Beyond Calm - What Yoga Actually Does to Your Nervous System Over Time

You know yoga makes you feel better. But do you know why?

And more importantly — do you know what becomes possible when your nervous system actually heals over time?

In this episode of The Nourished Woman Podcast somatic yoga therapist Keri Marino gets personal and conversational about what nervous system healing actually looks and feels like from the inside — for real women living real lives.

Keri opens with her own past experiences of deep nervous system dysregulation — what it felt like in her body, her relationships and her daily life — and walks you through how somatic yoga therapy changed everything. Not in a clinical way. In a woman to woman way that will make you feel deeply seen.

This episode covers what your nervous system is actually doing and why it matters for your healing, what expanding your nervous system capacity actually feels like — and why it's about so much more than just calming down, how healing your nervous system opens you up to pleasure, to feeling good in your body, to intimacy, to abundance and to life itself, why inner work and somatic yoga therapy work together as a complete method and how to actually start doing this work in your real life.

Because the goal was never just calm.

The goal is a bigger more alive more free experience of being human.💜

🕯️ Free guided practice — Come Home to Your Body
→ https://kerimarino.eo.page/comehome

📺 Watch the YouTube video — How Yoga Affects Your Nervous System
→ https://youtu.be/P6mUONH-Ky4?si=x3ZK5rao4TAr9RLl

🌙 The Nourished Woman Sanctuary
→ https://www.kerimarino.com/the-nourished-woman-sanctuary.html

Meet Keri Marino

Keri Marino is a Somatic Yoga Therapist and founder of The Nourished Woman, helping women move beyond overwhelm, anxiety, and self-doubt into embodied confidence and nervous system balance. Through women’s empowerment yoga, somatic healing, and inner work, she guides women to regulate their bodies, break old patterns, and reconnect with their strength, pleasure, and purpose. Her approach blends grounded spirituality with practical tools for real-life transformation.

Connect with her here

https://www.kerimarino.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_nourished_woman

https://youtube.com/@thenourishedwoman

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

So this is session for Janet, and we're going to be working on moving energy through your body, working out some of the places that your body is speaking to around. You talked about heart center kind of all the way through on the front, in the middle, and the back. Yeah. And how some of the places that you've found yourself in have been very masculine, very much pushing through, getting things done, not listening to your own innermost self, not listening to your body. You've got the awareness to know that it's talking, but not the resources inside to honor it. And so during our practice today, I want to just encourage like fierce devotion to the idea that you will listen and that we'll play with some of those more nurturing and feminine, feminine aspects of the practice where you might do things much more softly. And if there's a part of you that's like, this isn't even worth anything, it's so gentle, just loving on that part of you and saying, actually, it gets to be easier. I get to try softer rather than harder. And we're gonna do a blend of movement and rest during our time together. So we're starting out with feet about hip width distance apart. Roll your shoulders back and down. Stand up nice and tall. Let your arms dangle down.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Notice where you are. Notice the feeling of your feet on the mat.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

And then when you're ready, on an inhale, take your arms all the way out and up high. As you exhale, join your palms, bend your knees lower down into chair pose. And then inhale, take your arms all the way out and up. Stretch long and tall. Exhale, join your palms, bend your knees lower down into chair pose. And let's go one more time. Inhale, reach it all the way up. And then exhale your hands together. Fold forward and down. Lower your fingertips. Inhale, reach your heart center all the way out. Exhale slowly lower. Inhale, stretch long through your spine. Exhale, fold back in. Let's do that one more time. Inhale and then exhale. Next, inhale, come all the way up to stand. Squeeze your shoulders up by your ears at the top. As you exhale, roll your shoulders back down and around behind you. Then bring your left hand to your outer left leg. And on an inhale, send your right arm up and stretch up and over. And it does not need to be the deepest stretch. You might even scale back by about 20%, just softening into it. And since you already have baked into your skill set a connection where you observe your body. You're good at reading things live. See if you can do that here and now just with yourself. Not analyzing, just tuning in, just feeling okay. I feel this in my body. I can breathe into that place in my body. Next, inhale, come all the way up. As you exhale, bring your hands around behind you, intertwine your fingers, and then really soft. We're gonna pulse with the breath. Inhale, little pulse, lifting your heart. And then as you exhale, tuck your chin around your shoulders in. And then inhale, little pulse. Open and lift your heart. It's not the deepest stretch. And then exhale and softly flow back in. That's beautiful, Janet. You're doing great. Inhale and exhale. Let's do that one more time. Inhale and exhale. And then inhale back to a neutral spine. This time right hand, right leg, inhale, left arm up and over. Soft, bending your side. Relax when you can around your eyes. Your eyes consume a tremendous amount of energy. So I really do mean that. Can you let your gaze soften? Maybe close your eyes. Next inhale, come all the way up. And then as you exhale, take a quarter turn to your right so that you're facing the length of your mat. And then walk on up to the front. And as you exhale, fold forward and down. Go so slow as you do that. Gradually lower your hands, step one foot back and then the other to come into a plank position. You can have your knees down if you want to have a little more access to a connection to your pelvis. Knees up if you want something stronger. Next, exhale, bend your elbows back alongside your rib cage. Inhale at the bottom to hold. And then exhale, squeeze through your abdominal muscles, push yourself back up. This time inhaling down and then exhaling up. Good. Keep playing with that. Inhaling down. Good. And exhaling up. I'd love to see you wrap your abdominal muscles in and up even more. Inhaling down, keep that abdominal bracing. And then exhale, press back up. We're gonna do three more with your breath. I am having pain in that right wrist. Okay. Let's come up from there into puppy pose. So hips over knees, lowering down. Did that wrist pain start right away or come on a little bit later? Uh it's not awful. It's been there the whole time. Well, we want to honor that, honey. I forgot that we were I started focusing on the back.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

I know I mentioned earlier that I did something to my dog, but I didn't know what it would feel like when I got to.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

Right. Well, and this is what honoring your body in real time looks like, right? I tried that out. Maybe a part of you would have just overrode.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Yeah, I would have.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

But you didn't, girl. You listened, you communicated. That's a win. Couple more breaths right here. Just really letting yourself be held. Your heart is in its own little cocoon here. Next, inhale, go ahead and ease yourself up, shift yourself forward, lower down onto your elbows, and then all the way down onto your belly. Hands by your chest, elbows near your ribs. So we're not putting a lot of weight on the hands, we're using back. So you can actually lift your hands and let them hover. On an inhale, squeeze your back body muscles like forward and up, and then exhale to lower down. Inhale, lengthen and lift, and exhale to grab. See if you can feel that combination of muscles waking up and then muscles also relax. One more time. From the bottom, use your elbows forward to prop up on your heart center. And then check in with how your pelvis is feeling, if it's feeling grounded. Sometimes a little bit of a rocking motion can actually be so soothing to our nervous system. So we have a whole separate nervous system down in our belly. It's called the inherent nervous system. It's also called the second brain.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Emotional things.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Things really deeply rooted in our past, about our parents, and how we're parenting. At any point you want to let out a sigh, go for it. Noises are good, horse lips are good. Sometimes even sounds like you're like, I don't even know. Or any of it, all of it, welcome. And eventually you're gonna reach a moment where your body feels satiated with this. And that may be now, that might be thirty seconds from now, it might be two minutes from now. But let your body be still whenever you cross cross that threshold. And then when you're ready, tuck your toes, press your toes down, on an exhale, squeeze, squeeze your belly in and up, pelvic muscles hugging in and lift from that place up onto your hands and knees, and from there, we're gonna pivot around and down onto outer left hip. Left tip. Yeah. And then left elbow under left shoulder. You're gonna have your knees stacked but pulled more up towards belly button height. That's great air. Right fingertips can be down. We're not putting a lot of pressure there. And then check in with your spine. See if you're as long as you can be there. And do you feel that lift in your left shoulder? Gotta stay with that. Inhale here. And then as you exhale, you're gonna squeeze through your roots. So pelvic muscles, belly wrap in, and you're gonna raise that left hip up. And then inhale down. And then exhale, squeeze through pelvic root, then wraps, lift up, and then inhale down. Exhale, squeeze, and lift. And then inhale down. I'm really hoping this outer left side body can feel itself engaging here.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

So all those muscles around your heart center on the back, on the front, we're building strength. And we're also really relaxing these muscles.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

From there, inhale, press yourself up. Gently pivot yourself around so that you're now in a position where you can lower your elbows down behind you and be on your bottom. Move your feet out in front. Poppy's right there staring at us.

SPEAKER_04 12:51

That's cute.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

Tuck your elbows under you as much as you can. Yes, fingertips underneath bottom. Palms of or soles of feet can be down if you really want like a grounding feel. You can also straighten your legs. Both are nice. If you go for straight legs, bring legs close and activate them. Pull your toes back. Inhale, lift up through your heart center. And this might be a time, Janet, where you would just go to your furthest edge normally. Gentler approach, love. Okay, so little lift of the heart. Maybe you're tucking your chin. Maybe your head's halfway back, so you're really building some neck strength. Maybe you're opening up your chin.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Nice easy breaths right here. And receive more. Couple more breaths right here. And then very slow ease your body up. Adjust the flesh around your sit bone so it feels like your bottom is really rooted down. And then from there, intertwine your fingers, keep your legs active, and stretch your arms up overhead. And the goal is how long can we stretch out through your spine? How long can you link them through your legs? Definitely getting some core work here. So maybe you're feeling those muscles hug in. Don't hold your breath. Keep it going. Maybe you can soften into this 10% more. And then exhale. Let all of that go. From there, turn onto your outer right hip. We're gonna go right elbow, right forearm down, legs are stacked, and the knees pulled up towards about belly button low. Make your spine as long as you can. Yeah. That lift in the right shoulder. Inhale here. Exhale, you got it. Starting with your pelvic root, you're squeezing and lifting. Good. And one of the things I'm really hoping you'll find here is that along that outer right side waist, you can feel those muscles both engage and then let go. Next, inhale lower and then slowly press yourself up. And then go ahead and come into any seated position just off this right side of your mat. I'm gonna get lots of yoga props positioned for you here. Okay, let me know if you're like I don't love it. You truly are. It is your world, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Especially when a memory kids really help someone.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Yeah, it's perspective. It's a different perspective. And I know my kids, some of my kids are a lot of my kids. Oh, it's precious.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Alright, my love. So where we're headed, this is a yoga post called Surfboard. And you talked about hugging a tree. So this is my version of hugging a tree. Okay. Alright, so where you're headed with this is you're gonna put knees here. You're gonna be on hands and knees. Go ahead and start there with me. So on hands and knees.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

And then your pelvis is going to go here, belly and chest here, and then legs are gonna extend behind you. And before I totally get you settled, we just kind of want to feel. So I'd love to actually see you scoop towards this back wall a little bit more. Yeah. And you can try on both. And if you're like, but I liked how I went the first time better.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

That totally feels more supported. Okay, good. I'm guessing that's what we're putting for. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

And then scoop this back for you. Go ahead and take your legs a little bit further apart, look more like hip width. And then give your body a second just to check in and notice how this is feeling for you. And then you know how your body feels about it.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Well, it's interesting because the muscles we were just using, I can feel them almost talking, so I like that. It's not uncomfortable. It's different though.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Yeah. Does it feel like something that your body is gonna be able to relax into, or maybe there's a better fit? I almost want this a little bit lower on the tummy to see if that's different. Try it, yeah. There's no right or wrong, just different, different variations. And I'll let some of this a little bit better. Okay, it's maybe not even an inch, but right. But honestly, in restorative yoga, you know, like the subtle difference makes all and then let's see if there's any other little little shift, sometimes just adjusting our chest, our legs, anything at all. Okay, would you like to be covered by any blankets? I have weighted sandbags. I don't know if you've ever experienced those. Okay. I'll add one and if you can see if your body says yes or no. I want to have whatever you need for it. I'll take a moment just to do any little repositioning. And if you don't love that, let me know, and I'll move that for you. It feels very secure. I feel like it can be comforting. And then I'm gonna make a little cocoon over your back. But if for whatever reason you're like, no, that's just not it. Let me know and I'll take that. Is there anything else I can do to make this more delightful for you?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Oh, I think that's I don't know what to do with that.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

So some folks like to kind of tuck them under the bolster, almost like hogging. Some folks like to have them out to the side, some folks like to hog around the head of the bolster. You can also tuck them in if they want to be supportive by blankets. Oh, that feeling. Okay. We're definitely getting a lot of back body openings in this one. And 90% of your breathing capacity is actually in your back. In the back of your lungs. So once you're all settled in. You've closed your eyes, and that's wonderful. If you're doing this via the recording, this will be a great time to let your eyes close. And then over the course of the next Three exhales. Let each of these exhales progressively relax your body more so that every bone softens. And then on the next exhale, relaxing even more so that every muscle unwinds what it's holding. Really emphasizing softening around your shoulders, which might feel like they're kind of holding on to something right here. What do you think about turning your palms off?

SPEAKER_02 23:01

I like that better.

SPEAKER_03 23:07

A little bit of therapeutic weight there. Notice the feeling of the pressure on it. The bolster is there, it is holding you. You're not having to reach for it. That bolster has come right up to you. And see if you can allow your heart center on the front, your belly to melt into all of the support beneath it. Even down into your lower back. Moving out and then pausing and moving in and pausing and flowing out again. So wholesomely through your body. While you're also allowing these breaths to do some energy healing for you, to move into any places where old patterns might still be playing out in your body. To nourish any parts of you that you're really wanting to lean more into, and that maybe you feel a little reluctant to trust. Lift your head and just turn it the other way, letting yourself lay right back into it. Asking your body again, is there any way that I can honor you more? Is there any little thing I can do to support you even better? And then allowing your body to rest all over again. And not just rest, but also to be held to be loved on without having to do anything or be anything. You might imagine that there's a healing light pouring down over you, filling you up. Turn your head back to the center. Turn your hands to the eye pillows, release down. And I'm gonna come and peel the blanket off your back, the sandbag off your back. Then gradually press yourself up from there. And sometimes it feels really good to stretch into a puppy pose so that your hips move back towards your heels and your heart center comes in lays on the bolster. Sometimes it even feels good to kind of wiggle your tail, to move your hips a little bit side to side. Then gradually ease yourself up, and we're gonna take a short shravasana. So I'd love to kind of clear all these props off your mat. Use as little effort as possible. And then just easing them down to lay on your back with arms and legs, taking up all the space you want. Even two or three of them go for it. There's nothing for you to figure out right now. There's nobody that needs you right now. And for some women, that knowing that there's nothing you need to figure out and there's nobody needs you. For some women, that feels like relief. And for some women that feels uncomfortable. So just lean into that relief, like ah, space. Your soul, your spirit. Start to move a little bit here or there, however, it feels good to you. And then gradually bend your knees and draw them up towards your heart. You might like to give your legs a squeeze. Roll softly over to one side.

SPEAKER_04 37:20

All the way?

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Yeah, all the way over. And then from your side, go ahead and press yourself up and into a seated position. Intertwine your fingers and let your hands just sit on the crown of your head. And you might visualize any seeds that you've planted here today or during this immersion with Tammy, that those seeds get planted and they get to take root. They take root in your body, they take root in your heart, they take root in your mind and in your nervous system. Thank you for practicing with me today. I'm so glad that I got this.