Tight Chest, Racing Thoughts? Meet Your Nervous System Reset

✨ Ever notice how your body tightens right when you’re about to step into your power? That chest pressure, racing thoughts, or sudden urge to shrink isn’t weakness, it’s your nervous system running an old protection program.

In this practical episode, I’ll guide you through why your body’s alarm system activates in moments of growth whether it’s speaking up, setting boundaries, or even receiving a compliment and what to do about it. Instead of pushing through or shaming yourself, you’ll learn how to send your nervous system the safety signals it needs.

Together, we’ll move through a complete guided practice using my three-step approach:

• Name the pattern so you stop fighting yourself
• Send safety signals through simple physical cues
• Rewire the connection between power and safety

I’ll also share how these tools carried me through my most devastating personal crisis, not by bypassing grief or fear, but by helping my body return to safety even when life cracked open.

Your nervous system isn’t broken—it’s protecting you. And every time you practice, you show it a safer way forward.

🎧 Download your free 7-minute Reset Meditation at www.liftoneself.com/freegift

🌿 Learn more about my Emotional Sobriety Workshop at www.liftoneself.com/emotionalsobriety

Chapters

• 0:00 Understanding Your Body's Protective Alarms
• 2:10 Three-Step Nervous System Reset Practice
• 5:40 Why Repetition Matters for Nervous System
• 7:30 Real-Life Application During Crisis
• 9:00 Closing Thoughts and Resources

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:04

Have you ever noticed how the moment you start stepping into your own power, your body pushes back. Maybe your chest tightens, your heart race, your thoughts swirl around, or you feel the urge to shrink. That's not weakness. That's your nervous system doing what it learned a long time ago, bringing an alarm to keep you safe. Think about it. Maybe you wanted to speak up in a meeting, but your throat closed, or you were ready to set a boundary and suddenly your stomach dropped and your chest got tight, or even in the middle of joy, like someone giving you a compliment, your body pulled you back with tension or doubt. That's the nervous system sounding the alarm. It doesn't always look like panic. Sometimes it's that subtle contraction that keeps you small. And here's the thing: most of us try to push through it with willpower, or we shame ourselves for not being stronger. Yet what your body actually needs in those moments is safety, proof that it's okay to hold more of yourself. That's why today we're not going to just talk about it. I'm going to guide you through a full practice so you can feel it in your body. Because when you feel it, that's when the change sticks. So let's begin. Welcome to the Lift One Self Podcast. I'm your host, Nat Nat, and this is the space where we practice emotional sobriety, the ability to feel what's real without being hijacked by it, so we can return home to ourselves with steadiness and presence. Before we dive in, I want to invite you to grab your free seven-minute reset meditation at liftoneself.com forward slash free gift. It's a short but powerful tool to help your body come back to safety when overwhelm hits. And if you're ready to go deeper, my emotional sobriety workshop is open now. It's a live experience where we break down emotional patterns and practice somatic tools in real time. You'll find the link in the show notes. On most episodes, we do a mindful moment, just a few breaths together. Yet today, we're going to go a little further. I'll still weave in some of the practices I normally use, yet this time we'll do a full guide of practice to help you shift the nervous system from alarm into grounded safety. So if you can, find a place where you can sit and be present with yourself. Let's begin. Now, you may, if it's safe to do so, close your eyes or soften that gaze. Or if you need to, keep your eyes open, whatever feels safe. Now, step one is naming the pattern. When that inner alarm goes off, the tight chest, the racing thoughts, maybe your heartbeats going booom boom boom booom. Instead of battling it, we name it. Say to yourself, this is a protection pattern, not the truth. My nervous system thinks standing in my power is unsafe. But that's just old wiring. By naming it, you stop the fight, you separate yourself from the alarm. Now, step two is sending safety signals. It's by giving your body proof that it's safe. Drop your shoulders, unclench your jaw, unknot your stomach. Place a hand on your chest or belly or both and feel the warmth of your own touch. Breathe slowly in and out. Say, I'm safe right now. It's okay to expand. I don't have to shrink back. This is your nervous system's language, physical cues that say no danger is here. Your touch is a powerful one. Your breath is your doorway to come back home. Step three is rewiring power with safety. Instead of leaping into the biggest version of yourself, start small. Think of one moment where your power felt steady and natural. Maybe guiding your child, holding space for a client, playing some sports, or speaking a truth you needed to say. Bring that moment into your body right now. Feel what it was like to stand in your power without fear. Remind yourself, my body is safe to hold my power. Take a slow breath in and a longer breath. Another deep breath in. Take a slow, take another breath in. And when you exhale, let it all go. That's it. Name it sense safety, rewire with grounded power. That's the practice. Take a moment and feel into your body. Each time you do this, you're teaching your nervous system a new story. The story that your power isn't dangerous, it's sustaining you. Now I want to pause here because many of you might think, okay, if I do this practice once or twice, I've mastered it. I don't need it anymore. But that's not how the nervous system works. This isn't about checking off a box. It's about embodiment, about building a way of being. Practices like this are how you learn to care for your nervous system while navigating the unpredictability of life. Because life is never static, it's always bringing uncertainty. And your mind will always crave control and predictability. That's why you keep coming back to the practice, not because you're failing, yet because you're training your body to remember how to return home when instability shows up. This is how emotional sobriety takes root, not in perfection, in repetition, in reminding your body over and over again, I know the way back to safety. I know the way back home. When I was in the hospital with Natalie in those final days, so many people asked me, how can you be so calm? How can you be so present in the middle of this? And the truth is, it wasn't because I wasn't feeling it. Oh, surely I was. The grief, the heartbreak, the fear, it was all there. Many times my skin was on fire and I wanted to run the hell out of that room. But I didn't collapse because I had practice. These tools were already embodied in me. On the outside, it looked like steadiness. On the inside, I was using everything I share with you here, breathing with my body, softening my jaw, loosening my shoulders, naming the alarm, sending safety signals. That's why these practices matter. They're not just for the easy days. They're what carry you when life cracks open, when you need to stay present in the hardest moments. This is embodiment, not theory, not bypassing, but living the work when life demands it most. This is emotional sobriety in real time, not pushing past your alarms, but meeting them with safety and giving your body a new experience to hold. If this practice landed for you, remember to download the free seven-minute reset meditation at liftweneself.com free gift. It's designed to support you in exactly these moments. And if you're ready to deepen the work, come join me in the Emotional Sobriety Workshop where we go through these practices together in community. Thank you for being here. Take this truth with you. You are not broken. Your body is simply protecting you. And every time you practice, you show it a safer way forward. Remember, your breath will always be the doorway home. Welcome home.