Nervous System 101

Nervous System 101: What’s Happening in My Body and Why It Matters

Ever feel like your body’s reacting before your mind can catch up?
😰 Racing thoughts, tense muscles, a pounding heart, your shoulders reaching your ears, a clenched jaw... or maybe the opposite—numbness, disconnection, or a frozen stillness you can’t shake?

That’s your nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do: protect you.

The more I’ve studied neuroscience, psychology, and somatic practices—and walked through my own healing—the more I’ve come to believe this truth:
💛 Your body is not betraying you. It’s doing its best to keep you alive.

At Sanctum & Soil, we blend science, soul, and self-awareness to help you understand your nervous system, it's not about control, but to care for it. Because when you understand how your body works, you can stop judging yourself for how you feel and start showing up with clarity, compassion, and intention.

🧠 Your Body’s Built-In Alarm System

Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is always scanning for safety.
It doesn’t ask, “Is this logical?”
It asks: “Am I safe?”

When the answer is no—whether because of trauma, stress, or simply learned patterns, your system automatically shifts into one of four survival responses:

• Fight 🥊 – You feel angry, activated, ready to defend

• Flight 🏃 – You feel anxious, overwhelmed, like you need to escape

• Freeze ❄️ – You go numb, disconnected, unable to move or speak

• Fawn 🙏 – You abandon your needs to keep the peace or avoid conflict

These are not weaknesses. They’re protective patterns deeply rooted in the nervous system. We all learned about them in school. Discussed on the playground how we fight our way out and this was if we were cool. But our reality is engaging it felt scary, and it still does sometimes. People fear what they do not understand. And when they get stuck on repeat, they begin to wear us down, emotionally and physically.

⚡ PTSD, Muscle Tension, and Living in Survival Mode

For those of us with PTSD or unresolved trauma, the nervous system often gets stuck in overdrive.

Even when life seems “fine,” our body may still be reacting as if it’s under threat. That chronic state of high alert shows up in our muscles and energy levels:

• Tense neck, jaw, shoulders

• Clenched fists or jaw

• Chronic fatigue

• Digestive issues

• Difficulty sleeping or relaxing

• Feeling “tired but wired”

We can’t think our way out of it because it’s not happening in the thinking brain. It’s happening in the body.  And these two worlds aren't often treated as one unit unless we have a mental "illness" affecting the brain according to... people :) The good news? That’s also where healing begins, in your body.

🌿 Sympathetic, Parasympathetic & the Vagus Nerve

Your nervous system has two main branches:

• Sympathetic = 🚀 gas pedal (fight or flight)

• Parasympathetic = 🧘 brake pedal (rest, digest, restore)

But it’s not quite that simple. Enter: Polyvagal Theory.

Dr. Stephen Porges’ theory shows us that your vagus nerve, a key player in emotional and physical regulation, helps you shift between three main states:

1. Ventral Vagal 🫶 – You feel safe, connected, open, calm

2. Sympathetic ⚡ – You feel alert, anxious, angry, or ready to run

3. Dorsal Vagal 🕳️ – You feel frozen, flat, collapsed, or out of reach

Your body isn’t broken when it enters these states. It’s protecting you. But it can learn new patterns—through gentle, consistent regulation.

💫 What Does This Mean for Me?

Understanding your nervous system helps you:

• Recognize when you’re reacting out of pain or protection

• Soften into compassion instead of self-criticism

• Build tools to move back into calm, connection, and clarity

• Reclaim your ability to choose how you show up—rather than just react to yourself and those around you

Some tools we love at Sanctum & Soil:

🫁 Breathwork – A direct line to your nervous system
🌿 Mindful movement – Releases stored tension from muscles (yoga rocks :))
🪞 Parts work – Gently meets your internal protectors with compassion - IFS therapy is a good way to break down parts work - see resources page
💬 Relational repair – Safe connection is one of the most powerful healing forces
🌅 Nature and rhythm – Regulates your system by grounding in something real and steady - hike barefoot! Try it :)

You don’t need to be “fixed.” You need space to feel, and the tools to gently return to yourself.

🌱 Healing Is Remembering, Not Forcing

Healing doesn’t mean avoiding hard emotions. It means learning how to stay present through them.

It means getting curious about how your nervous system learned to protect you—and choosing, again and again, to walk the road of regulation, intention, and grace.

You’re not too much.
You’re not too sensitive.
You’re becoming who you’re meant to be—and your nervous system is part of that story.

Ready to Keep Exploring?

✨ Explore our upcoming workshops, retreats, and nervous system resets
✨ Connect—What’s one thing your body’s been trying to tell you lately?

With breath, presence, and intention,
Anique
Founder, Sanctum & Soil