why you can't regulate your nervous system?
Breathing Challenge - Week 3
Hey Team!
I have a bone to pick with "regulating" your nervous system. Because words and language matter. In the yoga tradition, they're called matrikas, "little mothers", because they create.
Definitions of regulate include control, maintain, supervise by means of rules, or set according to an external standard. No wonder it feels so awful....
Regulating your nervous system is like caging a wild animal. You can do it, but it takes away it's instincts and aliveness.
It's the same with your nervous system. If you're constantly wrestling for control, you'll tune out and tamp down your inner guidance system.
Ever talk yourself out of doing something you knew, deep down inside, was right?
Second guess your gut all the time?
Overthink your way into analysis paralysis?
These are symptoms of losing your connection to your inner guidance system. The way back to your wise and wild self is calibrating (rather than regulating) your nervous system.
Definitions of calibrate include to mark, correlate, and adjust. Doesn't that sound more reasonable, sustainable, and compassionate than regulating?
When you calibrate your nervous system, it becomes an important indicator of what's going on inside. Like a check engine light. Then you can investigate and adjust as necessary. Then you're working with, not wrestling against, your inner guidance system.
This week's breathing practices focused on calibrating your nervous system. Dive in because free access to the Breathing Challenge ends on 10/21. We're updating all the recordings so you can download and save your favorites.
May your breathing be compassionately calibrating,
Alison
