The Nervous System is our ultimate sensing organ for integrating our inner and outer worlds. When stress occurs in life, our Nervous System is what allows our body to adapt, utilizing both the Sympathetic (Fight or Flight) and Parasympathetic (Rest and Digest) branches of the Nervous System.

Ideally, these two systems should be in balance with one another, alternating based on what we are doing. We need the Sympathetic Nervous System to get things done as this is active while exercising, working, tending to an acute wound, and saving ourselves when we are in danger. We also need the Parasympathetic Nervous System, which is what allows us to digest food, heal wounds over time, fight off illness, sleep and feel safe.

Evolutionarily, when we encountered danger, it may have looked like running away from a hungry animal, and once we were to safety, our nervous system returned to balance. However, in today’s society, with our complex social and environmental networks, anticipating future responsibilities, and reflecting on past stressful events, our Sympathetic Nervous System can get over stimulated and essentially get stuck in an imbalanced “on” position. Over time, this starts to degrade our body as, biologically, it was never intended to be activated consistently.

Trauma can be defined as a physical trauma (an injury) or mental/emotional trauma (a state of perceived helplessness). Different people perceive events differently based on their past life experiences; it is simply our body trying to keep us alive and safe. One person can develop a trauma response, whereas another does not. Those that develop a neurological trauma responses create dysfunctional biochemical cascades on a metabolic and neurological level, which is why they can develop “trigger” responses to non-toxic stimuli.

Associative Awareness Technique utilizes Mechanoreceptor Neurology, or the different neurological receptors for touch, to reprogram the “Trigger” response in the brain and reset neurological responses to baseline, balancing out Sympathetic and Parasympathetic activation. It addresses the Brainstem (hindbrain), Limbic System (emotional brain), and Neocortex (thinking brain) through a series of three appointments to resolve Sympathetic dysfunction at each level, and return the client to a state of inner balance on a neurological level. Another way of looking at it is as Physical Therapy for the Nervous System, similar to updating and rebooting a computer.

Clients often comment they just feel “different” and are less reactive overall to things that used to bother them to a breaking-point. Once the system is balanced, and the body is not perceiving the threat as current, this then allows for a period of what’s known as Post-Traumatic Growth. Clients also learn a set of personal tools during sessions that they can use for future stress-management for a lifetime to become self-empowered and self-sufficient.