Nervous System Regulation: The Basic Exercise

Learn the Basic Exercise, a simple eye and head position practice that helps your nervous system settle. Zara Dureno guides you step by step, with your hands behind your head and your eyes moving gently to one side, while you breathe slowly and notice how your body responds. Meet your body where it is and give yourself permission to do a little less. This content is educational and is not a substitute for one to one professional care.

Transcript

Let's practice working with the basic exercise. For this exercise, Make sure you're seated in a comfortable position, Or you can do it laying down if that works better for you. You're going to interlace your hands and put them behind your head like this, Cradling the base of your head in your hands with your elbows back, Shoulders down. I'm having a little bit of trouble with my right shoulder, So it might look a little funky, But meet your body where you're at. Deep breath in. In this posture, Sitting up nice and tall as if there's a string pulling you from the top of your head. And you're going to, Without moving your head or neck, You're just gonna move your eyes as far as you can comfortably to the left. Looking to the left, Stretching the eyes a little bit. I don't want you to look so far that you're really straining your eyes or that they hurt. Remember. There's always permission to do a little bit less. Deep breath into the belly. We are approaching this with that sense of attunement. What does my body need right now? With a sense of ease, Lightness, And safety. Not about what we do. We don't have to do this exercise perfectly. It's about how we do it. So are you being gentle with yourself? Are you meeting your body where it's at? Are you getting curious with sensations that arise or? Frustrated. Stretching the eyes to the left. Noticing if there's any areas of tension in the body, Relax the jaw, Relax the shoulders, Relax the belly. Keep those eyes to the left. For three more deep breaths. Releasing any holding in the body, Allowing yourself to sink into the support of the surface beneath you. Good work. Now you're going to do the same thing on the right. You can pause for a second here, Maybe let the arms come down. Close the eyes. Just notice how things are feeling. Take a deep breath. And a long exhale. And then let's bring our hands behind our head again and into releasing the hands. Gentle comfort and support behind the head. Shoulders down, Elbows back. Sitting up nice and tall. And then looking to the right. Looking, Looking to the right. Again. As far as you can comfortably go. Should feel like a bit of a stretch, But not an overstretch. Can imagine you're looking toward your right elbow, But you don't have to make it all the way. And deep breaths while you're looking. I notice that my body immediately wants to brace through the legs. Softening. Allowing yourself to be in this moment. Fighting the urge to turn the head or neck. You're just stretching the eyes. And if you need a break, Respect that. Come back to center. And then bring yourself back. Listen to your body, Where are you at? Breathing deep into the belly. Long exhale. Let's do that three more times. Maybe there's a smile on your face. If you bring a little bit of lightness to this moment. How can you soften the edges of any critical thoughts? Just getting curious. Huh. I wonder what's going to happen next. Instead of forcing an outcome. Excellent work. Now, Bringing your eyes back to center. Sometimes it's nice to bring center and up, I find. We'll stretch up. And then bringing everything down, Including your eyes, Closing the eyelids. Breathing deep into the belly and a long exhale. Two more times. Noticing how the head, The neck, The eyes feel. Noticing where your level of regulation is at right now. And you can flutter the eyes open. And check in if that is an exercise that might work for you. If so, You can add it to your regulation skills list.