Heal Within with Dr. Evette Rose

Energetic Overwhelm: How to Calm Your System in a Noisy World + Meditation

• Dr. Evette Rose • Season 15 • Episode 14

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Do you ever leave social gatherings feeling completely drained—or notice your anxiety spike after scrolling through social media? You may be experiencing something far deeper than simple exhaustion.

In this episode, I explore what really happens in the brain and body when we’re overwhelmed. From surprising insights about why common wellness practices may backfire for sensitive people, to lesser-known techniques that can reset your nervous system, this conversation challenges what you thought you knew about energy, stress, and sensitivity.

But here’s the twist—you’ll discover that your sensitivity isn’t the problem. It might just be your greatest strength… once you know how to use it.

With love

Dr. Evette Rose

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Heal Within With me here, dr Yvette Rose, trauma therapist and also creator of Metaphysical Anatomy Technique. And this podcast is your safe space to explore emotional healing, nervous system repair and also a deeper transformation. And if you are ready to go deeper and you would like to be supported on your journey, you can always book a one-on-one session with me or with any of my certified metapsychology coaching practitioners, and also join one of my upcoming life healing events or workshops or retreats at metaphysicalanatomycom. And now let's begin your journey back to wholeness, one breath and one breakthrough at a time.

Speaker 1:

So I would like to start today's episode with a question have you ever walked into a crowded room and instantly just felt everything is just drained out of your body? Everything is just drained out of your body. Or have you found yourself just scrolling endlessly only to realize that you feel anxious and very overstimulated? That is what I would call energetic overwhelm, and today we're going to dive into why this happens and how you can start to calm your system. But first I love defining things and naming them, because then we understand a little bit better what we are all talking about. So let's define energetic overwhelm. This is, for example, an experience of taking too much sensory, emotional or like energetic input in at once and this can leave you completely overstimulated, fatigued or even anxious. And listen, it's not just sensitivity, it's the body's stress system that's really just working overtime. Examples I mean, let's use crowded environments. I think this is one that we probably most can relate to. It's constant notifications. There's maybe emotional tension in relationships between people that you can't see it but you can feel it, or even just being around people with just really intense emotions or unresolved anger or frustration. You see, this is what opens up the door to the neuroscience side of overstimulation. Side of overstimulation Because our sensory processing system, which is the thalamus, this acts as the brain's relay station pretty much. It's filtering in incoming sensory information and when that is overloaded, filtering actually becomes less effective. And we all know the amygdala Loud noises, emotional intensity or fast changing environments, all this can trigger the alarm center and this can really activate our fight or flight response, our prefrontal cortex Now we feel fatigued, decision-making emotional regulation weakens when it's overstimulated and this also explains why we feel really snappy or just indecisive.

Speaker 1:

It's like you just cannot make a decision. Our nervous system goes into overdrive, I mean our sympathetic nervous system. It stays in that fight or flight response. In this case it's just overly stressed, it's switched on and the parasympathetic nervous system is really struggling to kick in. And research shows that overstimulation raises cortisol levels and it impairs our working memory and it reduces our ability to focus.

Speaker 1:

Now, why is it so hard to release feelings of overwhelm? It's like? I don't know if you've experienced the same, but I know. For me, when I sometimes feel overwhelmed, it's like I don't even know where to begin. Where do you begin? I mean, how long is a piece of string? And the challenge is what's happening?

Speaker 1:

And what makes it so hard is all this neurochemical imprints? Because there's, like you know, we have a stress hormone like cortisol. It lingers in the body for hours and this is what's keeping the body in that hypervigilance, like even after all, the noise is gone. It's like we go home, it's all over. We sit down and it's like we can't even sit comfortably on the couch. We still feel so restless, almost like we're still ready to defend or we're ready to go, we're ready to get up and go do something, and on top of that we have memory encoding.

Speaker 1:

So this is the hippocampus and it's tagging all this overstimulating environments. It's unsafe. So the body stays in that alert. When it's triggered again, it raises that flag again. And childhood experiences, you see, early trauma or neglect. It really can prime the nervous system to be hypersensitive, to overstimulate and people with high ACE scores they can get much, much overwhelmed much faster. And always we have that social media, digital pressure, constant pings and dings and rings, news alerts. Social media that's just completely exploiting our dopamine pathways and it's keeping us in the cycle of stimulation, craving and then burnout.

Speaker 1:

Now what is the body's signals of energetic overwhelm? Now, what is the body's signals of energetic overwhelm? Most people that I've worked with would report saying racing thoughts, shallow breathing, heightened sensitivity to maybe sounds, smells or light, feeling other people's emotions much more intensely. If you're an empath, you're going to feel even more overwhelmed, right? So trouble focusing also in just making simple decisions. Simple decisions oh honey, what time do you want to eat? And it's like, oh, just explosion, I don't know. Right, spilled coffee feels like the end of the world. And exhaustion it feels like energy leak. It's like something is just pouring out of you and you just can't plug that hole. You just can't get that energy back.

Speaker 1:

There is so many beautiful ways to connect and to reconnect. And grounding for me is the best Breath work, barefoot, walking in places, humming, you know, to really activate the vagus nerve. And there's so many sensory resets as well. It can be reducing sensory input, like dimming the lights, have silent notifications? I don't. My phone sound is off, it vibrates, there's no sounds on it at all and that for me, it's just. That's my digital boundary, right, I don't want noise flying into my ears when I'm trying to work. And co-regulation, that's another great one and it's something that I've come to learn over the years to really appreciate.

Speaker 1:

Right, spend time with calm people, because your nervous system sinks through these mirror neurons, neurocontagion, right. So somatic release is also really great. So, gentle shaking, as an example, during the day, when I work, when I do filming between every client, when I teach my workshops, during my breaks I always stand up and jump and it's a whole shaking, jumping, arms and legs until I'm tired to just get the body to really nicely de-stress. And then, as I'm tired and I'm breathing right heavily, I imagine all the stress going from my body into my feet, just pouring and releasing it down into the earth and these little micro-recoveries. It adds up. It adds up in a very, very positive way.

Speaker 1:

I want to share with you some really insightful keys here, key moments as well, because, remember, we all know that, like, it's not really, but people say that the brain is plastic, right, so it means that overstimulation, the tolerance for it and the regulation it can be improved. Just as the brain learned it, it can unlearn it. And then regular mindfulness right, I love meditation, but remember, if you are an empath, do something else while you meditate, because meditation can actually overstimulate you. So we don't want to add to the problem, we want to take away from it. So, maybe walk while you meditate, maybe have your feet in the water while you meditate, or have these meditating beads. There's so much that you can do as a result of just resetting yourself, but in ways to do it so that it actually supports you. You actually feel. Wow, this is actually making me feel better, because the challenge with meditation that I've seen is I mean, it's not that it's not hard to do, it's the part that's hard is to be still with silence, the part that feels and that rattles people is to be in that space of just nothingness, because that's when the voices come up, that's when we feel stressed even more because we don't have our distractions, because when we're in this heightened, high-paced life of go, go, go, there's always a threat, there's always something to worry or stress about, and that's where our focus is, that's where our energy flows.

Speaker 1:

So meaning our focus is not on how we really feel and when that happens, when the body is in emotional or physical pain even, it's not prioritizing that pain, because your focus is pulled in a different direction where there's a threat somewhere else. But when we're quiet, the brain now has the ability to organize through its files and see, well, what else is now important, because we don't have all these threats to worry about what is next. And this is where pain can come up, this is where emotional distress can now be really felt and really heard, and that can be a very uncomfortable place to be in. And this is where I find that, for me personally, this is why meditation was so incredibly hard. Me personally, this is why meditation was so incredibly hard. It was so hard because I couldn't meet that silence.

Speaker 1:

That silence actually made me feel that it's hurting me and I had to learn that silence is peace, silence is safe, because I subconsciously associated silence with danger, because it's like, when is the other shoe going to drop? And that's when I learned for empaths to just simply drop into silence, to just simply be in this place of meditation, it's not healthy. It's important to have something else that you can do while you meditate, while you create that safe place and that safe sanctuary. And that is what we're going to do today In our meditation. We're gently going to go through a beautiful meditation, but already, if this is you, if you're energetically overstimulated and you struggle with meditation, if that silence feels more harmful and it can cause us to actually associate negative experiences with meditation, but which is actually positive, it's designed to help you to communicate better with the body, to communicate to your senses, to connect to your intuition and to help the body to heal. But if the very gateway that we often can use to help ourselves to heal is associated with pain, you can now see how it can actually cause a really big problem.

Speaker 1:

So now, when you are ready, I'm going to start a gentle meditation. I'm going to talk you through this process step by step, and so now let's just start by focusing on our breath and just remember, if you're doing this meditation with me, it's best that you're not driving, maybe don't walk, it's best for you to really truly just. I mean, if you're walking, then it's going to actually be a good thing, especially if you're an empath, but walk in a way where you can still have awareness of your environment, because how I meditate is in the morning, when I go for my morning walks. But I'm going to show you another way to also meditate. If you feel that that place of silence is maybe a little bit too much, if you feel that that place of silence is maybe a little bit too much, and for those of you who's comfortable with meditating, who's comfortable with that silence, just continue to follow the meditation in a way that's comfortable for you. Okay, so, let's start by taking a nice deep breath.

Speaker 1:

Very good. And now I invite you to close your eyes and, as you do, whether you're lying down, and if you're lying down, let your let your hands be like your arms are on the floor and your hands are touching the floor, and as you do that, start just gently tapping, just like you're just ever so slightly moving your hand, and then lift just your fingers. The palm of your hand can still be on the floor, but just your finger, your fingertips are lifting off of the ground ever so slightly. Your fingertips are lifting off of the ground ever so slightly and starting on the left side, and lift it up and let it go down. And then the right hand lift up your fingertips and let it go down. Left side, let it go up and down, and the right side up and down. You see, so you start finding your rhythm by letting your hands go up and down, up and down. You see, so you start, for you start finding your rhythm by letting your hands go up and down, up and down, feeling the floor every time when you put your fingertips down. And it's a really nice rhythm that you're finding for yourself now. And if you're sitting up, you can put your hands on your lap and the same thing, just left hand up and then right hand up, left hand up and right hand up, very gently, gently, soft movements, and go up and down until you find a nice rhythm, a really nice rhythm rhythm. This extra sensory helps to actually keep us calm and in your window of tolerance while you go into your quiet place, and it lessens the chances of feeling more overstimulated or stressed when you feel your environment calming down, when you feel your environment calming down and continue to tap throughout the meditation or until you feel it served its purpose for this meditation. But it's almost like the rhythm as you're tapping. Even that in itself is very relaxing. It's almost like that's the meditation in itself, isn't it Beautiful? And now I invite you, as you're tapping gently only if you wish to, but I do invite you to try it just for fun Start by focusing on your breath and notice as you're inhaling and exhaling.

Speaker 1:

Just notice how it's gently bringing you fully into the present moment in a very gentle, in a very safe way. And with each breath, imagine your body becoming heavier, more grounded and more supported, really feeling the earth beneath you, supporting you. Even when everything else feels overwhelmed, that surface beneath you is still consistent and solid and solid, really holding you now and bringing your focus and awareness To the top of your head. And if you feel maybe tension, buzzing or heaviness, or it's just busy, imagine a warm golden light washing down, slowly melting away overstimulation, away, overstimulation, letting that light move through your forehead, your eyes, your jaw. With every exhale you're softening more and more and more, allowing the light to flow into your chest, into your heart space. Feel it expand gently.

Speaker 1:

And now imagine roots growing from the souls of your faith, growing deep into the earth. These roots, they're stabilizing you, it's anchoring you into calm, steady energy, a type of steadiness that just cannot be shaken by outside noise. And with each inhale and with each inhale, draw in the earth's grounding energy, exhale, release overstimulation, not just to that energetic noise from other people, overwhelming words, judgments, other people stress that almost started to feel like it became yours. Feel how that is just draining out of your fate, from those roots of your fate, into the earth. Give it away now. It was never yours to begin with, it was never yours to carry in the first place, and allowing that part of you that allowed that responsibility to become yours, feeling the root cause of that, just draining out of your body, recognizing and realizing now you just no longer have to accept other people's responsibility that belongs to them, that sometimes the greatest gift we can give people is becoming a facilitator in their life, rather than someone that swoops in and takes their responsibilities away and onto ourselves. And as you do this, noticing all your energy slowly coming back to you as you're letting go of burdens that's just no longer yours, feel that space within you that's opening up for your needs to take its place, your energy to take its place, your love to take its place, your love to take its place and your inner peace to also take its place. And noticing how peaceful it feels. It almost feels like coming home, doesn't it? And as you are finding yourself in that beautiful space, let's affirm a few affirmations together as well, and all that you have to do is listen to my voice and allow yourself to receive these words. Instead of always giving, allow yourself now to receive.

Speaker 1:

I am safe, grounded and present in this moment. In this moment, my energy is mine To protect and nurture. I release the noise of the world and return to my inner peace. My nervous system knows how to reset, restore and rebalance. I trust my body to give myself permission to rest. My breath is my anchor and I can return to it anytime.

Speaker 1:

I may be sensitive, but my sensitivity is a strength To know how other people are feeling, how to feel compassion, and I allow that same compassion for others to now also be given to me. I choose to take in only what supports my well-being and in this moment I'm enough and I'm good enough. And I invite you now to place your hands over your heart and notice, as you do, just feeling your breath again, feeling your body moving with you, and notice as you do, feeling the warmth of your hands on your body, knowing that I am calmness, I am safe, I'm home within myself. And when you are ready, take one last deep breath, feeling that surface beneath your body and noticing as you do that you are fully held and supported, and bring all this calmness, all this support, back with you in the here and now. Bring that reset with you. When you're ready, you can give yourself a nice big stretch and gently come back.

Speaker 1:

Beautiful, well done, well done. I'm so proud of you. I want to thank you for being here with me today and remember also affirmation, for today is my breath, is my anchor. And remember, you are not alone. You are healing one step at a time, one breath at a time. And remember, if this episode touched you, then please also share it with someone who is probably also on their healing journey. And, as always, breathe deep, listen within and stay gently curious. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for being here for you. I love you. I'm going to see you in our next episode and, until then, be the light that you are.