Small Shifts, Big Impact: Working With Your Nervous System

“Do you mean that when I believe…?” (laughs) The night owl question. Yes, that comes up. So, you know, if people have a lot of Pitta in their constitution, they may have a tendency to be more of a night owl because that fire element picks up around 10:00 and goes until 2:00. Now, I don't know your constitution or if that's accurate for you, but Pitta's tendency is to want to digest things or create. There's a creative quality to Pitta too. So wanting to watch something more or do some work. So, you know, the night owl piece… it's kind of complex because it depends on what's going on with someone. But again, that idea of “this is my identity.” So can we shift this with the idea of, “Well, maybe I’m also someone who's well-rested and what would that… And has great energy,” or whatever it is that's coming up. Can we start to shift our identity around that a little bit? “I do think I'm a Pitta, but I'm sure all the people who have become night owls believe they're Pittas.” (laughs) Possible. And I will just say this, that years ago I went and observed a really, really well-known Ayurvedic doctor from Nepal who came to the US, and she had a client who was a musician. And one of the things she said was: he was playing at night, that was when his work was. And she said, “Well, his dharma is to be doing this.” So I think that we always weigh all the factors, right? And I always encourage people to try something different if they are struggling with hormone imbalance, if they are struggling with depletion. Can you just try it and see as you start to shift and see how you feel? Because the proof is in the pudding, as we say here. I don't know if that's just an American term but really, so much of Ayurveda is trying it out and seeing how you feel. And that reward of feeling better can be a very strong motivation to make more habit change. One of the things when we make changes is we always want to work with our nervous system. One of the problems when we're making changes is: “Here's a long list of things to do. Go home and do this.” And it's not likely that we're going to stick with it. And that's why I always bring the nervous system work into how I'm supporting women. The beauty of Ayurveda is we're doing these simple practices that have very deep impact. So when we do something simple and it starts to build our vitality, it's going to open up more energy for the next change. When we're trying to push through and use willpower, we're going to experience some resistance because it's overwhelming our system. Our system's not ready for that much. So I always say to people: trust your body. Propose to yourself that you're going to make a change. Like, “I am going to try to eat lunch, a larger meal, three days this week around noontime.” And then if you’re like, “That feels like a lot,” you start to notice the signals of feeling overwhelmed by the idea. Or you try it and it didn't work, all right. Instead of beating ourselves up about it, “Can I pull that back a little bit and just make it a little more simple? Like, what can I do?” And so all of the practices are worth it because these small changes can have a really big impact. But we want to do it in a way that's sustainable. And once we do that, it opens up. We become less overwhelmed. We feel like we have more time and space because our system is more relaxed and in a sense of safety. So it opens up possibility to be making more changes.