Nervous System Reset

Because healing isn’t linear. It’s a gentle return, again and again, to your own breath.

Life pulls us in a hundred directions, but the nervous system, our silent guardian, feels every tug. When our senses are overloaded, our breath shallow, and our chest tight with unspoken emotion, we don’t need to push through. We need to pause. We need to return.

This post is your soft landing. A handful of intentional, body-led practices that lovingly coax your nervous system back into balance, whether you’re neurodivergent, highly sensitive, or simply human in a very noisy world.

✨ What Happens When We’re Dysregulated?

Our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is like a finely tuned orchestra. Two sections take turns leading:

• Sympathetic Nervous System (Fight / Flight): Mobilizes energy to respond to threats.
• Parasympathetic Nervous System (Rest / Digest): Calms us, allows restoration.

Ideally, we move between the two like a gentle wave, rising when needed, receding when the moment passes. But in modern life (hello, WhatsApp pings, overflowing inboxes, childhood trauma, loud horns), we often get stuck in one mode or crash into a full-body shutdown (the freeze response, also called dorsal vagal shutdown). This can feel like dissociation, numbness, or intense fatigue.

A nervous system reset is not about fixing you. It’s about returning home – to yourself.

🌀 Nervous System Reset Practices to Try

You don’t have to do all of these. Just one, when done with intention, can create a gentle shift. Trust your body’s wisdom.

1. 🌬️ Sigh on Purpose

Let out a slow, exaggerated sigh. Again. And again. This simple act activates the parasympathetic system and sends a message to your body: It’s safe now.

Tip: Add a gentle vocal tone to your sigh (“haaa” or “mmmh”) to stimulate the vagus nerve even more.

2. ✋🏽 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Scan

A sensory game to bring your awareness back into your body:

• 5 things you can see
• 4 things you can touch
• 3 things you can hear
• 2 things you can smell
• 1 thing you can taste

This is especially helpful for overwhelm, anxiety spikes, or when you feel “floaty.”

3. 🧘🏽‍♀️ Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani)

A powerful yet passive pose. Lie on your back and rest your legs up against a wall for 5 – 10 minutes.

Reduces cortisol, aids lymph drainage, and calms the vagus nerve. Great for bedtime.

4. 🌀 Stimming or Shaking It Out

We’re not wired to sit still and silently suffer. Allow your body to move: shake your arms, bounce on your heels, wiggle your hands. Let your body process what words cannot.

5. 🐚 Soft Touch Ritual

Wrap yourself in a shawl, hold a warm mug, or press your palm to your heart. The skin is rich in nerve endings, and safe touch tells the body: you’re held. Bonus if you say soothing words aloud: “I’m here.” “This will pass.”

6. 🌿 Aromatherapy as Anchoring

Pick one calming scent – lavender, neroli, sandalwood – and use it consistently when doing your reset. Over time, your brain associates that smell with safety. It becomes a shortcut to calm.

Try: Add a drop of oil to your wrists or a cotton pad under your pillow.

7. 🧣 Weighted Comfort

If you have a weighted blanket or a heavy shawl, wrap yourself up. Pressure on the body soothes the nervous system like a swaddle does for a baby. If you don’t have one, pile up soft blankets on your chest and belly.

8. 🌾 Earthing or Sun Soaking

Put your bare feet on the ground. Or turn your face toward the sun for a few minutes. Nature is not a luxury – it’s a biological necessity for regulation.

Bonus: Pay attention to what your skin feels, what the light looks like, how the breeze moves around you.

9. 🕯️ Body-Brain Reboot with Breath + Sound

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 4 counts.
Hold for 4.
Exhale through your mouth for 6–8 counts with a hum or “voo” sound.
Repeat 5 – 10 times.

This blends breathwork and vocal vagus stimulation – double reset magic.

10. 👁️ Visual Soothing

Look at images that bring comfort – a loved one’s photo, soft colours, natural scenery. Your eyes are extensions of your nervous system. Feed them safety.

11. Tapping (EFT)

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) uses rhythmic tapping on acupressure points to calm anxiety and rebalance energy. Use your fingertips to gently tap on acupressure points like your collarbones, temples, and inner wrists. This can be surprisingly effective.

💫 Closing Thoughts

Your nervous system is not broken – it’s beautifully sensitive, and perhaps a little overworked. These rituals are not about numbing your experience, but about softening the edges of it. They aren’t a cure – but a conscious exhale, a hand on your heart. A moment to whisper to your body:

“You’ve done enough. You can rest now.”

When practiced regularly, these resets become an act of reclaiming your rhythm. Choose what calls to you. Return to them as often as needed.

Why This Matters – Especially for the Neuro-divergent Soul

For ADHDers, Autistic folks, HSPs, and trauma survivors, the nervous system doesn’t always bounce back easily. Our stress thresholds are often lower, and recovery takes more intentional care. That’s not a flaw – it’s a call to deepen our self-compassion and create daily rituals of return.

We’re not meant to be ‘on’ all the time. Especially when our nervous systems speak in quieter languages.

These practices aren’t about “fixing” your brain or forcing yourself into calm. They’re gentle invitations – threads of safety woven into your day.

Try This: Create Your Nervous System Reset Menu

Every body is different. What soothes one person may agitate another. So build your own toolkit – a few go-to strategies you can turn to in moments of overwhelm.

Remember This

You are not “too sensitive.”

Your nervous system is not broken.

You are responding to a world that often moves too fast, too loud, too unpredictably.

Let your nervous system know:

“I’m listening. I’ve got you. We’re safe now.”

💬 Over to You

Which practice will you try today?

Have a favourite nervous system reset trick that works wonders for you?

Let’s build a community of soothing. Drop your thoughts in the comments or DM me on Instagram.

📍 Want personalized support for nervous system regulation, emotional healing, or somatic therapy?

Let’s connect – book a free 15-minute discovery call.