A Practical Guide to Developing Nervous System Flexibility
Developing nervous system flexibility is necessary in order to enhance the ability to manage high demand situations as well as to optimally learn and grow.
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In order to optimally pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance a required attribute is the capacity to manage high demand situations while maintaining alignment with passion and purpose and performing to the limits of our ability. This requires the ability to maintain ventral vagal stabilized states in the face of high consequence experiences and to recover back to these states as efficiently as possible following dysregulation into sympathetic and dorsal vagal states. In essence, this describes the attribute of nervous system flexibility, also referred to as resilience.
Past articles have described in detail the significance and need for flexibility and resilience within the nervous system. While the terms resilience and flexibility are often interchanged, the remainder of this discussion will use flexibility as the characteristic described above in which our nervous system is able to better maintain a grounded state in response to high demand situations and, when dysregulation inevitably occurs, shift back into a ventral vagal state as efficiently as possible.
While the importance of nervous system flexibility has been described in past articles, a brief overview is helpful. When we develop the ability to enhance this attribute, we are able to spend more of our time in a ventral vagal state. Even when shifts into sympathetic and dorsal vagal states occur, with greater levels of flexibility, we are able to more efficiently shift back into a grounded state. In addition, the training process for increasing nervous system flexibility also results in an increased efficiency of the vagal break with its associated benefits in better modulating our response to cues of uncertainty and risk. The overall result is an increased ability to manage high demand situations without becoming stuck as often in sympathetic or dorsal vagal states. This directly leads to an increased likelihood of performing to our greatest potential.
Ultimately the pursuit of sustainable high performance, as well as health and wellbeing, is based on the foundation of a flexible nervous system. This acknowledgement emphasizes the importance of training this attribute. The process for such skill development will be the focus of the remainder of the article.
The principles of training and increasing the flexibility of our nervous system are similar to those required for training each of the skills within the polyvagal informed toolbox. In order to best develop these attributes, it is necessary to intentionally and deliberately expose ourselves to situations that cause shifts in our biology towards sympathetic and dorsal vagal states. This is accomplished through exposure to high demand situations. It should be emphasized that the specifics of such scenarios are different amongst each individual and may also vary within the same individual at different times and across the different pathways. This reflects the dynamic nature of our nervous system and the resulting variation in our mind-based and body-based skills and strategies.
The cues and situations to which we deliberately expose ourselves in order to create shifts in biological state towards sympathetic or dorsal vagal states should include each of the three pathways: internal, external, and relational. In order to maximally develop nervous system flexibility, it is important to train these skills across each of these pathways as these represent the three categories of cues to which we are exposed across all aspects of life.
Following exposure to high demand situations, the next principle in this process is deliberate recovery back to a ventral vagal state. This is accomplished through implementation of the mind-based and body-based skills and strategies which comprise the polyvagal informed toolbox. The concept is that by returning back to ventral vagal stabilization, we avoid becoming stuck in sympathetic and dorsal vagal states. In addition we are training the capacity of our nervous system to efficiently shift back to grounded states from sympathetic and dorsal vagal states, which is a defining characteristic of nervous system flexibility.
The third principle to be applied to this understanding is the importance of progressively increasing the intensity of the high demand situations to which we exposure ourselves in order to further enhance nervous system flexibility. As we develop this capability, the nature of the situations and cues which illicit a shift in biological state will change. Typically, higher demand scenarios will be needed in order to continue to improve the flexibility of our nervous system as our capacity increases in response to training. By incrementally increasing the degree of demand to which we expose ourselves, we develop the capability to manage higher consequence situations while simultaneously maintain ventral vagal stabilization, thereby optimizing performance during these, and similar, scenarios.
It can also be recognized that this process of exposure to high demand situations that cause a shift in biology parallels the widely acknowledged recommendation for learning and growth through performance of difficult tasks. It has been well established that in order to truly grow in our capacities and capabilities as well as to learn new skills, it is essential that we expose ourselves to situations and activities with which we are not entirely comfortable. The lack of comfort is an indicator that we are pushing our current limits, thereby allowing for growth and acquisition of new skills. This aligns with the polyvagal informed practice of enhancing nervous system flexibility described above.
By increasing nervous system flexibility, we are able to better manage progressively more demanding situations and activities without becoming stuck in sympathetic and dorsal vagal states. This inherently promotes health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. As can be appreciated from this discussion, this process forms the biological basis for growth and skill improvement. This results from the recognition that ventral vagal stabilization is the foundation for learning and growth. This understanding also aligns strongly and forms the basis for the well recognized growth mindset.
The importance and benefit to training nervous system flexibility can be readily appreciated from this discussion. In order to pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance a flexible nervous system is an essential attribute. This also forms a foundational component of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete. To learn more, including about polyvagal informed coaching for healthcare professionals and others in high demand domains, visit www.darindavidson.com.
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REFERENCES
Allison, M. The Play Zone: A Neurophysiological Approach to our Highest Performance. https://theplayzone.com.
Porges SW, Porges S. Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us. New York: W.W. Norton & Company; 2023.