Stress Therapy: Neurocycle

I have trouble processing in general, I don’t think I spent less than hour on each lesson in the first 21 days…I paused it and wrote every word she said to help myself process, absorb, understand and participate as genuinely as possible. I knew this was what I needed & I dedicated time to it that was hard to find. I honestly only got to it every few days, but now that I’ve got a feel for it, I’m going to do the 21 days again and consecutively at a quicker pace. I learned so many tools that I use everyday to regulate myself. I have less fear and discombobulation when I face situations with high potential of challenges. I think my favorite tool was “I disconnect the physical sensations from the details of this memory” and I use the visualization when I start to get tension headaches thinking about potential difficulties/annoyances ahead based on my previous experiences with small kids chaos. It helps me look ahead objectively, without my mind getting into a bind, then I use “think, feel, choose” to approach it with agency and hope that I’ll handle it more grounded & present by choice. I also “imagine myself handling it calm, cool and under control” from another lesson. After 21 days, I’m on my way with more confidence and hope for my ability to be in control of myself and be who I want to be. This is teaching me how to be human. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.

Have you ever heard the term “just keep swimming”, well when life gets hard and you feel stuck and don’t know how you are going to move forward I just keep reminding myself to “just keep Neurocycling”. I started “Neurocycling” about a year in a half ago, December 2022 to be exact, I had started therapy because I was struggling with my mental health, two months into therapy I lost my insurance. I didn’t know what I was going to do next because I really needed the help, so I subscribed to Dr Caroline Leaf”s app the Neurocycle in hopes that I could continue some kind of therapy on my own. I was desperate and needed to get well. I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I have ever made in regards to my mental health. Facing my issues through the App has been a difficult at times but the journey has been well worth it. I have been able to get to the root of my toxic thinking and have been able to deconstruct the toxic core belief system, the lies that have held me captive most of my life. I am 46 years old and I can honestly say that my mental health has never been better, it has taken a lot of hard work, and at times it was very difficult to go back and face my issues when being confronted by them during the Neurocycle process but with a lot of hard work and dedication I have come out on the other side. So if there is any one out there that has lost hope, please don’t give up, give this app a try, listen to Dr Leaf’s podcast, watch her interviews and videos and learn how to clean up your mental mess.

I’ve just completed the first cycle, 21 days on the app. (I missed a few so it took closet to 30 days.) My sleep has improved and even my confidence in my own ideas has increased. My 2-3 am racing thoughts have stopped! Win!! I am finding myself naturally starting to value my own wants and desires without guilt. It’s okay for others to go out of their way for me. I’ve always done that for other people but felt horribly guilty if people did it for me. While this doesn’t fully replace therapy with a trained, I have *started* learning how to dissect my own thinking and responses on my own. Dr. Leaf talks you through 5 “steps” each day which are exceedingly beneficial. It’s somewhat time consuming and I’ve woken up 30-40 minutes earlier to give myself time. I see how 21 days is not enough to be permanent. I’ve started to shift how I view some key toxic thoughts, but I definitely still feel malleable. Dr. Leaf really walks you through the digging process to uncover root issues. It’s hard work, I cried a lot the first week, but I do feel like a huge weight is slowly lifting off of me. It’s not a fake bandaid process with “say these words” and you’ll be better. You have to dig through your own junk and then you start to see the lies from the truth. It’s a very genuine process and I feel very, very proud of this work I’ve done, as well as the overall healing process I’ve been intentionally going through for 30+ years. I feel calm, centered, loving and more objective about my thoughts - reduced rumination. What a win!