6 Signs Your Nervous System is Healing

You want to heal. You want to and have maybe even started to put in the work. Now, you want to see results, see the signs your nervous system is healing and you’re officially letting go of all that stuff wreaking havoc on your body - or figure out why it hasn’t happened yet.

Healing your nervous system is something that sounds amazing when you’re dealing with a chronic illness, experiencing symptoms daily, struggling with hopelessness, and feeling overwhelmed with constant stress or anxiety. But, retraining your brain to heal takes time and work.

And after that hard work, you begin to see the benefits. You feel the confidence, the assurance in yourself and your capabilities, you’re more willing to do the things you never thought you would do again.

How does it work? How can you heal your chronic symptoms? How do you check your progress? How do you know when you’re “done?”

As someone who has been on this journey and has helped many along theirs, I want to share some insight on what to expect and how powerful it is -  

How to Heal Your Chronic Symptoms Using Your Nervous System

To heal your chronic symptoms and chronic illness, you have to heal your nervous system. Your nervous system is your foundation, it’s what you’re going to build on to release your body from chronic fatigue, pain, and other illnesses. 

To heal your nervous system, you have to learn how to regulate it. A dysregulated nervous system sends your body into a state of permanent fear or “survival mode.” When your body and nervous system are in survival mode, it loses focus on some of the important systems in your body.

These important systems begin to slow down, leading to psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression and physical symptoms, like pain, IBS, and headaches.

Traditional medicine focuses on “managing” symptoms rather than treating them, but somatic practices and holistic therapy can be used to heal your nervous system and eliminate chronic pain and illness.

6 Signs Your Nervous System is Healing (and When It’s Not)

When you know how it works and why it works, you want to know when it works. Healing itself is not a linear journey, and that applies to healing your nervous system. There is a lot of inner work that is done as you get to the root of why your body is sending you into survival mode.

But, once you’ve recognized the root cause and you begin to do the work, you’ll start to see changes in how your body functions and how you exist and experience your daily life - and when it’s not healing, you’ll notice a different trend.

Here are some signs your nervous system is healing and what it looks like when it’s not:

#1. You Feel Empowered in Your Health and Your Life

After you heal your chronic symptoms, you begin to feel empowered by your health and life. The opposite can also apply when you’re nervous system is staying dysregulated. You may be feeling hopeless in your recovery and may feel overwhelmed or “out of control” in relation to your health.

#2. Decrease Your Chronic Symptoms

As you are healing your nervous system, you’ll notice a decrease in your chronic symptoms like your chronic fatigue and pain. When your body is not healing, your symptoms may get worse, or, you may experience new symptoms depending on how long and how often your system is dysregulated.

#3. Appreciation for Your Body

Personally, this one took a while for me. Part of healing is learning how to truly, deeply, and spiritually take care of your mind and body. By not healing, you’re continuing to face shame, guilt, and sometimes even hate from yourself towards your own body.

#4. Confidence That You Will Continue to Heal

This one goes hand in hand with feeling empowered in your health and life. Thanks to feeling empowered, you have confidence that you can continue to heal - even if there are a few hiccups along the way.

#5. Knowing That Your Mind & Body Are Powerful and Can Handle Triggers

Here’s where that inner work comes in, you’re recognizing your triggers and knowing that you can handle them, that they won’t send your body into survival mode. When you’re not healing, you may recognize that your mind & body are powerful, but you’re not fully stepping into that power to handle your triggers and tackle your stress and trauma.

#6. You’ve Let Go of Toxic Patterns in Your Life

Recognizing and letting go of toxic patterns are two very different stages. But, when you’re healing, you need to let those toxic patterns go - otherwise, your nervous system is not fully healing or healed, but you’re taking steps in the right direction.

How to Start Healing Your Nervous System From the Ground Up

If you read through the signs your nervous system is healing, but you felt more aligned with the signs your nervous system is not healing, that’s okay. 

It’s likely you skipped a step in your approach. Maybe it’s consistency - or even community. Maybe you need support and you’re not able to go it alone (which is perfectly fine, and normal). 

The purpose is not to feel perfectly “healed” right away, but to see if you feel you have begun healing. But, no matter how far along you are in your healing journey, I have a few tips that you can use to help you along the way. 

Let’s look at some of the tips you can use to begin - and continue - healing your nervous system and building your wellness foundation:

Find Insight

Talk to someone who has experience as a therapist, Reiki healer, psychotherapist, or someone in a similar field. You’ll find that their insight can shed light on your journey and benefit your healing.

Try Holistic Healing

If holistic therapy and practices were not your original plan, you should consider it. With holistic healing, you can look into the mind-body connection, learn how to address the root causes of your struggles, and discover brain training, nervous system regulation, and trauma healing.

Join a Community 

Healing is hard, often too hard to try to do on your own. It’s important to find a community of those who are currently working alongside you to heal or have already healed their nervous system. You can share your challenges, and your victories, and learn from their insights.

Get Guidance

There are many ways to find guidance along your healing journey. You can find guidance in resources like blogs or personalized guidance working with experts one-on-one. Guidance can come from people, like your community or a therapist/mentor, or an online or physical source - like a book or publication. 

How to Find Support in Healing

Healing is just as hard and emotional as it is freeing, and it won’t look or necessarily feel exactly the same for everyone. Rather than searching for a specific feeling or accomplishment, it’s important to find support.

Support in healing can help you stay your course. It’s a way to experience the lows and celebrate the highs, skip the trial-and-error stage of healing, and follow a guide that lights the way. 

Support is not something to be ashamed of or shy away from, it’s a way to help you find your power and recognize the incredible potential you hold within. It will help you take control of your health and well-being.

Find 1:1 support in my therapeutic coaching for chronic pain or discover my free wellness workbook covering how to regulate your nervous system through a holistic mind & body framework -> Grab your copy here.