Regulating Resources

Our nervous system and brain work together to help protect us from danger. This is wonderful when we are in the back woods with a grizzly bear, but what if we are becoming triggered often and have a difficult time calming down? Well, our body will go into chronic states of stress-which spoiler alert, is not great for our mental or physical health!

Sometimes when our brain can’t reassure us, we need to turn to some tools to cue to our nervous system to chill-out.

Below are some tools, resources, and websites I have used to assist me and my clients in regulating. Now will they make everything magically go away? No, sorry I wish I could say that! These tools are helpful in getting us to a state where we can better take care of ourselves and address our challenges.

“How We Feel” app- no pay walls!

This app is by far my favorite mental health app! It has lots of regulation tools, a mood tracker, and videos walking you through different skills. You can download the app or read more about it here.

Self-Compassion Exercises-no pay wall!

When our brain and body are going into “I am the worst person ever” mode, it might be time for some self-compassion. Self-compassion can be hard to muster up by ourselves in the moment. To help with this, I would check out Dr. Kristen Neff’s Self-Compassion Guided Practices. You can click here to access them!

Polyvagal Card Deck by Deb Dana

I know “Polyvagal” might sound funky. Essentially, it is just a fancy term to describe our autonomic nervous system. This is commonly referred to as the “fight, flight, freeze, fawn” response. Deb Dana, who is a trauma-therapist and author, has created lots of resources to help get back to our “rest and digest” state. One of my favorite tools is her Polyvagal Card Deck. She also has some cool information about “Glimmers”, which are mini regulating moments we can notice everyday.