Rebalancing Your Nervous System: Practical Strategies for Stress Relief

Welcome back to the Real Life Momz podcast. This is a place where you can take a break from all our tutees. And take time to focus on ourselves. I'm Lisa Foster, your host, and I am passionate about helping moms prioritize themselves on this podcast. We discuss strategies to promote our mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.

And today I get to be a guest on this podcast. I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Bia Fernandes. She is a holistic nutrition coach, founder of shift into wellness and the host of the radiance podcast.

And I had such an amazing conversation about just simple tips and ways we can rebalance our nervous system when we're feeling stressed and overwhelmed. That Bia was so kind to let me share our interview with my audience. So let's jump in to this episode. I wanted to welcome Lisa Foster to our podcast and we are shifting. We are shift into wellness now. And I'm so happy to have one [00:01:00] of my guests, Lisa Foster, and she is amazing.

I was actually a guest on podcast before. So thank you for having me on your podcast, real life momz podcast, which is amazing. If you haven't listened, you have to listen. You have exceptional guests as well. And really quickly introduction. She is a PT cranial sacral therapist. And what I loved about Lisa, not only is she a mom.

She's bringing all these really important tactics that we can use as mom hacks for our busy life and intrigued me so much was the post that you did about rebalancing your nervous system, Lisa. So a quick intro to you, tell me a little bit about you and then we can dive in. Yeah. Well, thank you, Bia. First of all, I just am a Bia fan as well.

So yay. I love your community and all that you've been doing. Yeah. So about me, well, like you said, I'm a physical and craniosacral therapist [00:02:00] and, and a mom, right. And part of my day to day is really helping people work with their nervous system. And that's part of the basis of the craniosacral therapy.

So. The thought process is really that by rebalancing that nervous system, then all other systems can work more optimally off of it. And so that allows that body to kind of relax and heal. So I am all about helping moms, but helping Other people to just really prioritize their mental, physical, and emotional wellness.

So that's my goal in life. That's my mission. And that's what I hope we can do today. I love that so much. And what I have been seeing with my clients, with our sessions, you know, and most of us are busy, successful, either professional career or entrepreneurs, moms who want to [00:03:00] conquer more, but at the same time, do less.

And I have even experienced where our nervous systems just like box down. We, it's almost like a shutdown, like your body just is, is done with it. So walk us through the process of what's happening with our heads and what's happening with our minds.

And then maybe we get into a little bit more of the next steps with you. Yeah. Well, I love that you said shut down because that's exactly what's happening. Our, our nervous systems were built to protect us, to keep us alive. That's like the goal, right?

So if you think about this, like little animal that's like in the woods and enjoying their day, right? Eating the grass and all of a sudden the mountain lion comes, right? And starts to like chase. This little animal. And so that triggers their nervous system. They're like, got to get out of here, fight or flight.

And so they start to run. And what happens in the body is that things do need to shut down because we need to like reroute [00:04:00] the resources to get out of there. And the big things that do shut down are your immune system, right? Because listen, we're not fighting diseases if we're just trying to live for the next day.

and our digestion. And I know you do a lot with gut health, but yeah, your digestion shuts down too. And so once again, like if you really think about it, these things are shutting down during this alarm system. And then what happens is the animal like keeps running and maybe they set even get into a state of freeze where they're like, Oh, which is also.

Protective because animals don't always eat animals that are already dead. Isn't that interesting? Not all. Some do. Not all though. And so the mountain lion might get to this, thinks it's dead, you know, animal and says, eh, nah, I'm not going to do that one. Let me go get something fresh. And so what happens is the animal's like, oh, I survived this.

I'm going to like wake up and it actually pauses and does this like shaking off. Like it [00:05:00] literally shakes its whole body. Out, and that actually releases all that stress, tension, everything, and it resets the nervous system just naturally. And then it goes on about its day. So it's so interesting, right?

Because that is what the nervous system is actually doing. I love that, by the way. That is so cool. And I can think about my dog doing that 100 percent when she feels attacked by us. Yeah. I don't want to go, I don't want to take a bath. That kind of dog. Right, and they get out of that bathtub and it's like, yeah, so they're wet and they're shaking it off.

But they're also probably a little stressed out too. But then I think about, like, us, right? Like, we go about our days. Now, our nervous system does not know if we're being chased by a mountain lion or we're just, like, overwhelmed from work and life and motherhood or whatever. Like, it doesn't have that distinction.

It just knows to, like, let's set this alarm system off so that our body starts doing the things it needs to do to stay alive. [00:06:00] And how many times like we get stressed out, but we don't pause to like, quote unquote, shake it off. We just go on to the next thing. Our bodies are also just trying to go, go, let's keep surviving.

Let's do the next thing. So now we're like, Raising the bar of where our nervous system, our nervous system doesn't even know what rest and digest is at this point and our immune system and our digestive tract has probably not been working really well for years, so I think those are really big things to consider when just kind of diving into all this.

Wow. And I love how you connected to the immune system. Obviously it's all connected, but it's just drawing the attention of the mind body connection and the digestion, the immune system and our stress factors, because that's, it is all interconnected. And when I'm coaching a lot of women who are these high successful [00:07:00] achievers, right, it's, there's so much pressure on a day to day.

To one, wear all hats, you know, be the mom, be the professional, clean the house, be the Uber driver, be the coach, do all the, all the above that we neglect so much. Of the, like you said, the digestion, our immune system, we just almost take that for like for granted that we just assume it's going to continue to work as it did, the last 20 years.

But what you're saying is we've been, we've been stressing ourselves out. Yeah, we're, we're, we've been stressing ourselves out for sure. But we're also like missing the, the point of, listen, stressors are happening all the time, right? There are. unavoidable, really. So as much as it's like make lifestyle changes and, you know, have a stress free environment.

We also know that we're alive and that's not always the case, right? [00:08:00] So we also need to take that, um, example from the animal where it pauses, shakes it out, and then moves on. We're missing that pause and shaking out, you know, piece. to then move on. So it's okay to have stress in life. Yes, of course, decrease your stress any way you can.

However, also, if you can't, like, let's implement things that can let us shake it out so we can move on. I love it. Let's shake it out. And I feel like that makes me want to move. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Well, walk us through maybe what is this shake it off looks like, what would you recommend us to do?

And most of us don't have the ideal time to sit down and meditate. And although we'd love to have like a golden morning routine. And I. Preach about that every single day, but walk us through, what can we do when we are feeling like all the stress factors and we want to shake it out?[00:09:00]

Yeah, I think so. First of all, there are like three very simple things that you can do anytime. at all. Like, and it doesn't take a long time and it will help just kind of reset and shake it out, if you will. And the first one is shaking it out. It's like literally movement. Movement is the way to shake it out.

And that movement is anything you enjoy. So that could be a walk, a run, Um, I love dancing around. That's always great. But listen, if we're at work and you have a high pressure job, but you know what you could do is you can go for a walk at lunchtime. You could like in my office between clients, I will literally pick the bathroom downstairs.

So I go down a flight of stairs. I go to the bathroom. I go up a flight of stairs. Like I walked the whole building before coming back to my room. But. It's movement. It shakes it off, even if it's like that small. So, movement is the first one. The second one, in the [00:10:00] moment, like, especially when you get triggered and it's like, Oh my god, I just want to, like, kill somebody, like, I've been there.

Yeah, I mean, it could even be with your kids. Let's face facts. I have teens, so it's like, ahhh! That's right. You know, that's where your breath work can come in. And you can literally just take five breaths. That's all it is. I mean, if you don't want to do it in the moment in front of your child or your boss or wherever you are, good.

Go back to that bathroom, walk downstairs to your bathroom, go in there. And just do it. And what I'm going to say is you're going to exhale twice as long as you inhale. So meaning if you take a breath in for a count of three, you're going to exhale for a count of six and you do it five times. And what this is actually doing is it's taking you out of that sympathetic system where you're fight or flight to that parasympathetic system where you're more a rest and digest.

It turns back on your immune and digestive system. I love that so much. I [00:11:00] love that because it's free. It's free. And it's available every single second. Yeah, you could do it in your car ride, between work and home in that transition. Shake it off during that transition. Oh my god, have a dance party in your car.

I love those. On your way home, between work and home, then you're like all reset. You're ready for the new trigger, right? It's awesome. And then I think the third thing honestly is humming. Humming sets a vibration in your body. It triggers the vagus nerve and it actually triggers that parasympathetic system

so humming is a great one and also singing. So like I always like recommend, especially for kids who have like a lot of anxiety. I'm like, are they in choir or do they just sing around the house? Because that can help. Also, just calm that system from that fight or flight to that parasympathetic that rests and digests.

So three really easy things that you can do anytime. I love [00:12:00] that. I love the humming and it always reminds me of my grandma. Somehow she always hums like throughout the house. It didn't matter what she was doing. She was humming and I have caught myself humming random times and it just, I, for some reason it brought calmness.

You know, even though I was doing something, it brought calmness.

And just being able to bring these tactics and like you said, movement, breath work, humming. I mean, that's easy. We could, we could, we could move right now, right?? We can move right now. So it's so easy to just apply that. Now, one thing that you mentioned that I think it hit really. A good point was, um, rebuilding something and I always think of the bad habits, right?

We create habits throughout our lives that are not always essential to our immune system, our digestive system, our nervous system. And a lot of times I think of even just When we are [00:13:00] overwhelmed, what do we do? We go to like comfort foods, right? Or a lot of people go to drink. I have a glass of wine to unwind and, or we just binge watch and watch, you know, Netflix, Emily in Paris.

I love that show. Yeah. It's coming back. So it's so, because this is what I love, like that you were focusing so much on the neuro system and then. You know, I love that we get to combine and marry things up because then I'm focusing on nutrition and health and wellness, because those all come together so well.

And I always think of the habits, you know, a couple of things that we are always working with is just instilling like good habits in the morning and then carrying that through your day. And I always say like, even just drinking water throughout the whole, starting your day, with water and lemon. And I'm sure that's helping your nervous system.

It's obviously helping your digestive system to clear it out, get rid of toxins. And I'm sure when you get rid of toxins, it's definitely helping your brain. It's [00:14:00] helping your mind to defog. We always talk about the brain fog and how that, Causes people feel like tired, sluggish, and just like, I can't think straight, you know, and, and maybe that's also what's feeling, making us feel stressed and tired and overwhelmed with everything that we, we normally feel.

Totally. I mean, listen, we're all connected. I don't know why we think like one system doesn't affect the other system. Like, right. Isn't there a song, like the neck bones connected to the, you know, like it's everything's connected, right? Like, so exactly. Yes. Exactly, hands down by replenishing your digestive system is going to affect everything in your body, your nervous system, everything.

We are all connected. We, we work as a unit and one thing will help another thing. So yeah, I totally agree. And I also agree with the habits because let's face facts. I do that too. It's like I get stressed out and for some reason in my mind, which I have to change, it's like, Okay. If I want to do [00:15:00] something good for me, it's like, yeah, let me grab that doughnut or something, right?

. But, and it's funny because also the first thing to go, at least for me, and I think for many is like, oh, I'm going to just, I am running out of time. I'm overwhelmed. I'm dropping my walk today. I'm not going to do my walk. This is going to take too much time. But at the end of the day, I don't feel good.

If I don't do my walk the first thing in the morning, I don't feel good the rest of the day. I don't think as well. I don't, I just don't feel good. so it really needs to become a non negotiable because that actually is a habit that is better than giving myself the donut. Like I'll feel better, right?

But it is, it's the first thing to go when we're stressed out. Absolutely. And that donut is just so easy to grab and just, I mean, and then you instantly feel so yummy and it's so tasty. But then afterwards, like I had, so, because I went to the concert last night and I've been doing On top of a gut health reset, I started to do a liver detox, which It's another game plan.[00:16:00]

And I literally given up animal protein and it's been very, I'm on day six, I believe, and it's challenging because I love eating chicken and, I've been able to have fish, but I was at the concert, I had nothing else to eat. But the only thing left to eat was French fries. Because it's, it's, it's potatoes, you know, but, you know, I woke up this morning, I was just feeling, I felt like potatoes in my belly and just felt like yucky and like, you know, obviously tired from not going to bed early and all those things, like you said, all these habits, like, let me go for a walk instead of grabbing that donut.

I think that's a great idea. A great option too. I love that so much because it does. Connecting your, your mind and your body. And I love what you said. It's just, we are, how, how do you not know that we're not all connected? Well, Lisa, any other last thought for us? Anything else in terms of [00:17:00] our nervous system, something that any other hacks that you want to share with us before we go?

Yeah. Well, I can walk us through a little visualization and kind of, I call it meditation exercise, if you will. I love this because it's easy and you can really do it, not anywhere, cause you can't do it in the car, but you could do it anywhere in your home or anywhere that you're even in your office. And it really gets you in touch with your body and where you are on this nervous system.

Spectrum. So I'll take a few minutes. And if you are, you could be sitting, you can lay down, whatever's comfortable. But what I say is just make sure your feet are planted on the floor and your back is supported in any way. So this way, you can really relax.

I love to close my eyes for meditation. That's, I can just really get myself. Into my own body and just the distractions go away, but that is not always comfortable for other people. So, [00:18:00] Eyes open or closed, whatever you like. And so what we're going to do is we're going to just feel our bodies for a second.

Make sure those feet are flat on the floor. If you're sitting, your sit bones are on the chair, you're feeling supported in your back. And if you're laying down, I just want you to feel that floor underneath you and just notice where your body's actually hitting the floor. Is it flush against the floor?

There are parts that are just, you know, kind of still up in the air and not supported. And then I just want you to take a few breaths. Let's just take three breaths just to kind of get our bodies just quiet. And then any way you like,

just slow down that breathing a little bit.

And one more breath.[00:19:00]

And now I just want you to visualize a thermometer. And at the top of the thermometer, you're going to see the number 10. And that is going to be the number that represents your sympathetic nervous system. That's the place you feel really anxious. You're overwhelmed. You're being chased by that mountain lion.

And then at the bottom of the thermometer, I want you to think about the number one. And that is the place that is rest and digest, but you're so relaxed there that it's really actually hard to get out of bed. And so I want you to think about where you are on this thermometer. And remember, there is no right or wrong answer.

It's just whatever number comes to your mind.[00:20:00]

And then once you have that number. I'm going to have you take five more breaths, but this time you're going to inhale through your nose, and then you're going to exhale through your mouth twice as long as you've inhaled. So for me, I'm going to do breathe in through my nose for a count of three, and then I'm going to exhale for a count of six,

and each time I exhale, I'm going to think about what number I'm at. And see if I could start moving that number down the thermometer. So if I'm breathing in,

and then if I exhale, maybe I started at an eight, I'm gonna slowly move [00:21:00] down my thermometer to maybe a seven and a half at exhalation. So I'm going to have you take about five breaths doing this.[00:22:00]

Let's take one more breath

and then I want you to take a moment and feel where you are on that scale. Are you a little bit lower than you were when you started? The goal would be to move down your number from wherever you started.

And then once you feel where you are on the scale, I want you to feel that in your body. [00:23:00] So just for a moment, just go through your body. Starting at the head, going down through your neck, shoulders, just keep moving down towards your hips, your knees, your feet, and see how that new sensation feels. in your body.

And once you get that new sensation, then when you're ready, feel free to just open your eyes.

I love the smile on your face. I'm like, I don't even want to open my eyes. And you don't have to, but I know we're on a time. [00:24:00] So you can stay there too. But yeah, just kind of that feeling. Were you able to go from a higher number to a lower number? Yes, it was such so I started out of five probably because I was just a little tired this morning.

Yeah, you're ready to relax. Yeah. And I feel like I went to a two, which maybe it was a little too lethargic.

But I felt like, at first, like within the first, like, I could tell my body was tight. Like I was clenching and I could feel like my, my butt, you know, squeezing. And then all of a sudden I started noticing the muscles, the relax, especially the legs. Cause you're sitting down. I feel like you're still holding your body, but then it started to relax like shoulders, like the legs, the, the butt relaxing.

It had the feeling of just melting. Yeah, I love that. And I love that you started at like a five. So like, honestly, [00:25:00] I like to ask people what their ideal is. So like, where are you starting? And also where do you want to go? You know, just like in life, because usually for me, like I like being around a four or five because I feel like a four or five, I'm ready to react if I need to.

But I'm also in a place that feels balanced. Like if you think of the scale, like one to 10, a four or five is in the middle. Right. That feels like balanced to me, but I always like to say like, what's balanced For you, everybody's different. You know, some people might love to live around that three area and that's fine too.

And then I like the end where you do take a moment to see how it feels in your body. Because I think the other thing we do is we tend to You know, meditate or do whatever. And it's like, great. And we reset, but we don't give our body a chance to relearn what it feels like in that space. And I think because we're always stressed out all the time or overwhelmed, we don't [00:26:00] even know what that sensation is.

So to know that feeling and recognize that feeling, I think is also important. Absolutely. And I love that because we're teaching your body. This is how. You should feel you shouldn't feel like the stress mode every day. You should feel calm being able to find the inner peace, even though you might be busy.

That's okay. Um, what I love the most was the different way to do breath work. And I have experienced a couple different methods of breath work. I love the slowing down the exhaling longer than the inhaling. That was, that was kind of new. I, I haven't tried that method. So I appreciate that you teaching us that.

That was really relaxing., and I will say, A couple thoughts creeped in. So what do you do when, you know, because I feel like our minds are sometimes our biggest enemy, we can't control the chatter box. And I hear that from a lot of moms and they're just like, sometimes they're running their to do list. What do [00:27:00] you, is there a tip to eliminate that? Chatterbox when you're trying to slow down. Yeah, I think there's a few things. Like, first of all, I do think our brain is alive. Like we're alive. So I like thoughts, thoughts are okay. So we never get angry with thoughts. That just means we're alive. And we're thinking, thank goodness, right.

But if it's like things like to do lists that pop in or things like you're just not really present, then just take a moment and say, Great, I'm gonna Do that to do list, you know, like recognize it and say, thank you for letting me know. I'm going to now reorganize and let's come back to my breath. And so just try to focus back on the breath itself.

So don't get angry that you can't, cause it's also practice, you know, the more you practice, the more it'll be calm easier. The second thing I want to say is that we also have thoughts that come into our head that are just kind of sporadic.

Like, why am I thinking about this? It's not our to do list. It's not anything that I'm necessarily [00:28:00] wanting to get back to or worried about, but all of a sudden maybe a memory comes into mind or Just something or something even creative. Like, I think this is a space where also a lot of creative thoughts, you know, maybe you, you wanted to start a book or a podcast or something.

And all of a sudden you got all these ideas. I also think like, that's great, you know? So once again, you can say, I'm going to, take a pause. I'm going to. Think about that later. Let me go back to my breath for now, but creativity can happen in this space too. And I would say, grab a journal and write it down right after, you know?

So that's good too. If it's a memory though, I like to say that's your subconscious finally getting through to say, Hey, this is important. You might need to work on it. You might need just to observe it and say, Oh, okay, thank you for that message. But when those like thoughts or feelings come up during that, that's your subconscious finally having a quiet space that your conscious mind can hear.[00:29:00]

And those are usually important. So kind of just depending on what it is, you might look for other resources to work on it. You might want to journal. But yeah, so there's a lot of different chatter that can happen during that time, but know that chatter is okay. And there's, you don't need to have a quiet mind to meditate.

We are alive. We're supposed to have thoughts. I think it was just made a lot of people feel much better. I know that so many moms and women are so scared to meditate. Cause they're so like, I can't quiet my mind. So I think you just, you know, helped us to see the different ways, you know, when our thoughts come in and I love when we create space for our minds and that's what we're doing as you're doing the visualization, the breath work, like you shared with us, the creativity, allowing that space.

For that creativity, because we are go, go, go, go, go, right, that we there, we don't have that downtime [00:30:00] to really even, you know, dream bigger, you know, think about what do you want in life and what's making you happy? Are you in alignment? So I love that downtime and like you explained it so well in terms of giving that our mind the space for the creativity.

Yeah. And I think that's so important because I think we think if we do more, we'll. Be more productive. But actually, if you take a few minutes to create space, you're going to be so much more productive. I love that. I feel like we need to do a book club on that book. Do less by, I forget her name, but it's so good.

It's like about doing less. I remember I was like, wow, that's like, why didn't somebody tell me that when I was 20? I wish I had known this earlier. So, you know, I always share that book because I feel like so many more women need to read that book. It's so helpful.

I love the practice that you were able to share with us and. How that also impact your immune system, your digestive system. It impacts everything, [00:31:00] just how you feel. And obviously the golden question is how often should we do this? You know, you do it in the, you could do any of it in the moment, right?

I don't think there's a recipe. Like every body is. And I think you have to ask yourself what you need. If you're somebody, I like to start my day with a walk in a meditation because that sets me up for productivity and creativity. And if I don't, like I shared, I don't feel good, but it really depends on how much is coming your way.

So I would say think about your day, always create some space in it, whether it's once a day doing something bigger, like a meditation, or it's little throughout the day. And maybe you do it three times you're breathing, you know, it's really think about your day. and what your needs and then what's doable.

This should not feel stressful. We don't want to add stress. It should be easy. So everybody's going to have a different [00:32:00] recipe because their life is different. But yeah, do what you need. You have the tools, do what you need for you. I love that. I love that. It's because nobody, nobody's the same and there's not like a cookie cutter solution for everybody.

And to your point, like I could feel like this today, but tomorrow I can feel very different. Right. So I love that advice. I think it's golden and it just takes off the pressure of trying to, to do it all. I love that so much. Lisa, you are amazing. I want you to share with our listeners, with our audience, where can they find you?

What are some of the things that you wanted to share? So you if you want to learn more about craniosacral therapy, I have a lot of articles on my website. It's just mapletoncst. com. And if you are a mom and you're looking for just Help with wellness in general, mentally, physically, and emotionally, and want to be [00:33:00] supported there.

Real Life Moms is a great place to go. And that website is reallifemomz.com. And if you like this type of meditation, um, then that is on my Real Life Momz website. It's just under, I think, Mom's Calming Corner or something. And you could just press on it. And you could also download it from there too.

So you can just play it while. Doing it. That's a great idea. So go to go to real life momz website. I feel like you're going to find her podcasts, her meditation, her tools, and your podcast is so much fun. I have always found your guests. So in like great information and so relatable. So I'm always like wanting to see what is she, what is she going to do this week?

And I think it's weekly, correct? It is. Yes. Which is amazing. I'm so excited. I'm so happy you and I met and I'm so happy that we get to join forces and really support other moms, support other women through wellness, through [00:34:00] nutrition, through gut health, maybe a little liver detox. By the way, everybody needs to do a liver detox.

I will just put that plug in because we always talk about gut health. And obviously gut health is so important. And if people don't do at least once or twice a reset for their gut, but then we neglect our liver. And I had, I didn't realize how much our liver works for us. It eliminates all of our toxins from our bodies.

So if our liver is not doing well, and we won't know that our liver is not doing well until you actually get blood work until you actually get results. So it's so important to just even think about that as well. So I love doing it all. So it's always one more thing, one more thing to get healthier and better.

And so I so appreciate you Lisa for sharing Joining us today and please look Lisa up and listen to her podcast. And I hope everybody tries a breath work, like Lisa said, [00:35:00] movement, which is easy, breath work. And I love the technique, exhale twice as long as you inhale. Did I get that right?

You did. Okay. And then humming. I feel like we can all hum. Easy peasy. All right. Well, thank you so much. And everybody have an incredible day.

I hope you found this episode as insightful as I did to dive deeper into B as expertise and her wealth of resources. Just click on the link in the show notes. If you're interested in this rebalancing exercise we practiced today, you can also find that link in the show notes and just download it for yourself to use at any time.

This exercise is such a valuable tool for managing stress and just promoting overall wellbeing. And until next week, I keep carving out time for yourself because of course you matter