Nervous System
Mapping
Embodied Neurophysiology
& Creative Map Making
Join the waitlist to hear about the next workshop!
2-Hour Workshop
Live & Recorded
“Nervous System Mapping with Marissa was revelatory—both expansive and clarifying.”
In this workshop you will learn how to work with rather than against your brilliant nervous system.
Your nervous system is a vital part of an evolutionary, biological technology that keeps you alive and thriving.
It does this through prioritizing survival, adaptation and connection.
When we feel unsafe, our nervous systems will always choose protection over growth, because of this hardwire to survive.
Yet we are also hardwired for joy, pleasure, healthy risk and nourishing relationships.
Due to trauma, chronic stress and systems of oppression—our wires sometimes get crossed. The discerned threads of what is a true threat and what is not gets knotted up into a ball of being stuck in a nervous system state of having the gas and the brakes on at the same time.
Nervous System Mapping
Nervous System Mapping helps you visualize, feel and name the invisible architecture of your embodied experience—transforming unconscious reactions into conscious choices while creating a personalized roadmap for regulation, authentic expression, and deeper connection.
Bring your art supplies because you are going to create an actual map of your nervous system!
“With the ability to recognize a moment of distress and notice the autonomic state, we move into a moment of awareness instead of simply being swept deeper into dysregulation.”
In this workshop, you will learn about:
🫀 Your Wandering Nerve
The Vagus Nerve is the biggest nerve in the body and is the main parasympathetic pathway of your autonomic nervous system, which means it plays a big role in how you feel. We will track the anatomy of the Vagus Nerve as well as learn about its function and tangible tools for supporting it.
🎼 Polyvagal Theory
We will move beyond the buzzword and the biohacking to engage a holistic, integrative, relational and compassionate understanding of this emergent theory which complicates our previously simplistic understanding of the nervous system as parasympathetic=good and sympathetic=bad.
🦦 The Neuroception of Safety
Neuroception is our invisible sense or radar system that constantly scans our inner and outer environments for signs of danger and safety. This is incredibly important, as Stephen Porges’ says, “everything we cherish as humans comes from the evolutionary transition that allowed us to detect not just danger—but also safety.”
🫂 The Social Nervous System
Our nervous systems cannot be understood in isolation, we are formed in relationship. The Social Nervous System or Ventral Vagal Complex regulates our face-heart connection (Controls muscles in the face, neck, and head for expression and listening), supports co-regulation and facilitates healthy bonding.
After this workshop, you may notice that you…
Are responding to old feelings in new ways.
Catch yourself before spiraling into overwhelm or shutdown.
Respond to conflict with coherence rather than reactivity.
Soften your inner critic and speak to yourself with more compassion.
Bounce back from stress more quickly and with less impact.
Make decisions from grounded knowing rather than fear or urgency.
Find more moment of presence, joy and pleasure in your day.
Are nurturing a nervous system that can hold both rest and expansion.
Feel less stuck and more in flow with your natural rhythm.
“I just finished the recording of your workshop and wanted to share with you how incredibly interesting and profound it was! I’ve learned so much not only through all the detailed and on point information but also through your embodiment of what you’re sharing and my own experience with the mapping part. Thank you SO MUCH for this gift! I’m truly grateful and wish you all the best.”
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This workshop is about…
〰 Nurturing understanding to increase your capacity for awareness and grow your access to choice.
〰 Working with rather than against the innate evolutionary intelligence of your nervous system.
〰 Compassionate understanding to foster an internal environment of safety and allow your nervous system to move towards its natural state of thriving.
〰 Becoming more emotionally intelligent and embodied.
〰 Feeling empowered, even when you are triggered.
〰 Transforming a lifetime of feeling out of control and overwhelmed by your feelings.
〰 Getting to make choices in alignment with growth rather than protection.
〰 Deepening into relationship with ourselves so that we can deepen into relationship with others.
〰 Staying in connection with ourselves when we feel activated.
This workshop is not about…
〰 Being perfectly calm or “regulated” all of the time.
〰 Controlling our nervous systems through “mind over matter”.
〰 Criticizing our natural nervous system states.
〰 Depersonalized and disconnected understanding of the nervous system.
〰 Valuing certain nervous system states over others.
〰 Learning abstract theory without practical application.
〰 Increasing alienation from our own bodies through putting ourself into static boxes and categories.