Explore Your Neural Architecture - Sympathetic System

Awareness of our nervous system states helps us navigate our lives with greater mindfulness. This meditation focuses on our sympathetic nervous system (SNS)... our "fight/flight" state. The SNS is an elegant, fast-moving system that is not only designed for our safety and protection, but when we feel safe enough, allows us to be creative, energetic and passionate about our life purpose and goals. Explore both the protective and safe expressions of this part of our nervous system.

Transcript

Exploring your neural architecture sympathetic nervous system.

I'm glad we're practicing together.

Today we will explore the facets of our sympathetic nervous system,

Commonly known as our fight-flight system of protection.

This is a beautifully designed system that leaps into action when needed,

But is really designed for short-term use,

Not ongoing like so many of us experience.

There is another beautiful side of this system that when sensing safety allows us to mobilize into creativity,

Excitement,

Enthusiasm,

Passion and movement.

We will explore both facets of our sympathetic nervous system today.

We have a wonderful detection system,

Neuroception,

A word coined by Stephen Porges,

The developer of the polyvagal theory.

Our neuroception is like an inner radar system,

Scanning and detecting safety or threat in our environment,

Within ourselves and between us and others.

When we detect a threat or danger and the negotiation skills of our ventral vagal system aren't working,

Our nervous system shifts into our sympathetic fight-or-flight mode.

With this high level of mobilization,

We can flee the situation or protect ourselves through a fight response.

If we receive cues of safety and connection,

However,

We can shift out of fight-flight and use this energy to mobilize for creative endeavors,

Exercise,

Movement and joyful expression of our liveness.

It is important to learn that our bio-individuated body sensations that let us know if we are in a fight-flight or a safe energized state.

In addition,

We need to increase our discernment about safety or threat and capture moments of safety to allow our nervous system to come back into regulation.

That's a lot of information,

So let's do a practice.

Make sure that you are in a safe enough environment,

Indoors or outside,

Where you won't be disturbed.

You can do this practice sitting,

Standing or lying down.

Let's start by orienting to our present space so that we can arrive in this present moment.

Using your eyes,

Look around and notice where you are,

Seeing objects,

Nature in the space you're inhabiting,

Colors or anything that attracts your vision.

Let your ears notice any sounds in the environment,

Traffic noise,

The wind in the trees,

Voices in another room.

Feel your body being supported by the surface beneath it,

Your hands touching each other or your clothing.

Notice if there is a fragrance wafting through or any residual taste in your mouth.

Pay specific attention to any cues of safety coming through your five senses.

Could be the comfort of your chair,

A piece of artwork or the sound of the breeze in the trees.

Let your body take in these sensory cues of safety and notice what begins to happen in your body.

You may feel your breath comes more easily or your shoulders drop a bit.

Enjoy the settling and safe enough feeling in your body.

Now let's explore the variety of sensations in our sympathetic nervous system.

I'd like you to recall a mild to moderately charged event where you had to step into your fight flight system.

Knowing that we all have our trauma histories,

Please don't pick a very intensive end as it could be too overwhelming for this practice.

As you recall this moment,

Notice what begins to happen in your body.

You might feel your breath become shallow or quicker.

You might feel your muscles contract or brace.

Your heart may be beating more quickly.

Isn't it amazing that just thinking about this event can create such a shift in your physiology?

Notice a few of these sensations to your tolerance and see if you can find a few adjectives to describe these sensations.

Tight,

Gut twisting,

Armored,

Braced,

Hot.

There may also be some emotions of anger,

Anxiety,

Agitation or worry.

If you begin to feel any overwhelm,

Please return your attention to your surroundings,

Coming back into the present moment and notice your cues of safety again that we explored at the beginning of this practice.

We don't want to spend a lot of time in this remembrance.

Just enough that we can be curious about our sensations of fight and flight.

When we can identify our individualized body cues of sympathetic nervous system activation,

We come to have a deeper knowledge of ourselves.

Now,

Let this memory fade and come back to your present environment,

Looking around,

Listening,

Feeling and touching,

Smelling and tasting what is in this present moment.

You might even want to shake out your arms and legs to assist your body in releasing this energy of fight and flight.

You may notice that it takes a while for your body sensations to settle down.

This is how we're hardwired.

We can go up into activation and fight flight very quickly for our safety and protection,

But it takes much longer to come down.

As our body has to metabolize and break down stress hormones,

Shift our blood output and many other activities in order to return to homeostasis and balance.

Pay kind attention to your body settling down from this state.

We will take some time for this process to happen.

If the breath is a good focus for you,

You can make your exhales a little bit longer than your inhales.

This shift in breath can help your system return to balance.

Noticing your sensations with kind curiosity.

See if you can induce a sense of awe as your body does this beautiful dance of re-regulation and also have patience if this process is difficult or takes a long time.

Now,

I'd like you to recall a time when you felt creative,

Enthusiastic about an endeavor,

Or had energy available for exercise,

Dance,

Or movement.

Perhaps you took a bike ride or walk and felt really strong,

Or maybe you had a brainstorm for a new project and were very excited,

Or maybe your favorite sports team won the game.

As you remember this safe event,

Notice what begins to happen in your body.

You may notice your heart rate is faster,

But is there a difference between this safe excitement sensation and your fight-flight heart sensation when you are activated with a more difficult memory?

This inquiry practice takes a lot of discernment of your sensations.

Perhaps your heart rate is elevated,

But you don't feel the bracing or contraction.

Maybe there is a sense of upliftment or spaciousness rather than upset and agitation.

Continue to notice where in your body you feel these sensations and find some adjectives that accurately describe them.

Buzzing,

Generative,

High energy,

And so on.

By bringing a descriptive word into your experience of the sensation,

You're actually learning the language of your own body.

Continue to be curious and take in the goodness of our strong,

Mobilizing,

And creative aspects of our sympathetic nervous system energy when we feel safe enough.

Now let this memory also fade and return your attention once again to your present environment,

Noticing any cues of safety that you previously identified.

Objects,

Colors,

Sights,

Sounds,

Touch,

And so on.

Let yourself have some time to settle as even this positive,

Safe expression of our sympathetic nervous system has some charge to it.

Slowing down,

Settling,

Softening back to this moment.

By mindfully exploring your neural architecture in this way,

You are learning how your body responds to cues of safety or threat.

I hope this understanding of your sympathetic nervous system will build your self-compassion and also give you some tools to regulate yourself.

Since our sympathetic nervous system is all about mobilization,

When you're feeling upset,

Angry,

Or anxious,

You may want to move rather than try sitting still on your meditation cushion.

Gentle yoga,

Walking,

Or even more aerobic activity,

If your body has this capacity,

Can help discharge some of the sympathetic nervous system energy.

Also,

And importantly so,

Continue to invite cues and noticings of safety in your life.

This helps your body recognize that it's not always in danger and that there are many moments of safe enough experience to help you settle and ground.

Then we can move from a habitual state of fight and flight to be curious about our present moment.

Thanks so much for your attention today and your willingness to explore your inner states.

May you have infinite curiosity and kindness as you continue your exploration of your nervous system.

Reviews

I found this very helpful. The comparison between the fight/flight mode and an emotional burst of creativity are very similar. Yet, discovering the differences between the two is like - wow! I am glad to have found this guided meditation. Thank you!😊 🙏🏻🦋

I’m so grateful to have found this. Words can’t express how much it’s helped me understand my nervous system.

Dear Bhanu I am so grateful for this practice. For the first time I was able to sit through my sympathetic activation without escalating into panic and by learning to observe it with curiosity. The act of observing with curiosity helped me regulate and bring down some of the activation and fear. I will be practicing this more and more and become familiar with the sensations. Also I was really surprised how many were similar to positive excitement and that also contributed to take away the belief I am in danger when I feel sympathetic sensations. Thank you so much.

Really great. Getting in touch with my body responses really helps with the anxiety rather than looping into thoughts.

It’s very helpful to explore each of the neural structures through understanding both the theory and practice. This short meditation covers both!

Another gentle exploratory practice Bhanu, that I have been putting off doing for fear of finding it too triggering. There’s lots of gentle guidance here to allow a person to feel “safe enough” whilst exploring a neural state that some (like me) might have been reluctant to try for fear of it triggering their trauma. This is the third of these practices I have tried and all of them are very gentle and expertly guided by Bhanu. I needn’t have worried. I feel that I spend a lot of time in this neural state and have noticed there is more bracing when I feel unsafe and more of a buzzing excited feeling when I’m feeling “safe enough”. Looking forward to trying the fourth on -Integration - next.

This is a great teaching. There were some audio problems but nothing serious.

Yay, this is so useful! Thank you Bhanu, this is great embodied stuff! 😍🪷