How To Regulate Your Nervous System With Meditation
Hey, it's Josh here. In this blog, I’m going to show you how to regulate your nervous system with meditation.
This is actually dedicated to my little sister who is pregnant.
She’s just through her first trimester and starting to have hormonal changes, stress levels rising, and a lot of unknowns that come with the pregnancy transition.
A lot of women going through pregnancy or motherhood transitions experience health anxiety. But this isn’t isolated to that.
If you struggle with overthinking, anxiety, or the physical symptoms that come with that, the problem is you have a chronically dysregulated nervous system.
In this post, I’m going to talk about the most proven, scientifically backed way to regulate your nervous system: meditation.
First, let’s clear this up.
When I talk about meditation, I’m not talking about guided meditation apps. I’m not talking about guided meditation videos on YouTube. I’m not talking about general breathing exercises.
I classify all of those as passive meditation.
What I’m talking about is active silent meditation.
If you’ve tried meditation and it hasn’t worked, it’s likely because you’ve used it passively.
You’ve tried to use meditation to fix a problem.
You’ve done it for relaxation, but you haven’t learned the skill.
If you learned how to do it properly, you wouldn’t be having these issues anymore.
Meditation doesn’t work when you use it as escapism.
It doesn’t work when you’re trying to get an outcome or get rid of a feeling.
Meditation is not about getting out of your problems. It’s about going into them.
Here’s the paradox: when you go into them, you can go through them.
The skill is learning how to sit with your thoughts and emotions without reacting to them.
What happens when you start:
Silent meditation is just sitting down and being still with yourself.
When you first start, it’s normal to experience heightened emotions, lots of thoughts, and mental noise.
You close your eyes and it feels frustrating.
Thoughts come up: “I’m not doing it properly.” or “Am I doing it right?”
You feel agitation. Irritability. Maybe anxiety.
You need to tame the monkey. You are the monkey.
Say to yourself: “I don’t care what thoughts I have. I don’t care what feelings I have in my body. I’m sitting here for the next 10 minutes.”
That’s it.
Sit there and allow yourself to be present with what you’re experiencing without changing it.
Don’t create a story about how you’re doing it wrong. Don’t create a story about how you’re broken.
See the story. Observe it. Be aware of it without getting entangled in it.
That’s the practice.
You won’t be perfect at it. But practice makes perfect.
The routine
When clients work with me, this is one of the first things I implement.
10 to 15 minutes a day. Every day. For at least 30 days. Ideally up to 90.
If you miss a day, it’s not a big deal. But aim for consistency. Around 80% of days.
Do it first thing in the morning.
Set a timer.
Sit down.
Do the 10 minutes.
If you feel calm at the end, stay longer.
My 4 pillars of meditation
I teach 4 pillars:
- Breathing.
- Listening.
- Feeling.
- The imagination.
1. Breathing
Breathing is about going into your body.
You’re not using the breath to escape what you’re feeling. If your intention is to escape or change something, it won’t work.
That’s why breathing exercises fail for many people because the belief underneath is “I need to escape this feeling.”
Breathing is about inhaling through the nose, into the belly, opening the diaphragm, and breathing into discomfort.
2. Listening
You’ll start to hear things... external sounds and internal thoughts.
Instead of attaching a story to what you hear, just let it be sound.
You breathe to become present in your body.
You listen to become present in your experience.
3. Feeling
This is where most people struggle.
You might feel hot. Cold. Itchy. Irritated. Anxious. Frustrated.
Your tendency will be to react. To change something. To escape.
Instead, sit and feel.
If there are ants biting you, move. But you get the point.
It’s learning to feel without reacting.
This is crucial for anxiety. When you get in touch with your feelings instead of fighting them, everything changes.
4. The Imagination
People think meditation means stopping thoughts.
I don’t teach that.
You don’t need to stop thoughts. You need a better relationship with them.
Instead of fighting your thoughts, learn to direct them.
When you’re present, you can choose what to imagine. You can guide the direction of your mind instead of being controlled by it.
All of this develops through meditation.
Why anxiety feels so intense
When you’re anxious, your amygdala is firing off a threat response.
You perceive danger in the world or in your body, even when there may not be a real threat.
You feel heart palpitations and immediately think something is wrong.
You need a doctor. Something is broken.
It’s not necessarily the sensation that’s the problem. It’s your reaction to it.
You feel something in your body. Then you create a story about it.
That’s the amygdala overreacting.
If you learn to feel properly, without reacting, you’ll notice the sensation dissolves.
I’ve heard everything: dizziness, vertigo, DPDR, sweating, gut issues, face flushing, heart racing.
These sensations get worse when you attach negative beliefs to them.
They get better when you feel them without creating a mental story.
Here’s what happens:
- The amygdala fires.
- You perceive threat.
- You create mental stories.
- You react emotionally.
You’re operating from the survival center instead of the prefrontal cortex, the rational, conscious part of the brain.
When you fight sensations, they intensify.
When you accept them, they dissolve.
But this is a trained skill.
If your nervous system is already disregulated, you can’t fix it in the middle of a panic spike.
That’s why prevention matters.
Why morning meditation changes everything
10 to 15 minutes in the morning (breathing, listening, feeling, imagination) strengthens the prefrontal cortex.
You change neural pathways.
You change brain chemistry.
You build regulation before stress hits.
That’s how you regulate your nervous system with meditation.
The 30-Day Commitment
If this resonates, commit to 30 days.
Wake up. Wash your face. Have water. Sit down somewhere comfortable.
Set a timer.
Place your hands in your lap.
Sit cross-legged or however you’re comfortable.
Breathe through your nose into your belly.
Listen internally and externally.
Notice thoughts without reacting.
Feel sensations without changing them.
Around the 10-minute mark, check in with your body.
You may notice it feels calmer.
More regulated.
Dropped down a couple of notches.
Don’t chase that feeling. Just notice it.
Your thoughts change.
Your feelings change.
Everything is temporary.
When you observe that, you find safety in it.
You can’t control every outcome. But you can watch it.
Awareness creates safety.
Safety creates calm.
At the end of meditation, use your imagination positively.
Think of things you’re grateful for.
Tell yourself: “I feel safe in my body.”
Imagine yourself calm and present.
You can journal after:
- “Today, I’m going to feel whatever arises.”
- “Today, I let go of controlling outcomes.”
- “Today, I trust the unknown.”
Small shifts make a big difference.
Do it for 30 days.
Don’t aim for perfection. Aim for consistency.
Practice makes perfect.
The more you apply yourself, the more coherence you create between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.
More coherence in the brain leads to more balance in the mind and body.
That’s how you regulate your nervous system with meditation.
If you have any questions, comment on the Youtube video at the top of this blog and I'll respond in the comments.
With Optimism,
Josh
P.S. If you'd like to see if a private consult with me would be the right next step for you, watch the 10-min explainer video showing how I can help.
There's a button to book a free 30-minute call with me below the video.
During that call we can discuss your goals and challenges, I'll outline a plan for you and if it is appropriate, I'll give you an invitation to work with me.