Be The CEO Of Your Nervous System

“Regulate your nervous system” is officially a popular Google search for many female entrepreneurs right now. Not forgetting the TikTok hacks to ‘create a low cortisol morning routine’. Rather than hopping down those rabbit holes, why not get the truth of how to be the CEO of your nervous system so you can run your business with calm, not chaos.

Expect revelations that’ll leave you shook and takeaways you wish you’d learned sooner:

1. Is your nervous system an acquaintance or a close friend you regularly check-in with?
2. The phases of the nervous system: myth busts about when they appear and how to switch between them without a second thought (or breath).
3. If ‘meditate’ always gets left unticked on your to-do list because you can’t spare 15 minutes, you’re going about it all wrong.
4. You’ve heard of being too stressed, anxious, and ‘energy up’, but have you heard of being too ‘energy down’?! Well, now you’re about to.
5. 3 things you can do from tomorrow to regulate your nervous system to become that calmer, more grounded entrepreneur you always wanted to be.

Connect with Em on Instagram & Threads at @emsomaticcoach or check out how to work with her here: https://emsomatic.myflodesk.com/links 

You can also connect with me! Instagram & Threads: onherplate_ or onherplate.com.

Transcript

Welcome to the Energized Entrepreneur podcast. I'm CJ, your host, founder of On Her Plate Educating and Empowering female Entrepreneurs to repave the foundation of their business with a nourishing diet so they can match their energy with their growth rate. I am genuinely honored to be inside of your ears right now. If you're listening to this, you must be a female entrepreneur looking for your permission slip to hustle in a way that puts your health first. Well, great news. You found it. Let's power up this episode. Hello. Welcome, Emma, to the podcast. How are you? I'm really well. I'm very excited to be here. I've been following your journey for a while, so it's so exciting to see this come to life. Yeah, I guess we've been following each other for like 2 or 3 years now because, yeah, we'd be like, shit, weren't we? When I wanted to start this podcast, you were genuinely one of the first people on my list to talk to you just because of what you do and how you've evolved your business. When? Uh, I guess we've both pivoted a little bit, because when we first started, I was more weight loss and just starting out. And you were a Pilates teacher, but you kind of evolved massively as well. So that's why I wanted to get you on, because I think, uh, I think it's going to be a really good conversation about nervous system regulation, um, and how that affects the hustle. So but first, before we go into the like professional intro, I want to do a quick hotseat five five question hot seat. Just let's just loosen things up a little bit and let the listeners get to know you on a more personal level. So, uh, I won't know judgment here. I'm not going to, like, ask your. I'm not going to ask your reasoning. It's just quickfire questions. So, number one, what was the latest podcast or TV series you've binged and loved? Total binge was Baby Reindeer, and I loved it because it was such a like psychological exploration. It's almost two. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Uh, my favorite meal is fish and chips. I know I'd get sick of it for the rest of my life, so I'm going to go for roast. Was nice. What? What kind of roast? Are we talking roast beef pink in there? Yes. Perfect. Okay. Beech or mountain beech? I live by the beach and I just love it. It's so calming and peaceful. Me too. Glorious. Okay. Favorite workday beverage? I would say it is a coffee, which I just love. Yeah. Me too. Okay, great. Um, lastly, your go to hype song for when you need to power through a block of work. So it's not just for work. It's like my hype song in general is Getting Hot in Here by Nelly. I love it. That's a great hype song. Excellent. Okay, perfect. Thank you for that, I hope. I got to know you a bit better from that. Okay, let's get to the fresh stuff now. Uh, why? Why we're here. So, over to you. If you could just in a nutshell, tell us what you do and why you do. Yeah. So I am a somatic coach, and somatic is so soma means body. So it's working with the feelings emotions held in the body. And I think we hadn't realized how much of trauma and emotions are actually held in the body. And it's not just all about the mind. And I was working in corporate marketing, and I've done Pilates all through my life as doing that, and was just getting really tired of it. So in the pandemic, I did my Pilates training. I signed up just before and got furloughed so I could really go all in, which is amazing. And then I just felt like I was more than an exercise instructor. There was more for me to help with. I felt like people were coming to Pilates. I always do this lovely outbreath at the end of class and they were like, that sigh is like therapy to me. And I was like, this is really interesting. and psychological. Physiological sighing is actually a really good way of regulating your nervous system. Um, so yeah. Then I explored that work. I did some courses for myself, for my own body. And then in two years ago, I had a really serious dog bite, which kind of stopped me in my tracks, and I think I was on the way to burn out. Anyway, I was teaching 12 Pilates classes a week and working part time and marketing, and I did traditional therapy and I just wasn't getting anywhere with the PTSD I was experiencing until I went semantically and I just got so much out of it, not just from that experience, but from some childhood things that had happened to me, some sort of teenage stuff that I haven't fully processed and I felt like. I 

really processed it and also like processed it, rewired my nervous system and released it. And I felt through that process, I then could receive more in my life and could, um, live fully. And I've also dealt with anxiety in the past, and sometimes it still comes up. But working schematically had such a huge transformation. So I decided to do my somatic coaching, um, qualification to help others kind of go through that process that I did. So that's sort of a nutshell. Introduction. Lovely. I think that's a really gripping story and background and how you got here. I love I love hearing how business owners got to where they are, because it is usually down to their experience in the past and how they want to help people now. Um, I find it really like the whole semantic side of things and how you said, you know, it's not just a mental side of things. I think that's so important for people to acknowledge and understand that. I think we when we talk about mental and physical health, it's very isolated from each other and very disconnected, like even how we say it mental health, physical health. It's it's never like merged together and connected with each other. But your brain and body are the same thing. Your brain is obviously controlling your body, but your body feels and experiences things that then impacts the brain, like trauma, like pain, um, and various other things. Um, so I think that's a really refreshing and profound way of looking at health in general overall. And with the nervous system in particular. I mean, let's do a crash course now on the nervous system, because it is something I'm seeing more and more about, and I don't just want it to become a hot take or a hot trend that like cycle thinking is is now, um, I'm not saying it's not valid and not worth the conversation, but I think these things can be turned into more of a trend than actually looking at the facts and how they can really help you and help other people. So I, I want to kind of dismantle that, and I want you to get to the facts of it. So firstly, why is the nervous system so integral to how we work? Yeah. So it is, uh, reactions basically. And it's, uh, all about how our brain connects with our body. So you might have heard this example before, but when we were sort of in the oh my God, I forgot what. I'm going to have to edit this out. What's it called? Stone age. So yeah, I had a two to my age. I kind of want to keep that bit in just just because it's very relatable to have mind blanks like that. Yeah. naturally. So in this day and age, we would have we might see a sabertooth tiger and have this big reaction where we would need to fight, flight or flee and get out of that situation. And it really is a survival response. And it's about surviving and keeping yourself alive. And I think that's where we need to, like, reframe these responses as kind of thanking them and being like, thanks for looking out for me. But nowadays we're getting these massive responses to an email or finding out someone's gossiped about you, or like not reaching our sales goals and getting these big physiological responses that are kind of big overreactions in many ways, and often from unhealed trauma in our past or our childhood, or reactions from anxiety and depression. Um, so yeah, just to say that these reactions are helpful. And I think with this trend coming through, sometimes I can see people like, oh, we need to be calm all the time. But actually these reactions are normal and our nervous system is sort of split into two. So just to simplify it, we've got our rest and digest our parasympathetic nervous system. And then our sympathetic nervous system, which is when we are reacting and in our survival responses. And it's sort of learning when those are relevant and when they're not and what could be behind them. So a lot of the work I do is at root cause of what those triggers and activations are. And triggers is another way that's kind of become a big trend. And I like to say activations because triggers are these huge, big responses. Whereas in our day to day life, often we have these activations where we can feel it in our body, um, and our nervous system is so integral to how we move through life because it keeps us surviving. But also, if we're always in our survival response, we're not getting to arrest and digest, which is essential for healing, for resting and calming and and helping support our bodies. That's a really good a really good overview of the nervous system and the different, you know, phases, if you like. And actually there's a lot of things like what you just said about. How the kind of survival mode fight flight, you know, that's that's kind of everywhere 

now. And it's important to know when it's necessary. And I actually am seeing the same thing with cortisol, the hormone cortisol versus atoning. But cortisol in particular I'm seeing lots of things online with, uh, you know, a morning routine to lower cortisol. And again, it's just it's not as simple as that because we actually need cortisol in the morning to help us wake up and to help us feel refreshed, like that's a natural time for your cortisol to be released if you have an excess of it. Yes, it can, um, hinder your appetite. So often people who are super stressed and running on excess cortisol, um, and adrenaline and other stress hormones tend to have a, uh, a lower appetite first thing in the morning. They're typical. I'm not breakfast people. People. Um, and that's a typical sign of excess cortisol. However, we do still need it there. Uh, in a in a good normal amount, and it lowers throughout the day so that then melatonin can be produced, which is our, you know, a calming hormone that helps us to get to sleep and help us sleep well. Um, and I think that, you know, just a morning routine to lower cortisol or things like that. I think it's important just to know that you need them at certain times, like you said, with the, you know, fight or flight mode. It's a survival instinct. And you will your body can't tell the difference between, like, a couple of glasses of wine and a stressful email and a sabertooth tiger running at you. It doesn't know the difference. Your body has evolved to react in in the same way and have the same stress response every single time. And I think that's that's where people need to understand what what is happening when they're when they're feeling stressed, like what's happening with your nervous system and likewise with the rest and digest. Like a key thing I tell my clients a lot. Um, it doesn't seem that important to them at the time, but when I start mentioning why I'm giving them the advice like, eat away from your desk, eat, eat, don't work and eat at the same time because it's called rest and digest. It means that your body is able to digest your food efficiently, absorb the nutrients that you're eating, and when you're working at the same time, your body is not in rest and digest mode. So it can't it can't digest properly the hints and the name. So I really important to know the differences in your nervous system and when you need to activate, use your word um, different ones. Because unless I feel like unless you actively activate those different modes, it's going to do its thing, right, your body is just going to put itself in a mode no matter what. And to put yourself in rest and digest mode, for example, or parasympathetic mode, you have to take the lead on that, right? Yeah. And it's really empowering, I think, because you have I feel like this exploration made me realize you have more control than you think, and you can reset your nervous system. I at my part time job, I'm the only person that doesn't eat at my desk. And there's that lack of education around how it's this holistic approach. And I think that's the key here with the mind body work and why nutrition is so key for nervous system and sleep as well. And you know that all too well. It's your approach isn't just nutrition, it's just full body's approach, just like mine is. And sometimes I'd recommend my clients see a nutritionist. Um, and I used to be that cortisol person that wasn't hungry in the morning, and that was such a sign of having a dysregulated nervous system running on adrenals. And. Yeah. And then you might burn out eventually. Yeah, I did, um, I forced myself to not be a breakfast person way back when I was in my court. Well, a few of my corporate jobs, I did intermittent fasting as a weight loss tactic, again with no education of what I was doing. It just seemed like a good way to try to lose weight to skip breakfast. But obviously this came back to bite me. And this is why I never recommend it to anybody, because you're essentially fasting, and that in itself will put you in survival mode, right? Like your your body is is under fueled and it's trying to create its own glucose, um, from your liver and from, you know, other glucose that it's stored, but it's nowhere near enough. And even that process in itself is, is work. It's stressful. Um, so yeah, I think I think there's, there's a severe lack of education around around the nervous system, nutrition, all of that and how it can impact burnout essentially. And we'll talk about that in a bit. Actually, first of all, I want you to hear there's a lot to talk about here. First of all, I also want you to talk to what it means to regulate your nervous system. What are 

the signs that yours isn't regulated? I guess burnout is typically a symptom, but that's almost like the extreme. I feel like there are many more signs before that happens. So yeah, tell me more about about regulation. Yeah. So I'm going to split it into two. There's kind of two pathways you can go down because we've got the sort of fight or flight responses, and I'm going to group them together for. So I don't go through five different responses. But yeah, so we've got fight or flight where you might feel like wired tired. You're on edge. If you're fighting, you obviously might be feeling a little bit angsty and maybe you're seeing like signs of aggression. You've got road rage, you're really snappy with your partner. If you've got flight, you just want to get out of there. You want to be on your own. you might be sort of disassociating and you might feel like quite energised with those two. Whereas if you're in freeze, functional freeze or fawn, that's when you're feeling kind of you're numbing out, disassociating with um, frieze. With both frieze responses, you might be like bingeing TV, wanting to redraw functional frieze. You're still showing up, but you're quite numbed out. When you show up, you're disassociating and yet you're still doing the things. But when you get home, you might need to scroll and Tik Tok just to self- soothe and regulate. And then with fawn, which is a really interesting one, it's where you're kind of very much people pleasing, which we is often seen in women, and you're kind of appeasing the oppressor. Just a group. And I'm saying oppressor, it could be an oppressor or perceived oppressor by just agreeing with them and not actually using your voice and vocalizing your thoughts. And for the freezing fawn. Yeah. You're very like low energy. So with the difference, I think, is when you're in fight and flight, you've got energy that you might need to sort of channel. You might need to walk, you might need to tidy your house. If you're in a fight, it might benefit you to punch a pillow. Um, can feel really good or. But then when you're in freeze and fawn, it's it's how can you feel that calming energy but also energize yourself again, like maybe going in a cold water dip if that feels good, if you're not extremely dysregulated. And I think there's this misconception that all these states we need calming. But sometimes we're so, so calm down. We need to build in energizing and tactics as well. So it's finding the balance. Mhm I love that I, I really can relate to the disassociating one where you just binge Netflix or you scroll or things like that. That's definitely the one that I'm more prone to. But yeah, I love that there's different signs to look out for. And again, like scrolling on TikTok, I always say a common symptom or habit. I should say that I see with a lot of my clients is they they're replacing their sleep with scrolling, basically. Yeah. Um, and whether it's before they go to bed so their sleep is hindered that way, or it's whether they first wake up and it's the first thing that they're doing is, is scrolling on social media and it's a real bombardment first thing in the morning. But either way, it's it's still you need to check in and you need to disassociate with your own life, almost. It's kind of like escapism, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. So how can regulating your nervous system transform how a woman runs her business? Because we mentioned burnout earlier, but how can that regulation prevent that overwhelm? How can regulating the nervous system help when you're doing all of the things? Yeah. Great question. Well, I think one is like being in the present moment. And we all know we're more efficient when we're in our present moment, we're more grounded and we can show up better for ourselves and our clients. I think as well, when you're in, you're an entrepreneur. You really need to fill up your own cup before you can pour out, and that's how you kind of sustain your energy. And this podcast is all about energy, and it's how much energy are you pouring into yourself and pouring out and kind of finding that balance? I also find when you're regulated, you're more in touch with your intuition, your desires are coming through, and then you're just showing up for your life in such a stronger, better way. And I think as an entrepreneur that that can really lead to success because your energy is clear and calm and grounded, but also you can. You have those tools to energize yourself. You have those tools to come, and you're kind of the CEO of your nervous system because you know what you need to do. Yeah, I love that. I always say be the CEO of your plate as well. So, you 

know, yeah, you're you're a CEO and everything else, right? Like you've got to be the CEO of your own body and your own diet and what's going on inside. because energy is everything. I mean, that's what my whole all of my services and even this podcast is based around, is actually creating the energy that you need to show up as a business owner and as an entrepreneur and as a CEO or whatever you call yourself. I think you you do all of the things every single day, and there's a lot of pressure. There's a lot to deal with, a lot to do. And there's no way you're going to be able to consistently sustain doing all of that, let alone feeling good doing it. If you're not the master of your energy as well, if you're not looking at how you're producing that energy. So before we get on to the because we've gone we've gone through a lot about the whys and what regulation is. So before we move to the obvious, how I want to touch on a couple of things. So. First of all, I want to talk about meditation. And because I think people have different ideas and conceptions about what meditation is and how much time they actually need to do it and why they should be doing it. So to give you an example, I have quite a few clients who, um, don't meditate or didn't meditate when they first started seeing me, and it's not one of the first things that we go through. Obviously, I'm more to do with nutrition and food, but eventually I start to encourage them to implement meditation because, um, it is a really simple way of, of regulating your nervous system. Right? But I just go through because they look at me and they kind of go, I don't have time for that. Um, there's no way I have time for that. I barely have time to. Do you know, the other things that you're asking me to do? But when I say meditation, all I mean is deep abdominal breathing. That's what I mean. If you want to go guided, that's totally fine. Sometimes I love a guided meditation, but other times I just sit and breathe for a few minutes. So I would love for you to talk about just how meditation can have that calming effect and that regulating effect, but just acknowledging that maybe it's not what people think it is. Yeah, I think that's such a good point. And when. So my like big dysregulated place was my final year of uni and I downloaded the car map and I was so anxious at that time I'd be like crying with anxiety and like, go sit in the corner, listen to meditation and feel like this is going to be my magic pill out of anxiety. And it was this guided meditation. And I can like, really see myself right now in the corner, like crying through this meditation, thinking it's going to help me. And it really it got me nowhere. But looking. Looking back at the, um, states, I was obviously so flighty that I had too much energy to be sitting and calming myself. I probably needed a walk. I probably needed to like, get that move that energy. So it's sort of knowing, knowing a good time to meditate and like, I love the morning for meditation on the evening because it's just before you're sort of in that theta subconscious state. So you're more open to receiving the meditation. But coming back to the breath, and I think it's so important that you brought that up. So this is one of my I don't love like hacks, but this is such a hack for your nervous system. If your outbreath is longer than your in-breath, it teaches. It gets your body into rest and digest into that parasympathetic nervous system. And it's so simple. And it's just a breath and it's just breathing. I like to do nose in through the nose, out through the mouth, maybe adding a sigh. And that that just teaches your body to get into rest and digest. And then the deep abdominal breathing is just getting more oxygen in. Again, teaching your body that safe and calm. So I think, yeah, it doesn't have to be massive. It doesn't have to be like this. Our guided long meditation, a really great one I have is like when I clip my seatbelt, is just taking a deep breath. And now I've like trained that into myself. Whenever I get in my car. I'm just having that really nice deep breath. And it's, how can you add these meditative moments for me? Like even going on a walk, no podcasts, no phone, and just looking at nature. Moving the body is a type of moving meditation. So I think it's about finding what works for you. I like lying down. I find sitting up for meditation like the most uncomfy thing ever. And so many people say do cross legged, I do with a block and I make it work. But it's just making yourself as comfy and safe as you can. Yeah, yeah, I love that. I, I totally agree with the one once you know what the how simple it is. It's literally just a breath 

through your abdominal muscles. So for people who aren't aware, chest breathing is obviously you'll see your chest rising and falling. And we don't want that. We want the your abdomen basically to rise and fall. Right. That's the kind of abdominal breathing we're talking about and that that connects with your pelvic floor. Um, that can that's like the really powerful breathing that we're talking about. And once you know how simple it is to activate that and to just do that anywhere. I mean, to give you an example, I was in I was in London at the weekend, actually, and I used to live in London, I grew up. Half my life was spent in London living there. So I'm fully aware of the busyness. Uh, I was just coming like out of the toilet in London Bridge station and there was just people everywhere, obviously, like queuing, but also just running and like a couple of people bumped into me and like, I'm pregnant. Like I'm six months pregnant now. So I was at the time, like it really infuriated me. I was just like, oh my God, can we not just be like normal people with personal space? And and I could feel myself getting worked up, like just stressed just because I was in a stressful environment. And all I did was literally stand at the side and just take two deep abdominal breaths and just breathed it out and then just carried on walking. I felt so much better, even though it was still just as busy. I was still in exactly the same environment. I decided to just take myself off to the side, and I'm talking like two two steps away from where I was originally standing. So it's just out of the way. Took two deep breaths and just carried on. And that's exactly. What I mean when I say to people, you know, do it after a stressful meeting, do it after a if you're a client facing service provider and you have, you know, back to back calls, it can be quite a lot if you have, you know, three Back-To-Back calls in a row, but each one just take a few deep breaths like you, you know, go to the toilet, go for a wee, get your water, whatever. And when you're doing that, just take a few deep breaths just to kind of reset. Even something like that I think is so powerful. Yeah. Me too. And I think we don't even notice the impact of chest breathing. So when I was anxious at uni, I was doing that chess breathing and I, I literally irritated my ribs. It changes your muscular imbalance, your diaphragm isn't fully functioning and then your pelvic floor is and and there's there's these quite big implications. And something we're not taught at school is, um, how to breathe. And it's so simple. That's why I kind of say it's a hack. And like, your example from the weekend was a perfect demonstration. And, um, I actually went to the Royal Cornwall show. Um, I live in the South west, and it's like open fields, but the show is really busy and just taking a breath, like focusing on when my feet were. I'm not a massive fan of crowds, but just focusing on myself. My body helped me have an amazing day, whereas a three years ago I probably would have had to leave early. Yeah. Crazy isn't it? Um, how transformative it is. Okay, um, I also want to touch on something that this actually came up in our pre podcast chat, and it was about you were talking about a client that you'd recently spoken to and her energy was. It wasn't too up. It was too down. So, I mean, I'm not going to explain it because you're the expert here, but I would love for you to talk about, you know, what it means to be energy up versus energy down, what that is and how to know which one that you are. Yeah. And that comes back to those responses. So figuring out which response you have. And I've got this really helpful checklist if anyone wants help with that because I think it can be quite hard to figure out. But once you've got that awareness, um, it really helps. Um, so yeah, when you're kind of energy up, is that tired and wired, you're like, you've, you've got all this energy, but you don't know where to go with it could often kind of feel like you're procrastinating. And I think when you have that in business, it's about grounding, coming back to the body, moving the body. Can you have daily walks? Maybe like to work out like, um, can you work out just moving that energy instead of feeling like you're in a super rush? And then if you've got down energy, if you're in that, um, freeze state or foreign state, it's just thinking, I still think you need calming when you're in those states because you're obviously not calm because you're you're in these sort of racing thoughts, but how can you calm and then manage to to softly up energize? And I think it's really important with both of these states not to just 

dramatically go the other way, because then your body, um, just gets a bit confused and cross wired. So it's sort of doing this all with safety and intention, um, and taking your time with it. So I hope that helps. Yeah. No, I think that's great. I, I was I'd never heard of it before like that. Just that term, you know, that you were energy down and that that can actually be a negative thing in terms of, um, running a business and in terms of how you're feeling running the business. We always talk about the tired and wired the energy up, but we rarely talk about when you're too energy low, you know, or two energy, they're two energy down. And that. Sort of that. More like the Tired and Wired is potentially more on the anxious side, and the energy down is more leaning towards feeling depressed. But obviously they're at like extremes, end of the spectrum. But it's just about recognizing where you're at, what your body needs. And I think one of the best questions that I teach my clients to ask themselves is like, what does my body need? I've been in the car and I've been like feeling a bit frustrated and been like, oh, do I go shopping? And I've been like, what does my body need? It needs water. It didn't have any on me and it's going home, giving my body water and building that trust with my body by giving it what it needs, and then building trust with yourself. Yeah, I love that. To follow on from that, because I don't think you can really trust your body and follow those gut instincts unless you're connected with your body, right? And it goes beyond listening to your body. It's about what you were talking about earlier, where you're actually connected to your body. And I think the issue that a lot of women have now is that, you know, maybe they were never connected with their body, but specifically when they started their business or when they got into the the kind of real, uh, roots of it, the, the body becomes just. Not an inconvenience, but it just really does go below on the priority to do list, right? It's just definitely not the top, and I feel like that makes you become disconnected from from your body. And then you lose that empowerment. You lose that trust with it, and you can't follow your gut instincts because you, you know, it gets ill, it gets sick and and a bit more vulnerable and more overwhelmed. And that's when I'm burnt out, for example. And that's when you start to blame it for what it's doing. It's like, why can't you go to sleep? Or, you know, why are you feeling so shit today? You know, all of this stuff and it's actually not it's not the body's fault. You're. I always say that the body is only a reflection of how you're treating it. So if you're not connected with it, then you're going to be having problems, right? Yeah, completely. And I think that's a real kind of misinterpretation. I think when you're an entrepreneur. Yeah we do. There are stages where you do need to hustle, but it's so important not to do that at the expense of your body. And then you're not managing your energy, which is obviously about the work you do. And it's about sustainable growth as well. And I think not only yeah, not only entrepreneurs are not taught to connect with our body, but I felt like through childhood, we're not through our teenage years especially, we grew up in that sort of, um, model era where we didn't see representation for different types of bodies or accepting different types of bodies, but. Yeah. Building that dialogue I think is so key. And it's just like two way street. And I always say the body will whisper to begin with and then the body will shout. And that would be feeling illness, chronic illness, um, and that, that kind of grows. And I, um, have an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto's, and I feel like I will never know what fully caused that. But I was very dyslexic as a child and was constantly under stress. And I found school really stressful and put a lot of pressure on myself. And I feel like that constant stress, obviously I have the hormone, um, has definitely impacted my, um, Hashimoto's coming through because my first symptoms were just around A- levels and I could really feel them like rising. And I look back and I'm like, I was just so stressed out trying to achieve, trying to succeed by passing my exams and then getting into the workplace. And no one cared about my degree that I'd put so much work into. It's a slap in the face, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, I, I totally agree with that. I've had, um, I spent about 15 years with on and off anxiety that was at times really debilitating as well. And I think people don't think enough about the future in terms of their bodies 

and their health. So we're thinking about the future in terms of, um, how much revenue am I going to get in the next quarter? Um, how many new clients can I get? How many, um, how many new services am I going to offer? Like, you know, all of whatever else. Like there's the list is endless, as we always say, uh, with business owners, but we never think about how do I want to feel running my business in 5 to 10 years? Do I still want to be running my own business? If I do, how big do I want it to be? Okay. This big? Okay, so how do I need to feel at that time? How do I want to feel when I'm running a business that's that big? And then on the flip side, you've got things like, um, you know, to to go a little bit more, but for just a second. All of these serious conditions and illnesses. I feel like a lot of the time people think it's not going to happen to me, or they just think they hear about it happening to somebody else and they think, oh God, that's so terrible. They empathize, but then they go ahead and they just don't prioritize their health, even though they've just found out, you know, someone they know has come down with something serious. We never consider the implications of our actions years down the line. But the body, you know, if sales is a lag metric, my God, the body is as well. If you're not treating your body well, but consistently for a couple of years, I truly believe you are going to see the results of that in five years time. Perhaps more. And the longer that you consistently don't put your body first and don't treat it well. So let's say five, ten years, then you're you could well see some real issues further down the line. And the older that you get, the more chance of those negative repercussions happening. And so I just I want people to think about connecting with their body now to prevent anything that they don't want to happen in 5 to 10 years time. Yeah. And to connect now because that connection feels so good and you are showing up for yourself and your family and your friends, and you feel like this energy and vibrancy and zest for life. Yes. Okay, great. So let's talk more about that now. So we've done all of the what and the why. So how how can business owners, um, regulate the nervous system if you if you could give I know. I mean, this is a rabbit hole for you, obviously, but keep it. Keep it simple. Can you give the listeners three things that they can start doing from tomorrow to regulate their nervous system? Yeah. Of course. So one we've already discussed, which is massive, is breath. And it gets to be as simple as a deep belly breath. Two deep belly breaths like Kjo did in London, just to calm in your body. And I love, like getting your hands on your tummy, just really connecting with your body, with your being and connecting with your breath. And then the second one I would say is body awareness. So maybe that's doing a guided body scan or it's taking five minutes just closing your eyes. Feeling the sensations in your body. I really like this practice of feeling the tension in your body, but also feeling that openness in your body, feeling there like freedom in your body. When not just focusing on like the negatives, we're focusing on the whole sensation in your body. And when you build those practices of body awareness, you can feel the sensations in your body. You feel so much more grounded. And I think that is so key in this modern world, modern life, Entrepreneurship is to feel grounded in your body. You're not just in your head. You're here. You're in this moment now and then. Um, I would say number three is movement. And although I'm not an exercise instructor all the time anymore, I think movement is the key. Our body's designed to move. It's so easy to sit at your desk all day, but sometimes when I'm walking is when I get my best ideas because I'm out and about. I'm like in nature, if you can walk in nature, that's a bonus. Um, is it moving in the morning, having a morning walk, getting that sunlight that I know C.J. loves? Um, sharing about that first morning sunlight? Yeah. Which I I'm really trying to do at the moment. Um, and then. Yeah, just moving in a way that feels good for you and that's unique for everyone. That changes daily, even if it's just putting your hype song on and having five minute dance or somatic shaking. I love where you shake off the energy in your body. Just making sure that you've got this sort of daily intention to move and like that can be cleaning your flat or house or where you live. It can sort of integrate really well into life. So yeah, there my top three I'd say. Love that. So tomorrow morning, basically go for a 

walk outdoors in the sun and put on Nelly's Hot in here. Yeah. And that's fantastic. Okay, great. And so I want to wrap up this amazing conversation with one last question. And that is how does your life feel now you understand regulation and the impact of nervous system regulation. Yeah. And I think for me it's huge. Um. My my life felt I was so anxious. It was debilitating, I couldn't focus, I needed to sleep lows. But I would wake up at 4 a.m., I wasn't present, I was living in my trauma responses and playing out loops I didn't really want to do. Um, yeah. And I wasn't living an intentional aligned life and then learning to regulate. I feel like so at home and grounded in my body. Really calm, happy, like back into my creativity and painting again. Um, feeling good in my body. Like manifesting friendships that feel super aligned and a relationship that feels really aligned and like just feeling peace and pleasure in my body, and how that has a huge ripple effect in my life and my business. And I think the reason I do the work that I do is because I feel so good compared to how I felt, and I also have those tools to maintain where I'm at, which is really cool. And yeah, I'm not saying that I don't sometimes have anxious moments, but they're shorter. They're they're quicker, my bounce back rate is so much better, and I think that's something I really want to reiterate, especially as a business owner. We do experience these situations. Maybe get a troll comment or you someone request a refund. And it's sort of how we deal with that sets us up for the future. And I think that's what regulation has done for me. And yeah, I just can't sing its praises enough. I love that. I think you touched on a very important point where I think people have the the misconception that because we're wellness business owners, we've got it all figured out and we've got our shit together. There are times where we definitely go through the burnout feelings or the overwhelm or the anxiety. Um, you know, I go through times where I my diet isn't as optimal as it usually is or could be. And I think it's important for people, for people to know that, because we certainly have not always been what I would say healthy people. Um, you know, and we've learned to yes, we specialize in, in these areas and we're experts, but. That's not to say that we don't have those periods of time where we're not at our best. So I do think it's important for people, if you are one of those people that automatically thinks we're always like, we've got our shit together, like it's not necessarily true. I would definitely times when we don't. And so these like three things that you can do from tomorrow are pretty perfect because they're super easy to do. And they and they're going to make a significant impact for you whether you're a wellness entrepreneur or not. Yeah. And it's yeah, it gets to be easy. Yeah. It isn't always easy working out, but can you just walk? Can you make it simple? Can you put your podcast on to begin with and just get out and just move your body and, um, it doesn't have to be long, even if it's five minutes. Just making those simple changes and knowing that they are the ripple effect will be, yeah, really significant. Lovely. Perfect. So to finish off, can you just let people know where they can find you, how they can contact you? Yeah. So find me on Instagram Emma Roberts somatic. And I've got 1 to 1 program. And then this amazing course where it's 30 days to regulate your nervous system. So I walk hand in hand with you to give you those tools to regulate. Because sometimes I know it's overwhelming to know where to start. So I put that together. And then, um, I also love doing nervous system audits where we spend 90 minutes together figuring out where you're at and where you want to go. And yeah, my DMs are always open. If you want to talk about anxiety or autoimmune or any questions that came up from this podcast, I'd love to chat with you. Perfect. Beautiful. Thank you so much. This has been such a good conversation. Thank you for having me. I've loved it, and I've loved talking about how nervous system and nutrition and energy all collide and how it can help make and energize entrepreneur. Yay!