Calming an Active Nervous System

There are so many techniques out there, but it’s hard to narrow down something that will work for you. We’ve all heard of breathwork and tapping. We’ve heard of meditation and visualization. What else is there?

Involving your senses to ground you allows you to stay in the moment. How do we do this?

When you are feeling panicked it's really hard to come out of that state without consciously doing things that will calm you down. Meditation is a good start, and it’s something that can help, however, I find that in the moment of panic, it’s not something that most people can fall back on. It’s more of a preventative measure than a technique to be used in the moment.

The polyvagal theory will tell you that your vagus nerve needs to be stimulated, so techniques like yawning, sighing, and breathwork will help you calm your nervous system. Exercise and yoga can also have the desired effect.

EMDR works with bilateral stimulation, and many clinicians do this by tapping alternate sides or watching something go back and forth to stimulate both sides of the brain. I find that music or sound is a stronger stimulus for me. 8D music, or bilateral stimulation music, can be found on YouTube, Spotify and other platforms. This music is best used with headphones and works to stimulate both sides of the brain as it will emphasize the volume and sounds on one side and then the other.

Visualizations can also be used to bring you into the moment. I like the “white light” visualization technique in which we take a few deep breaths and imagine ourselves bathed in a white light. It is warm and comforting. It burns away all the hurt, pain and panic. Anything bad that tries to enter the white light, burns away to dust and cannot touch you. You are safe. You are warm. You are comforted.

Another strong stimulus to keep you grounded in a moment of panic is your sense of smell. The smell of coffee or a specific flower can jolt you back into your body. A comforting smell can make you think of times when you were safe and felt supported. What scent makes you smile? For anyone who wishes to use smell to help them ground, there are necklaces that you can put essential oils on which allows you to carry that comforting scent with you. You can carry a small container of dry coffee grounds or a container with just a tiny bit of your favourite perfume. These smells trigger happy memories and allow us to stay in our bodies when we feel we are at our most vulnerable in the middle of a panic attack.

Taking a moment to really focus on one thing can help. Carrying around mints, gum or some other flavour can hold a moment of calm. If you can take one of those small candies and concentrate on the texture of the candy, the sensation of sucking on it, or chewing it. Focusing on the burst of flavour and the type of sweetness that it holds allows your focus to be completely absorbed by what is going on in that second of taste. Think of how you would describe the sensations to someone who had never had that flavour before. Really sink into that moment.

Finally, when it comes to physical things that can be used to calm you, you have your sense of touch. Taping can help people calm down through bilateral stimulation, but also through concentrating on the sensations. There are calming sticker strips that you can purchase. They are like very light sandpaper, in that they have a texture. Feeling that texture and using it to remind yourself that you are in your body can help you breathe through the panic and pain to ground you.

You could do this with other textures as well. It works best with small textures, like brick, or textured fabric. Thinking about how that strip of corduroy feels on your fingers, or how the leather texture is slightly bumpy. How the dirt feels under your fingers, or the blades of grass feel, can help bring you into the moment. Ice and warm water can also serve the same function but are not always available.

Whatever sense is the strongest can lead you to the most powerful technique for you. So what is the sense that will stop your thoughts from spiralling and bring you back to yourself?