5 Common Resources We Often Overlook
A sign of the time we live in is the feeling of heightened anxiety, depression, exhaustion and overwhelm. Juggling a family, career, health challenges, time-constraints, constant social media pressure pushing people to strive for perfection comes with a significant cost to our emotional and mental well-being and more. Now, more than ever before it is imperative to invest in regulation techniques and strategies to help calm the nervous system, reframe our thoughts, stay in the present to provide clarity, curiosity and compassion for ourselves and others.
Polyvagal Exercise
The Vagus Nerve is the 10th Cranial nerve that runs from the back of our skull throughout the body innervating all of the major organs, effectively connecting the mind and the body. Feeback from the body effects our thoughts, emotions and feelings, and feedback from the mind affects the arousal, sensations, pain level etc.. of our bodies.
Incorporating vagal toning exercises, therefore, help regulate our emotional and mental well-being. There are three basic pathways: Ventral, Sympathetic, and Dorsal. Ventral is at the top of the chain and activated when we are in a state of connection and engagement, followed by the sympathetic part of the pathway responsible for our fight or flight response, and finally dorsal where we are in a state of freeze or shutdown. Along with our emotional dysregulation comes bodily sensations and physiological issues such as digestive maladies which pair up with this nerve.
When we are at the top of the autonomic nervous system, vental vagal, we are regulated, ready to connect and curious, compassionate and connected. In the sympathetic vagal we are in a mobilized state, ready for survival, fighting or fleeing, angry or anxious. Finally in the third part of the hierarchy, the dorsal vagal is responsible for digestion, and nutrient delivery, and when it is activated we feel drained, low energy, disconnected, and shutdown.
Toning of the three autonomic nervous system pathways assists with dysregulation which we feel when each is overly activated. By toning each, we are able to calm the mind and body and get back to a state of emotional, mental and physical well-being.
Finding glimmers — focusing on the smile of stranger, listening to pleasant music (whatever you find pleasant), noticing the autumn leaves color, or anything in the environment that makes you smile
Noticing your Ventral spaces - take a moment to scan your environment and notice the spaces that draw you in and invite you to stay a while. Then notice the spaces that do the opposite. Create more spaces that invite you to feel a sense of being filled and safety.
Make a list - on a sheet of paper divide it in two and list times or situations when you notice the impulse to flee or the impulse to fight. Add to it as new things make themselves known. Increasing your awareness is enough to increase feelings of regulation
Notice your body sensations, your thoughts about yourself and others, and the actions you take or are driven to perform. First notice a shift when you go from feeling connected and nourished to drained and shutdown or energetic depletion. Next write down the sensations, thoughts and behaviors which come forth. Write them down and tune in when you feel the shift to dorsal vagal activation.
When the dorsal part of the vagus nerve is overactive we experience a shift to survival mode which is the shutdown response. Imagery is immediately influential. Imagine a movement in your body. The motor cortex of your brain is not only responsible for literal movement, but imaginal movement allows energetic flow. Now, imagine a series of movements (ex: your toes wiggling, your toe touching the floor, your ankle moving in sync, etc…). Check-in with the sensations you are feeling simply by imagining. Now, actually make a miniscual movement, slowly and steadily and notice the shifts in your body’s energy. Continue to make a series of movements which serve to increase your energy. In this way you are calming the dorsal survival response.
We have only scratched the surface of resources to help calm and regulate our mental and emotional states. Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you find this helpful. I would love feedback! Happy journeying!!
