7 Ways DNRS Might Surprise You
If you are doing DNRS, you almost definitely have a list of symptoms/brain pathways you are specifically working to change. That is, of course, the goal of the program: to heal. But here are 7 unexpected outcomes that I was surprised to experience while doing the program that you might experience too.
New dreams
This was the first unexpected result of doing DNRS that I experienced, and it came in a matter of a couple weeks if not days. While I was chronically ill--for years--my dreams at night were incredibly frustrating, to the point sometimes I would wake up from one during the night and just get up because that was preferable to dreaming. It's not that they were scary; they were exhausting and repetitive, nauseatingly so. I had something like 6 dreams or dream "locations" that would just rotate, as if my brain was stuck there--which I learned through DNRS, it was in fact stuck.
Think about it: your brain is involved in literally everything you do. If you have a limbic system impairment, anything in your brain can be tangled up in the mess of it, including the pathways that lead to your dreams. And mine were stuck. Soon after beginning DNRS I had a dream breakthrough--my dream "locations" were limitless, and I wasn't regularly repeating the same ones over and over. And to this day, my dreams are so random, creative, vivid, and even sometimes meaningful. Such a seemingly small thing brought such relief!
Relief from symptoms you didn't know were symptoms
As I said above, you very likely have your list of symptoms that you are working to heal. I did too. But as I did the program and symptoms lessened, I found other things--lesser symptoms that I hadn't even realized weren't normal--fell away too. For example, you may not think anxiety is an issue for you, but once you start DNRS and shift from fight or flight mode to calm, you may see that you did have anxiety that is now gone.
Relief from symptoms you weren't addressing
Similarly, while you are targeting certain symptoms/brain pathways that are most paramount in your mind, you may find that less severe symptoms start falling away as well, without even specifically retraining out of those. Because when you have a limbic system impairment, both "big" and "small" chronic symptoms are all tangled up in one mess together, and one thread leads to another.
Improvement even after the program
While you are supposed to commit to at least 6 months of the practice and I recommend strongly that everyone do that, I have mentioned before that I actually only did about 4 months, from March to about August 2017. However, I realized that at Christmas of that year, I was even better than I had been in the summer. By summer 2018, I was even better. And by Christmas 2018, I could still feel a shift from the previous Christmas. This is not to say that at any point after stopping the regular practice I had chronic symptoms or was not healthy; I just felt even better than the amazing I had already felt at previous points post-DNRS. I believe this happens because a limbic system impairment will worsen over time when not addressed and you will spiral downward into more and more issues. Similarly, retraining your brain into a state of health will over time spiral upward into more and more of a state of thriving.
Freedom from old thoughts
It probably goes without saying that as you retrain your brain out of pathways of illness and fight or flight mode, the thoughts that routinely went along with that state will very likely naturally shift as well. For example, there was an area of my past that would come to my mind
very often previous to DNRS, from a time that overlapped the start of
when I started to become chronically ill and that contributed to it. I
found that as I healed with DNRS, I simply didn't think of that time
anymore because it was caught in the same chaotic brain pathways that I
was abandoning. And from then on when I would think of it, it was from a
different mindset, much more far away and objective than before, like a
complete mindset shift: healing.
Ability to be more present and not relive the past
Similarly, you will likely find that you are no longer stuck in the past--where trauma lies for so many who do DNRS--and that you are able to mentally be fully present for the first time in a long time. It was unreal to do things I had done before, while sick, but this time while healthy and feel myself actually be mentally fully present for them.
New interests
And finally, as you shake off the layers of illness, symptoms, trauma, pain, and so much more and the most you you ever can finally exhale and live, you will likely find new interests. You may suddenly feel compelled to try a new hobby that a small part of you always fancied but you never could try or to begin a new creative outlet that you had never even thought about before. Or the world of healing may lead you to delve into learning about neuroplasticity and the mind even more. The sky's the limit now!
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More to see:
My DNRS FAQs | all my DNRS posts | the DNRS website