Orienting

Orienting is a tool that we can use to bring ourselves into the present moment and let our bodies know that we are safe.⁣

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An orienting response is one that is hard-wired in us as humans and as mammals. ⁣

An easy way to make sense of this concept is to think of a group of deer or impala. When they hear a twig snap in the distance, you see all of their heads turn toward the noise.⁣

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This is the orienting response which allows them to know whether a perceived threat is real or imaginary.⁣

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When our bodies are starting to go into a state of heightened nervousness, one way to let our systems know that there is no real perceived threat is by slowly looking around our space at various items that surround us.⁣

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This helps our bodies and minds to know we are safe and brings us back to the present.⁣

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Sometimes our “fight, flight, freeze, appease” limbic part of our brain can be reacting to a trigger consciously or unconsciously. By utilizing exercises like these we communicate to our bodies that a twig may just in fact be a twig, and that we are currently not in danger.⁣

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Have you used orienting to help your nervous system before? Is this a concept you are familiar with?⁣ Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Yours in wellness and healing,

Angela

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