Welcome to this exercise called Exploring Your Nervous System in Action.
If you're someone who has a lot going on in your nervous system,
And there's a lot that needs to settle down,
Then you might want to try to start this exercise with your eyes open and a journal,
Making some conscious notes.
Before you try working on this with your eyes closed as an experiential immersion,
Please pace yourself with this exercise and don't push yourself to keep going if it feels like too much for you.
Your nervous system has several states of being and systems to address the circumstance that you're in.
We're going to start by exploring your calm and connected state of being.
This is your ventral vagal system.
If you can picture a basket of puppies sleeping together or a dog who's happily presenting its stomach to you for a pat,
This is the system we're exploring.
I'd like you to take a moment now to remember a time when you felt really calm and really connected with your surroundings.
It could be in the presence of others or in the presence of nature or the presence of art.
Whatever it is that works for you to get your body into a state of flow with the environment,
Really feeling present with pleasant and calm and connected feelings,
Feeling focused and relaxed,
Feeling sure that you're safe,
You're OK,
And you're enjoying this moment.
Let yourself settle on a moment like that.
In your calm and connected memory,
Where do you feel at most the pleasantness?
What happens to your breathing when you remember this?
What happens to your heart rate when you remember this?
Do you notice anything in your chest and your throat?
Do you notice any changes in your face or your head?
What about your shoulders and arms and hands?
What about your hips,
Your legs and your feet?
How,
From the perspective of your body,
Do you know that you're feeling calm and connected?
You might notice some changes in your thinking as well in this state.
Take a moment to notice those.
Take a mental image of this calm and connected moment and let yourself enjoy how good it feels.
Give that calm image a name in your mind.
I'll call it your calm image and I'll ask you to pull it up again later.
Next,
We're going to explore some aspects of your nervous system associated with survival.
For this,
I want you to choose a time when you felt each thing very mildly.
It won't be useful to you to choose a time when you felt really intense emotions because you won't be able to learn about these systems in your nervous system if you're going to get lost in the emotion.
So please choose something that was not a big thing,
Not a serious and ongoing problem for you.
I'd like you to think of a time when you felt mildly angry.
This engages your sympathetic system and your fight response.
When you felt angry,
Where did you feel it the most in your body?
What happens to your breathing when your fight response is engaged?
What happens to your heart rate?
Are you aware of changes in the actions of your heart?
Do you feel anything in your chest and throat?
Do you notice any changes in your face and head?
What about your shoulders,
Arms,
And hands?
What about your hips and legs and feet?
How,
From the perspective of your body,
Do you know that you're feeling angry?
You might notice some changes in your thinking as well.
Take a moment to notice what these are.
This is what your body does when something is in your way or an injustice has occurred.
And without access to this anger,
This fight response,
You would not notice that something wasn't right.
Good thing your body has an inbuilt fight response.
Now let's go back to your calm image and take a little break there.
Stay here until you feel calm again and ready for the next challenge.
Next we're going to explore another aspect of your sympathetic system related to survival,
Which is your flight response where you feel anxious or frightened.
So again,
Think of a time when you felt mildly fearful.
Where do you feel it most in your body,
This fear?
What happens to your breathing when fear comes up for you?
Do you notice changes in the actions of your heart or sensations in your chest or throat?
Do you notice any changes in your face?
What about your hands,
Your shoulders,
Your arms?
What about your feet,
Your legs,
Your hips?
How,
From the perspective of your body,
Do you know that you're feeling fear?
You might notice some changes in your thinking as well.
This is what your body does when you're in danger and you might need to get away from a threat or address it in some way.
If you didn't have access to this feeling,
You might not get yourself out of dangerous situations when you need to.
Good thing your body has an inbuilt flight response.
Now let's go back to your calm image and take a break there.
Stay here until you feel calm again and ready for the next challenge.
Next we're going to explore another aspect of your nervous system called your dorsal vagal response.
When we shut down,
When we're feeling overwhelmed and not able to cope.
Think of a time when you've taken steps in this direction,
This mild sense of overwhelm,
This mild sense of not coping.
This one can be challenging to find a mild example.
Do your best.
When you're feeling overwhelmed,
Where do you feel it most in your body?
What happens to your breathing when you're in this place?
Do you notice changes in the actions of your heart?
Or sensations in your chest and your throat?
Do you notice any changes in your face and head?
What about your shoulders,
Your arms and your hands?
What about your hips,
Your legs and your feet?
Do you know from the perspective of your body,
Do you know that you're feeling overwhelmed?
You might notice some changes in your thinking as well.
How is your thinking different when you feel overwhelmed?
Notice that this is what your body does when things are too much and you don't have a way to fully protect yourself.
Surrendering to what's happening is often your best option to get through this situation.
Without letting this feeling happen,
You might keep trying to manage something that can't be managed,
Putting yourself into serious danger.
Good thing your body has an inbuilt shutdown response for the times when you need it.
Let's go back now to that calm image that you had before.
Pull it up and pull it over your body like a cozy blanket.
Take rest here from your journey around your nervous system.
Invite in those calm and pleasant feelings.
Let them wash over your body,
Knowing that this is where you need to return after all those other responses come online and once they've fulfilled their role.
Know that it's here in your ventral vagal state,
Calm and connected.
That you can rest and recover and enjoy your life.
A life of well-being is not about avoiding those other nervous system states.
It's about welcoming them in and letting them get engaged when you need them.
And then returning to calm once they've done their duty.
Let yourself enjoy the calm and connected feeling.
Appreciating your nervous system in all its complexity.
That concludes this exercise on exploring your nervous system in action.
Thank you.
