How To Stop The Boom Or Bust Cycle
(FREE WEBINAR)
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What You Need To Know
Both the Boom Or Bust Cycle, and Expansion Contraction Cycle involve activity, symptoms and a response to symptoms.
But there is a crucial difference between the two!
Boom or Bust Cycle
(Approach & Response)
The Approach:
1. Unintentional Movement
2. No sense of soft limits
3. Urgent/Rushed
4. Lacking Pacing/Rest Breaks
The Response:
1. Down Rabbit Hole - Fear Anger Despair
2. Symptoms Are To Be Feared (make us worse)
3. Deepens Neural Anchors
4. Sends Messages of Danger to the Brain
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Expansion & Contraction Cycle
(Approach & Response)
The Approach:
1. Intentional Movement
2. Great Sense of Soft Limits
3. Mindful, Embodied Approach
4. Pacing/Sandwhiching Rest Breaks
The Response:
1. Watching Symptoms Without Emotion
2. Sending Messages of Safety To The Brain
3. Symptoms Are A Tool For Recovery
4. Unravels Neural Anchors
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Tips For How To Cultivate Regulation
Somatic Work
PolyVagal Theory
Breath-work
Meditation
Internal Family Systems
Trauma Healing
Attachment Work
Safe Self Touch
The Quicksand Illness
Just like falling into quicksand, resistance and struggling only drives us deeper into MECFS. Surrender and becoming still is what is needed; then we can slowly wiggle out, just as we would in quick-sand.
Why Symptoms Are Needed For Recovery
Symptom response (fear, anger, despair) create more arousability in the brain, and deepen neural anchors around activity. Avoiding PEM causes our world to shrink, fear to increase, and crashes to come easier.
While the illness is indeed physical, our emotional response can drive us deeper into the illness due to the biomechanics of how emotions impact our stress response. Therefore, an altered emotional response to symptoms can help unravel the anchors and retrain the stress response.
Where do you stand in the quicksand?
1. Boom or Bust
2. Stuck and Stable
3. Expanding and Contracting (Recovering)
3 Tools for Stabilization
1. Mindfulness Meditation
- slow down internal speedometer
2. Tracking
- for two weeks to get a sense of wobbles, rest and activity levels, so you can find out whether you need to pull back or expand.
3. Pacing
- break tasks into manageable chunks, and sandwhich all activity with TRUE rest.
