Creating a sense of safety in your body…

I’ve been doing some further research on the nervous system and how past trauma affects our ability to regulate our nervous system and can lead to triggers and feeling extremely heightened.

I know for sure, I have a very, very sensitive nervous system and I feel that many people that are sensitive to others energies tend to have the same thing going on in their body.

To be honest I find it a blessing and a curse, it means that I can be hypersensitive to others energies, it means that I feel things deeply (awesome if it’s a beautiful expansive emotion, challenging if it’s a heavier emotion….)

Who relates?

This also means that regulating my nervous system can sometimes feel like walking a tight rope. It can be a very fine balance, between overdoing it, or under doing it.

I can end up feeling very frazzled, heightened and emotional, with what most people would call, everyday occurrences and I’ve definitely had judgement on myself about this in the past.

Does anybody else feel like this at times?

Just wanting to be kinda normal and not so sensitive?

The blessing with being so sensitive is that I tend to pick up on things very fast, I know in my body immediately if something doesn’t feel good to me, which allows me to make a very conscious choice, rather than being numb or disassociated from it.

However, it can be confronting, because sometimes it means having conversations that aren’t always comfortable, or risking being judged which can be heightening as well. (The more I’ve become ok and accepting of my sensitivity the less this plays out.)

It’s made me get much better at communicating my needs more effectively and it’s been a continual process of letting go of my self judgement in these situations.

I’ve learnt a tip recently that helps to regulate the nervous system, it will also massively help with those overwhelming emotions, especially if you have a sensitive nervous system like I do.

It’s so important to know how to regulate our system, because otherwise it can cause burnout, fatigue and exhaustion.

When our nervous system is in the fight/flight response, our adrenals are pumping like crazy, it’s like living in survival mode 24/7, you will feel very heightened, agitated, and like you can’t stop or rest. (Because you unconsciously don’t feel it’s safe to relax.) This state can also be addictive, because there is a lot of energy (because of so much adrenaline) so it can feel like a false high, but can also induce anxiety, because you are so ungrounded in this state.

When our nervous system is in freeze response, you will feel so blocked, stuck, resistant and not want to do much at all. I find my head tends to get cloudy, I have super low energy and find it very difficult to communicate, or get anything done when I’m in this state.

When you experience this, having tools that support you to return to your heart energy to regulate your system again, is super important.

Below are a few ways you can do this!

You can also watch my short video here on how to create a sense of safety for your body.

Watch it here!

1. Environmental safety – do you feel safe in your current environment? Is it safe to relax and be you. If not, take yourself to somewhere that you do.

Wriggling your toes and bringing yourself back into the present moment. Looking around you to reorient yourself.

This may even be a toilet cubicle for a few mins to regulate. I highly recommend getting out in nature if you can. (If you can’t do this at the time, go to step 2.)

2. Create an internal sense of safety. This may mean dialoguing with your inner child, having a conversation with the nervous anxious parts of you and reminding yourself that you are here now in the present moment as an adult.

You may like to focus on your thumb or big toe and notice a sense of safety that is present there, or any other part of you that is feeling safe at the moment, do your best to expand that feeling of safety throughout your whole body.

3. Place your hands on your body, specifically you may wish to hug yourself, or to place your hands on your heart, your stomach or your kidney/adrenal area on your back.

You can also offer words of reassurance, calm and support to your body at this time, or even to specific body parts. Especially the kidney/adrenals, as these tend to hold a lot more of stress and fearful emotions.

Taking time to regulate your nervous system and bring your body back to homeostasis is so important for you health and wellbeing.

Staying in a triggered state creates massive inflammation in the body and will create burnout and complete exhaustion long term.

And as I mentioned above, the more sensitive you are to others energies, or the more sensitive you are in your nervous system, the more important this will be.

Would love to hear your thoughts?

Love and Blessings,

Sal x

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