How to Regulate Your Nervous System Naturally

Have you ever noticed how your body seems to hold its breath? 

Even when you think you’re relaxed. 

Maybe your shoulders stay tight, your jaw clenches, or your mind hums with low-level tension that never quite shuts off. Maybe your stomach aches, or your hips won’t budge an inch in mobility? Familiar?

If so, your nervous system may be crying out for regulation.

The truth is, most of us have learned to live in survival mode. We push, strive, and stay “on” far longer than our bodies were designed for, and it’s no way to truly live. 

Because all the while, your nervous system — the intricate web of communication that controls your stress response, energy, digestion, and sleep — is constantly working to bring you back into balance.

Let’s talk about how to support that process naturally — so your body can finally exhale.

What It Really Means to Have a Dysregulated Nervous System

When your nervous system is dysregulated, it simply means your body doesn’t feel safe — even if your logical mind knows there’s no danger.

The kinds of threats your body feels are usually emotional in nature, affecting the Mind and the Spirit.

This can show up in subtle ways like…

• You feel anxious, restless, or “on edge” without knowing why

• You can’t relax, even when you try to

• You find yourself shutting down, spacing out, or going numb (freeze response)

• Your sleep, digestion, or energy feel off balance, leaving you exhausted, and feeling “funky”

But let’s not get mad at our bodies, here. Your body’s doing exactly what it was designed to do — protect you. 

However, when it’s constantly stuck in fight, flight, or freeze, or fawn (think people pleasing re: fawn), it begins to lose its rhythm. It can all start to feel like too much when you’re in this state over and over and over again. Ultimately, it’s going to shut you down, and lead to some form of burnout.

Before I started my own healing journey. I was there.

I felt like toxic sludge covered every aspect of my life, weighing me down physically, emotionally and spirituality.

And my body’s response? Shut down. Freeze. Tap out. Numb. Run away.

I’ll say it again: This is no way to live.

I knew this wasn’t working, and I had to make a choice. I had to make a real change, and that started with choosing the path of healing.

Awareness is always the first step toward healing. 

Once you recognize the signs, you can make a choice. You can begin to respond with compassion instead of frustration, and start taking steps towards not only healing, but towards building a whole new you, and a whole new life.

In regards to nervous system regulation though, where do we start?

How Breath, Grounding, and Movement Help You Regulate in Real Time

Your body already holds the tools it needs to find calm. Of course! Right? God wouldn’t have left us defenseless.

Three of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal are breath, grounding, and movement.

• Breath slows the heart rate and communicates safety to your brain. Try taking three deep, intentional breaths before reaching for your phone or responding to a stressful moment. Slow, deep breathing signals safety to the brain and helps lower cortisol levels.
  
  Try this: Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 2, exhale for 8 seconds, hold for 2, back to inhale.
  
  A shorter inhale, with a long exhale, signals to the brain that it is safe to slow down.

• Grounding brings you back into the present moment. You can use your senses to anchor yourself: Focusing on your senses (what you see, hear, feel, smell) pulls you out of anxious thought loops and into the present moment.
  
  Try this: Pause a look around. Notice and name (outloud) five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, one you can taste.
  
  This practice brings you back into the present moment. 

• Movement — especially gentle movement — releases trapped energy from the body. This might be stretching, shaking your hands, walking barefoot in grass, or dancing in your kitchen. This releases built-up energy that would otherwise keep you stuck in stress mode.
  
  There are several somatic (movement) practices that you can use to move emotional energy out of the body, that differ depending on whether you are up-regulated, or down-regulated.

One of my personal favorites for up-regulating (when I’m stuck in freeze mode) is dancing, or walking around the block.

And one of my personal favorites for down-regulating (when I’m anxious, motoring, and spiraling), is Emotional Freedom Tapping with breath work.

Each of these tools invites your body back into safety — not by force, but through kindness, awareness and gentleness.

Daily Habits That Support Long-Term Calm

Regulation isn’t just something you do when you’re anxious though. It’s something you build into your lifestyle and practice daily!

Because over time, Small Right Actions teach your body that it’s safe to live in calm awareness instead of survival mode.

Consider trying:

• Slow mornings before screens or caffeine

• Consistent sleep routines

• Balanced meals to stabilize blood sugar

• Intentional time outdoors each day

• Reducing overstimulation (less noise, clutter, and scrolling)

I’m a big fan of the lunchtime walk! 

It might only be 10-20 minutes, or about 1 mile, but it’s a good 2,000 steps on the day’s bottom line, and that’s huge! It’s sunshine. It’s fresh air. It’s blood circulating. It is the biggest, small win!

Another Small Right Action (habit) that I’ve picked up and continue to use overtime to regulate my nervous system as the day goes on is the “transitional pause.”

At least that’s what I’m calling it!

I am adamant about creating wind down time for my brain between big tasks or transitions in my day, i.e. when I get home from work, I need a break before getting into "home life stuff"... when I go from store to store running errands, I might take a moment in my car to drink a little water, check my list, start a new song… when I come home after a night out, I have to wind down before bed, etc.

It's all about creating a pause. A pause long enough to assess what I actually NEED before moving forward.

Each calm choice creates new neural pathways of peace. The more you practice, the easier it becomes for your body to return there.

How Trauma and Chronic Stress Affect the Nervous System

And here’s the thing…

When we’ve lived through trauma or long-term stress, our bodies adapt by staying on high alert — long after the original threat is gone. This protective pattern can make calm feel foreign or even uncomfortable at first.

But here’s the hopeful truth: your body can learn safety again.

Gently, slowly, through practices that build trust between mind and body.

That might look like:

• Somatic release work (shaking, dancing, or breathwork)

• Journaling through suppressed emotions

• Therapy or energy healing

• Practicing stillness and self-compassion

For me, that looked like therapy that included EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), IFS (internal family systems), fervent journaling, a meditation practice, and a spiritual journey.

It could look different for you.

There is no one right answer, or one modality that’s going to solve it all for you. You may have to try a few things!

Your nervous system doesn’t need to be “fixed.” It needs to be reassured.

And it just takes time.

But you’re worth the work.

Keep going.

& BE WELL
L