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46. Strategies to De-Stress Your Nervous System | Before, during, and after intense events

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Apr 19, 2021

The podcast discusses strategies for managing stressful events, protective strategies during and after traumatic events, the physiology of PTSD, specific techniques to downregulate the nervous system, and finding equanimity. The guest, Ryan Cheney, shares insights on self-care during mass casualty events and exercises for processing difficult cases. They explore the emotional range of individuals involved in the Las Vegas mass casualty event and the importance of training, resilience, breath work, mindfulness, relationships, and playtime in building resilience.

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Introduction

00:00 • 6min

Understanding Trauma and Building Resilience

05:30 • 3min

Building Resilience and Finding Meaning

08:34 • 2min

Understanding the Connection Between Trauma and the Nervous System

10:40 • 3min

Strategies to De-Stress the Nervous System

13:28 • 23min

Letting Go: Managing Trauma and Stress in Healthcare Professions

36:43 • 9min

We are often witness to, or sometimes in the middle of, traumatic events. Whether it’s a mass casualty or cumulative stress over time, our nervous system can get stuck in an upregulated state. In this episode, we break down: training to handle stressful events, protective strategies to employ during and after traumatic events, the physiology of PTSD, specific techniques to downregulate your nervous system and getting to a place of equanimity.

Guest Bio: Ryan Cheney is a mental health therapist, breath work, and performance coach based in Bend Oregon. Our guest on Stimulus Episode 5: The Art of Breathing, Ryan is a thought leader in the field of wellness for health care professions. You can contact him here for further questions and consultations.

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For full show notes of this episode and all sorts of other goodies, visit our podcast website

We discuss:

The Las Vegas mass casualty and the wide range of emotional responses of those who were involved [03:50];
Trauma is different for every nervous system -What’s traumatic for one person may not be for another [05:50];
Training to handle stressful events in a better way [08:15];
What’s happening physiologically when you have PTSD after a traumatic event [10:40];
Strategies that are protective of your nervous system DURING a traumatic event [14:20];
The importance of PRE-TRAINING so that you have tools to down-regulate your nervous system in the moment [19:20];
Protective, positive strategies that can be used AFTER a traumatic event to reduce the risk of PTSD [25:50];
The role movement plays in down-regulation and why dosage matters [31:40];
The benefit of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and other body-based therapies for processing acute trauma [35:10];
The process of intentionally letting go, or “cutting strings”, when something is weighing heavily on you (such as a client, patient, etc.) [37:30];
And more.