Hi friends,
I hope you are all getting back into the swing of normal life, in this weird twilight zone around the holiday season. I had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving, overall, which I know may not be the case for many of you in other families or households. Holidays can definitely disrupt our calm and put our nervous system on edge.
Thus, our question for today: "What is Nervous System Regulation? And how do we do it?"
Your Autonomic Nervous System or ANS, for short, is comprised of two interlocking systems underneath it, which are the Sympathetic Nervous System, SNS, and the Parasympathetic Nervous System, PNS. The ANS is the body's boss bitch, responsible for all things involuntary within your body, such as your breathing, heartbeat, hunger cues, etc.
The SNS mobilizes the "fight or flight" (and fawn) responses, which are key to responding to threats perceived by the body and the brain. The PNS promotes rest and digestion, as well as relaxation.
Your Vagus Nerve primarily controls most functions within your PNS. It consists of two pathways: the Ventral Vagal and the Dorsal Vagal.
The Ventral Vagal pathway is the key to all things connected, calm, socially engaged and a lower resting heart rate. Seriously! Dr. Stephen Porges, the founder of Polyvagal theory, which is what we are talking about here in this post, discovered it accidentally by studying heartrate variability. Here's an interesting video where he discusses the theory at length.
So think of the nervous system like a ladder, with Ventral Vagal at the bottom, the Sympathetic response in the middle (fight, flight, or fawn) and with Dorsal Vagal at the top.
What's the Dorsal Vagal? Dorsal Vagal is the final response. This means your body's threat detection system, the process of neuroception, has uncovered a threat to the body that is so dangerous, so great, so intense, that the body believes there's no chance for you to overcome the threat.
And thus, it does something really interesting... It slows the heart rate down again. It moves the body and brain into a state of freeze. It's the last level of defense. Your body instinctively you to a state of anesthesia in case you die. Which is really nice if you're facing a hungry tiger in the bushes, but not so nice when your boss requests a last minute meeting with HR on Friday afternoon.
So, what do we do with this information?
We Notice, Nurture and Navigate our Nervous System.
Noticing requires your attention to how your nervous system operates in the background. Picking up what it picks up. Noticing what it notices. Remember the process of neuroception? Your nervous system is scanning within your body for threats, throughout the room or physical space you are in, and in between you and other people for threats. Pretty cool, huh? So the first step to regulating your nervous system is to notice your different cues and figuring out which stage of the nervous system is operating in the background.
Nurturing your nervous system means choosing the right activity at the right time. So sometimes it can be a short term option, like having a glass of wine at the end of a long day, (fine), but sometimes that means choosing something that is good for you both today and tomorrow, like exercising (better). To nurture is to 'care for and encourage the growth and development of." That means that you have to balance the right now comforts with the harder self-care actions that benefit you today and tomorrow. Present you working for future you? That sort of cooperation between what you do now and envisioning how you will feel later can change your life.
Navigation--- the act of 'ascertaining one's position and planning and following a route.' With regards to regulation and your nervous system, this step is the most intensive. While it's related to the nurture aspect, navigation is more purposeful. Navigation, for many of my chronic trauma survivors, will mean big changes within their life and their current circumstances. Navigation may mean setting boundaries in relationships, quitting your soul sucking job, divorcing your abusive spouse, losing significant weight, or letting go of a substance or activity that is holding you in addiction. Navigation means shedding the 'things and relationships' that used to help you regulate so that you can find new ways to regulate, within yourself, and within your values' system.
So, I ask you, "where are you starting from? Noticing? Nurturing? Navigating?" And where do you want to be in a year from now? Stuck like you are now, in a chronic state of fight or flight? Or frozen in a depressive, dissociative state?
What if it could be different? What if you could find a therapist who could help shepherd you through the Notice, Nurture and Navigation processes of nervous system regulation? What if you could access your Ventral Vagal state more frequently and with less effort?
To start, you're welcome to a free copy of my Polyvagal Theory workbook if you are willing to subscribe to my email list. :) Click here if you'd like to gain access to that download! It's pretty freaking cool if I do say so myself!
If working together in the therapy room sounds like something you're interested in, drop me a line at info@giftofofgritcounseling.com or schedule a free consultation for counseling here!
Take exquisite care of yourself,
Megan
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