The CFS Recovery System

What Our Recovery System Involves

The named practices, frameworks, and recognized approaches behind our nervous-system-based recovery system for CFS, Long COVID, fibromyalgia, and post-viral symptoms. This is what the work involves, and why it helps.

The short version

It's a nervous-system-based recovery system built on three pillars: neuroplastic, behavioural, and physical coaching. Clients do daily brain-retraining and somatic work, learn to respond calmly to symptoms instead of fearing them, and gradually expand activity at a pace the nervous system can handle.

The practices clients do

14 named

Concrete, do-it-today exercises, including but not limited to the below. This is what a normal day of the work could look like. Someone might use a few of these or many of them, typically a combination, depending on where they're at and what their nervous system health assessment is telling us.

01Brain Retraining for Chronic Pain (4-Step Process)
Daily 20-minute visualization: scan the body, find the pain centres, visualize them glowing, then shrink them on each exhale.
02"Responding Well" to symptoms
The core skill: meet symptoms with calm, not fear. Symptoms high, pull back. Symptoms low, nudge forward.
03Somatic Tracking
Separating raw sensations from the fearful thoughts stacked on top of them, as they happen.
04Thought Reframing
Write the catastrophic or black-and-white thought, list evidence for and against, reframe to neutral.
05Affirmations & calming phrases
Short scripted lines ("It's just my nervous system") listened to two to three times a day.
06Gratitude visualization (5 senses)
Twice-daily sensory-rich gratitude scene, plus a nightly gratitude journal.
07Mindfulness & breath-focus
Two-minute breath-sensation focus and short mindfulness bursts through the day.
08Grounding & relaxation
Relaxation techniques including earthing and grounding to discharge adrenaline energy.
09Pendulum exercise
Observe swinging emotions like a pendulum, watching them without reacting.
10Stay in Your 3-Foot World
Deliberately narrow focus to the immediate present instead of the whole recovery arc.
11Reawakening Your Awareness
A named module and accountability exercise for rebuilding present-moment awareness.
12Gathering Evidence of Recovery
Keep a running list of recovery proof to build momentum and belief.
13Removing monitoring devices
Drop wearables and HR tracking (unless doctor-prescribed) to break the symptom-checking loop.
14Graded physical reconditioning
Phase-based: in-bed movements, sitting up, laps of the room, counter push-ups, low-rep bodyweight.

The frameworks they learn

the mental models

The "why it works" concepts taught through the Recovery Science Blueprint, the models that explain why recovery is possible.

The Nervous System Triangle Hypersensitive Nervous System (HNS) state 3 Pillars: Neuroplastic, Behavioural, Physical The Stress Threshold Anxiety: The Magnifying Glass Downward vs. Upward Spiral The Symptom / Chronic Pain Loop Primary vs. Secondary Symptoms Adjustment Period vs. Crash Pushing vs. Pacing Duration vs. Intensity The Freedom Framework

The Zones (the recovery map)

Red to Green

The Stages of Recovery, framed as zones. Most people can place themselves on this map right away, wherever they're starting from.

Red
Bedridden. Severe, mostly housebound to bed.
Orange
Couch or housebound. Limited daily function.
Yellow
Semi-functional. Good and bad days, still capped.
Green
Regulated and recovered. The destination.

How this maps to approaches you may know

If you or your doctor recognize these clinical names, this is how our work relates to them. We engage some form of each of these recognized approaches and integrate their principles into one nervous-system-based system.

Our practiceApproach we engage some form of
Brain Retraining workNeuroplasticity / brain retraining
Somatic Tracking + Responding WellPain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) / somatic tracking
Nervous System Triangle, affirmations, groundingPolyvagal / nervous-system regulation
Pushing vs. Pacing, Duration vs. IntensityPacing & energy management (the "energy envelope")
Phase-based reconditioningGraded activity, nervous-system-led (not GET)
Thought ReframingCBT-style cognitive reframing
Breath-focus & gratitude workMindfulness & gratitude practice

* We are not a certified or licensed provider of any single one.

How this differs from GET

Our graded reconditioning is deliberately not GET (Graded Exercise Therapy). GET pushes through symptoms on a fixed schedule, and it has harmed a lot of people. This is the opposite: it's led by the nervous system and only expands activity when the body is regulated and ready, never by pushing through a flare-up.

How we measure it

assessment tools
Nervous System Health Assessment
Our proprietary diagnostic and dashboard, paired with ongoing Strategy Calls to map where someone is and what to work on.
SF-36
A validated quality-of-life questionnaire used to track measurable improvement over time.
Please note

This is a coaching and education-based recovery system, not medical treatment or diagnosis. Always consult your own medical professional before making changes to your care. Our practices are delivered as coaching support. We engage some form of the approaches named here, and we are not certified or licensed medical providers. Recovery looks different for everyone, and results vary.

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