Nervous System Basics - September 2025

Sep 17

Summary

Fight, flight, freeze or fawn? The nervous system is often thought of as the body’s control system. It’s responsible for processing information received about the world, triggering responses and regulating bodily functions. Understanding how it functions and the impacts that trauma has on the nervous system can help us select the appropriate tools and strategies for dysregulated moments. Lived Expert facilitator, Wendy, provided an overview of the nervous system in simple terms (and some science-y ones) as well as shared some of their personal tools for managing dysregulation for self and as a Kin Caregiver/Human.

Soundbites & Takeaways We Loved!

The nervous system is incredibly complex, and interacts with our vital organs, telling our body how to feel and what to do outside our conscious awareness.
Behaviour flows out of what is happening in the nervous system.
The Autonomic nervous system sends messages to our internal organs informing them how to function using two main types of nerves:
- Parasympathetic nerves, tell our organs to “rest and digest” (example: tells our hearts to slow down during sleep)
- Sympathetic nerves, tell our organs to “stimulate and organize” (example: tells our lungs to breath faster during intense physical activity such as running or when we are scared.)
Trauma, specifically trauma that occurs during childhood and development, over trains parasympathetic nerves to respond. Sort of like if you did twice as many push-ups on one arm and it became visibly more muscular than the other. It becomes more active than sympathetic nerves
When we are dysregulated, we lose access to higher brain functions such as:
- Regulation of body physiology such as heart rate and breathing pace
- Attunement (being able to tune in to the internal experience of another person)
- Emotional balance
- Response flexibility, being able to put space between an impulse and an action to make an informed choice
- Ability to calm fear
- Executive functioning skills such as planning and timing
Polyvagal Theory developed by Stephen Porges gives an understanding of different states of the nervous system and how to learn to move through states (see “States of the autonomic nervous system” slide below)
Those with complex trauma, can get “stuck” in threat response states of shutdown – this can look like someone who spends a lot of time in isolation and/or experiences a lot of challenges and barriers to achieving life goals (or even setting them).
Humans can support their Living Experts to move through nervous systems states (practice makes progress) by using bottoms-up regulating strategies. Find some bottom-up regulating strategies that can be used to return to and maintain regulation in the slides below.

Actionable Ideas & Activities

Watch "Flipping Your Lid:" A Scientific Explanation Dan Siegel (8 minutes) to learn more about nervous system regulation
Read the Completing the Stress Cycle handout by Oregon Health & Science University
Start integrating Bottom-Up Regulating Strategies, slides below.