The Nervous System, The Body, and Healing

Join us at book club on Friday, April 7th to talk about reconnecting to our bodily wisdom and the workings of the nervous system

Earlier this week, I stayed up until nearly midnight on my phone, talking to a girlfriend. We gabbed for hours—both of our partners were away from the house—and I felt like I was in college again. Oh, how I’ve missed late-night conversations with my female friends talking through ideas for hours. “Ugh, I have to get to bed,” I said, the clock scuttling deeper into the witching hours.

“Me too,” she said, “I have so much more I have to tell you! But I’ll get to see you at book club this Friday.”

These conversations, these overlapping, meandering spaces to let ideas unfold are part of the magic of connection. I crave them even more as a parent. In this season of life, finding time uninterrupted where I can string thoughts together and spend with other people is so precious.

One of the big topics of conversation in my life right now is about healing. Healing from the burnout of parenting. Healing from the betrayal and scars of the pandemic. Recovering and restoring our nervous systems from the constant onslaught of adrenaline and stress of the work world. Undoing the loneliness and isolation of the western world. Honoring and healing the open gaps and wounds from the unfinished or under-acknowledged transitions into motherhood.

If these topics call to you, join us at this month’s book club.

Our next book club gathering is coming up this Friday, April 7th, 2023 at 3pm Eastern (12pm Pacific time). If you’re not yet a member, sign up to join us below so you can come hang out for a social hour this Friday. And a reminder about my book club—you don’t have to read the book to join our club; we’re a social space to talk about ideas the book brings up. This week, my friend Emma and I are going to share key ideas we’ve taken away from the book to kick off the conversation.

More about the book pick and themes down below. →

Image of the book Call of the Wild, from the author’s website: https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/call-of-the-wild/

Call of the Wild: How We Heal Trauma, Awaken Our Own Power, and Use it for Good, by Kimberly Ann Johnson

• Book Club Pick from March 2023.

• Discussion on Friday, April 7th, 2023 at 3:00PM ET.

• Zoom links below.

From the book description: “From trauma educator and somatic guide Kimberly Ann Johnson comes a cutting-edge guide for tapping into the wisdom and resilience of the body to rewire the nervous system, heal from trauma, and live fully. In an increasingly polarized world where trauma is often publicly renegotiated, our nervous systems are on high alert. From skyrocketing rates of depression and anxiety to physical illnesses such as autoimmune diseases and digestive disorders, many women today find themselves living out of alignment with their bodies.”

“Kimberly Johnson is a somatic practitioner, birth doula, and postpartum educator who specializes in helping women recover from all forms of trauma. In her work, she’s seen the same themes play out time and again. In a culture that prioritizes executive function and “mind over matter,” many women are suffering from deeply unresolved pain that causes mental and physical stagnation and illness.”

“In Call of the Wild, Johnson offers an eye-opening look at this epidemic as well as an informative view of the human nervous system and how it responds to difficult events. From the “small t” traumas of getting ghosted, experiencing a fall-out with a close friend, or swerving to avoid a car accident to the “capital T” traumas of sexual assault, an upending natural disaster, or a life-threatening illness—Johnson explains how the nervous system both protects us from immediate harm and creates reverberations that ripple through a lifetime.”

Discussion themes:

• The components of the nervous system — sympathetic, parasympathetic, and social, and how they respond in safety versus when they’re under threat.

• How to use the patterns and clues from our body to tell us more about how our nervous system is reacting (without moralizing or judging).

• The understanding of a “felt sense” and how modern knowledge work reduces our capacity to tap into this bodily wisdom.

How to join us at book club: