The Role of the Nervous System
The nervous system is one of the body’s major control centres. It regulates our energy, our emotions, our stress response, our sense of safety, and our ability to connect with others. When it’s dysregulated (due to trauma, chronic stress or emotional overwhelm), we might feel anxious, flat, fatigued or stuck. It’s difficult to be present, embodied, accepting and objective when we feel these things, so a regulated nervous system is the foundation for any kind of inner work.
Why the Nervous System Healing Matters
Emotional healing and spiritual awakening don’t just happen in the heart and mind – they also happen in the body and soul. And they are profoundly influenced by the state of our nervous system. If our system is overwhelmed, stuck in fight-or-flight, or frozen in shutdown, it can be hard to feel peace, presence or connection. That’s because the nervous system is the bridge between our body, heart, mind and soul. It connects our past traumas to our present-moment experience, so it’s an essential component of all inner work – healing, growth and awakening.
Understanding The Nervous System with Polyvagal Theory
Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, states that the nervous system shifts between three key states:
- Sympathetic Nervous System (Fight/Flight): You may feel anxious, angry or overwhelmed.
- Parasympathetic – Dorsal Vagal (Freeze/Shutdown): You feel numb, hopeless or disconnected.
- Parasympathetic – Ventral Vagal (Safe & Social): You feel calm, open and connected.
These states aren’t necessarily good or bad; they’re simply adaptive responses to our immediate situation. There will always be times when we get stressed or triggered, but a healthy nervous system can quickly regulate itself so we feel calm and connected again in no time. A dysregulated nervous system, on the other hand, takes longer to return to a calm and collected state. So, the time it takes for us to calm down after a we’ve been triggered is a good indicator of the state of our nervous system: minutes = regulated, hours = dysregulated, days = very dysregulated.
Trauma: A Major Cause of Dysregulation
Trauma isn’t what happened to us – it’s what happened within us – it’s what our nervous system did to cope with the distress. Trauma is the stored/stuck survival energy, the unfinished responses, and the unprocessed emotions that are still trapped within our nervous system. Trauma is a block to “presence” because it keeps us stuck in the past. Healing trauma rebalances our nervous system, and increases our capacity to be with what is. We shouldn’t try to repress or bypass our trauma; instead we should compassionately feel into it to reconnect with it and heal it. Note: It’s highly inadvisable to do this on your own if you’ve experienced severe trauma – always seek professional support.
Practices to Regulate & Strengthen the Nervous System
Developing the nervous system is subtle yet powerful, and here are some simple self-help practices to get you started:
- Heart Breathing: Bring conscious awareness to your heart area, then breathe slowly and consciously for 5 minutes, while invoking the feeling of love or appreciation. Please click this link for more information about Heart Breathing.
- Body Scanning: Slowly bring awareness to different parts of your body, sequentially – start with your right foot, right angle, right calf, etc., slowly moving around your body until you end up in your left foot. As you proceed, notice any sensations like warmth, tension or tingling without judgement. This helps to embody awareness (presence), which regulates your nervous system.
- Grounding: With conscious awareness, feel your feet on the floor and your bum on the chair. The here-ness and now-ness of your body, connects you with the here-ness and now-ness of your soul. This grounds you into your body and the present moment, so you’ll be less inclined to worry about the past or the future.
- Belly Centre Meditation: Move your awareness to the area 5cm below your navel, and hold it there. That’s it! You can do this simple practice when you are reading, watching TV, or doing any menial task. The practice embodies presence and awareness deep into the body. If you find meditating in your belly centre, try focusing on your heart centre instead (in the centre of your chest).
- Tracking Emotions: When a strong emotion arises, pause and ask yourself – Where do I feel this in my body? – Then stay with the felt sense of body sensation. This helps us to link emotional states with body sensations, which is great for nervous system regulation and for doing inner work.
- Vagal Toning: Gentle humming or deep belly breathing (in for 4 seconds and out for 6 seconds) can “tone the vagus nerve”, which calms the nervous system.
They aren’t just techniques to try once or twice. They’re invitations to build a deep and trusting relationship with your own nervous system.
The Nervous System and the Soul
As stated earlier, our nervous system is the bridge between our body, heart, mind and soul.
So, a balanced nervous system supports psychological healing in the heart and mind, and it supports spiritual awakening in the soul. As we heal and regulate our nervous system, we create space for more love, more truth, and more of who we really are to emerge. When our nervous system feels safe, we can embody more of our soul’s presence and pure awareness.
The Nervous System and Spiritual Awakening
Spiritual awakening is often described as a movement into higher consciousness, stillness, presence or nonduality. But this transcendent awareness must be embodied, and that can’t happen if our nervous system is dysregulated. Our body must feel safe in order for us to access and embody our soul’s awakening. The practice of sensing down into our body, with conscious awareness is a simple yet effective way of embodying more of our soul’s presence. This helps with our nervous system healing and our spiritual awakening.
