(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, pause and ask yourselves, how am I feeling right now? Got it? Now, take one deep breath with me in, exhale out. Let's do two more. Deep breath in, exhale out. Deep breath in, exhale out. And now ask yourself, how am I feeling right now? Is it any different from just 30 seconds ago, from how you were feeling before we took those three breaths?
I'll bet that most of us felt at least a small shift after taking those three breaths. I definitely feel a little bit calmer and more relaxed. What about you? If you didn't feel any shift, that's totally fine. If you want to try this again, I would actually recommend taking maybe a minute of slow deep breathing. If you didn't feel anything after that, it might just take a little bit more time. This is what we're talking about today, okay? Regulating our nervous systems. What does that mean?
Why is it important? Why should we do it? When we pause to take a deep breath or a few deep breaths, we automatically start to slow down our nervous systems. Our heart rate slows down, blood pressure starts to drop, our muscles relax, your jaw might unclench a little bit, and we tend to just feel a little bit more calm and settled. Now, a lot of things can do this for us. Not just deep breathing, but think of some things that help you to feel more relaxed.
For myself, definitely things like meditation, listening to slow music, going on a hike, walking by the beach, what else? Drinking like warm tea. All of these things help me to relax and help to soothe my nervous system. Why is this important?
Well, we live in a world that is really busy, that most of us are constantly moving, we're on our screens a lot, laptops, phones, watching tv, and when we're busy, when we have families to take care of, when we have to drive here and there, when we have work projects to complete, if we're doing a lot of those things all the time and we're not balancing out all that activity and the stress that can come from that with other things that soothe us, then we tend to become stressed out, our nervous
systems tend to become chronically dysregulated, so we can be in a chronic state of fight or flight, of stress, of anxiety. And what effect does that have on our bodies? It causes hypertension, it causes ulcers in our stomachs, it causes us to, for our systems to not function properly, so we don't digest food as well, or we start to get symptoms like autoimmune symptoms, like more allergies or skin conditions.
And over time, these things can add up and add up, and along with unhealthy lifestyles and other factors, they can lead to more serious diseases, like cancer, like heart disease. And in general, feeling anxious and stressed out most of the time, it's just not conducive to living a good and happy life. So how do we start to live from a more regulated, calm, and grounded state most of the time? We're probably not going to be there all of the time.
If we never have any sort of stress or problems in our lives, we're probably going to be really bored and not doing very much. So I'm not saying we just don't ever want to have any sort of stress in our lives, but we want it to be in balance. We want to be in a regulated, calm state the majority of the time, so we can be happy, so we can be healthy, so we can feel how we want to feel.
So one really simple way to do this is just learning how to use your breath as a tool to regulate your nervous system. And it's so simple, it's so easy. We literally did it in like five seconds at the beginning of this episode. Now, obviously, taking three deep breaths, it helps, but it might not be enough to bring you from a state of fight or flight to a state of calm, regulated, happy, relaxed, right? And so we can take a minute, five minutes of slow, deep breathing.
You can write down all the things that you know help you to relax, such as listening to music, exercising, petting your dog, okay? Start to notice what are the things in my life that calm me down and that bring me to a sense of contentment, of peace. Maybe it's meditation. Maybe it's speaking to someone in particular. Maybe it's music. Maybe it's writing. Okay, what is it for you? Maybe it's watching videos of like little cute puppies or something.
That's one of my friends, like she gets so happy when she just watches videos of like little baby animals. So what is it for you? Okay, going on a walk, getting fresh air, whatever. I want you to just make a list of these things, and then every single day, choose at least three things that you can do that bring you this sense of calm, joy, pleasure, and just practice doing those things every day for this next week, okay?
This is like a challenge, a seven-day challenge, and if you're enjoying it and if you're noticing a difference, then just keep going with it. But I want you to just at least, if you're not already doing these things, at least start to incorporate three things every day that regulate your nervous system, that bring you pleasure, that bring you happiness, that are not work-related. Unless your work is really enjoyable, maybe it is, then keep doing more of it, okay?
So what are those things for you, and how can you incorporate them into your daily life? At least three a day. Now, how do you know when you're in a state of fight or flight, in a state of an unregulated nervous system, and how do you know when you are relaxed, calm, with a regulated nervous system?
Okay, so obviously the way that you feel, so when you're feeling anxious, when you're rushing, when you're irritable, angry, easily triggered, okay, that's when you are in a state of being unregulated, and little things will bother you. You'll feel like really reactive.
For me, when I'm working, I'm a flight attendant, and when I'm working, I know that I need to take a step back when I start bumping into the wall, when I start dropping things, when I find myself rushing, when I find myself not being very nice to customers, like if I'm short with them, then I know, okay, I'm stressed, I need to take a step back, and I'll just go into the bathroom and take a few deep breaths, and just feel my way into my body again, feel my feet on the
ground, let my facial muscles relax, and just kind of repeat a positive intention or a positive affirmation until I feel better, and then I'll go back out there, and then I'm much more relaxed, and I'm much kinder, and I'm much more patient. When I'm in a, or when somebody is in a calm and regulated state, they tend to speak a little bit slower and lower, they tend to just seem and appear more calm and grounded, they tend to feel like a solid presence.
Do you ever meet someone and they just feel like good, they just feel like a rock, they just feel like someone that you wanna spend time with? That person is probably in a really calm and regulated state, and when you're in a calm and regulated state, like your energy feels different, it feels brighter, it feels lighter, it feels more enjoyable to be around. Okay, when people are in a regulated state, they're more patient, and things tend to flow more smoothly when in a regulated state.
Conversations tend to go better, there's less conflict and less fighting, the breathing is slower. Okay, so I want you to just play around with practicing your methods, your tools for regulating your system, and start incorporating those into your day, and just notice how that feels.
Notice if your anxiety, if you have anxiety, if your anxiety and stress levels feel like they're going down, if your days feel like they're starting to go smoother, if you feel less irritable and reactive throughout the day, okay, and I would really love to know how this goes for you, so leave a comment in the comment section below, or even shoot me an email, julietrambosrcircles.com, and I'll leave my email down in the show notes as well, and just try this for seven days.
I would really love to know what your tools are, and how this goes for you. All right, that's it, that's all I have for you today. Thank you for tuning in. Now go and regulate your nervous system. Thanks for tuning in, everyone. If you're enjoying this podcast, please leave a rating and review for the show on your favorite podcasting player. This helps more people like you to find and benefit from the show.
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