Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) operates mostly outside your conscious control, regulating essential functions like heart rate, digestion, and stress responses.
The Two Main Branches:
1. Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) • The "gas pedal" — activates your body for action • Triggers the fight-or-flight response • Increases heart rate, dilates pupils, releases adrenaline • Helpful for emergencies but problematic when chronically activated
2. Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) • The "brake pedal" — calms and restores • Promotes rest-and-digest functions • Slows heart rate, aids digestion, promotes healing • Where we want to spend most of our time
Signs of Dysregulation:
When your nervous system is dysregulated, you might experience: • Chronic anxiety or hypervigilance • Difficulty sleeping • Digestive issues • Emotional reactivity • Fatigue and burnout • Difficulty concentrating
Building Regulation:
Regulation isn't about being calm all the time — it's about having flexibility to respond appropriately to situations and return to baseline afterward.
Somatic practices help build this capacity by: • Increasing interoception (body awareness) • Strengthening the vagal brake • Creating new neural pathways • Processing stuck survival energy