Safety First! To Heal your Nervous System
“Safety first!” we may have heard a caretaker exclaim as it relates to wearing a seat belt, or abiding by common sense rules that protect us against bodily harm. Well, it turns out safety is a prerequisite for Nervous System healing too!
In fact, it’s so important that we can’t hope to grow, heal or evolve without it. It’s foundational and represents healing from the root level (literally, at your root chakra which corresponds anatomically with the lumbosacral nerve plexus and relates to safety and stability).
According to Stephen Porges in his article, “Polyvagal Theory: A Science of Safety,” published in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience:
“After reflecting on this question, I arrived at a concise and intuitive principle that humans, as social mammals, are on an enduring lifelong quest to feel safe. This quest appears to be embedded in our DNA and serves as a profound motivator throughout our life. The need to feel safe is functionally our body speaking through our autonomic nervous system - influencing our mental and physical health, social relationships, cognitive processes, behavioral repertoire, and serving as a neurophysiological substrate upon which societal institutions dependent on cooperation and trust function are based.”
When our Nervous Systems are functioning from survival mode, we’re more likely to detect threats in our environment whereas when we’re functioning from the more evolved social engagement system, safety is more easily detectable in our surroundings. This is huge! It means that any healing work we engage in that hasn’t addressed safety through our Nervous Systems first, may not lead to the desired benefits and may actually cause harm by bringing us into the seat of our traumas before we’re prepared to integrate them.
We also know that the conditions that put one person’s Nervous System at ease may be different from another’s. Use the below prompt to learn what qualities may assist you in cultivating safety from the inside out.
REFLECTION PROMPT: Recall a time in which you felt completely safe in your life. With an objective lens, consider the factors that may have contributed to this feeling. Note the environmental factors, but more importantly become aware of the physical experience you were having in your body at that time. These are feelings we can learn to cultivate within ourselves, at any time once they’ve been identified.
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