Optimise Your Headspace and Recalibrate Your Nervous System
Major surgery and long-term health conditions can place the nervous system under significant strain. For many people living with a stoma, the body has been through trauma, uncertainty and ongoing adaptation.
This psychoeducation session explores how the brain and nervous system respond to pressure, illness and recovery, helping participants understand why the body sometimes reacts the way it does.
Through accessible neuroscience and practical techniques, the session aims to help you emerge feeling calmer, more informed and better equipped to support your own wellbeing.
What You’ll Learn
During this session we explore:
• How the brain responds to pressure and uncertainty
• How stress patterns can become wired into the nervous system
• Why focus, calm and emotional balance can be trained
• How the nervous system can begin to settle in minutes
• How repetition helps rewire the brain through neuroplasticity
Understanding these processes can help people move from confusion and frustration towards clarity, self-compassion and confidence.
Session 1: Understanding the Nervous System
In this introductory session we explore how the nervous system shapes experiences of stress, pain and recovery.
Participants will discover:
• How stress and physical symptoms are shaped by the nervous system
• How understanding these processes can influence how the body responds
• Practical techniques that can be used immediately to support nervous system regulation
The aim is not to minimise physical realities, but to help the body and mind work together more effectively.
A Personal Perspective
This session is facilitated by Teresa Harris Boag, hypnotherapist, coach and educator specialising in the neuroscience of nervous system regulation and performance psychology.
In 2024, Teresa underwent major surgery for bowel cancer, giving her a personal understanding of the profound physical and psychological adjustments that can follow abdominal surgery and stoma formation.
This experience informs her work with empathy and realism, combining professional expertise with lived insight into recovery, adaptation and rebuilding confidence in the body.
Practical Tools You Can Take Away
Participants will also learn simple, accessible techniques designed to support the nervous system in daily life.
These include micro-practices drawn from:
• hypnosis-informed relaxation
• somatic nervous system regulation
• breath and attention techniques
• coaching strategies for mental resilience
These tools are designed to be gentle, practical and usable independently, helping participants support their nervous system between medical appointments and alongside ongoing care.
Who This Session Is For
This session may be helpful for people who:
• are living with a stoma
• have experienced major abdominal surgery
• are navigating recovery after bowel cancer or other bowel conditions
• want to understand how stress and the nervous system affect physical wellbeing
• are interested in learning practical techniques to support calm and resilience