Increase Emotional Regulation and Nervous System Resilience With These 4 Somatic Exercises
It’s often thought that the only goal of nervous system regulation is to create peace and calm within your body and mind. While these are very important and beneficial goals, we’d like to point out that experiencing a greater sense of peace comes from creating greater resiliency within the nervous system.
A resilient nervous system has the ability to move more fluidly through the different nervous system states and bounces back much quicker from stressful situations and experiences. In order to help you feel more confident around regulating your emotions and build resistance to the Sympathetic (fight or flight) or Dorsal Vagal (freeze) nervous system responses, here are 4 of our go-to somatic balance exercises.
4 somatic exercises to regulate your emotions:
1 - Body Tapping
Body tapping is a quick and effective technique that helps bring your awareness back into the body, helping you regulate and respond to stressors from a place of balance. This exercise activates the body’s touch receptors and sends calming signals to the brain, quickly reducing anxiety and stress. It also improves the mind-body connection by bringing your attention to the physical sensations while tapping.
How to do it: Ball your hands into fists and tap your body with both hands, from head to toe. Tap solidly - it should not be painful, but it should create noticeable sensations. Increase the intensity of the taps at your discretion.
2 - Wall Presses
When the stress response is activated within your nervous system, it’s important to redirect and release that energy through an exercise such as wall presses. Wall Presses stimulate the proprioceptive system (your body's ability to sense position and movement), increasing body awareness and grounding the nervous system. The pressure of this activity also releases serotonin, quickly reducing stress and increasing relaxation.
How to do it: Place your feet hip-width apart and keep your hands flat against the wall with your back straight. Push forcefully, as if you're trying to move it and press steadily against the wall for 5-10 seconds before releasing. Repeat, exhaling as you push and inhaling as you release.
3 - The Bear Hug
When experiencing a high level of stress or overwhelm, your nervous system will greatly benefit from the power of a self-soothing touch. The “Bear Hug” exercise stimulates pressure receptors under your skin, signaling your brain to slow down your heart rate and lower cortisol levels. Incorporating the eye movement while tapping helps engage both hemispheres of the brain, promoting better emotional regulation.
How to do it: While sitting down, cross your arms across your chest and alternate tapping each shoulder. Adjust your pacing as it feels comfortable in the body.
4 - Letting Go
As difficult as it can be at times, the most essential part of emotional regulation comes from our ability to release and let go of those emotions from our body. Using a compassionate awareness technique we call “Letting Go,” you can greatly increase mental and emotional clarity.
This powerful technique releases suppressed and repressed emotions, and strengthens the vagal brake through titration which is, experiencing tolerable amounts of discomfort while remaining balanced.
How to do it: Sit comfortably with your back straight, and close your eyes. Allow whatever emotions that want to come up to be witnessed and focus on the underlying feelings instead of thought patterns. Take your time and gradually surrender any resistance to them. Notice the feeling of relief as the emotions and resistance dissipate.
Conclusion
As you begin incorporating exercises such as these into your daily routine you’re not only building greater emotional and mental resiliency, you are creating the space and opportunity for the energy of peace, joy, play, and fulfillment into your life. Give one a try today and let us know how you feel after by tagging @neurofit.app on Instagram.
For more ways to stay balanced and regulated, download the NEUROFIT App.