We wanted to share a joyful letter that was posted to the DNRS Global Community Forum (GCF) earlier this month. Filled with heaps of inspiration and insight, Freya shares her realizations and victories over the past nine months as she has progressed through the DNRS Program.
A lifetime basic membership to the Global Community Forum is included with your purchase of the DNRS program. There you will find over 15,000 members and 15 years of archived information, including dozens of resources applicable to implementing the DNRS program.
This includes everything from a welcoming community of people who are focused on healing with DNRS, recovery stories, recommended resources and of course, inspiring posts from people like Freya who are reclaiming their lives through the power of neuroplasticity and brain retraining.
If you are looking for inspiration on your own brain retraining journey this month, we invite you to read Freya’s letter below (with minor edits for clarity). Her words are a powerful reminder of what is possible as you dedicate yourself to rewiring your brain.
2023 Gratitudes & Gains — And Celebrating 9 Months With DNRS!
I’ve been wanting to write a post for months that captures the incredible experience DNRS has had for me, but I haven’t managed to.
Not sure what kind of POP that might be but I’m letting my idea of that post go and instead sharing a list of changes I’m grateful for that I wrote down on January 2nd, looking back on the 9 months since I started. It makes me really happy and I hope it will encourage others. I do mention some ITs.
I’ve seen big physical changes as well as some small and unlooked-for physical changes, and mental/emotional and social changes.
I had no idea when I started that the program had the potential to transform my idea of who I am and open up a whole new way of being in life – being more “me” and letting go of constraints, so many of which come back to fear.
I am looking forward to more physical ITs dropping away but I am most excited about the potential to live freely and joyfully in all ways. This program is the answer to a wish I didn’t even know I had (as well as a lot of wishes I did know I had!).
- I can now play tag, soccer, and just race and frisk and giggle with my kids, something that’s been limited for years
- I can hike! And walk. I’m up to 2kms on a relatively steep trail, but this is huge as when I started I could walk about 2 blocks, slowly
- I am so grateful for whipped cream, beans, corn, tomatoes, french fries and all potatoey things, popcorn, cheese, and sugary holiday treats – so many delicious things
- Energy! It is so life-changing to have this again
- Digging in my garden/being able to have a big garden and not having to ask my husband to do jobs that involve exertion
- Leaning into physical tasks, knowing that effort and physical difficulty make me stronger rather than weaker. This was a huge realization for me after years of trying to protect myself by doing less.
- Tension I didn’t even know I had disappeared – feels so good
- Being able to do child’s pose (from yoga) without pain, and have my forehead and nose touch the floor rather than my hairline touch the floor
- Fingers and knuckles stay relatively comfortable in winter, even with more cold exposure/less protection
- Beginning to find a sense of comfort in and ability to be myself/to be true to myself/to be free in who I am – lots more to explore here
- My ability to laugh and feel radiant joy
- A different (higher) baseline of happiness, confidence, and trust in the world
- Seeking joy and connection more often amidst lots of responsibilities, rather than just slogging away all the time
- I’m better at being present and savouring life (though still working on it) rushing less, and I don’t have internal stress/panic the same way I used to when I am late for something
- Seeing the tangible reality of rewiring a couple of times when I started POPing about something and some other part of my brain told me to stop or overrode it with one of the popposites I’ve been drilling the last many months – so cool! I’m looking forward to more of this.
- Limby taking a back seat while I’m driving. I love the realization that, even if there were some kind of danger while I was driving, it would be 100% unhelpful to have my limbic system involved. I’ve got this, Limby!
- My expanded vocal range – I just checked what notes I can sing and it’s what it was 25 years ago. Also, way less tension when I read or sing.
- More expression in my voice
- A few times I’ve noticed my breathing has shifted lower – looking forward to this becoming a consistent thing
- I started incrementally training with little bits of gluten. Whoah. After so many health professionals telling me this was likely part of my troubles I have a lot of POPs here. It feels good to face it head-on – crumb by crumb!
- Finding ways to delight more in my family, and being calmer and more compassionate with my kids
- Being physically stronger than I was
- Being more able to tolerate sad, upsetting or distressing things without Limby feeling threatened, and feeling less need to shelter myself (though mostly I still am as it feels like the right thing to do)
- Rarely use one of my asthma inhalers that I used to use every day!
- Saying goodbye to dry eyes, and having much less off-and-on blurry vision, a relatively new IT before I started retraining
- Having some colds be mild or only last a few days – totally new for me
- Heart ITs and random big body twitches are almost a thing of the past – they only say hi when Limby thinks I’m in danger
I am proud of myself for getting this far, and for doing at least one round every single day since I started. I’ll also say that I haven’t done an hour a day every day – sometimes I’ve only done 1 short round. Being absolute about my commitment to things is a POP for me and raises CAN, so I felt that I needed to allow myself flexibility from the start.
When I started DNRS in April 2023 (after watching the videos in 2022 but not actually doing full rounds then) I had been off work for 6 weeks because of ITs. One of my early changes was that I was able to start gradually working again.
That was wonderful but meant I had way less time to do rounds, elevate my mood, be aware of POPs, etc. It’s been a juggling act to prioritize DNRS along with a high-intensity job, a volunteer role, parenting 2 young kids including one with extra needs, and other normal life things.
About 5 or 6 months in I realized that what was limiting me wasn’t my ITs anymore (though I had plenty still) but the way I’ve set up my life. For example, I stopped incremental training on walking because I was able to walk 20-30 minutes at that point, and I never had time to do more than that.
I realize now that to achieve my goals and do the things I’m imagining in my FVs I need to change my life, not just fix my ITs. So I am trying to figure that out. Also, exploring how to keep decreasing CAN and increasing DOSE in daily life.
I am so immensely grateful to Annie for creating this program, all the coaches and staff who keep it running and support us, and this incredible community of supportive, wise, hopeful, determined people. Our lives are changing, one thought at a time. 💖
Interested in Learning More About DNRS and the Global Community Forum?
The Dynamic Neural Retraining System is a drug-free, self-directed program that uses the principles of neuroplasticity to help reverse limbic system impairment in the brain, and to regulate a maladapted stress response involved with many chronic illnesses.
When you purchase the program, you’ll have a full year of access to the DNRS on-demand, streaming instructional video program. This includes 12 hours of in-depth content that incorporates both top-down (brain to body) and bottom-up (body to brain) processing strategies to heal the brain and body.
You will also receive a lifetime basic membership to the Global Community Forum, where you will find inspiration, motivation and support from fellow DNRS participants like Freya. Professionally moderated and updated every day, it is the perfect space to support you as you navigate the DNRS program for the first time.
To learn more about DNRS, click here. To get more clarity about whether your own symptoms may be associated with limbic system impairment, we encourage you to complete the self-assessment survey, as well as view the many success stories of DNRS participants.
