Best Ways for How to Reset Your Nervous System

Whether you are a leader, a purpose-driven person, or someone who wants more out of life, learning How to Reset Your Central Nervous System can create a massive impact on you personally and professionally. 

If you are focused on your physical health, emotional well-being, mental health, or deeper connections to life itself, my hope is that this article will enhance the quality of your life. Befriending our central nervous systems allows us to be present and aware even in the most stressful experiences or relationships and equally grows our capacity to feel more joy, aliveness, and pleasure. 

This article shares how the nervous system works and body-based regulation tools for the autonomic nervous system.

Oversimplification of Managing Stress and Focusing on the Parasympathetic Nervous System and Comprehensive Stress Relief 

When googling “How to Reset Your Nervous System,” many links focus on managing the parasympathetic nervous system, which overly simplifies self-regulation and creates confusion and frustration when you aren’t feeling reset with these recommendations. 

While deep breathing, alternate nostril breathing, box breathing, yoga, and exercise can support overall health and mindfulness, alone, they won’t settle an overactive nervous system. If you are a stressed or overwhelmed human who is juggling many roles and responsibilities, taking a deep breath may help your blood flow or even lower your blood pressure in some cases. 

When it comes to feeling peaceful or even neutral, most bodies need a more nuanced approach to experience relief in the somatic nervous system or to notice a significant difference.

To Reset the Nervous System, We Need to Understand it. 

We’re focusing on the autonomic nervous system, which is made up of two primary branches, the sympathetic nervous system, and the parasympathetic nervous system.  

The sympathetic nervous system preps us for action and manages fight and flight action responses. We can think of this as metaphorically pressing the gas pedal down to the floor when driving. 

The Two Pathways of the Parasympathetic Nervous System or Ventral Vagal Nerve

In contrast, the parasympathetic nervous system or vagus nerve has two pathways with two distinct functions. The ventral vagal pathway focuses on feeling safely connected and engaged socially. 

The dorsal vagal pathway is trying to protect us from extreme danger by bringing us into collapse, freeze, or numbness. This is the equivalent of having our foot entirely down to the floor on the brake pedal when driving. 

The fawn response and many other complex patterns of protecting ourselves from overwhelm are the equivalents of having both feet on the floor on the gas and brake pedals. When driving a car, we can’t simply take one foot off of either the brake or gas pedals in this scenario.  

Learning to safely and slowly pull up both feet from both pedals is the safest and most effective way to regulate and reset the nervous system.  

Resetting Your Nervous System Isn’t Controlled by Your Thinking Mind 

The autonomic nervous system’s primary purpose is to protect us. It does so by assessing risk for ourselves, our bodies, our environment, and others. The autonomic nervous system does this on automatic pilot without engaging the thinking mind. Polyvagal experts have identified this specific type of body-based perceiving as neuroception.  

One of the keys to reset your nervous system is being in the present moment.  

Talking, The Stories We Tell Ourselves and Discernment

We can’t talk or think our way into resetting our nervous systems. This is why talk therapy isn’t effective for resetting the nervous system. 

When we are dysregulated, or in a story that we are telling ourselves, we aren’t in the present moment. If we don’t interrupt the process of regulation or resetting the nervous system, it takes approximately 20 minutes. However, if we interrupt the process by making meaning of what happened, get into analysis paralysis, or perseverate on the story, the clock restarts. 

Discernment for Reaching Out For Support

It is equally important to use discernment when reaching out to a person to help you if you are in a story. If this support person is enrolled in the story, you are telling or jumps on the bandwagon to blame someone, or has a tendency to judge you, this will also keep your nervous system unsettled. It is important to have contact with someone who can be neutral, non-judgmental, and supportive. 

How to Reset Your Nervous System with Body-Based Somatic Self Regulation 

Our capacity to reset and regulate our nervous systems evolves as we do. Fortunately and unfortunately, this is a nonlinear process without a destination. Even those of us who have been teaching and facilitating this work for decades still practice, fail and try again with our nervous systems. 

Being human fully qualifies us for this: You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress, simultaneously, each day and moment of your life.   

The Role of Interoception in Body-Based Stress Relief

If you have been looking for how to experience more stress relief because you already have excellent nutrition and stellar exercise habits, this may be one of the key tools that you may have been missing.  Body-based somatic self-regulation is a “start where you are” process. The foundational skill of somatic work is called INTEROCEPTION.  

What’s interoception? Interoception is our ability to notice or “tune into” ourselves and what is going on in our bodies from our deep organs, bones, blood, eyeballs, and ear lobes. 

Through interoception, we notice, sense, interpret, make meaning, and integrate what is happening within the body. The brain coordinates the communication with the internal organs via the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system.

If you enjoy geeking out or are thorough AF with going down the rabbit’s hole: Cell Press scientific journal dedicated an entire volume to the Science of Interoception. If you enjoy more of a cliff’s notes overview, The Guardian has a decent take here.  

Somatic Nervous System Work isn’t an All or Nothing Switch

If you are like most people who come to see me, you may struggle to know what’s going on with your body other than aches, pains, or sprains. Interoception is a teachable skill set that takes practice. If I know you, once you commit, you often go ALL IN. Cultivating interoception isn’t an ALL or NOTHING decision. Your willingness is the only requirement to grow your capacity. For those of you that are DOers, this may take some curiosity, humility, and even vulnerability to open to experimenting with this process. 

First Foundational Way to Reset Your Nervous System

To reset our nervous systems, we need to be in our bodies. How do we know we are in our bodies? When we can notice our breath, heartbeat, and sitz bones (i.e., butt bones), we know we are in the body.  This is a three-part experientially based somatic practice that can support not only stress relief but cumulatively improve your overall physical health, lowering your blood pressure.  You may even find yourself taking deep breaths or sighing with relief as you experiment with this practice.

The Notice and Name Experiential

Find a place where you won’t be interrupted, sit on a solid surface (e.g., a sturdy chair or the floor), and with your feet touching the ground.

Close your eyes or pick a spot on the floor to have a soft gaze.

Begin to notice your breath without lengthening it or shortening it. Taking your time, name aloud what you notice (e.g., the sound of the breath, cadence of the breath, and the temperature). After you name what you noticed about the breath aloud, notice what is present for you.

Next, experiment with taking the elevator or “lift of awareness” down into your physical heart. You may want to place one or two hands on your heart. Taking your time, name aloud what you notice (e.g., the temperature of your skin around your heart, any sensations or movement).

Feeling your heartbeat isn’t a requirement. It can take time to rewire our felt sense of awareness of feeling in our physical hearts.  

If you can feel your heartbeat, notice its subtleness, intensity, rhythm, or cadence. After you name what you noticed about the heart aloud, notice what is present for you?

Now shift your awareness into your sitz bones. Can you feel the contact with your seat? What do you notice with your feet contacting the floor? After you name what you noticed about your sitz bones and feet, what happens for you?

This three-part awareness practice is a starting place and can reset your nervous system alone.  

Resetting Your Nervous System If You are Feeling Frustrated, Angry, Bitter, or Afraid/Anxious

Some of us recognize our emotions clearly.  Others of us don’t label emotions, but we can recognize sensations in the body. When our body has excess tension, muscle constriction, tightness, or rigidity, it is a sign that part of your nervous system has its metaphoric gas pedal to the floor.  This is a symptom of residual fight-flight response and also happens when feelings of anger, bitterness, fear, and anxiety are present in the body.  Excesss life force that is trapped in the body as a result of the body’s response to protect you, resulting in physical tension. 

If you are also feeling exhausted, you have the brake pedal down too, which is part of the dorsal vagal pathway protection of the parasympathetic nervous system. Most clients who work with me have both feet pressed to the floor in their metaphoric cars.

Discharge and Soothing Experiential  

The following discharge process takes about 3 minutes and supports both the sympathetic (fight and flight responses) and dorsal vagal pathways of the parasympathetic nervous system by resetting the overall nervous system. Use this when it feels like you have both pedals pressed to the floor. 

Begin standing with your feet hip-width apart, arms loosely hanging by your sides, and eyes closed or softly gazing at the floor. Scan your body. Notice your breath, heartbeat, and the connection your feet have with the floor. Notice if anything else grabs your attention in your physical body. Then notice your emotions and your thoughts.

Next, set a timer for 1 minute. Experiment with stomping, shaking, running, and pushing against a wall or pillow to physically discharge this tension. You can also use sound but not words. Using words at this point will bring you out of your nervous system. 

Return to standing with your feet hip-width apart, arms loosely hanging by your sides, and eyes closed or softly gazing at the floor. Notice what has shifted from the beginning of this sequence to this moment. Noticing with compassion, non-judgment, and curiosity, what has shifted in your physical body, emotions, and thoughts?

Now, set a timer for 1 minute. Experiment with soothing movements and sounds. You can sway, rock, and move gently, exploring your space vertically and horizontally. For sounds, you can explore humming, om-ing, sighing, shh-ing, and any low register sounds.  

Complete the process by standing with your feet hip-width apart noticing what has shifted your physical body, emotions, and thoughts?

Once I feel regulated, am I set?

Congratulations! Experiencing a regulated nervous system with even 5-10% more relief or peace is not a small thing. If you are breathing more deeply, experiencing less tension, or feeling more connected to your body, you allowed a shift in your body-mind connection with your central nervous system.

Learning to self-regulate is a cumulative practice.  As you build your capacity to notice and name, you will recognize when you and your nervous system are needing discharge work and soothing work, as well as other resources.  There are many other somatic practices that support self-regulation that you can add to your repertoire.  The practices shared in this blog are foundational and timeless.

The more interoceptive awareness you have, you will notice the subtle messages your body gives to you to let you know when something is working for you, as well as when something isn’t good for your or has outserved its purpose. When we are attuned to our central nervous system, our bodies can signal when it is time to re-evaluate our relationship with work, exercise, caffeine, alcohol, sugar, social media, boundaries, sex, socializing, or isolation.  This doesn’t happen overnight, and with time, curiosity, willingness, and practice, you and cultivate this deeper connection and awareness.

How Often Should I Practice These Somatic Tools?

The naming and noticing experiential can be practiced daily and when needed.  You don’t need to wait until overwhelm or stress builds up. This daily practice daily is a preventive measure to ensure greater emotional resilience and improved health. 

The discharge experiential can be used daily. I recommend this practice before eating and no later than mid-afternoon, as it can release a lot of energy, and for those who are sleep sensitive, it will keep you up.

Moving Forward with Less Overwhelm and Stress and More Life Force

Growing your capacity to notice when you are present with body-based somatic practices will have a cumulative effect on your nervous system and overall health.

Learning to discharge excess energy trapped in the body, muscles, and organs will reduce your neurophysiological experience of stress. Your heart rate and blood pressure may be lowered, and the limbic system in your brain, where emotions are processed, will most likely be more regulated. You may experience improved digestion.  

With more available life force and energy, you may also experience an increased feeling of well-being and aliveness. With these foundational somatic practices, I hope that you experienced not only relief but also had access to more of your aliveness.  

Have you tried to reset your nervous system? Tell us about it in the comments below.