Have you noticed when someone asks what your goals are, you might answer with ideas of traveling, finishing college, having a career, family, etc.? For those healing from trauma, I hear goals of wanting peace and joy again. For one’s mind to be quiet and sleep better. Feel confident and trust in oneself again. Have a healthy relationship with someone who loves and accepts me for me. To feel safe.
Isn’t that what we all want at the end of the day? NEED at the end of the day to obtain any of the other goals? Safety, security, love, connection, understanding, full bellies, rest, joy, and happiness.
I summarize this into one word, REGULATION. A Regulated Nervous System is a state of joy, peace, and security. There, you will find all the above and more that you didn’t know you could have.
But internal or external goals are difficult to reach if you’re living with a constantly dysregulated nervous system. Sudden states of fear that you can’t shake, jumpiness, anger outbursts, intrusive and repeated thoughts that won’t stop. Or frequently freezing in a sudden moment. Shut down, feel numb, deflated of energy, or detached from your body. Only to find later that you’re wired at night or waking up with intense anxiety because of repeated nightmares.
These intense, sudden, up, and down nervous system reactions feel out of control, scary, and exhausting, to say the least.
They’re essential to our survival when needed but problem-some when it’s lost its ability to calm and regulate to baseline once a threat is gone. Leaving us in constant reactions of dysregulation, unsettling, disconnect, or not feeling safe.
But regulation of the nervous system is possible with safety, time, space, patience, and understanding.
To heal trauma is to understand our nervous system and what regulation means from a physiological lens.
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is the part of your nervous system that regulates involuntary physiological processes such as your heart rate, breathing, digestion, blood pressure, and sexual arousal. It consists of three essential parts:
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Sympathetic Nervous System
Enteric Nervous System
For our purposes here, we will focus on the first two.
Autonomic Nervous System Regulation
The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) contains an essential nerve called the VAGUS Nerve. Vagus in Latin means wander; therefore, the Vagus Nerve is called the Wandering Nerve. It wanders from the brain down to the digestive system and organs and back again.
In his research, Dr. Stephen Porges found that the Vagus Nerve contains two essential divisions: Ventral Vagus and Dorsal Vagus.
Why is all this science lingo important and what does it have to do with your wish for calm, peace, connection, and safety?
Because it’s our Sympathetic Nervous System and high tone Dorsal Vagus Nerve that takes us out of these states and into DYSREGULATION. Into fight, flight, freeze, disconnect, detachment, numbness, shutdown, and others. The Ventral Vagus brings us back online, so to speak, to presence, calm, clarity, and social connection. To REGULATION.
None of these systems are bad or better than the other.
We need all of them to survive.
The Sympathetic Nervous system is responsible for the release of cortisol, adrenaline, and stress hormones, increasing our heart rate and breathing so that we have the strength and energy to run, fight, or freeze until the dangerous situation is over.
If, however, in a state of danger or threat, safety doesn’t come and there is no way of escape, the High Tone Dorsal Vagus will protect us further by moving us into our most primitive survival mode – immobility. Heart rate slows down (quickly), oxygen slows down, and blood pressure decreases, (the core of the body), until the danger is over and able to return online. To a Ventral Vagus state.
We see this with animals attempting to protect themselves from a predator. A possum playing possum until the threat is gone, and then will get up and get away.
Another example is a child who can’t fight off an abusive parent or run away from home. A child just isn’t strong or fast enough. Also, to do so is even more dangerous and unsafe.
Dorsal Vagus, WITHOUT fear (or Low Tone Dorsal), is our natural resting state. Our Low Tone Dorsal is needed for rest, sleep, and cell repair so we’re ready to face the next day and complete our routine all over again.
When we’re in the Ventral Vagus, the Vagus Brake works much like the brakes in your car. We slow and speed up as needed. Experience calm and activation based on the situation we’re in in the present moment. But when the brakes go out, such as those living in persistent or repeated states of danger, we’re in constant survival mode. It wreaks havoc on our mental and emotional health, as well as physical health. This is where we may experience Post Traumatic Stress, Depression, Anxiety, gastrointestinal issues, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, and more.
So how do we reach nervous system regulation?
By allowing the nervous system to complete what it was not able to at the time of danger. To process the movements, emotions, sensations, and thought processes in a safe and at-your-pace environment. Allowing our internal processes to resolve. Movement includes feeling physical sensations, crying, verbal expression, and/or allowing your arms, legs, or other body parts to swing, run, shake, push, or in any way complete a physical process of defense and protection in a safe and healing way.
Bessar Van de Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, explains how trauma is held in the body. Dr. Stephen Porges’ findings coincide with his theory.
Finding a therapist that understands the importance of including the body as part of the healing journey, can hold space for you, and understands the need to move at your pace while, at the same time, knowing when it’s safe and appropriate to challenge you for your benefit.
If you feel you are living in a persistent dysregulated state of survival, and ready to find peace, contact me for a free 20-minute consultation.
Dana, D. (2020). Polyvagal exercises for safety and connection: 50 client-centered practices. W.W. Norton & Company.
der Kolk Bessel, V. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.
Lyon, I. (2023, June 8). Nervous system expert. Irene Lyon. https://irenelyon.com/
Rosenberg, S. (2017). Accessing the healing power of the vagus nerve. North Atlantic Books.