Nervous System Regulation

This is a basic practice for nervous system regulation. Nervous system regulation is the ability to move with ease between stressed and calm states. This practice is great because it's simple and easy and you can use it anytime anywhere very easily. It works on a somatic and physiological level to help calm your body and thus mind and therefore to destress or to come out of triggering states.

Transcript

So this is a practice that's really good if you're feeling stressed or anxious or triggered,

You know,

Just when your nervous system goes into that fight-or-flight state where you're not thinking clearly,

Maybe you're angry,

Frustrated.

Yeah,

It's just a way of calming down the nervous system.

There are lots of ways to calm the nervous system.

You can sing,

You can hum,

You can gargle,

You can dance,

You can hug someone,

You can go for a walk in nature.

But this is just a really easy one you can do anywhere.

It's a breathing exercise and there are a couple of variations of it that we will go through.

The first one is just slowing down the breath and then really emphasizing that the breathing is going in and out of the belly so that on the in-breath the belly expands and on the out-breath the belly falls.

You know,

When we're more anxious the breath tends to be more shallow,

It tends to be more in the chest.

So slowing down the breath and breathing in and out of the belly is really useful.

You can bring in a count,

You know,

Breathe in to the count of three and breathe out to the count of three to help you focus more.

And then the second part of this is extending the out-breath.

So you're making the out-breath longer than the in-breath.

So to begin with we'll do breathing in to the count of three and breathing out to the count of four,

But you can adjust that to suit your needs.

You know,

You might have shorter breaths,

So breathe in to the count of two and breathe out to the count of three or longer,

Breathing in to the count of four and out to the count of five.

Or the gap between the in-breath and the out-breath can be longer,

So breathing in to the count of three and out to the count of five.

We'll start simple and then,

You know,

As you practice more on your own you can adjust it to suit your needs.

So beginning by finding a comfortable seated position with the eyes gently closed,

Forehead relaxed,

Cheeks relaxed,

Jaw soft,

Shoulders relaxed and melting away from the ears.

And finding that posture where you're sitting up straight,

Spine long,

So you're awake and alert,

But then softening into it so you're not holding onto anything tightly.

And then just connecting with your breath,

The natural rhythm of your breath.

Noticing where you feel the breath,

If it's more in the belly or the chest,

The throat or the tip of the nose,

Or maybe some combination of these.

Where can you feel your breath?

And what is the quality of your breath?

So is it deep or shallow,

Fast or slow?

And maybe you're not sure and that's okay,

Just observing,

Noticing,

Witnessing your breath.

Noticing maybe that no two breaths are the same,

Every breath is a little bit different.

So we're going to begin by slowing,

Slowing down the breath and breathing in and out of the belly.

So if you want you can place a hand on your heart and a hand on your belly.

And just using the hand on your belly to guide the breath,

So guiding the belly out as you breathe in and the belly falls as you breathe out.

So maybe even just practicing that already as you breathe in,

Guiding the belly outward and as you breathe out,

The belly goes inward.

So just doing this on your own,

Breathing in the belly expands,

Breathing out the belly falls.

And if at any point you notice your mind wandering,

Drifting,

Thinking that's totally okay,

It's part of the mindfulness practice is watching the mind wander and then reeling it back in.

And what we're really doing is digging,

Digging that groove deeper of the pathway,

Deeper that brings the mind back so that we can learn more in our everyday life to bring,

Bring the mind back to the present moment and what is real.

So we're going to start extending the breath,

Making it longer,

Deeper.

So breathing out together.

And then breathing in slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly,

The belly expands,

Internal space increasing.

And then exhale,

Breathing out slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly,

Extending the breath,

Slowing down the breath as much as is comfortably possible.

Breathing in,

The belly expands,

Filling with life,

Energy,

Oxygen,

Air.

And breathing out slowly,

Slowly,

Letting go,

Letting go of the day,

Arriving in your body.

Again,

Breathing in,

The belly expands,

You can use your hand to guide it.

And then slowly,

Slowly breathing out.

And just continuing on your own,

Just extending the breath,

Slowing down the breath as much as is comfortably possible for you.

You don't want to be feeling out of breath at any point.

So if you are feeling out of breath,

Maybe making,

Making the extension a little less,

You know,

Slowing down a little less.

So it's not quite as long,

But making it as long as making the breath as long as is comfortably possible for you.

And the more you do this practice,

The greater your lung capacity will become.

And if possible,

You're breathing in and out of your belly.

So the belly expanding on the inhale,

The belly falling on the exhale.

And so some people find this a bit confusing.

So what's actually happening is there's this muscle beneath the lungs called the diaphragm.

And so when we breathe in,

That muscle pulls downward to make more space in the lung.

And in so doing that pushes the belly outwards.

And then as you breathe out that,

That belly,

That muscle,

That's just like a sheet.

It's not actually a sheet,

But imagining it's a sheet and it pushes the lungs upward to squeeze the air out of the lungs.

And in so doing kind of that's when the belly falls.

So just breathing out in and out slowly from the belly.

If that's really confusing and overwhelming,

You can just,

Just let the belly breathing go and just slow down the breath in whatever way feels most comfortable and always bringing the mind back whenever you notice it wandering.

And then let letting go of the extended breathing,

Allowing,

Allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm,

Body breathing all on its own.

The body knows how to breathe all on its own.

It's been doing it your whole life.

So just letting the intelligence,

Innate,

Natural intelligence of your body take over.

Let the body do its thing.

Let the body breathe.

It's this gentle rhythmic presence.

Forehead relaxed,

Jaw relaxed,

Shoulders soft.

So we'll come into the next breathing practice where we extend the exhale.

So bringing a count in.

So breathing into the count of three,

I'm breathing out to the count of four.

So breathing out together to begin and then breathing in one,

Two,

Three,

Breathing out one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Breathing in one,

Two,

Three,

Breathing out one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Breathing in one,

Two,

Three,

Breathing out one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And just continuing on your own.

So if you need to change the length to make it shorter or longer,

If that would be more comfortable to you,

Please do so.

But just making sure that the out-breath,

The count of the out-breath is a little bit longer than the count of the in-breath.

If possible,

You're breathing in and out of your belly again,

Belly rising on the inhale,

The belly falling on the exhale.

But again,

If that's too complicated or confusing or even stressful,

You can let go of the belly breathing and just to slow down the breath in that way.

So breathing in slowly to the count of three or whatever it is you're counting and then breathing out slowly.

So long as the out-breath is a little bit longer than the in-breath.

Just being with the body,

Being with the breath,

Whenever you notice your mind wandering gently,

Kindly,

And lovingly,

Coming back to the breathing and to the counting of the breathing.

We're just going to do a few more of these.

This is a great practice for calming the nervous system,

De-stressing.

You know,

If you find any point throughout your day you're feeling stressed or anxious or overwhelmed,

Your head's racing,

You can just take a few moments to take a few deep breaths or this practice of extending the out-breath so it's a little bit longer than the in-breath.

Breathing in and breathing out.

And then letting go of the counting,

Letting go of the extending of the breath and allowing your breath to return to its natural rhythm.

That gentle rhythmic presence of the body breathing,

This dear body doing its very best to take care of you.

Breathing and then feeling free to remain here a little while longer.

Otherwise,

Whenever you're ready,

Gently open your eyes and making your way out into the rest of your day.

Reviews

Thanks Mirin. This was a very simple and effective practice. Ready to finish the day strong 💪🏼