Somatic tools for engaging the parasympathetic nervous system

Are you familiar with the Automatic Nervous System?

It's a network of nerves throughout your body that control unconscious processes. The things that happen without you thinking about them, such as breathing and your heart beating. It's always active, even when you’re asleep, and it’s key to your continued survival.

The 2 area's we are interested in here are:-

Sympathetic nervous system - our fight or flight response

Parasympathetic nervous system - our rest and digest

Stress, anxiety & trauma can leave us in a constant fight or flight response which is not beneficial for our long term wellbeing, we need to teach ourselves how to return to our rest and digest state and allow the body to only switch on the fight or flight response when we are actually need it.

Below are some fantastic somatic tools for the automatic nervous system to add to your toolbox, they will teach you how to reactivate your parasympathetic nervous system.

Engaging the senses

Take you time to do each of these to activate each sense

1.      Look around the room and notice 3 things that are blue

2.      Find 3 interesting things you can touch e.g. – a soft blanket, a hairbrush, a smooth book

3.      What are 3 things you can hear? e.g. traffic outside, your own breathing, birds

4.      Notice 3 things you can smell – or simply smell your surroundings

5.      Notice your taste, what do you notice?

Orientation

Slowly look around, moving your neck and head it all directions – look around corners, behind the chair, under a table. Move around the room too, looking in all areas. Get familiar with your surroundings and create safety for your body. Also notice what is interesting? What you'd like to investigate more.

Why do it? When stuck in fight or flight we need to check for danger. Our body thinks there’s a lion in the room and we need to show it there’s not.

"The job of the autonomic nervous system is to ensure we survive in moments of danger and thrive in times of safety.." – Deb Dana, The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation

Tending to the kidneys

There are 2 techniques for tending to the kidneys to return us to rest and digest.

1.      Get a heat pack and place it at the bottom of your back, just over your kidneys

2.      Place your hands behind your back, fingers facing down with your palms over your kidneys. Rest them here for a couple of minutes, feeling the warmth grow and radiate into them.

Diamagraphic breathing

1.      Lie down (easiest when learning)

2.      Breath in slowly through nose, inflating the belly (without raising the chest).

Breathing deeply into the belly – pause when full

3.      Breath out slowly through the mouth (purse lips, like deflating a balloon) and

empty all air out of the belly pulling belly button to spine – pause when empty

4.      Repeat for 1 – 5 minutes.

Do daily for 1 – 5 minutes at a time you can commit to. First thing? Last thing?

Why do it? It trains the body to return to the parasympathetic nervous system for rest and digest

Which technique is best?

Which ever works best for you. Try them all out and notice how your body responds. Then add it to your psychotherapy tool box and next time you notice you heart rate rising, body tension increasing or breath speeding up see if you can take a pause, reach into your tool box and use your new tools.