I Think I am Thawing Part 5: Recalibration vs Healing

In this entry I will be talking about the things that I have been learning regarding recalibration.

Recalibration is not something we can force into being. This is an automatic process and it requires stillness with no analyzing. It involves the realignment of the nervous system, the adjustment of organ rhythms, the unwinding of fascia, and the resetting of metabolic functions. These complex shifts occur beneath conscious control, responding to the conditions that support healing.

Healing can sometimes be experienced as a narrative, a story we tell ourselves as we make sense of our situation. When we try to force healing, we impose a top-down approach, demanding specific outcomes and timelines. But true recalibration happens from the bottom up. It requires allowing, not controlling. This means presence, not pressure. One path is driven by expectation, the other guided by trust in the process.

Living with chronic illness, I spent years desperately seeking answers, trying every treatment, protocol, and practitioner that promised relief. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was being proactive. But without realizing it, I was bypassing the deeper layers of what my body needed by constantly chasing solutions.

I mistook control for care, and in doing so, I unintentionally silenced the quieter, more organic process of recalibration that could only happen through surrender.

What This Process Can Look Like

This is what I have been doing to permit recalibration.

To permit recalibration, we must first step out of the patterns of input and output that overwhelm the system. This means ceasing the constant intake:

• Limit screen time
• Be mindful of noise
• Limit conversations that might be dysregulating
• No stimulation beyond what the body can handle

Equally important is stopping the habit of output override:

• the compulsion to fix, analyze
• problem-solve
• direct our own experience

Recalibration begins when we remove these pressures and simply allow the body to be. The posture suggested is to be reclined or lying down, with the spine supported. Have your eyes soft or closed. Relax the jaw area and have the hands resting without tension.

From this space, we shift attention to tracking sensations. This means that we gently place awareness on sensations that feel neutral or tolerable. We observe without judgment. You can be aware of texture, temperature, density, rhythm. Letting presence settle into what is, not what we want to change.

You want to spend 15-20 minutes, but ideally without a strict endpoint. No interruptions, no goals, no timelines. When it’s over, allow space for integration. No immediate return to screens, social media, or tasks. Recalibration is something you make space for. You do not control it. You create the conditions in which it can unfold.

Trust me when I tell you that I certainly have not been perfect throughout this process. It’s been very hard. I also realized how addicted I have been to screens and the internet. It has been very hard to resist the urge to doom scroll.

I’m Finally Listening to My Body

I have now got you a point where when I am finding myself overdoing it, I will take a break.

A good example of what I mean is the other day I was cooking a chicken and it was an all day thing. On my feet For most of the day prepping and doing all of the things needed to prepare this elaborate meal. When I got to the point where I was starting to clean things up, I looked at my friends and I said, ” I think that I have to lay down”. They were totally cool about it and I went downstairs and immediately got into bed.

I overdid it, and my body was speaking through muscle twitches and pulsing. They were small, scared signals beneath the surface. I was alone, so It feels like danger, but it wasn’t. The sensations aren’t signs of pathology; they’re my nervous system discharging stored activation, completing movements that were once interrupted. The intensity is just the overflow of energy from pushing too far.

Being alone didn’t create the threat, but it did amplify the perception of it. When I was finally in a quiet place, my body has space to unravel what it has been holding.

The Wave

There is something that has been explained to me way in my past regarding “The Wave”.

It reminds me of when I was doing chiropractic network care in 2017-2018. The chiropractor explained to me this concept of a wave moving through the system. But at the time, I never quite grasped what it meant. Back then, it was explained to me that it occurs in the spine, so that’s where I kept focusing.

But now, I have a different understanding. I feel the wave everywhere, especially in my head on the lateral sides where the sensations have been especially strong. It turns out, the wave isn’t confined to the spine at all. It’s a whole-system discharge arc that moves through the neurological, fascial, and energetic networks of the body.

“The Wave” can manifest anywhere: in the cranium, gut, limbs, organs, or eyes. I’ve been feeling it very intensely since 2020 and in response, I’ve been trying to get it to stop. I didn’t understand that I needed to allow it to happen. The reason why is because this was a sign of regulation of the cranial nerves and fascial planes, often following a deep thaw in the system. I’m not imagining it. I’m tracking it. And that tracking itself is integration.

Conclusion

Recalibration has taught me that true healing is something that I have to allow, and to support with care and patience. I have to slow down, to listen to my body and honor the subtle language instead of going into a panic. This has completely change my whole idea around healing and what it means and what it can look like. It can look messy and chaotic.

Something else that I am trying to keep remind myself is this is going to take time. I might have to do this for awhile. But I’m glad that I have a better understanding of it.

Polyvagal Theory — Rhythm of Regulation

Recovering from Traumatic Stress & Recalibrating the Nervous System : Jazz Psychiatry: Psychiatrists

Aura Headaches Somatic Triggers Explained – Notes From Dysregulation