IN THIS EPISODE – “They’re chasing the tail of self-development but they don’t realize that it’s survival stress and stored trauma that they’re managing all the time,” says Irene Lyon, pioneer in somatic and nervous system work, about the many “functionally frozen” people who attempt to engage in healing modalities while ignoring the foundational issue.

Meredith Oke sits down with Irene where she explains that when we experience trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACE), and fail to release them physically—the way all other animals do in nature—they remain trapped in our autonomic nervous system. This is the basis of a myriad of chronic diseases, biomechanical issues, and dysfunctional behaviors. Until these baseline issues are addressed, healing modalities—namely meditation—remain ineffective and can actually cause far worse problems by bringing trauma to the surface and evoking the body’s original panic response.

By following our impulses, practicing self-regulation and living in closer alignment with nature, we can not only heal our trauma and open untold vistas of potential, but, being quantum beings, change the course of others, including those in the future and past generations. Irene’s clients have even reported it’s made parenting easy. She’ll discuss how to retrain yourself to best respond when you experience physical pain—including in public—and what to think about before embracing popular techniques such as breath work and cold plunging.

There’s nothing “wrong” with us, we just have stored traumatic memories in our nervous system that wants to move out. Learn more about Irene’s 21 Day Nervous System Tune-Up to learn how you can start to approach the process of somatic healing and nervous system regulation.

Quotes

  • “If you have no place to put the memories that flood through when you get quiet with yourself, psychosis can occur, a chronic illness can occur.” (20:06 | Irene Lyon)
  • “We have unconscious memories of everything that’s occurred to us sitting in our nervous system physiology and so the penny drops and all this old survival stress just bubbles up.” (31:14 | Irene Lyon)
  • “It’s not that there’s something wrong with you per se, it’s that—if we’re really accurate—there’s stored traumatic memory in the autonomic nervous system that wants to move out.” (35:39 | Irene Lyon)
  • “The autonomic nervous system governs the fight/flight/freeze/shutdown/collapse. It also governs our temperature regulation, our digestion, immune system, cardiovascular system, our social engagement. So, when we start to listen to these impulses, it’s like we’re reverse engineering the health of the system.” (51:25 | Irene Lyon)