Autonomic Nervous System Map

I have included some activities below, this will help increase your awareness of your emotional state and where you sit on your map. Activities are adapted from Deb Dana’s book ‘Rhythm of Regulation’.

Where are you on your map?

My dorsal vagal system takes hold when I…….

My sympathetic nervous system kicks in when I……..

My ventral vagal system comes alive when……

Recognise and name autonomic state:

What is your default state of functioning?
Which state are you in when arrive at office?
Which state are you in with a date night with spouse?
Which state are you in when you have lunch with a co-worker?
Which state are you in when you are completing Projects?
Which state are you in when you are with your kids?

It is not possible to always be in the green zone as life has challenges which require us to respond in different emotional states causing us to move up to red and blue, but the key is to know how to move back to green – what can you do that moves you to green? Flexibility and regulation is best described as having movement in your map and being able to move up and down as required to response to the challenges we face in life each day.

Once we start to understand our nervous system state – what triggers us, what regulates us, what puts us into shutdown, then we can start to have more control over how we want to live our life, but also and more importantly we can understand our child’s behaviours better and be able help them regulate – REMEMBER when we (or our child) is regulated (green) then our thinking brain works at it full capacity giving us opportunities to learn, listen, Problems solves and connect with others.

Stay tuned for the next topic……. How do we get ourselves in the green more often….