Staying Alive

Picture Credit: Lakshmi Ambady

We are alive because our nervous system keeps us in perpetual motion by -breathing , sensing and responding.Our nervous system exists to aid our bodes to produce physiological modifications to ensure our survival. In other words, you have a nervous system because it’s the most efficient way to stay alive. At our innermost core of the language of our nervous system the incessant question always is- Am I safe or Am I unsafe? And everything it makes you do be it- from falling in love to buying a house or even determining hormone ratios in the body, it’s always directed by this salient priority of keeping you alive and safe. A masterpiece of evolutionary design, our nervous system (which includes our brain) has been shaped over millions of years not only to ensure human survival but also to feel and connect.

But long before our pre- frontal cortex lit up efficiently and before complex thought patterns, ancient man needed to escape predators, react instantaneously to danger and hence also run, hide, fight or simply flee. The body needed a way to stay alive before the mind could think. Our ancestors had to move towards food and shelter and away from threat. The nervous system turned the body into a living expression of adaptation and survival. Muscle response and reflex, coordination of limbs, precision in movement are all authorized by the nervous system. This was then. Today as modern man we are faced with a complexity. Our nervous system is not all that fully and appropriately endowed for modern day stressors. We could fight a sabre tooth tiger then but can’t handle a simple rejection on social media now. Yes! As humans, our nervous systems are still designed to survive lions and hyena and jungles but not the internet. When we pay overdue mobile phone bills, the nervous system will deploy the same survival response it did to escape a mammoth elephant 20,000 years ago. It’s a baffling mismatch, but a response that should be carried out by running, now gets suppressed and stagnates in the body as you sit at home in front of your computer paying bills online. So, we as modern man are still using our Stone Age nervous system to find our way in a world that moves at godspeed, inevitably leading to exacerbated stress in the body. And so, if anytime your nervous system senses a threat whether it’s an irritating message ping sound or a hungry lion wanting to eat you or a mean mother-in-law or some other unresolved trauma, it will deploy the same stress survival response.

This is because your nervous system wants you alive. To keep you safe, breathing, beating the odds and to keep you surviving. Simply, your nervous system loves you deeply. It can make your heart race, shut you down, numb you or make you scream and yell and abuse... it’s your most loyal protector. It’s trying to say- “something hurt you once. I won’t let it happen again to you.”

Somatic Experiencing is not about fixing your nervous system. It is about listening to it. Befriending it. Trusting it. And allowing yourself to learn that the danger no longer exists. Somatic Experiencing is about returning to life. It is about an endeavour to stay present. To stay alive.