While the strategies in the previous post are ways to regulate in-the-moment when we pop into anxiety and the fight or flight response (sympathetic nervous system), in order to prevent these situations from continuing to happen we can make larger shifts in our lives.  Whenever making changes to our lives, it is important to take small steps changing one thing at a time so as not to overwhelm ourselves and inadvertently sabotage our efforts.  By shifting things slowly over time we can build on our successes.  You may or may not being doing some or all of these things already.  Perhaps consider adding one or part of one slowly over time.

This is an exciting time in the fields of mental health and neuroscience.  We are beginning to better understand how the brain and the body work with greater refinement as technology evolves.  Through Stephen Porges’ work with the vagus nerve, we have a greater understanding of how our bodies respond to our world automatically, outside of conscious awareness - that is, from our autonomic nervous system which involves the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.


The Vagus Nerve - A Brief Overview
The vagus nerve is the tenth cranial nerve and is responsible for a number functions in the body.  In terms of how we interact with our world, the vagus nerve controls the parasympathetic nervous system, sometimes referred to as “the relaxation response”.  We now know that there are actually two parts to the parasympathetic nervous system.  One helps us engage socially in a relaxed manner and the other shuts down our system to protect us in the event of perceived life threatening danger.

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