You Make Sense: How To Regulate Your Nervous System

Host: Sarah Baldwin
Release Date: October 22, 2024

Introduction: Understanding Nervous System Regulation

In the episode titled "How To Regulate Your Nervous System," Sarah Baldwin delves into the critical role that nervous system regulation plays in our overall well-being. As a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with expertise in trauma resolution, attachment, parts work, and nervous system regulation, Baldwin offers practical, science-backed tools to help listeners navigate their human experiences with greater freedom, ease, and empowerment.

Sarah [00:00]: "Your nervous system really creates your whole experience. It creates your thoughts, behaviors, feelings, sense of sensations, the perception of self, others in the world around you. It creates everything that makes up your human experience."

The Importance of Regulating the Nervous System

Baldwin outlines the profound benefits of nervous system regulation, emphasizing how it underpins every aspect of our lives:

1. Enhanced Stress Response: Regulation builds capacity to handle stress, allowing individuals to navigate life's challenges without becoming overwhelmed.

2. Improved Physical Health: Chronic dysregulation can lead to taxing organ systems and chronic illnesses. Regulation acts as a form of medicine for the body.

3. Better Sleep: A regulated nervous system promotes healthier sleep patterns.

4. Purpose and Abundance: Regulation enables individuals to step into their calling, experience greater abundance, and make choices aligned with their true self.

5. Healthier Relationships: Consistent regulation fosters ease in relationships, breaking repetitive negative patterns.

6. Authentic Self-Knowledge: It allows individuals to understand their true selves and make decisions based on their highest truth rather than survival instincts.

Sarah [00:00] emphasizes, "Regulating your nervous system is literally like medicine for your body."

Reshaping the Nervous System: A Practical Approach

Sarah compares nervous system regulation to muscle building, highlighting the necessity of consistent practice:

• Vagal Tone: Each person has a unique shaping of their nervous system (vagal tone), influenced by factors like anxiety, depression, or states of freeze.

• Consistency is Key: Just as muscles grow stronger with regular exercise, the nervous system can be reshaped through consistent regulatory practices.

• Neural Exercises: These are akin to reps at the gym. Engaging in activities that signal safety to the nervous system helps in gradually reducing anxiety, depression, and other dysregulations.

Sarah [12:30]: "It's the consistency that gets you there."

Regulating Resources vs. Coping Strategies

A crucial distinction Baldwin makes is between regulating resources and coping strategies:

• Regulating Resources: Tools and activities that genuinely reduce dysregulation by discharging the activation in the body. Examples include walking, calling a friend, or engaging in a hobby.

• Coping Strategies: Methods that mask dysregulation without addressing the underlying issue. These can include binge eating, excessive exercising, substance use, or numbing behaviors like excessive shopping or social media scrolling.

Sarah [24:15]: "A regulating resource is anything that actually gets rid of, or what's called, discharges the activation in our body. A coping strategy is anything that covers up the dysregulation."

Creating a Regulating Toolbox

To effectively regulate the nervous system, Baldwin guides listeners through creating a personalized regulating toolbox:

1. Identify Regulating Resources: Write down activities and tools that make you feel present and good. This can include people, hobbies, nature, creativity, or other interests.

2. Document for Consistency: Writing these tools down helps in forming new neural pathways, making it easier to access them when needed.

3. Set Reminders: Use alarms or visual cues to prompt you to engage with your regulating resources regularly.

4. Practice Rest and Notice: After using a regulating tool, take time to rest and observe any changes in your state.

Sarah [27:50]: "If you're struggling to consistently follow through on the regulating, this is why."

Healing Through Connection: Listener Questions Answered

1. Healing Without a Community

Listener Question [32:38]: "How can you go about feeling better if you just don't have any family or really any friends if you live somewhere that's like a really small town?"

Sarah’s Response:

Baldwin acknowledges the profound bravery of individuals seeking healing without an existing support system. She shares her personal journey of overcoming isolation and building connections gradually through safe interactions, online communities, and engaging with pets. She emphasizes the importance of taking tolerable steps towards connection, such as:

• Starting small with pets or nature.
• Engaging in online communities and virtual programs.
• Gradually increasing social interactions as the nervous system recognizes safety.

Sarah [33:38]: "The way that we come back into connecting and connection, being filled with ease for ourselves is through tolerable steps towards it."

2. Understanding Energy Wells and Autonomic Tones

Listener Question [40:38]: "Can you explain energy wells and how as we go deeper in our healing, our nervous system opens up more capacity to hold different things?"

Sarah’s Response:

Sarah introduces the concept of energy wells, a term coined by Peter Levine. Energy wells represent the reservoir of activation or trauma stored in the body awaiting resolution. As healing progresses:

• Energy Well Capacity Increases: Initially small, the capacity grows as regulation practices are consistently applied, allowing more activation to be held and addressed.

• Experiencing Setbacks: As capacity increases, old traumas may surface, which is a sign of progression, not regression.

• Parts Work: Different parts of ourselves (e.g., a six-year-old vs. a ten-year-old) may hold different autonomic tones. Healing involves addressing each part's needs and integrating them harmoniously.

Sarah [41:28]: "Healing is not for the faint of heart. It's a hero's journey. It is perhaps the hardest thing you'll ever do in your life."

3. Long-Term Dysregulation and Chronic Illness

Listener Question [48:44]: "Can you discuss the nexus between long-term dysregulation and chronic illness?"

Sarah’s Response:

Baldwin explores the intricate relationship between chronic dysregulation and physical health, explaining that:

• Nervous System and Organs: Chronic dysregulation leads to persistent activation of the sympathetic nervous system, causing organs to become overtaxed and susceptible to illness.

• Chronic Illness as a Result: Prolonged states of dysregulation deplete the body's resources, leading to various chronic conditions like fibromyalgia, IBS, and more.

• Path to Healing: The key to alleviating chronic illness lies in regulating the nervous system, which in turn allows the body to heal and other treatments to be more effective.

• Reorienting to Pleasure: Alongside regulation, it's essential to focus on what works and feels good in the body to create a balanced state of well-being.

Sarah [49:45]: "Regulating your nervous system is the best medicine you can give your body. It allows all these other treatments to actually stick."

The Healing Process: Expand and Contract

Baldwin describes the nervous system's healing process as a cycle of expansion and contraction:

• Expansion: Engaging in a regulating activity causes a temporary sense of safety and increased capacity.

• Contraction: As the nervous system gathers more information, it may momentarily retract, requiring continued regulation to build lasting changes.

• Consistent Practice: Over time, expansions become longer and contractions shorter, leading to a predominantly regulated state.

Sarah [35:20]: "View regulating as expansions and contractions. The more you do it, the longer the expansions and the shorter the contractions."

Befriending Your Nervous System

A significant aspect of the healing journey is developing a compassionate relationship with one's own nervous system:

• Positive Self-Talk: Encourage oneself as a supportive friend would, fostering a nurturing internal dialogue.

• Self-Kindness: Acknowledge past struggles without self-judgment, understanding that coping strategies were adaptive responses.

• Integration: Gradually integrating fragmented parts to allow the adult self to lead, reducing the dominance of scared or protective parts.

Sarah [30:45]: "You must begin speaking to yourself in your nervous system exactly the way I described... as a cheerleader for your nervous system."

Conclusion: Embracing the Journey of Regulation

Sarah Baldwin concludes the episode by reiterating the transformative power of consistent nervous system regulation. By embracing practical tools, fostering connections, and cultivating self-compassion, listeners can reshape their nervous systems and unlock the lives they desire.

Sarah [49:45]: "Our nervous systems have the ability to heal and want to. And I also fully believe that our bodies have the ability to heal if they're given the conditions necessary to make that happen."

Further Engagement

Sarah invites listeners to join her programs for deeper engagement and support in their healing journeys. She emphasizes the importance of community and consistent practice in achieving lasting regulation.

Sarah [49:45]: "If you think I might be the right practitioner for you, I'd invite you to get on the waitlist for one of my upcoming programs. All waitlisters get access to limited time, reduced pricing before the course or program opens."

Key Takeaways

• Nervous system regulation is foundational to overall well-being.
• Consistent practice is essential for reshaping the nervous system.
• Distinguishing between regulating resources and coping strategies is crucial for effective healing.
• Building a supportive regulating toolbox empowers individuals to manage dysregulation proactively.
• Healing is a non-linear, heroic journey that requires patience, self-compassion, and persistent effort.

Resources Mentioned:

• Nervous System Essentials Program: [Link in Show Notes]

Connect with Sarah Baldwin:

• Instagram: @sarahbaldwincoaching
• Email: mediarabaldencoaching.com

Disclaimer: This summary is based on the transcript provided and is intended for informational purposes only. For personalized advice, please consult a qualified professional.