4 Steps to Return to Regulation
On my healing path, I’ve always had an awareness that my body played a key part in healing my inner world. It wasn’t until I began my studies in Somatic Experiencing (SE) that I learned specifically about the nervous system and how central its functioning is to our overall health.
With SE we learn to track the nervous system. The nervous system is an aspect of our body that functions automatically, outside our usual range of consciousness. It responds to cues from our body, shifting moment-to-moment in order to support us to meet the demands of our life. By learning how it works, in essence by learning its language, we can learn to work with it. We can learn how to respond to it so that we can develop a greater capacity to stay regulated amidst life’s challenges. Deb Dana, a clinician and consultant who specializes in trauma, calls this growing familiarity ‘befriending our nervous system.’ If you are interested in this topic, I highly recommend checking out any of Dana’s books!
Our nervous system has three main branches, the sympathetic nervous system and the ventral vagal and dorsal vagal components of the para-sympathetic nervous system. These three systems work in a predictable order and allow us to move between states in an organized way. These systems correspond to the nervous system states of regulation/social engagement (ventral vagal), activation (sympathetic), and shut down (dorsal vagal).
As we learn to observe and read the language of our biology and to identify the nervous system states that we find ourselves in, we can understand ourselves more deeply and cultivate more self-compassion. Not only that, but we can learn to become active operators in our own nervous system. As Deb Dana says, we can learn to “shape” our nervous system.
Below is a simple practice that will help us to cultivate a more regulated nervous system state. By being intentional with our focus, we can support a nervous system shift from shut down (dorsal) or activation (sympathetic) to ventral vagal (regulation). Through using our attention, we can shift our awareness to different sensations in our body and from the internal to the external world to help our physiology to grow a felt sense of safety.
4 Steps to Return to Regulation
If you feel yourself become anxious, overwhelmed, or stressed, and want to help your nervous system return to a more regulated state, here are some simple steps. These steps will support you to stay grounded in your body in the here-and-now. Better yet, practicing these steps when you feel regulated and calm will support you to create and strengthen new neural pathways for whenever you do start to feel off-balance.
1. Notice your breath
Observe your breath, just as it is. No need to change it. Watch how it moves through your body. Does it move in your chest? In your belly? Is it more shallow, deep, fast or slow?
2. Feel your hands
While you are noticing your breath, also notice how your hands feel. What are they doing? What is their temperature? Are they more relaxed or tense? What might it feel like to bring them together, so that they touch each other?
3. Become aware of your feet on the ground, your legs and your pelvis
While you are noticing your breath and feeling your hands, bring your awareness to your feet and their connection with the ground. Become aware of your legs and pelvis, feeling the support they bring to your body.
4. Take a slow look around
While you are noticing your breath, feeling your hands, and being aware of your feet, slowly let your gaze travel around the room you are in or the space where you are. Let your head and neck move slowly as you take in the external world.
Now notice your body. What do you notice? Has anything shifted? What is different now?
If you choose, go through these steps again.