Your nervous system is constantly working behind the scenes to keep your body regulated — breathing, digestion, movement, immune response, and even how you hold tension in your muscles and fascia. But when the nervous system is off balance, it can affect nearly every system in the body, including your lymphatic flow and how well your tissues heal and recover.
The nervous system has two main modes:
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Sympathetic (“fight or flight”), which gears you up to respond to stress
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Parasympathetic (“rest and digest”), which allows your body to repair, recover, and regulate itself
We need both, but modern life tends to push people into constant sympathetic activation — rushing, worrying, multitasking, scrolling, shallow breathing, poor sleep. Over time, this creates a state where your body is stuck in a low-grade stress response, even when there’s no real danger.
What that can look like:
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Tight muscles or fascia that never fully relax
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Shallow or irregular breathing
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Trouble sleeping
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Digestive sluggishness
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Chronic inflammation
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Brain fog or irritability
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Poor lymphatic drainage and fluid retention
This is because when your nervous system is stuck in “alert mode,” it pulls resources away from repair and circulation, and your tissues stay tense and constricted — including your face, jaw, neck, and diaphragm. That tightness restricts both blood flow and lymph flow, making it harder for your body to clear waste or move fluid efficiently.
Most of us are living in a state of constant “on.” Our days are packed, our phones are always within reach, and even when we’re resting, our minds are still spinning. We’re responding, reacting, thinking ahead — not just physically busy, but mentally and emotionally overstimulated. Over time, that has real effects on the body. The nervous system doesn’t get a chance to shift into true rest mode, which means things like digestion, lymphatic flow, tissue repair, and deep sleep start to suffer. The body stays tense. The mind stays wired. And eventually, that shows up as fatigue, inflammation, tightness, or just feeling off. Slowing down isn’t always easy — but small, intentional pauses can make a big difference in helping your body reset and function the way it’s meant to.
How Bodywork Can Help
Techniques like therapeutic massage, sculpting facial massage, breathwork, and gentle movement help signal to your nervous system that it’s safe to switch into parasympathetic mode. This shift allows:
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Fascia and muscles to soften
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Blood and lymph to flow more freely
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Digestion to improve
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Sleep to deepen
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Your whole system to reset
You don’t need to force or “fix” anything — the goal is to create space for your body to come back into balance. When the nervous system calms down, everything else starts working better.
We’re proud to have Edelle O’Doherty, our resident Functional Medicine Nutritional Therapist, as part of our team. In addition to her nutrition work, Edelle offers a therapeutic modality grounded in the teachings of Dr. Gabor Maté, known for his work in trauma, mind-body connection, and compassionate inquiry.
This approach creates a safe space for clients to explore how emotional patterns, stress, and past experiences may be showing up in the body — often in the form of tension, illness, or chronic symptoms. It’s not about diagnosis or fixing, but about deep listening, gentle exploration, and supporting the body’s own capacity to heal.
Edelle’s work blends science, compassion, and presence — offering support that goes beyond the physical and gets to the deeper layers of health and well-being.
Compassionate Inquiry is a therapeutic approach developed by Dr. Gabor Maté, a physician known for his work in trauma, addiction, and the mind-body connection. At its core, this method helps people explore what’s going on beneath the surface — the unconscious patterns, beliefs, and emotional wounds that can shape how we think, feel, and experience life.
It’s called compassionate for a reason. The process is gentle, respectful, and non-judgmental. Instead of trying to “fix” a symptom, it invites curiosity:
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Where did this belief come from?
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What emotional need was unmet?
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How did I learn to protect myself in this way?
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What is my body trying to say?
Through simple, present-moment questioning, the therapist helps the client connect the dots between their current struggles and earlier life experiences — especially the subtle forms of stress or disconnection that can be easy to overlook.
This kind of inquiry isn’t about blaming the past. It’s about bringing awareness to the stories and coping strategies we’ve carried for years, often without realizing it. And with awareness, change becomes possible.
What Compassionate Inquiry Can Help With:
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Chronic stress or tension
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Emotional eating or health behaviors that feel stuck
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Self-criticism or low self-worth
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Unexplained symptoms or pain
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Anxiety, overwhelm, or emotional reactivity
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Feeling disconnected from your body or emotions
Many clients say they gain more insight from a few Compassionate Inquiry sessions than from months of surface-level strategies. That’s because the work gets to the root — not by force, but by slowing down and listening to what’s already there.
Important Note: Compassionate Inquiry is not a replacement for psychotherapy or medical care. It’s a complementary process that can work alongside other treatments or as part of a broader healing journey.
Reminder: This is not medical advice. If you’re experiencing chronic stress, anxiety, trauma symptoms, or nervous system dysregulation, it’s a good idea to work with a qualified health professional or somatic therapist for deeper support.
Meet Edelle O’Doherty-Nickels, Functional Medicine and Nutritional The - NualaWoulfe
