Exploring Nervous System Regulation
I have been having interesting conversations over the past few weeks about using the term Nervous System Regulation. This term is being widely used to describe a multitude of embodied, somatic and mind/body exercises and tools. For each of us “regulation” is going to be expressed and felt differently. But what has really been coming up for me in this phrase choice, is the question “what is wrong with dysregulation”?
Our Nervous Systems lives on a spectrum of experience and needs a consent ebb and flow within a manageable range between comfort and discomfort. If we are constantly avoiding activation and always down regulating our system, then when something does greatly affect our comfort zone we suddenly don’t have a wide enough window of capacity to manage it, which can send us into spikes on our range of experience.
However, if we focus in on more practices that “balance or support” our nervous system this leaves space for exploring the ebbs and flows between comfort and discomfort in our body. The holiday season (for those of us that celebrate) can be a time of discomfort. But by practicing discomfort in more controlled environments and of our own volition, we can actually widen our window of capacity for when discomfort shows up unannounced or uninvited. A few ways that you can “support and balance” you nervous system are:
Take a 30 second-2 minute cold shower before a nice warm one
Do physical exercise practices that encourage moments of moderate to high intensity with moments of rest and reflection in between
Touch something rough and then something soft
Flex your entire body and then let it relax, repeat a few times
Place a fist under your jaw and slightly push up as you slowly open your mouth and push your jaw against your fist, rest and repeat
Use box breath (inhale for 4 counts, hold your breath for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts, hold your breath for 4 counts), gradually begin to increase the how many counts you hold your breath and during the exhale
Try a few of these practices out and see which ones feel the most supportive. It’s not about living in our comfort zone, it is about learning more from the sensations that challenge our feelings of comfort and finding a balance within experiences.
Until next time.