Why Your Nervous System Might Shut Down During Spiritual Experiences

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Have you ever been in meditation, breathwork, or a big spiritual practice and instead of feeling all that bliss and light you were promised your body just shuts down?

Like, instead of transcendence you feel numb, blank, heavy. Or you get so sleepy you can’t keep your eyes open.

For years I thought this meant I was failing. That I wasn’t “spiritual enough.” That I was doing something wrong.

But here’s what I’ve learned through studying my nervous system and all the somatic practices I now use, this isn’t failure. This is actually your body doing exactly what it’s designed to do.

The Spiritual Shutdown Paradox

We go into meditation or breathwork expecting fireworks, tingling, crying, joy, connection, breakthroughs. Teachers often describe those experiences in detail, so we’re sat there waiting to feel all of it.

But the reality? Sometimes we feel nothing. Or we go blank. Or we feel like we’ve been pulled out of the experience completely.

And that’s because our nervous system is wired for safety.

If the input feels “too much, too fast”, even if it’s positive, your body may interpret it as overwhelm. That’s when the vagus nerve hits the brakes, your heart rate drops, your energy plummets, and you slide into shutdown. It’s the same freeze response we see with stress… but it can just as easily show up during a spiritual high.

Why We Misinterpret It

The hardest part isn’t even the shutdown itself. It’s what we make it mean.

We fall into the “should” trap.

I should be feeling bliss.
I should be good at this by now.
Something must be wrong with me.

That pressure only deepens the shutdown. Because now it’s not just your body slowing things down, it’s your mind piling on judgment too.

I’ve been there. One of my first deep meditation circles, I went into trance faster than my system could handle. I came out suddenly and then couldn’t drop back in no matter how hard I tried. I was so frustrated. Later, the teacher told me they would’ve pulled me out anyway because I was going too deep, too fast. My body knew before I did, and it protected me.

Working With Shutdown Instead of Fighting It

Over time, I’ve learned to meet these moments differently:

Ground yourself before and after. Touch your arms, wiggle your fingers and toes, open your eyes, look around the room. Remind your body it’s safe.
Titrate the practice. You don’t have to do a full 30-minute breathwork session if your system can only handle 10. Less is often better until your body builds capacity.
Integrate gently. Journal, walk, drink water, move. Let your body digest what happened instead of forcing it to “perform.”
Give yourself permission to pause. Numbness and stillness are part of the process. They’re not wrong.

Shutdown in spiritual practice doesn’t mean you’re broken. It doesn’t mean you’re failing.

It means your body is partnering with you. It’s showing you your edges. It’s keeping you safe so you don’t push past what you can hold.

Spiritual work isn’t always fireworks. Sometimes it’s gradual, sometimes it’s quiet, sometimes it’s shutdown. And all of those responses are valid.

The more I’ve learned to work with my system instead of against it, the deeper I’ve actually gone. Slowly, safely, at my own pace. And that’s where the real growth is.

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