- Notice sensations before thoughts.
- Identify signs of safety: slow breath, relaxed jaw, steady gaze.
- Track signs of stress: shallow breath, tight chest, racing mind.
- Practice daily body scans for 1–2 minutes to reconnect awareness to the present moment.
Course Companion: The Nervous System Reset
Practical tools to regulate stress, return to safety faster, and train the body’s language of calm — using breath, posture, cold, and awareness.
Core Insight
Your nervous system bridges body and emotion.
It constantly scans for safety, decides when to rest, and determines how you respond to the world. Regulation is not about eliminating stress. It is about learning to return to balance faster, with awareness and control. This course helps you understand and retrain the body’s language of calm.
Core Protocols & Daily Practices
Use the right tool for the moment.
- Inhale through the nose twice (first full, second smaller) then exhale slowly through the mouth.
- Repeat 3–5 times to release trapped carbon dioxide and calm the vagus nerve.
- Use this anytime stress peaks — before a meeting, during tension, or after emotional charge.
- Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, exhale for 8.
- Practice 3–5 cycles before sleep or when anxious.
- Reduces heart rate, blood pressure, and activates the parasympathetic system.
- Inhale for 5.5 seconds, exhale for 5.5 seconds.
- Continue for 5–10 minutes daily.
- Syncs breathing with heart rhythm and enhances HRV (heart rate variability).
- Apply cold water to the face for 10–30 seconds.
- Activates the mammalian dive reflex and lowers stress hormones.
- Ideal before bed, during panic, or after long screen time.
- Hum softly for 30–60 seconds to stimulate the vagus nerve.
- Feel vibration in the chest and throat.
- Use before sleep or when emotional tension builds.
- Sit or stand tall with shoulders back and relaxed.
- Open the chest and release the jaw.
- The body’s position informs the brain’s sense of safety.
- Identify where you hold tightness.
- Shake arms, shoulders, or legs for 30–60 seconds.
- Repeat during breaks to discharge built-up stress energy.
- Use fingertips to tap along upper chest, temples, or collarbone.
- Repeat calming statements like “I am safe.”
- Reduces anxiety and reprograms stress triggers.
- Engage your senses: feel texture, notice colors, listen to sounds.
- 5-4-3-2-1 method: identify 5 things you see, 4 you feel, 3 you hear, 2 you smell, 1 you taste.
- Use whenever anxiety pulls you away from the present.
- Shake your whole body for 1–2 minutes to discharge adrenaline.
- Mimics animal stress release and restores calm quickly.
- Dim lights and lower stimulation 90 minutes before bed.
- Combine slow breathing with gentle stretching.
- Reflect on one positive moment from the day.
- Pause and exhale before responding in conflict.
- Anchor your body with both feet grounded.
- Observe tension without feeding it.
- Practice co-regulation by staying calm during others’ stress.
- Notice when you absorb others’ moods.
- Practice saying no calmly, without guilt.
- Use visualization (light, shield, or breath bubble) to maintain energy integrity.
- Sync breathing with someone you trust.
- Maintain soft eye contact or gentle touch.
- Human connection regulates both nervous systems simultaneously.
- Create 3 anchors: morning sunlight, mid-day movement, and evening wind-down.
- Predictable rhythm builds a sense of stability.
- Prioritize hydration, electrolytes, and blood sugar balance.
- Keep caffeine before noon.
- Use magnesium, adaptogens, and cold-heat cycles to build resilience.
- Journal weekly on triggers, recoveries, and patterns.
- Celebrate faster recovery times as progress.
- The goal is not zero stress, but smooth recovery.
- Try one mini-reset anytime: deep sigh, cold splash, or body shake.
- These micro-moments train resilience throughout the day.
Reflection Prompts
Journal to Map Your Patterns
- Where in my body do I hold tension most often?
- What does safety feel like to me?
- Who helps me feel grounded and calm?
Integration Tips
Make Recovery Reliable
- Choose one or two techniques to practice daily.
- Pair them with existing routines, like coffee breaks or bedtime.
- Reflect weekly: what triggers feel easier to recover from?
- Revisit the practices monthly to deepen mastery.
- Combine with the Longevity Practices Blueprint for complete body-mind balance.
Closing Thought
Return home to yourself
Calm is not the absence of stress. It is the art of returning home to yourself, again and again.
© Psychei. Course Companion · The Nervous System Reset