Course · Lesson 1
Three people, one difficult year
⏱ 3 minutes 30 seconds
Journal · card 1
Three people, one difficult year
Minimum · one minute
Think back to your last really difficult period.
What did your body do?
☐ IT SPED UP
thoughts · sleep · restlessness · palpitations
☐ IT TIGHTENED
neck · jaw · irritation · running hot
☐ IT SHUT OFF
heaviness · no energy · withdrawal
There is no right answer. Write down that one word — we will come back to it in a few lessons.
More · if you have the energy
Map of my symptoms
Write down everything that bothers you — even small things. For each one, note how long it has lasted and whether a doctor has seen it.
Symptom · how long · doctor
_________________ ______ ☐
_________________ ______ ☐
_________________ ______ ☐
_________________ ______ ☐
_________________ ______ ☐
The last column matters most
If it stays empty next to any symptom — start with a doctor’s visit, not with this course.
Lesson transcript
If you prefer reading to listening — the full lesson is below.
Hello. I’m glad you’re here.
Make yourself comfortable. You don’t need to take any notes. Just listen.
I want to tell you about three people who came to my practice in the same week. Notice one thing. Each of them came in with something completely different.
Monday. Ania.
“I keep getting heart palpitations. I saw a cardiologist — my heart is fine. I go to bed at eleven, my body is exhausted. But my head keeps going. I fall asleep around two.”
Wednesday. Robert. He came in because of his neck.
“My neck feels like concrete. Massages help for two days. My blood pressure is high, I’m on medication. And I can’t stop. Even lying down, I’m thinking about work.”
Friday. Alicja.
“I think I’m just lazy. I haven’t had any energy for a long time. I put everything off. I’d like to change something, but it feels like my body isn’t cooperating.”
Three people. Insomnia, neck pain, no energy. They look like three completely different problems. And at first, that’s how I see them too.
But in every conversation I ask the same question. What has your life looked like over the past year?
Ania changed jobs and was left alone with two children. Robert took over a second team and hasn’t had a week off in a year. Alicja started caring for her mother after a stroke, while working shifts.
And this is where the whole course begins. Three people. A very similar year. Too many responsibilities, too little rest, and none of them sleeping enough. The same kind of load.
And their bodies responded in completely different ways. In Ania, everything sped up. Thoughts, heartbeat, alertness. In Robert, everything tightened. Neck, jaw, blood pressure, a short fuse. In Alicja, everything slowed down. Energy, motivation, the desire to be around people.
Why did the same stress leave such a different mark on each of them?
Before we go further, one important thing. Not everything comes from stress. Fatigue, headaches, palpitations or digestive problems can have many different causes. Some of them need a doctor, not a course.
This course does not replace medical tests. It’s here to help you understand what happens to a body that carries too much for too long.
In the next lesson I’ll tell you what modern medicine says about this question. And where it stops.
Lesson 2 · What modern medicine says — and where it stops
ERKA 