by Jennifer Francis-Gehring, LCSW
When the pandemic started, I used to be venturing down the rabbit gap of polyvagal theory. My journey into polyvagal concept cultivates self-care practices that embody security and connection. I’m studying to honor my nervous system and befriend its whispers and sighs of contentment, frustration, and transition. I’m studying to grow to be interested by emotions and sensations that present up in moments of regulation and dysregulation. I’m studying how my nervous system interprets cues of security or hazard, second to second.
Discovering Awe as Anchor
I’m discovering how I can transfer towards security and connection, when the world appears scary and overwhelming, by means of encountering awe. We embody awe once we’re current, centered in surprise.
The primary time I bear in mind experiencing awe, I used to be somewhat woman gazing into an evening sky. Closing my eyes, I recall: Feeling tiny within the huge universe. Inhaling recent fall air. Settling in my physique—snug, content material, protected. The bazillion stars I noticed with childlike wonderment nonetheless evoke awe as we speak.
I take advantage of this reminiscence as an anchor. In polyvagal concept, anchors assist our nervous system expertise security and connection. Visualizing, I lean into the reminiscence and my senses – feeling cool air rush by means of my sinuses; seeing my scorching breath exhale; listening to a quiet nation night refrain; smelling crisp autumn. Transported to being that awestruck little woman, I hook up with security.
Embodying Awe in Therapeutic
One other pivotal expertise of awe occurred in 2014, whereas visiting Sedona, Arizona. For context, in 2013, lifesaving surgical procedure gifted me the power to proceed strolling and freed me from excruciating ache. I felt gratitude and vulnerability, concurrently, which was very complicated.
I panicked, listening to my physician say, “You’ll by no means have the ability to do ___ once more.” Internally, I collapsed into the methods my physique had betrayed and failed me. Now, I do know my nervous system detected hazard and felt threatened by extended sickness, medical trauma, and my very own interpretation of loss. I misplaced bodily embodiment of independence or functionality. Dissociation grew to become my life raft, whereas my nervous system stored me protected and alive throughout that point.
Experiencing Sedona’s panorama was a chance to heal and re-connect. Whereas studying to simply accept limitations and hearken to my physique, I reclaimed embodiment of autonomy, interdependence, and worthiness. My physique was nonetheless able to climbing mountains and mountain climbing to the highest of a vortex; I simply needed to be taught new methods of doing so.
Sedona is a whole expertise of awe by means of the polyvagal concept lens. I recall vivid imagery, anchors, and glimmers rooted in ventral vagal. I really feel embodiment of security and connection, remembering the gradual mountain climb—resting, respiration, talking compassionately to myself alongside the way in which. In awe of my physique and the mountains, embodiment of security and connection return. As I lie atop a vortex, therapeutic power swirls inside.
Rooting in Awe as Connection
I take advantage of these awe anchors in moments of dysregulation, when my nervous system detects menace or hazard, to manage my nervous system. In Sedona, I regained belief in my physique and myself. I started transferring my nervous system towards security and connection. My paradigm shifted from a caught dorsal vagal house of “I can’t do that. I would harm my physique” to a flowing ventral vagal state of “I can do scary issues in protected ways in which permit my physique new methods of motion.”
I visited the Grand Canyon whereas in Sedona. I stood on the rim, gazing for miles—noticing nooks and crannies, dips and dives, rocks and river. Awestruck, I watched the Colorado River traversing the Canyon on her phrases—at her velocity—in protected ways in which created gradual, regular, mild rhythms. And, in raging fierceness, crashing in opposition to the canyon partitions. All the pieces I used to be experiencing—the power and resiliency of water, discovering circulation and ferocity, creating house and sweetness—was a metaphor for our nervous system’s magnificent perform of motion. Ebbing and flowing—out and in of ventral vagal, sympathetic, and dorsal vagal states—it continuously retains our our bodies protected and alive.
At the moment, I’m rooting in awe, staying interested by my ever-evolving journey, befriending my nervous system, and discovering moments of security and connection that embody divine essence inside. I invite you to contemplate this superior facet of your self-care. How will you expertise awe?
Assets on Polyvagal Idea
Jennifer Francis-Gehring, LCSW, works in Owensboro KY, offering remedy to survivors of sexual hurt. Jennifer enjoys studying about polyvagal concept, creating something that brings pleasure, spending time together with her household and fur infants, befriending her nervous system, and discovering methods to take pleasure in a satisfying life stuffed with journey and laughter.
