Day 7
Nervous System Mapping (Interactive Exercise)
Awareness: The Window for Change
Your nervous system constantly shifts in response to internal and external stimuli. Some stress responses are obvious, while others are subtle and habitual. Today, you’ll learn to map your nervous system—identifying triggers and patterns.
We’ll also introduce Humming Breath, a direct vagus nerve-stimulating practice that enhances nervous system flexibility, aligns with today’s focus on self-awareness, and provides a calming yet energising breath technique.
By the end of this session, you’ll:
- Meet your Nervous System.
- Become aware of your personal patterns of fight/flight, freeze/fawn, safe/social states.
- Use Humming Breath to regulate your state more effectively.
Nervous System Mapping
Your nervous system operates on a spectrum—shifting between connection, activation, and shutdown. By recognising how you experience these states, you can respond proactively rather than reactively and use breathwork as a tool to manage your state.
Meeting Your Nervous System
Nervous system mapping is a process of meeting your nervous system by identifying, tracking, and understanding how the autonomic nervous system (ANS) responds to internal and external stimuli.
Awareness of Your Unique Signals
It offers a window into recognising your unique nervous system signals in response to each state, whether you are in safe/social (CONNECTED), fight/flight (ACTIVATED), or freeze/fawn (SHUTDOWN) and developing strategies to regulate and retrain your stress response.
Balance
Scientific research has demonstrated that nervous system mapping, particularly when combined with somatic awareness and breathwork, plays a crucial role in neuroplasticity, autonomic flexibility, and emotional resilience, which over time cultivates homeostasis within internal systems (Critchley & Garfinkel, 2017; Khalsa et al., 2018).
Today we will complete Nervous System Mapping Step 1: Recognise Your Signals for each nervous system state.
Once you have completed the course content for today, there is a link to click to take you to the exercise after pressing SUBMIT.
Recognising Your Signals in the Day-to-Day
Awareness
The process of becoming aware of your current nervous system state may happen gradually.
Reflection
You may start to notice, upon reflection at the end of the day, that you were in a certain nervous system state at certain points during your day. By recognising which signals were being communicated through your thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and sensations in the body, you gain deeper self-awareness.
Real-time Awareness
The more you practice this awareness, the more you will begin to notice in real-time what nervous system state you are in.
Breathwork as a Tool
As this happens, you can begin to use breathwork as a tool to guide your nervous system back to a regulated state, reducing the risk of remaining in a dysregulated state over time.g out
Nervous System Health
Combining in-the-moment regulation with routine vagal toning breathwork exercises is where systemic balance and benefits can truly be felt and seen.
Scientific Benefits of Humming Breath
Humming Breath, or Bumble Bee Breath (Bhramari Pranayama), is a vagus nerve-stimulating breathwork technique that promotes relaxation, self-awareness, and emotional balance.
Activates and Tones the Vagus Nerve & Enhances Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Humming stimulates the vagus nerve, improving nervous system regulation (Porges, 2011).
Research shows vagus nerve activation reduces stress and inflammation (Breit et al., 2018).
Boosts Nitric Oxide Production & Oxygenation
Humming increases nitric oxide levels up to 15x, which improves oxygen circulation and reduces inflammation (Lundberg et al., 2003).
Calms the Mind & Enhances Emotional Regulation
The long exhale slows the heart rate, inducing relaxation (Jerath et al., 2006).
Humming activates the prefrontal cortex, improving focus and emotional resilience (Feldman et al., 2017).
Use Humming Breath when feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or emotionally disconnected—it helps to regulate the nervous system .
Day 7 Breathwork
Humming Breath
Bhramari Pranayama, or Bee Breath, is a humming breath practice. It’s named after the black bumblebee in India – in Sanskrit, bhramari means “big black bee.”
This technique is wonderful for calming the mind and toning the vagus nerve, which plays a key role in managing stress and supporting overall health.
By creating a humming sound on the exhale, we stimulate the vagus nerve and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping the body relax and restore balance. Think of it as sending soothing vibrations through your entire nervous system. This technique is also known as the heart-clearing or heart-cleansing practice. and
Key Takeaways
- Nervous system mapping enhances self-awareness, emotional regulation, and resilience.
- Recognising your nervous system signals allows for proactive self-regulation rather than reactive coping.
- Humming Breath, supports nervous system balance.
- Increased nitric oxide levels from humming improve oxygen circulation and lower inflammation, cultivating systemic balance.
- Routine vagal toning breathwork, combined with real-time regulation strategies, improves long-term nervous system flexibility.
- Mapping your nervous system is a crucial first step in rewiring outdated stress responses.
Coming up
Tomorrow, we shift into Breathing Through Fight/Flight, or Freeze/Fawn, introducing Box Breathing. See you tomorrow!
After pressing submit click here to download the Nervous System Mapping Exercise. Either print and complete on the original document or download and write in your own journal or piece of paper, whatever your personal preference is. Keep in a safe place to refer to later in the course.