Setting aside 5 minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening to do these regulations every day, will have a very positive impact on your autonomic nervous system.
Your autonomic nervous system works below your conscious awareness. Ultimately, all it is interested in, is your 1) safety and 2) survival. Let's look at this scenario:
Now, imagine you wake up feeling a bit stresss out and your partner starts arguing with you, your coffee is cold and you're late for work. You rush out the door, and then you're stuck in a traffic jam. You've gone from waking up feeling calm, to being activated into anger with an argument, frustration over your coffee and fear that you'll be in trouble for running late.
You sit in the car and the morning's events rush through your head. Your heart rate increases, your breath is faster, you might even hold your breath for a bit. Someone in front of you stops suddenly. That's it, you've had enough! You explode.
The driver in the car behind you, had the exact same morning as you did - only they feel nothing. They're in their own world, almost sleep-walking. They don't notice you carrying on, hooting and yelling at the guy in front.
They hardly notice the traffic jam they're in, they're kind of just staring at the sky, almost as if they're out of their own body. They WANT to notice and they WANT to care, they just can't. Telling that person to 'just get over it, there is nothing wrong with you!' is the worse thing you can say to them.
They're in shutdown. Their bodies have spent so much time in fight and flight, their brain decided it's time to take them into what's called Dorsal Vagal State. The part of the parasympathetic nervous system that shuts us down because it believes our life is now being threatened.
The second scenario is very true for many people who have endured the chronic stresses, uncertainty of the past 3 years. Their autonomic nervous systems are doing what it's designed to do: shut them down, to keep them alive.
Some people stay stuck on "on" and others are stuck on "off". None of the people in those groups are going to just 'get better'. It takes time, compassion, connection, understanding and lots of small and regular, daily regulation practices.
Regulation can help people who are "on" to gently come down into a greater sense of stress tolerance and clarity. And for the person who is stuck on "off", regulation uplifts them, gives them a feeling of hope, something to look forward to, to the point where they feel 'alive' and ready to take life on, again.
So, for the next week, as often as you can, and at least twice a day, do the following nervous system reset. Doing it once will take less than 5 minutes. You can even set a 5-minute timer for the morning and the evening.
First, let's stimulate our Vagus Nerve.
Interlace your fingers, place your hands around your head at the base of your skull. Let your head rest in your hands.
Keep your head straight, look left until you yawn, swallow or sigh.
Look right, until you yawn, swallow or sigh.
Next, stand up for this one. Shake.
Start by gently shaking your left hand. Then move up by shaking your entire arm.
Next, shake your right hand, and your right arm.
Now shake your left foot, and leg.
Next your right foot, and your right leg.
Now, keeping your feet on the ground, gently shake your entire body. Bop up and down.
As you shake, you might find your body wants to increase the rhythm. Go with it. Do what your body wants, just make sure your feet stay on the floor, don't lift them.
Now open your mouth and see if any sound wants to escape. Let it.
The voice carries the breath. Energetically, our lungs hold onto grief. If your body is ready to let out a growl, a howl or a scream, just go with it.
Finally, come to a seated position for your breath.
Just sit comfortably, wherever you are. You can even lay in bed for this one.
Put one hand on your upper chest and one hand on your belly, just below your solar plexus where the tummy meets the chest.
Make your belly as soft as you can. Just give your muscles permission to relax.
Breathe in through your nose.
Exhale twice as long from your mouth.
On the next inhale think "Soft".
On the exhale, think "Belly"
Inhale - "soft"
Exhale - "Belly"
Everytime you inhale you want your belly to rise like bread dough.
On the exhale, imagine you've opened the oven and your dough falls flat.
Inhale - soft belly rises
Exhale - soft belly drops
Keep repeating "soft, belly" until your body feels calm and clear.
In the morning, do the Vagus, your Breath, then Shake. In the evening, do the Shake, get into bed, lie down, do the Vagus reset and finish with your Breath.
Remember, a healthy nervous system is flexible and goes in and out of stress all day long. It's the body that gets stuck in hyper-aroused or hypo-aroused states that require the most understanding and attention.
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