My 6 nervous system stabilizers

Dr. Martina Melzer, published: 11/02/24

I have done many different things to make myself feel better. But despite everything, until last year I was still stuck in the chronic freeze mode of my autonomic nervous system. It was TRE® / Neurogenic Tremoring that brought me a breakthrough on a physical level and ultimately on all other levels too. It has literally shaken me out of the freeze mode and helps me to stabilize my nervous system when it gets out of balance again.

Breathing techniques had never really worked for me. This summer, however, I decided to learn Buteyko breathing so that I could offer it in my coaching and online self-help program. Of course, I first had to learn and apply the method myself. It was very difficult at first. But a combination of different Buteyko exercises now helps me very well to bring my nervous system back into balance when the waves are “too high”.

When hypervigilance strikes, emotions become intense or something triggers me, it is sometimes surprisingly enough to simply bring myself into the present moment with all my senses. The past may have caught up with me, but it is the past. There is actually only the now. A classic mindfulness exercise. This often breaks the “high wave”.

This was a difficult topic for a long time. But now gentle self-touching calms my nervous system, helps me through unpleasant emotions and after strong triggers.

Oh yes, feeling what you don't want to feel - a big topic. This mainly involves unpleasant emotions such as fear, anger and sadness. But also feelings of guilt and shame. For a long time, I had no access to anger and sadness and was instead flooded with fear, guilt and shame. It was and is a process to deal with this differently. Feelings need to be felt. You have to train yourself not to be afraid of them. And listen to them instead.

So far, all my methods have been predominantly bottom-up techniques. But of course I also use cognitive techniques, “top down” techniques. Basically, it's about finding out what has thrown me off balance again, what the trigger was and what it has to do with my past. That way, I can not only recognize these things, but also question them and retrain my brain. It's hard work, but it's worth it in the long run.

PS: These are a few things that help me. But that doesn't automatically mean that they will help you too. You have to find out for yourself what best rebalances your nervous system. Incidentally, I prefer to talk about “stabilizing” rather than “regulating”. Regulating the nervous system sounds like that to me: This is wrong, I need to regulate it, get it under control. In contrast, you stabilize a fragile nervous system that simply needs some support because it is still unstable or a little too rigid.

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The content on this page is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for talking to your doctor or other therapist. Please talk to your doctor or therapist before making any decisions about your physical or mental health. Every way into a mind-body syndrome is something individual, and every way out.