What If Healing Your Nervous System Is the Gateway to Healing… Well… Pretty Much Everything?

I first discovered the power of nervous system healing in 2012.

Up until then, I had no idea that calming my system could become the foundation for healing on so many levels—physically, emotionally, mentally, even spiritually.

That year, I was in crisis. A slip-and-fall injury left me unable to sit for more than a few minutes at a time. I had to either lie down or stand—and let’s just say, it made life... complicated. (That was also the year I invested in my first stand-up desk.)

Dining out? Only at high tops. And I was grateful for the friends and family who rolled with it.

But more than anything, I was desperate to heal—and began looking for ways to support my body’s recovery.

That’s when a friend shared an email about an EFT Tapping practitioner who helped people with chronic pain and injuries. I joined a phone conference (remember those?) where the speaker explained the basics: by lightly tapping on acupuncture points with your fingers while speaking your truth—even if it’s raw or messy—you can interrupt the fight/flight/freeze response and regulate your nervous system. And the good news: you can do it on your own, by following a basic formula.

I started experimenting.

Sometimes I felt relaxed for a few minutes, maybe a few hours, or a day. But the pain always came back. I worried I was doing it wrong.

Still, something in me knew I was onto something. So I kept exploring. I attended online EFT summits, listened to experts share their methods and stories, and heard a common thread: most people don’t try tapping on their own because they’re afraid of doing it wrong—or “tapping in” something negative by acknowledging uncomfortable truths.

But I kept practicing.

Eventually, I hired a Tapping coach. And with that deeper support, I began to see real shifts—not just in my physical pain, but in my beliefs about myself, especially around self-worth and deserving.

Later, after earning my coach certification, I decided to become certified in EFT Tapping. I was eager to share what I’d learned and support clients in calming their own systems so we could accelerate our work together. And it worked—clients would often feel immediate relief after our sessions.

So while I still believe EFT is a powerful tool, I realized it wasn’t the tool for me. I wanted something more sustainable. Something that encouraged people to build trust in their own body, their own process, their own truth.

And EFT Tapping is just one of many healing modalities that practitioners use to support their clients. Don’t get me wrong—I’m all for sharing tools and uplifting the healing arts. Big kudos to anyone who finds a method that brings real, sustainable results. If a practice helps you feel more whole and at peace in your body, that’s something to celebrate.

But what I began to see—both in myself and in the people I was supporting—was a growing dependency. Most clients wouldn’t tap on their own. Even when I gave them personalized scripts, they’d wait for our next session—afraid they’d “mess it up.”

Their healing was dependent on me, and that didn’t sit right.

One of the things that sets me apart as a coach is my desire to help clients remember their own power. I don’t want to be a crutch. I want to be a mirror—reflecting their strength and guiding them back to their inner wisdom.

Because here’s what I’ve learned:

If healing depends on someone else, it’s not really healing—it’s outsourcing.

And when we constantly seek relief from others, we unintentionally send a message to our nervous system that something is wrong with us—and someone else has the answer. That belief alone can keep us stuck in a perpetual stress (aka fight/flight/freeze) response.

The truth is, lasting healing from most chronic issues, illnesses, pain, anxiety, or stress doesn’t come from someone else’s technique. It comes from doing the deep work from within.

It took me years to fully embrace this concept—through injuries, stress, autoimmune flares, even Long Covid. But it was the daily, internal work that finally allowed my body to settle, my symptoms to subside, and my nervous system to come back online in a new way.

So yes—I believe healing the nervous system is the gateway to healing nearly anything that feels chronically stuck.

And the way we do it matters just as much as the fact that we do it.