I don't know why I didn't think it could work for him too...but he blew my mind.

anxiety healing holistic integration mindbody mindfulness nervous system polyvagal rewire somatic stress vagus Jul 18, 2024

My patient "Josh" was having so much anxiety that he was waking up in the middle of the night with panic attacks. He was a 29 year old carpenter sent to me by his primary care physician for upper back and neck pain. That part was getting better but he was having trouble concentrating, couldn’t sit still, and hadn’t slept well in weeks. He was working with a therapist but it really wasn’t helping that much. He had tried many things over the past three years to deal with his pain and anxiety but nothing was working.

When Josh told me he had been working through childhood trauma with his therapist, I realized that I could probably help him with his issue and wondered why I hadn't talked to him about my "Living In A Body" method. I wanted to help him understand the importance of making sure to include his body for “mind body integration” during therapy sessions because the body stores trauma memories. My experience has shown me through my work with patients over the years how much more powerfully and completely one can heal when including awareness in the body when working through trauma. This is called "somatic" work or "somatic integration".

I spent about 10 minutes teaching Josh my simple method of “getting in the body” and relating to good sensations there. Almost immediately, Josh exclaimed, “Wow, I feel SO much better!” I discussed with Josh how useful this method can be and how to practice it throughout the day to decrease stress and anxiety and to stop the cycle of flooding our engine with cortisol. By the end of the visit as Josh was leaving my office, he must have said “Wow”, at least 3 more times and kept telling me how much better he was feeling. When he returned a few weeks later he told me that everything was better: he was sleeping, his pain was decreased, he had no more panic attacks, he had stopped fidgeting, his trauma counseling was going better, and was so amazed at how much this method was helping him that he was doing it as often as he could to keep it going.

Now, just to be clear, Josh isn’t someone who has done a lot of meditation, therapy, or spiritual work. Even I was surprised at how much it helped him. Josh taught me that this work is for everyone, and it just strengthens my desire to share the importance of using our body’s wisdom to feel good with more people. I'm so grateful that Josh taught me this lesson because so many of us need it in today's stressful and challenging world!

What’s so great about Josh’s story is that he demonstrates how quickly and powerfully connecting with the parasympathetic part of our nervous system can transform someone's life when they’re really looking for help, no matter who they are or what work they’ve already done. The large majority of the people who I’ve watch transform with my method are those who have already done tons of work, but Josh is an example of how helpful this work can be for any human living in a body, on a profoundly transformative level. 

Why does it work? It works because we're often so stuck in our heads, it stresses our nervous system. When we can drop into our body in a healthy way, it feels good. Our nervous system breathes a huge sigh of relief because it can work the way it was designed to.

If you’re ready to try something that really works to STOP STRESS and ANXIETY and keep it from coming back by tapping into your body's wisdom and perfect design, my Mini Course is for you. I do this every day with my patients, and I've seen profound TRANSFORMATION with my simple method. Learn more and register here: Mini Course: Living In A Body

If you want to know what it is about my method that makes it work so much more profoundly than a lot of the techniques and methods out there, watch my FREE 30 minute WEBINAR by clicking here: Free Webinar