Moving slow & accessing happy hormones

Did you know you can not be ‘HAPPY’ if you are stuck operating in your sympathetic nervous system?

Why?

Because the sympathetic nervous system only rewards your brain, your body when you are in a STRESS RESPONSE. In fight, flight, freeze or fawn response.

When stress, anxiety, fear, anger, frustration occur or surface this system celebrates this way of being, feeds it even. It knows how to deal with this occurrence & it also knows those feelings make you more focused, resilient, productive. They give you drive. It will feed you the right cocktail mix or hormones to be in problem solving mode.

If you’ve lived in periods of stress for an extended amount of time (which let’s face it is 3/4s of the WORLD) but even more applicable to sufferers of trauma, abuse, mental health, learning difficulties, neurodivergence this system doesn’t know how to switch off.

It’s fabulous really……how would you have ever survived living in such stressful environments if your body hadn’t developed this way? You wouldn’t have. However it’s gone too far. It’s not a system only accessed when we are in stressful situations but one designed to keep your body in chronic stress mode all the time so you can be more productive, so you can survive.

So now when your environment is not so stressful & you wanna access some of them lovely hormones found in the parasympathetic nervous system, oxytocin & seratonin, you can’t. Because your body won’t be able to operate & genuinely thinks it can’t survive here in this place. The body doesn’t want these ‘happy’ hormones, coz it needs the ‘unhappy’ ones to keep operating at this fast pace. To keep us being productive, successful, efficient & SAFE. It will go looking for and create stress in your body or you’ll just simply not be able to fully access states of relaxation, peace, love.

Living in a constant state of stress is not good for the mind, body & soul. And without finding balance, slowing down not only can you NOT access these happy hormones in moments that are happy but you’ll struggle to even operate unless in a stress response.

Which usually ends in your detriment, effecting the physical mental or emotional health, left in burn out, overwhelmed, scattered or completely avoidant, stuck procrastinating, in freeze mode.

You can’t fight your body, but you can show it another way………

Moving slow is how we bring our mind body & soul back into homeostasis. Moments of slowness are needed for all, it’s how we connect to the body & soul, how we hear its whispers, it’s how we rest & rejuvenate, it’s how we become present & fully appreciate life.

When you slow down you allow your mind/body time to move into rest mode.

BUT This isn’t something easily accessed or even an ‘enjoyable’ experience when your body only rewards you for being in fight or flight mode.

You gotta teach your mind & body how to operate differently through different practices, exercises, movements, environments, through diet, plants, self reflection & self awareness.

Those who have lived a life in chaos or in a constant stress response for a long period of time they will need to practice moving slow and regulating their nervous system even more.

Not only because this way of being will have had an even more detrimental effect to every aspect of you, but also like I said, your brain & body won’t be able to easily access parasympathetic nervous system or those happy hormones without some ‘training’.

You gotta make a consistent & conscious effort to access this especially at the beginning when you’ve lived in this way for a long time. It defiantly don’t come easy.

This is also why meditation & relaxation is so hard for many who’ve lived this way. You can’t just access this state or these happy hormones. I think this is one of the reasons why the spiritual community cracked me (don’t get me wrong those spiritual narcs exist & that fake love & light world gives me major ick) but also the ones who are genuinely kind, genuinely spiritual, I still felt resistance & major distrust in their spaces. Their vibe was not accessible for me. I couldn’t relax so it all felt very fake & patronising.

Your body & mind rejects the parasympathetic vibes, it don’t want relaxation, love, peace…..well it does but that concept is alien to it & certainly not rewarding, so it will reject it.

So don’t be disheartened if that meditation or breathwork or yoga practice ain’t working. Don’t be disheartened or shame yourself for not feeling peaceful & happy when your in an experience you know you should feel this way. You can’t access it, it’s not your fault. But you can change this. It don’t mean your not spiritual or not able to do those practices or your never gonna access true feelings of peace & happiness, you just gotta work it a little differently.

Once we have this awareness, once we understand why it’s a little harder for us to simple ‘chill out’ we can have some compassion for ourselves.

Then when we do tap into this state we can slowly allow ourselves to access, to feel, to experience, more & more of life & these happy hormones rather than continue to experience life in a stress response.

It’s not a quick fix. No 28 day challenge is gonna rewire your mind & body. But they do give you tools to begin with. Any course, workshop, class you attend should only ever be guiding you back to you. That’s what these challenges can be used for, a base a place to start just don’t be thinking it’s gonna all be amazing after one workshop.

I’ve been working on this for over 7 years, self exploring, observing & healing. At first it was simply about bringing some regulation to my nervous system & healing.

Then from this place of stability I was able to move slower for longer and started to hear the whispers of soul & source. Then it developed into connecting to my inner world. It’s been a whole journey for me of self discovery there’s always something else to observe, unravel & explore. This is not for everyone but that was my path. Maybe you just wanna be able to chill the fuck out and that is more than enough of a reason to start slowing down.

Whilst observing my self this is where I noticed how without stress I couldn’t operate or function as optimally, tasks were hard to get done, brain fog was real, energy levels low. Not only that but I genuinely struggled to be present & enjoy life even when it was really really good. It makes sense why now.

I can now access & enjoy the parasympathetic nervous system more but honestly give me them stress hormones & watch me make magic happen. Not something to be proud of but in another sense I’m very good in a crisis 😂

The resistance I have to moving slow is a lot less. I actually wanna do it & live this way. Be more intentional, conscious, connected, present. It feels good & lifes good when operating this way but there will always be a part of me that runs through life like a Duracell bunny.

I move fast, I think fast, I speak fast! That’s me even after consciously trying to slow down for 7 years.

I’ve got a lot of physical, mental & emotional energy. I get shit done! That’s not the problem now. The problems is, there is still a big part of me that is addicted to living in a stress response. I got some ALL or NOTHING mentality which stems from operating optimally under stress until burn out or overwhelm occurs then I shut down. Coming out of shut down is just as hard & effects us just as much as coming into it. The body knows the amount of stress I would put myself under once I turn from NOTHING mode to ALL mode. It knew I would go all in so I would achieve what I wanted to achieve regardless of how that would effect my body, so it shuts down. Like nah thanks, I’m staying here in freeze mode you always forget about my needs when in this mode. It feeds the overthinking to keep you stuck & safe (this is safe to the body remember)

I need to find balance with this & this is why I am again being called to move slow again.

As last year ended and 2025 began I knew I was being called to move slow again. It’s winter I wanted to hibernate but I also I have some schizzle I need to intergrate. A recent trip changed a lot for me. But it took a physical injury when I got home to get my attention again!

I said the resistance I have to moving slow is a lot less but it’s not non existent 😂 Physical restriction means I have no choice but to move slow and listen.

Sometimes you gotta restrain the chaotic Duracell bunny & take out its batteries 😂

The fast pace I thrive in was & still is a byproduct of living in a stress response my whole life. My body’s addiction to cortisol is a big part of this cycle.

Now I wanna bring slow consistent steps with everything. Channel my energy correctly. Ending the cycle of ALL or NOTHING.

Humans have become so adapt to living in constant stress we can’t live without it. But the negative implications this has on all areas of our lives and on all aspects of self (mind, body & soul) are becoming undeniable…….

IT IS NOT NORMAL TO LIVE THIS WAY!

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