There is nothing that can prevent our inner convictions from becoming objective fact… except when we get in our own way.
This can be a mindset issue. It can be an issue of disorganization. But more often, we get tripped up when our nervous systems get locked into a state of negativity.
We feel tired. We’re easily distracted. And what is that feeling of anxiety (and maybe even doom)?
Even when we try to buckle down and force our way forward, we’re still stuck, because our neurological state keeps us incapable of making a positive connection with our feelings.
That’s where neurological fitness and somatic work comes in. We can work on regulating the nervous system to dislodge emotional charge, and then moving to transform the released energy.
Polyvagal theory is a modern day approach that helps us meet our body where it is, be present with any uncomfortable sensations we might be feeling (without getting trapped in a narrative or giving it so much meaning and permanence), and then consciously move toward a more focused, energized, and relaxed state.
You may have heard of the primary nervous system states: rest and digest (ventral vagal), fight or flight (sympathetic), freeze (dorsal vagal). Part of continued growth includes a practice of learning to shift and move among them artfully, using somatic exercise and leaning into the transformative power of feeling safe.
Discussing and working through these exercises while in the presence of others increases results, through a process called co-regulation.
What we love to see through this work:
- Arrival at a place of calm inner knowing
- Healing, growth, and deepened connections
- Improved mood, emotional balance, and resilience
- Better digestion, sleep, and recovery
- Enjoyment of feeling calm and in control (notice the enjoy part)
- Greater capacity for joy. Joy lowers the neural threshold for perceiving life events as being positive and hopeful (and raises the threshold for perceiving events as negative and hopeless)
Over time, we build resilience, with a flexible and adaptive physiology that feels more comfortable with the uncomfortable, more confident in the unfamiliar, and more capable in the uncertain.