I’ve had a rough week of anxiety and insomnia.
Something upsetting happened, and I’m working to get my nervous system back to normal. My fibromyalgia has also been set off because it’s all connected.
Pain + anxiety + insomnia = a very miserable person.
My therapist gave me a new tool at the end of last week to help de-escalate my anxiety. It’s easy to use, and it helps, so I wanted to share it with my readers.
I hope you find this technique useful.
It’s better to use this tool before you get too anxious. That way you can nip it in the bud before things get bad. Thankfully, I know how to do it next time when my anxiety first starts to flare.
It’s a simple technique called Vergence that anyone can do.
What is Vergence?
Put simply, Vergence is a Brainspotting therapy technique that helps de-escalate feelings of anxiety, panic, and overwhelm. It helps calm the nervous system using controlled eye movements.
When our sympathetic nervous system gets activated, adrenaline is released, and the fight, flight, or fawn response is triggered. Our heart rate increases, we breathe more shallow, and our anxiety skyrockets.
The parasympathetic nervous system contains our vagus nerve. Here’s where it gets a little tricky. The vagus nerve is divided into 2 parts: the ventral vagal pathway and the dorsal vagal pathway.
The ventral vagal pathway responds to cues of safety, and allows us to experience feelings of comfort and connection. We feel calm and breathe deeply. We feel grounded and want to engage with others.
In contrast, the dorsal vagal pathway responds to cues of extreme danger, and activates the freeze response. We may experience feeling frozen, spaced out, or dissociated. We may have thoughts of self-hatred, and want to isolate, or disappear.
Well, guess what? Our eyes are connected to our vagus nerve.
When we intentionally stimulate the vagus nerve when our body is experiencing sympathetic arousal, our nervous system will calm down.
This is what the Vergence technique does—directly stimulates the vagus nerve through eye movement.
The technique
To practice Vergence, follow these steps.
Hold your finger or a pen in front of your nose 4 to 6 inches and focus your gaze to the tip of the object for two to five seconds.
Shift your gaze anywhere between one and ten feet in front of the tip of your finger or pen.
Hold that focus for two to five seconds.
Refocus your gaze on your finger or pen for two to five seconds.
Continue to shift your focus from the tip of the object to the further point for approximately 20 to 60 seconds, and notice how your body calms down.
This technique will help reset your nervous system. It’s simple, and you can do it anywhere. It worked for me. Give it a try!
I hope it works as well for you. Let me know about your experience.
Take care!
Great tips, Lisa! I will have to try this. Thank you.