Ways to Calm Our Stress Response 

With external stressors increasing in severity and frequency everyday, several buzzwords are often thrown around in recommendations for coping with stress, but they’re not always well-defined. Terms like “nervous system regulation,” “vagus nerve,” “breathwork facilitation,” and “somatic exercises,” get used a lot, but what do they actually mean, and how can they help? 

To understand nervous system regulation, it’s important to take a step back first to understand what the nervous system is, and why it needs regulation in the first place. Think of the nervous system as the communication center of the brain. Per Cleveland Clinic, the nervous system is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. It works by using nerve cells, or neurons, to send “messages” in the forms of electrical signals between the brain and other parts of the body. For a very basic example, when touching a hot pot on the stove, the sensory nerves in the fingertips send a signal to the brain that essentially says, “Hot!” This is dangerous and will cause damage to tissue!” The brain processes that signal, and the motor neurons in the brain send a signal through the interneurons back to the finger that there is pain in that area, causing the person to remove their hand from the heat. 

The nervous system has two components: the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), and the peripheral nervous system (network of nerves). The peripheral nervous system is then divided into two parts: the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The somatic nervous system guides voluntary movements, and the autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary movements, or ones that the average body subconsciously does without thinking (pumping blood, regular breathing, etc). The autonomic nervous system is subdivided into three: the sympathetic nervous system (activates the processes that help the body to survive in times of danger; “fight or flight” response); the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” response); and the enteric nervous system (manages how the body digests food). (Cleveland Clinic)

The brain has 12 sets of cranial nerves. Sets, because each cranial nerve is mirrored on the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This set of 12 pairs of cranial nerves serves a variety of functions, including the facilitation of facial expressions, and other movements in that region such as blinking and the motion of the tongue. Another important function they serve is perceiving sensations, as they help an individual to see, smell, taste, hear, and feel external stimuli. The autonomic nervous system has nerve fibers in four of the cranial nerves, the most relevant of which, in this context, is the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system, and the longest cranial nerve. Running from the brain to the large intestine, it regulates several processes, including digestion, blood pressure, breathing, mood, and saliva production. (Cleveland Clinic)

Because the autonomic nervous system is so tied to feelings of safety and security, fear and danger, stress can easily throw it out of balance. According to the Associated Clinic of Psychology, when the nervous system is dysregulated, symptoms may include physical ones like fatigue, headaches, digestive problems, or sleep issues, emotional symptoms such as increased anxiety, depression, and irritability, and cognitive symptoms including brain fog, memory problems, and difficulty concentrating. 

The good news is, there are many ways to regulate or re-balance the autonomic nervous system. A few methods are listed below, but this is by no means a comprehensive list. These practices were chosen for their relative ease and accessibility, as they are all practices that can be reasonably done at home for little to no expense, and can all be modified to the individual participant’s needs and abilities. 

There are multiple methods that involve working with the body to regulate the nervous system. Body awareness techniques such as body scans and progressive muscle relaxation can be beneficial for bringing one’s attention back to the body and its safety in the present moment, instead of on stressful thoughts of the past or future. If visiting a studio in person isn’t an option, many somatic exercises are detailed on the internet. Stress is often said to be stored in the hips, so many of these exercises are simple hip-opening movements, such as child’s pose, hip circles, and butterfly knee-drops. 

Topanga local Aimee Strauss has taught a regular somatic yoga flow class on Thursdays at 9 a.m. at Topanga’s own Ethereal Yoga Studio at Pine Tree Circle. She specializes in somatic therapy, and provided some insight on what somatic therapy is. “I do think it’s misunderstood a lot because it’s become such a buzzword,” she says. “The root of somatics, somatic means body, so it is body-based. The reason it is body-based is because the nervous system lives in the body. So when we talk about somatic healing or somatic exercises, what we’re essentially working to do is to increase our nervous system capacity to be able to better move through those cycles of activation, which helps us create more resilience to stress in our day-to-day life.” Aimee cites some of the benefits that participants can potentially expect to see from somatic therapy, such as, “a greater sense of calm in their daily life, a greater sense of groundedness. The ability to feel more capable and confident in themselves, the ability to be more in touch with their emotional experience, and to be able to hold their emotional experience, to navigate stress with more ease, to have healthier relationships with others and more trust in self.”

“I think that’s a really big one, self-trust restores a lot, and just a greater ability to ride life’s waves,” Aimee says. She began her journey of sharing wellness with the community when she began teaching yoga eight years ago, and has been focused on somatics for much of that time. While she began her somatics journey through yoga, she distinguishes somatics as being part of yoga, but also its own separate practice. 

So what sets somatics apart from yoga and meditation and so many other similar practices that it gets lumped in with? 

“I would say that this work really gets to the actual root, where it’s not to say that yoga and meditation can’t,” Aimee explains. “However, sometimes those practices are utilized more for maintenance, and sometimes they can be a way that we can bypass what’s actually going on, more deeply in the physiology. Somatic therapy really works to get to the root of the patterns that have us looping, or the patterns that we remain stuck in because we’re working directly with the unconscious, implicit material in the nervous system that we just really don’t have access to without a solid container of a practitioner holding us. 

A lot of us just don’t have the capacity to go there, so we really need some support to help us stabilize, to be able to go into the root of the things that are stuck in the system.” 

Aimee emphasizes the mental and emotional components, which she investigates by talking with her clients and analyzing their body as they talk about their lived experiences. Sessions are deeply personalized, and are tailored to each individual client. Aimee lights up when sharing how adaptive and accessible the practice is. “It’s a very permissive therapeutic modality to meet you exactly where you are and any skilled practitioner will know how to work with someone in their capacity and not push them too far beyond it,” she says. “When there’s enough safety and stability created in the body, we can push the capacity a little bit and that’s a healthy thing to do to expand someone’s window of tolerance to their nervous system. But we only want to do that when there’s like enough safety and stability in the system to do that. So it really meets the individual in the moment.” 

Breathwork practices can be very beneficial for regulating the nervous system, and can easily be done at home with meditation-focused apps like UCLA Mindful, Calm, and Headspace. According to Calm, a longer exhale than inhale signals safety to the brain. For example: by inhaling for a count of three, and exhaling for a count of one. Repeating this a couple times, an individual will likely notice that the breath sounds a lot like a cartoon bull’s does when preparing to charge, and that the feeling of the breath is very similar to the sort of breath that occurs during occasions of great upset, whether out of anger or sadness. 

Now, if that individual tries an inhale of three counts, followed by an exhale of six counts, then repeats for a couple rounds, they would likely feel a lot more relaxed compared to the previous breath exercise. It certainly gives better context to the expression, “a sigh of relief.” 

Another good, calming breath exercise to start out with is box breathing. The individual would start by picturing a cube, or a square box with four even sides. They would imagine breathing up the left side of the box for a count of five, then holding that breath in for a count of five across the top plateau of the box, exhaling for a count of five as though moving down the right side of the box, and holding that breath out as they move to the left along the bottom of the box for a count of five, and repeating the cycle. This is how box breathing is typically taught, but the box visual might not resonate with everyone, and that’s okay. Try picturing a close-up of a gear instead, going up the side of the tooth, across, down, and through the valley between the two teeth. This visual may be easier to work with, as it suggests forward motion. 

Meditation is another great way to regulate the nervous system. Combining the somatic movements or body awareness practices with breathwork can be a really great way to wind down into a meditation, in the typical form of the practice. But meditative practices can look different for different people. Instead of sitting quietly in a dark room, some individuals may find more mileage from engaging in other mindful, non-traditional meditative practices. Taking a quiet walk and enjoying nature along the way, connecting with the breath and the footfalls against the earth is a great way to regulate the nervous system. 

Others might enjoy attending a community soundbath, with the sounds of gongs and crystal bowls to draw their focus to as they notice their mind wandering. Some might find enjoyment through mindful, contemplative creation like pottery or painting. A great way to integrate a mindful practice, and even as a continuation of the practice itself, is integration of the practice by journaling about the experience. 

Some look forward to this integration as a self-care ritual, augmenting it by preparing a favorite cup of tea, or (safely) lighting a candle to enjoy while writing. This journal can serve as a log of progress over the course of the individual’s journey with these practices, and show them how far they’ve come, and what benefits they’ve been reaping. Not a writer? Some individuals might choose to illustrate their journey through drawings instead. 

With so much going on in the world today, stress is inevitable. On the micro level or on the macro level, it’s not always something that is in one’s control. But what is in one’s control is how they choose to respond to those external stressors, and how they choose to address the stress response of their own nervous system. Meditation, breathwork, and somatic work are all great ways to work on regulating one’s nervous system, but there’s many other methods out there, and their resonance may vary based on the individual and the situation. Don’t be nervous: explore it, find out more, and get to know your own nervous system. 
Aimee Strauss can be reached on Instagram @aimee_strauss or on her website FeltSenseHealing.com.