What Is Nervous System Regulation
Polyvagal Theory Explained (Part 1): The Autonomic Hierarchy
What even is “nervous system regulation”?
It’s a bit of a buzz-phrase these days, thanks to social media, which has its benefits and challenges. Even I, as a trauma therapist, appreciate finding “quick nervous system regulation technique” videos on my feed. But even when I do, I’m pretty quick to scroll to the next thing, anyone else? Best new makeup trend videos? The latest celebrity scandal? So much for regulating my nervous system...
Because TikTok videos and Instagram infographics can only go so far, my hope is to explain what nervous system regulation actually means over the next few blog posts.
Because these concepts are complex, I still likely won’t do it perfect justice, however my intention is to go beyond what social media can offer.
Here’s what you can expect over the next three blog posts where we’ll dive deeper into Polyvagal Theory.
This is the theory developed by Dr. Stephen Porges that forms the basis of what all this “nervous system regulation” talk is all about.
Blog 1 (the one you’re currently reading): Exploring the Autonomic Nervous System (What it is and what could regulation even look like)
Blog 2: Neuroception: How our nervous system takes in information
Blog 3: Co-Regulation: How we regulate through connection and safety in relationships
So let’s dive in. What is the autonomic nervous system? And, how does the nervous system work?
We all have an autonomic nervous system that helps us respond to our environment in an effort to help us survive. Our autonomic nervous system developed, over the course of our evolutionary history, into three parts (or pathways).
Sometimes I like to visualize the development of this system like nesting Russian dolls.
Dorsal Vagal (Shut Down/Collapse/Immobilize)
The earliest part of the system that developed is the dorsal vagal system of immobilization/shut down/collapse. This was the survival response of our reptilian ancestors.
Sense a threat? Play dead!
When in survival mode and in this state, we often feel drained and without energy. We may feel disconnected, numb, dissociated, and “out of it”.
Sympathetic (Fight/Flight/Mobilize)
The next to develop was the sympathetic fight or flight pathway. The opposite of immobilization, when we are in a sympathetically activated state, we are mobilized.
This is the system that regulates heart and breath. It brings us the energy we need to act.
Ventral Vagal (Connection)
The most recent pathway to develop is the ventral vagal pathway. This is where we feel regulated, calm, and ready to connect and engage.
Life here feels manageable.
We are open.
These pathways of our nervous system are organized in a hierarchy, hence the title “the autonomic hierarchy”. When something happens in our environment, we move around the hierarchy accordingly based on what’s going to give us the greatest chance at survival.
How We Move Around the Hierarchy: An Example
Let’s explore this more with a story.
Johnny is going about his day calm, cool, collected. He feels energized and ready to take on any challenges that come his way (ventral vagal).
He feels his phone buzz in his pocket, picks it up and sees “THE BOSS” is calling.
His heart beats rapidly, his breathing picks up speed, his thoughts start racing “what did I do now?” (sympathetic).
All of this energy mobilizes him to rapidly answer the phone breathlessly asking “Hey, what’s going on?!” His boss replies “oh so sorry, I’m getting a call right as you picked up. Let me call you back in a couple of minutes. Something important I want to talk about.” Johnny hangs up.
Now he must wait.
How can he handle the waiting? His breath and heart rate begin to slow, but not in a relaxed kind of way. Slowly the environment around him feels like it’s beginning to blur. He feels himself getting smaller. He pulls out his phone again, automatically opens Instagram, and begins mindlessly scrolling through - not truly seeing any of the content that’s in front of him (dorsal vagal).
This example highlights the ways in which we automatically move around the hierarchy depending on what’s happening in our environment, what’s happened to us in the past, and how our nervous system developed over time in response to our world.
Because being in the sympathetic state wasn’t “working”, Johnny moved further down the hierarchy into dorsal vagal collapse as a way to cope with the moment.
How “Nervous System Regulation” Can Look
When we’re talking about nervous system regulation, we can think of Johnny.
What might it have been like for Johnny to be able to recognize and name the state change that he was experiencing in the moment, and in recognizing that state change perhaps respond more flexibly to the environment.
Let’s play the example out again, but this time with more awareness and flexibility.
Johnny is going about his day calm, cool, collected. He feels energized and ready to take on any challenges that come his way. He thinks to himself “Ah, this is nice.” (noticing ventral vagal).
He feels his phone buzz in his pocket, picks it up and sees “THE BOSS” is calling. His heart beats rapidly, his breathing picks up speed, his thoughts start racing “what did I do now?” and pretty quickly he thinks to himself, “Ok. I’ve been here before. This is anxiety. Makes sense given the fact that my boss does often get pretty critical of me. Let me take a few deep breaths before answering” (noticing and interacting with sympathetic).
Johnny takes a few deep belly breaths. The combination of naming what was going on and breathing into the energy, Johnny notices a significant shift in his breathing and heart rate. While not fully “calm”, Johnny is able to answer the phone with a bit more ease. He’s still grateful for the heightened activity in his body which allows him to be ready for a potentially challenging conversation.
His boss replies “oh so sorry, I’m getting a call right as you picked up. Let me call you back in a couple of minutes. Something important I want to talk about.” Johnny hangs up.
Now he must wait.
He thinks to himself “Ok, this sucks. Now I have to wait, and I’m already feeling pretty stressed.” His breath and heart rate begin to slow, but not in a relaxed kind of way.
He thinks to himself “I know when I have to wait, I’m tempted to check out and I can feel that happening right now”. Slowly the environment around him feels like it’s beginning to blur. (moving into dorsal vagal).
He remembers what helps him when he starts to feel this way.
Usually it’s standing up and stretching his arms out a bit. He tries just that and notices the environment come back more into focus.
He pulls out his phone again because waiting still sucks, but this time he opens Instagram more mindfully and seeks to check in on a friend who always makes him feel more connected (movement from dorsal vagal → sympathetic → ventral vagal).
Reflection
Take a moment.
Take a breath.
Pause and reflect.
What are you noticing coming up within you as you read that example?
Does it feel relieving?
Perhaps it feels like “wow, that’s a lot of work”.
The good news is that just as automatic as our autonomic nervous system is when responding to the environment, our brains, through neuroplasticity, can develop new patterns.
We are flexible beings and just as our nervous system has learned these patterns, new ones can be learned too. We can reshape our nervous system to respond in a way that is most supportive to our being - keeping us safe, of course, but also allowing us to be connected when there is no true danger afoot.
An important note about nervous system regulation.
It isn’t about being perfectly calm (in the ventral vagal state) all the time.
Instead, it’s about developing awareness and flexibility in responding to our environment so that we can move through dysregulation and back to regulation once more.
In doing some of this nervous system work we can build resilience and more effective response patterns.
Nervous system regulation does not change systemic issues and horrors that we face as humanity - racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, poverty, war, genocide - the list goes on and on.
It also doesn’t change the fact that we may have experienced trauma.
From this standpoint, we can’t JUST regulate our nervous systems to live better lives.
My opinion is that we can work to regulate our nervous systems while engaging actively in the world to push for systemic change.
As for trauma, healing may require more than just nervous system regulation, however this is a step. Because we live in a traumatizing, dysregulating world, now more than ever it’s important for us to take note of what’s going on inside of ourselves to better show up for the world that needs us so much.
If you’re interested in learning more about the nervous system and how we can support our own, stay tuned for more podcasts and blog posts as well as a future group that you may choose to be a part of where we will learn more tools & work with the nervous system in community (which in my opinion is the best way to do it - co-regulation, right?).
🧡,
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