You cannot regulate what you do not recognize. Your nervous system is the operating system of your emotions, thoughts, and reactions. If you’re unaware of its shifts, you are moving through life on autopilot. But when you learn to map your nervous system in real time, you become the master of your own state. You command the shift.
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is constantly shifting between states based on stress levels, past experiences, and environmental triggers. These shifts are often subconscious, meaning you react before you even realize what’s happening.
But here’s the truth: your body is always speaking to you. If you know how to read its signals, you can stop emotional spirals before they start and shift back into your power faster than ever before.
🌀 Stops emotional spirals before they take over by recognizing early stress signals.
✨ Gives you clarity on the exact tools needed to regulate in each state.
🏔️ Helps track long-term progress—seeing how your nervous system becomes more flexible and resilient.
❤️🔥 Strengthens self-awareness and emotional intelligence, putting you in control of your reactions.
Understanding Your Nervous System
1 • The Three Nervous System States
2 • Ventral Vagal (Safe &Connected)
3 • Sympathetic (Fight-or-Flight)
4 • Dorsal Vagal (Freeze/Shutdown)
Mastering Your Nervous System
1 • Identify Your Nervous System States
2 • Decode Your Triggers
3 • Fight-or-Flight/Sympathetic Plan
4 • Freeze/Dorsal Shutdown Plan
5 • Ventral Vagal/Calm & Social Plan
Understanding Your Nervous System
1 • The Three Nervous System States
🫂 Ventral Vagal (Safe & Social):
Feeling calm, connected, and engaged. You are present, grounded, and in flow.
💥 Sympathetic (Fight-or-Flight):
Feeling anxious, restless, or angry. Energy is high, but it’s unregulated—your body is preparing to fight or escape.
🧊 Dorsal Vagal (Freeze/Shutdown):
Feeling numb, disconnected, exhausted, or overwhelmed. The system has gone into power-saving mode, shutting down to protect you from stress.power-saving mode, shutting down to protect you from stress.
🔎 When you can identify your state, you can shift it.
The key is tracking patterns and learning how to return to safety faster.
2 • Ventral Vagal (Safe & Social)
3 • Sympathetic (Fight-or-Flight)
4 • Dorsal Vagal (Freeze/Shutdown)
Mastering Your Nervous System
1 • Identify Your Nervous System States
🔎 Pause throughout the day and ask:
“Do I feel calm, anxious, or shut down right now?”
“Is my body tense, restless, or numb?”
📝 Write down what you notice. The more you track, the more patterns you reveal.
Totem Animal Reflection
Many indigenous cultures (Mayan, Lakota, Amazonian tribes) use animal totems to reflect emotional states.
🦌 Ventral Vagal (Calm & Social):
You are the Deer—soft, aware, and present.
🐆 Sympathetic (Fight-or-Flight):
You are the Jaguar—powerful but restless, ready to react.
🐢 Dorsal Vagal (Freeze/Shutdown):
You are the Turtle—retreating inward, slow, in need of warmth.
Visualize your state as one of these animals, then decide if you need to shift or embrace it.
2 • Decode Your Triggers
💥 What moves you from calm to stressed?
(Certain people, places, thoughts?)
🪷 What helps you shift back into calm?
(Breath work, movement, grounding?)
Write these down—patterns will emerge.
Fire & Water Balance Ritual
Many tribal traditions believe fire (energy, movement) and water (calm, flow) must stay balanced.
🔥 If you’re anxious (too much fire):
Visualize standing under a waterfall, letting the energy soften.
🧊 If you’re shut down (too much water, frozen state):
Picture a sacred fire warming your body, bringing life back into you.
3 • Fight-or-Flight/Sympathetic Plan
🌬️ Use breath work & grounding:
Slow, deep inhales and feet on the earth.
🎶 Humming & Chanting:
Place a hand on your heart and hum deeply. Many cultures use humming or chanting to reset the vagus nerve.
✨ Affirm:
"I am safe. My power is controlled, not chaotic."
4 • Freeze/Dorsal Shutdown Plan
🕺💃 Use movement & social engagement:
Shake your hands, jump lightly, call a trusted person.
🪘 Sacred Stomping:
Stomp your feet rhythmically—tribal dances use drumming and foot-stomping to reactivate life force energy.
✨ Affirm:
"I am waking up. I am coming back into my body."
5 • Ventral Vagal/Calm & Social Plan
❤️🔥 Strengthen it with gratitude & mindfulness:
Place a hand on your heart, take in your surroundings fully.
💬 Gratitude Mantra/Prayer:
Whisper a gratitude prayer to the elements:
"Earth, thank you for holding me.
"Water, thank you for flowing through me."
"Fire, thank you for my strength."
Air, thank you for my breath."
✨ Affirm:
"I am in my power. I expand from this place of calm."
My words within are soft and true,
A voice of love that guides me through.
I hold my heart in tender grace,
Creating within a healing space.
What nervous system state do I live in most often—calm, fight, flight, freeze, or fawn?
💥 You are no longer a prisoner to unconscious reactions. You see the patterns. You know the shifts. You own your state.
Next time stress rises, you will recognize it, not become it.
Pause. Map your state. Command the shift. This is how you take full control of your nervous system—and your life.
How you speak to yourself becomes your inner sanctuary—or your inner battlefield. Tend to your inner tone like sacred soil. Speak love inward. You are always listening, even when no one else is.