New Aniibiish

03/30/2026

Does your therapist’s office have a jar of candy beside the box of Kleenex?

There’s actually more science behind that than you might think.

Sour flavours are intensely stimulating—they activate strong sensory pathways that quickly capture your brain’s attention. This kind of input can interrupt escalating emotional states by shifting focus from internal distress to immediate physical sensation.

In moments of high activation, something like a sour candy can act as a simple, non-harmful “circuit breaker.”

It brings you back into your body.
Back into the present moment.
Back into a place where regulation becomes possible.

So yes… puckering up isn’t just tasty it’s another form of self-care. ❤️

03/27/2026

A new cohort of Experiencing® training starting in Kelowna. Have you been thinking about expanding your skills
or maybe you know someone who may be interested in Somatic Experiencing® training. A flyer is attached with more details. Please feel free to share.

Somatic Experiencing® training starts in Kelowna, BC this May 2026 and there are 10 spots left.

Faculty: Dea Parsanishi - amazing teacher and lovely human ❤️
Location: Kelowna, BC - In person
Dates: Beginner 1: May 22 – 25, 2026
Beginner 2: October 2 – 5, 2026
Beginner 3: February 19 – 22, 2027
Intermediate 1: April 30- May 3, 2027
Intermediate 2: October 15 – 18, 2027
Intermediate 3: January 14- 17, 2028
Advanced 1: April 28 – May 3 2028
Advanced 2: October 20-25 2028
If you have any questions or wish to register, please go on the website: setrainingkelowna.com
Or reach out to Kim at setrainingkelowna@gmail.com

03/23/2026

Why I Use NSDR Daily (and Why I Share It With Every Client)

In a world that constantly asks us to stay “on,” one of the most powerful practices I’ve integrated into my daily routine is NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest). NSDR is not sleep. It’s a structured way of guiding the nervous system into a deeply restorative state while remaining consciously aware.

And for many of the individuals and families I work with—especially those navigating trauma, anxiety, ADHD, or chronic stress this distinction matters. Because for some nervous systems, sleep doesn’t come easily. But rest? Rest can be trained.

NSDR works by gently downshifting the body out of sympathetic activation (fight/flight) and into parasympathetic regulation. Through practices like body scanning, breath awareness, and guided attention, the brain begins to shift its activity patterns supporting recovery, integration, and regulation.

What I consistently observe, both personally and clinically, is:

• Reduced physiological arousal
• Improved emotional regulation
• Enhanced cognitive clarity and focus
• Greater capacity to return to baseline after stress

From a neuroscience perspective, NSDR supports:
• Downregulation of the amygdala
• Increased parasympathetic tone
• Improved dopamine regulation (supporting motivation and attention)
• Memory consolidation and neural recovery

But beyond the science, NSDR teaches the body that it is safe enough to let go, even briefly. And for many, that is where healing begins.

I often tell clients:
You don’t need to “force calm.”
You need to create conditions where your nervous system can find it. Even 10–20 minutes can be impactful.

In my own life, NSDR has become a reset button
a way to pause, recalibrate, and return with more presence.

In clinical practice, it has become a foundational tool accessible, evidence-informed, and deeply regulating.

If you’ve never tried it, consider this your invitation.
Not to do more.
But to allow your system to experience deep rest—on purpose. https://www.hubermanlab.com/nsdr

03/23/2026

Staying informed matters. Being impacted by everything you consume does not.

We are living in an era of relentless information local concerns, global crises, and social issues delivered to us in real time, often without pause. For many people, especially those like myself in a helping profession, this creates a quiet but persistent tension: the desire to stay aware and engaged, alongside a very real need to protect your own nervous system.

Here’s what we know from psychology and neurobiology: the brain does not easily distinguish between a direct threat and repeated exposure to distressing content. Continuous consumption can quietly push us into a state of prolonged activation subtle at first, but cumulative over time. Left unaddressed, this can contribute to emotional fatigue, heightened anxiety, and a creeping sense of helplessness.

Balance, in this context, is not about disengaging or becoming indifferent. It is about intentional engagement.

In practice, that might look like:

→ Choosing set times to check the news, rather than allowing constant exposure
→ Diversifying your information diet to include not only problems, but progress and solutions
→ Noticing when your body shifts into tension and responding with regulation, not more input
→ Drawing a clear boundary between content that informs and content that overwhelms

Remaining informed is an act of responsibility.
Protecting your capacity to stay grounded is an act of sustainability.

You are allowed to care deeply about the world without carrying its weight at every moment.

A regulated, well-resourced nervous system is not avoidance. It is what enables you to remain present, thoughtful, and genuinely effective not just today, but over the long term. Take gentle care of yourself ❤️

03/17/2026

Childhood trauma is not confined to early life; it often persists into adulthood, shaping self-concept, relationships, and one’s internal sense of safety. When early environments lack consistent attunement and emotional security, children adapt in order to preserve connection. These adaptations—such as heightened vigilance, emotional suppression, or people-pleasing—are not deficits, but contextually intelligent survival responses.

Over time, individuals may experience a persistent sense of absence or internal incompleteness, often accompanied by shame and beliefs of unworthiness. Importantly, these experiences reflect unmet developmental needs rather than inherent flaws. The nervous system prioritizes attachment over authenticity, leading to patterns that once ensured connection but may later limit well-being.

Healing remains possible across the lifespan. Through consistent experiences of safety, attunement, and authentic connection, the nervous system can reorganize, allowing individuals to move toward greater integration, self-worth, and relational security. ❤️

03/17/2026

As winter gives way to spring, the season offers a powerful reminder about momentum and renewal. Many people begin the year with strong intentions for change. Yet as responsibilities accumulate and energy fluctuates, those initial resolutions often lose traction. This is a normal human experience, not a personal failure.

Seasonal transitions can function as natural psychological reset points. Longer days, increased sunlight, and visible environmental renewal invite us to reassess our goals with compassion rather than judgment. Progress is rarely linear; it evolves through adaptation.

Three evidence-informed strategies can help re-establish momentum:

• Reduce the scale of the goal. Sustainable change develops through small, repeatable actions rather than bursts of intensity.
• Reconnect with meaning. Motivation strengthens when we remember the purpose behind our efforts.
• Create supportive structure. Gentle routines and realistic expectations help maintain progress when motivation fluctuates.

Growth rarely occurs through dramatic breakthroughs. More often, it emerges quietly through consistent effort, reflection, and patience.

Spring reminds us that new beginnings are not confined to January. Renewal is always available. ❤️

03/16/2026

A regulated nervous system is often misunderstood as a state of perpetual calm or emotional neutrality. In reality, nervous system regulation refers to flexibility and recovery rather than constant stillness. Human neurobiology is designed to respond dynamically to environmental demands; activation of stress responses such as increased heart rate, heightened alertness, or emotional intensity is an adaptive and necessary part of survival. What defines regulation is not the absence of these responses, but the capacity of the autonomic nervous system to return to a baseline state of safety and equilibrium after activation. From a neurobiological perspective, this reflects the ability of the parasympathetic system particularly pathways associated with regulation to re-engage following sympathetic arousal. Individuals with greater regulatory capacity can experience stress, challenge, or emotional disruption while still maintaining the internal resources needed to settle, integrate the experience, and restore balance. Thus, resilience is less about avoiding dysregulation and more about developing the physiological and psychological ability to move fluidly between activation and restoration, allowing the nervous system to recover after life inevitably disrupts equilibrium. ⚖️

03/13/2026

Anxiety and excitement share many of the same physiological features, including an elevated heart rate, increased alertness, and faster breathing. The key difference lies not in the body’s response, but in how the brain interprets that arousal. When the brain interprets these sensations as a signal of threat, the experience is labeled as anxiety. When the same sensations are interpreted as a signal of possibility or readiness, they are experienced as excitement.

Attempting to “calm down” requires the nervous system to significantly reduce its level of arousal, which can be difficult to achieve quickly or intentionally. Cognitive reappraisal offers a more accessible shift: the physiological energy remains the same, but the interpretation changes. Research has shown that when individuals intentionally reframe feelings of anxiety as excitement, they are more likely to adopt an opportunity-oriented mindset rather than a threat-based one, and this shift is associated with improved performance outcomes.

03/07/2026

Five days with the brilliant Martin Warner — Alexander Technique interweaves for Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR). What an experience.

Deep Brain Reorienting, developed by Frank Corrigan, works with the brain’s earliest subcortical orienting responses reaching trauma at its neurological roots, beneath the layers most therapeutic approaches can access.

The Alexander Technique brings a refined somatic awareness to this process cultivating conscious inhibition and release that allows DBR’s deep work to unfold and integrate through the body.

The interweaving of these two approaches is genuinely transformative for trauma-informed practice. I leave with new skills, new understanding, and a deepened sense of what’s possible for myself and the people I work with.

Grateful beyond words to Martin Warner for his masterful teaching, warmth, and depth of knowledge. Highly recommend training with him if you ever get the chance.

02/07/2026

When you find yourself having to navigate your way through a crisis, what can you do to come out on the other side stronger for the experience?

Every crisis involves risk. It may be fraught with danger, but it is also an opportunity for tremendous learning and growth. Crisis is a time of testing, but it is also a time of renewal.

Many people, when faced with crisis, tell themselves that they have failed and convince themselves that there is no point in trying any longer. For example, if a young woman tries to become a professional writer and fails, it does not mean she is a failure as a person or that her life is a failure. It simply means that, at this particular time in her life, her attempts at writing for a living are not working out.

There are many other possible choices she can make, including trying again at some point in the future. She has not failed, and she does not have to give up her dream. But she does need to learn from the attempt and, perhaps, rethink her strategy. Is there another way she can go about it? Does she need more education? More experience? More exposure? Help promoting her work?

Failure is only failure if you let it cause you to quit. If you choose to let it help you, it is merely information you can learn from. Every situation is a learning experience, if you look at it this way - again, it is your attitude toward the experience. You see, it is in meeting crisis with determination that we measure up to life and its challenges. In so doing, we develop tenacity and great inner strength. 🫶🏻

02/02/2026

01/27/2026

In therapy, one of the most harmful myths we still quietly carry is this:

That healing should have a timeline.

That grief, trauma, attachment wounds, or developmental injury should be “processed,” “resolved,” and put away like a closed file.

But trauma does not live in filing cabinets.
It lives in nervous systems. In relationships. In developmental time.

As therapists, we do not get to dictate how long a client takes to metabolize their story.

And more importantly — healing is rarely linear.

More often, it is iterative.

We return to the same material at different ages, in different relationships, with different capacities. What couldn’t be touched at 12 becomes workable at 25. What was cognitively understood at 30 becomes emotionally integrated at 45. What was survived in early adulthood becomes grieved in midlife.

This isn’t failure.

This is development.

The nervous system updates in layers.
Identity evolves in seasons.
Capacity grows in stages.

Trauma-informed care isn’t about “getting over it.”

It’s about:
• expanding capacity
• increasing integration
• restoring choice
• and gently renegotiating old adaptations as life unfolds

Our job is not to rush closure.

Our job is to walk alongside, regulate, scaffold, and respect the pace at which a human system can safely change.

Healing is not a finish line.

It’s a relationship with yourself that deepens over time.

And that is not a bug in the system.

It is the system. ❤️