Reading & guides
Resources
Concise writing on trauma, the nervous system, relationships, and integration, organized by topic so you can find what fits.
Nervous system & anxiety
Dysregulation, high-functioning anxiety, burnout, and chronic stress.
I understand my trauma but nothing has changed, can somatic therapy help?
Somatic therapy can help when insight hasn't, because trauma isn't stored primarily in your thoughts, it lives in your nervous system, and insight alone doesn't change that. If you've spent years…
How to Stop Feeling Numb
You start to feel again by slowing down enough to notice what your body is already carrying, and working with those signals rather than trying to think your way through them.
Why Do I Shut Down in Conflict?
Shutting down in conflict is a nervous system response, not a personality flaw, and it almost always developed before you had any say in it.
EMDR vs Somatic Therapy: What's the Difference?
EMDR works primarily through bilateral stimulation to help the brain reprocess specific traumatic memories. Somatic therapy works through body awareness and nervous system regulation, focusing less…
What somatic therapy actually does for nervous system regulation
Somatic therapy is often described in abstract terms, body-based, trauma-informed, working with sensation. But what does it actually do? What changes, and how? For people dealing with nervous system…
Nervous system dysregulation and trauma: how early experience shapes the body
Nervous system dysregulation doesn't appear out of nowhere. For most people, it has a history, a long one, often beginning in childhood. Understanding the relationship between early experience and…
The difference between nervous system regulation and coping
Coping and regulation sound like the same thing, but they're not. Coping gets you through the moment. Regulation changes what the moment feels like. For people dealing with nervous system…
Polyvagal theory explained like a human (and what it means for nervous system regulation)
Polyvagal theory has become one of the most referenced frameworks in trauma and somatic therapy, and also one of the most misunderstood. The name sounds technical, but the core idea is genuinely…
The window of tolerance: what it is and why it matters for nervous system regulation
The window of tolerance is one of the most useful concepts in understanding nervous system regulation, and one of the least explained clearly. At its core, it describes the range of activation a…
Why breathing exercises don't help (and what nervous system regulation actually needs)
Breathing exercises are one of the first things people try when they're dysregulated, and one of the first things that stops working. That's not because breathing doesn't matter. It's because for…
Why you're always on edge even when nothing is wrong
Hypervigilance is one of the most exhausting features of nervous system dysregulation. It often has no obvious trigger. Nothing is wrong, and yet the body won't stand down. Understanding why requires…
Why you shut down when you're overwhelmed (it's a nervous system response)
Shutting down when you're overwhelmed, going blank, losing words, feeling flat or absent, isn't weakness or avoidance. It's a nervous system response. Specifically, it's the body's freeze or…
What nervous system dysregulation actually feels like
Most people dealing with nervous system dysregulation don't have a name for it. They know something feels permanently off, too braced, too flat, or swinging between both. Nervous system regulation…
Why you can't just calm down (and what nervous system regulation actually requires)
People dealing with nervous system dysregulation usually know, on some level, that they need to calm down. The problem is that knowing it doesn't help. Nervous system regulation is not a decision, …
How to regulate your nervous system, what actually works
Updated: Jun 30
What a regulated nervous system actually feels like
Updated: Jun 30
Why you can't sleep or relax even when you're exhausted
Updated: Jun 30
Why small things feel overwhelming when you have nervous system dysregulation
Updated: Jun 30
The link between trauma and chronic physical symptoms
Updated: Jun 30
Why you shut down instead of speaking up
Updated: Jun 30
Why you're always on edge, what hypervigilance actually is
Updated: Jun 30
What nervous system dysregulation actually is and why it keeps happening
Updated: Jun 30
How childhood shapes your nervous system in relationships
Updated: Jun 30
Why you can't slow down, and what happens when you try
Updated: Jun 30
Is It Anxiety or Is It Trauma? | Mariya Garnet
Updated: Jun 30
How do I know if I'm too high-functioning to need trauma therapy?
Updated: Jun 30
Online Somatic Therapy in Ontario: Trauma-Informed Healing Through Expressive Arts.
Updated: Jun 25
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