Triggers can be your survival brain trying to protect you if your nervous system detects that a situation today feels similar to a traumatic situation from your past.
A neural trace gets left behind when the previous trauma takes place. It can be activated and affect how you respond today if it feels comparable.
When you’re triggered, your survival brain activates neurotransmitters and hormones that create strong sensations in your body.
You may feel flooded by emotions like anxiety, anger and agitation. You could also feel strong waves of shame and helplessness.
The “thinking brain” tries to ignore and suppress the painful emotions. It may create stories about how there’s something wrong with you or obsess over how to fix the situation. You may feel out of your body lost in these racing thoughts.
Bottom-up regulation involves recalibrating your nervous system. When you reduce the stress in the body you can have a positive effect on the survival brain. Neural exercises help you communicate effectively with it - you can learn to speak the survival brain’s language.
As it calms, so does your physiology via the vagus nerve. It’s signalling from the body to the survival brain means the racing thoughts can stop.
This is how you integrate the stress physiology of your past so you can live fully in the present.
It’s hard to live a wholesome life when your nervous system is still expecting just around the corner something terrible is going to happen. As you recover from previous chronic and traumatic stress your nervous system becomes less sensitive to these triggers. You also improve the functioning of your vagus nerve, meaning it’s easier to recover from anxiety and agitation.
Knowledge is power. Are you ready to learn more about the vagus nerve and the evidence-based practices that re-regulate the nervous system?
The Vagus Nerve Masterclass is coming up soon!