Nervous System Game
The one minute Nervous System game
Set a timer for 60 seconds...
Now imagine your favorite place or a place you’ve dreamed of going - use all 5 senses to imagine this place - how does it smell, feel, taste, sound, and look like?
Now notice what your body feels like?
Your heart rate?
Did your breath quicker or slower?
How does your face feel, your shoulders, your belly?
Now do this exercise one more time.
This time, imagine you are about to walk out the door for an important meeting and can’t find your phone?
Gauge what your body is feeling now.
Did your heart rate quicken?
Did any body part shift or tighten?
How does your jaw feel?
Did you know:
The nervous system is responsible for initiating all impulses that become actions in the body.
Your sympathetic nervous system is in charge of actions, and when feeling overwhelmed or stressed, this is the part of the nervous system that’s taken over.
Our emotions correspond with the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system.
You probably started to feel the sympathetic nervous system kick into gear on the second part of the exercises and experienced the emotion that goes with it!
This also causes the body to secrete stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline on an ongoing basis that drains our reserves (this is really only meant for occasional use when we need protection).
Not only can this not feel good emotionally or in the body, but this can also be a major depletion of energy.