Just One Question | Jeffrey Rutstein: Did I Inherit My Nervous System?

About this episode

Ever notice how a tiny criticism can send you into a full-blown spiral, and then you spend the rest of the day furious at yourself for spiraling? Dr. Jeffrey Rutstein has a theory about why that happens, and it starts before you ever had a say in the matter: with the nervous system you were born with. Rutstein, a clinical psychologist, Hakomi-certified somatic psychotherapist, and host of Sounds True's Healing Trauma Program, talks with Tami Simon about inheriting his own mother's fight-or-flight wiring, and how a childhood encounter with Indra Devi's Yoga for Americans sent him down a decades-long path through pranayama, Hatha yoga, and Zen practice. In this conversation, Tami and Jeffrey explore: • Why your baseline nervous system state is more inheritance than character flaw • How naming that inheritance can interrupt years of self-blame and shame • The difference between a fixed nervous system and one you can learn to shift This one's for anyone who's ever hated themselves for "overreacting.” So…pretty much everyone. Taken from the full Insights at the Edge conversation with Jeffrey Rutstein titled “Not Being a Prisoner To Your Nervous System.” Find the complete interv