The Mind-Body Couple

5 QUICK Ways to Regulate a Sensitized Nervous System

• Tanner Murtagh and Anne Hampson

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When chronic pain or symptoms grip your life, the real culprit often lurks beneath the surface—a nervous system stuck in a state of perpetual danger. In this illuminating episode, Tanner and Anne share five powerful, scientifically-backed techniques to regulate your nervous system and create the internal safety your body desperately needs to heal.

Most of us instinctively flee from uncomfortable sensations, a natural human tendency that paradoxically keeps us trapped in pain cycles. "Safety is the cure," Tanner explains, reframing regulation not as mere calmness but as developing the flexibility to return to equilibrium when life inevitably knocks us off balance.

The strategies range from deceptively simple to profoundly effective: learning to drop into and describe bodily sensations throughout your day; practicing specific somatic movements calibrated to your current state; intentionally savouring pleasant sensations to counterbalance discomfort; utilizing deep breathing with extended exhales to activate your parasympathetic system; and visualizing calming memories that trigger your body's relaxation response.

What makes these approaches particularly valuable is their accessibility. None require special equipment or lengthy time commitments—most can be practiced within a few minutes while going about your day. As Tanner shares how he uses these techniques before family vacations, listeners gain practical examples of regulation in action.

Whether you're struggling with chronic pain, managing anxiety, or simply feeling overwhelmed by life's demands, these five regulation strategies offer both immediate relief and long-term resilience. Your nervous system holds the key to healing—these practices help you unlock it.

Try our free YouTube practices or explore our comprehensive digital course featuring over 60 somatic exercises designed to help you unlearn chronic pain and create lasting nervous system regulation.

Free Releasing Emotions Practice: https://youtu.be/erFtcNRlSHM

Free Somatic Movement Practice: https://youtu.be/w5Ddn2ndJNc

Tanner Murtagh and Anne Hampson are therapists who treat neuroplastic pain and mind-body symptoms. They are also married! In his 20s, Tanner overcame chronic pain and a fibromyalgia diagnosis by learning his symptoms were occurring due to learned brain pathways and nervous system dysregulation. Post-healing, Tanner and Anne have dedicated their lives to developing effective treatment and education for neuroplastic pain and symptoms. Listen and learn how to assess your own chronic pain and symptoms, gain tools to retrain the brain and nervous system, and make gradual changes in your life and health!


The Mind-Body Couple podcast is owned by Pain Psychotherapy Canada Inc. This podcast is produced by Alex Klassen, who is one of the wonderful therapists at our agency in Calgary, Alberta. https://www.painpsychotherapy.ca/


Tanner, Anne, and Alex also run the MBody Community, which is an in-depth online course that provides step-by-step guidance for assessing, treating, and resolving mind-body pain and symptoms. https://www.mbodycommunity.com


Also check out Tanner's YouTube channel for more free education and practices: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Fl6WaFHnh4ponuexaMbFQ


And follow us for daily education posts on Instagram: @painpsychotherapy


Discl...

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the MindBodyCouple podcast.

Speaker 2:

I'm Tanner Murtaugh and I'm Anne Hampson. This podcast is dedicated to helping you unlearn chronic pain and symptoms. If you need support with your healing, you can book in for a consultation with one of our therapists at painpsychotherapyca or purchase our online course at embodycommunitycom to access in-depth education, somatic practices, recovery tools and an interactive community focused on healing. Links in the description of each episode.

Speaker 1:

Hi everyone, welcome back to the podcast.

Speaker 2:

Hi everyone.

Speaker 1:

We have a pretty good topic, I think, and we'll kind of share it right now. So five quick ways to regulate a sensitized nervous system, and we think it's really important because sometimes we need to have those in mind when we're feeling really dysregulated and we want to have tools to go to. So we're hoping we could provide some of that for you today.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think, chronically a lot of people that have these debilitating, chronic pain or symptoms. They're feeling unsafe a lot, and there are many reasons we feel unsafe. This can include anxiety or depression, unhealthy relationships. Sometimes it even can be challenges with work or simply how hard you're working and burning yourself out.

Speaker 1:

I'm really good at that sandals it can be well and maybe a point there, because you are very good at that tenor, but so am I, and when I think of burnout, you and I relate to burnout in different ways. You can relate to it in this, like get the work done, sense I relate to it with my kids, and like managing the family, and so I think there's different kinds of ways that we can feel challenged and dysregulated with trying to keep up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think within that there's kind of these pressures and expectations that a capitalistic society really places on people. People feel this pressure, this expectation to succeed, and so what do they do? They just work themselves into burnout. Now it can be harder things from your past, like neglect, abuse, trauma. It can also be these macro level fears like the economy, geopolitics, war and the climates, so there's a lot of things that can cause us to feel chronically unsafe, and it's really vital for people to understand that this is deeply connected to the reason your chronic pain and symptoms are occurring. These stressors lead to our nervous system becoming sensitized over time, and that's when that occurs. Pain and symptoms are just the result.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and we're not saying we can completely get rid of these stressors. Having an understanding and awareness is important in that first step. I think about. What we're embarking on soon is a big stressor for you, tanner, and actually causes you to be sensitized.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we're going on a trip with our kids.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and I think we've talked about it before, that this is actually a common trigger and a common stressor for you that you've had over the years, but your nervous system starts becoming dysregulated leading up to the trip every time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's one of these things I've learned where I essentially need a day before the trip to feel my emotions deeply and use some of these ways to create safety and regulation that we're going to discuss. But I need that space. I need that space and time. I can't go from a really busy day of work and then off to a trip. It just doesn't work for my system. But it's vital for people to just understand here that this chronic sense of danger is the main reason for most chronic pain and symptoms, and so the cure, the cure is safety.

Speaker 2:

Now people get safety and nervous system regulation kind of confused. They often think, you know, regulation is calmness. This is what we like kind of equal it out to. But I really like to tell people a regulated nervous system is more than just calmness. So this is I'm going to read this definition this is our definition of safety that we utilize in our digital course and with our clients. Safety is a state where we have the capacity to be present with our internal and external world. We can approach sensations, relationships and stimuli with openness and curiosity, and if we feel dysregulated, we have the capacity to restore safety in our nervous system, helping us shift out of dysregulation and return to a safer state.

Speaker 1:

So that flexibility yes.

Speaker 2:

This is really key to understand, because when the nervous system has been sensitized, we got to help it become flexible, Like you just said, Anne. We got to help it become flexible, Like you just said, we got to help it have this ability to shift back to safety, and we can learn to do this manually. So in this episode we're going to provide five quick strategies you can use to regulate your nervous system and lead it back to safety. We really recommend that people try out all five like play around with them. Find the ones that fit best for you.

Speaker 1:

Yep, okay, so let's kind of dive into it, tanner. The first one is dropping in and describing the sensations in your body.

Speaker 2:

This is probably the most essential skill. Yeah, I think across the board we get a little bit fancier sometimes, but this needs to become so automatic for people as they're living life.

Speaker 1:

And I think we talk about this skill a lot throughout our podcast of dropping in and describing, and when it comes to nervous system state and dysregulation, it's the same of like we want to be curious about what that sensation is like, what that state feels like in the body, and spend some time there.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm, and with so many people, when we're dysregulated and we have chronic pain, chronic symptoms going on, unfortunately, what we try to do is fight or eliminate them as quick as possible. Right, I felt that a bit today. You know we're about to go on our holiday. I could feel some of the anxiousness. I could feel some of the pressure, especially in my chest, and it was really easy for me to shift into. I got to get this to go away.

Speaker 1:

Why do you think that's the case, Tanner? And even with everything you know, your first instinct is still the shift out of it.

Speaker 2:

Because I think it's such a biological instinct that we're all programmed with. Simplistically, human beings really do two things, and this is often unconscious. We run towards what feels pleasant and we run the heck away from anything that feels unpleasant.

Speaker 1:

Well and I think that's a really important point to make, because I hear that a lot when I'm meeting with people I'm talking with people about how there's a lot of guilt or shame that their instinct is to avoid. But that's kind of human, that's part of being human, and so we need to validate that. But our second kind of approach can be to shift that and so understanding there's our instinct and then what we do next.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we never want people to start to self-blame here, but we do want you to become aware of when you're distracting yourself, when you're avoiding, you're judging, you're ruminating on things and how you feel inside, because this response is really going to feed and sustain dysregulation and chronic symptoms. So the drop-in and describe dysregulation and chronic symptoms. So the drop-in and describe. It's really simplistic, for brief periods. This doesn't need to take you 30 minutes. I like to teach clients to do this for 30 seconds to a minute. What you're doing is you're dropping into your body and you're noticing, okay, what's taking place, first off, maybe, what thoughts are happening in your mind and then, secondly, what emotions are happening, what nervous system state, sensations are occurring, where are pain and symptoms taking place. So you're just dropping in, maybe slowing down your breath, and you're just describing for a moment, okay, what's happening. Can I bring a little curiosity, a little bit of interest to what's taking place in my body and just sit with it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I find this is so vital because it can have this little burst of safety take place, where you're not running away, you're not avoiding your, you're going through that resistance and just feeling how you feel. Now, a lot of people that I work with what they'll do is they'll do one embodiment practice a day, where for 20 minutes they're dropping into their pain or symptoms, their emotions, their nervous system, and then they're clicking off the rest of the day.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

The clients that I find that are healing are doing this drop in to describe almost automatically like four or five times an hour.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and and that sounds like a lot like when you said four or five times an hour, I was like, oh, that was not what, exactly what I was going to say. But consistently is the thing. And so don't get hung up on like how many times or how little times. It's about doing this as a practice as you go through your day, as you live your life.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're. You're giving connection to your body, to your nervous system, consistently, because this is the only way that you do the second step, which could be a whole podcast episode on itself of how you take cues off your body If you're not listening to your body, if you're only listening to your body for 20 minutes a day and you're clicking off the rest of the time, how are you going to take cues, even like today? I know I feel pressure. I feel more anxious because we're going on holidays. That's a big stressor and trigger for me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm listening, I'm feeling, and then from that I'm taking cues and adjusting things accordingly.

Speaker 1:

So like what would be an example of adjusting that you're doing?

Speaker 2:

So this morning because I'm trying to get some work done so I don't have to work at all on our holiday but after about half an hour I didn't feel great. And usually I love working, like I quite enjoy my job. But I didn't feel good so I stopped. I hung out with our kids, we made some breakfast, we watched a movie first thing in the morning. This is what we did at 8am. But I took a cue where I was like no, like this is going to be too much if I like try to cram everything in and just work for the next two hours. So I'm breaking it up throughout the day as a result of how I feel.

Speaker 1:

Ah, and it doesn't mean you're avoiding it, and I really want to highlight that, because sometimes it's like, well, tanner was just avoiding because he shifted, but you're going back to that, so it's more like you're listening to okay, what do I need now? And then I can return yeah, and that's okay.

Speaker 2:

And to get you started. If you want a longer practice where you're dropping into your body. I recently did an emotion practice on YouTube which I posted today, so I will put that link in the description of this podcast episode so that people can check that out for free, if you like that. If you need extra support with your healing, our digital course has a ton of strategies, practices. Really it's everything you need to be successful on your healing journey.

Speaker 1:

All right. Number two practice slow, somatic movement or quick movement. So the key here is movement, slow or quick. I feel like that's confusing title there, tanner, it's confusing.

Speaker 2:

I say this because it depends where you're at yeah. Let's imagine you're in fight or flight, fear, anger. At that point your nervous system is becoming overwhelmed.

Speaker 1:

So if you did quick movement there, what would happen?

Speaker 2:

Sometimes it might work like not super quick, but for the most part, when people are in this fight or flight zone, you're right, they need to slow down. They need to slow down quick movement. When we're I I've experienced this like quick movement, like going to work out intensely at the gym when you're feeling highly anxious, it would almost like put me over the top, so like slow movement. So an example of this is we utilize this in our course. We call this move stretch and soften. So, if you imagine, you can do this sitting down or standing up. Again, it's a podcast episode so you can't see me, but I'll explain it simply. As you inhale, you raise your arms up to each side of you. When your arms make it to shoulder height, turn your palms over, raise them right over your head and then, as you exhale, bring your arms down in front of you, palms facing the ground. So, as you inhale, you raise your arms up, turn palms over at shoulder height and, as you exhale, bring your arms down.

Speaker 1:

And how is this supposed to be helpful with regulating?

Speaker 2:

It helps people connect with their body, and slow movements is a signal to your nervous system to down regulate. So if you're in fight or flight, it's going to start to calm, soothe, soften everything. It's just a simple practice.

Speaker 1:

So it's kind of that idea of don't add to the panic, don't start acting in this panicked way of movement to add to it.

Speaker 2:

Now, let's say you're frozen or shut down, so at that point your nervous system's collapsed, it's gone into despair, numb, disconnected. This is where, like, some quick movement can be helpful. I want to be clear about quick. Still don't go run a marathon when you're in freeze. But what I suggest people do and I do sometimes in sessions with clients is I get them to stand up and almost bounce up and down, shake out their arms and legs slightly, do deep breathing as they do this. Sometimes I even have people raise their arms up over their head. It looks kind of silly, but they're bouncing and shaking.

Speaker 2:

You're just trying to upregulate your nervous system now because it's collapsed, but again, you're not doing this intensely. Find a rhythm and rate that works for you as you do this.

Speaker 1:

And this actually really goes in with dropping into the body, because this is all about the body and somatic as well.

Speaker 2:

The reason I really like somatic movement is some people really struggle connecting to their body, especially if they're really dysregulated at that point. But if you add in some somatic movement it almost gives your brain something to really focus on.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the sensations of the movement, because usually when I'm really dysregulated, my mind is no place and it's not helpful for me and I'm spinning out, and so the more we can step out of that place and into our body the better.

Speaker 2:

Now, if you're interested in exploring somatic movements, we have a free practice as well that I'll put the link down below. It's a whole Qigong practice which includes a lot of somatic movement, deep breathing, that lots of people find really effective. There's a ton of these practices also in our digital course.

Speaker 1:

Yep, all right. Number three lean into pleasant sensations. I think I love this one. Actually I do this a lot myself. I talk about this with a lot of people. One thing I want to say about leaning into pleasant sensations it's not necessarily, it's not avoiding, and so because sometimes it's a bit like, well, we're leaning into something nice over there, we're avoiding what's going on, it's almost giving our nervous system a chance to connect somewhere else or slow down or pair something nice with that dysregulation. So it's acknowledging what we're going through and then leaning in a little bit over here.

Speaker 2:

I imagine often when you're with your horse Casper oh my gosh the tan does equine therapy If anyone's in Calgary. People are like.

Speaker 1:

I do equine therapy if you're in Calgary.

Speaker 2:

People in Germany are like so upset because they're like would be if you're in.

Speaker 1:

Calgary. People in Germany are like so upset because they're like I can't, oh well you know um yeah yeah, I guess that's true, but anyways, what were you gonna say, tim?

Speaker 2:

I was saying this is what I imagine you're doing with your horse. You know, this is, this is the image I have. You're just like savoring everything pleasant, of being in the field, enjoying it right, like it kind of sets all all those factors up for people.

Speaker 1:

Well, and something about leaning into pleasant sensations. It's a bit about titration. So if we're in just like complete dysregulation, or we're stuck in a fight or flight, or we're in that kind of state that we want to shift out, of, it's acknowledging that state that we're in, so that notice name, and becoming aware, spending some time there and then titrating into that pleasant sensation and being curious about that, then maybe going back and forth a little bit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's what it is. It's just like you're giving your nervous system a rest and some people are like I don't feel anything pleasant inside. One thing that happens to people when we've had debilitating, chronic symptoms, chronic dysregulation. I remember this. We have so much relationship with what feels unpleasant within and we have almost no relationship with what feels pleasant, because at any point there's probably a small area that feels pleasant and, if not pleasant, right, because at any point there's probably a small area that feels pleasant and, if not pleasant, neutral. Think about, like the tip of your nose, feet on the ground, sun on your face, just even an area that feels a little bit warm and fuzzy, but like it's learning, like we're teaching our nervous system to gravitate in that direction more often.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that takes practice and it takes effort to do that and we're going to do that right now. I'm going to walk you through that for about a minute or two and we're just going to practice savoring some pleasant sensation. Go ahead and close your eyes, wherever you are, if that's safe to do so, or lower your gaze, and we're just going to do some deep breathing to start and notice that sensation of breathing and how that feels for you. I'm going to give you a few seconds to do that now and we just want to be curious about this sensation of breath and what feels nice about it. We want to lean in here to any sensation we notice with with that breath. Just be curious of what that's like.

Speaker 1:

It can feel good, neutral, warm or fuzzy. Just notice how that feels within your body as you breathe. I want you to take a moment and just be curious here about any other pleasant sensations you might be noticing in your body. For some that might be the touch of your hands on your lap, maybe it's the ground under your feet and just be curious again at what feels nice about these sensations as you breathe. Allow yourself to sink deeper into that, noticing the fall of your body into that, noticing the fall of your body, how that might feel as you sink into that breath. If anything feels nice or good about that, there Again, trying to focus on all the pleasant areas when ready.

Speaker 2:

we're going to open our eyes and come back to present, Just return back to the space that you're in.

Speaker 1:

Very nice, Anne. Hopefully that was a little preview of just how we can kind of slow down and lean into the pleasant sensations of our own bodies and the space around us.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think this one's often always accessible. It'll just take a little bit of practice for people to kind of lean in notice what's taking place, that's pleasant or neutral.

Speaker 1:

And kind of like what you said, that can also be paired with external things around us. So, like Tanner was mentioning, when I'm out with my horse I am noticing the pleasant of being with him and like what that touch might feel, and that pleasant of the external environment around me as well.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, Exactly, it's not just sensation, it can be experience that cultivates that sensation. So noticing that as well. Now on to number four Deep breathing.

Speaker 1:

Deep breathing.

Speaker 2:

Most people have heard this many, many times. This is a common practice in lots of different modalities. Now, even though I know a lot of people know deep breathing, I find a lot of people don't do it. It is such a simple thing to slow our nervous system down, create safety. This is something that I utilize in most of the practices somatic practices I'm doing with clients.

Speaker 2:

Now things about deep breathing, essentially what you want to do here as you're going about your day. If you can in and out through the nose I know some people have nasal issues so that's not possible but if you can in and out through the nose, generally we want to aim for five to seven breaths per minute and here the exhale needs to be longer. It's interesting because if you're already calm, your inhale-exhale can be about the same. But if you're already calm, your inhale exhale can be about the same. But if you're in fight, flight, freeze, shutdown you need the exhale to be about twice as long as the inhale. Now, some people don't have the breathing capacity for that, but that's what we're working towards.

Speaker 2:

So a simple way to do this is with belly breathing, so I'll explain this and people can follow along. So what you're doing is you inhale through the nose, you're first filling your lower abdomen full of air, then your upper abdomen and then your chest, and then, as you exhale, you're first emptying from your chest, then your upper abdomen and then your lower abdomen. So as you inhale you're filling bottom up and as you exhale you're emptying top down, making your exhale a little bit longer each time, just following the cycle of your breathing pattern, breathing, breathing you can almost imagine following your breath, kind of like waves in the ocean. Just take one more deep breath in and out.

Speaker 1:

And you can come back to the room.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it can be really that simple, but that can be really powerful. I think, yeah, and as I was doing, I was thinking, you know we're teaching these things as these separate steps, separate ideas that you can utilize, you could combine them all, yeah. You could do some deep breathing, leaning into pleasant sensations that occur, maybe tying some somatic movements, and then you could really be doing this like drop into the scribe as you're going.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure you can really be doing this drop-in to describe as you're going. Yeah, for sure you can. Number five Visualize a calming person, place or animal.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so this practice really we took from somatic experiencing. It's a really common thing that we can shift to when we're starting to get this regulated throughout our day. Now, what we're doing here is you're doing this visualization, you're picking out, we say, person, place or animal, but it could be a memory or whatever it might be, and you're just leaning into that with all your senses, whatever it might be, and you're just leaning into that with all your senses and really noticing what pleasant sensations occur in your body as you visualize this in your mind.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

This is some of my clients' favorites because it's just so simplistic. It's nice to pick out five or six nostalgic memories because I have these and when I'm feeling dysregulated I know I have. Or six nostalgic memories because I have these and when I'm feeling dysregulated I know I have a safe place to go to.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that is a really great idea, because then it's always, usually always accessible wherever we are and we don't have to go to our kind of pleasant thing.

Speaker 2:

It's just there within our own memory, and so we'll practice this really quick. We're going to have people real relaxed by the end of this episode.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, hopefully.

Speaker 2:

Hopefully, so you can close your eyes, lower your gaze and I want you to begin to visualize a person, place, animal or memory that brings about a sense of ease, calmness or lightness. Once you pick something out, you're leaning into it with all your senses Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell Just really bringing this memory change in your body. Just take one more deep breath in and out.

Speaker 1:

And you can come back to the room. So yeah, we hope these all were helpful and kind of different ways of regulating that you can play around with and explore.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm going to be using these a lot for the next three days with our kids.

Speaker 1:

You know what?

Speaker 2:

I'll be directing you to use these as well, tanner, don't worry'll be reminding you directing you this way lean into pleasant, lean into great uh, you know, blessing and a curse of having a partner that's a therapist, yeah, because they are a blessing. I'd say then a curse yeah's true, I'll give you that. What about me. I'm a therapist.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you're definitely not the calming person I visualize when I use that skill. I'm just saying it's not you that I'm imagining what about playful.

Speaker 2:

I guess, I got the playful thing going on yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know it's my horse that I.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, casper the horse, I can't compete with the horse.

Speaker 1:

No no.

Speaker 2:

But I want people to play around with these. All five of these may not fit for everyone. Yeah, that's totally okay. That's why we went through five options that you can explore and find what works for you. Now, if you like this episode, we have so many nervous system regulation practices, emotion-focused practices, brain retraining practices in our digital course.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So if people want to get access to hours of education and over 60 somatic practices, we'll put the link down below and you can check it out and go sign up there. So thank you everyone for listening.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening.

Speaker 2:

And we will talk to you next week.

Speaker 1:

Talk to you next week. Thanks for listening. For more free content, check out the links for our YouTube channel, instagram and Facebook accounts in the episode description.

Speaker 2:

We wish you all healing.