The Road to Recovery: Common Steps to Healing Chronic Neuroplastic Symptoms

At Living Proof, one of the questions our recoveree team is most commonly asked is...

What EXACTLY did you do to recover?

In other words, what's the roadmap for healing chronic neuroplastic symptoms?

We understand why this is a pressing question for anyone living with debilitating chronic symptoms as naturally you long for healing. You want to reclaim your life. You are most likely here on our website because you have discovered the science of neuroplasticity, you believe it applies to your symptoms, and it has given you real hope for recovery. But knowing how to implement that science in order to heal is another thing entirely.

And so the question of implementation is the topic of today's blog, which comes from the heart and lived experiences of our team.

An uncomfortable truth

Truth be told, there isn't a universal roadmap to recovery. The journey will likely look at little different for each of us because each person's situation is unique.

Each person's nervous system is unique.

Learning to listen in to your own nervous system and learn what it needs in this moment to feel safer in the world is an inside job. However, support is available and we can learn so much from the journeys of others - and that includes discovering the common steps that many of us need to take on the road to recovery.

1) Steep yourself in the science of neuroplasticity

Soak up the science from experts. Allow it to truly land and reassure you, to provide hope and signal safety to your brain.

Once we understand deeply that neuroplastic symptoms are not rooted in physical damage and that they are REVERSIBLE, we can begin unlearning our symptoms by dismantling the fear that keeps them alive.

2) Soothe your nervous system

There are many beautiful mind-body practices you can use to communicate safety to the brain through the body, such as breathwork, mindfulness meditation and somatic (body-based) techniques.

Find practices that resonate with you personally and do them little and often (a wonderful way to promote neuroplastic change).

There might also be shifts you need to make within your life to support the nervous system by reducing stress and pressure, including self-imposed pressures (more on this later!).

3) Retrain your brain

Become mindful of your thoughts about your symptoms. Notice when you are responding (naturally) with fear and hyperfocus. Meet these thoughts with deep compassion (they are a very human responses to debilitating symptoms).

Then kindly but firmly redirect yourself towards a healthier perspective. One that is grounded in neuroscience. Fine the words of safety and reassurance that truly resonate with you.

When we repeat these messages, overtime we retrain the brain to meet symptoms with safety, which rewires neural pathways.

4) Become aware of and process your emotions

Suppressing our emotions can become so habitual - but this habit teaches the brain that emotions are not safe to feel, which triggers the nervous system and our stress responses.

Finding healthy ways to express and process our emotions (for example, through journalling, artistic expression and embodiment practices) supports nervous system regulation and neuroplastic healing.

5) Improve stress management and self-care

We are all exposed to stress in our lives (at work, in our families and relationships, etc.) but we can use proactive strategies to support stress management including relaxation techniques, healthy lifestyle choices and reframing our perspectives.

Rather than always pushing through to meet the demands upon us, we can choose to honour our needs for self-care, rest, relaxation, play, connection and joy! All of this actively helps to soften the impact of stress.

6) Shift habits and patterns that dysregulate

Habits like perfectionism, people-pleasing, pushing ourselves hard and self-criticism often develop in response to our early environments and relationships. There purpose is to help keep us safer in the world.

However, these habits can also ramp up inner tension.

Becoming aware of these patterns and moderating them (even just a little) can take some pressure off the nervous system and support recovery.

7) Nurture self-compassion

It's very hard to feel safe and to regulate the nervous system if we are being hard on ourselves all the time.

Learning how to speak to and treat ourselves with kindness is at the heart of neuroplastic healing. This includes meeting mistakes with compassion, reducing self-pressure, as well as protecting our boundaries and voicing our 'no' when this is needed.

All of this work supports the unwinding of our threat physiology.

8) Reconnect with all the wonderful things in life!

Life with chronic symptoms can become quite dark and intense. Often we shrink our lives to try to avoid and manage the pain, which ends up adding to our distress.

Reconnecting with our joy, hobbies, passions, loved ones and identity outside of symptoms sends a powerful safety message to the nervous system - one that truly helps us to heal.

Even if there are loved activities you can't fully reconnect with now, find small and simple pleasures - and lean in! We can't emphasise enough how important this is. Joy is medicine.

A few final words

Neuroplastic healing is a very personal journey. One of self-discovery and transformation. Whilst to some extent, it is an inside job, we can learn so much from other people's journeys - and we can receive invaluable support from recoverees. Lean into that support. Let it guide you whilst building the confidence to turn towards yourself, to ask yourself this question:

Why is the threat level in MY brain high?

And what steps could I take to reduce this?

And then start taking them. Go softly. Be gentle and kind to yourself as you progress.

Recovery is possible.