Inside Out

Your surveillance system filters information from 3 sources - outside your body (your environment, and what your senses pick up on), inside your body, and the states of other people’s nervous systems who are around you.

You may not always have much control about what’s happening around you, but you can use intentional strategies to shift your state from the inside out.

Your physiological state (like your heart rate, the pace of your breathing, level of muscle tension, and which hormones you’re releasing) changes based on your stress state. With an activated response, your heart beats faster to send more blood to the muscles, heart, and other organs that could help you fight or flee the danger. This increases tension in your muscles. The airways in your lungs expand, to ensure you can get extra oxygen to the brain to make you more alert.

With a shutdown response, your body conserves energy for self-preservation, leading to a slower heart rate, lower blood pressure, and a sense of disconnection.

Your nervous system is scanning not only what’s happening outside of your body, but also what’s happening inside. If you are about to step onto a stage to give a presentation, your feelings about that anticipated experience may bring about some physiological changes – more rapid heartbeat, irregular breathing, and flushed skin. Your nervous system senses those shifts and interprets them as a sign that you are dealing with a threat and will increase the release of stress hormones to shift you into a higher level of activation. Remember – you don’t have to be facing a physical threat to perceive danger. Threats to your social and emotional wellbeing are just as likely to shift you into a stress state.

The great news is, you can use this internal filter to your advantage by shifting your internal state, which then sends a different message to your nervous system. By slowing your breathing and heart rate and relaxing your muscles, you can override an activated response. Increasing your energy can help when you are in shutdown.

Breathing

In-breaths are connected to activating energy, and out-breaths soothe this energy. To release extra activating energy, slow your breathing in both directions, but breathe out for a longer count than your in-breath. This will signal to your nervous system that you are safe and it can relax the stress response. 

On the other hand, if you are shut down, you can increase the length of your in-breath. Breathing in fresh air is particularly effective in signaling to your nervous system that you are safe to re-connect with the world.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Are you aware of where you hold tension in your body when you’re stressed? Releasing muscle tension is another way to signal to your nervous system that you are okay. Find a comfortable position, with your eyes closed or relaxed. Starting at the top of your body, work your way down, intentionally tensing and then releasing, one body part at a time until you have relaxed your whole body.

Start by breathing in while you tense your head and scrunch your facial muscles, holding for 3-5 seconds…then breathe out, relaxing all the little muscles in your head and face. Then, the same thing for your neck, then your shoulders, arms, hands, chest, stomach, etc…until you get to your feet and toes.

It can be very powerful to add in a gratitude practice with this. As you relax each area, think about why you are grateful for it. Tell your ears you are grateful you can hear your kids tell silly jokes. Tell your neck thank you for holding up that heavy head all day! Thank your stomach for digesting food that you love to eat.

Harnessing the Energy

One last thing to consider. Situations such as giving a presentation, competing in a sport, preparing for a difficult conversation, or studying for an upcoming test all require a little activating energy to help you be successful. The right amount of activating energy can motivate you to prepare or practice, the extra alertness can help you access the information you need, and the extra oxygen to the heart and muscles is essential for athletic endeavors. Activation isn’t bad, and we can use it to our advantage - the key is to harness that energy while also staying tethered to regulation. With some practice, using intentional breathing and muscle relaxation can help you find the “sweet spot.”

On the flip side, sometimes feeling a pull towards a little shut down may help you realize you need to let yourself rest, find some quiet, or say "no” to something that feels like too much. Honoring your need for a break can help prevent dipping further into a protective shutdown state.

Your body is so wise! When you pay attention, you can stop overriding important messages about what you need. Meeting your own needs and remembering to nurture yourself will increase your own wellbeing and allow you to better care for those around you as well.