When we feel unsafe our nervous system has a way to get activated in order to respond to threats. This is the sympathetic nervous system activation. It leads to physiological changes in the body with the 'fight-flight-freeze' automatic behaviour.
Our nervous system also has a natural ability to calm down. This is called the parasympathetic nervous system response. It slows things down, and it helps the body to return to a state of calm, safety, nurture, and healing. It is called 'rest and digest' state, or 'feed and breed' - for our cells - they get the signal to function properly and maintain wellbeing or recover from stress. It slows the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, loosens muscles, especially around the eyes and strengthens the immune system. I also call this state 'recover and discover' as we are more willing to be playful, to be interested in things in a peaceful manner.
Both of these states are crucial in our lives, but what has been missing is the balance between the two. We are used to living more in the tense 'state of fight-flight-freeze' rather than in the relaxed state of 'rest and digest'. And the part of our nervous system that we use the most becomes the strongest.
Healthy nervous system alternates between those two states easily. It goes through a cycle of activation - being alert, getting motivated, performing a task, dealing with challenges. Then it should switch to relaxation mode - taking a break, shaking off the stress, mind and body relaxation, rejuvenating walk, exercise or bath, refreshing meal, healthy sleep.
What is more important - a healthy nervous system tends to spend more time in the calm state than it does in the activated state.
Peter Levine, an American psychotherapist, and the creator of somatic therapy, explains this process using an example of a polar bear, peacefully doing its thing. Suddenly a group of researchers chase him down with a helicopter and shoot him with a tranquilliser dart. We can imagine this must have been really stressful for the bear, and he was lying down helplessly while the researchers were examining him.
The bear had experienced a traumatic event, perceived as a threat. However, after the researchers left and the tranquilliser diminished from his bloodstream, he started to shake violently. His whole body was shaking for a few seconds or minutes. It was his nervous system's natural response to burn off the excess stress - the adrenaline that surged through his body when he was trapped.
So after shaking for a while, the bear walks off almost as if nothing happened to him, with no visual effects from the sudden experience. He returns to a natural state of calm and wandering around.
This switch between two parts of our autonomic nervous system is important for emotional release from the body. Otherwise the tension the emotion has caused gets stuck in the body.
So, we should be in a peaceful and calm state, most of the time. We go on alert, to get things done efficiently, when things need to be done. Then we calm down, rest, and play. Some of our daily tasks can be playful, they do not require special effort.
If there has been a lot of effort involved, psychological or physical, then afterwards we should shake it off. In humans a healthy response to emotional overload is laughing, crying, exercising, running, eating. In unhealthy response this will be over-eating, drinking, numbing ourselves further with workaholism, shopoholism, or being more and more aggressive.
As we humans are different from other mammals, having this huge cortex in our brains, the thinking part that helps us to plan, think things through, have self-control, it often gets in the way of the natural response.
We think it is too embarrassing to act like a child for a while. Our mind and social conditioning avoids these raw, untamed emotions, as they interfere with our image of being serious adults. So emotional stress gets trapped in the body, in the muscles and organs. We carry them around with us, and our hormones get out of balance.
We try not to think about them, and not to feel them, we try to cope with stress, but our inner body holds the tension. This disallows us to be fully conscious, to have a clear mind and a light, buoyant body. We become nervous, withdrawn, scattered, shy, make mistakes, and make wrong decisions.
New emerging somatic psychology and other alternative therapies point to a Tension and Trauma Release exercises where 'stuck from the past' emotions can be finally processed and released from the body. Those emotions are like a deep grief, shame, guilt, fear that we often cannot explain. Some memories may emerge but it is not often the case.
Intentional physical activity is a powerful tool at resetting our nervous system and healing anxiety, releasing tension and trauma. For example, yoga has been shown to be a more effective treatment for PTSD than most prescribed medications. Those treatments also include acupressure, massage, dancing, deep and slow breathing. What all those things are doing is rebalancing the nervous system, putting it in a natural order, more and more.
After some time of practising a special set of exercises there is a growing sense of lightness and natural joy. People often feel like a new, freshly born person, very different from what they used to be. Their posture, expression and demeanour changes, they glow and radiate with positive energy, are more creative, have authentic self-esteem, relationships improve.
Unresolved trauma or chronic stress can leave us trapped in the sympathetic response for a long time. This causes imbalance in the nervous system. It gets stuck in high levels of stress, rarely going towards calm and rest. It's like the thermostat that gets turned up, gets overheated, and it may blow or switch off (freeze) when things are too overpowering.
The sympathetic nervous system takes over, and we may feel constantly anxious, may see danger or threat everywhere, and find it very difficult to relax. This leads to feeling fatigued, exhausted, depressed. We often go into the high alert mode unconsciously, with outbursts of anger or trashing with rage, and this leads to being stuck in the mad cycle forever.
It is also not healthy to be on high alert all day long, and then collapse at home or to rely on occasional relaxation to recharge. We need to learn how to regulate our nervous system throughout the day, also.
How to switch that parasympathetic, calming response? How to re-learn to have balanced nervous system, throughout the day?
Doing short breaks is of vital importance. Simply switch off, and stop what you are doing. Stop thinking, start feeling inner sensations. Turn your attention towards your inner body.
After a while, do simple body based exercises:
- a few deep breaths
- tensing and then softening muscles
- twisting, stretching, jumping
- shaking off
Our nervous system has an ability to change and grow depending on how we use it.
We can influence our chemical balance, electrical activity, physical structure and genes. Learn to have this influence on your nervous system. Train it to activate when you need to wake up, perform tasks, and calm down and rest, being idle, when it's time to relax, restore, rejuvenate, repair and rest. We can train our brain to feel good and safe, and thrive, instead of being constantly in the mode of mere survival.
If you are interested in one, or half an hour session of doing exercises balancing your nervous system, contact Rena.
