Conscious regulation of the nervous system

Key Definitions

1. Nervous System (NS) – The body’s complex communication network that processes sensory information and coordinates responses to maintain balance and survival. It includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

2. Homeostasis – The body's ability to maintain a stable internal environment despite external changes (e.g., regulating body temperature or hunger).

3. Conscious Regulation – The intentional act of influencing one’s nervous system through awareness and deliberate actions, such as breathing or posture adjustments.

4. Perceptual Awareness – The brain’s recognition and interpretation of sensory experiences, like feeling cold or hungry.

5. Use-Pattern – An individual’s habitual way of using their body, shaped by past experiences and behaviours. A well-regulated use-pattern supports better function and movement.

6. Motor Signals – Electrical impulses sent from the brain to muscles, influencing movement and posture.

7. Experience vs. Observer – Experience refers to the immediate sensation of the body and environment, while the Observer is the part of the brain aware of these experiences, allowing for self-reflection and regulation.

8. Non-Doing – A concept from the Alexander Technique that involves using thought alone (without forced movement) to influence the body's posture and function.

9. Alexander Technique – A method that teaches conscious awareness of movement and posture to improve coordination, ease, and nervous system regulation.

10. Dysregulation – A state where the nervous system is imbalanced, leading to stress, tension, or difficulty in maintaining emotional and physical stability.

11. Optimal Functionality – The state of a well-regulated nervous system, allowing for smooth, efficient movement and a balanced mental state.

12. Awake but Regulated – The ideal state of nervous system balance—calm yet alert, responsive but not reactive.

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The nervous system (NS) is an Intelligence Network. It communicates the world to us and us to the world. Simply understood, the NS flows in two different directions, toward the brain and out from the brain.

The entire system operates remarkably well, without our conscious interference.

Consciousness is better understood as our perceptual-awareness of this system. Putting on a jersey in the winter is due to the perception sensation of being cold. Chasing an antelope for lunch is due to a perception of hunger. Nervous systems direct action to return to homeostasis and support reproduction—essentially for survival.

If you have no jersey, you will suffer through the cold. If you have no food, you will suffer through hunger.

In modern times we have plenty of food and clothing, yet our nervous systems are in disarray. There are complex reasons for this, but that’s not the topic of this post. For now, let us accept it is as it is. Here we are. What can we do?

Medication is prescribed for those who suffer nervous system issues, much like blankets are distributed to those without. It is preferable to have access to voluntary warmth and preferable in much the same way same way, to have access to voluntary regulation.

Nervous system regulation is an aptitude that can be developed.

It is valuable to understand that there are two different things taking place in you simultaneously. Experience—this is the reception of incoming sensory stimuli into the brain. And the ‘I’ that is aware of it. Consider that these are not entirely the same thing, though they both arise in the brain. One is the experience of incoming stimuli from the body including the brain—immediate experience. The other is the observer of this experience—the brain’s own experience of itself.

Regulating the nervous system is the skill of this observer.

To regulate ourselves, we can take actions such as breathing, slowing it down, for instance. But we can also send motor-signals that direct the organisation of the body, indirectly affecting our nervous system.

We can regulate the nervous system by consciously directing the signals that leave the brain. Taking continuous slow breaths encourages the natural design of the organism to continue. This natural means whereby, is designed by nature to restore homeostasis, allowing for optimal functioning.

When we are told, “Shoulders back, stand up straight” can be accomplish directly through movement, much like breathing. But the problem here is that this direct approach doesn’t address the habituated nature of our individual use-pattern. It’s different from what it takes to control the actual motor signals that leave the brain. These signals are what can inform a new and improved overall use-pattern of the whole body. Movements always happen in accordance with an individual’s use-pattern. This is the pattern that needs guidance and regulation. It must be integration and intelligent.

True conscious regulation is a skill  that can influence the habitual body, the environment within which we experience our lives.

Consciously thinking through the natural directions of the use of the body is next-level regulation. It is a non-doing act—simply thinking. Thinking directions, ie thoughts, send motor signals out of the brain.

It might seem quirky to believe that thought can reconfigure out bodies, but it really can. We really can change the house that we live in. Some folks live in palaces in deprived bodies, those fortunate live wherever, but maintain a spacious experience no matter what.

The distinction….

1) Intentional movements—actions

Don’t hold the breath… breath

2) Non-doing intentional motor signals—thoughts!

Think of having soft eyes… soften the eyes

Think of your neck being free… neck free

Think of your head sitting lightly, forward, and up off your growing spine… head forward and up

Think of your back lengthening and widening… Back lengthen and widen

Think of your hips to be free… hips fee

Think of your knees lengthening forward and away from your hips… knees forward and away

Think of your shoulders being quiet and free… shoulders free

Think of your arms lengthening away to the finger tips… arm lengthen to the finger tips

Regulation is maintaining optimal functionality. The above directions are good to know and practice. Find an Alexander Technique teacher near you and enjoy learning this great skill.

Flowing breath, ease, and a quiet and awake mind need the right environment to flourish. You can create this environment.

Though too much regulation can make you as stiff as a board, nervous system dysregulation is an unsafe environment.

The sweet spot is in the middle—awake but regulated.

Become a living being.