Dr. Alyssa Runyon, Barrie, ON (2025)

12/22/2023

Exciting Updates for 2024 + Special Holiday Offer Inside! - https://mailchi.mp/7af7be2bfadc/exciting-updates-for-2024-special-holiday-offer-inside

06/22/2022

Check out my new blog post!
Seriously people, this phrase has to go!
Find out why :)

You’ve probably heard that our bodies are made up of trillions of cells, right? Great! I’m about to zero in on the nervous system and brain specifically and these structures are made up of specialized cells called ‘neurons’ Interested yet? Read on… Out of the approximately 68 billion neuro...

03/23/2022

When we use logic, we tend to talk ourselves out of trying new things. And if you’ve been following along with my work, you’ll know that I preach about getting into the present moment because it’s unfamiliar.

When we use logic, we will talk ourselves out of getting present. It’s too risky. Your brain doesn’t know what will happen. It would rather stay in the familiar past.

Think about it. When was the last time you sat down and attempted meditation?

All you are asking yourself to do in meditation is quiet your thoughts (ie. Past memories or future ‘what ifs’) and get into the present moment or nothingness.

Hard to do, I know! I’m serious though. Most people won’t even try meditation because they ‘can’t shut their brain off’.

Yes you can. But shutting it off IS the unfamiliar. It takes time and repetition for that shut off mode to become familiar.

Trust me, nothing dangerous is going to happen if you wake up a little earlier than your alarm, sit your butt down and clear your thoughts.

No matter how much you talk yourself out of doing it, just remember that it is your logic speaking and it’s keeping you trapped in your past.

DM me if you need help getting into the unfamiliar. I have all the right tools for you!

image src: brandlearning.com

03/23/2022

ACIM goes on to say: “Guilt feelings induce fears of retaliation or abandonment and this ensures the future will be like the past”

As I’ve said in the past, my passion is blending ancient wisdom with modern science. To me, it’s the best of both worlds.

Here, we have the wisdom from a spiritual text like ACIM explaining exactly how our autonomic nervous system works with our brain and past memories to keep us safe!
Any fear-based thoughts or memories will continue to loop over and over again in your brain because it’s trying to keep you safe. It doesn’t want you repeating fearful or dangerous behaviours that have harmed you in the past.

The only problem is, is that as you loop on fear, through a process called ‘catastrophizing’, your hippocampus will bring forward MORE fear-based memories and you just spiral downwards into such a fear state that your autonomic nervous system will trigger freeze mode to keep you stuck. It fears that if you act on anything, you will put yourself in harm's way. I see this happen with my patients all the time!

Unfortunately, the product of this is a future that looks exactly like the past. No changes, no unfamiliar. Sounds bad but since you survived it in the past (maybe you didn’t exactly thrive. BUT you did survive), your brain is looking at the odds as good. As long as we keep repeating the past, we know we can survive.

If you would like to stop merely surviving and begin to truly thrive, you need to get into the unfamiliar (ie. The present moment) and show your brain the feedback of “this is safe”. This is literally the exact process that I have turned into a self-guided online program. It takes you out of your familiar stress and pain patterns and forces you to get unfamiliar so that you can shift out of freeze mode and back into the healing parasympathetic state! Link in bio

03/21/2022

Here is a simple way to activate your vagus nerve during times of stress. This will quickly pull you out of fight-or-flight and back into the healing parasympathetic state.

Inhale for a count of 3
Exhale for a count of 6
Repeat 10 times (or for an uncomfortably long time)…

The reason I say “or for an uncomfortably long time”, is because this is the time that our bodies want to freak out and slip back into that familiar state of fear.

When we continue to breathe deeply and slowly, you are reinforcing the feedback of “everything is okay. We are safe in this moment” regardless of what is happening in your external environment.

This is important because it begins to recalibrate your neuroception in a way that creates a safe container within your internal environment.

We can never expect our external environment to be exactly how we want it to be. This is controlling and will eventually fail us.

But what we can do is control our internal environment so that our internally, we are functioning independent of what is happening around us.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried this breathing pattern!

🙏

03/18/2022

ACIM goes on to say: “Guilt feelings induce fears of retaliation or abandonment and this ensures the future will be like the past”

As I’ve said in the past, my passion is blending ancient wisdom with modern science. To me, it’s the best of both worlds.

Here, we have the wisdom from a spiritual text like ACIM explaining exactly how our autonomic nervous system works with our brain and past memories to keep us safe!
Any fear-based thoughts or memories will continue to loop over and over again in your brain because it’s trying to keep you safe. It doesn’t want you repeating fearful or dangerous behaviours that have harmed you in the past.

The only problem is, is that as you loop on fear, through a process called ‘catastrophizing’, your hippocampus will bring forward MORE fear-based memories and you just spiral downwards into such a fear state that your autonomic nervous system will trigger freeze mode to keep you stuck. It fears that if you act on anything, you will put yourself in harm's way. I see this happen with my patients all the time!

Unfortunately, the product of this is a future that looks exactly like the past. No changes, no unfamiliar. Sounds bad but since you survived it in the past (maybe you didn’t exactly thrive. BUT you did survive), your brain is looking at the odds as good. As long as we keep repeating the past, we know we can survive.

If you would like to stop merely surviving and begin to truly thrive, you need to get into the unfamiliar (ie. The present moment) and show your brain the feedback of “this is safe”. This is literally the exact process that I have turned into a self-guided online program. It takes you out of your familiar stress and pain patterns and forces you to get unfamiliar so that you can shift out of freeze mode and back into the healing parasympathetic state! Link in bio

03/11/2022

Oxytocin is a wonderful self-manufactured hormone…

Research shows that it can turn what should be a painful stimulus into pleasure, ecstasy and less well-defined emotional states that we associate with love.

Did you know that oxytocin is specific to mammals?

We have adapted our nervous systems to detect love for purposes of safety and reproduction…

However, now that we don’t HAVE to reproduce, we simply get to enjoy the lovely repercussions of this adaptive change.

And funny fact: a gentle rocking motion like a porch swing or being on a sailboat triggers your nervous system to release oxytocin via a vestibular reflex associated with the vagus nerve.

Do you find a gentle rocking motion soothing? Let me know in the comments below!

If you do, you’re not alone. And you’re not crazy. It’s science! And more importantly, it’s biology designed and adapted specifically for our pleasure.

Again, it’s easy to create your own Heaven on Earth. Our nervous systems are designed to interpret our environment and deliver us feelings of joy, contentment, ecstasy and love.

Want to learn more about this?

Check out my new YouTube Channel called “The Vagus Nerve Channel”. There, I have a Polyvagal Theory book club that breaks down Dr. Stephen Porges’ groundbreaking work chapter by chapter.

Join me! Link in bio

03/09/2022

Life feeling heavy during these winter months?

I love Traditional Chinese Medicine because it honours the elements and the seasons.

Have you ever noticed that the natural world follows the sunset/sunrise schedule, the moon cycle or the weather patterns?

Have you noticed that we are basically the only species that don’t follow these laws?

I mean, sure….we put the boat away after summer ends BUT I mean reeeeally following the seasonal patterns like your life and health depend on it.

Humans have created a life that revolves around a linear economy (Just my opinion btw). We don’t honour the natural rhythms of nature. We expect that the economy and therefore our lifestyles should just keep going up, up, and up. No end and no contentment in sight.

Caterpillars cocoon themselves in order to reach the next step in their life cycle. Aka: they rest!

Bears sleep all winter in a metabolically fasted state. Aka: they rest!

Frogs go under the mud to sleep for the winter. Aka: they rest!

Trees lose their leaves and also go into hibernation in order to conserve energy for the next summer’s crop. Aka: they rest!

When was the last time you took it easy on yourself during the winter?

My advice is to stop complaining about the cold and the darkness and start embracing it for the restful season that it is!

Don’t just save your work holiday hours for the summer...

Take some time this winter to rest.

When we embrace the present state or moments that we encounter for exactly what they are, we create our own little version of Heaven on Earth.

🙏

03/07/2022

Stuck in Freeze mode?

There is great awareness around fight-or-flight versus rest-and-digest…

Have you ever thought of freezing?

It’s sort of a new paradigm since The Polyvagal Theory.

Freeze mode is actually a much deeper state of stress caused by prolonged fight-or-flight. Think of it as basically this: your body kicked into fight-or-flight, activated the sympathetic chain to either run away from your stress and pain or fight it off. After a long time of this reaction failing to get rid of the pain or stress, your nervous system goes into a hibernation-like state.

Freeze mode is all about “lets just sit here and not do anything to help ourselves because it didn’t work in the past. We must just conserve calories now”

Interesting little fact too: studies show that your pain threshold actually increases during freeze mode!

Sooooo if you’re being abuse, you can actually handle more pain coming at you as you’re on a mission to conserve calories….kind of a scary thought when it comes to actual abusive situations, eh?

One of the side effects I’ve noticed in my Vagus Nerve Patients is that if they are in freeze mode when they come to me, the treatment will actually kick them back into fight-or-flight mode to temporarily slide them back across that polyvagal scale. Ultimately, the treatment does shift them into res-and-digest mode but it’s always up to the patients to keep themselves there!

One way to do this is meditation. Settle into your meditation by rubbing your ears and stimulating your vagus nerve in order to prime your parasympathetic nervous system for rest, repair and homeostasis.

03/04/2022

Did you jump on yesterday’s sale?

If so, you’re ready to dive into the first meditation.

Today is National Unplugged Day and what better way to celebrate it than to unplug from the world and tune into yourself and your body.

If you missed the sale from yesterday, visit www.reset3.ca for more purchasing options. (link in bio as well)

Start your Vagus Nerve journey today.

Trust me, your nervous system will thank you

03/03/2022

It’s my 33rd birthday and I want to celebrate!

Please enjoy 33% off of

ALL of my online products for

TODAY ONLY.

🎉🎉🎉🥳🥳🥳

Offer ends March 4th, 2022

03/02/2022

This time of year always makes me break out the journal.

With my birthday around the corner (literally, tomorrow), I like to reflect on how I feel and how the last year has gone.

It’s also a powerful tool within the Reset 3 Program. However, I like to call it ‘reflective prompts’ within the program so there’s no pressure if you don’t like to write.

The whole idea is to simply be reflective. Look at yourself experiencing your life from a 30,000 foot view above you. What experiences have you had? Are you assigning a positive or a negative to these experiences? Or are you just letting them be?

Do you journal?

Dr. Alyssa Runyon

12/22/2023

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