Going beyond Habit
Alas our nervous systems are prone to faulty wiring – responding from habit and expectation just as our minds do. A lot of our responses are born out of habit. If we have felt unsafe in a certain environment in the past – or out of your safety zone – we will expect to feel the same again – our neuroception or safety surveillance system will tell us we’re unsafe, even if we are in fact totally safe.
It’s great and vital that we have a safety surveillance system that works on an unconscious level – but… if it doesn’t serve us and keeps us stuck in feedback loops where we feel unsafe or ungrounded, then we can re-write it.
Quick Recap – You can check out our blog on ‘interoception’ (mindfulness in the body) –Neuroception is our bodies internal surveillance system – and although this is beyond our conscious control, we can train ourselves to tune into subtleties with attention training. Tuning into subtlety helps us down-regulate our habitual stress responses and go beyond our default mode. This blog is also the second part to our Vagus Nerve and Empathy blog from last week so check it out….
So how can we override this ‘internal surveillence’ system – this default mode? By tuning into sensation – if we can tune into the uncomfortable sensations/ signals themselves, maybe we feel how the breath has sped up, how our muscles tense, the heart beating strongly – with the key being to witness them but not judge them, be present with them – be aware of how our body/ breath responds in a stressful situation. So that we recognize the signal/ symptom – rather than it just overwhelming us. We might need to do this through grounding techniques (a mudra for example or simply feeling into the sensations in the feet and legs – a good quick technique is to bend the knees slightly and feel into the weight of the legs). This is a way of toning the vagus nerve through interoceptive techniques and we can break old habits and forge newer healthier ones – creating a felt sense of safety and presence.
We talk of neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to change, but our nervous system is malleable too – there is a plasticity in our nervous systems, but like everything it is a practice. Through conscious practice and attention training we can have a more objective relationship with our surveillance system – Consider it a zooming out, being able to be clearer and more objective, whatever the environment, working with the vagus nerve on a level to be clearer more intuitive to be able to make wiser choices from and newly awakened mind body state.
A form of attention training is tuning into our senses and what they can pick up – head over to YouTube for this sensory based practice with Adam – 54321. Or any of our mudra and mantra based practices.
Again, the ancient Yogis understood how breath, sensation and sound could create deep healing – and these are the best ways to work with the Vagus Nerve and improve both interoception and neuroception.
In our next blog – we’ll look at interoception and attention training from the yogic perspective – Essentially two of Patanjali’s 8 limb methodology take us into this deeper listening and focus – Pratyahara and Dharana.