PVT 10: Calibrating Practices for Your Nervous System: Finding Balance and Building Resilience

Calibration is a vital concept for supporting your nervous system, particularly for those navigating health challenges. By tuning your practices—whether it’s yoga, breathwork, or day-to-day activities—to meet your current needs, you can help shift toward a ventral vagal state, the state of safety and connection. Here’s how to embrace calibration as a cornerstone of resilience and self-care.

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What Is Calibration?

Calibration is the art of adapting your practices to align with your body’s needs in the moment. It’s about listening to your nervous system and adjusting your approach to avoid overwhelm while still building resilience. This is especially important for individuals with health challenges, where the balance between nourishment and challenge can make all the difference.

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Adapting Your Practice: Flexibility is Key

Yoga and movement practices are an excellent example of calibration in action. On some days, your practice might look like:

• Yoga from bed
• Yoga from a chair
• Gentle seated stretches on a mat
• Standing poses or movements in the park
• Visualising yoga when physical movement isn’t possible

Movements can range from tiny, fairy-like steps to larger, more expansive ones. The key is learning to tune in to what your body and nervous system are telling you in the moment.

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Listening to Your Nervous System

Your body’s signals guide your calibration. What you need may not always align with what you want. For example, you might feel the desire to engage in intense activity, but your nervous system may be asking for something slower and more restorative. Small, gradual steps often provide the foundation for building resilience and avoiding setbacks.

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Avoiding the Injuries of Enthusiasm

Overenthusiasm can lead to miscalibration, especially when your nervous system is still fragile. While movement is beneficial, pushing too hard can result in setbacks or overwhelm. Instead, focus on incremental progress that aligns with your body’s capacity.

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Calibrating Breathwork and Resilience Practices

Even widely promoted practices like ice baths, which are said to build resilience, may not suit everyone. For those with a sensitive nervous system, jumping straight into a cold ice bath could trigger sympathetic overload or dorsal shutdown. A more calibrated approach might be a splash of cold water on your face. Similarly, for breathwork, simply noticing your breath might be a more gentle starting point.

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The Power of Slowness

For those with health challenges, slowness and pauses hold profound value. Moving slowly and allowing for moments of stillness can create space for the nervous system to recover and build resilience. This is where the magic of healing and self-care often happens.

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Embracing Calibration as Self-Care

Calibration is not about avoiding challenges but about tailoring them to fit your current state. Here are some steps to incorporate calibration into your daily life:

1. Tune In: Pay attention to your body’s signals and nervous system cues.
2. Adapt Your Activities: Adjust the intensity, duration, and type of movement or practice based on how you feel.
3. Start Small: Build resilience gradually through small, nourishing steps.
4. Celebrate Your Progress: Acknowledge the positive shifts, no matter how small they may seem.

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Finding Your Own Scale of Calibration

Your journey is unique, and so is your scale of calibration. It might look like visualizing yoga one day, gentle chair stretches the next, or engaging in more dynamic movement when you feel ready. There is no “right” or “wrong”—only what works for you in the moment.

Remember, calibration is not a rigid process but a dynamic and compassionate practice. By embracing it, you can foster resilience, nourish your nervous system, and move toward greater well-being at your own pace.