Many people don’t realize that they are constantly sending signals to their nervous system with the way they move their body, carry themselves, breath and by what they pay attention to and eat. Here are 6 powerful ways to use your body, focus, and food to shift the state of the nervous system out of survival and into safety.
1. MOVEMENT
Your body is inextricably linked to your nervous system and brain. It is one of the most direct paths to speak to the nervous system, because it bypasses the thinking, logical brain to send messages directly to the nervous system. In today’s world especially, we often have a lifestyle of computers, phones, and mental distraction (and trauma – almost everyone has some of that) and lose touch with our body. Moving the body is one of the BEST things you can do for nervous system health because it helps connect the brain back to the body (leading to more security in the nervous system), helps move fluid throughout the body (activating our life force by moving oxygen, lymph, and blood where it’s needed), produces d.o.s.e. neurochemistry (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins), and helps move energy so we can move through the different states of the nervous system more fluidly and release tension and unhelpful holding patterns.
What You Can Do:
Movement doesn’t have to be structured workouts or high intensity to be effective. It’s a beautiful time to shift the paradigm from “if it isn’t burning lots of calories it isn’t worth doing” to “this is for overall, long-term health, which is so much more than what my body looks like.”
Walking (especially outside) is some of the best medicine there is. Bilateral stimulation is a technique that involves rhythmically stimulating the body and brain to help with mental and nervous system health – walking does this, and it’s free.
To get the most benefit for your nervous system specifically, practice focusing on your body as you move – your breath, the sensation, where you feel tight or what kind of movement feels good, what muscle you’re working if you’re lifting weights, how the air feels as you move through it… this is what separates general exercise from somatic movement, and somatic movement is fantastic for supporting the nervous system.
note: If you’re in a state where movement feels impossible, even just swaying your hips, rubbing your arms, or eye yoga (functional neurology) is effective at helping signal the nervous system that it’s safe to come out of survival mode and into safety. Move, in whatever ways feel good, frequently and repeatedly.
When you feel stuck in your mind, move your body.
2. MENTAL DIALOGUE
Jennifer Mann, author of The Secret Language of the Body, asks clients, “Would you be your own best friend if that best friend was the voice you speak to yourself with every day?”
Really think about it. Start to notice what your internal voice is saying to you and about you throughout the day. What are you telling yourself? What are you saying about yourself? You’ll notice you talk to and about yourself a LOT.
It’s really hard to feel safe in when someone is constantly criticizing, pointing out every negative thing, or telling you every day to prepare for the worst. And yet without even realizing it, that is exactly what many people are doing to themselves. Your nervous system is responding to your repeated inner dialogue.
What You Can Do:
Check in on your inner dialogue often. It can be helpful to set timers throughout the day as you are beginning to practice this. When the timer goes off, pause and notice what you’re thinking and saying inside. If it isn’t an empowering, uplifting, or loving story, change it. Write down things you notice your repeatedly tell yourself and then write down what you would like the new thought pattern to be. This way, any time you catch yourself in an old story, you can replace it with the new script. Say the new thought you want to wire in out loud every time you catch the old one. Thanks to neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to change), over time and with repetition, you can wire in the new thought so it becomes the new default. And every aspect of life changes with a new story.
This is also part of what I do in coaching and brain retraining with clients. You can rewrite your life story.
3. POSTURE
Your thinking patterns affect your body, and the way you use your body affects your mind and feelings. Your nervous system responds to the way you carry yourself. In addition, the way you carry yourself affects oxygen flow (shallow, quick breathing from hunched shoulders signals the nervous system that you’re in fight or flight or shut-down mode and it will respond accordingly). Our bodies are powerful communicators, constantly sending messages to the nervous system, and posture is a loud messenger.
Take note of how you’re standing or sitting right now. Are you slouched over with your shoulders up and neck forward? That right there is sending signals to your nervous system.
Now, sit or stand up taller, put your shoulders down and back, think of putting on a suit of confidence. Did you notice a shift? It wasn’t just mental – your body responded to the way you used it.
What You Can Do:
Check in on your posture throughout the day and correct it as needed. It can be helpful to do exercises that stimulate contraction and release of the spine to help it become more flexible and open to holding a new pattern (like cat/cow yoga pose) and lift weights (if that’s in your wheelhouse) to help strengthen muscles that hold you upright. Many people report a surge in confidence when they begin lifting weights – it isn’t just body composition changes or mental growth: strengthening muscles leads to better posture, which sends a more empowering message to the nervous system. Taking regular breaks from working at a desk to stretch and massage neck and shoulder muscles can be helpful for preventing a build-up of tension, too.
Sit, stand, and walk like you’re worth something. Posture is a powerful messenger – make the message an empowering one.
4. ORIENTING USING THE 5 SENSES
When there is trauma, your nervous system is in a constant state of hypervigilance and constriction to make sure what happened then won’t happen now or in the future. It’s living in the past, projecting it into the future. Trying to think or reason your way out of hypervigilance isn’t very effective; you have to show your nervous system that you’re safe, that you’re here now – not there then.
What You Can Do:
A simple way to practice this is to find somewhere to sit and describe the scene in front of you using your 5 senses. Taking 1-2 minutes per sense, describe out loud: what you see (what color, shape, texture, distance is it), what you hear (is it near or far, soft or sharp, ongoing or intermittent), what you feel (the surface beneath you, the clothes or air or your skin, the temperature), what you taste (is the temperature warm or cool, is it dry or wet)… as you go through each sense, describing what is going on right here, right now, it signals the nervous system, “I’m here in this now. And here, right now, is safe.” Over time practices like this will invite the nervous system to flow more freely again.
Brain retraining does something similar and is amazing for nervous system regulation, healing from chronic conditions, and/or getting unstuck in life. I teach clients how to do this in my 12-week coaching package.
5. ANIMAL FAT & PROTEIN
Not everyone believes the same about this one but consider this: we are made out of animal fat and protein and our bodies know exactly what to do with them when we eat them (animal tissue rebuilds animal cells). It’s the food of our ancestors. Meat is one of the most anti-inflammatory foods you can eat (bioavailable nutrition + no anti-nutrients or defense chemicals). When inflammation lowers, the nervous system is more regulated naturally. It’s like a cheat code that can make a lot of other steps more effective or not as necessary.
What You Can Do:
Consider adding some red meat to your day. Then take note of how you feel after. As a next step, consider removing grains, sugar, and processed foods. See how you feel. I’m pretty confident at this point that you’ll notice a significant difference!
6. BREATH
Much like movement, breath is another direct road to speak to the nervous system. Many people are going through each day breathing shallow and fast without even realizing it – it’s their normal. But shallow, fast breathing signals the nervous system that there is an imminent threat, and it will respond accordingly.
What You Can Do:
Taking time to focus on and practice counted or slower, deeper breathing is another cheat code to speak directly to the nervous system. It’s something anyone can do, it’s powerful, and it’s free. It takes 1-3 months of consistent practice for breathwork to shift the state of the nervous system, but often you will notice a difference immediately after as well. There are many breathing exercises on youtube or you can try this one – if nothing else, just take a few minutes each day to practice deeper, more expansive breathing with a longer exhale than inhale.
Check-in throughout the day and notice how you’re breathing – pause and do a minute or two of deeper, slower breathing. Take a few seconds afterward to see if you notice any change. When done consistenty, it will help shift things over time.
Now let’s take a step back and look at the big picture: If you’re not moving (so energy can’t flow), speaking negatively to yourself all day every day with internal chatter, breathing fast and shallow, hunched over like you’re waiting for an attack, and feeding yourself food-like products without the nutrients your body needs to function well… is it any wonder you feel stuck in an unhelpful state? When you take a step back, the focus is clearer and things start to make more sense.
As with anything related to changing the brain or nervous system setpoint, the key is repetition and consistency. You are in the state you are now because of what you’ve practiced repeatedly – the way out is to do the same, only with new input that you choose.
If you’re recovering from chronic illness or trauma, these things probably won’t be all you need for recovery, but they will make a difference.
If you’re not recovering, they are still great things to know and practice to support nervous system health – recovering from dysregulation/chronic health issues is so possible but it’s much easier if you know what to look for ahead of time and can take steps to avoid going down that road altogether.
You have more power to shift things than you know.
You are worthy,
You are loved <3
Kristin
~ready to end the confusion around nutrition and work WITH your nervous system to transform your life? Complimentary discovery call for 1:1 coaching and 1x consults linked here.