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Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever said, “I know what I should do, I just can’t do it,” your nervous system may be stuck in a freeze response. Your mind can be full of plans while your body refuses to cooperate, and that “I can’t move” feeling is more common than most people admit. We get honest about what it’s like to do all the therapy, all the affirmations, all the manifesting and still feel heavy, foggy, unmotivated, or weirdly numb. The missing piece is often nervous system regulation, beca...
If you’ve ever said, “I know what I should do, I just can’t do it,” your nervous system may be stuck in a freeze response.
Your mind can be full of plans while your body refuses to cooperate, and that “I can’t move” feeling is more common than most people admit. We get honest about what it’s like to do all the therapy, all the affirmations, all the manifesting and still feel heavy, foggy, unmotivated, or weirdly numb. The missing piece is often nervous system regulation, because your state of being drives your capacity to take action, feel inspired, and make lasting change.
We walk through the nervous system as the hidden saboteur of growth: how safety and threat shape your energy, your choices, and even what you believe is possible. If you’ve been recovering from narcissistic abuse, chronic stress, burnout, religious manipulation, or a high-control work culture, your body may still be operating in protection mode even when your life looks “fine” on paper. We also connect this to identity change and intuition, not as something mystical you have to earn, but as a grounded connection to your higher self and the person you are here to become.
If this resonates, listen through and then share it with someone who keeps saying, “I know what to do, I just can’t do it.” Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: which nervous system state have you been in most often lately?
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Tabitha MacDonald is an Intuitive Coach and Bodyworker committed to helping people overcome pain fast so they can experience the love, success, freedom, and fulfillment they deserve.
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Soma Rising: Conversations for a Conscious Future
Welcome to Soma Rising, the podcast where science meets spirit and healing becomes the art of alignment.
Join Tabitha MacDonald, intuitive coach, bodyworker, and transformation expert, as we explore the path of the heart — the Golden Path — where health, wealth, love, and purpose flow together as one radiant field of creation.
Each episode invites you to release the ego’s grip and rise into the luminous potential of your soul — where love feels safe, intuition leads, freedom is your birthright, and peace is natural.
Through powerful conversations, personal stories, and Superconscious insights, we bridge the worlds of neuroscience, intuition, and energy healing to help you align your body, mind, and soul with your Higher Self.
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SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you
something.
Have you ever tried to meditate,
but your brain just would not
shut up?
Or tried to work on healing
yourself, but you keep repeating
the same old patterns?
Or maybe you've done all the
mindset work, all the
affirmations, all the therapy,
and you still feel stuck, almost
as if you just can't move.
Sometimes I liken it to feeling
like my feet are in the mud and
I it's no matter what I do, I
can't pull them out.
Or that feeling of being in
quicksand, where you're just
slowly sinking into a pit and
there's nothing you can do,
almost like you've been
immobilized.
So what I realized over the last
couple days is that my nervous
system was the issue.
Not my mindset, not my identity,
not my tools.
It was the one thing I was not
addressing in my journey of
building out my new business or
the extended part of Soma.
So today, what we're gonna talk
about is our nervous system and
why it matters right now.
It is literally the missing
piece and lasting
transformation.
It can be the hidden saboteur of
change.
For a long time, I focused on
all of the wrong things or the
wrong things at the right time,
or the the it was like I would
find the tool, but I was
applying it at the wrong time.
So maybe I found like
manifesting or creating or um,
you know, tapping or breath
work.
I mean, my library of tools for
transformation is is massive.
And um, I will say that even I
sometimes get hung up when it's
like, okay, what tool do I need
right now?
And yesterday I was sitting in a
meeting and I knew what my to-do
list was.
I knew what I had to do
yesterday, but my body hurt.
It felt heavy.
I felt like I just couldn't
move.
Like I just couldn't move.
And I pulled a card from my
deck, and I love the Ask Your
Guides deck from Sonia Chocat.
It's such a great deck.
And um, so I pulled the card and
it said, Rest.
Your healer guides need you to
rest.
And I was thinking in my head,
I'm thinking, I don't have time
to just rest today.
I I'm backlogged.
I've been resting for a long
time now.
Like, I can't just rest.
And no matter what I did, I
could not do anything.
I just I couldn't move.
And I sat in it all day.
And I really was asking myself
questions about like what's
actually going on for you right
now.
And I just kept asking my higher
self and I kept using the tools.
And, you know, in my in my like
thought downloads, I did hear
like you need to manage your
nervous system right now.
That's the priority.
And I wasn't doing it.
I actually stopped going to the
gym because I was blaming it for
hurting me.
Um, I wasn't getting bodymore
consistently like I used to.
I definitely wasn't hydrating.
And I stopped taking basic
supplements that I knew were
helping me regulate my nervous
system, like magnesium and
vitamin B.
And I just started drinking more
coffee, thinking like maybe I'm
just fatigued because it's the
long, dark night of winter in
Oregon and it's depressing.
Um, but it I still just couldn't
get anything to shift.
I couldn't get excited about
anything.
Um, somebody asked me if I was
excited about something, and I
didn't remember the last time I
felt excited about anything.
I didn't feel depressed or like
any of the other things.
I just didn't feel like and I
actually, to be honest, was kind
of relieved to just be out of
feelings with anything.
And the more relieved I felt to
just be out of feelings, the
more dissociated I started
becoming.
And I didn't even know it was
happening.
So sometimes we feel motivated
and clear, and other times we
feel stuck, overwhelmed, or
exhausted.
And no amount of positive
thinking can change it.
I think I've I know when I'm
working with clients and their
nervous system is dysregulated,
it's very difficult for me to
tell on myself sometimes because
we're in our own experience.
Um, that's why asking yourself
questions, looking at who you're
being is important, but we'll
talk about that in a minute.
What I realized yesterday, which
was the light bulb moment, was
that I wasn't paying attention
to how I was actually showing up
in the world and asking myself
better questions about why I was
showing up that way instead of
this way.
And it wasn't about how I was
feeling, it wasn't about what I
was thinking, it was my state of
being.
The state of being is controlled
largely by something deeper than
our thoughts.
It's controlled by our nervous
system.
So I want you to ask yourself,
how are you being today?
Not how you're feeling, not what
you're doing.
You know that question when you
meet someone, you're like, oh,
hey, how are you doing?
Um I want you to just sit with
the question, how are you being
in your life right now?
And your nervous system is going
to determine whether you feel
safe or threatened, whether you
can take action or you feel
stuck, and whether you respond
calmly or react emotionally, and
whether you feel creative and
inspired or overwhelmed and shut
down.
If your nervous system is
dysregulated, your body will try
to protect you, even if your
mind wants something completely
different.
This is why people often say, I
know what I should do, but I
can't seem to make myself do it.
It's not a willpower problem,
it's a nervous system problem.
Understanding your nervous
system state is the missing
piece in long-lasting healing,
growth, and identity changing.
In Soma Tribe, it's basically
the whole thing is around
changing your identity.
And not because there's anything
wrong with who you are now, but
it is really a system in of
tools to help you shift your
identity.
Most of the people who come in
there have endured some kind of
narcissistic abuse, either in
their childhood or in a past
relationship or, you know, from
religious um manipulation or
cults.
Yes, that's also narcissistic
abuse when it's abused, um,
coming out of a corporate
environment, which is heavily
narcissistic.
It was funny because I didn't
really realize what I was
building when I was building it.
It was kind of like if you'll
build it, then it'll start
making sense.
And then when I started taking
the big picture look at it, I
was like, oh, I've been building
a full-blown narcissistic
recovery program because it's
basically helping people
restructure their identity after
prolonged periods of either
trauma or narcissistic abuse.
And I don't, I don't pitch it as
a trauma recovery program, but
that's basically what I built it
for was my own healing and um
trauma recovery.
And also basically helping you
shift into the identity of who
you're becoming in a way that's
very gentle and and powerful
because this has a lot to do
with intuition.
Intuition is basically you being
deeply connected with your
higher self, who you really are,
not who you were sold to be, not
who you thought you should be,
but who your soul came here to
be.
And that's basically intuition.
It's yes, I teach people how to
work with their guides, I teach
people how to work with angels,
I teach people how to use cards
and all of the different types
of intuition and the Enneogram
and all these fun tools, but the
essence of intuition is
literally just connecting in
with your higher self and being
like, who am I here to be?
And what is the path for me
right now in this stage of my
life?
And it's gonna change often.
Now, if your nervous system,
you've done all the identity
work, you've done the healing
work, you've done the things,
but you still can't seem to take
action, your nervous system is
not aligned because your soul's
plan for your life might not
feel that safe.
And your ego is gonna fight you.
This is where you want to make
sure that you're using
understanding, comprehension.
Is this a nervous system issue?
Is this a trauma response?
Is this an ego state, inner
child?
Is this, you know, what is it?
But I would just want to invite
you to just start with the
nervous system because that's
the foundation of
transformation, is the nervous
system.
And I don't know why I was so
shocked to hear this answer
freely flow from me this morning
when I note this.
I teach this in my clinic.
But like I said before, I
couldn't see it because it was
my own nervous system that was
changing my perspective of
reality.
So the questions that I want you
to just sit with is who am I
here to be?
And how am I being right now?
And the first question is
really, do you feel safe in the
world right now with who you
are, with how the world is?
And if not, it's really hard to
make changes in your life to
grow if you don't even have a
foundation of safety.
Now, I will say there's a lot of
growth work that will make you
feel unsafe because it's gonna
make you become the next version
of you, which will absolutely
feel like a threat to your
identity.
But the question you want to
just ask every morning is how
can I create safety for me to
grow?
And um it's really important for
you to understand your the role
of your nervous system in that
process.
Because I think as a collective,
we're all being asked to grow
right now.
We're all being asked to step
into our intuitive nature of
really being what our soul came
here to be.
And it is because there is so
much drama in the world right
now.
There is so much control, there
is so much narcissistic abuse on
our planet at the moment.
And when I really connect in
with my higher self, and she
keeps leading me to work with
narcissism, and I'm like, then I
don't want to.
Um, and then she keeps revealing
to me why it's so important that
I do want to.
And then I get on board and I'm
like, okay, that's right.
I'm a why person, I need to
understand.
But right now, with constant
social media and constant
advertising and constant selling
and constant control over your
mind, it's more important than
ever that we really learn how to
regulate our nervous system,
connect in with our higher self,
and to understand who we came
here to be.
Because the world needs everyone
to be who they were meant to be.
So when we're looking at the
different nervous system states,
I'm just gonna go through the
different states and I'll expand
on this in coming episodes.
Uh, but when we're in shutdown,
which is what I was in
yesterday, which was total
shutdown.
Like someone flipped the
emergency switch, my whole
system went k-chonk, and I
couldn't have moved off the
couch if you had paid me.
Um, in this state, the body is
looking to conserve energy
because it gets overwhelmed.
You may experience exhaustion,
numbness, low motivation, and
complete withdrawal.
Your nervous system is trying to
protect you by slowing
everything down.
Freeze mode is when your body
feels overwhelmed but unable to
escape.
It may freeze.
You may experience feeling
stuck, procrastination,
difficulty making decisions, or
just total mental overwhelm.
In the fawn state, your safety
is going to be sought through
pleasing others.
You may notice people pleasing,
avoiding conflict, prioritizing
other people's needs, difficulty
in saying no.
This is a very common strategy
for healers and people who work
in the healing arts.
And I that was one of the things
that I think, like during COVID,
that hit me the hardest was I
didn't know who I was when I
wasn't helping other people.
And that's because my nervous
system was always in fight,
flight, or fawn.
And that was like, if I can help
other people, I'll be safe.
If I can help other people, I'll
be safe.
But I put safety outside of me,
not inside of me.
So I didn't know how to create
that feeling without having
somebody around me that needed
to be helped or saved.
Fawn state is definitely the
people pleasing, right?
Is avoiding conflict,
prioritizing everybody else's
needs, and a difficulty in
saying no when someone asks you
a question.
Fight is the nervous system
prepares to defend itself.
You may experience constant
irritation, frustration,
defensiveness, anger.
Um, you might feel more
combative, like, you know, you
just want to take down the
system.
Fight can be helpful.
It can also be dangerous when
it's not checked against who you
are.
Flight, the body prepares to
escape.
You may notice anxiety, urgency,
racing thoughts, difficulty
slowing down.
This is a very high stress
anxiety state.
Racing mind at night, you're
unable to sleep, you actually
don't want to come out of it
because when you're in flight,
your nervous system feels like
it's the most important thing to
not get out of it.
Because your unconscious mind is
literally sending you messages
that you're being chased by a
saber-toothed tiger and you
better not stop running or it's
gonna get you.
Now, we can use this in a
healthy state as well in order
to get us into momentum.
A regulated state is this
balanced state where you have
calm focus, steady energy, clear
thinking, the ability to take
aligned action, and you just
feel like everything's okay.
When the nervous system feels
deeply safe and engaged, that's
when you go into your creative
flow state.
You get inspiration, your
intuition is on fire, you're in
really creative problem solving.
I like to call it more creation,
where your creative, your
creativity and your vision is
like really like in sync with
your higher self.
And like you just see solutions
everywhere.
Like that's that is my natural
state, is to be in creative
flow.
So when all I see is problems
and I can't see like the
solution, I know I'm not in my
natural way of being.
Because I am the person who
typically only sees solutions
everywhere I go.
I don't see, I don't really
engage with problems.
I just see solutions.
I mean, I do, I process them
really quickly though.
Like I can see the problem and
then I get right into the
solution.
But lately I've only been seeing
problems.
And when I say lately, I mean
probably a good couple of years.
Like it was, I mean, my ability
to maintain creative flow has
been diminishing over the last
couple of years, where I just
keep seeing problems.
And um I think that might be
kind of global and also where I
was putting my attention and the
fact that I wasn't even like
addressing or acknowledging my
nervous system state on a daily
basis like I used to.
And um what I would just want to
offer is that none of these
states are they they don't mean
something is wrong with you.
They just, they're just signals
from your nervous system about
how safe or threatened your body
feels.
It's important that you learn to
recognize these states because
you need to respond with the
right tools instead of fighting
your body.
So, what I mean by that is if
you're using the wrong tool in
the in the state that you're in,
then it's not gonna work and
you're gonna think, oh, this
doesn't work for me.
I'm broken.
I'm the the one person on the
planet who can't be helped.
And that's a problem because
you're not.
It's just that you haven't yet
learned to use the tools to
manage your nervous system and
to regulate your state.
Tony Robbins, when I was at the
um Awaken the Giant within
conference, he was super huge on
every couple of like every hour.
So we were constantly up, we
were moving.
He was constantly getting us to
regulate our nervous system in
order for us to maintain that
state of growth and
transformation, which is in the
flow state.
And that included dancing,
connecting with other people,
and it was a ton of breath work,
visualization, gratitude.
These things bring your nervous
system up into a into an
enlightened state of being.
And that is something like if
your nervous system has been in
a like really shut down state
for a long period of time, this
is one of the hardest to come
out of.
Because I've even had clients
come in and they were like, I
just really need to like rest
and heal right now.
And I'm like, Yeah, but how long
have you been there?
Like, you don't want to get
stuck there for too long because
you'll like almost get locked in
this prison of I just need
comfort and I don't want to be
bothered.
And I think that's kind of where
some of my problem was over the
last couple of years was I just
wanted to hunker down into a
cozy bunker and pretend like the
world outside of me was not
existing.
Now, that was important for the
stage of the journey that I was
in.
There's always room for that.
And I will say, you do need to
schedule those days in for
yourself, especially if you're
struggling with burnout or if
you're healing from narcissistic
abuse, because your identity
needs a minute to shift, like to
go, oh my gosh, I'm not in that
anymore.
I don't know who I am, but like
I'm not that and I'm not that.
And you're you go into this
state of limbo that can be very
challenging for your identity.
So I'm not saying not to go into
that state.
I'm saying don't get stuck there
because I I can definitely see
how I was getting stuck there.
And then I looked around and I
was like, oh my God, like you,
there's a big mess around you
that you couldn't even see
because you were so in free or
not the deep shutdown.
Okay, so the first step is
simply learning to notice your
nervous system state.
Instead of asking, how do I
feel?
Ask yourself, how am I being?
What state is my nervous system
in right now?
Now, the best way to do that is
to do a daily check-in with your
body.
How does my body feel right now?
Is it heavy or numb, tense or
stuck, anxious or restless, calm
and steady, energized or
inspired?
Question two, how easy does
action feel right now?
Is it impossible, stuck,
rushing, manageable or creative?
Number three, what does the
world feel like right now?
Is it overwhelming, threatening,
neutral, safe, or full of
possibility?
Your answers will usually point
to one of the nervous system
states that you are currently
operating in.
Another powerful clue is simply
looking at how you have been
behaving.
Ask yourself, who have I been
behaving like?
And just kind of take a little
inventory of your day.
Did you hydrate?
Did you eat healthy meals?
Did you move your body?
Did you get any sunlight?
And if you live in the
Northwest, did you use your
sunlight lamp?
If you don't have one, you
should get one.
Did you set boundaries, not just
with other people, but with
yourself?
And did you take breaks
throughout the day?
Did you give yourself time to
reset?
Did you take care of yourself?
Or have you noticed
procrastination, people
pleasing, rushing, irritability,
and exhaustion?
Your behaviors will reveal your
nervous system state more
clearly than at anything else.
Step three use the right tool
for the right state.
Once you identify your state,
you can respond appropriately.
For instance, if you're in
shutdown, your body may need to
rest and energy restoration.
This might be where you're
listening to some like energy
healing meditations.
Um, this could be where you're
doing some just like self-care.
Like today is the day I need to
like maybe knit by the fire and
have some tea and just be with
me.
I'm just gonna say, please don't
stay there too long.
I will say that that's one of
the things it's one of the
easiest states to get stuck in
because it's just like nothing
matters.
Nothing.
And and in this state, it's kind
of comfortable.
And it's almost like, well, why
would I want to come out of this
cozy little cottage that I've
created inside of myself?
And, you know, it's just
important to pay attention so
that you don't get stuck there.
If you're in a free state, your
body needs movement.
And I'll say that in shutdown,
your body also needs movement
because sometimes it just needs
a kickstart to your electrical
system to get you moving.
A very easy practice is this one
for just moving energy through
your body.
Um, it's called like a wobble
dance.
You literally just stand up and
shake your whole body and put on
some music that that you like
that wakes you up.
Uh, I found some really cool new
playlists on Spotify.
I'll see if I can link them in
here, but you know, anything
that just gets you moving and
that makes you feel good.
And then you just shake your
whole body.
It doesn't matter if you're a
dancer, if you're not a dancer,
you just want to make sure
you're standing and that you're
shifting and shaking your entire
all of your limbs.
If you're in fight or flight, or
if you're in flight, your body
needs slowing and grounding.
So if you're like go, go, go,
go, go, go, go all day, you need
to just stop and ground.
And I think I have some
grounding meditations on my
podcast.
If not, go on YouTube and you
can find a million of them.
You just need to just slow down
for a minute, take a deep
breath, and come back into your
body.
If you are regulated, that is
the time to take meaningful
action, right?
So you're gonna want to take
action from that place where you
feel safe instead of constantly
challenging yourself into a
state of lack of safety.
Now, if you're in fight, watch
out who you're arguing with and
who you're picking a fight with.
And really go like, is this
really the best time to have
this confrontation with someone,
or do I need to get regulated
first?
And the answer is you need to
get regulated first.
Now, how do we apply this to
life?
Imagine what changes when you
begin paying attention to your
nervous system.
Instead of judging yourself, you
start observing yourself.
Instead of pushing harder, you
choose tools that help your body
and your system regulate.
Instead of feeling stuck in
patterns, you begin to recognize
when your nervous system is
protecting you and when it is
holding you back.
The awareness creates space for
something very powerful, which
is intentional change.
As your nervous system becomes
more regulated, you gain greater
access to clarity, creativity,
resilience, aligned action.
And over time, this supports the
process of stepping into a new
identity and way of being in the
world.
Transformation is not just about
changing your thoughts, managing
your feelings, or thinking more
positively.
It's about learning how to
support your body, your mind,
your nervous system so they can
move in the same direction with
coherence.
And that begins with awareness.
So I'm gonna ask you a few
questions.
Which nervous system state do
you experience most often
lately?
Which behaviors tend to show up
when you are in that state?
And then what small action could
help support your nervous system
today?
If you're not sure, ask yourself
why you're choosing to stay
confused about who you are
being.
Drink a glass of lemon water
with Celtic sea salt in it and
take some vitamin B.
And then ask yourself again
what's the next step today to
get a better understanding of
how I am being in the world.
I hope this um episode is
helpful to you.
I really think that I usually
get a big lesson when it's time
to teach that to the people that
I work with.
And regulating the nervous
system state, especially with
all that is going on in the
world, is the top priority for
most of us right now.
And learning how to be the
authority of your own nervous
system is one of the most
powerful tools that you can
learn in your in your journey to
who you are here to become.
I hope you have a great day.
Much love.