Befriend Your Nervous System
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) responds to the challenges of daily life by telling us not what we are or who we are but how we are.
Check out this four minute video by the founder of the Polyvagal Theory, Dr Stephen Porges.
Once we understand the role of the autonomic nervous system in shaping our lives, we can never again not see the world through that lens. This stuff is tremendously useful to know about oneself as a human - and connects us to real power to create change.
"State Drives Story"
Your physiological state will drive or inform your psychological story (your experience of life and living).
A nervous system is that constantly stuck in "threat mode" (fight / flight / immobilise) provides you with a set of lenses that colours your experience of ...everything!
You are more likely to feel fear, hyper-vigilance, anxiety, depression. It may leaves you more vulnerable to addictions. A nervous system stuck in 'threat mode' means we will be far more likely to cut ourselves off from the very things that would help us to connect to a more contented & fulfilling life. In trying to reach for what feels like 'safety' from a place of fear or anxiety, we can often run the risk of create more 'unsafeness' in our lives.
Polyvagal-informed therapy (one which understands the importance of a regulated nervous system) honours the role of the ANS in shaping our physiological experiences and our psychological stories and offers strategies to engage the rhythm of regulation in fostering change.