Dr Wayne Kampers | Harley Street Psychiatrist | Private Harley Psychiatrist | Harley Street Psychiatry

Lymphatic Massage and the Limbic System

The brain lymphatic drainage system maintains homeostasis of brain and participates in immune responses and surveillance.

• The limbic system is a complex set of structures located in our midbrain.
• It is called the feeling or reactive brain and is responsible for the formation of memories.
• The limbic system gathers and filters information and stimuli from our environment and responds to this information.
• It assigns emotional significance to everything we encounter and reacts to this information as safe or unsafe.
• There are many things that can alter or inhibit the normal functioning of the limbic system.
• When the limbic system is not functioning properly, it can become overactive or hypersensitive.
  • This causes an inappropriate activation of the immune, endocrine, and autonomic nervous systems.

The concept behind limbic retraining is that we can reprogram our unconscious stress response and calm the overactive limbic system.

• Once the limbic system is calmed and out of a continual fight or flight mode, the suppressed bodily systems (detoxification, immune) will begin to function normally again.
  • There are neuroplasticity-based therapies designed to retrain our limbic system.
• These therapies help us to rewire our brains, creating new, healthy neuronal pathways to take over previously damaged functions.

Limbic retraining is based on neuroplasticity, or neural plasticity.

• Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change and form new neuronal networks throughout a person’s lifetime.
  • This is a relatively new concept because for years scientists believed that the brain’s ability to form new neuronal pathways was fixed after infancy.
• Limbic retraining attempts to rewire neuronal pathways in the brain that are associated with a maladapted stress response.
  • The lymphatic system is a network of vessels and other organs that keeps body fluid in balance.
• As a part of the immune system, it protects the body from pathogens, toxins, and waste products.
  • Essentially, it's a sanitation system that keeps waste out and nutrients properly running throughout the body.
• Unlike the circulatory system, the lymphatic system does not have a pump, which means it's heavily dependent on movement.

Lymphatic massage supports the immune and calms the limbic system.

• Lymphatic massage can be a powerful tool for people whose lymphatic system is compromised.
• Ultimately, lymphatic drainage offers more than just physical benefits.
  • It can also be a profound emotional release.
• As you embark on your healing journey, remember that experiencing a range of emotions is a natural and essential part of the

The brain lymphatic drainage system represents a novel therapeutic target to treat autonomic dysfunction.