Restoring Your Nervous System

01 Mar Restoring Your Nervous System

By: Cynthia McGilvray

You can do this!  I know.  You want to feel more relaxed as well as energized, more balanced some how.  “Well if I could just get a week off work (every week) to lie on a beach in a tropical country I’d be great”.  Yeah, I get it, our outer conditions are usually not quite as we would like.  So we do our best to strengthen ourselves from within.

We all need a strong nervous system in modern life.  Our nervous system may have taken some hits from stress, thinking too much or working too much and also from drug or alcohol abuse.  Acupuncture often looks to the Heart and Kidney systems involvement when stress is the issue where there is Heart Fire (excess energy) often caused by Kidney Deficiency (weak Kidneys not controlling the Heart-mind).  Acupuncture can be used to calm an overactive (Yang excess) nervous system or the end result of chronic stress that often leads to is a depressed nervous system (Yang deficiency).

The way Japanese acupuncture works is to find the leaks in the system, to plug up the energy leaks in what may be draining us so we can keep more energy for ourselves, to live our life dreams.  The acupuncturist will test reflex points using gentle pressure to find out what is imbalanced and apply what will get best results for your body. Since each person’s health history and constitution are unique, the advantage of using a more individualized approach using confirmation signs means less needling and faster results rather than applying a standardized formula for every case.

At Junction Health, I work to make acupuncture a deeply relaxing restorative and gentle experience for people.  You have a quiet space all to yourself with some soothing music if you like, where you can rest, recharge and let the needles do their work.

Some things you can try today to soothe your nervous system are:

1. Make it a goal. When we do have time in our day to relax, we can set an intention to make it truly relaxing. Instead of filling our free time with too many distracting multi-tasking activities we can take it down a notch.  When eating for example, we can also create a peaceful space visually, energetically and with attention to our thoughts to allow our self to stay in more peaceful, healthy energies.
2. Winding down before bed.  We can improve sleep through relaxing before sleep by listening to soft peaceful music, meditation, taking a bath, or journaling to help let go of concerns of the day.
3. Breathing exercises. There are some great ones you can find here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9jmO6xwFfs

I look forward to seeing you soon at Junction Health!

Cynthia McGilvray, R.Ac