102: Claire Ollila: What’s Keeping You From Regulating Your Nervous System
You're Not "Too Sensitive", You're Dysregulated (And Here's What to Do About It)
Doing all the right things but still feel anxious and stuck? Claire Ollila breaks down nervous system regulation, stress responses, and why breathwork actually works.
Let's cut to the chase: if you're eating clean, training hard, sleeping eight hours, and still feeling anxious, reactive, or like your body's not responding the way it should, there's probably a missing piece to your wellness puzzle.
And no, it's not another supplement or morning routine hack.
In this conversation with Claire Ollila, somatic breathwork facilitator and nervous system mentor, Tara digs into the thing most women aren't taught when it comes to health and stress: how to actually regulate your nervous system. Not just "calm down" when you're stressed, but address the deeper patterns keeping you stuck in survival mode.
Claire's work focuses on helping people break patterns, release stored stress, and create real, lasting change by working with their bodies instead of against them. And trust us, this conversation is packed with insights you'll want to save and revisit.
Why Stress Relief Isn't About "Just Relaxing"
Here's what wellness culture gets wrong: they tell you stress management is all about bubble baths, meditation apps, and lighting a candle. And while those things can be nice, they're bandaids if your nervous system is chronically dysregulated.
Claire explains that true nervous system regulation isn't about avoiding stress or forcing yourself to be calm. It's about building the capacity to move through stress and return to baseline. It's about teaching your body that it's safe, even when life gets messy.
Most of us are walking around in a state of chronic low-level activation, meaning our bodies are constantly operating like there's a threat, even when there isn't one. This wreaks havoc on everything from your digestion and sleep to your workouts and emotional resilience.
The goal isn't to eliminate stress. It's to help your body process it efficiently so you're not carrying it around like emotional baggage.
You're Probably Breathing Wrong (And It's Sabotaging You)
If you've ever rolled your eyes at the suggestion to "just breathe," Claire's got some news for you: most of us are doing it wrong, and it's actually keeping us stuck in stress mode.
When you're stressed, your breath becomes shallow and chest-focused. This signals to your nervous system that you're in danger, which perpetuates the stress cycle. It's a loop that feeds on itself.
Proper breathing, slow, deep, diaphragmatic breathing, activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which is your body's natural "rest and digest" mode. This isn't woo-woo. It's biology. When you breathe intentionally, you're literally signaling to your body that it's safe.
Claire emphasizes that breathwork isn't just a five-minute practice you do when you're freaking out. It's a tool you can use proactively to build resilience, release stored tension, and shift your baseline state over time.
And the best part? You don't need any fancy equipment or a perfect setup. You just need to show up and breathe with intention.
The 4 Stress Responses That Might Be Running Your Life
You've probably heard of fight or flight, but Claire breaks down all four stress responses that your nervous system can default to: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.
Fight is when you get defensive, angry, or combative under stress. Flight is when you avoid, distract, or run away from problems. Freeze is when you shut down, dissociate, or feel paralyzed. And fawn is when you people-please, over-accommodate, or abandon your own needs to keep the peace.
Here's the kicker: most of us have a dominant stress response that we default to, often without even realizing it. And that pattern was likely developed in childhood as a survival mechanism.
The problem is, these responses might have helped you survive back then, but they're probably not serving you now. If you're constantly people-pleasing (fawn), avoiding hard conversations (flight), or shutting down emotionally (freeze), you're living in a reactive state instead of a regulated one.
Understanding your default stress response is the first step to changing it. Once you see the pattern, you can start to interrupt it and choose a different response.
Why Stress Is Wrecking Your Workouts (And Your Results)
If you're training hard but not seeing the results you want, your nervous system might be the culprit.
Claire and Tara discuss how chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation can completely derail your fitness progress. When your body is stuck in fight-or-flight mode, it prioritizes survival over everything else, including muscle recovery, fat loss, and performance.
Here's what happens: stress hormones like cortisol stay elevated, your body holds onto inflammation, your sleep quality tanks, and your ability to recover from workouts takes a nosedive. You might be doing everything right in the gym, but if your nervous system is fried, your body can't actually use that work to build strength or change composition.
This is why some women can train less, stress less, and see better results. It's not about working harder. It's about creating an internal environment where your body actually feels safe enough to adapt and grow.
If your workouts are leaving you feeling wired and exhausted instead of energized, it might be time to look at what's happening outside the gym, and inside your nervous system.
Tapping: The Weird-Looking Tool That Actually Works
Let's talk about EFT tapping, also known as Emotional Freedom Technique. Yes, it looks a little weird. Yes, it might feel awkward the first time you try it. But according to Claire, it's one of the most effective tools for regulating your nervous system in real time.
Tapping involves lightly tapping on specific acupressure points on your body while focusing on a stressor or emotion. It sounds too simple to work, but research shows it can reduce cortisol levels, calm anxiety, and help you process difficult emotions faster.
Claire explains that tapping works because it gives your body something physical to do while your mind processes stress. It interrupts the stress cycle and signals safety to your nervous system. It's especially helpful for people who struggle to "just sit and meditate" because it keeps your body engaged.
The beauty of tapping is that you can do it anywhere, anytime. Feeling anxious before a meeting? Tap. Overwhelmed after a hard conversation? Tap. Can't shake the stress from your day? You guessed it, tap.
It's not about making the stress disappear instantly. It's about giving your nervous system a tool to move through it instead of staying stuck.
You Don't Have to Hit Rock Bottom to Start Healing
One of the most powerful takeaways from this conversation is that you don't need to wait until you're completely burnt out, anxious, or broken to start working on your nervous system. In fact, the best time to start is before things get that bad.
Claire shares her own journey from skepticism to full-on nervous system nerd, and how she wishes she'd started this work sooner. The reality is, most of us wait until we hit rock bottom before we take our mental and emotional health seriously. But you don't have to be in crisis to benefit from breathwork, tapping, or nervous system regulation.
If you're someone who's constantly operating at an 8 out of 10 stress level, feeling reactive, or noticing that small things set you off, those are signs your nervous system needs support. You don't have to be diagnosed with anxiety or burnout to deserve tools that help you feel better.
Start small. Try a five-minute breathwork session. Test out tapping when you're feeling stressed. Notice how your body responds. The work doesn't have to be perfect or intense. It just has to be consistent.
The Bottom Line: Your Body Needs More Than Workouts and Meal Prep
At the end of the day, you can't out-train, out-eat, or out-optimize a dysregulated nervous system. If you're doing all the "right" things and still feeling off, it's time to look at the missing piece: how your body is processing stress.
Nervous system regulation isn't a luxury. It's foundational. And the tools Claire shares, breathwork, tapping, understanding your stress responses, aren't just trendy wellness buzzwords. They're science-backed practices that can genuinely change how you feel in your body and move through the world.
So if you're tired of feeling anxious, reactive, or stuck despite doing everything "right," this is your permission slip to start addressing what's really going on under the surface.
Ready to take your health seriously, inside and out? If you're done spinning your wheels and want personalized support that addresses more than just workouts and macros, check out Broads 1:1 Coaching and start building a body and life that feel good from the inside out.
What's your default stress response? Share your thoughts with the Broads community on Instagram @broads.podcast, we'd love to hear which one resonated with you most.
