Nervous System Protocol

ACCESS protocol for nervous system & immune system calibration

BodyTalk ACCESS Protocol:

The ACCESS protocol is a simple yet transformative series of somatic practices that offer support for the nervous system, the immune system, and total body coherence. We start with the cortices practice which brings the sides of the brain in to coherence, then we follow with switching which helps reset a new, responsive baseline for the nervous system. Once the brain is functioning in coherence, and the nervous system is responding with ease, we help the body and the immune system to assimilate resources and create appropriate boundaries by supporting our baseline hydration, and then running a body chemistry balance for the functioning of the immune system and our primary body systems.

Below you’ll find a video introducing each of the four practices, in the order that we do the protocol: Cortices, Switching, Hydration, Body Chemistry. Once you know each step, the whole protocol takes 3-5 minutes tops, and is a great addition to your morning and evening routine. I often recommend doing it in the shower, and then one other time during that day that your body feels most in need of transitional support.

More Nervous System/Stress Tools:

TREMORING PRACTICE:

a great resource for shedding excess nervous system activation and/or for use in times of acute anxiety or activation.

Lie flat on your back (ideally on the ground) and bend your knees with feet flat on ground. Then open your knees like a book/ butterfly wings with soles of feet coming to touch. From this position, lift your hips up in the air for 30-45 seconds, or until you start to feel fatigued. From there you can bring your hips back down to rest on the ground, and you will start to verrryyyyy slowly bring your knees together like you are closing the pages of a book. As you move slowly, you may notice spots where a slight (or big!) tremoring starts to open up somewhere in your body. When you feel a tremor pause and let it move through before returning to the closing of your knees. Keep pausing as your find points of tremoring. You only need to do this for one minute tops, so the goal isn't to release all of the tremoring or even get your knees all the way closed, but rather to simply allow those tremors to move through when you find them. After one minute stretch your legs out long and just let yourself rest for a minute or two to integrate.

EFT TAPPING: Tapping w/ Brad is my go to resource for EFT Tapping support and guided videos. He has an offering for just about anything you could need!

Additional Resources…

  • Magnesium Glycinate: This form of magnesium is highly absorbable and serves to nourish and replenish the nerve lines through out the body. I often share with clients that doing nervous system work without replenishing the “hardware” is kind of like running high voltage energy through frayed wires. Almost everyone could benefit from some magnesium supplementation. I recommend starting with the suggested dosage from this brand and then increasing slowly if it is feeling good. Try to commit to 3-4 weeks of daily use if possible, then often folks can take a break or bring their dosage down. You will know you are at your highest dosage if you start to experience loose stools.

  • Passionflower herbal tincture: Passionflower is nature’s beta blocker, and functions almost identically to many anti-anxiety medications. If you lean toward high anxiety, or are going through especially stressful periods where you could use some support in addition to somatic practice, try working with passionflower in tincture form, or as a tea. Passionflower can create a little bit of drowsiness in some folks, so I recommend trying it for the first time toward the end of the day to see how you react. Many folks find they can use it in low doses throughout the day to take the edge of periods of high anxiety or high demand.