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You're likely in the Sympathetic Activation state...
Your nervous system continuously senses both internal and external cues, orchestrating your body’s physical, emotional, and behavioral responses to help you stay safe, regulate arousal, and navigate connection and challenge. Regulation is not about staying calm all the time. It is about developing the flexibility to move between states of arousal depending on what life requires. Each state serves an important protective or adaptive function, and learning to recognize where you are and how to support yourself allows you to respond to life with awareness, creativity, and resilience.
The Sympathetic Activation state mobilizes your body to fight or flee. You may notice that your heart is racing, muscles are tense, pupils dilated, and your thoughts moving quickly. Emotionally, you might feel anxious, restless, or irritable. If you are currently in danger and facing threat, your body is doing exactly what it needs to keep you safe.
It’s important not to try to force yourself out of this state during genuine danger. Regulation is most possible and helpful once the threat has passed, allowing your nervous system to safely discharge stored survival energy. Gentle stretching, co-regulation, shaking out tension, or more vigorous physical activity helps discharge this energy. .
Ways to support yourself toward safety & connection (Ventral Vagal state):
• Engage in physical activity to release tension (walk, run, stretch, dance)
• Shake out your limbs and roll your shoulders to discharge energy
• Practice long, slow exhales and belly breathing (vs. chest)
• Co-regulate with someone safe or a pet
• Engage in grounding practices: feet in the grass, mindful observation of your environment (name 5 things you can hear, feel, smell, taste, and see).
→ Seeking more support in healing your nervous system, releasing stored survival energy, and reclaiming your vitality? Spinal Energetics, or Reiki and Chakra Balancing, may be for you.
→ And, if you’re ready to break free from the old patterns holding you back, Inner Child Embodiment will help you reconnect with and integrate your younger parts, gain clarity, shift subconscious patterns, and embody your wholeness.
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