It’s often said that almost all modern diseases that mankind is grappling with today can be attributed to an imbalanced nervous system, more specifically, an overtly stimulated sympathetic one. When doctors or even the internet puts it that way, doesn’t the fix sound almost too obvious? Why not just activate the other half, the "better" half, the parasympathetic system, also called as 'rest and relax' system?
But can it really be that simple? Can switching on the "rest and relax" system actually do something, let alone solve complex, unpronounceable diseases? It does sound far-fetched. Maybe even too simplistic, especially when you hear how complicated these conditions sound when doctors explain the diagnosis, and when you go down the rabbit hole of searching for solutions online… or these days, even asking AI to make sense of it all.
And yet, it really is that simple.
Our bodies are far more intelligent than we give them credit for. When we genuinely relax, I don’t mean simply lying down and putting your feet up, I mean when we breathe as if we are letting go of some unseen weight from our head and shoulders, the body knows what to do to repair whatever is broken and recover. It remembers the natural perfect state it is meant to return to.
Over the last two months, I went through what doctors call a relapse. I lost some of my mobility, or maybe my body was just asking me to slow down. Almost like it was saying, "you don’t have the energy to keep going like this, so I am going to pause your movement for a bit and use that energy elsewhere."
After five years of full mobility, my first reaction was denial. I kept pushing. Exercising. Going about my days as if nothing had changed. But my body didn’t agree. It didn't like it one bit. It kept insisting, loudly, through excruciating widespread nerve pains all over the body.
Since I had already figured out the tools that helped me recover from Fibromyalgia, also called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (too many names for what feels like one simple thing, not enough cellular energy for basic bodily functions), I started applying the same recovering techniques again.
So, I went back to pranayama. Nothing fancy. Just longer exhales than inhales. Gently nudging my parasympathetic nervous system. It wasn’t about resting. Rest alone has never healed me. What really made difference was encouraging my body that it could take over me. That it didn’t need my logical interference. That it already knew how to heal.
Fibromyalgia doesn’t stay contained. It spreads. It takes over everything. And when the whole system is disconnected, there is no precise fix. No single lever to pull. I had to stop fighting, surrender and trust my body’s intelligence, to let it do what it has always known how to do, if I could just get out of the way.
I started consciously inviting my relaxation system to take the charge. Almost like whispering, you take over now. In my mind, I literally had placed a signboard: I am at peace and I trust your intelligence in my recovery.
Stress isn’t something we can eliminate. I, for instance, am a full-time working mom to twin daughters. Stress is part of the package. But what I can change is how my body comprised of trillions of cells responds to it. Instead of bracing, I used my exhales as a gentle reminder to my system, requesting it to conserve energy and tone down its response.
And strangely enough, it listened. It still surprises me how clear and intentional thoughts can influence bodily responses.
Few days in, I could walk a few steps. Few more days, a little more. Now, I am climbing stairs again
and almost fully myself. Moving, functioning, contributing, living.
My body didn’t need force to heal. It needed permission, to decide how to use its energy.
What this experience reminds me is not a new technique or a miracle cure. It is trust. Trust in a body that has always been on my side, even when it communicates to me through pains. Pranayama has become my way of listening, and also of speaking to my body in a language it understands.
Healing, for me, isn’t about doing more now. It’s about right breathing, letting go through each exhale, and responding gently, one breath at a time and that I trust my body already knows the way back to its natural, perfect state.
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