🌙 Blooming in the Shadow of the Moon: Awakening Through My Nervous System 🌙

Wandering Through the Garden

For years, I wandered through therapies like a garden in shadow. CBT, DBT, again and again, chasing light that never quite reached me. 🌙 Each session promised growth, yet something always felt missing. When I spoke this truth, I was told I wasn’t “trying hard enough.”

It felt invalidating. Half the time, I wasn’t even calm enough to remember the skills I was meant to practice. My roots were restless, my branches untended.

The Missing Gardener

Then, a quiet revelation. The missing gardener was my autonomic nervous system (ANS). The unseen force, quietly shaping roughly 80% of how we move, react, and breathe each day. It works behind the scenes, guiding our stress responses, our energy, and even our capacity to connect and heal.

For therapies to truly bloom within us, the soil of the nervous system must feel safe first. Without that foundation, no amount of logic, reframing, or practice can fully take root.

Each Garden is Unique

Each nervous system is unique, like its own little ecosystem. Some gardens respond beautifully to therapy alone. Others, whose roots have weathered storms or deeper challenges, need careful tending to the soil first. This is my experience, not a prescription.

Each person’s growth unfolds in its own time.

Even if your nervous system is thriving, understanding how it works can bring clarity to how you move through life, respond to stress, and connect with yourself and others.

That’s why I want to start sharing information about the nervous system in a way that’s simple, relatable, and practical. Understanding it has helped me understand myself. I hope it can help others, too.

🌱 The Five Petals Practice

A 3-minute way to come back to yourself

Find a comfortable place to pause.

1. Look: Let your eyes wander and name five things you can see. Colors, shapes, tiny details.

2. Listen: Notice three sounds, near or far.

3. Feel: Sense the weight of your body through your feet or seat.

4. Breathe: Take one easy, natural breath and notice how it moves.

5. Thank: Quietly thank your body for letting you know you’re here.

That’s your whole practice. Just three minutes of gentle noticing. Five petals of presence you can return to anytime things feel scattered or loud inside.

💫 Reflection

Afterward, you might notice something subtle. A softening in your shoulders, or a bit more clarity in the air around you. That’s your nervous system recognizing safety.

These practices are shared for gentle self-awareness and grounding. They’re not a substitute for therapy or medical care. Go at your own pace, and reach out for support if anything feels overwhelming.

Learning to Tend

Understanding my ANS has allowed me to step back, notice my rhythms, and tend to my system with compassion. It’s been less about forcing growth and more about learning how to nurture the foundation from which growth can naturally happen. 🌿

In my next post, I’ll introduce the two main branches of the nervous system. The energies that move us between action and rest, and how learning to notice them can change how we navigate our day-to-day lives.