Tips for Regulating Your Nervous System After Trauma
Healing after trauma can truly feel like an impossible feat. However, I’m here to remind you that it isn’t. Recovery is possible with commitment, patience, and support. If you feel like you need a reminder of why it’s worth it to stay committed to healing–here it is. Let’s discuss 6 things that you need to remember while you’re on your healing journey as well as the 4 key ingredients to healing after trauma.
6 Things to Remember on Your Healing Journey
Slower is Faster
When healing after trauma, the slower you heal, the better. Developing nervous system regulation involves working within your window of tolerance for stress and not pushing yourself over your limit. So be sure to take your time and don’t be afraid to take it slow. The last thing you want to do? Burn out.
You are NOT Broken
Arguably one of the most important things for you to remember on your healing journey: You are NOT broken! Your nervous system is responding perfectly to what it perceives as a threat.
It’s All About Flexibility
Believe me, healing trauma doesn’t mean that you are calm all the time! It means that your nervous system has the flexibility to move in and out of stress as needed. Regulation is all about not getting stuck in one state, but being able to flow through them.
Healing is Never Linear
It’s easy to get discouraged if you’ve been feeling better and then have an off day where you re-experience all of the grief and sadness that you thought you had moved past. Forwards can feel like backwards, especially when you first start to connect with sensations and emotions that were once suppressed. There is no “right” path, and that’s okay.
Your Nervous System Wants Resolution
Your stored stress wants out! Your body needs to learn that it is safe enough to discharge that stress with the right support. And without being reprimanded or shamed.
You CAN Recover!
When you learn how to create a felt sense of safety and support in your physiology, you will become more regulated and you’ll be able to handle more stressors.
The Four Ingredients to Healing From Trauma
Nervous System Regulation
Learning about your survival responses and increasing your capacity for stress through providing a felt sense of safety and support to your physiology is crucial. You want the flexibility to move in and out of stress as needed.
Emotional Awareness
This is where you explore the emotions and sensations you experience with curiosity rather than judgment. Curiosity is the way you move closer to a state of regulation. Judgment drives you deeper into overwhelm.
Supporting Energy
You must address the physical needs of your body. Provide nourishment and nutrition in order for your cells to produce the energy that they need in order to tolerate stress within your body. In other words, eat well!
Connection and Community
Co-regulation is part of nervous system regulation. It can be with friends, partners, or a trusted professional. When the social engagement branch of your nervous system is activated, you are in the optimal zone for healing!
If you’re looking for ways to enhance your healing journey, I recommend somatic experiencing and psycho-sensory therapies, limbic system retraining, and functional nutrition and medicine. If you would like to learn more about healing after trauma, be sure to check out my resource library. And lastly, if you would like to keep in touch or continue learning more casually, be sure to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest.
Until next time–
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