From Stuck to Flow in 10 Minutes: The Ancient Meets Neuroscience Method That Actually Works

How to shift from doubt and sabotage to confidence and aligned action without diving into your trauma story or spending hours on the therapy couch

Can we talk about something that’s been driving me absolutely mad?

Everyone keeps saying “just be more confident” or “get out of your head” or my personal favourite, “fake it till you make it.” But here’s what nobody’s telling you: confidence isn’t something you think your way into. It’s a nervous system state. And when your body is literally screaming “DANGER!” whilst your mind is trying to make that big decision or have that important conversation? Yeah, good luck with that.

I’ve watched so many brilliant coaches, healers, and practitioners know exactly what they need to do but somehow… they just can’t. The self-sabotage kicks in right before the breakthrough. The doubt shows up the moment things start expanding. And everyone keeps telling them it’s a mindset issue.

Spoiler alert: It’s not.

Why Everything You’ve Tried Hasn’t Quite Worked

Look, I’m not here to bash traditional therapy or mindset coaching. They have their place. But if you’ve spent months rehashing the same stories in therapy, years working on your limiting beliefs, or exhausted yourself trying to “think positive” through your anxiety… you probably know exactly what I’m talking about.

Sometimes it works. Often it doesn’t. And even when it does? One bad day and you’re right back where you started.

Because here’s the thing nobody’s explaining to you properly. Whilst you’re up in your head working on thoughts and beliefs, your nervous system is running a completely different programme.

Your vagus nerve—this incredible nerve that runs from your brain all the way to your gut—is busy regulating your heart rate, your digestion, your emotional state. When it decides you’re in danger? No amount of positive affirmations is going to override that survival response.

The doubt that leads to sabotage? That’s not a belief problem. That’s your nervous system perceiving expansion as a threat.

And you can’t think your way out of that. You have to shift the actual state.

What If I Told You It Takes 10 Minutes?

This is where things get interesting.

The I AM method from State Change Alchemy is what I call a superconscious shift technique. It works simultaneously with your mind, your body, and your energy field to move you from completely stuck to flow state in about 10 minutes.

No couch. No tissues. No excavating every painful memory from your childhood.

Just a precise sequence of movements, breathwork, sound, and intention that speaks directly to your nervous system in the language it actually understands.

And before you think this is just more woo-woo nonsense, let me show you the science.

Your Nervous System Has Four Gears (And You’re Probably Stuck in First or Second)

Think of your autonomic nervous system like gears in a car:

First Gear – Dysregulation (Freeze/Collapse): This is where you’re numb, disconnected, can’t make yourself do anything. You know what you need to do but you’re literally paralysed. Self-sabotage shows up as complete inaction.

Second Gear – Survival (Fight/Flight): High alert, anxiety spiralling, people-pleasing like your life depends on it. You’re moving, but everything’s coming from panic. Self-sabotage shows up as frantic, fear-based action.

Third Gear – Regulation (Grounded): Ahh, finally. Calm presence, clear thinking, actually connected to yourself. This is where you can make real decisions.

Fourth Gear – Expansion (Flow State): This is where the magic happens. Elevated emotions, visionary thinking, aligned action. This is where confidence lives naturally.

Most people spend their entire lives bouncing between first and second gear. They hit their ceiling not because they lack skills or knowledge, but because their nervous system won’t let them expand beyond what feels safe.

The I AM method? It’s designed to shift you through these gears rapidly, landing you in third or fourth where confidence isn’t something you have to fake—it’s just who you are when you’re regulated.

The Jaw Thing Nobody Talks About

Ready for something wild? The tension you’re holding in your jaw is literally keeping your nervous system in fight-or-flight.

I know, I know. Your jaw? Really?

Yes, really. Here’s the science bit:

Your TMJ (that jaw joint) is connected to the trigeminal nerve, which connects to your vagus nerve in the brain. They work like a seesaw. When your jaw is tight from stress or unconscious clenching (hello, fellow jaw-clenchers), it overstimulates the trigeminal nerve, which lowers your vagal tone.

Lower vagal tone = your body can’t relax = you’re stuck in survival mode.

This is why the I AM method starts with specific jaw work. Not gentle, polite stretching. Maximum weirdness. Full expression. The kind of face-pulling that would make your mum say “stop that, it’ll get stuck like that.”

Because when you release that jaw tension, you’re directly telling your vagus nerve it’s safe to relax. You’re not trying to convince your mind you’re safe whilst your jaw is screaming “THREAT!” You’re changing the signal at source.

Box Breathing: The Vagus Nerve’s Favourite Rhythm

After you’ve released all that jaw tension, the method moves into box breathing: inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4.

This isn’t just a nice calming exercise. This specific pattern is like speaking fluent vagus nerve.

Research shows box breathing stimulates the vagus nerve (your body’s relaxation superhighway), reduces cortisol by up to 20%, and increases alpha brain waves—the ones associated with that lovely calm but alert state.

Here’s what’s actually happening:

• Inhale for 4: Slight sympathetic activation (alertness)
• Hold for 4: Signals safety to your brain
• Exhale for 4: Activates the vagus nerve and your parasympathetic nervous system
• Hold for 4: Locks in the regulation

When you’re anxious, you breathe shallow and fast, which creates MORE anxiety. It’s a horrible loop. Box breathing breaks that loop by literally shifting you out of fight-or-flight and into rest-and-digest.

This is why the method is so effective before making intuitive decisions. You’re not trying to access your intuition whilst your body thinks you’re being chased by a lion. You shift your state first, THEN ask the question.

Movement as Energy Medicine

The full-body stretch sequence in the I AM method—rolling shoulders, stretching each finger individually, extending arms, those gentle pelvic undulations, all of it—isn’t random.

This is somatic release work.

Your vagus nerve connects to pretty much everything: heart, lungs, stomach, digestive system, liver, kidneys. When you move your body with intention, you’re activating all these vagal pathways.

And here’s where ancient wisdom knew something that science is only just catching up to: stuck energy lives in your tissues.

That anxiety you’re carrying? It’s not just in your thoughts. It’s in your shoulders, your jaw, your belly, your hips. The yawning that happens during the method, the noise-making, the full expression of whatever wants to move through you—that’s your nervous system releasing what it’s been holding.

You’re not thinking about the energy. You’re not analysing where it came from or why it’s there. You’re just moving it through and out.

This is the part most people miss when they try breathwork or somatic techniques. They’re too polite about it. Too controlled. But the instruction is clear: maximum weirdness, full expression. Because if you’re being proper and contained, you’re not actually releasing anything.

Why This Works When Therapy Hasn’t

Traditional approaches work horizontally—trying to change your thoughts at the same level where the problem exists.

The I AM method works vertically—going into the dimensions where the pattern was created.

You’re not trying to convince yourself you’re confident whilst your body is broadcasting “I’M UNSAFE!” at full volume. You’re changing the broadcast itself.

The Actual Doubt-to-Confidence Shift

Here’s what happens when you use the I AM method before a big moment:

Before: Your system perceives the upcoming event as a threat. Jaw tightens. Breathing goes shallow. Vagal tone drops. Trigeminal nerve goes into overdrive. Body hits fight-or-flight. Any action you take from here will be defensive, avoidant, or people-pleasing. This is sabotage happening in real-time.

During the method: You release the jaw tension. Regulate your breath. Move the stuck energy through. Set clear intention to release what isn’t yours and align with your highest available frequency. Your nervous system shifts from survival to regulation.

After: You’re in a completely different state. The doubt isn’t there because the state that was creating the doubt has shifted. The sabotage patterns can’t run because you’re not in survival mode anymore. Confidence isn’t something you manufacture—it’s the natural expression of a regulated system.

This is why practitioners use this before client sessions, speakers use it before taking the stage, business owners use it before important pitches. They’re not performing confidence from a dysregulated state. They’re shifting into the state where confidence already exists.

The Ancient Wisdom Bit (That Science Is Finally Validating)

Modern neuroscience is catching up to what ancient yogic practices have known for literally thousands of years: the breath is the bridge.

Between conscious and unconscious. Between body and mind. Between stuck and flow.

The I AM method draws on pranayama principles (conscious breath regulation), but it’s not traditional pranayama. This is a transmission that came through in 2021, specifically designed for the consciousness available NOW.

When you yawn repeatedly during the method (and you will), you’re not just releasing tension. Research on vagus nerve stimulation shows that yawning activates the vagal pathways that regulate homeostasis in your entire system. The ancients knew this. They just called it different things.

We’re naming it more precisely now: nervous system regulation through somatic and energetic means.

How to Actually Use This (The Practical Bit)

The I AM method isn’t another thing for your endless self-improvement to-do list. It’s an instant alignment tool you use strategically:

Morning routine: 10 minutes to consciously choose your state for the day instead of scrolling social media whilst you’re still half-asleep.

Before important moments: Client sessions. Presentations. Difficult conversations. Creative work. Any situation where you’ve historically felt doubt or sabotaged yourself.

When overwhelm hits: Instead of trying to think your way out or push through, take 10 minutes to shift state. The anxiety isn’t a problem to solve—it’s a signal your nervous system needs regulation.

Bedtime: Signal your body it’s time to shift from sympathetic (doing) to parasympathetic (rest). This is why it works brilliantly for sleep issues—you’re activating your body’s natural relaxation response.

Decision-making: Shift state first, ask the question second. The answer from regulation is completely different than the answer from survival.

The Bits People Get Wrong

After watching hundreds of people learn this method, here’s what trips them up:

1. Being too gentle. The instruction is “maximum weirdness” with the jaw. If you’re being polite, you’re not releasing anything. The exuberance, the letting go, the pleasure—these aren’t optional. They’re the mechanism.

2. Skipping the intention. Setting clear intention directs consciousness. Consciousness shapes energy. Energy creates your state. Don’t skip this bit.

3. Not holding the tension. Creating pressure in certain movements allows for release. It’s the same principle as acupressure—you have to create the conditions for stuck energy to move.

4. Rushing through. This isn’t about efficiency. Presence is the prescription of progress. If you’re mentally running through your to-do list, you’re not shifting anything.

What Actually Happens When You Use This

I’ve watched business coaches go from paralysed before client calls to showing up with complete presence. Speakers who’d freeze on stage suddenly accessing their full power. Therapists finishing sessions feeling clear instead of depleted.

Not because they suddenly developed more willpower. Because they shifted the state that was creating the stuck pattern.

The beauty is, once you learn what dysregulation feels like versus regulation, you catch yourself earlier. You notice the jaw tension, the shallow breathing, the sense of overwhelm building. And instead of pushing through or collapsing, you take 10 minutes.

The Bigger Picture

The I AM method is one technique within the larger State Change Alchemy system. It’s for instant shifts—getting yourself from stuck to flow quickly.

But the deeper work involves understanding WHY your nervous system developed these patterns. Why expansion feels threatening. Why visibility triggers danger. Why success activates sabotage.

These aren’t random glitches. They’re protective patterns your system created, often before you could speak, in response to real or perceived threats.

The I AM method doesn’t require excavating all that. But State Change Alchemy as a whole offers pathways to work at that deeper level—to shift the timelines where patterns were created, to clear the multidimensional imprints, to transmute the energetic signatures keeping the old programmes running.

This is the difference between managing your doubt daily and actually resolving it at the root. Between consciously overriding sabotage patterns and naturally operating from confidence because your nervous system no longer perceives expansion as dangerous.

Are You Ready?

If you’re recognising yourself in this—if you know you’re capable of so much more but something invisible keeps stopping you, if you’ve tried all the mindset work and it’s not quite landing, if you’re exhausted from managing doubt and anxiety and self-sabotage—this method might be exactly what’s missing.

Not because it’s magic. Because it works with how your nervous system actually functions instead of fighting against it.

You don’t need another affirmation. You don’t need another worksheet about limiting beliefs. You need to shift your state. And once you know how to do that? Everything else becomes possible.

The quantum field is ready. Your nervous system is ready.

Are you ready to stop working horizontally and start working vertically?

Ready to learn State Change Alchemy? Explore practitioner training, one-to-one quantum field sessions, and transformation retreats that teach you to work at the level where genuine confidence and aligned action already exist.