Sneak Peek: Regulate + Thrive
This week I wanted to give you a sneak peek into my new course Regulate + Thrive: Learn to rewire your nervous system with safety and self-care.
In the first module of the course we dig into the importance of understanding exactly what is happening in the body when we’re experiencing fear, anxiety, stress, or shut down. This lesson helps you to understand exactly what that looks like and why it’s happening.
The lessons in the course will be in video form with worksheets attached to dig even further into the information, but here is a section of the transcript from one of the video lessons. Enjoy!
You’ve likely heard of the Fight/Flight/Freeze states, but what exactly is the difference between these states and why does it matter? In this lesson you’re going to dig into exactly what is happening in your body so that you can use the right tools to address it.
To help us to better understand how the nervous system works, I want you to think of a zebra in it’s natural habitat, calmly grazing on grass. It’s relaxed, its Parasympathetic Nervous System is activated, so its focus is on eating food or finding a mate. It’s just peacefully existing.
Suddenly, it catches the scent of a lion, and its Sympathetic Nervous System triggers on. It becomes more alert because it senses a threat. It’s no longer focused on eating or mating; it needs to focus on how it’s going to survive through this danger.
It finds the lion, makes eye contact, and the lion charges. Now the zebra is in full Flight mode. Its nervous system has turned off every system that isn’t necessary so it can focus on getting away as fast as possible. Now is not the time to be digesting its food or looking for a mate, survival is the only priority.
But say the zebra trips and falls, and the lion catches up to it. Once fleeing or fighting is no longer an option, this is when the Freeze response is activated. The Parasympathetic Nervous System activates ON TOP OF the Sympathetic response. We know this is as the Freeze response or Shut Down. The zebra’s body goes stiff, it’s barely breathing, all systems disconnect.
This mode has two functions. First, in this Freeze state, all sensations are numb. If the lion starts to eat the zebra alive, it won’t feel it. It’s disconnected from its body sensations, so its death is actually peaceful.
But the second function is also a protection: The lion has an instinct to stay away from animals who have been dead too long. So the lion could get confused. It comes upon the zebra just lying stiff on the ground, almost like it’s dead, and the lion’s instincts could cause it to leave the zebra alone, thinking there’s something wrong with it.
So let’s imagine that happens. The lion gets confused, and starts to run off after its next prey, leaving the zebra alive and physically unharmed.
What happens next to the zebra is crucial in understanding why some of us get stuck in our different nervous system states.
When that Freeze response is activated and we’re completely disconnected from our body, we don’t actually move from there back into Rest + Digest. It’s more like moving up and down on the rungs of a ladder. To get out of Freeze mode, we first go back into Fight or Flight.
Back to the zebra, it’s still lying on the ground in Freeze mode, but eventually, when all signs of danger are gone, it will move from Freeze back into Fight or Flight. The zebra will jump up and start running and kicking, and it’s whole body will shake. The reason it’s doing this is to help it to process through all of that adrenaline and cortisol and stress hormones that was dumped into its system.
Eventually, it’ll slow down. The shaking might continue a little longer, until all signs of danger are gone and all those stress hormones have been processed through, and then it can go right back into its Parasympathetic state. It will once again start to focus on eating grass or finding a mate. It’s not traumatized, it’s not stuck in any one state, but it’s able to move through these nervous system states as necessary.
That is how a healthy nervous system works. None of those states are bad, they were all necessary for the zebra’s survival. But let’s imagine a few different scenarios to help us better understand this:
What if the zebra didn’t run when it first saw the lion, if it didn’t run or fight, it would get eaten. The lion is going to overpower it. Not going into Fight or Flight would mean its death.
Or, What if the zebra didn’t go into Freeze mode once it got caught? Not only would it get eaten but it would experience incredible pain throughout the process.
Or, what if the zebra didn’t get eaten and the lion left it alone, but it didn’t fully go back up through the rungs of that ladder: It would stay stuck in one of those states. It could have gotten back up while in the Freeze state and not gone back into Fight or Flight because that process got interrupted. But if it stays in Freeze, it’s now disconnected from its body sensations. It wouldn’t know when to eat, it wouldn’t know when to drink. It would wander aimlessly, and likely end up getting killed or even starving to death.
Or maybe it didn’t fully process through that Fight or Flight response. It would stay focused solely on survival at all times. It’d end up being more aggressive than necessary which would impact its place in the herd. It wouldn’t be looking for a mate or focused on food, which would again, eventually lead to its death.
That is essentially what it means to have a dysregulated nervous system. Your body gets stuck in one these states and can’t process out of it, or it’s triggered into one of these states WAY too easily.
So let’s dig into each of these states to better understand what being stuck there might look like for us.
For the rest of the lesson and to learn exactly what to do when you find yourself triggered or stuck in one of these states, check out my course HERE.
