊️
Hi Irene, I have a question. I am doing the 21 day tune up and some days (like today) I had terrible anxiety. Tonight I went to the gym and I felt better after lifting weights. Although I thought weighs increased cortisol so trying to understand the relationship between cortisol and weight training?
@mariannegraham5438, Jen here from Irene's Team. The way any activity - including weight training - will impact someone will depend on their history, nervous system, and what's happening at the time.
Sometimes weight training can give some of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation an outlet, and/or help us to feel and sense the solid container of the body. So for some, weight training might be down-regulating, for others with lower capacity or low cortisol, it may be too much.
So the short answer is that it will depend on the person. You may be aware of this, and since you're a 21 Day Nervous System Tune Up member, you're welcome to ask questions on the 21 Day course site. That way we can point you to practices and education that you have access to within the course.
I feel defeat that I cannot get myself to organise a surprise birthday party for my sister.
I really want to, but also it is so unusual for me to do smt that nobody expects. To essentially initiate.
this is one side of the coin. the other is when you come closer to your current physical limitations(by increasing the intensity of your workout) you risk the trauma stored in your body to be triggered. which leads to the danger of getting injured. it seems that the stored trauma doesn´t let you grow beyond it´s limits and dependencies :-(
Would you say that exercise releases trauma stored in the body?
@davidengelstein1359, more often exercise can help us to manage underlying sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation, and can help us to grow capacity to hold it. It doesn't often "release" trauma in the transformative way that the nervous system work does.
I have never been able to get down to the floor and back again. I have arthritis but I enjoy walking and would like to do more walking. I am a bit turned off by this TH-cam.
Judith Chandler, Jen here from Team Lyon. Sorry to hear that this video turned you off. The Feldenkrais Method, which informs what Irene talks about in this video, is very much about adapting practices to meet and respect one's current level of function.
If you can't get all the way down to the floor, you might consider what does feel like a supportive practice for you. For example, you might work on getting up from the chair, and then down again, in a way that requires a little less effort.
Feldenkrais is great. It's slow and measured and you can do it sitting in a chair
Celý excercise
Exercise can become a way of avoiding trauma healing. A coping mechanism not a healing method.