Stop Fighting Your Nervous System. Do This Instead
Summary
TLDRThe script delves into the impact of our nervous system on daily life, highlighting how we often unconsciously resist or exacerbate negative cycles. It introduces the concept of 'manual breath' as a tool to rewire our nervous system, allowing us to shift into states of greater capacity and presence. By understanding and controlling our breathing patterns, we can influence our emotional responses, moving from a state of reaction to one of collaboration with our nervous system. The video suggests that with practice, we can use this 'meta-skill' to navigate life's challenges more effectively, turning our experiences into a game where we can choose the state most suited to our current quest.
Takeaways
- 🔄 **Constant Struggle**: People often unknowingly fight against their nervous system, which can lead to negative cycles and wasted energy.
- 🌀 **Nervous System Spirals**: Depending on individual wiring, one might experience spirals of negativity or numbness, leading to frustration, anxiety, or shutdown.
- 🤔 **The Real Question**: The alternative is to collaborate with the nervous system to avoid feeling like perpetual victims and to remain present in the face of challenges.
- 🌬️ **The Power of Breath**: Breathing is a natural and controllable function that can be used to influence the nervous system and shift into a state of greater capacity.
- 🧠 **Insula Cortex**: This part of the brain monitors breathing patterns and influences the sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system responses.
- 🔄 **Breathing Patterns**: Different breathing patterns trigger different nervous system responses, affecting emotions and thoughts.
- 🔄 **Operating Modes**: The nervous system has automatic and manual modes, similar to breathing, which can be harnessed for self-regulation.
- 🔄 **Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic**: The nervous system shifts between activation and recovery modes, influenced by life experiences and environmental stimuli.
- 🌿 **Connection Mode**: A state of strong vagal tone allows for feeling safe, creative, and connected, even in the face of challenges.
- 💡 **Self-Regulation Skills**: By understanding and practicing self-regulation, one can tap into the 'biological source code' of the nervous system to improve life experiences.
- 🌐 **Environmental Influence**: Making environmental changes or connecting with others can help shift one's state and influence the nervous system.
Q & A
What is the main problem people face with their nervous system according to the video?
-Most people unknowingly ignore or override their nervous system, leading to inefficient resistance that exacerbates negative spirals, such as anxiety or numbness.
What are the three modes of the nervous system mentioned in the video?
-The three modes of the nervous system are activation mode (sympathetic), recovery mode (parasympathetic), and connection mode (vagal tone).
How does breathing influence the nervous system?
-Breathing patterns, such as breathing through the mouth or upper lungs, can activate the sympathetic nervous system, triggering adrenaline and cortisol production, which affects emotions and thoughts.
What is the 'manual mode' of the nervous system?
-Manual mode refers to the ability to consciously influence the nervous system, particularly through breathwork and other techniques, to shift from reactive states to more adaptive ones.
How can the nervous system's capacity be improved over time?
-By regularly using the nervous system in connection mode and avoiding burnout, the brain's neuroplasticity allows for increased capacity, enabling more resilience in challenging situations.
What is the impact of the sympathetic nervous system's activation mode?
-Activation mode increases alertness, strength, and focus but also drains capacity faster, making it suitable for short-term challenges but detrimental if overused.
What role does the parasympathetic nervous system play?
-The parasympathetic system, or recovery mode, supports rest, digestion, and recovery. However, if overused, it can lead to disengagement from life and lack of progress.
What is the benefit of the connection mode in the nervous system?
-Connection mode fosters feelings of safety, creativity, and flow, allowing people to engage deeply with the world while maintaining emotional resilience and high heart rate variability.
What are top-down, bottom-up, and outside-in interventions for nervous system regulation?
-Top-down interventions involve reframing thoughts, bottom-up interventions focus on physiological signals (like breathwork), and outside-in interventions involve environmental changes or sensory experiences.
What is the key skill needed to work effectively with the nervous system?
-Interoception, or the ability to notice and understand one's internal bodily states, is crucial for recognizing nervous system triggers and managing them effectively.
Outlines
🌀 Understanding the Nervous System's Impact
The first paragraph introduces the concept that people often unknowingly fight against their nervous system, which can lead to negative cycles of anxiety, frustration, or even shutdown. It poses the question of how to avoid being perpetual victims to these cycles. The solution presented is to collaborate with the nervous system to increase one's capacity to handle challenges without overreacting or withdrawing. The key to achieving this is through a meta-skill that can rewire anxious patterns, likened to having the 'source code' for the nervous system. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of breath as a starting point for this rewiring process, explaining how different breathing patterns can signal the nervous system to respond in various ways, affecting emotions and thoughts. It also touches on how the insula cortex in the brain interprets breathing rhythms and how these interpretations can trigger the sympathetic nervous system, leading to the production of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
🔄 Navigating the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Systems
Paragraph two delves into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, explaining how they are essential for physical activity and recovery, respectively. It discusses how getting stuck in the sympathetic 'activation mode' can lead to anxiety and burnout, while an overemphasis on the parasympathetic 'recovery mode' can result in disassociation and depression. The paragraph also explores how early life experiences shape the nervous system's adaptive strategies, leading to default modes of either activation, disassociation, or connection. It further explains how these modes can dictate one's capacity for energy and life engagement, with the ideal being a balance that allows for both recovery and connection, enhancing one's overall nervous system capacity over time through neuroplasticity.
🌿 Mastering Manual Mode for Nervous System Regulation
The third paragraph discusses the concept of operating the nervous system in 'manual mode' to self-regulate and create internal safety. It introduces the idea that our experiences are co-created by our brain's predictions and sensory data, and that we can rewire these predictions to shift our nervous system states. The paragraph outlines three categories of interventions for self-regulation: top-down (reframing thoughts), bottom-up (physiological changes like breath work), and outside-in (environmental or social changes). It emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's current state to effectively apply these interventions and suggests that with practice, these skills can become more accessible and integrated into one's default reactions, leading to a more balanced and resilient nervous system.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Nervous System
💡Sympathetic Nervous System
💡Parasympathetic Nervous System
💡Breathing
💡Neuroplasticity
💡Capacity
💡Vagal Tone
💡Connection Mode
💡Manual Mode
💡Self-regulation
Highlights
People often unknowingly ignore or fight against their nervous system, leading to negative spirals.
Some individuals experience spirals of negativity, while others might feel numbness or disassociation.
The alternative is to collaborate with your nervous system and shift into a state of greater capacity.
Breathing is a natural and controllable function that can influence the nervous system.
The insula cortex in the brain interprets breathing rhythms and affects the nervous system's activation.
Different breathing patterns signal the nervous system in various ways, impacting feelings and thoughts.
The sympathetic nervous system activates in response to challenges, while the parasympathetic system aids in recovery.
Early life experiences shape how the nervous system responds to similar situations later in life.
The nervous system can default into activation, disassociation, or connection modes based on past conditioning.
Nervous system capacity, if used well, can be maintained or even increased over time through neuroplasticity.
The sympathetic (red) mode increases alertness and strength, but drains capacity faster.
The parasympathetic (blue) mode is good for recovery but can lead to disengagement if overused.
The connection (green) mode supports intrinsic safety and creative flow, blending well with other modes.
Lyic hijack occurs when one is in a reactive state, unable to self-regulate effectively.
Manual mode of the nervous system allows for self-regulation and shifting into more desirable states.
Self-regulation skills can be developed through top-down, bottom-up, and outside-in interventions.
Interception is a crucial skill for understanding and responding to one's nervous system state effectively.
Transcripts
what most people don't realize is they
are constantly ignoring Waging War or
overriding their nervous system and
what's more this inefficient resistance
exacerbates negative spirals we waste so
much energy fighting against or falling
into downward Cycles depending on how
you're wired you find yourself in
spirals of negativity fighting this
feeling which inevitably leads to more
frustration anxiousness or Panic others
will find themselves on the other side
of the Spectrum experiencing numbness
disassociation or in extreme cases total
shutdown you've probably experienced
this yourself to some degree frankly we
all have so the real question is what's
the alternative what can we do here how
do we avoid feeling like Perpetual
victims of our nervous system State
instead imagine if you could collaborate
with your nervous system shift into a
state with greater capacity so that you
can remain courageously present and lean
into whatever internal or external
challenge you're facing so that your
neither overreacting nor withdrawing
when life gets challenging to do this I
want to introduce you to what has been
in my experience a lifechanging meta
skill that will rewire any anxious
patterns or reactive Tendencies once you
have this skill it's sort of like having
the source code for your nervous system
and with practice your life can become
playful like a game where you can match
your current Adventure or quest for the
state that is most appropriate for
completing it so how do we tap into this
biological source code and rewire our
systems what are some levers that we can
pull well the starting point is
something that you probably take for
granted and it's been literally right
under your nose this entire time your
breath nothing is more natural than
breathing it has been controlled by
autonomic or automatic nervous system
however unlike most bodily functions it
can be controlled when you bring
awareness to your breath and get curious
about it the experience of breathing is
very different simply by bringing it
into your awareness it will likely begin
to drop a little bit deeper or even go
into the back of the lungs and start to
fill out that area as opposed to the
front of the chest even though
technically you're still using the exact
same mechanical process as when you
weren't breathing consciously when you
inhale your diaphragm pulls down in
order to pull air into your lungs your
lungs push oxygen into the vessels of
your bloodstream and then the diaphragm
pushes back to expel the CO2 but here's
where it gets interesting deep inside
your brain lies a piece of biological
Hardware called the insul cortex this is
basically spying on your breath and
interpreting The rhythms of your
breathing when you breathe through the
mouth and into the upper
lungs signals are relayed to activate
the sympathetic or activating part of
your nervous system this creates a
Cascade effect which signals to the
endocrine system to produce adrenaline
and cortisol which in turn generate
measurable shifts in your blood
chemistry these shifts in blood
chemistry
impact the types of feelings that you
have and even the thoughts that will
arise like impulsive actions anxiousness
or feelings of frustration we can fall
into a trap because these unproductive
thoughts and feelings serve to reinforce
the breathing pattern and nervous system
state that created them in the first
place what I find fascinating is that
there are dozens of breathing patterns
sharp inhales and gasps inhaling through
your nose mouth or sighing each of them
serves a different purpose and sends
different signals to the nervous system
and just like normal breathing they
happen reflexively when you're surprised
tired relieved or laughing or you can
choose to do them in other words you
have two operating modes you have
default breath which is regulated
homeostatically based on your default
response to the environment oxygen
levels and CO2 and you have manual
breath which you can choose to engage in
to do things like sighing swimming
humming and this is really important
because how your breathing Works runs in
parallel to your entire nervous system
and this difference between automatic
and manual processes unlocks the secret
to becoming an ally of your nervous
system by default the nervous system has
two modes which we introduced in the
last video in this series The
sympathetic or activation mode and the
parasympathetic or recovery mode and
like we saw with our breath the body
moves through these two modes
automatically it automatically shifts
between these modes in response to
stimuli and triggers from the
environment as well as in response to
the various ways in which your nervous
system has been conditioned since birth
for example the unique set of Life
Experiences particularly in the first
decade of our childhood shapes how we
respond to similar situations later in
life and your nervous system will have
responded to these events using adaptive
strategies leaning into various modes to
ensure that connection to your primary
caregiver or parent was prioritized
which at the time could have been
essential maybe you were told by a
parent or teacher that you couldn't sing
or that you were annoying and whenever
you think about speaking or performing
to a group sympathetic system which is
responsible for that fight flight taking
action goes into total overdrive as
we've already covered the sympathetic
nervous system is essential for physical
activity facing challenges confrontation
but if you get stuck there in this
activation mode the Adaptive strategy
which was designed to protect us is no
longer appropriate resulting in various
degrees of panic anxiety and eventually
swing into full burnout or perhaps like
many of us your emotional needs weren't
entirely meds growing up even exposed to
subtle or obvious abuse at home your
nervous system will have developed a
different set of adaptive strategies
essentially protecting you by turning
down the unpleasant experience
disassociating or withdrawing just to
get by if so your nervous system has
reinforced the parasympathetic branch
which is responsible for recovery and
rest but if pushed too far can become a
disassociative mode which leads to
prolonged depression and avoidance of
life or maybe you were fortun to have
been raised in a creative and welcoming
environment where your full authentic
expression and emotions were fully
encouraged and accepted and your body is
primed to enter new social situations
with anticipation of being rewarded with
possibility and connection in that case
your nervous system will exhibit what's
known as strong vagal tone or to be
wired for connection mode which is
responsible for feeling intrinsically
safe intimacy with ourselves and others
as well as creative expression and flow
when you exhibit strong veal tone which
is correlated with high heart rate
variability then you will be able to
remain present grounded and safe even
when there are external challenges or
stresses coming at you in this state you
don't need to fight your nervous system
instead because you feel safe and
connected you can allow the activation
energy or intensity of the moment just
to flow through even harnessing it to
give a powerful public speech or perform
your craft these are extreme examples
but in each case your nervous system is
primed to default into one of these
three modes either activation mode
disassociative mode or connection mode
and these three responses happen
habitually in any situation just like
breathing behind the scenes and more
importantly these modes dictate whether
your capacity is drained faster
maintained or even recovered your
nervous system only has so much capacity
and if you use that capacity well you
can accomplish what you want in your day
week or life and and remarkably when you
consistently use your capacity in
connection mode without completely
exhausting it or becoming unable to
recover through sufficient rest you
actually gain capacity over time thanks
to the neuroplasticity in your brain and
nervous system in other words you
actually want to use your capacity your
nervous system doesn't exist just for
you to sit around and lay in bed just
like an airplane it's designed to be
well used for a purpose to learn to grow
to complete meaningful quests Forge
connections and share your gifts with
the world that requires energy but each
mode helps you use your available energy
differently red mode sympathetic
activation will increase your stats your
alertness intelligence strength focus
when you really need it your heart rate
increases your pupils dilate your body
Springs into action this temporarily
increases all of your stats and allows
you to take the actions you need to
level up in exchange your capacity is
drained faster but it's worth it to
accomplish the stuff that really matters
but that that boost is wasted if you're
ruminating or you have anxious energy
about something that isn't really
important likewise blue mode
parasympathetic mode is fantastic for
recovering resting digesting blue
activities slow down the loss in
capacity and allow you to rejuvenate
that said if you spend all of your time
in blue mode you will miss out on
engaging with the world and make little
progress on your quests in the times
when you need to perform and show up
harnessing your latent energy stores
being stuck in this blue mode will keep
you disengaged and on the sidelines and
finally green or connection mode is
fantastic for feeling a sense of
intrinsic safety aliveness creative flow
appreciation gratitude or just being
social in groups connection mode can be
blended with either blue or red
activities to create deep Rejuvenation
which combines blue and green or
powerful states of creative action
combining green and red these Blended
states are ideal but can often feel Out
Of Reach or inaccessible in the stresses
of daily life like it only appears in
moments of rare calm connection or flow
instead of something that we can access
whenever we need it like many of us you
might feel at the mercy of your nervous
system as it shifts through these
various States you might feel entirely
disconnected from the situation and how
you'd like to feel out of sync lost
unable to do what you want to do some
call this lyic hijack when you're deep
in a reactive state triggered by factors
outside of your conscious control and
unable to climb out lyic hijack creates
tension in your system and sometimes you
can even feel the muscle tension or
stomach contraction which leads to
spending your nervous system capacity in
ways that aren't effective they drain
you and leave you accomplishing way less
in your day than you would have ideally
wanted but it doesn't have to be this
way just like breathing there is a
second way that we can operate our
nervous system we can use manual mode we
like to think of our body as something
that is receiving and responding to
objective signals in the world but in
reality we're not only interpreting but
actually co-creating our real-time
experience of reality filtered through
the models or predictions of our prior
experience updating these models when
novel sensory data creates what's known
as a prediction error we like to think
of our brain as being in charge like
some kind of CEO behind our eyes helping
us to decide what quests to pursue or
what relationships to nurture but the
biological reality is that it is
projecting what it thinks will be there
based on past experience responding
automatically manufacturing or
confabulating justifications for those
responses after the fact the mind is in
fact more like a PR team responding to
current events but like our breathing we
can intentionally rewire these outdated
predictions and turn on manual mode for
our nervous system how in simple terms
the nervous system const L looks for
signals from inside and outside the body
signals that cue corresponding nervous
system states red blue or green by
activating these signals for ourselves
we can self-regulate or create more
internal safety and capacity to remain
present shifting into green or Blended
green States the self-regulation skill
tree can be broken down into various
sets of interventions or protocols that
allow us to manually trigger these St
State changes broadly speaking these
three categories are top down
interventions bottom up interventions
and outside in protocols top- down
interventions involve reframing the
story that we're telling about a certain
situation using something like
mindfulness or visualizations to shift
our state these can certainly be helpful
but they often don't work in really high
Stak situations bottomup interventions
go in the opposite direction I also like
to call this state before Story
augmenting the signals sent via the
network of AER neurons from the body to
the brain or in other words pulling on
physiological levers like breath work or
other down regulation activities in
order to access green mode the third
intervention outside in is when we make
environmental changes or connection with
others in order to change our state this
could be anything from a Walkin nature
Forest bathing as the Japanese like to
call it to physical touch or
co-regulation with a loved one playing a
certain piece of music or even smelling
something delightful it's really
anything that brings you deeply into
your sensory experience and once you
start to hone these skills you can
drastically increase your capacity to
remain present and then actually begin
to welcome whatever emotional experience
you might be having when previously you
would have been overwhelmed or shut down
but now you're working with your nervous
system as opposed to against it and as
you start to level up your skills in
each of these categories you get more
powerful and fluid with each and thanks
to neuroplasticity they actually begin
to influence inuence even your default
reactions rewiring your default
responses so that you can remain present
grounded and connected regardless of
what is happening around you but before
you can really harness these State
changes you have to be able to
understand exactly what state your body
is in what state are you even in right
now because if you can't notice yourself
entering approaching or being deep in
the middle of a mode emotion or trigger
you won't have the data to respond how
and when you need to that's why there is
one capacity that you need to be able to
work well with your nervous system the
underappreciated skill of interception
we'll cover that in depth in the next
video of this series learn more and
watch the next video right here
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