Calm the nervous system.

Practical Ways for Calming the nervous system.  Intentional Setting: Create a space that feels cozy to you, add comfy items like pillows, blankets, whatever you can think of with what you have on hand. Think about what matters to you (fairy lights, tea lights, incense, candles, or a nice smelling spritz or essential oils and reed diffuser. Have things that bring you to center here, oracle cards perhaps…This can be a refuge when you need a break.  Engage in an activity that brings your awareness to your physical body. Examples: Hot or cold showers, washing or splashing water on your face, or running water over wrists and noticing what it feels like. This can sometimes interrupt unproductive spinning out thoughts because you are shifting awareness.  Sensory soothing activity: When you have a warm load of laundry from the dryer, dump it out on top of you, and sometimes the combination of softness, warmth and weight can calm the nervous system.  Similarly weighted blankets, weighted stuffed animals, etc. compression clothing, etc. can provide a sense of calming pressure for the body.  Tapping (Look up EFT tapping on Tik Tok)  Rocking in a rocking chair, gentle swinging in a hammock, hanging upside down for a little bit, elevating legs up a wall, all of these engage the parasympathetic/calming nervous system via activating our vestibular sense of balance.  Take a stretch break. Or literally imagine yourself shaking off anything that’s clinging to you that you do not want. Our bodies hold so much, stretching and shaking are ways of moving emotional energy in our bodies.  Put your hand on your heart and try to notice your heartbeat and breathe in deeply and slowly, exhale, repeat as often as needed. This is a way of managing your biofeedback through increasing the oxygen flowing throughout your body.  Cross your arms and give yourself a hug, give alternating taps to the outside of your shoulders (this is called the butterfly tap, you can search it on youtube), it’s used in EMDR to feel more settled in brain, because you are stimulating two sides of your brain.  Stimulate your vagus nerve/calming system with changing your visual perspective (try to practice looking in different directions slowly shifting gaze), other ways to stimulate the vagus nerve include humming, singing, and gargling.  Dance! Releasing through dance and music is an ancient release.