Soothe Your Nerves

Hello. Welcome. Today we'll practice a really simple restorative sequence. This sequence is designed to really support and nurture the parasympathetic system. The parasympathetic nervous system is the part of your nervous system that innervates your organs. Often it's called the rest and digest system. It's a little bit of a misleading name because your organs are doing a lot. It's actually your vital functions and all the stuff that keeps you healthy. And, you know, all of your systems, so your respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, lymphatic systems, they all need rest in order to function well. When we stimulate the front of the body, the parasympathetic system is also stimulated. And this has to do with a number of different things, but in some ways you can think about the support that we receive as infants or that maybe we receive if we get to be around infants and letting someone support us in our belly or kind of feeling a holding in this part of our body and immediately, like, we can just go inward and rest and relax. So this sequence is great to do if you're the type of person that is stimulated a lot in your sympathetic nervous system, if you're someone who has to think a lot or has to do a lot. There's also been some studies looking at hypermobility and the tendency towards anxiety and being in a state of hyper alertness. So for those of us with that body pattern, sometimes we feel like we're just, like, out there without any support and there's constantly this state of alertness wondering where there's support or where there's containment. So bringing in a couple of restorative poses to your daily practice or if you notice that you're in a space of feeling a lot of anxiety can be helpful and a gift to yourself. The props that I have to use are two blankets and a bolster. I'll start off with the bolster position lengthwise on my mat. I'm going to take a prone shavasana, so I'll be lying on my belly. I have the blankets to support my feet so that I have kind of a little bit more bend in my knees. You might also want another blanket underneath you if you need that cushion. So here I'm placing the bolster so that it runs lengthwise along my torso. It's supporting my pelvis all the way up to my chest and my forehead can rest on the ground. It's most comfortable for me to have my forehead just resting on the ground. You might prefer another folded blanket or stacked palms. Either way is fine. You can also definitely let your arms come down alongside your body. So as you rest here, I want to let the front of your body really receive the support and feel that the upper back portion of your neck, where your brainstem is, can soften and relax and the weight of your brain just kind of pours down into your forehead. Let yourself be breathed. Just try and consciously relax any tension that you might feel through your back body. Exhale.