Here’s a discussion of nervous system dysregulation — what it is and how to heal it.
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Who is Betsy Leighton?
I’m a writer, blogger, and healer dedicated to helping individuals reconnect with their innate peace and wholeness by healing nervous system dysregulation. My personal experience with chronic illness called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) shapes my work, and my content offers tools to empower those with chronic illness to improve their well-being and take charge of their health.
I created the Sacred Self-Healing Method and am a trained and certified Safe and Sound Protocol provider, an author, blogger, and A Course in Miracles Teacher. I hold a Master of Divinity in Spiritual Counseling and am a trained spiritual mentor, with certificates in sound healing, aromatherapy, nutrition, and Sacred Deathcare. I offer a self-study certificate program in the Sacred Self-Healing Method, provide spiritual counseling and coaching, courses, and supported subscriptions for the Safe and Sound Protocol.
What is MCAS?
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a chronic condition that affects all organ systems. It can cause severe, disabling symptoms every day, including potentially fatal anaphylaxis. MCAS often occurs with other chronic conditions like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Managing MCAS is challenging because many healthcare providers are unaware of it, and diagnostic tests can be unreliable. Treatments include antihistamines and mast cell stabilizers, as well as avoiding triggers. Check out this post on managing MCAS.
What is nervous system dysregulation?
Nervous system dysregulation occurs when the autonomic nervous system becomes stuck in patterns of chronic stress, threat, or shutdown rather than fluidly shifting between states of activation and rest. According to Polyvagal Theory, the nervous system continuously scans for safety or danger and responds through distinct pathways that influence heart rate, digestion, immunity, and emotional regulation. When the system perceives an ongoing threat—whether physical or psychological—it may remain locked in a fight-or-flight or collapse state, even after danger has passed. Over time, this loss of flexibility can manifest as anxiety, fatigue, pain, digestive issues, sensory sensitivity, or difficulty feeling calm and connected.
Many factors can drive nervous system dysregulation, including concussions and other brain injuries that disrupt neural signaling, as well as psychological trauma that conditions the body to expect danger. Infections and chronic inflammation can sensitize neural pathways. At the same time, toxic exposures—such as mold, heavy metals, pesticides, or other environmental toxins—can directly irritate the nervous system and impair detoxification pathways. Non-native electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are also thought by some researchers and clinicians to act as a low-grade, constant stressor, especially in already sensitive systems, further reducing the nervous system’s capacity to self-regulate and limbic system dysfunction.
Healing nervous system dysregulation often requires more than cognitive strategies alone and instead focuses on restoring a felt sense of safety in the body. Bottom-up approaches that work directly with the nervous system—such as breathwork, gentle movement, sound-based therapies, and safe sensory input—can help reestablish regulation. One example is the Safe and Sound Protocol, a listening program designed to support vagal tone and social engagement pathways through filtered sound. By gradually signaling safety to the nervous system, these approaches can help rebuild resilience, improve physiological balance, and allow the body to move out of chronic survival mode and back toward regulation and healing.
Why nervous system regulation is essential for your well-being
The autonomic nervous system regulates essential bodily functions. When you feel in danger, this system kicks in to protect you by engaging the “fight/flight” or “freeze” responses. You may be able to identify when your autonomic nervous system is in a defensive state if you notice difficulties with:
- Sleep
- Concentration
- Mental clarity
- Breathing
- Digestion
- Social connection
The autonomic nervous system (ANS)
A regulated nervous system is essential for your physical and psychological health and well-being. The central nervous system includes your brain and spinal cord, while the peripheral nervous system consists of your somatic and autonomic nervous systems.
The primary function of the autonomic nervous system is to keep you alive, especially during stress responses. It controls vital bodily processes such as heart rate, breathing, and digestion. The ANS operates below conscious awareness, meaning it functions without you having to think about it. It helps regulate key body functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion.
The vagus nerve is crucial in the ANS, transmitting signals between the brain and the body. When functioning correctly, your nervous system responds to stress at a balanced level, efficiently using internal resources to maintain homeostasis. However, chronic stress can alter how the nervous system manages your bodily functions and can reduce your ability to engage socially and think clearly.
The sympathetic, “mobilized” state is one of activation and action. This state drives your defensive response, preparing you to fight or flee. In this condition, you are on high alert, which can make it harder to connect with others and can limit access to higher cognitive functions. Nevertheless, the sympathetic state can have positive qualities.
The dorsal vagal, parasympathetic “immobilized” state is characterized by shutdown or collapse, a last-resort survival response when the sympathetic response is ineffective. In this state, you feel disconnected and collapsed, often experiencing hopelessness and helplessness. The dorsal vagus also has healing qualities, helping you restore internal resources and recover from illness, injury, trauma, or other stressors.
Although each state has distinct qualities, they exist along a continuum. You often experience blended states, where responses are influenced by more than one state. These include experiences of play, freeze, and stillness. Play can emerge when sympathetic energy is balanced by ventral energy. Freeze results from the interaction of the sympathetic and dorsal systems. Stillness can be experienced when both ventral and dorsal energies are active and
proportional.
Connecting with the vagus nerve
The autonomic nervous system depends on a crucial nerve for your overall health: the vagus nerve. This is the longest cranial nerve, extending from the brainstem to the stomach. It’s often called the mind-body connector. The vagus nerve transmits signals between the brain and the body, helping you respond to changes within and outside your body.
The vagus nerve also relays the state of your autonomic nervous system to the brain. Stephen Porges, Ph.D., explains this through his Polyvagal Theory, which is widely recognized as a significant scientific breakthrough. It has transformed your understanding of how the body reacts to stress and trauma. Polyvagal Theory offers a framework for understanding how the autonomic nervous system functions today.
Brain retraining
Brains are plastic, meaning that they can be changed, and you can learn new ways of approaching things at any age.
How to heal nervous system dysregulation
Healing nervous system dysregulation often begins with bottom-up strategies, which work directly with the body and brainstem rather than through conscious thought. These approaches focus on restoring a sense of safety at the physiological level, helping the autonomic nervous system shift out of chronic fight-or-flight or shutdown. Somatic practices, gentle breathwork, vagus-nerve–supportive movement, and sound-based interventions are common examples. One well-known bottom-up tool is the Safe and Sound Protocol, a listening program designed to support vagal tone and social engagement pathways by delivering filtered sound that signals safety to the nervous system. These methods are especially effective when the nervous system is too overwhelmed to respond to logic, insight, or positive thinking alone. Bottom-up (or body-based) nervous system retraining approaches include mindfulness practices, deep breathing, relaxation techniques, and the Safe and Sound Protocol. Bottom-up healing is based on the understanding that trauma is stored not just in the mind, but in the nervous system and body tissues, in sensations, reflexes, and patterns of tension or shutdown.
In contrast, top-down healing strategies work through conscious awareness, meaning-making, and intentional mental and emotional processes. Top-down trauma healing is an approach that begins with the mind and cognitive processes—helping you understand, reframe, and make sense of traumatic experiences through thinking, reflection, and language. It’s called “top-down” because it works from the higher brain (the cortex) downward to influence the brain’s emotional and body-based systems (the limbic system and brainstem). In the top-down trauma healing approach, understanding and insight help the nervous system regulate and make sense of what happened. My favorite type of top-down trauma healing is using forgiveness practice, as done in the novel co-creative therapy I developed called the Sacred Self-Healing Method. By addressing belief systems, unresolved emotional material, and the way meaning is assigned to experiences, top-down methods help calm the nervous system by changing how the brain interprets safety, identity, and control.
The most effective healing often occurs when bottom-up and top-down approaches are combined, rather than used in isolation. Bottom-up strategies create the physiological safety needed for the brain to be receptive, while top-down strategies help integrate experiences, release stored emotional patterns, and prevent the nervous system from re-entering survival states. Together, they restore flexibility—the hallmark of a regulated nervous system—allowing the body to move smoothly between rest, engagement, and activation as needed. This integrated approach honors both the body’s need for safety and the mind’s need for meaning, creating a more complete and sustainable path to nervous system healing.
Combining top-down and bottom-up healing strategies
A successful approach to nervous system dysregulation involves a combination of bottom-up (body-based or somatic) and top-down (cognitive) techniques. I offer two powerful, complementary tools to guide your journey to peace and well-being: the Sacred Self-Healing Method and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP).
My book, Living in the Light: Healing with Forgiveness, Sound, and Light, discusses how combining forgiveness, sound (through nervous system retraining using the Safe and Sound Protocol), and light (through entraining your circadian rhythm with the energy of the sun) facilitates healing. New AAP subscribers receive a free copy of the book (while supplies last).
These combined approaches can help you heal from chronic illness, emotional and physical pain, and a feeling of separation from your source, ultimately leading to trauma recovery and peace through forgiveness.
- Safe and Sound Protocol: This is a bottom-up listening therapy designed to heal nervous system dysregulation, concussions, and trauma.
- Sacred Self-Healing Method: This is a top-down mind retraining therapy focused on helping you come to peace with the circumstances of your life.
In essence, top-down healing helps you understand your trauma, while bottom-up healing helps your body feel safe again.
In my trauma-healing practice, I teach clients how to use the Safe and Sound Protocol (bottom-up) and my Sacred Self-Healing Method (top-down) to address both ends of the issue.
Related posts
This post covers the best tools for healing nervous system dysregulation.
This post covers symptoms of dysautonomia, including temperature dysregulation and flushing.
This post covers nervous system retraining.
The bucket theory
The bucket theory simplifies understanding symptom reactions with MCAS. Imagine your body as an empty bucket you don’t want to overflow. Reactions to various stimuli fill the histamine bucket at different rates, forming the total histamine level (how full your bucket is). More histamine means more symptoms. By managing triggers, reducing exposures, and taking medications and supplements, you can control your bucket’s level.
Know your typical symptom progression
Understanding your symptom progression during a flare is key to developing your rescue plan. This post discusses how to recognize symptom progression so you can be prepared to address them.
Get my free ebook, symptom log, and meal plan!
Want a tool to easily track your symptoms?
Check out these circadian health tools!
I’m an affiliate with Bon Charge, a company that makes tools for circadian health, and you can receive 15% off your order with my coupon code BETSYL.
Bon Charge offers tools such as yellow– and red-tone blue-blocking glasses, red light therapy devices, PEMF mats, infrared saunas, and EMF-blocking products.
Sign up for the SSP!
I’ve found the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) to be the most helpful bottom-up healing strategy if your nervous system has been overloaded with toxic exposures, including mold or non-native EMFs, chronic infections, concussions, stress, or trauma. The SSP is a passive listening therapy based on Polyvagal Theory that helps heal nervous system dysregulation. Many people with MCAS and other chronic conditions have nervous system dysregulation stemming from infections, toxic exposures, concussions, and trauma. The SSP is an easy-to-use app that lets you listen to specially filtered music for 30 minutes each day as part of a 5-hour cycle. Studies show the SSP has a profound effect on mental health and chronic conditions. Here’s a short podcast describing the Safe and Sound Protocol.
You can sign up for the SSP here!
Heal your mind!
While the SSP is a bottom-up, somatic therapy for healing the nervous system, the Sacred Self-Healing Method I offer is a top-down nervous system-healing modality that focuses on cognition, attention, perception, and emotion, using the mind’s higher functions. The SSP and the Sacred Self-Healing Method complement each other and together produce lasting results. Here’s a short podcast on my self-healing practice.
I provide one-on-one in-person and remote chronic illness and caregiver coaching, as well as Sacred Self-Healing Sessions based on the Sacred Self-Healing Method, a proven, novel co-creative healing modality detailed in my Books.
Order my books!
Here’s a short podcast highlighting my five books.
My latest book, Living In The Light: Healing with Forgiveness, Sound, and Light, is all about the tools that have been most helpful for me to heal: forgiveness, sound, through nervous system retraining using the Safe and Sound Protocol, and light, through entraining my circadian rhythm with the energy of the sun. Living In The Light is available here!
Rocks and Roots chronicles my solo backpacking journey on the Superior Hiking Trail and my efforts to overcome nervous system dysregulation, gut dysbiosis, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome symptoms to complete the 328-mile hike successfully.
The Sacred Self-Healing Method ebook is available here and in most ebook retailers!
The Sacred Self-Healing Workbook is available for purchase here!
Betsy’s first book, Sacred Self-Healing: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness, is available here
Companion Recordings
The companion audio recordings of chants, guided meditations, and sound healing demonstrations that accompany the Sacred Self-Healing Method are available for free on my YouTube channel here
What do you think?
I’d love to have your reply below!
Disclaimer
The preceding material does not constitute medical advice. This information is for information purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, cure, or treatment.
