Heal for Real Podcast - Episode 81 - The Hope of Repair in a Culture of Management

This week on the podcast I'm sharing with you the foundational paradigm for this work I do! And that paradigm is the hope and potential of repair when it comes to trauma, our bodies and even our communities and our world. 

I am sharing with you this idea in contrast to what I believe is a culture of management. 

I share what the fundamental differences are between a paradigm of repair and management. And I also share about how a management paradigm can be damaging over long periods of time for the nervous system. 

I get a little philosophical in this episode - because I believe that we as practitioners and as people who care about our lives and communities need to be thinking about the paradigms and philosophies that we are bringing to our world.

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Podcast Notes Below

Welcome back to the Heal for Real Podcast! Today I want to talk about something that is very, very close to my heart and it is really the guiding principle for me and my work.  And it is this idea of REPAIR. Repair at the fundamental level of the nervous system , repair at the level of the brain and the cells and the spirit.

I want to bring you the hope of repair and the power of repair! And I don’t just want to bring this to you - I have really committed myself to the vision of bringing it to the world through this nervous system knowledge and through my Coaching School - The School of Embodied Healing Systems - which - enrolment is open now for - so you’ll want to join that! Enrolment is closing on July 31st.

And so this message of repair is about recognizing that we can experience major ruptures, gaps, abuses, traumas. Our bodies can go through these very challenging things right - war, car accidents, chronic childhood neglect, abuse etc. These traumatic things. And our bodies can go through these things and be traumatized by these things. And they can spend years in traumatized conditions and they can still be repaired!

The other element to this message is that conditions that are very common and becoming increasingly common in society like chronic illness, ADHD, chronic pain, auto-immune conditions, depression, anxiety, panic disorders, and so-called mental illnesses that are afflicting our world and certainly the younger generation even more so - these conditions have to some extent become normalized in our society. And as a result of that normalization, there has been this, sort of apathetic attitude to these conditions this sort of “this is what you’ve got, just manage it.” attitude that is, I believe detrimental to the health and well-being of so many. Because instead of looking at the causes of these things - looking at the nervous system and the biological pieces of the puzzle, we have instead sort of categorized a bunch of clusters of symptoms and put a label on them and just said - okay this is what you have, and that’s it.

And I know that is not how everyone feels - I know that’s not the ONLY methodology out there - there are doctors and healers and others who have been very active in looking for and at root causes and working with root causes to bring repair to the system. At the same time - I do feel I have noticed this rise in normalizing these conditions and I think it does a disservice to humanity.

I don’t believe a lot of these conditions are normal. I believe they are signs and symptoms of a system in distress and I believe that we can look at supporting and repairing the root causes so that individuals suffer less and experience more health and vitality in their lives. 

And I am very excited because it seems that there are more and more people coming out in support of this holistic idea of repair rather than simply relegating people to management.

And so that’s where my title comes from Today I want to talk about the hope of repair in a culture of management



In this episode I’m going to talk about what I believe is almost a crisis of management in our current culture. I’m going to talk about why this has happened and I am going to talk about how my philosophy and certainly the Embodied Healing Systems philosophy is not a management philosophy but a repair philosophy and I am going to break down the differences between the two.

So there are some key points I want to share today around this and they are:
Management is not repair -but it is what we are taught to aspire to.

Management in many cases can actually make things worse - certainly at the nervous system level and biological level make things worse

So, lets look at the definition of management and the definition of repair:

Definition of Manage:
According to google succeed in surviving or in attaining one's aims, especially against heavy odds; cope.

"Catherine managed on five hours' sleep a night"

Definition of Repair
fix or mend (a thing suffering from damage or a fault).
the action of fixing or mending something.

Synonyms - mend, restore, put right, recontstruct 

So now let’s look at and think about these to words in relation to many of the chronic illness and conditions that I mentioned above right - adhd, chronic pain, chronic illness, depression, anxiety, mental illness, panic disorders right the list sort of goes on and on.

When we are managing we are working within the confines of the disorder, disease or pathology.

So if we are managing ADHD or ADHD like symptoms we are saying this is what you have - and this is what you can do or take to make your life better with this.

But if we are coming from a position of repair we are saying - okay these are the symptoms that are showing up - dopamine dysregulation, emotional dysregulation, difficulty with working memory or impulse control for example. And then we are taking it further - we are asking why did this brain and this body develop in this way? AND - how can we support the conditions for this brain and this body to adapt DIFFERENTLY at the fundamental levels so that you are not functioning within the confines of the disorder but rather looking to repair the disorder itself. So we are still looking at the symptoms, we are still supporting the symptoms, but we are not stopping there. We are going deeper and asking how we can reduce the need for the body to present these symptoms so that we no longer have to manage at all. We are not just looking to stop the symptoms or manage them. We are looking to eliminate the need for the body to present with them at all!


And so from my knowledge and experience with the nervous system and working with people at this level not to mention my own incredible transformation from where I was and what my body was doing - there are many many cases of these conditions where we are looking at a body that has been carrying a load of stress and trauma or as Dr. Bruce perry would stay you know the brain has gotten stuck in this certain stage of development and or Dr. Stephen Porges would say you know - the system has gotten stuck in a certain gear. Let’s REPAIR that. Let’s not leave it stuck and manage on top of that.

Now - I should say - like it’s your choice right! You don’t have to go down the path of repair - you CAN go down the path of management. But my job is to tell you that in many cases you CAN repair.

Because I think part of the reason we are sort of culture of management is the lack of knowledge. Right - we are limited only by what we know or do not know about how the body works, how the body functions and what can happen next.

And so for a lot of these chronic conditions that are not acute - these long term afflictions that people are suffering with many of which I mentioned above - there is just a fundamental lack of understanding of trauma and how it works at the level of the cells and the nervous system and as a result - people feel all they can do is manage.

The connections haven’t yet been made there right in the predominant medical field - it’s getting there like with the ACE study etc. but we still have a long way to go in getting this powerful nervous system and trauma biology stuff to the mainstream masses.

So a good analogy for this is like anything that we once thought there was no cure for - there was no repair for and people just died of these things. Or even today - a rare form of cancer for example that there is no treatment for. It’s not even accurate to say there is no treatment - there likely is one - we just don’t know it yet! So of course in that situation we are looking at managing - although even in that situation there is room for gray because many people have reversed certain cancers and diseases right. 

So if there is no cure our only option is manage! But if there is a way to repair at the root level - there’s a way to improve these things at the fundamental level that is the direction I’m going to go in.

BUT if there is an opportunity to repair and for lack of a better word - CURE my condition - why would I continue just managing? Why would I not move into repair?

And yet - this is currently the place many are in due to lack of prevailing understanding of trauma and the nervous system. And I should say also - you know the human system is quite complex. Because we have some nervous systems that are dealing with these afflictions that genuinely feel they cannot ever get better right - and my argument is that that is a belief system that is a result of something going on within the nervous system that is causing that sort of helplessness right - that helpless feeling that things will never change and in that case we want to support that first and we want to look at how we can help this nervous system start to change that patterning of believing they can never change. There’s probably a very good reason for that showing up right! 

So - When we are looking at repair we want to look at causes:
Childhood trauma
Medical Trauma
Attachment Trauma
Chronic Stress

Generational Trauma
Birth Trauma
Shock Trauma

We want to look at the state of the nervous system
We want to look at how much stress is this system carrying and how much stress was this system carrying in development.
We want to look at where is this body incomplete in its process? What is this body trying to say?

So we are looking here at what has gone on inside this body that has caused this nervous system to be firing off these responses constantly to where now this body is looking at these pathways as the path of least resistance.

Repair is about restoring at the root level - and moving toward OPTIMAL functioning.
Management is about just surviving, just coping.

And you know in some cases, management can be quite detrimental because when we’re not looking at the root cause - those pathways are getting more and more established more and more rooted in the system. And then we can be looking at other chronic conditions or the worsening of the existing conditions right - and we don’t want that. We want to be on the path of improving.

And my principles and my philosophies on this are all taught inside EHS. In the first month in The School of Embodied Healing Systems we are looking at The Principles of EHS. These principles exist within a paradigm of wholeness where we are not pathologizing - we are not saying that this body is wrong - we are saying - why is this happening? And how can we suppor the conditions for somehting different to emerge

And two of the specific principles of Embodied Healing Systems are that:
The body is designed for healing and repair AND
That healing is natural when the body receives the right support

And that symptoms are a result of the life energy which is a somatic experiencing term - the life energy or the survival being suppressed and dysregulated within the human systems.

And this is really what I believe makes The School of Embodied HEaling Systems and this nervous system and biological and spiritual work so different!

My work is different because it is about REPAIR - it is about looking very deeply for the root causes in the cells, in the biology, in the nervous system, and working to restore those functions.

We have developed a society that believes that grouping clusters of symptoms into a category and labeling it is the end.

I believe that the symptoms and the diagnosis are only clues - they are only the ways that the body is RESPONDING and in some cases is chronically responding to

We have to some extent in our society normalized chronic illness, and disorders and pathologies and this is leading to a feeling that we must always be managing rather than having the hope of healing and deep repair.

When you approach your journey with a management mindset - you are limited within the confines of the diagnosis and limited by what you believe is possible for you due to the diagnosis or prognosis.

However, when you approach your journey with a focus on repair - things light up! What could be possible - how can we fill in the gaps at the root? AND - where is the potential for repair here? 

If there is no cure - then yes - we want to manage - but if there is the capacity for a cure - if we have discovered a cure - why would we stay in management mode! Let’s move into the mode of repair!


One of the things you may have seen me post is the statement:
I stand for healing and regeneration of all people.

And that statement is the reason I do the work that I do - and why I believe in healing at the foundational root level of the body, the cells, the nervous system and the spirit.

I think in many ways the world is at a crisis point you know. We are really going through a major transition. We are looking at the systems and structures and things that were previously well established and asking how could we make these things better. And for me - in human design I have quite a bit of individual circuitry. For me it is about starting with us as individuals and REPAIRING and healing ourrselves and supporting each other in that repair and that healing at all levels because I really believe that is the only way that sustainable and lasting change can occur in the world and so this work of giving individuals hope for repair and healing is really a life-affirming work. Because when people are well, and embodied and not carrying and managing loads of stress and trauma, then we have the capacity and energy to give our gifts to the world and enjoy our lives and follow the purpose in our hearts and that is EVERYTHING. That is ultimately how the world is going to change.

For me - I know how my body and soul and mind has regenerated over the years and how much I have changed and grown and how much that was non-existent for me has been restored in my life.  I likely would have been diagnosed with paranoid delusions, depression, anxiety and so much more and through the powerful work of trauma healing nervous system healing, spiritual healing and biological healing I have so much more capacity than I once did.

I often say that nervous system capacity is like money - you know you can be born with 10 cents in yoru bank account and end your life richer than people who started with millions. And with nervous system capacity you can start your life with very little - you can be traumatized or experience gaps in development, but you can end your life with more than others who started with more capacity than you. That’s the power of repair. That’s the hope of healing and regeneration.

And that is what I stand for with all my heart! And I really believe that is what makes The School of Embodied HEaling Systems so different is this paradigm of wholeness and repair that really changes everything and opens so many doors for healing!

So - I’ll end this episode by reading a post that I posted on social media this week and it really captures the essence of what I have said to you today.

End with reading this post:
The message is HOPE

The message is HEALING

The message is REPAIR

NEVER underestimate the potential for REPAIR!

The body is ADAPTABLE

YOU are adaptable

You are limited only by what you know or do not know is possible.

Question the diagnosis and prognosis, question the limits placed on you by society. Question the labels put on you by parents. And question the ones you put on yourself! Question words like “disorder”. Sometimes well-meaning labels, diagnosis etc can become limiting!

You don’t have to throw these things out all together. They can at times be supportive on your journey and help you understand yourself.  But they are not the end.

And you CAN Ask: where is the potential for repair?

And you CAN consider a life beyond simply managing.

You will be surprised where this curiosity leads you.

There is a vast potential for repair.

In our bodies, in our lives, in our relationships and in our communities.

I stand for healing and regeneration for ALL people - from the bottom of my heart.

I am so excited about where we are headed and where the body-science is leading us.

PS - Come and learn the amazing healing body-science in depth inside The School of Embodied Healing Systems.

The Embodied Healing Systems philosophy is rooted in the principle that the body is designed for healing and repair - particularly where trauma (the root of many chronic disease and “disorders”) is concerned.

All the science and practice we do in EHS is rooted in this principle.

So, from this principle we are following the nervous system and tracking it with curiosity.

We are asking: what is the reason this body is doing what it is doing (symptoms, pain, disease)? And we are trusting that it’s a good reason!

And - we are supporting the conditions for a different response to emerge.

The EHS philosophy is not about management - it is about repair - at the deepest most fundamental level of the body. Sure, you might have some management to do along the way, but that is not where it ends.

It’s time to get inside The School of Embodied Healing Systems and learn how to apply these life changing tools, philosophies and practices to your life and business.

When you graduate you will use these skills to provide premium experiences for your clients rooted in a felt-sense of change from the inside-out.

And you will have complete confidence in your ability to hold space for whatever comes your way from a skilled and science based foundation.

Apply now at www.shylacash.com/embodiedhealingsystems