About Hybrid Nervous System Reactions

We have been talking about nervous system balance for a few weeks now and I wanted to bring in a reminder that I had while I was teaching at one of my trauma informed trainings recently.  

As humans, our responses, reactions and nervous systems are complex. I feel like many of us have heard of responses like fight, flight, freeze and fawn (or appease) as survival instincts that kick in when we are in threat or feel like we are in threat. But did you know that we can also hold these response and reactions simultaneously with rest and digest and interchangeably with each other?

So what can this look like in someones actions or state of being?

When we are in play, dancing or competing in sports this is activating both our rest and digest as well as our fight or flight systems. When we are in a freeze state of defense or survival, both our fight or flight and our freeze instincts are activated.  And when we have quiet moments or are having moments of shared, calm intimacy this activates both our rest and digest and our state of freeze.

All of these hybrids are healthy states of shift that happen instantaneously in our nervous systems depending on our present moment experience and environment.

So remember to consider the “and” spaces in your nervous system and how these hybrids might be assisting you in experiencing all of the moments that life can hold.