How to Make Parasympathetic, your Default Mode
Are you someone who is always waiting for the next shoe to drop? Or have you familiarized yourself with Murphys law that if one bad thing happens, more bad things will happen?
YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Nearly half 49% of Americans report experiencing stress while 27% report an inability to function most days! This makes sense based off of our modern stressors like economic, political, societal and digital demands. So here is how I have used neuroplasticity to retrain my brain to default living in my Parasympathetic Healing Mode.
First step is to inform yourself about what it is.
Your Nervous system actually has 3 modes
Autonomic - breathing, heartbeating, digest
Sympathetic- “Survival mode” fight flight freeze fawn or functional freeze
PARASYMPATHETIC- “Healing Mode” Rest repair Reset Relax
Which one are you most familiar with? Now that you are aware, you can familiarize yourself with the other modes.
Second, its about learning to pay attention to your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. I call this my “Observer Mode”
Next you want to consciously change the thoughts, emotions and behaviors that keep you in “survival mode.”
Once you start changing and doing things differently, you can immediately notice your nervous system start to relax into the parasympathetic Healing mode!
This is a practice! If you have been living in survival mode most of your life, its habitual to revert back to it.
I am confident that if you practice you own version of “observer mode” that you will be able to catch yourself drifting because you will be living in the present moment and your body will let you know when it feels scared, fearful, angry, or worried!
So how do you pay more attention to your thoughts you ask?
Great question, It starts with giving yourself permission to sit still, back supported, eyes closed and watch your internal dialogue. This is a form of meditation. I’ve been practicing this for over a decade.
The KEY is to watch the thoughts without judgement. Instead bring curiosity. With curiosity, the practice becomes more lighthearted and softened even if negative thoughts arise.
You can say to the thought, "Isn't that interesting, I wonder what my next thought is going to be?”
The more you practice this innercize of observation with eyes closed, you will start to notice yourself being more curious with eyes open.
As an active participant of your human experience, you learn to make choices in how you respond to what is happening in front of you. We all perceive what happens differently based off of our childhood, adolescence, and adult traumas & blessings.
So if you were bullied as a child when your brain wasn't even fully developed yet, you may have created beliefs about yourself that were projected onto you like “I am not good enough” I am a loner” I am not good at anything” “I’m stupid” etc.
If you are curious to learn more tools, techniques and practices to help you access a Parasympathetic default mode, leave a comment question or direct message me!
