Practical Ways to Regulate Your Nervous System During Stressful Times

Mar 6
2 min read

In moments of uncertainty, it’s natural for our nervous system to shift into a heightened state of alert. News cycles, global tensions and everyday pressures can create a constant sense of background stress, even when life around us appears calm.

The challenge is that our bodies often respond before our minds fully process what’s happening. We may notice disrupted sleep, racing thoughts, difficulty concentrating or a feeling of being “on edge” without fully understanding why.

According to nervous system specialist Janelle Houston, learning how to regulate the nervous system is one of the most powerful tools we have for maintaining emotional and physical wellbeing during uncertain times. Rather than trying to eliminate stress entirely, the goal is to help the body return to a state of safety and balance.

Here, Houston shares practical ways to calm the nervous system of you and your children, restore a sense of control and support resilience when the world feels unpredictable: Express your emotions, come back into your body, breathe, ground and connect to someone.

// Express your emotions:

Name the emotion
Where is it in the body
Intensity out of 10
Colour
Texture

// Come back to your body:

⁠Do a guided meditation to connect with body OR
⁠⁠Lie on bed and go through all the parts of your body you feel connected to the bed, allow the bed to hold you
Bring your awareness to the beating of your heart, the air coming in and out of your lungs

// Breathe:

My favourite breathing technique is;

Inhale through the nose twice
Steamy exhale through the nose once
Repeat 10 times

//Ground:

I believe it’s more important to visualize grounding versus just walking on the ground.

Connect to your heart, see the energy of your heart as a colour, with every breath allow your heart energy to expand, breathe as you allow your heart energy to travel down your body, through the soles of your feet in to Mother Earth, keep breathing as you see you heart energy travelling deeper and deeper through the layers and layers of soil, as you do so your energy should feel more grounded, more centered, more balanced

Connect to someone;

•⁠ ⁠Hug your partner, child or friend for 20 seconds - releases happy hormones

•⁠ ⁠⁠Hug your pet

•⁠ ⁠⁠Call a friend