Your Nervous System Is Speaking — Are You Listening?
- Felicia Fischhoff
- Mar 11
- 5 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Talk of the nervous system has really come to the forefront over the past while. Is this something worth paying attention to?
The answer is yes — yes and yes.
When we think about mental health, we often assume that the difficulties we experience only impact us cognitively — in our thoughts, beliefs, or emotions. But the truth is, our bodies respond to stress just as much as our minds do. Our nervous system is constantly scanning for safety or threat. It is shaped by our experiences, our environments, and the messages we’ve had to internalize to survive.
When it comes to racial trauma and the constant weathering of systemic stress, our bodies respond. Chronic exposure to injustice, microaggressions, vigilance, and the pressure to endure does not just stay in the mind — it lives in the body.
As psychotherapist Resmaa Menakem writes in My Grandmother’s Hands: “Racial trauma isn’t just a story we carry in our minds — it lives in the nervous system.”
This is why conversations about healing cannot stop at mindset. We must also pay attention to what is happening in our bodies.
So what is the nervous system?
At its most basic level, the nervous system is the body’s communication network. It connects the brain, the spinal cord, and the rest of the body. It is responsible for how we respond to stress, how we calm down, how we connect, and how we protect ourselves.
It is the system that moves us into fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown when we perceive threat — and it is also the system that allows us to feel safe, connected, and grounded when we experience care and belonging.
The nervous system does not respond only to physical danger. It responds to emotional threat, relational rupture, systemic injustice, and repeated experiences of being unseen or unsafe. Over time, chronic stress reshapes how this system functions.
Hypervigilance can become the norm. Rest can feel unfamiliar. Safety can feel fleeting. If we slow down and tune in to what our bodies are signaling, we can begin to understand what safety actually feels like — and what it takes to return to it.
Why does this matter?
This matters because the signals our bodies give us — tension, unease, pain, tightness, numbness, sensations we cannot always name — are information.
They are not random.
They are not weakness.
They are communication.
Our bodies are constantly gathering data about our environments and responding accordingly. When something feels off— when our shoulders tighten, when our stomach drops, when our chest constricts — that is information. When we learn to tune in to these signals, especially in spaces that feel safe enough to do so, we begin to unlock gateways to healing.
Not by forcing ourselves to “move on.”
Not by overriding the feeling.
But by becoming curious.
Emotions, too, are information.
Tears are information.
Laughter is information.
Anger is information.
Frustration is information.
Even numbness is information.
They are signals telling us that something is happening — internally or relationally. Our work is not to suppress these expressions. Our work is to gently inquire:
What is this feeling trying to protect?
What is it trying to communicate?
What does it need?
For those navigating racial stress, these signals often reflect survival adaptations — not dysfunction. When we respond with curiosity instead of criticism, the nervous system begins to shift. And healing becomes possible.
As a Black woman, there are ways I know are inherent to how I heal. Storytelling in safe spaces is one of them. When I speak my truth in community, my body softens. Something releases. But storytelling is only one pathway.
My body also responds to:
Movement (dance)
Rhythm (music)
Creativity (art)
Connection (community and presence)
Observing the beauty of nature
Spiritual expression
Touch (co-regulation)
Laughter
These are not just hobbies or personal interests. They are regulation. They are restoration. They are nervous system medicine.
When we begin to understand the nervous system, we begin to understand ourselves differently. Not as broken. Not as weak. But as adaptive. As responsive. As carrying stories in both mind and body. Healing is not only about changing our thoughts. It is also about listening to our bodies with compassion.
A Reflection
Before we move further into what restoration looks like (Part 2 of this blog coming soon), I invite you to pause and reflect:
What are the ways that you have noticed your nervous system speaks to you?
Take some time this week to notice when your body is holding tension. Is it in your shoulders, neck, back, jaw, or somewhere else? Tune in gently and ask what it could be saying about what you have been carrying in this season.
Write it down. Process it with a trusted person or a mental health professional.
Your body has been communicating with you all along. The question is not whether it is speaking. The question is whether we are ready to listen.
About the Author
Felicia Fischhoff is a Jamaican-Canadian Registered Psychotherapist, Clinical Director, and founder of Rooted in Resilience Psychotherapy & Wellness — a growing, culturally grounded group practice serving individuals, couples, children, and families across Ontario, both virtually and in-person in Markham and Toronto.
With over a decade of experience in mental health and community advocacy, she has worked extensively with families in low-income communities and specializes in supporting survivors of sex trafficking and individuals navigating racial trauma and identity-based stress. Her clinical work is rooted in trauma-informed, strength-based, and culturally responsive care.
Recognized for her leadership and impact, Felicia was named a Top 40 Under 40 honouree by the Markham Board of Trade and received the Distinguished Alumni – Horizons Award from Tyndale University, affirming her commitment to community advocacy, clinical excellence, and advancing culturally responsive mental health care.
As a mother of two boys, Felicia understands the importance of creating spaces that feel safe, nurturing, and empowering. She is passionate about helping clients explore trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, relational challenges, and the layered impact of systemic stress on mental health.
Felicia’s approach integrates evidence-based therapy with an embodied understanding of how trauma lives in the nervous system. She is known for her warmth, authenticity, and ability to create therapeutic environments where clients feel seen, understood, and respected.
Through her clinical work, writing, speaking, and media presence, Felicia is committed to advancing conversations about racialized stress, safety, and collective healing — fostering resilience while honouring the full humanity of those she serves.
To learn more about Felicia’s work or to inquire about therapy, speaking, or collaboration, visit: https://www.rootedinresilience.ca/our-team/felicia-fischhoff
Resources:
Menakem, R. (2017). My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Central Recovery Press.
This is such well explained, we need to pay attention to our nervous system and receive the information it sends us. Reconnecting with ourselves, trusting ourselves and regulating ourselves is very essential. It might not make sense logically with the information we receive, but it makes sense to our nervous system and we need to validate that.
This is a beautiful and intriguing article. Typically I just scroll and scan articles but yours grabbed my attention Felicia. Even while on a short family staycation I noticed so much stress in my body and nervous system cues. I’m learning that being in new environments can induce that. Thank you for also sharing your list of nervous system medicine. It’s just what the doctor ordered;)