Navigating The Nervous System

In this meditation, you will explore how your body responds to each central nervous system pathway. You'll be guided to begin learning how it speaks to you while seeing what it feels like to safely experience your safe (ventral vagal) system, your fight/flight (sympathetic) system, and your shut-down (dorsal vagal) system. Knowing that most of our thoughts and feelings are driven by nervous system activation, this practice is key to helping you become the master of your inner world!

Transcript

Welcome,

Beautiful human,

To today's practice.

I am so,

So glad that you're here.

Take a moment to find a comfortable space,

A space where you will not be interrupted for the next 20 minutes or so,

Where you can lie down comfortably or sit in a meditative position,

Cross-legged or cross-legged or feet on the floor.

Just take a moment to find your comfortable space and your comfortable position.

While you're doing that and getting cozy,

I will just go over what we're going to be doing today very briefly.

We are going to be practicing connecting with our body and understanding what our body feels like during different moments of activation.

Whether we are activated in our sympathetic nervous system and our fight or flight or fawn or we are in dorsal vagal and we are shut down in overwhelm,

We are going to practice connecting our conscious awareness with our body and our nervous system and bringing awareness to what are the sensations that arise and the thoughts that arise when we are in different nervous system activation states.

This is so important in the healing journey,

Especially from complex or major trauma because as trauma survivors we learn that it's not safe to be in our body,

That it's not safe,

It's not pleasant and we disconnect because it's so painful because of the stress and other things that we experience as a result of our traumatic experiences.

In our healing,

One of the biggest things that we can do for ourselves is really tune into our body again,

Befriend it and learn what it means when it sends us different signals so that we can live a life that's far more in control and far more conscious than we would otherwise.

So first I just want you to begin by taking a few really nice slow deep belly breaths in through your nose,

Holding it at the top,

Feeling your belly expand and your back expand,

Creating space and exhaling through the mouth,

Letting out some noise.

Where can you give yourself permission to relax,

Permission to get still and give your self this gift of rest?

Really letting out anything you're holding onto in that breath,

Imagining in that exhale all of your stress and tension,

Your pain,

Frustration,

Leaving through the mouth in a cloud of smoke out of your body and being released into the universe to be recycled and repurposed for something greater.

And with each inhale,

Imagining bright,

Healing,

Clean energy coming in through your nostrils,

Filling your body,

Helping you become lighter,

Pushing out the darkness and the heaviness.

And with each breath in,

You are feeling more and more grounded,

Centered and relaxed.

Feeling safe inside your body and open to exploring.

And now let's shift our awareness to the interior of our body.

And I want you to find a place in your body where you feel the most connected to your ventral vagal state.

And that is the state of safety,

Connection,

Relaxation,

Openness.

Think about when you're around somebody or in an environment where you feel so safe,

So nourished,

So happy.

Where in your body do you feel that and what are the sensations that you feel when you are safe,

Loved and nourished?

Bring these qualities into your explicit awareness at this time.

Pull in the sensations that you feel when you feel safe and connected and open.

And bring a smile to your face because these sensations feel so delicious.

And now noticing what that feels like when you feel safe,

Grounded,

Connected,

Open.

This is information for you when you are in any environment or with any human being in any situation.

When you feel this way,

When your body feels this way,

Know that the information being given to you is that this is a good thing.

You like this,

Your body likes this.

When you want to move towards something because it's exciting and it feels good in your body,

Just know that this is your nervous system saying you have a green light.

Now taking a deep breath in,

Let's move into feeling where in the body do we feel the most connected to our sympathetic state?

And first I'd like you to think about where in your body do you feel when anxiety comes to visit?

Is it in your stomach?

Is it in your chest?

What are the sensations that you feel in these parts of your body when anxiety comes to visit?

Do you feel tingly,

Hot,

Cold,

Heavy?

Just notice for yourself when anxiety comes to visit,

Where do I feel it in my body and what do I feel?

And really call in the feeling of anxiety and allow yourself to sit with the uncomfortable sensations in your body just so you can notice the language around what your body feels when you are picking up on signals of stress.

And taking a deep breath in and just noticing what this feels like.

Now shifting into feelings of anger,

Which are the fight sensation part of the nervous system.

So anxiety comes from the sympathetic nervous system states where we are leaning more towards a fear-based stress response,

So flight.

And anger is how our stress response comes out when we are even more stressed,

Higher level stress.

And also we may just lean towards this expression of stress and fear.

And anger is the fight response.

And so just connecting for a moment with your body and where in your body do you feel when you feel angry?

What gets activated?

Do you clench your fists or tighten your muscles?

Do you feel any sort of tingling or heat?

Think about the last time you were angry about something and call in that felt sense of anger.

What does that feel like for you?

And just notice.

Now really connecting your conscious awareness to these explicit feelings in your body.

We now know that the next time you feel these sensations,

That is your body responding to stress and leaning more towards the anger expression of the fight flight response.

And that's information that your boundaries have been violated or that there is something in your environment that feels unsafe.

And it's okay to feel anger.

It's okay to feel anxiety.

And we use it as information to tell us what is it that our body is saying we need right now?

Do we need space?

Do we need to get away from a situation?

What's coming up?

And we don't ignore these feelings in our body because they're coming from our environment.

They're coming from our senses and sensory input from our sight,

Our hearing energy we pick up on.

And so this is all very useful information.

And now moving into where in your body you feel the most connected to your dorsal,

Vagal state,

And that is the shutdown state.

When we're feeling overwhelmed,

Helpless,

Collapsed,

Paralyzed,

Depressed,

Sad,

Heavy,

Where do you feel that expression in your body?

What happens?

Just noticing the sensations that arise when you call into your explicit awareness,

This nervous system state where we are in shutdown.

Can you list any sensations that you're feeling?

Where in your body you're feeling it?

Just keeping a record,

Taking note for yourself of your body's specific language around I have reached my limit of stress.

I have reached my breaking point and I need rest and healing and regulation.

Many times those of us who survived chaotic childhoods bypass almost the fight flight response right into shutdown and overwhelm.

We experience something that throws us off,

Something unexpected,

And we feel anxious or angry for a moment and then we feel totally paralyzed.

And so it's really important to know where you are in your nervous system states so that you can navigate back and forth when you need to,

To get back to homeostasis,

Back to that nice ventral,

Vagal safety state,

Because that is where clear thinking happens,

Problem solving happens,

Where peace lives,

And that's where healing truly occurs.

So the goal is always to return to that sense of inner safety,

Return to that ventral vagal.

And so now I want you to go ahead and take a few moments to connect with your breath and move through these different states in your body and feel into where you're experiencing these sensations.

So start with the safety,

Ventral vagal safety state.

What does that feel like in your body?

Where do you feel it?

What are the sensations when you feel safe,

Connected,

Open and expansive?

Now moving into your anxious space,

The sympathetic nervous system,

Where do you feel it in your body?

What sensations do you feel?

Moving into your anger,

Your fight response,

And what's shifting in your body for you?

Noticing how switching from anxiety or feeling anxious to feeling anger,

Angry,

How that changes in your body.

And then calling in that felt sense of shutdown,

Of overwhelm,

Collapse.

Noticing where in your body you feel and what you're feeling exactly,

Labeling it for yourself,

The experience,

Just so that next time you find yourself paralyzed,

Feeling helpless,

You'll be able to notice that's what's happening because your body is telling you and then you can take steps to get unstuck.

And so now just taking a few deep breaths and practicing,

Moving through these different states,

Tapping into what it feels like to feel safe and calm,

To feel slightly activated,

To feel very activated,

And then to feel shut down.

And knowing that you can navigate through these pathways anytime you'd like.

And that it's safe to feel these feelings and have these physical experiences because you are safe to do so in all ways.

That these sensations won't kill you,

But rather need to be embraced because this is the roadmap to understanding what your needs are.

It starts with understanding your body and your nervous system.

Once you feel like you've practiced moving through these enough,

Just return to a sense of safety,

Of warmth,

Of happiness,

Of expansion,

Allowing your body to relax and integrate,

Noticing any thoughts that are coming up and just allowing them to exist and float by as if they're on clouds floating through the air away from you.

And just being present with how your body feels at this moment.

And taking a nice big deep breath in and holding it at the top.

And exhale,

Release through the mouth.

Beautiful work.

Thank you for practicing today and know that you can tune into your body at any time just noticing throughout the day where you are on that polyvagal ladder,

Where you are in your nervous system and just allowing yourself to take a few deep breaths in case you're feeling activated so that you can return to a state of safety and a state of inner peace.

Thank you and we'll chat soon.

Reviews

I’m a greatful humble Christian actor singer with courage kindess and a purpose to serve and inspire others around the world amen and so it is

An absolutely amazing experience, learning where I feel safe, where I feel fear, anger and overwhelmed. Thank you 🙏