Understanding our Nervous System (Rebecca Hall, Holistic Pulsing Practitioner)

(You can find highlighted words within this text that are within the visual diagram alongside. This piece is written based on my current understanding and perspective only).

I found myself enthusiastic to write my contribution of a blog piece as near and dear to my heart is the nervous system. I believe understanding its function can be pivotal in supporting our own daily wellbeing. It's not uncommon to experience a dysregulated nervous system.

We live in a time with many demands, a fast pace and increased stimulus. All of this can put our nervous system into over-drive, leaving us experiencing anxiety, insomnia, heightened senses, burn out, fatigue and generally feeling ungrounded and disconnected from ourselves, and often others. Much of my own experiences of this have led me into Holistic Therapy.

Let's take a dive into how our nervous system operates to broaden our understanding of what might be happening within ourselves and our community!

Our nervous system is operating through a neural network including our brain, nerves and the connecting neurological tissue that runs throughout our body. It operates on a feedback system between body and brain, responding to both felt stimulus and internal neurotransmitters. It also functions at an autonomic level (subconscious/automatic) - our heart beating, digestion and our reflexes, as examples.

We also immediately 'sense' our environment through our receptive nervous system antennae called neuroception. There is far too much external input for us to consciously 'think' about, especially when our survival might be at stake. So, via neuroception, the signals instantly feedback regarding our safety or danger throughout our whole system. This exists out of necessity for our survival, especially in our more primitive history when facing nature and the elements. It serves us very well when in crises - we're not required to 'think' if we need to run, fight or freeze for safety - it just happens!

In current times, with the stimulus and demands in our lives, regular activations of our nervous system can become challenging for many.

There are two parts to our autonomic nervous system - the sympathetic (fight/flight) is responsible for 'activation and mobilization' of our system and the parasympathetic (typically rest/digest) is responsible for 'putting the brakes on, relaxation & restoration'. Very simply, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems operate similar to an on/off switch.

With this in mind, it becomes easier to see the connection to digestive and sleep concerns as common examples. For instance, when we are experiencing stress and anxiety, our sympathetic nervous system (adrenalin) is activated, our blood flow and energy requirements move away from the likes of digestion in order to allow for a state of 'action' resulting in an increased heart rate, rapid breathing, dilated pupils, muscle tension, etc - all ready to go! (No wonder it can be challenging to sleep!)

In a healthy cycle of sympathetic activation, we achieve what is needed for survival, release the activated energy and adrenalin from our body, shake it off and return to a safe state of calm, rest, digestion and social connection. However, in our fast-paced modern society with demands, expectations, stimulus, and/or past traumas etc, our nervous system responds as if it's needing to 'survive' in the same way it would as if being chased by a lion!... on repeat! For example, that project to complete, that conflict with a loved one, traffic stresses, financial demands, unresolved trauma, etc, etc... I could go on! It can feel loud and sudden to some and to others perhaps like a constant hum - not so obvious but still impacting and driving the system.

So, here we are, regularly, finding ourselves with an activated sympathetic nervous system. Some of us may have found ways to release, regulate, create calm and flow between the cycles of activation and many others haven't had the resources, support or safety needed in order to allow that release and regulation.

Let's take a look at the possible effects on ourselves and our social connections. To help understand, we'll review the roles of the 'ventral' and 'dorsal' parts of the vagus nerve as explained to us by the Polyvagal Theory. The 'ventral' vagus nerve is a relatively newer part of the vagus nerve that has allowed us to develop our social connections - read faces, engage safely, communicate and connect.

When this part is activated, we can easily learn, contribute and have fun socially - our immune systems are stronger and if our 'boat is rocked' with a stressful event, we can regulate back to calm much quicker. However, if we are in a highly stressed state, unsupported, without resources or experience to regulate our systems, then add to that a social expectation to 'hold it all together' and just 'get on with things', we may have learned to mask or over-ride our inner state.

Our experience of stress in our body hasn't been processed and begins to manifest physically - our immunity becoming compromised, our body tension shouting with pain or rigidity, our brain function challenged, difficulty learning, reduced tolerance, communication break downs, social conflicts, etc.

If we continue in this state, too much, for too long, the sympathetic system becomes overwhelmed and less effective at its aim of completing a 'survival' mission. This is when the 'dorsal' vagus nerve (high tone - very primitive 'fake death/shut down' ability) activates. It does this in immediate response to sudden danger, trauma or when the sympathetic nervous system, in overwhelm, has hit its limits. The sole purpose of the high tone dorsal activation is survival at all costs as it actions an immediate 'shut-down' response - immobility, collapse, numbness, disconnection, all in order to conserve energy and survive.

The system is in shock, fatigued, and becomes inactive, near impossible to function physically. It's doing what it can to preserve life, purposely designed to protect and conserve whatever energy is left. It aims to re-fuel as best possible and wait for a moment in time where a returned sense of actual or perceived safety allows it to re-activate, 'coming alive', shaking off the traumatic energy as it regulates its way to a calm state. If it remains stuck in this state, it can look like despair, hopelessness, dissociation.

The complications from many of our modern stresses and trauma experiences is that our systems haven't learned how to complete the cycle, how to release the energy, move fluidly between states of activation and calm, while being held in safety, allowing us to find regulation. We interfere with the instinctual process with our advanced cognitive brain and social 'conditioning'.

We often can remain 'stuck' rigid (frozen/disengaged from life) or hypervigilant in an activated fight/flight system, without safety or resource, for far longer than nature intended. Our stresses, trauma and emotion are locked into how our body is holding. Fortunately, there are ways we can learn to regulate and navigate our systems, and to do so, safety is a key element. Until we are sensing safety, we remain in the same state of activation. Thankfully, the majority of our nervous system feedback is in the direction from our body to our brain.

We can strengthen our awareness of this internal sensing (called 'interoception') to then influence our felt sense of safety by how we use and engage our body (e.g. dancing, spa, breath, yoga).

In Holistic Pulsing, the rocking imitates a gentle shaking off of 'stuck' energy allowing for release (like a deer would spontaneously shake following a traumatic chase), while the rhythm of pulsing is known to soothe and relax (for most of us, the rocking when we were babies created relaxing neural pathways we still recognise!)

Co-regulation is how our babies and children learn to regulate. We have learned our regulation (or dysregulation) patterns from our parents and events in our lives. We continue to benefit from co-regulation throughout our lives as adults - by being around safe, calm, regulated people, allowing us to 'sense' the calm too, signaling our nervous system to respond similarly.

Holistic Pulsing uses co-regulation and techniques that support our parasympathetic activation, sending signals of safety, relaxation and connection to the brain. It has a positive impact on our subconscious state through intentional acts of calm, essentially 'hacking' the nervous system. The holistic body-mind approach of pulsing builds on self-awareness and connection with acceptance as we become more consciously 'tuned-in' to our state of 'being', resourcing ourselves as we respond compassionately to our needs, re-creating our inner world.

YouTube links:

Polyvagal Theory Explained Simply (Teresa Lewis)

Trauma and the Nervous System: A Polyvagal Perspective (The Trauma Foundation)

Holistic Pulsing in New Zealand Aotearoa (HolisticPulsingNZ)

If you are wanting to learn more about how Holistic Pulsing can help with co-regulation, or would like to make an appointment, contact me on 021 297 2441.