Can You BioHack Your Nervous System?

Can You Biohack Your Nervous System?

Biohacking has become a popular buzzword in the wellness space, with countless tools, techniques, and strategies promising to regulate your nervous system faster and more effectively. But can you actually biohack your nervous system?

In this episode, I explore the growing conversation around nervous system biohacking and share my perspective on where these approaches can be helpful and where they may fall short. 

While many biohacks can support regulation and provide temporary relief, I discuss why true nervous system healing is often less about finding the next quick fix and more about creating the conditions for safety, presence, and lasting change.

I also explore an important question:

"If the nervous system responds to slowness and safety, is biohacking trying to speed up a process that was never meant to be rushed?"

One question I often hear is whether EFT Tapping is a biohack. In this episode, I share my thoughts on why EFT Tapping may appear to be a biohack on the surface, while also offering something much deeper. 

Rather than simply changing how we feel in the moment, EFT Tapping can help us safely connect with, process, and heal the emotions and experiences that may be contributing to nervous system dysregulation.

Join me as we unpack the difference between managing symptoms and supporting genuine healing, and reflect on what it really means to work with your nervous system rather than trying to outsmart it.

Whether you're new to nervous system work, curious about biohacking, or wondering where EFT Tapping fits into the conversation, this episode offers a compassionate invitation to slow down and consider a different path forward.

 "Healing doesn't always happen faster because we push harder. Sometimes healing happens because, for the first time, we feel safe enough to slow down." 

EP168 What is Orienting Tapping?

I invite you to go deeper with your nervous system healing and work with me privately.  Get Started Here

Thank you for joining me for this conversation.

My hope is that through each episode, you feel a little more seen, a little more understood, and a little more connected to yourself.

If you'd like to continue the conversation, I invite you to join Heart to Heart with Nicole, where we explore life's questions, challenges, and moments of growth together.

Until we meet again, be gentle with yourself, trust your journey, and remember: to feel safe is to heal.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You are listening to the Thrive with Nicole podcast, a place to explore the depths of you through spirituality, healing, and empowerment. A little about me, your host. My name is Nicole Ivans. And the best words to describe me are quiet, introverted, empathic, nurturing, and highly sensitive. And as a holistic counsellor, I am deeply passionate about spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being. So pop on those headphones as I take you on a journey of connectedness.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Nervous system healing is a trend. Let's investigate if it can be biohacked. So if you're anything like me, you will have noticed that nervous system healing is everywhere right now. Every place you look, there it is. Every different type of industry is talking about it in some shape or form. So I felt that it was really important to talk about on a deeper level, doing a deep dive, um, if you like. So this topic surfaced for me through my own recent healing, and I really wanted to ensure that the work that I do with my clients is enough. Is EFT tapping enough or is it to just a biohack? Now, this is the the first question that I asked myself, and it's one that I want to share with you. Okay, is EFT tapping enough, or is it to just another biohack? And yeah, as I sat with this question, both for myself and the work I do professionally with my private clients, I quickly understood the truth underneath. Whilst, yes, EFT tapping could absolutely look like a biohack, it is so much more than that. Can we use EFT tapping to calm our mind, our body, and our nervous system? Yes, absolutely. But we can also utilize EFT tapping to help heal and release past experiences and stored survival stress, aka trauma. And you know what? I have to admit, as a professional counselor and a certified clinical EFT practitioner, this really allowed me to have a very big sigh of relief. Because for a moment I was like, oh crap. You know, is EFT tapping not enough? Do I need to be doing something different? But, you know, as I started to really uncover the layers for myself, really start to understand where EFT tapping fits in to the nervous system healing, I was absolutely able to take a sigh of relief because I really felt very true within myself. I really understood its place and I understand um how it works because I've been doing this with clients for over 10 years now. So I've seen the miraculous things that happen. Um, I see the changes that happen, not both just with my clients, but I see it within people that they interact with as well. You know, I remember a client one time we were doing some work, she had some pain in her shoulder, and you know, it had turned out, I think it was maybe it'd been 10 years, maybe longer, where she'd been in a car accident with her mum, and she had this pain in her shoulder. So we were just working on that pain in her shoulder. We were tapping on that. And I didn't know at the time, but I learned later that she hadn't been speaking to her. Her mum and her had had a breakdown of their relationship. And I think it was within a week of us doing that tapping session, tapping on the pain within her shoulder that her mum reached out to her. That's what I talk about when I say the miraculous things that happen, not just with the client that I'm working with, but their bigger community, the people that they interact with. I just want to share that with you as just an example of the depth of the of T tapping and of it not just being um a biohack. And you know, this for me, when I really sat down and went through the layers of this and really understood it, it really showed me that the way in which I work with my clients, it is still aligned with my personal and my professional values of authenticity. I step first and then I reach my handout to lift you up as well. You know, I've always said that to all of my private clients is that I go first. I never ask any of my clients or anyone in my community to do anything if I haven't done it first. That's just my value. I want to make sure what it is that I'm sharing, what it is that I'm teaching works before I go ahead and go, I want you to try this. Or let's try this out in this session. I make sure that I step first. So let's uh look at the question of you know, what is biohacking the nervous system? Now I am sure, like I said before, that as I, that you have also seen many person offers around biohacks for your nervous system. You know, and I have seen people like download this free five biohacks for your nervous system to experience healing. I've seen so many of those, like I said earlier, in all different industries, not just within you know therapy, but in you know, business, all different types of industries. I've seen people offering those things. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those. I just wanted to do this to really help us understand what that actually means. So, what exactly does biohacking the service the nervous system mean? Now, my mentor Iron Lyon says, if we are needing to use biohacks for our nervous system, we are not regulated. This is actually the statement um that had me questioning myself, my own healing and the healing I help my clients find um within themselves. It was a bit bit of a bit of pill to swallow at first when I heard her say that. I was like, oh geez. I have to really look into this, I have to sit with this feeling and work out what this is. And here we are today. So, you know, as I mentioned, EFT tapping could absolutely look like a biohack. Because when we are feeling heightened, we can use EFT tapping to bring a sense of calm to our system. If you're a client of mine, you will know that I have mentioned this to you. In between sessions, I will say to you, if you find yourself feeling heightened, if you've got any type of emotion coming up, any type of tightness or feeling within your body, tapping, it's going to help you to feel calm and grounded within the moment. So absolutely, it can look like a biohack. And you know, biohacking can be our daily habits, right? That we employ to support us in our experiences and our interactions with others. Absolutely. So whilst they are extremely helpful, they are not technically nervous system healing. So, yes, I say to my clients in between session, I want you to be tapping. Because this too, it's just it is a daily habit. It's something that I want you to get used to to be doing on a daily basis because it will help you to feel calmer, it will help you to feel a little more grounded, and it will help you to regulate in that moment. So, you know, and here I am telling you, like I'm the first to tell you that EFT tapping in a moment of upset isn't healing all the reasons you felt heightened, but helping you to feel calm in the moment. And I want to say that again just because I want you to understand the difference. So EFT tapping in a moment of upset isn't healing as such, because it's not healing all the reasons that you felt that way in the first place. It's not healing the layers within you that are causing you to have that reaction, that are causing you to feel heightened in that moment because of that interaction, whatever has happened, but it is helping you to feel calm in the moment, so it's helping you to cope with what's going on right now. So it's an absolute great thing to do. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever. But the nervous system healing with EFT tabbing comes later. So in session, we will unpack what happened in that moment, uncover other similar moments that may have layered up, as I mentioned, to cause you to react in a way that felt heightened to you. You know, we will discover what your nervous system and body was doing. What is the automatic pattern that is running for you? That is where the healing is going to start. But nervous system healing is slow, painfully slow. And we have to make a conscious effort to witness. Witness what is going on. And you know, and I know from personal experience, you know, I took some time away from my work to do my own nervous system healing. And I have to tell you, in the beginning, oh my god, it was just painfully slow. And even, you know, my mentor, Irene Lyne, you know, a lot of the recordings that she does for us, she has a she purposefully slows down her voice. And I have to begin, like, admit, in the beginning, I was just like, oh my god, this is so slow. It was killing me. But that's what the nervous system needs, it needs slowness and it needs safety, and those two things work very closely together. So it's important that we understand that that is what nervous system is. So if you think about it from that point of view, if nervous system healing is slow and nervous system has to feel safe, wouldn't biohacks feel like we're trying to rush it? Just something for you to sit with, but it's something that I've certainly noticed in my own um healing. So as I said, it is slow and we have to make a conscious effort to witness. Witnessing the way in which your body reacts in both moments of stress and relaxation. Because I think too, we can think, oh well, you know, if I'm heightened or whatever, if I'm highly stressed, if I'm anxious, all of these things, then you know, obviously that's a a nervous system dysregulation, which it is. It's an activation that's going on within you. But I also think it's important that we start to recognize, we start to witness when we're not heightened. That's actually some of the best times. If we can really notice what is it that our body does when we're not activated, when we're not heightened, what does that actually feel like? Because I think for some of us, if we've been heightened for so long, if we've been running, you know, with this survival stress within our system for so long, we might not know what that feels like. And it doesn't have to be, you know, long periods of time that for you to witness that, it could be just a second. And you just feel maybe a lightness within you. Maybe you can breathe a little easier. It's important that we're noticing both, both in stress and both in relaxation. Because true nervous system regulation is with the ebb and flow. Times of activation and then times of rest as well. So I want to give you an example of witnessing the body. What does that look like? And it's something that I notice within myself, and I actually shared it with my husband recently, because what I notice is that when I sit down to relax, you know, whether we're sitting on the couch or whether we're, you know, in bed or whatever, I will notice that my hand is clenched. So my left hand is clenched. And you know, actually used to be both hands. I used to sit down and both hands would be clenched. So if we think about what would that mean, why are my hands clenched? So obviously that is a survival mode, right? So I'm still running in survival mode the fact that my hands are clenched and I'm just like a protection, if you like. And I've noticed that over the months. I've noticed that happening, and when I notice it happening, I witness it and then I release it. So my right hand doesn't do it anymore. I've noticed that this week, actually. My left hand is still doing, but my right hand is no longer doing it. So it's I'm witnessing that, right? I'm like, okay, yeah. My hands clenched. It's like, okay, we are safe, and then I release the hand. I actively release the hand, letting the nervous system know it is safe, safe enough to relax. And the thing is, that in itself is healing, right? It's not biohacking, right? It is in the witnessing that my nervous system can feel seen and safe to release. So it might, you know, seem so simple, right? Just the fact that I've seen my hand, notice that it's clenched, and I release it. It's something so simple, but you know, it's also something that is extremely healing. And I want to share something extra with you too about you know healing and how it can be very simple. So, you know, when I woke up this morning, I didn't know I was going to do this episode. You know, and I just I sat down at my computer and I actually started writing the article because I my podcast and my blog is connected. Both thrive within a cop. So I sat down to write the article, and I sat there and within an hour it was written. And all of a sudden I felt this beautiful, warm, healing feeling come over my whole body. And I remembered when I was about nine years old, I remember getting up really early, or something, I don't know, maybe six in the morning, something like that, before school. And back then we had that A3 computer paper that was connected. It's gonna make me seem old. Um and I remember writing, I think it was a hundred pages from memory. Just wrote this story. I don't remember what the story was exact, but I remember sitting there and I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote. And then, you know, my everyone, the house started to become alive, everyone was getting up. My parents were there, and I remember taking my story to them to go, look, I just wrote this, but they didn't have time. Understandably so now as an adult, I get that. You know, I was one of five. Morning time's probably not the best time to be sharing this. So, you know, I took that story to school to show my teacher. She too didn't have time. And I remember being so dejected, and I remember throwing it in the bin. And when I sat down to write this article today, it had such a healing feeling, right? Like I sat down, I got up, it was as soon as I'd woken up, I hadn't had breakfast or anything, I just sat down and it poured out of me. So it was a healing moment for me. The reason I want to share that with you is that healing comes in so many different ways. You know, that inner child has now received healing because of what I did today. I hadn't, you know, set out to do that. That wasn't why I was doing it. But as I finished writing it, all of a sudden realized, yeah, that was very healing. She feels seen, she feels witnessed. So I just want to share that little bit of extra thing with you today. All right, so let's get back to talking about, you know, nervous system healing and and the biohacking um of it. So as I've mentioned, true nervous system healing is witnessing. And you know, for so long we have ignored our nervous system and our bodies, and we've spent so much time in our heads, haven't we? Allowing the mind to run the show. But it is time. It is time now to spend more time with your body and with your nervous system and really starting to witness what they are showing us. As simple as noticing your breath. Now, this is important. Not changing your breath, but witnessing it. You know, it could be as simple as when you have an interaction with someone, and it could be someone that you know that when you're around them, you may feel hidden for one reason or another. What does your breath do? And this is going to give you so much more information than your brain could ever supply. So, I also want to share with you today just an exercise to help you practice witnessing. So, orienting tapping, it it's a really wonderful exercise in helping you to practice witnessing. You're going to notice your environment and witness how your body responds. So, what I mean when I say that is wherever you are, like where I am now, I'm sitting at my desk. I can feel my bottom on the on the chair, I can feel my feet on the ground, and I can look around and really notice what is in my room. I can see that I have a candle burning in front of me here. Yeah, off to the side, I've got some angel statues, I've got some of my angel mist sitting there as well. So I'm really noticing what is in my environment because when we're, you know, in a familiar environment, we don't really notice things anymore. We just kind of walk past them and don't really pay much attention to them. So this is really bringing you back to this moment right now, noticing what you're feeling, feet on the ground, bottom on the chair, looking around the room, what can you see? What can you witness? And then what's your breath doing? What's your body doing? And I call it orienting tapping because we're going to be tapping while we're doing this. So that as we're doing this, the body and the nervous system feel safe because we're using tapping to help us to feel calm in the moment. So I guess in a way we could classify this as biohacking, but it's also healing as well, because we're taking the time to witness. So I do have um, I think this is actually here on the podcast as well. It's called What is Orienting Tapping? So you can go back through the episodes to find that one. If you need to see it visually, you can head over to the blog and it's also on my YouTube channel as well. So I'll pop some links in the show notes for you. So I really hope that this episode has helped you to understand the difference between biohacking the nervous system and experiencing true healing. So if you are feeling ready for deeper nervous system healing, I invite you to work with me privately. I will pop a link in the show notes for you to get started. So Rudolph, thank you for joining me today, and I look forward to chatting with you again next time. Would you like to get started with EFT tapping? Download my free EFT guide, a pocket guide to tapping on the go and three bonus tapping scripts. Tapping for worry, tapping for overwhelm, and tapping for self-sabotage. Sign up today.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

The link is in the show notes. And you can connect with me on all the socials at Nicole Ivans Holistic Counseling.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Or to learn more about working with me privately, visit my website, Nicole Ivans.com.