When Your Body Speaks: Learning the Language of the Nervous System
Most of us are taught to notice thoughts and feelings, but not many of us are taught to notice what our nervous system is trying to say. Yet our bodies often speak louder than our words. Learning how to listen can be a powerful first step in managing stress, anxiety, and even trauma.
What Your Nervous System Does
Your nervous system is your body’s built-in alarm and recovery system. It helps you wake up, focus, relax, and protect yourself when you’re in danger. It moves between different states throughout the day:
Fight or flight when you feel anxious, stressed, or on edge.
Freeze or shutdown when you feel numb, overwhelmed, or checked out.
Rest and connect when you feel safe, grounded, and open.
None of these states are “bad.” They’re all ways your body tries to protect you. The problem comes when stress keeps you stuck in survival mode without a way back to calm.
The Four Stress Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn
When your body senses danger, your nervous system automatically chooses a survival response. Each one looks and feels different:
Fight: Your energy rises to confront the threat. You may feel anger, irritability, or a rush of adrenaline.
Flight: Your instinct is to escape. This can look like restlessness, racing thoughts, or avoiding people and situations.
Freeze: Your system shuts down. You may feel numb, spaced out, or unable to act or speak.
Fawn: Instead of fighting, fleeing, or freezing, you try to appease others to stay safe. You might people-please, ignore your own needs, or say yes when you want to say no.
Recognizing which response shows up for you is the first step in working with it instead of against it.
The Window of Tolerance
Think of your nervous system like a window. When you’re inside your window of tolerance, you feel grounded and able to handle life’s ups and downs. You might still feel stress, but you can think clearly and respond in a balanced way.
When you’re pushed above the window, you move into fight-or-flight mode (anxious, panicked overwhelmed, restless, or irritated).
When you fall below the window, you enter freeze or shutdown (numb, disconnected, or exhausted).
The goal isn’t to never leave the window. It’s to learn how to widen your window of tolerance over time, and to have tools that help you return to it more easily when stress pushes you out.
Practical Ways to Respond
Here are a few tools you can try the next time your body is sending you a message:
Grounding through the senses: Notice five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste.
Breath reset: Inhale for a slow count of four, hold for one, exhale for a count of six. This helps calm fight-or-flight activation.
Movement breaks: Shake out your arms, stretch, or take a short walk to release pent-up energy.
Connection: Share what you’re experiencing with someone safe. Feeling supported helps your nervous system return to balance.
Why This Matters
When you understand your nervous system, you understand yourself better. Instead of feeling broken or “too much,” you realize your body is working hard to protect you. With practice, you can learn how to move back into safety and calm more easily.
At our Nourish, we help you recognize these signals, understand your personal window of tolerance, and build individualized tools to support your regulation. If this feels familiar, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Listening to your nervous system is the beginning of real healing. Nourish is here to help!
