This blog aims to deepen your understanding of healing, offering professional knowledge in an accessible and insightful way. Here, we explore nervous system regulation and the bottom-up approach in trauma-informed therapy, shedding light on the body’s role in healing and how transpersonal psychotherapy works beyond the cognitive mind.

Understanding the Nervous System in Healing
The nervous system is the foundation of our experience. It governs our responses to the world, dictates our ability to feel safe or threatened, and plays a crucial role in healing from trauma. Most traditional therapy approaches have focused on a top-down model, working primarily with cognition, language, and rational understanding. However, emerging research highlights the necessity of engaging the body in healing - what is known as the bottom-up approach - to fully process trauma and restore balance.
Types of Nervous System Responses
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is responsible for regulating our physiological and emotional states. It consists of two main branches:
The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): Activates the fight-or-flight response when we perceive danger, increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS): Helps the body return to a state of calm and restoration through the relaxation response.
These two branches operate in dynamic balance, but chronic trauma and stress can dysregulate this system, leaving individuals stuck in hyperarousal (anxiety, panic, hypervigilance) or hypo-arousal (numbness, dissociation, shutdown).
The Fight-Flight-Freeze-Fawn Response
When we experience stress or trauma, our nervous system reacts through instinctual survival responses:
Fight: Reacting with aggression or resistance.
Flight: Avoiding the situation, seeking escape.
Freeze: Becoming immobilized, shutting down.
Fawn: Prioritizing appeasement and people-pleasing to maintain safety.
Unprocessed trauma can leave people stuck in these patterns, making nervous system regulation essential for breaking free and reclaiming inner balance.
Ergotrophic and Tropotrophic States: Understanding Arousal and Shutdown
Two fundamental physiological states regulate our reactions to stress and healing:
The Ergotrophic System (linked to the sympathetic nervous system) governs activation, arousal, and high-energy responses. It is engaged during fight-or-flight.
The Tropotrophic System (linked to the parasympathetic nervous system) is responsible for relaxation, repair, and restoration. It fosters states of deep healing and safety.
Trauma survivors often struggle with dysregulation - either being trapped in hyperarousal (constant anxiety, panic, overactivity) or stuck in shutdown (depression, disconnection, fatigue). Healing involves learning to regulate between these states, moving from a hyperactive or collapsed nervous system toward a balanced, responsive state.
Embodiment, Felt Sense, and the Healing Process
Healing trauma is not just about processing memories intellectually; it is about re-establishing safety in the body. Many individuals unconsciously live in a state of disembodiment, where they are disconnected from their physical sensations and emotional signals.
One of the key therapeutic tools in nervous system regulation is felt sense, a concept from somatic therapy that refers to the deep, intuitive awareness of bodily sensations. By tuning into the body, individuals can track and process emotions as they arise, rather than suppressing them.
The Vagus Nerve and the Neuroscience of Trauma
A crucial player in nervous system regulation is the vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve connecting the brain to the heart, lungs, and digestive system. It plays a primary role in social engagement, relaxation, and emotional regulation.
The Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 1995) explains how the vagus nerve influences our ability to shift between safety, alertness, and shutdown. Strengthening vagal tone through breathwork, meditation, movement, and connection can significantly aid in trauma recovery.
The Bottom-Up Approach in Therapy: Why We Need the Body in Healing
Unlike traditional top-down methods that focus on thoughts and language, bottom-up therapy begins with the body and unconscious processes. Trauma is stored not just in the mind but in the nervous system, muscles, and biofield.
Transpersonal psychotherapy integrates somatic awareness, breathwork, movement, and energy healing, working with unconscious sensations and emotions to bring them into awareness. This approach allows deep transformation by accessing realms of experience that the cognitive mind alone cannot reach.
Practical Tools for Nervous System Regulation
Healing from stress and trauma requires practices that directly engage the body and the nervous system. Some effective methods include:
Breathwork: Slow, deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation.
Meditation and Mindfulness: Helps track bodily sensations and reduce stress.
Yoga and Movement: Supports embodiment, energy flow, and vagal nerve activation.
Grounding Techniques: Walking barefoot, engaging the senses, or using weighted blankets to restore a sense of presence.
Cold Exposure & Humming: Stimulates the vagus nerve, enhancing emotional resilience.
Sound Healing and Energy Therapy: Realigns the biofield, supporting emotional and spiritual well-being.
The Transpersonal Approach: Healing Beyond the Mind
Transpersonal psychotherapy goes beyond cognitive work, integrating the wisdom of the body, unconscious states, and altered states of consciousness. Practices such as dreamwork, visualization, and guided journeys help individuals access deep-seated trauma and intuitive healing pathways.
By incorporating the unconscious and somatic experiences, transpersonal therapy fosters a holistic healing process, connecting individuals with their inner resources, spiritual dimensions, and deeper layers of awareness.
Reclaiming Balance Through Nervous System Regulation
Healing is not just about understanding our pain - it is about learning how to regulate our system to find safety, resilience, and balance. Trauma-informed therapy is shifting towards a more embodied, integrative approach that honours the wisdom of the body, nervous system, and unconscious healing processes.
By embracing nervous system regulation, embodiment, and transpersonal tools, we can rewire our responses, reconnect with our essence, and reclaim the joy of being fully present in life.
References:
Porges, S. W. (1995). Polyvagal Theory and the Neuroscience of Safety and Connection.
Levine, P. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
Ogden, P. & Fisher, J. (2015). Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment. Norton & Company.
Siegel, D. (2010). The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician’s Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration. Norton & Company.
Porges, S. W. (2017). The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe. Norton & Company.
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