Let’s face it. Many people are walking around on edge these days. Modern life has many people dealing with an overloaded nervous system, which can lead to feeling emotionally spent, anxious, or simply just trying to survive the day-to-day.
If this is you, you might be dealing with a dysregulated nervous system.
Symptoms of a dysregulated nervous system can be physical or emotional and include chronic pain, anxiety, irritability, migraines, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, muscle tension, nausea, indigestion, fatigue, insomnia, and heart palpitations, just to name a few.
People are now looking to the body to relieve symptoms that were once thought problems of the mind.
We feel regulated when the two systems of the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, are balanced. In times of danger or stress, the sympathetic nervous system protects us with a fight or flight response.
The body produces adrenaline and cortisol, causing increased heart rate, shunting blood to your muscles, and boosting energy to either fight or flee.
The parasympathetic nervous system carries signals to deactivate these processes once the danger has passed, resulting in a state of calm, commonly referred to as rest and digestion.
The heart rate lowers, breathing slows, and digestion, nutrient absorption and immune function all get a boost.
Although the physiological responses of the parasympathetic nervous system are involuntary, we can bring them under conscious awareness and use them to return to a calmer state.
Through nervous system regulation techniques, we are able to reduce heightened states of anxiety and increase calmness during times of stress.
Here are three ways to regulate your nervous system:
- Breathwork
By bringing conscious awareness to our breath, we can regulate our parasympathetic response to stress. Our respiration modulates our heart rate and blood pressure so that when we inhale, our heart rate and blood pressure increase and when we exhale, they decrease.
Because heart rate and blood pressure are coupled in the nervous system and its responses, breathwork has a high potential for nervous system regulation.
- Intentional Dynamic and Rhythmic Movement
Intentional movement decreases stress by helping the body process the stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline, while simultaneously stimulating the production of endorphins.
Movement is a meditation, allowing the body to process stress, lower blood pressure, and improve sleep.
Adding repetitive rhythm to movement, such as swaying or swinging, decreases stress by activating the parasympathetic nervous system and regulating the brainstem, which triggers a physiological sense of safety.
These movements also stimulate the release of calming neurotransmitters, lower cortisol levels, and ground the mind in the present, which can break the cycle of anxiety.
- Proprioception & Interoception
Proprioception is your awareness of where your body is in space, while interoception is the ability to interpret your body’s internal signals accurately.
We train both systems while on the mat, allowing us to use stress to our advantage instead of perseverating on it.
Gaining a deeper understanding of how we hold ourselves in various postures and then moving in and out of those habitual positions can change our reactive patterns.
This allows us to better recognize how our environment (work, home, play) impacts our nervous system and respond from a place of choice rather than routine.
The improved knowledge of where our body is in space and how to appropriately respond or not to sensations within the body signals the nervous system that the body is secure, lowering stress and releasing muscle tension.
Putting It Into Practice
So if you’re feeling restless, anxious, or just plain irritable, you might want to ask yourself when did you last move? Your body may be needing some sort of interaction with the world or simply needing you to look inward.
The result will be allowing your mind to take a break and rest.
Later this month, Lara will put it all together for you in her workshop called Nervous System Regulation. She’ll go over some techniques to do all of the above and more, reinforcing how a regular LYT practice can positively impact your stress response every time you step on the mat.
