Nova Locks

18/06/2026

If the skill is there, inconsistency isn’t usually about ability.

Something is interrupting ex*****on at key moments.

16/06/2026

The brain shifts into protection mode.

And protection doesn’t prioritise precision.

11/06/2026

‘Just relax’ isn’t a strategy when the brain is in a threat response.

What looks like pressure, anxiety or lack of confidence is often the brain trying to keep you safe.

When that response changes, focus and clarity return, performance follows.

09/06/2026

Overthinking under pressure isn’t the problem.
It’s a symptom.

When the brain is on high alert, it interferes with automatic processes.

You stop just doing it and start thinking about it.

Ex*****on becomes conscious and slower.

30/05/2026

2 loops of the lake. Great progress in prep for the Swim Serpentine in Sept for 🏊‍♀️💪

29/05/2026

A team with elite resources, world-class talent, and high-level training finds itself in a survival fight.

When this happens, the standard analysis focuses on psychology, personnel, or management. But these are often just the symptoms of a much deeper, biological issue: the nervous system.

The brain is sophisticated and has one primary directive: prioritise safety over skill. When stress, pressure or fears set in, it triggers a survival response.

This isn't a conscious choice. It is a biological override.

When the brain shifts into safe mode, it restricts access to the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain required for decision-making, creativity and fine-motor skills.

When the brain prioritises safety over skill, high-level performance becomes biologically impossible.

The result:
• Poor decision-making under pressure.
• Erroneous physical ex*****on.
• Junk running.

It also creates a physical toll, increasing susceptibility to illness and injury as the immune system becomes dysregulated.

Freedom starts when the brain feels safe enough to access the higher-level functions it needs for performance.

If you or your team have the resources but lack the results, is it time to start looking at the nervous system?

21/05/2026

It was great to meet last week, courtesy of ✨

Listening to her journey after she started running in her 40’s and taking on endurance challenges was inspiring. ‘Running On Air’ is a great read. 📚

Hearing her experiences have meant my own charity challenge list just got bigger. Thanks, Sophie!

Next up for me is the 2-mile Serpentine Swim in Sept. 🏊‍♂️

Training is mostly going well, though when I lifted my head to sight at the weekend, found I was heading towards the trees instead of the buoy. 🌳😂

Giving myself permission to learn, make mistakes and take a step at a time. 💪

19/05/2026

The brain keeps the score. 🧠👇

For years, the phrase ‘The Body Keeps the Score’ helped us understand that emotional stress leaves a physical footprint.

But the conversation continued to evolve. A 2026 paper co-authored by Steven Kotler, Michael Mannino, Glenn Fox and Karl Friston highlights the body isn’t a hard drive storing past events; it’s a messenger acting out a real-time prediction loop written in the brain.

When a distressing memory or trigger is trapped in the nervous system, the brain predicts danger and instructs the body to react. Your tight chest, racing heart, or chronic bracing patterns are live, top-down commands being generated by a hypervigilant brain right now.

This is exactly why Havening®️ works so well. We go straight to the neurological root to de-link the emotional trigger or distressing memory in the brain, breaking the prediction loop. When the brain updates its model, the body returns to a state of calm.



https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/systems-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2026.1812957/full?fbclid=IwY2xjawR1_CBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR7WXLUGce-hXi3L59JAcHjeJJHsq-OK3xbsJXqujIT5QupUzIptumM4h5nkdQ_aem_evkcRcHk1WUcb1aONwYRwQ

The Body Does Not Keep the Score: Trauma, Predictive Coding, and the Restoration of Metastability By Steven Kotler, Michael Mannino, Glenn Fox, Karl Friston ...