Stop Holding Yourself Back (A Simple Guide To The Nervous System)
Unlocking Quantum Leaps
Everything you desire is right in front of you.
Material success, freedom, peak energy, inner peace - whatever it may be…
Its on its way to you now. It always is.
Now, I want you to ask yourself the question:
At my core, do I believe this? Does my body KNOW this to be true, and does it feel SAFE with this thought?
If you feel any form of doubt, resistance or uncertainty, there is inner work to be done - specifically, with your nervous system.
If it is not 100% onboard with what you desire becoming reality, there will be friction to its physical manifestation. This can show up as:
Self sabotage
Anxious thoughts
Low energy
Weak discipline
And so the key becomes getting the nervous system READY for the realities you desire - we must open it to RECEIVING.
I will teach you exactly how to do this.
Were going to look at:
1) What the nervous system actually is and what it is trying to do
2) How you can directly support your nervous system to unlock a quantum leap
Lets begin.
1) Understanding The Nervous System
Biologically, your nervous system is a collection of systems that run throughout the entire body. This includes:
Central Nervous System (CNS)
brain
spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
all nerves branching through the body
sensory neurons sending data in
motor neurons sending commands out
At its core, the goal of this system is survival.
While the physical interface of our modern world is vastly different from that of our ancestors, your nervous system is still acting the same way, and its the same physical system.
Its trying to keep you safe.
It does this by constantly analysing the signals that your body is producing as a result of the environment, and optimising your bodies finite resources accordingly to maximize survival.
On the biological level, this manifests as a constant feedback loop between the brain and body. This conversation is made of electrical signals, neurotransmitters, hormones, and sensory data.
It looks something like this:
Stimulus (cold air, loud noise, bright light, someone’s facial expression, posture shifts, shallow breathing, rising heart rate, gut tension, blood sugar changes, inflammation, social cues, caffeine, strong smells etc)
→ body detects (PNS)→ brain interprets (CNS)→ brain sends instructions → body changes → new body signals go back into the system and physiology changes.
Once the brain interprets the incoming signals and sends instructions back down, your physiology shifts in one of two fundamental directions:
The ‘Safe’ State = Parasympathetic State
The ‘Unsafe’ State = Sympathetic State
The KEY thing to realise here is that the parasympathetic state is where all the magic happens. In this state of safety, your physical body becomes primed for evolution.
Your body makes the following shifts:
prefrontal cortex turns on (logic, vision, discipline)
breathing deepens into the diaphragm → calm and clarity
gut optimises → nutrient absorption, mood increases, hormones skyrocket.
inflammation drops
hormones increase and balance
collagen repair and tissue regeneration increase
detoxification of what no longer serves you occurs
creativity and long-term thinking activate
the body opens, literally and metaphysically
From this place,
you can learn
you can grow
you can change habits
you can access discipline
you can emotionally regulate
you can make good decisions
you can take action without resistance
The parasympathetic state is a state of receiving.
This is where you make 1 years worth of progress in 1 month.
This is where quantum leaps occur.
So the question then becomes:
How do we enter this state?
How do we constantly signal safety & vitality to the body, and optimise for that quantum leap?
2) Nervous System Optimisation
This is where things become practical.
I’m going to give you the biggest levers that you can pull for nervous system mastery, starting with…
Nature Alignment
Your nervous system evolved in the natural world. Nothing provides a more compatible set of inputs to your body - its the best environment to enter parasympathetic.
Here are all the basics to be doing daily to best align with nature:
Watch the sunrise and sunset - the sun is the foundation of the natural world. Its the primary signal that creates order and energy in the body, and instantly creates nervous system calm as a result.
Ground daily - the earth has a unique electromagnetic frequency (7.83hz, The Schumann Resonance). When you connect barefoot to the earth via grounding, you sync with this powerful frequency. The nervous system instantly recognizes the signal, and parasympathetic emerges.
Walk in nature - simply emerging your body in nature has a similar effect. The Schumann resonance surrounds you, but also colours of green, and natural patterns are deeply regulating for the nervous system.
Minimise unnatural stimuli - part of aligning with nature is simply avoiding the habits that pull you away. Unfortunately, the modern day brings with it a lot of these. The main things to be aware of are:
Minimising unnecessary phone use. This is the biggest by far. Constant notifications, social media use etc will wreck the nervous system. Live on do not disturb, and have set windows of intentional phone use.
Minimise artificial light. Post sunset, block blue light indoors using blue light blocking glasses (RA optics = best brand). Make your house a ‘light safe zone’ by switching out standard LEDs for incandescant bulbs or red light bulbs, and avoiding overhead lighting.
Master The Breath
One of the strongest signals to your nervous system is how you are breathing. Breath is a direct nervous system modulator.
When you breathe deeply and into the belly, the diaphragm contracts downwards. This compresses the vagus nerve, which is a key node to the nervous system. Its contraction instantly promotes the parasympathetic state.
Here’s how to breathe for the vagus nerve:
Consciously shift your base breathing pattern - shift to breathing 5.5s in, 5.5s out. Breathe deep into the diaphragm, then chest, and then head, and exhale releasing any tension. If you can remember to do this for even 10% of the day, you’re elevating yourself tremendously.
Practice breathwork - on top of changing your general breathing, its powerful to do dedicated breathwork practice. Things like Buteyko breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, or simply using the Coherence breath app can be great methods. 10-30 minutes per day is optimal.
Nutrition
Like any system in the body, you can support the nervous system with the right nutrients and raw materials from food.
The most important principles for this are the following:
Consume single-ingredient whole foods, from nature - again, because these are natural and unprocessed, the nervous system within your gut recognises compatibility, and parasympathetic follows.
Prioritize the right foods - within this however, there are certain foods particularly useful for the nervous system.
Saturated fat: your nervous system is made almost entirely from fat. Consuming enough amounts of fat is therefore crucial. The best sources come from animal foods - eggs, red meat, A2 dairy, butter, tallow. Other sources such as coconut and avocado are great too.
Carbohydrate abundance: carbohydrates are your bodies preferred fuel source. Having an abundance of them signals abundance and safety to the nervous system. Best sources are easy to digest fruits, well-cooked starches like rice & potatoes, and fresh fruit juices.
Consume ‘nervous system nutrients’: there are very specific nutrients that are very supportive to your nervous systems ability to tap into parasympathetic. These include, choline, magnesium, B vitamins, sodium, potassium, calcium, glycine and taurine. Here is a quick list of the best sources for each:
Choline: daily eggs
Magnesium: supplement with zechstein magnesium chloride spray in your water.
B vitamins: consume beef liver weekly, red meat often, steamed leafy greens, salmon, eggs, potatoes.
Sodium: add a high-quality sea salt to your morning water. Good after workouts, sweating and before bed.
Potassium: A2 dairy, potatoes, fruits, fruit juice.
Calcium: A2 dairy
Glycine: collagenous stews - consume 1-2x per week minimum. Best made with cuts like shank, shoulder, oxtail, marrow bones.
Taurine: supplementation recommended, but good sources include beef cheek, oysters, and wild caught tuna.
Simply ensure most of these foods are in rotation, and you should be golden.
Find Your Tribe
One of your nervous systems’ primary signals of safety is whether or not you are surrounded by other human beings. Connect with friends, partners and communities creates instant parasympathetic environment. The opposite also applies - isolation is literally equivalent to death when it comes to the nervous system. Energy tanks and anxiety skyrockets.
Say yes to that social gathering. Treat socializing like a health practice. Get extremely present and allow your body to really soak up other people’s energy. Watch the calm occur.
Practice Somatic Healing
Nervous system optimisation can go pretty deep. This is a good example of that. Throughout your entire life, the nervous system is essentially ‘keeping tab’ on all of your experiences, and keeping record of them in the body (in order to keep you safe). The issue with this though, is that often we often store things that do not serve us. Negativity can imprint within the water, within the fascia that runs throughout the body, and can create tension patterns that lead to a chronic sympathetic activation.
It is important to release this, as we all have it to some degree.
While I wont go into it in real depth here, I want to give you some basic practices to help alleviate stored stress and tension from your body that could be holding back your nervous system.
Letting Go Meditation - lie on the ground, spend 5 minutes breathing 5s in, 5s out trying to get as present as you can. From here, place your attention on the body. Notice any tension or thoughts that arise from the stillness, and deeply recognise them. Notice where they are coming from and question their nature. Are they negative or positive? Are they coming from fear or beliefs that do not serve you? If any of these is the case, allow these emotions to BE. Imagine these emotions permeating your entire body in the moment. From this place of acceptance, consciously release. Feel this feeling dissolving out of you as you exhale. You can do this for as long as feels right.
Repeat this practice daily, and you will start to feel lighter and lighter as you go throughout life. Your nervous system’s baseline state becomes more parasympathetic by default.
Fascia Release - as alluded to above, most of what isn't serving you is stored within something called the fascia. This is a web of connective tissue (composed of water and collagen) that runs throughout your entire system. Physically loosening and working with the fascia helps trapped emotion and tension to dissolve. This is not something I will talk more about here, however I will be giving much more in depth advice on this in the future within health courses I'm currently building.
And that's it.
These 5 pillars will offer you a fantastic baseline of nervous system resilience.
You will feel grounded, clear, and like anything is possible. You make space for magic in your life.
Take action on this advice. Notice how things shift. Always consult your body & intuition for feedback, and message me if you have any specific questions.
To your vitality & success,
Fred