nervous system

The importance of finding your place

~ Helen White ~ 4 Comments

So many of us put up with living in less than ideal places and circumstances, especially if we feel we are stuck with them, but what if they are the missing piece of the whole health jigsaw. If we also happen to be neurodivergent, feeling "out of place" can be become such an innocuous-seeming sensation across the course of a lifetime because we become so acclimatised to feeling like a misfit in a lot of situations; our version of "normal". This makes it all too easy to ignore times when we are really in the wrong place or situation, when we should be doing something about it, especially when our health is being badly impacted. Clues might be subtle but we, of all people, are past masters at piecing together all the signs and patterns that tell us there is a better kind of life waiting for us somewhere, one that better fits the way we are wired.

When your autistic health is minutely synced to the (apparently discombobulated) seasons

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

When you thrive on predictability, how does your body cope with delayed or oddly-behaving seasons? Or with prolongued transitions? Or when "feeling too much" and energy overload (ironically) translate as deficit? Exploring the effect of seasonal changes from a neurodivergent perspective.

Autism and feeling too much (not too little)

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

There are so many areas of human experience where autism is assumed to mean less than or shortfall whereas it’s often a case of more…so much more that it’s untenable and excruciating to be in the experience. Sometimes, the very appearance of so-called shortfall should prompt the question “is way too much going on in there, so much so that it can’t be handled or made sense of, can’t be articulated or processed in conventional ways?”.

Choosing my edges

~ Helen White ~ 3 Comments

We all need some sort of containment, a reliable edge to our experiences, to enable us feel held and supported in life...and belief systems can do this for the majority of people (to a point). My neurodiverse way seems to have required that I build by own edges from scratch, plucked from a cacophony of sensory experiences and turned into the life supporting routines, rituals and focal points of my life; some distinctly more supportive than others (but getting there). Exploring the need for edges and how to make them better - Asperger's style.

Harmony

~ Helen White ~ 5 Comments

...for those of us who are especially sensitive, though the idea of being "out" amongst a load of other people in a room together is quite abhorrent as an idea, the reality is we could benefit from this more than most...because its the missing link to our health, we have to dare to go there to break the stalemate of our stuckness, and choir is an appropriate way in as it puts us where harmony is the very name of the game.

Under pressure: the EDS anxiety link

~ Helen White ~ 3 Comments

Hard science has uncovered a mechanism whereby the same collagen abnormalities in EDS that make joints especially flexible seem to affect blood vessels, making those with it prone to accumulation of blood in the veins of the legs, an effect that may lead to exaggerated cardiovascular responses to maintain the output of blood from the heart. This and other foibles, which I feel are versions of the same response, put those of us with this issue under immense pressure and strain, all the time, as our version of "normal" so just imagine how much we then react to any additional triggers, to which we tend to be hypersensitive (I share my about theory about that too...), setting off our nervous system at regular intervals in a way that has nothing inherently to do with mental health...although, no surprise, it can start to manifest as anxiety over time. Joining some dots and celebrating just how much people with hypermobility type EDS deal with as their daily benchmark...plus some practical ways of making it better.

Healing mantra

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

Today, I simply want to share this video discussion between Deva Premal, Miten and Dr Kennet R Pelletier, author of the forthcoming book "Change Your Genes, Change Your Life" on the topic of the healing power of mantra. This subject is very dear to my heart since I have found what they are discussing here … Continue reading Healing mantra

More energy…not less

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

It's a truth I've come to own over years of learning to hold the equilibrium of my physical body that allows me to lead a normalish life - akin to countless others who think they have a shortfall of energy, I possess almost too much energy inside my cells rather than too little. Those waves of crashing exhaustion that periodically seem to want to floor me are because my tank is overspilling with energy, not running dry. And its a trait I notice about a lot of so-called energy-depleted people, especially women....

Lion’s mane: Repairing your myelin

~ Helen White ~ 2 Comments

I keep noticing how nature has this weird and wonderful way of offering us clues to our own healing; often through locational juxtapositions (a cure found growing very close to the trigger "event") or visual clues. So when I came across Lion's Mane Mushroom as a possible route to repairing myelin, the coincidence of it resembling a sea anenome...our common ancestor when it comes to the evolution of our nervous system...took me aback and excited me, all at once! I just knew I was on to something...(read more).