Focus:
Sharing freely what we have been given.
Repetition:
Freely I have received, freely I will give.
My healing is meant to overflow.
I am a vessel of healing for those who come after me.
Expanding Gently: When the Body Resists
This week we are talking about what happens in our bodies when we begin to expand. Last week we added more movement. Some of you are beginning to loosen your morning routine a little, and some of you are ready to bring in foods like sourdough. These are beautiful signs of healing!
And yet, when we try to expand, many of us feel something push back. We might feel a tightness in the chest, a flutter in the stomach, a wave of fatigue, a headache, a sudden worry, or a strong urge to go back to what feels safe.
That feeling of resistance is okay. It does not mean you are going backward, and it does not mean you are not ready. It means your nervous system has noticed that something has changed.
Why the Body Resists Change
For a long time, our nervous systems were doing their very best to keep us alive. When we were sick, the nervous system learned to watch for danger everywhere, in food, in movement, in schedules, in places, and even in people. It learned that certain things came before pain, and it started sounding the alarm before anything had even happened. This was protection, and we can be grateful for it.
But now the terrain has changed. We have rebuilt the gut, fed our microbes, replenished our minerals, and calmed our bodies for almost two years. The body has healed, but the nervous system may still be running on old information. It remembers the version of us that could not tolerate a walk, could not skip a step of the morning routine, and could not eat bread. So when we try something new, it says, “Wait, that was dangerous before!”
Feeling Better Versus Living Like a Healed Person
The difference between feeling better and living like a healed person is often found in the nervous system. Many people reach a place where their symptoms are mostly gone, but their lives are still very small. They are still eating the same few foods, still afraid to travel, still afraid to miss a supplement, still arranging their whole day around staying well. The body has healed, but the life has not expanded with it.
We do not want to stay there! We did all of this work so that we could live, serve, travel, gather around the table with the people we love, and take part in the world God has made for us. Expanding is the next part of our healing, and it deserves the same patience and care that we gave to our gut.
How to Tell Resistance From a True Message
Remember what we learned in Week Twelve. Intuition speaks from a place of calm and neutrality. Fear, urgency, and any excitatory feeling come from dysregulation.
When you are about to try something new and you feel a surge of panic, dread, or “I can’t,” that is usually your nervous system, not your intuition. Resistance tends to rise quickly, peak, and then soften when you calm yourself. A true message from the body tends to show up as a steady, repeating pattern that you can see in your journal over time.
This is why we keep journaling! Write down what you tried, how much, how you felt before, how you felt during, and how you felt the next day. Over a few weeks, your journal will show you the difference.
Expanding Slowly and Gently
We want to expand slowly and gently, using methods that are strategic and suggested by many brain retraining programs. These are the tools that help teach the nervous system that the new thing is safe.
Start With a Small Dose
Choose one thing to expand at a time, not three. Make the first step so small that it feels almost silly. If you are bringing in sourdough, begin with a bite of a true, long-fermented sourdough, not a whole slice. If you are loosening your morning routine, let go of one small step, one day a week. If you are adding movement, add five minutes, not thirty. When the small dose feels ordinary, take the next small step.
Stop While You Still Feel Good
End each new experience while you still have energy left and while it still feels pleasant. If we push until we are depleted, the brain links the new thing with exhaustion and it becomes harder next time. If we stop on a good note, the brain links the new thing with safety and joy.
Rehearse It First
Before you try something new, sit quietly, close your eyes, and picture yourself doing it. See yourself eating the sourdough at the table with your family, laughing and enjoying it. See yourself taking the walk and coming home feeling strong. See yourself having a slower morning and feeling peaceful all day. Let your body feel how good it is. The brain practices the new pathway before your body ever takes the first step.
Notice, Name, and Redirect
When resistance comes, notice it without fighting it. Name it kindly: “This is my nervous system trying to protect me. Thank you, but I am safe now.” Then redirect gently by doing something that brings you back into your body.
- Take a few slow breaths through the nose, breathing out longer than you breathe in.
- Look around the room and name five things you can see.
- Feel your feet on the floor, or better yet, on the earth.
- Hum, sing, or pray.
- Place a hand on your heart and a hand on your belly.
Then return to what you were doing, if you are able, or come back to it another day.
Move Between Comfort and Stretch
Let yourself move back and forth between what feels new and what feels safe. Take a bite of sourdough, then return to a food you love and trust. Take a walk up a new hill, then sit and rest in a familiar place. This back-and-forth teaches the nervous system that it can stretch and then come home again.
Collect Evidence of Safety
Every time you try something new and you are okay, write it down.
- “I ate sourdough and I was okay.”
- “I skipped my morning stretch today and still had a good day.”
- “I went to the gathering and enjoyed myself.”
This list becomes proof to your nervous system that the world is safer than it remembers. Read it often, especially on hard days.
Celebrate the Small Wins
Celebrate every single step, no matter how small. Smile, tell someone you love, thank God, and let yourself feel proud. Joy and gratitude are powerful signals of safety, and the brain loves to repeat what it celebrates.
Repetition Is How We Rewire
The first time will likely feel awkward and uncomfortable. The fifth time will feel easier. By the twentieth time it will feel ordinary, and one day you will realise you have not thought about it in weeks. This is how new pathways are built in the brain, through gentle, steady repetition, not through force.
If You Have a Setback
Setbacks are part of expansion. If a new thing brings on a flare, go back to the last step that felt good, rest there for a while, and try again later with a smaller dose. Do not scold yourself. Speak to yourself the way you would speak to a frightened child, kindly, patiently, and with confidence that all will be well. Remember that a flare of resistance is not the same as undoing your healing.
Created for Abundance
We were not created to live small and afraid. Our Lord came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. Let this be a season of opening your hands, of tasting and seeing, and of stepping out little by little into the full life you were made for.
Go slowly, go gently, and trust that your body and your nervous system are learning right alongside you.