Living, loving, and learning should all come naturally to us. These things are hard-wired into our being. For some of us, however, experiences, injuries, illnesses, and sometimes inexplicable reasons get in the way of living life to its fullest extent. For children, this may mean struggling with learning, problems with emotional regulation, or fine and gross motor control issues. For adults, this may show itself with problems committing in a relationship, trust with a partner, negative self-image, struggles with learning and memory, or on-going health problems.

When we encounter stress or trauma-whether it be emotional, physical, or environmental-our bodies react to that. These stress responses can remain intact instead of dissipating after the stress or trauma has gone. Examples of stressors we might encounter are car accidents, emotional abuse, bacterial or viral infections, medication reactions, divorce, trouble at birth and more. Your nervous system is the body’s superhighway; it must operate effectively and efficiently or we won’t respond to our environment appropriately.

The word integrated means to “coordinate or combine separate elements so as to provide a harmonious, interrelated whole.” Applying this to the way we live, an integrated life is one where we are able to access all of our physical, emotional, and spiritual resources at any time and these parts of ourselves operate together with ease and tranquility. How does one achieve this type of living? By allowing ourselves to see ourselves in this state and moving toward it-allowing our brains and bodies to learn a new pattern of being.