People often ask me: “Why do this, the process of therapy, when it might bring up old, painful memories?” I tell them: “Because what you don’t heal will hold you hostage and keep you from your greatest freedom and joy—the joy of being fully present and authentic in yourself.”

The autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is part of the peripheral nervous system, consists of sensory and motor neurons.

Incoming sensory information takes one of two primary pathways in the brain. One pathway leads to the neocortex, which is more of the “thinking brain” where we make sense of the world.