In previous posts, I’ve written about trauma and the nervous system.  As a reminder, a healthy autonomic system flows between the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches.  Activation takes us up into sympathetic, letting go-deactivating-brings up back down to parasympathetic.  Notice the word ‘up’ preceding sympathetic.

Sometimes activation takes us away from our body(as in up and away.)  Let’s start by looking at this.  Sit in a chair and first get a general sense of how you are in your body right now, where you feel grounded.  Now recall an experience in which you felt activated; it might be anxiety, fear or sadness, to name just a few.

Now notice your body again.  Is it the same or has there been a change.  Often people feel pulled away from their grounding when activated, pulled up into the activation.  The beauty of SE is that it teaches very practical ways to teach the nervous system that it is okay to be grounded and to also be activated, to flow between the two branches.