The Nervous System is complicated and the information out there on it is vast!  I’ve tried to keep it as simple as possible. 

 However, it’s useful for all humans to understand a bit about it. 

 In terms of Acting it helps... 

• Because of the stressful nature of the job. 

• The fact the job revolves around using ourselves as the vehicle to portray characters emotional and physical experiences.  

Therefore...

Knowing a bit about how the nervous system impacts humans - is interesting and useful! 

The nervous system is your body’s command centre.  It is made up of your brain, spinal cord and nerves.  It works by sending messages between your brain and all the other parts of your body.  It creates wellness in our body and helps us deal with stress.  When we perceive something stressful in our environment our nervous system responds and shifts us into fight, flight or freeze – it activates.

Self-regulation has become a bit of a buzzword lately.  It's crucial to recognise that as humans, regulation doesn’t mean calm!  It means feeling connected either to self or others.  We are meant to experience a range of emotions/sensations and feelings. 

If you try to feel permanently calm you’ll be setting yourself up for failure – even the Dali Lama is not always calm!

This information is provided for your curiosity, and to encourage you to consider how it may connect with your own nervous system.

  If you're aware that your nervous system may tend towards hyper-arousal or hypo-arousal, it's beneficial to gently explore small changes and long-term practices to support this.

Our nervous system also impacts how we see the world. Throughout the day our nervous system sends messages to the brain based on our experiences. The brain will try to make sense of the messages it received via the body by creating a story that becomes our beliefs about ourselves and the world.

Example

Two years ago, I performed a piece about domestic abuse in an all-male prison. Going into the prison, through prison security, and doing the show was anxiety inducing. After the first performance we went for lunch with the head of the prison and the prison guards, all of whom had been very welcoming and friendly.  At the lunch I felt that they were annoyed and suspicious of us, I  couldn’t focus or hear properly and found it uncomfortable. Afterwards when I reflected to the male actor what I had experienced, they said that lunch had been a thoroughly enjoyable affair and the guards were all in good spirits. I realised that my nervous system had perceived threat, because of the environment I was in. I managed to go outside on my own for 20 minutes, get some air, take some deep breaths, hum (which activates the parasympathetic nervous system). I gave my system space to calm, and I was able to continue the shows without my system being activated. I found this situation fascinating because I was able to experience first-hand how an activated nervous system can sometimes negatively affect how we perceive people and situations.

Regulation Practices and Ideas

These practices are useful to start integrating, through little steps at a time, to start supporting your nervous system.  Also, all of the self-care practices mentioned previously will help you long-term and short-term in supporting regulation.  

Main things Get enough sleep, regular movement, eat a balanced diet, try not to have an excess of caffeine and/or alcohol (both increase hyperarousal).

Super Simple Practices which activate the parasympathetic nervous system:

Hugs/Contact/Pressure

Hug someone you trust for 30 seconds. Touch with a trusted and consenting person is amazing to support us.  Also, pressure – some people find weighted blankets or soft weighted objects help to calm them.

Walk in nature Studies have shown that simply being in nature helps to regulate the nervous system and ground us.

Put on music and dance If you are in hyper-arousal, put on a calm, relaxing piece of music and dance, moving from flow into rest.  You can lie on the floor or sit with your back supported by a wall, with a blanket or cushion.  If your system feels in hypo-arousal, find a piece of high-energy music to dance or shake your body to, moving from this into a rest state.

Cold water Teach your body to increase its ability to tolerate stress by dipping hands in cold/ice water.  Put your hands in for as long as you can stand and take deep breaths.  Practice every day, seeing if you can build up your tolerance for keeping them in longer.

Singing/humming Gentle sounds can really help support your system. Think of using open vowel sounds. Singing releases endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine – the happy chemicals.

Breath Find a place where you feel safe and comfortable.  Place your hand on your belly and take a deep breath.  Slowly exhale.  Repeat this 3 to 5 times.

Yawn Create a fake yawn on an ‘Ahhh’ sound.  This is a useful way to create a feeling of calm and relaxation, and is easy to do!

Longer-term Practices

Cold showers A cold shower in the morning can be amazing for supporting the nervous system.  It needn’t be longer than 30/60 seconds. If you want to find out more about cold therapy look up the Wim Hof Method.  However, if you feel your nervous system may need to build its resilience, start with just the hands (mentioned above).

Yoga Doing a regular yoga practice helps strengthen the nervous system.  With its focus on breath, physical movement, stretches and relaxation, it decreases your cortisol levels and shifts from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic system.

Breathwork Breath work is a great way of regulating the nervous system.  Two really simple methods are:

Box Breathing

·      Breathe in through your nose for the count of 4

·      Hold for 4

·      Breathe out through your nose for 4

·      Hold for 4

·      Repeat several times

Vagal Breathing

·      Breathe in through your nose for the count of 4

·      Breathe out through your mouth for the count of 7

·      Hold for 2

·      Repeat several times