Heyhey, I’ll be back soon with an article on decentralized social media. In the meantime I want to share on another topic that is dear to me and might be interesting to you: nervous system health. More specifically I share bits of my own journey as well as my experience participating in cohort n°3 the Nervous System Mastery course by Jonny Miller.
If you want to skip my story and learn about Jonny’s Nervous System Mastery course, please go to straight to the third section.
Hitting the Bottom
Thirty full inhales and exhales followed by 60 to 90-second breath holds, three times in a row, and I felt like a new person. I had been in the midst of an anxiety rush right as I woke up, buzzing after a night of poor sleep. I didn't really understand what chemical reactions were taking place in my body and brain as I performed breathwork, but my friend Sinclair, also a web3 builder, had suggested I try Wim Hof breathing to deal with anxiety.
It was October of 2021 and I had just stepped down from my Head of Community role at a fast growing digital art platform after years of grinding my way through studies and jobs. “Whenever I reach this milestone I’ll stop hustling”, I often told myself. But year after year, I would set new goals; business school, VC internship, joining a startup, creating my personal brand, posting more: go, go, go! Until I couldn’t.
For 6 months in a row, I used Wim Hof breath-work, sometimes multiple times a day, in order to bring my nervous system back into a regulated state (p.s: I liked this routine but it might not be suitable for everyone). It had grown more and more dysregulated over years of poor self-care and had reached a point where it was too messed up. Poor sleep, clouded thinking, deteriorating relationships. Life had become harder on every front and my body was gradually failing me. It was very frustrating to see my career and personal life limited by my poor mental and, therefore, overall health.
Looking back, I think that I hit the bottom when I finally accepted that I needed to set health as my number one priority for the foreseeable future. It's funny (and ironic) because I was usually priding myself that I would take no shortcuts in life, but I was simultaneously taking a major shortcut by sacrificing my mental and physical resources to other ends. I was burnt out and came up with a new (although naive and contradictory) narrative saying that I needed to flip things on their head and “build such great health that I could grind as much as I wanted without ever burning out again”.
Meeting with my nervous system for the first time
With some crypto savings set aside, I dedicated the majority of 2022 to reclaiming my health and establishing Twoplus, a mental health community for web3 professionals. I began with breathwork, progressed to meditation, and then delved into yoga nidra, deepening my understanding with each practice. While reading Gabor Mate’s book on ADHD (which I'll add to resources at the end), I came to a realization: mental health can be primarily viewed through the lens of neuroscience - the study of neurons. My beliefs, habits, and emotions are all interconnected within a vast neural network, and the cornerstone to it all is the nervous system.
I was an early listener of Huberman's podcast. The 2021 version of me was instantly captivated from the first few episodes. Viewing mental health through a scientific lens lent it a legitimacy that not only resonated with me but also, I felt, would resonate with people around me. It’s annoying to admit but I felt it reassured to hear The Great Science validate some of the Buddhist and psychology principles I had learned earlier on. I guess its hard to escape the culture you grew up in. As I pen this, Huberman's podcast ranks among the Top 5 in the US. No doubts that it addresses a gigantic gap in mental health education which remains to be filled by creators for so many communities.
One such creator, Jonny Miller, is making significant strides in the mission to make mental health more appealing and mainstream. I came across Jonny and the emerging nervous system mastery community on Twitter last year while we were developing the Twoplus coaching program. Jonny's course and methodology appeared as the thing I wish we had created. It uses the nervous system as the core logic on top of which practice is based. Over a year had passed since my lowest point. Though I'd made considerable headway, I knew I had to keep forging ahead. Jonny's second cohort was on the horizon, and I enrolled last minute.
My experience with the Nervous System Mastery Course
It’s April 10th. Jonny and Ocean, the cohort’s community manager, are kicking off cohort n°3 with approximately 200 learners on the Zoom call. Most attendees seem to be in their early 30s or older and have paid $700-900 to attend the 5-week course. I recognize Amanda Laine and Robbie Bent, co-founders of the Othership breathwork app, which I’ve used and genuinely enjoyed this year. I also know two web3 friends had taken cohort n°1 a few months ago and praise it publicly on the course’s landing page. I didn’t engage in forum introductions too much but the vibe was a great fit for me.
Why are we here
Participants have diverse motivations for joining, but they generally revolve around personal well-being, healing from past traumas, burnouts, or enhancing work performance.
How does NSM help us do that
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Grasping the nervous system's mechanisms at a very high level focusing on its 3 main branches and their respective functions.
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Recognizing that our nervous system is accessible, and that its state can be adjusted through practices like breathwork among others.
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Utilizing this understanding to reshape life patterns, fostering wiser, more intentional choices, largely in terms of emotional regulation and better environment design.
The live sessions emphasize practice and interactivity. Theory absorption occurs between sessions through a blend of Jonny's voice recordings, texts, and illustrations. My weekly time investment averaged 60 minutes plus one or two live sessions. I took part in two optional breathwork sessions, particularly resonating with one by ex Rugby player turned breathwork coach: Jacko David Jackson. While I couldn’t commit to more at that time, participants can delve deeper via optional Q&As, guest sessions, and other NSM-themed discussions or group chats ranging from entrepreneurship to parenting. Some participants drop out the course in the first two weeks but retention is high and the good vibes are still here.
My main takeaways
TLDR is that NSM isn't a silver bullet, nothing is, rather I see it as a very powerful model for understanding myself and my overall health. With a clearer understanding of the three nervous system branches and the linked sensations, I have increased my ability to spot when I’m in ‘sympathetic overdrive’. A state that exacerbates my anxiety and energy burn. And when I need to pull the breaks into to a more balanced and pleasant vagus nerve state. A state that allows me to create and socialize while protecting my energy levels. Most often I regulate using NSDR (aka yoga nidra) but medtation, breathwork, socializing or movement also work depending on context.
Jonny offered routines to systematically engage with one's body throughout the day, invaluable for someone like me who has long been detached from their body and all the uncomfortable feelings happening there. Reconnection takes time and practice. Eventually the goal is to be able to process emotions as they arise, preventing them from getting trapped, thereby avoiding emotional debt to pile up and maximizing energy throughout the day, rest thoughout the night.
The above is just my experience and I skipped part of the content that might be interesting to others, including a session to reflect on how we design our daily environments.
What could be improved in the course?
I wish I'd dedicated more time to explore specific topics and get to know other participants better. While I was active during the course, I didn’t establish any lasting connections. This isn't really a fault of the course itself, which is designed to be interactive, but more about where I chose to focus my time. The silver lining is that the course offers lifetime community access, so I have the opportunity to reconnect whenever I'd like. I’ll be looking to do that in the coming months but I’m not sure how yet.
In conclusion, my journey discovering the magic of the nervous system has been very empowering. It's comforting to see people like Jonny and others building entire communities around topics that are largely unaddressed by a culture sometimes struggling to keep up with a rapidly changing world and technology landscape. I hope that courses like this mark the beginning of a larger trend in health education and disease prevention. The NSM community is a key player in this small niche, and as for me, I plan to apply what I've learned for a long time to come.
You can read more information about the NSM community and course here:
Other resources I liked
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Unwinding anxiety - on the brain and breaking anxiety loops
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Scattered minds - false assumptions on ADHD and the true causes
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Meditation interventions to rewire the brain - what different types of practices do to your brain
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The mind illuminated - a comprehensive guide to meditation
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Breath - an entertaining book on the importance of breath with some jawdropping facts
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Restoring pana - deeper read on the breath as a pillar of health, mindblowing as well (haven’t finished yet)
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Insight Timer - for meditation timer and yoga nidra guided sessions
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Yoga Nidra (NSDR) by Ally Boothroyd