70% Shifted in 15 Minutes

Our nervous systems are constantly working for us. Enabling us to type on our computers (or thumb through our phones). Pumping blood throughout our bodies. Making sure we have the right resources for the moment we are facing. 

In truth, that last part - providing the right resources to face the situation - is an area where we have room for growth. 

Our autonomic nervous system manages our survival functions. It makes sure we breathe, digest food, distributes oxygen throughout our bodies. And it manages our threat reactions - fight, flight, freeze and fawn. 

A trigger - a patron yelling at you, a door slamming, someone cutting you off in traffic - causes a release of stress hormones. The body, perceiving a threat, reacts automatically. 

But most of the time, perception doesn’t match reality. We don’t actually protect ourselves going into fight, flight, freeze or fawn. We tend to create more triggers and stress (I call it the trigger-reaction loop). 

And what’s more, chronic stress or trauma causes us to operate from a baseline of fear. When we are constantly hyper vigilant, we cannot relax or access the feelings of safety our body and nervous system needs to be sustainable. 

Luckily, we don’t have to stay stuck in the trigger-reaction loop. We can choose to regulate our nervous systems and expand our capacity to experience triggers without staying dysregulated. 

Nervous System Regulation is a Necessity 

Regulating your nervous system is not a luxury. It’s a must-have. 

And it doesn’t need to take long or be complicated.

In fact, it can be playful, which helps because some techniques might feel silly to do at first. 

What’s more, you can practice these exercises in under 5 minutes each.

That’s what we did in the Reset in Real Time Workshop I led for CLiC’s winter workshop a few months ago. Together, we practiced three simple ways to support the nervous system:

• Movement (yes, that includes dancing)

• Heart-focused breathing

• Vocal toning (or as we called it… vuuuing)

  
  

I asked everyone to share one word in the chat about how they’re feeling at the beginning and the end of the workshop.

In the beginning people were stressed. 

At the end they were calm, present, grounded, relaxed, focused.

About 70% of participants moved into a more regulated state.

In less than fifteen minutes, participants' internal experiences shifted in meaningful and powerful ways.

Why these practices work

These practices aren’t woo-woo, they’re backed by science. 

1. Movement 

When animals experience threat in the wild, they don’t just think their way through it, they move.

A giraffe that escapes a predator will literally shake to release the stress once it’s arrived to safety. This behavior’s been observed in different species throughout the world. 

Humans have that same need…we’ve just learned to suppress it because these natural practices are frequently judged. 

Many of us have been scolded for fidgeting or not being able to sit still. Yet, that could be the body’s way of completing a stress response. 

Simple movements like dancing or shaking help the nervous system release stress so it doesn’t get trapped in the body.

I love putting on music and having a dance party in my living room whenever I feel pent up energy causing anxiety or restlessness in my body. 

In the CLiC workshop, I asked the participants to imagine dancing to their favorite song. One they couldn’t help but move to. Then I encouraged them to write the song they thought of in the chat. And that’s how we got this eclectic dance party playlist curated by librarians. 

2. Heart-focused breathing

Your heart is a master communicator in your body. In fact, more information is communicated to your brain via the vagus nerve than vice versa. 

Coherence is measured by Heart Rate Variability. When your heart’s in coherence, your system is more regulated, aligned, and responsive. Coherence leads to enhanced performance by enabling your whole brain to be engaged.

When your heart’s out of coherence, it’s like an orchestra with a drunk conductor. No one is in tune, on time or in sync. It sounds terrible. And the thalamus take your executive brain offline so the primitive brain can automatically run a threat reaction.

Heart-focused breathing is a simple way to restore coherence. It’s a technique developed by the HeartMath institute. You simply bring your attention to your heart, breathing a little slower and deeper than usual. Imagining that your breath is flowing in and out of your heart. 

What I love about it is that you can do it anywhere, with your eyes open. If someone cuts you off in traffic, practice heart focused breathing. If you have a frustrating interaction with someone, practice heart focused breathing. If your kid accidentally throws a ball in your house and breaks your favorite vase, practice heart focused breathing. 

Even a handful of breaths can make a difference. Heart focused breathing is a way to invite a pause into a stressful situation so you can respond with intention instead of react out of fear.

3. Vocal toning (vuuuing, humming, sound)

This practice surprised people the most, and quickly became a favorite.

Across cultures and history, humans have used sound to regulate - singing, chanting, humming.

Turns out, science has shown how these ancient traditions help us. When we hum, we stimulate the vagus nerve, which plays a key role in helping our bodies shift into a state of safety and connection.

The vagus nerve runs down our throats, to our heart, and throughout our digestive system. And like I said above, it sends signals to the brain that indicate safety or threat. Vocal toning invites the parasympathetic nervous system to come online by signaling that we’re ok. 

When you vuuuu, you can feel the vibration throughout your body. You might place a hand on your throat, and one on your belly as you vuuu. 

Take a deep breath and vuuu as you exhale. Do it at least three times and notice what shifts in your body. Sometimes, I’m so amped up, I need to vuu at least five times to calm my nervous system down. And that’s ok. 

In case you were wondering, a whole group of librarians vuuuing together is as delightful as it sounds.

Let’s Normalize Nervous System Regulation

What was so awesome about the CliC workshop was that people did these practices with me in real time.

At their desks. In shared spaces. In the middle of their workday.

They moved. They breathed. They vuued.

And something shifted.

We all have nervous systems, yet as a society, we don’t make it easy to manage them.

We often stigmatize behaviors that help us regulate. We tend to prioritize productivity over presence, putting off slowing down to regain our composure in favor of getting things done.

We glorify when people to push through and judge folks how pause to reset as being lazy.

So even though these tools are natural and accessible, they’re not always normalized.

What if workplaces made it okay to regulate?

What if a short reset wasn’t seen as stepping away from work, but as supporting how we show up in it?

If you’re in a role where you support others, especially in emotionally demanding environments, this matters.

I work with leaders who block off time on their calendar to pause and regulate their nervous system. 

Even just a five minute break between zoom meetings can make a difference. A fifteen minute walk outside in the middle of the day can make the difference between overreacting during the afternoon slump and being appropriately responsive. Consciously practicing heart focused breathing throughout the day can make it easier to do when tempers flare.

We can take all these practices one step further by celebrating when someone takes a dance party break, or vuuus at work. This isn’t being silly or wasting time. It’s embracing the gifts of our shared humanity by taking steps to regulate our nervous systems so we can perform better.

If you’re curious about bringing this kind of work into your team or organization, I’m always happy to connect.

Want to explore more?

We created a few simple resources from this session available to subscribers only:

• A one-page guide with the three practices

• A playlist curated by librarians to get you moving

• A printable sign to help normalize nervous system regulation in shared spaces

If you’ve found value in what I wrote here and you want to support me in continuing to create, guide, write, and make space for deeper transformation, I invite you to buy me a tea.