Tools for settling your nervous system

More Somatic Experiencing exercises

Since 2001, the Mental Health Foundation has been leading Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK — bringing people together to focus on getting good mental health. Each May, millions of people from every part of society take part. This article is one way that I’m contributing. It’s based on what I’ve been learning during the three-year Somatic Experiencing (SE) professional training, which I’m about half-way through.

What is SE?

SE is a body-based approach to resolve symptoms of anxiety, stress, shock, and trauma. (The term ‘somatic’ comes from the Greek word soma, which means ‘body.’)

When we’re under stress, our nervous system instinctively moves us to ‘fight or flight’. And afterwards it’s not always easy to come out of those response patterns.

In terms of mental health, it’s very hard to control the mind with the mind. But our bodies and our minds are of course connected. And we know that looking after ourselves physically also helps our mental health.

With its focus on the body, SE helps to restore our sense of wellbeing by working with with our biological and physiological responses to stress.
And its simple, body-based exercises can help calm your mind.

Tools for whenever you feel stressed, anxious or unsettled

An important part of the groundwork in SE therapy is to help a client to feel safe.

Crucially, we also provide clients with tools that they can use themselves to ground, settle and self-regulate outside a session — eg in moments of stress, anxiety or overwhelm. (Peter Levine, who developed Somatic Experiencing, talks about the importance of doing this here.)

Everyone experiences stress, and we all get stressed from time to time.
A little stress can be a good thing, but sometimes stress can feel overwhelming. Multiple research studies show that the majority of visits to see a doctor are related to stress (estimates I’ve read vary between 60% and 90%). How we manage stress can make a big difference to both our mental and physical wellbeing.

So I’m committed to sharing these tools, both in my SE work with clients and more widely. I shared an initial set of tools in an article I published in Mental Health awareness week last year, and I’m sharing more in a series of short articles this week:

• the first tool — ‘centring in 3D’ — is below
• the second — the ‘physiological sigh’ — is here
• the third — containing touch — is here
• the fourth — the ‘voo sound’— is here
• the fifth — holding your anchor — is here.

These simple exercises don’t require any special skills or training. So you can use them at any time, time and again.

[I don’t claim any credit for these exercises. I didn’t come up with them. But I’ve found them all useful, and I’m keen to share them widely with people — the more people can use such tools, in their personal and professional lives, the better.]

Grounding: ‘Centring in 3D’

Grounding techniques are useful for settling ourselves when we’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed. In such moments, people commonly get lost in thoughts or emotion and experience a loss of connection with their body and the ground.

Grounding techniques often involve increasing your sensory awareness, by giving attention to your sensory experience and so becoming more aware of your body in your present surroundings. For example, listening to sounds or touching a plant can help people connect with their environment and disconnect from upsetting thoughts, memories or emotions. Grounding exercises allow feelings of safety and inner strength to emerge.

In SE, we use lots of different grounding tools, and I included a couple in my first article on this topic. Pete Hamill taught the following technique on a somatic coaching course I did, and a couple of other teachers I’ve worked have introduced it too. You can do it inside or outside, sitting or standing. It helps show you that you have balance and control.

To start, have both feet flat on the ground. Be still for a moment and feel your connection to the ground.

As you sit/stand there, take the opportunity to look around. Mobilise your neck and shift your look from side to side. Notice what you can see around you.

(i) Lengthen — imagine a thread from the crown of your head pulling ever so gently upwards so that your spine lengthens, giving you more space between the vertebrae. At the same time, relax downwards — release the weight of your body and feel the sense of gravity through your body. Allow your body to lengthen.

(ii) Widen — slowly shift your balance between left and right, moving a few inches either side. Find a pace that feels good. Let the movement be smooth. Feel the subtle change of weight in your seat/feet as you smoothly move from one side to the other. Slow down the movement and let it become a little bit smaller. Start to sense where the balance zone is, in the middle. And gradually, like a medulum that’s losing momentum, come to a place of rest and balance in the middle, with your weight between both your feet (or on both your sitting bones). Let yourself experience balance and the possibility of relaxing. Relax your chest and shoulders, and allow yourself to take up more space/width.

(iii) Depth — gently shift your balance between front and back. If you are standing, mindfully shift your weight between your heels and the balls of your feet. Gently rock forwards and backwards and find a centre point.
Often, we lean back slightly or push our weight forward (as if hurrying into the future). Notice your depth. Some people even like to imagine having a large tail extending out along the floor behind you, supporting you (it could be a dragon tail or a dinosaur tail).

Centring as a technique isn’t just for helping with symptoms of trauma.
It helps us to more responsive, rather than reacting and being taken aback or knocked off balance. At work, we can be taken off guard and triggered into a threat response (causing us to be defensive or even launch a counterattack), which is rarely helpful. Centring helps you remain stable and grounded. It’s a practical technique that gives you more choice in moments when you risk being ‘triggered’ by what someone says or does.