Nervous System 101 ™
Nothing changes until your nervous system feels safe.
Nervous System 101 is a clear, science-based foundation that explains how your nervous system works, so you can understand your reactions and begin real regulation.
with Shalini Cameron, Somatic Psychotherapist
The foundation real healing is built on
Not understanding your nervous system is exhausting and frightening.
It can leave you questioning yourself, your body, and whether real change is even possible.
I know this place well — not just professionally, but personally.
This work exists because I once needed someone to explain what was happening inside me ...
When you understand your nervous system, your experiences start to make sense. Instead of feeling confused by your symptoms or reactions, you start to see clear patterns.
Rather than fearing what’s happening in your body, you understand why it’s happening. That understanding alone can reduce fear, soften self-blame and ease overwhelm — giving your healing a clear direction.
Not understanding your nervous system is exhausting. And over time, it can make you doubt yourself.
You may have worried that you’ll never fully heal, or that something is fundamentally wrong with you.
You may have noticed the same emotional patterns repeating — in yourself, in relationships — even when life looks calmer on the surface.
You may feel overwhelmed, reactive, or shut down, and judge yourself for not coping “better”
You may have tried therapy, mindset work, or coping strategies that helped temporarily, but didn’t explain what your body was actually doing.
If this feels familiar, you are not failing.
You’ve just never been given a clear, accurate explanation of your nervous system Without that understanding, its almost impossible to change whats happening -no matter how much effort you put in.
Imagine if things finally made sense…
-
You understood your reactions instead of blaming yourself anxiety, shutdown, overwhelm — not as flaws, but as your nervous system doing what it learned to do.
-
You have a clear direction of your healing path ahead.
-
You could see stress and trauma as patterns, not personal failure So shame softens, fear eases, and your body feels less like the enemy.
-
You understood why the past still shows up, because your nervous system learned safety a long time ago.
-
You knew how to meet yourself when things get hard. Without forcing calm. Without panicking. With steadiness and clarity instead.
This work doesn’t rush healing. It gives you understanding of how your nervous system actually works, the affect of trauma and stress on the nervous system -that’s where real change begins.
Nervous System 101 distils years of clinical polyvagal training and experience into three hours, essentials nervous system education-explained simply, visually and with our overwhelm,
When you see your nervous system clearly…
You begin to understand why certain situations feel overwhelming, why your body reacts before you can think, and why calming down isn’t something you can simply decide to do.
You start to see how stress and trauma shaped your nervous system — and how those patterns continue to influence how safe, connected, or regulated you feel. With that understanding, you’re no longer guessing what your body needs.
You have a clear framework for working with your nervous system, rather than fighting it and can begin to calm responses before they takes over.
You are no longer guessing what your body needs— you will have a clear way to understand it..
You have a clear framework for working with your nervous system, rather than fighting it.
Introducing
Nervous System 101
A three-part foundation course for understanding your nervous system — how it works, how it learned to protect you and how stress and trauma still shape your responses today.
The Structure
Class 1 | Your Nervous System Map
Every form of healing depends on this foundation Before regulation, before tools, before deeper work — your nervous system needs to be understood. Class 1 provides the base layer everything else is built on.
Class 2 | Survival States in Daily Life
This is how the map comes alive. In Class 2, you learn how your nervous system moves through survival states such as fight, flight, freeze, and shutdown — and how these states influence your emotions, behaviours, and reactions in everyday life. You’ll begin to recognise your own patterns with more precision and less judgement, understanding your reactions as protective responses rather than personal flaws. This class builds directly on the foundation of Class 1.
Class 3 | Trauma & Chronic Stress Explained
Class 3 explores how chronic stress and all types of trauma, including complex trauma, leave lasting imprints on the nervous system — shaping how safe, connected, or regulated your body feels over time to yourself and in relationships. This class brings deeper meaning to the map, helping you understand why certain patterns persist and why healing often requires more than insight alone. It’s trauma-informed, steady, and grounded — and designed to be taken after you understand the basics.
Each class builds on the last, giving you a clear, layered understanding of your nervous system — from basic function, to survival responses, to the long-term impact of stress and trauma.
After completing Nervous System 101, you will have:
-
A clearer understanding of why your body reacts the way it does across trauma, anxiety, shutdown, overwhelm and emotional reactivity.
-
Language for what your’e experiencing, so yo can make sense of your patterns without pathologising or blaming yourself.
-
The ability to recognise survival and stress patterns in yourself and in daily life. Understand when your nervous system is in protection, rather than regulation.
-
A grounded framework for working with your nervous system in daily life. So you know how to meet your system where it is, rather than pushing it to be somewhere it isn’t.
-
An understanding of how stress and trauma imprint on the nervous system. How past experiences continue to shape your reactions, capacity and patterns, even when life looks “fine” on the outside.
-
A clear sense of where you are and where to begin. So you can stop guessing, stop overloading yourself, and start in the right place.
One class leads to the next….
Class One gives you the map…
Class Two shows you how the system moves within it…
Class Three explains how stress and trauma have shaped the terrain…
Class One Of Nervous System 101
Class One: Your Nervous System Explained.
Understand how your nervous system actually works, why your body reacts the way it does, and why healing hasn’t worked the way you hoped in less than an hour.
If you live with anxiety, overwhelm, shutdown, emotional swings, chronic stress, or symptoms that don’t seem to make sense, this class explains why.
Not by adding more techniques.
Not by telling you to think differently.
Not by pushing your body to “calm down”.
But by showing you how your nervous system actually works and how it has been shaping your reactions all along. Most people are given coping strategies without ever being taught the system underneath them.
This class gives you that missing map.
Nervous System 101 | Class 1
This is the essential piece most people are missing..
Most of us were never taught how the nervous system works.
Instead, we are given advice like:
calm yourself down
manage your anxiety
regulate your stress
think more positively
But very little explanation of what is actually happening inside the body when those states appear
Without a clear understanding of the nervous system, it’s easy to:
• assume something is “wrong”with you
• blame yourself for responses you can’t control
• feel frustrated when techniques don’t work.
This class fills in what was missing.
Every form of healing depends on this foundation. Before regulation, before tools, before deeper work — your nervous system needs to be understood. Class 1 provides the base layer everything else is built on.
Imagine feeling like…
You’re no longer confused by your body responses.
Your symptoms have an explanation.
You finally have a map instead of guesswork.
Inside Class 1, you’ll learn:
-
How the nervous system is organised
A clear, human explanation of the autonomic nervous system — so you understand what’s happening underneath anxiety, shutdown, overwhelm and stress.
No jargon. No overwhelm.
-
The three core nervous system states
How calm, mobilised (fight/flight), and shutdown states work and how the body moves between them automatically, without conscious choice.
-
Why your reactions don’t stop just because life is safer now
How past stress and overwhelm shape present-day responses — without blame, pathology, or diagnosis.
-
Why symptoms can feel confusing or contradictory
Why you can feel anxious and exhausted, wired and numb, alert and collapsed and how this makes sense through a nervous system lens.
-
Why “calm down” advice often doesn’t land
Why logic, reassurance, and mindset tools fail when the nervous system is still scanning for threat.
-
How to recognise what state your system is in
So you can begin noticing patterns rather than judging yourself for reactions you didn’t choose.
-
Why understanding is the first step in healing
This class doesn’t teach regulation yet, it gives you orientation. Orientation alone often reduces fear, confusion and self-blame.
-
A clear internal language you can return to
so you are set for the future on nervous system regulation
What Class 1 Helps You Understand About Healing:
-
Healing follows nervous system state — not willpower
You’ll see why the body cannot move toward ease or change while it still perceives threat.
-
The nervous system sets the conditions for change
Thoughts, emotions, and behaviours are shaped by the state underneath them.
-
Symptoms are signals, not failures
You’ll understand why symptoms often intensify when the system is overwhelmed — not because healing isn’t working, but because protection is active.
-
Understanding itself reduces threat
When the nervous system is no longer confused or blamed, it often begins to settle on its own.
This is not regulation yet; but the foundation regulation depends on.
Who is this for?
This class is for you if:
You feel anxious, overwhelmed, reactive, shut down, or emotionally flat — and want a real explanation.
You’ve tried mindset work or coping tools, or ‘calming’ techniques, but your body still reacts under stress.
You want to understand what state your nervous system is in and why your reactions make sense.
You’re tired of blaming yourself and want clarity instead
You want a solid, grounded foundation before doing anything deeper
This class is especially supportive if you’ve been told what to do -but never taught what’s actually happening inside your body.
Who this is NOT for?
This class may not be the right fit if:
You’re looking for a quick fix, hack, or “calm down in 5 minutes” solution
You want trauma processing, emotional release work, or therapy-style exploration
You believe the answer is simply to “try harder” or “think differently”
You want a highly technical neuroscience course with heavy academic language.
You’re not open to slowing down and learning how your system works first.
This class doesn’t push change- it creates the conditions for change.
This course is different…
Gives you the missing explanation
Instead of focusing on symptoms or trying to manage them, this course explains what your nervous system is doing underneath them — so anxiety, shutdown, and overwhelm finally make sense.
Learning with direction and clarity.
Removes confusion from healing
You don’t need to guess, push or force change. When you understand how your nervous system works, you have you a clear starting point and a way to orient yourself without self-blame or pressure
Clarirty comes first. Change follows.
Made for overwhelmed systems
Created specifically for anxious, reactive, or shut-down bodies. Gentle pacing, simple language no jargon. No demand to ‘do more’.
Learning here is designed to settle, not stimulate.
This class gives you the essentials understanding and psycho-education your nervous system needs before any nervous system regulation, process or release can work,
You can’t regulate what you dont know..
How Class One Is Taught
-
A Visual Nervous System Guide and Workbook
This class is supported by a clear, visual workbook designed to make the nervous system understandable — not overwhelming. Rather than long explanations, you’re guided through simple maps and diagrams that show what your system is doing and why. It’s a grounding reference you can return to whenever your body feels confusing or reactive. -
Grounded, Paced teaching
The teaching is slow, clear, and intentionally paced. Each concept builds gently so your system can absorb the information without overload. There’s no jargon, no academic language, and no pressure to “get it right.”
-
Designed for Overwhelmed Systems
Everything about this class is created with dysregulated systems in mind.Calm visuals. Spacious layouts. Simple, precise language.Learning here is meant to feel stabilising — not demanding. -
Lifetime Access
You can move through the material at your own pace. Return whenever you need to re-orient, remind yourself what’s happening, or come back to the bigger picture.This is foundational learning — and it’s yours to keep.
Bonus workbook included, limited time offer
FREE BONUS with CLASS 1 (Value £18)
Meeting Your Nervous System Workbook
A beautifully designed self guided printable workbook, designed to help you start noticing and understanding your nervous system patterns in real time.
This companion resource supports Class 1 by giving you structured pages to observe your body, track stress responses, and reflect on how your nervous system has learned to protect you
What’s included:
Clear explanations of nervous system states (regulation, mobilisation, shutdown) in simple, everyday language
Guided reflection pages to map your own stress responses and protective patterns
Letter-style exercises that help you build understanding and compassion for your nervous system’s role
Daily practice pages to support awareness without overwhelm
Space to track sensations, emotions, and patterns over time
This class gives you the base layer: a clear understanding of how your nervous system works, before you try to change it.
FAQ
-
Because the nervous system doesn’t change through instruction — it changes through felt safety and accurate information.
If your system doesn’t understand what’s happening, it stays vigilant.
This class gives your system orientation. That alone reduces threat.
As a psychotherapist, I see this again and again: when people finally understand why their body reacts the way it does, their system softens without effort.
-
Most online content gives fragments — tips, tools, or simplified explanations.
This class gives you a coherent map.
Instead of collecting more techniques, you learn:
• how the system is organised
• how it decides between safety and threat
• why certain patterns repeat even when “life is fine”
This kind of understanding creates stability, not dependence on tools.
-
Yes — and there’s nothing wrong with you.
Many people feel:
• relief
• sadness
• validation
• or a quiet sense of “oh… that explains so much”
That isn’t overwhelm. That’s your system recognising itself. You are not being pushed into anything. You can pause, step back, or return later.
-
This class does not replace diagnosis or therapy — but it reframes them.
You’ll learn how many symptoms are nervous system responses, not personal failures or permanent traits.
For many people, this is the first time their experience has been explained in a way that feels accurate and kind.
-
Will this bring up the past?
The class does not guide you into memories or emotional processing.
However, understanding the nervous system often brings clarity about why certain experiences affected you the way they did.
If something arises, that’s information — not something you have to fix or push through.
-
Then this class is especially important. When a system has been under stress for months or years, jumping straight into “regulation” or “healing work” can feel destabilising.
This class is about orientation first — helping your system understand where it is and why.
Safety comes before change.
-
Yes. It was designed with that in mind. The pacing, language, and structure are intentionally chosen to support sensitive systems.
Nothing in this class is designed to push, provoke, or activate.
-
There is no right way.
You can:
• watch slowly
• repeat sections
• skip ahead
• come back weeks later
Your nervous system sets the pace — not the course.
-
The most common responses I hear are:
• “I finally understand myself.”
• “I’m not broken.”
• “This explains everything I couldn’t put into words.”
That shift — from confusion to clarity — is the foundation for all real healing.