Rewire Your Nervous System - by Rachel Fearnley

COURSE

Rewire Your Nervous System

With Rachel Fearnley

In life, we will always encounter stress. Stress in and of itself isn’t the problem, but how we relate to each individual stressor is. When we find ourselves relating to stress in a way that keep us stuck in a cycle of feeling anxious, overwhelmed or depressed. This can, over time, lead us into chronic stress-related conditions. In order to heal from chronic stress-related conditions, it’s essential we understand how the nervous system plays a role in our overall mental, emotional & physical health. Once we understand the role our Nervous System plays in all aspects of our health, we can create our own personal ‘road map’ to transition out of states of stress towards greater resilience, flexibility and easefulness within. In this 10-day course, you will gain insights as to what the nervous system is, how it impacts every single aspect of our lives and its importance in our overall health and wellness. You will create a ‘roadmap’ of your own nervous system that will give you deeper insights into how your own body responds to states of stress and you will learn practical, tangible, accessible tools to be able to transition yourself out of states of stress, anxiety, overwhelm & depression. The knowledge and practices in this course are invaluable resources that you can carry with you through the rest of your life to create a life that is less stress filled, and more easeful.

AnxietyStress & AnxietyGroundedHealth & HappinessHappinessNeuroscienceScienceMindfulnessStress

Meet your Teacher

Rachel Fearnley
Bali, Indonesia

Rachel is a trauma-informed somatic coach who supports you to re-wire your nervous system so you can melt away anxiety, take control of your energy and feel yourself again.

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10 Days

15.2k students

4.9 stars

15 min / day

Anxiety

English

Lesson 1

The stress response overview

Have you ever wondered why you get sweaty or clammy palms when you’re nervous and why your breath might tighten up or you get tunnel vision when you’re about to have a difficult conversation? In lesson one, we explore the basics of stress and how the body responds under stressful situations. This lesson culminates in a short breath practice to help calm the body & mind when you’re experiencing moments of stress

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Lesson 2

Nervous System Basics

Our Nervous System is the body’s command center & messaging system. It controls everything we do from breathing, digesting and walking to thinking, feeling & our automatic responses to the world around us. It is through your nervous system that you perceive life! In this lesson, we will dive into what the nervous system is and how it supports us in everything we do. We will also learn about the vagus nerve which is one of the most important nerves in the body and is an integral part of the nervous system. We’ll look at what happens when the vagus nerve is not functioning at it’s optimum and why this happens. This lesson culminates in a practice to help ‘tone’ the vagus nerve, supporting it to return back to it’s optimum function.

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Lesson 3

The 3 self-protective states: #1 Fight or flight

Fight or flight (aka our sympathetic state) is the first of the 3 ‘protective’ states of our nervous system. It is the state of activation or mobilisation. It’s the state we’re typically in when we feel anxious, frustrated or overwhelmed. In this lesson, we deep dive into the fight or flight state, how we end up in this state, how we can tell in our own bodies when we are heading into, or are in, fight or flight and, most importantly, what we can do to help our systems to transition out of this activated state. This lesson culminates with a short practice to help our systems to transition out of fight or flight and back into a calm, grounded state.

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Lesson 4

The 3 self protective state: #2 & #3, Freeze & Shut down

Freeze & shutdown are 2 different states which also fall under the ‘self protective’ category. Shutdown is a result of being in our dorsal vagal complex and typically happens when our system perceives that there is no point in being activated or mobilised – so it shuts us down. The freeze state is a combination of both our sympathetic state (fight or flight) and our dorsal state (shutdown). In this lesson. we dive deep into both the freeze and the shutdown states, how we can end up in these states, how we can tell in our own bodies that we are heading into or are in freeze or shut down and most importantly how we can navigate our way out! This lesson culminates in a short practice to help ease you out of the shutdown (dorsal vagal) state

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Lesson 5

The 3 balanced states

There are 3 balanced states of our nervous system, we come into these states when our system doesn’t pick up on any perceivable threats. The primary is – our ventral vagal complex state - which is commonly referred to as rest, digest, repair, reproduce & connect. And as the name suggests is the state we are in when our ability to rest, to digest, to heal ourselves, to reproduce and connect with others is at it’s optimum. The next 2 are blended states.. The state of play, this is when we are in our ventral vagal complex but have a splash of sympathetic (mobilisation) And Stillness, this is when we are also in our ventral vagal but we have a splash of dorsal (shutdown). In this lesson we dive deeper into the balanced states of our nervous system, the importance of spending the majority of our time in these states and how we can better support our systems to being in these states. This lesson culminates in a short practice to help to shift you into your ventral vagal (balanced) state

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Lesson 6

Why are we dysregulated if we’re not in imminent danger?

Here we will look deeper into why, as a society, we are in an almost constant state of dysregulation – how the way & speed at which we live & the pressure we put ourselves under keeps us in a cycle of dysregulation. We will also look at how, whatever state we are in, creates our story – keeping us stuck in perhaps a constant cycle of stress, fatigue & overwhelm. We will then discuss actionable tweaks we can make to our day to day life to release ourselves from the cycle of dysregulation. This lesson ends with a short awareness practice which can be used in any moment to bring you back to the present moment

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Lesson 7

Co-regulation vs self regulation

Self regulation is when we use resources that are within ourselves in order to bring our selves back into a place of balance. Co-regulation is when we utilise another person or animal, and their balanced state to bring us back into a place of balance. In this lesson, we will explore self & co-regulation and the importance of having both resources available to us on our journey towards regulating our nervous systems. This lesson culminates with a short guided practice to facilitate self-regulation

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Lesson 8

The breath & the nervous system

The breath is one of the most vital tools we have when it comes to regulating our nervous system. It is a powerful resource that every single one of us possess. We breathe on average 25 – 30,000 every single day and we can begin to harness this recourse at any given moment to help bring us back to a place of harmony, easefulness & balance. In this lesson, we will dive deeper into the breath and how it relates to the nervous system and explore different ways we can use it to promote a more resilient, flexible and regulated nervous system. We will do 2 different practices during this lesson to explore how the breath can be used to both UP regulate the nervous system and to DOWN regulate the nervous system.

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Lesson 9

Creating the map of your nervous system

In order to be able to change where we are in our nervous system (what state we are in), it’s vital we know where we are. Many people get ‘stuck’ in a state – simply because they don’t know ‘the way out’ In this lesson. we will look at the main states of the nervous system — dorsal shut down, sympatheti, and ventral vagal — like a traffic light system to harness more familiarity around the states in order that we can create pathways that become easier and easier to traverse so that we can easefully find our way out of the self protective states and into the balanced state of our ventral vagal. This lesson ends with a sensory practice which is one of the pivotal practices for nervous system regulation

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Lesson 10

A summary of all you have learnt

In this final lesson, we will recap on what you have learnt over the last 10 days in order that you can integrate the learnings even further. Today’s practice, we build on the previous days' practice so that it becomes a familiar and easy practice to call upon when needed.

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Ask your teacher

This course includes 447 community questions and 33 audio replies from Rachel Fearnley. The community classroom and teacher audio replies are only available via the app.

447

4.9 (702)

Recent Reviews

Kymme

February 13, 2026

Incredibly enlightening. I’ve tried many meditations in the past to help relieve anxiety and racing thoughts, but I give up as often I struggle to focus. Having listened to this course and realised that I’ve likely been in a disregulated state for some time I now understand the type of practices which will help me. This has been so informative, and the practices at the end of each session left me feeling so calm. Thank you so much.

LAURA

February 12, 2026

Loved it! Learned so much, so many valuable tools.

Leigh

February 12, 2026

Really enjoyed the structure of learning and doing in this course. The content is super helpful. I will probably do it again so that I can really embed the practices in my day to day

Farahnaz

February 4, 2026

This is a great course explaining the nervous system and providing many tools to regulate your nervous system. Thank you!

Lori

February 3, 2026

Wish I would have learned these things years ago! Very helpful, clear, and motivating. I've incorporated some of these practices in my daily routine and notice the difference.

Paul

February 2, 2026

This course was hard but vital. Rachel is an expert in this field and speaks with great clarity. I will do the course again and have bought the book she co-wrote, Somatic Practices For Trauma, which I'm finding very valuable.

Sara

January 31, 2026

Really great! Made a big difference for me, I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. This gave me a lot more tools in my toolbox for peace and relief.

Omar

January 29, 2026

This is a brilliant and helpful course. Thank you

Sue

January 28, 2026

This was a wonderful course filled with explanations, that give meaning to the sensations I’ve been feeling. Having an understanding of the workings of the nervous system, helps explain why we feel the way we do when we react to situations that are not dangerous, but we perceive them as such. Having some tools to correct our disregulations and bring us back to a balanced state are invaluable. Thanks for your guidance and making a complex system easier to understand.

Christine

January 26, 2026

Magical!! So healing. I will take this class again right now.

Matt

December 30, 2025

Brilliant course. Very informative 👏 🙏🏻❤️

Tim

December 19, 2025

This course was amazing! I’m going to listen to it again during my morning walks. You made it both informative and helpful by blending the fascinating info with practices at the end of each lesson. I highly recommend this course to anyone and everyone! ❤️🙏

Jeannie

December 16, 2025

Great course, thank you. It is an eye opener to understand why I feel/react the way that I do under minor circumstances. Thank you so much for the tools to counteract our tendencies!

Wendy

December 12, 2025

Very well presented, useful tools!

Pamela

December 3, 2025

Great course! Tons of helpful information and practical tips. I am 60 years old and 10 years into my wellness journey. Have never seen this information put together in this way. Loved it.

Julie

November 28, 2025

Extremely informative and helpful course! I learned a lot from the practices and found the ones which worked best for me. I especially like the rating scale, rating the mind and body separately for their current states within the nervous system. I'll be going back to listen again, as I integrate the information. Excellent comments in the classroom as well. Thank you!

Jenny

November 26, 2025

Amazingly informative and effective course. I learnt so much and definitely plan to repeat it to bed in the knowledge and practices. Thank you Rachel 🙏🏽

Lori

November 12, 2025

This class is absolutely wonderful. It educates and it provides action activities that are simple, effective, and straightforward. This is a class that I will certainly repeat so that I can continue to reinforce the lessons and remember and review the things to do in times of disregulation. This class helps me understand myself and in the process does not blame or judge. It just builds understanding and provides hope that there can be better days ahead that do not feel stressful and overwhelming! It is helping me already!

Shyla

November 3, 2025

Manageable class duration, practical information and related self-regulation exercises that work.

Lisa

November 1, 2025

What an incredibly informative and helpful course. I learned about my nervous system and several tools and practices to use to regulate it. Thank you so much. ❤️

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