If you feel like you are running hot and with tension in the body, you might be stuck in fight or flight mode. As someone who recovered from Complex PTSD, I learned what really works to regulate the nervous system.
Regulating the Nervous System
Typically regulating the nervous system requires multiple techniques and a bit of time. I find that I can settle myself much easier now that I learned what works for me.
It also helps when you can quickly spot the symptoms of being dysregulated and jump all over it before it gets worse.
Taking care of yourself right away, can help prevent full blown burnout symptoms and pull you out of fight or flight mode easier.
Cognitive Processing Therapy for Trauma
If you’ve gone through significant trauma that you can’t seem to process, you might find cognitive processing therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy helpful.
I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD at 35 years old by multiple physiatrist, but I didn’t do anything about it for a year after the diagnosis.
I didn’t believe the diagnosis was accurate because I had no idea trauma could be emotional. Years of emotional trauma has the ability to dysregulate your nervous system.
A year later, I realized the diagnoses was correct because I couldn’t work through the symtpoms on my own and it was starting to take over my life.
I researched the best type of therapy for PTSD and found CPT (Cognitive Processing Therapy) to be the most helpful for me.
This therapy was large part in my nervous system regulation and healing journey, but I still had more work to do on my own.
If you have doubts about therapy…
Going to therapy is a stepping stone that everyone should go through to improve themselves. Even if you don’t suffer from an trauma, mild anxiety can benefit from a round of therapy.
Therapy was difficult for me in the first few sessions, but I started to feel relief the more I opened up and learned the tools to better process.
The most important thing to remember is that a therapist cannot heal you, but it is a necessary step to start to rewire your thinking.
Healing happens in yourself by applying the tools you learned and continuing to take care of yourself.
Continuing to take care of yourself is the most important part to living a life with a more regulated nervous system.
Step 1: Ask Yourself These Questions to Process Emotions
These questions typically help me make sense of the tornado of unprocessed thoughts that were spiraling around in my head.
This is my go-to when I have anxiety about literally everything and can’t form a full thought without feeling overwhelmed.
Tip: Typically when you get to question 5, you should be able to think more clearly about the alternative. This always seems to put a pin in my balloon of anxiety and I can now make sense of my feelings.
Step 2: Red Light Therapy Meditation
I added red light therapy into my routine as a skincare boost, but it quickly turned into a nervous system regulation routine.
Asides from being great for skin, red light therapy can stimulate the production of serotonin and dopamine.
Red light therapy also has ability to reduce inflammation and increase blood flow in the brain which may calm the nervous system.
How I Regulate my Nervous System with Red Light
I know this might sound crazy, but this was my go-to to calm myself down when I was stuck in fight or flight mode during my ptsd recovery.
I typically do this 3 times per week to keep myself in check and give my skin a glow.
Red Light Therapy Routine
If my body is feeling overstimulated or tense, the full 30 minutes is a game changer for me mentally.
I start with the questions mentioned above to clear my mind then work through the my red light therapy routine below.
Red Light: Gather your red light mask or other red light device.
Get Settled: Find a comfortable dark spot to lay down.
Weighted Blanket: Cover yourself with a weighted blanket.
Earbuds: Put on your red light device then place earbuds or headphones on your ears.
Soothing Music: Turn on somatic therapy music or binaural beats in Spotify or other music streaming service. (Preferably without ads, so you don’t interrupt your meditation).
10 Minutes for Quick Reset: Lay there for at least 10 minutes, if you are short on time.
30 Minutes for a Full Tension Release: If you have more time, I recommend tacting on box breathing and a mediation for a full 30 minutes of rest. This always helped dig my out of those heavy fight or flight symptoms that come from PTSD.
Boxed Breathing
I struggle to mediate, so I have to find creative ways to get myself to focus. Boxed breathing allows me to focus on my breath while activating the parasympathetic nervous system (calming).
My favorite boxed breathing can by found in Spotify, Sonia Kreitzer 5 Minute Box Breathing Meditation.
This one has a peaceful background music and Sonia has a soothing voice while she walks you through box breathing.
Box breathing sounds silly, but it is an easy and free tool to quickly regulate your nervous system. It helps you get into a deeper sleep or to reset yourself mentally.
How to do Box Breathing:
Inhale for 4 seconds, Hold for 4 seconds, Exhale for 4 seconds, and Hold for 4 seconds.
Continue for as many rounds as needed until you start to feel your heart rate slow and your body relaxed.
I find that 5 or more rounds of boxed breathing, can turn my legs to jello.
It’s an amazing feeling when you were previously feeling tense throughout your body.
Create a Fight or Flight Playlist
If you are prone to entering fight or flight or you are going through a stressful time in life, you should prepare ahead of time.
When you are running hot and overwhelmed, you can’t think clearly so the last thing you will want to do is go searching for music or mediations.
I found it helpful to create a Spotify playlist that I can easily open up to relax and calm my nervous system.
The playlist starts with 5 minute box breathing, a meditation, binaural beats, and followed by somatic therapy music for deeper soothing.
I recommend listening to the playlist in the order which I mentioned above to dig out mentally.
Gentle Exercise
I am sure this one sounds annoying, especially if you are feeling tired and depressed, but exercise has been proven to regulated the nervous system.
I know it can be extremely difficult to get yourself moving when you feel frozen, but even 5-10 minutes of gentle movement can help.
Exercises like somatic yoga, pilates, essentrics, and walking indoors or outdoors can help regulate the nervous system.
Walking: Walking outdoors was a big part of my recovery from ptsd because it allowed my thoughts to unscramble. I went from being a rage walker with tons of anger to leisurely strolling around the neighborhood for steps.
If you aren’t up for walking outside, a treadmill will help too or you can do light chores to move your body around your home.
Yoga: Any type of gentle yoga can turn on the parasympathetic nervous system. Somatic yoga is especially helpful if you have a lot of stored tension in your body.
You can easily find a free yoga workout on Youtube, so that you can do in your pajamas at home.
Essentrics: Another helpful exercise that released stored tension from my body was, Essentrics. Essentrics consists of slow fluid movements that are gentle on joints and low impact.
You can find a free Essentrics workout on Youtube or Miranda has an amazing app with tons of videos.
Mat Pilates: This one can be a little more strenuous, depending on the style of workout. Mat pilates helped me reconnect with my body and loosen up while strengthening my body.
Move with Nicole on YouTube offers free workouts with a calming voice and beautiful scenery in the background of the video.
Ground Yourself
You’ve probably heard of grounding and thought it was a trendy thing that the millennials are doing, but there is evidence behind it for regulating the nervous system.
Grounding is important when it comes to the nervous system, especially if you’ve experiencing heavy anxiety or trauma related symptoms.
When we become dysregulated, we can become numb and disconnected from our bodies. This is where grounding comes in to reconnect to ourselves.
How I Implement Grounding
Walking barefoot: Stick your feet in the sand and move them around feeling the sensation of the sand exfoliate your skin.
Walk barefoot outside and feel the dewy grass beneath your feet.
Paying attention to the texture of the surface beneath you, helps you feel grounded to the Earth’s surface.
Gardening: I don’t have a large outside garden area, but gardening indoors is just as helpful.
Repotting, watering, pruning leggy plants, or even looking at plants can help me feel grounded.
Visit a Greenhouse or Outdoor Nursery: If you don’t have a garden or indoor plants, walk around the nursery at Home Depot.
I was feeling low energy and fatigued before I stopped by the garden area at my nearest home improvement store.
After walking around for 30 minutes and observing the greenery, I felt recharged and a sense of calm.
Get Outside in Nature: Go outside and look up at the sky or take a hike with a friend in the woods to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors.
Even a walk around a local park can help bring you back down to Earth.
Gentle Exercise: Yoga, pilates, essentics, and walking are all helpful to help you reconnect with your body.
Look up a quick workout on Youtube and go to a private space in your home to ground yourself.
Red Light Therapy: Try my red light therapy meditation technique to calm your mind and reconnect with your body. Even just wearing the red light mask alone can help you ground, if you focus on the sensation of the light.
Cleaning and Organizing
If you have some energy, raging cleaning is a great way to release negativity and be productive at the same time.
I used to be a clean freak, but I never understood why. Until I realized I was using it as a form of therapy to calm myself down and gain control over my life.
Now to be clear, I am not saying cleaning will solve any problems. Sure, you will have a clean house, but you will still have the same problems.
Be mindful not to transfer your anxiety into being a clean freak or obsessing over little things.
I am saying this because I’ve done this and started to find something wrong with everything to avoid dealing my anxiety.
The idea here is to calm yourself down, so you can think more clearly and respond better to your situation.
Don’t use cleaning or another distraction as a way to avoid what is really going on beneath the surface.
Use this to calm your mind then ask yourself the questions I mentioned in the beginning of this post to help make sense of the anxiety or anger.
Cooking and Nutrition
Cooking a nutritious meal can help play a part in regulating the nervous system. If you struggle with mental health consistently then you need to take care of yourself at all times.
Don’t wait to take care of yourself when those heavy symptoms surface and you start to feel burned out.
Take care of yourself everyday, so you don’t have to keep putting out fires over and over.
The easiest way to get all of the essential nutrients in your diet is by eating a balanced diet. Start learning about nutrients in each food and their benefits to make better choices.
Don’t order a bunch of fancy supplements loaded with these nutrients unless your doctor recommended that for you.
The best way to find the nutrients is in your food! Remember food can interfere with our moods and overall well-being.
We all know the basics, but we can easily lose sight of how important some of these nutrients are to our overall health.
Continue to educate yourself on nutrition to keep yourself motivated and excited to take care of your body.
Add Slow Living Hobbies Into Your Life
Throughout our lives there will be stressors and tough times which can lead us to feeling mentally depleted.
Adding in slow living hobbies has helped me continue to regulate my nervous system by providing a sense of relief and something to look forward to.
Try implementing a couple of my favorite slow living hobbies to help you relax and continue to discover who you are!
Conclusion
Even when you feel like everything is going smooth in your life, it’s important to add nervous system regulation actives into your daily life. Continue to take care of yourself after therapy to enter into long term healing.
Disclaimer: All of the information provided on this Rock Solid Rustic blog is general information purchases only. It is not intended for us as a substitute for professional advice. This is not meant to treat, cure, or to take priority over what your healthcare provider has prescribed is best for you.