Creative Movement For Nervous System Regulation at The Expressive Therapies Summit

On March 25th of 2022, I’m teaching a workshop “Creative Movement For Nervous System Regulation,” online at The Expressive Therapies Summit. If you are a therapist and are interested, sign-up for this innovative conference here: 

https://web.cvent.com/event/45206260-b3a7-4f14-b98d-80b873359582/summary

In this 2-hour workshop, I will focus on specific movement practices that can help people regulate their nervous system physically, in order to support their work in therapy (psychologically as well as somatically).

Attendees will learn how to physically align the vagus nerve in the body as well as breath and deep core work to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Custom techniques for releasing tension and anxiety from specific muscles in the body that become rigid during the fight or flight response will also be introduced.

Finally, participants will learn how to blend movement techniques with creative improvisation to create personalized tools for their patients to practice during (or before/between) therapy sessions to achieve physical self-regulation.

Our nervous system is designed to send messages from our brain to our bodies, and back, about stressful events and potential threats to our safety. This is a very important process, as it’s designed to keep you safe. The Vagus nerve is responsible for activating our nervous system during times of stress and it’s also supposed to help you relax when the stress is over.

This nerve begins in our brain and travels through our chest and diaphragm muscle on its way to our abdomen. It creates physical responses in our body, like digestive issues, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath. In order to calm these responses, we need our parasympathetic nervous system to activate. This is supposed to happen automatically, but can sometimes have trouble, particularly when someone has an anxiety disorder, or has suffered a traumatic event that makes them unable to leave their heightened state of fight or flight.

Proper breath and gentle movement can help you activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Once your body is calm, you can navigate the mental and emotional reasons for your anxiety, in order to heal.