JERVAIS
DIONNE

When we're in survival mode—fight, flight, freeze, or fawn—our nervous system is organized around protection, not restoration. Elevated cortisol, increased heart rate, muscle tension, scanning for threat… these are adaptive states. They are not compatible with deep sleep.   If you find yourself exhausted but wired, tired but alert, or drifting off only to jolt awake, your system may still be bracing.

Think of a piece of paper that's loaded with scribbles, thousands of little words, doodles, notes, etc.. it's quite chaotic to look at. If I asked you to " Please find the word "No" on this piece of paper", you might notice that it might take some time. Now imagine your nervous system is just like that piece of paper. Moving through and around in it are lots of thoughts, most uninvited, lots of emotions and sensations floating in the background we're not consciously noticing.

This podcast episode from Bliss + Grit is one I find myself sending to clients quite often. Two of my favorite humans, Brooke Thomas and Vanessa Scotto explore finding safety. "Today we are honing in on how we find safety in the world and in our relationships, whether those relationships are with intimate partners, or our children, friends, coworkers, etc. We are deepening the conversation from our last two episodes: the episode on awakened relating with Lynn Marie Lumiere,

This video was developed to give a basic introduction and overview of how trauma and chronic stress affects our nervous system and how those effects impact our health and well-being. Much of the content is based on the groundbreaking work of Stephen Porges and his Polyvagal Theory and inspired and informed by the work of thought leaders Deb Dana, Vincent Felitti, Robert Anda, Gabor Mate, Dan Siegel and Peter Levine. Animation credit: www.nicknavatta.com For CC and Translated