Episode 57
“When we have this constant feeling inside that we are preparing to take action and it’s not safe to be still a lot of times we do move into overworking or creating things to stay busy all the time or over training, because at the level of our physiology, that’s what feels right. It feels right and safe to stay busy all the time. Even though that’s eventually going to lead to burnout, to a crash, to unwanted behaviors like overeating or drinking or whatever it is that you use to self soothe in the moment. That feels like the right thing to do because of what’s happening in your body <during a Flight response>.”
-Elisabeth Kristof, Founder NeuroSomatic Intelligence Certification and Brain-Based Wellness
Pod-Fam, this week we’re revisiting the Flight Trauma Response episode from our 4 F’s series early in Season 2. If you listened when it originally aired last July, then we bet you’ll relate in a fresh way when you listen again. You may recognize how Flight has impacted your life in a clearer way, especially if you have complex trauma or early childhood trauma.
How many of these experiences do you relate to?
- Difficulty sitting still
- Avoid downtime because it doesn’t feel safe to be still
- Constantly feel the need to do things quickly
- The sudden need to run away from a situation
- Hypervigilant
- Makes sure everyone else’s emotional state is okay
- Get impatient with yourself or others for not moving fast enough
- Overthinking
- Overtraining
- Perfectionism
- Racing Thoughts
- Disordered Eating
- Numbing out
- Breathing with an open mouth
- Always have an escape route when you’re out
- Cold or tingling hands or feet
These are ways that Flight response may show up in our lives. These are protective responses that your nervous system uses to keep you alive and safe.
As always, we’re sharing our personal stories and experiences to offer you hope for your own nervous system regulation and healing journey. Elisabeth shares stories of Flight from her early sobriety days and how she’s learned to recognize it popping up in her romantic relationship now. Jennifer shares how she experiences Flight at weddings and NSI classes- and how she’s learned to move through it.
Be sure to listen to Jennifer share how she’s learned to recognize Flight response being triggered in Elisabeth. You just may recognize it happening in your close friends, too.
Key Highlights to Listen for:
- Our body reacts with a stress response whether there’s an actual life threat or not
- Elisabeth describes exactly what happens in the body and nervous system when stress kicks in the Flight response
- The importance of completing a stress cycle and how to move it thru your body
- Deep dive into why it may feel right to be busy all the time despite it leading to burnout
- Jennifer describes trauma being a biological physical manifestation of threat response inside the body. If you have early childhood trauma or cPTSD your lens may have been shifted into a skewed reality as an adult. And how to heal.
- The many ways that applied neurology (aka NSI tools) are beneficial for healing your nervous system
- Elisabeth explains why breath work may not work for you initially and how you can use NSI tools to improve your breath
- How our society tends to treat Flight responses like perfectionism as badges of honor and how harmful that is to our internal systems and health
- How critical it is for healing to happen in the nervous system, brain’s frontal lobe AND the body- and how NSI tools serve you
- Elisabeth shares her belief that Presence is the greatest gift of applied neurology/NSI tools
As you listen, we encourage you to remember that there is hope and you can heal. You can change, you can learn to feel safe in your body and to listen to your internal cues.
We are here to support you with NeuroSomatic Intelligence tools on the Brain-Based Wellness site and with private coaching.
Listen to more episodes of Trauma Rewired HERE
