Feeling Stuck? Simple Practices for Nervous System Regulation

We’ve all had those moments where we feel stuck. Your mind races, your body feels tense, and no matter how much you try to ‘think positive’ or push past the feelings, you stay frozen in the same spot.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. More often than not, what you’re experiencing isn’t a lack of willpower, it’s your nervous system doing its job, which is trying to protect you.

As an Intuitive Psychology Coach and healer, I work with clients every day who are navigating this. The good news is there are simple practices that can help you regulate your nervous system in the moment, as well as deeper, long-term ways to support your healing.

What Is Nervous System Dysregulation?

Your nervous system is like your body’s internal alarm system. It continually scans your environment for cues of safety and danger. When it senses threat, even if it’s just emotional stress, it reacts by switching into survival mode.

That can show up in different ways:

Fight: irritability or anger
Freeze: feeling stuck or shut down
Fawn: people-pleasing and over-giving

This is all completely natural. However, when your nervous system gets stuck in these states, even long after the threat or danger is gone, it leaves you feeling drained, disconnected, and unable to move forward. That’s what we call dysregulation.

How Nervous System Dysregulation Can Show Up

It doesn’t always look dramatic. In fact, many people live with signs of dysregulation without realising what’s happening. Some common ways it shows up are:

• Constant anxiety or looping thoughts
  
• Feeling ‘shut down’, numb, or disconnected from yourself
  
• Trouble sleeping or being able to fully relax
  
• Overreacting to small things such as snapping, crying, or withdrawing quickly
  
• Feeling unsafe in your own body, even when nothing’s ‘wrong’
  
• Difficulty focusing, planning, or making decisions

If you recognise yourself here, you’re not alone. These are signs that your body is asking for support.

Life Events That Can Lead to Dysregulation

Dysregulation can be caused by one overwhelming event, or it can be because of a slow drip of long-term stress. Common contributors include:

• Trauma, grief, or loss
  
• Childhood experiences of instability or lack of safety
  
• Long-term stress in high-pressure jobs or caregiving roles
  
• Living in survival mode for extended periods
  
• Lack of supportive, safe relationships

You don’t need to have gone through something big to feel dysregulated. It can show up after subtle, ongoing stressors that keep your body on high alert. 

How to Identify Nervous System Dysregulation in Yourself

Start by gently asking yourself:

• Do I often feel on edge, even when life seems fine?
  
• Do I shut down or avoid situations that feel overwhelming?
  
• Do I struggle to connect with my emotions or body?
  
• Do I find it hard to bounce back from stress?
  

These aren’t questions to judge yourself with, they’re invitations to take notice of the root causes of nervous system dysregulation. 

What You Can Do in the Short Term

Think of these as first aid for your nervous system, simple practices to use in the moment when you feel stuck or overwhelmed:

1. Box Breathing: Inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four, hold for four. This gentle technique signals safety to the body.
   
2. Grounding with Your Senses: Notice five things you see, four you feel, three you hear, two you smell, and one that you taste. This brings you away back to the present.
   
3. Gentle Movement: Walking, stretching, or shaking out tension helps reduce stress.
   
4. Self-Soothing Touch: Place a hand on your heart, hug your arms around yourself, or rest your hands on your belly. Touch communicates calm to the nervous system.
   
5. Safe Soundtrack:  Create a playlist of music that feels grounding, comforting, or uplifting. Rhythm and sounds can re-settle your body.
   

What You Can Do in the Long Term

While short-term practices can help you in the moment, long-term healing can create safety and balance over time. Techniques to support nervous system regulation include:

• Consistent practices like meditation, journaling, or yoga that strengthen your mind-body connection
  
• Healing modalities such as Reiki, meditation, or sound therapy to help reset your system on a deeper level
  
• Therapeutic and coaching support to work through the root causes and patterns that keep you stuck
  
• Building safe relationships and environments where your nervous system can finally relax and trust

Healing your nervous system is not about a quick fix, it’s an ongoing process. The more consistent, compassionate support you have, the more powerful the results.

The Role of Coaching & Healing Work

In my coaching sessions, nervous system regulation is often where we begin. Because when your body feels safe, your mind becomes more open, creative, and resilient.

Through intuitive psychology coaching, we explore both the science and the self, using tools to help you reconnect with your body, reframe limiting patterns, and find grounded ways to move forward.

Other modalities, like Reiki, sound therapy, and meditation, can support nervous system regulation by offering your body a reset, creating space for deep rest and integration.

Feeling stuck doesn’t mean you’re failing. More often, it means your nervous system is asking for care and attention.

With simple practices in the short term, and steady support in the long term, you can create balance, clarity, and a deeper sense of safety within yourself.

And you don’t have to do it alone. Coaching offers a safe, supportive space for you to begin that process, so that you can move from stuck to steady, and from survival to growth.