Nervous system safety and oppression - why safe spaces are vital

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What is the nervous system? 

Let’s start basic. What is our nervous system? When people are talking about nervous system regulation, which has become quite a buzz phrase these days, what actually is that? The key word here is system. A system is a group of organs that work together to perform a function or achieve a goal. So, think circulatory system (keeps our blood flowing), or the endocrine system (regulates our hormones) - all our systems work together to keep us alive. 

The nervous system, then, is a group of organs that work together to respond to changes in our environment, in order to keep us safe and alive. That environment can be external, so if a tiger bursts into the room, my sensory receptors (my eyes, my ears, etc) are picking up that information, sending it to my brain, and my brain is going to tell my body to get the hell out of there. My nervous system is responding to a change in my environment in order to keep me safe and alive. We also need to be able to respond to changes in our internal environment - so noticing that I’m hungry and I need to feed myself. This internal and external distinction is actually really important. What we are talking about here is: exteroception and interoception. 

Exteroception is looking out into your external environment and responding. 

Interoception is looking into your internal environment and responding. 

So back to that buzz phrase, nervous system regulation. That’s what exteroception and interoception are doing for us. Our nervous system is picking up information all the time and sending through our nerves to our brain, where the information is registered, and a response is sent back out that causes us to act. 

Both these functions are entirely necessary for our survival. You might think exteroception is more important, because surely it’s more important not to get eaten by a tiger than it is to notice if I need a granola bar, right? But actually, interoception is the only way we can stay alive when we are born. We can’t get up and make lunch, we are fully reliant on our ability to monitor our own internal states, and to communicate those needs to someone else who can respond. So, if I’m a baby, I’m monitoring that I need a nappy change, to be fed, that I’ve been injured, and I’m communicating that to someone who hopefully notices, and responds. So interoception is absolutely necessary to our survival. 

Interoception + Exteroception as a combo

So we’ve established that these two nervous system functions are entirely necessary for our survival, but how do they work as a combo?

Let’s step back into that hypothetical then for a moment where a tiger is bursting through the door. We aren’t going to be sat here thinking ‘ooh I’m a bit hungry’. We’re getting out of there. We might trip and fall as we’re escaping, but we aren’t going to notice that pain - we’re fully engaging that nervous system response of exteroception. We can’t intero and exterocept at the same time, and if we could, it wouldn’t make sense for us to do so. We don’t need to be thinking about how much we’ve hurt our ankle in our escape, we just need to be escaping. 

Now lets say you escape the tiger, animal control comes and deals with the situation, no one is hurt. When you wake up tomorrow, you’re hopefully able to engage with your interoceptive function again. You might notice you feel a bit tired, you feel a bit stressed still, you’re hungry and ready for breakfast. Our nervous system allows us to switch between the two as we need to. 

Now that is an extreme version of exteroceptive function, but this happens all the time. We step into the road and don’t see a car, we step back really fast. That’s relying on our exteroceptive function. We notice our boss is angry, we maybe avoid them the rest of the day. We notice a scary looking person late at night, we cross the road. 

What happens when you engage exteroception more than interoception?

Ok, so going back to the tiger example. Let's switch it up. So, you engage your exteroception function, you respond to the tiger by escaping the situation, and you head into town to be around people. What if, say, you notice there are actually a good few tigers in town, and no one is doing anything about it? What happens if you start a new job, and you notice that there are tigers at your workplace, employed in positions of power? What happens if the tiger lives in your house, or works out at your gym? What happens if you see tigers hurting people that look like you all over your social media feed? You don’t know if or when a tiger might want to hurt you, but there are definitely a lot more tigers than you’d want. Your safety now relies on your ability to exterocept really well, to be turned outwards and really switched on to what’s going on. We might find that we are engaging in exteroception more than we are engaging in interoception. We might functionally ‘switch off’ our interoceptive functions in large portions of our lives. 

Now, of course we can’t actually ‘switch it off’, but if we can’t interocept while we are exterocepting - which we can’t - then we are functionally unable to be in relationship to ourselves. We lose the ability to interocept, to feel our feelings fully, to respond to our own needs in a way that would keep us safe and well. 

What ‘switched off’ interoception might look like: 

• Distress at not being able to feel properly - destructive behaviours in order to feel something 

• Distress at the experience of an interoceptive experience - numbing, addictions, compulsive behaviours that distract or numb the experience 

• Lack or loss of information about ourselves might result in a lack of self identity, or a feeling we don’t really know ourselves very well, or can’t predict what our experiences might be. 

For people who belong to marginalised groups, why might we ‘switch off interoception’? 

It’s hopefully not a shock to share that people who belong to minority groups are statistically more likely to experience various mental diagnoses. That’s a stat that gets used against minority groups by some not very enlightened people. But looking at what we’ve just learned, that makes sense, right? 

If we live in a world where we are literally less safe, it makes sense that we are exterocepting more often than people who are statistically safer. When we are entering a new space we are more likely to be doing research beforehand to make sure it will be safe, we are more likely to be on edge when we go there for the first time, more likely to be searching for clues from new people that they are safe. 

So if we are trying to find healing, relaxation, or wellness, in spaces where we are exterocepting, what might that look like? Are we able to learn new nervous system patterns? Are we able to fully relax? Are we able to heal in the way we could if we truly felt safe? 

Great, sounds depressing, now what?

How do we go about finding healing then? What do we do about all of this? If you relate to the above, if you feel like you don’t know how to heal or change, let’s walk through a few things you might do. 

1) Start to really notice when you feel safe and when you don’t. 

You can do this by taking a benchmark - what is a space you definitely know that you are safe? How does it feel in your body? Can you then compare how you feel in other spaces? Can you compare how you feel around particular people?

2) Make a decision logically about what spaces/people are safe. 

3) Look at where your logic and your feelings match, and where they don’t. 

If you have done your due diligence and you’ve decided a space is safe, then you might start to engage in an interoceptive practice that helps you move away from hypervigilance. If you know you are in a space that does not feel safe, then know your nervous system is doing exactly what it needs to be doing. 

4) Seek out more safety

Invest in finding places where you can let your guard down, in people who you feel safe around. Build up safety in as many areas of your life as you can. 

5) Tap into your interoception at a pace that works for you (in a safe place!)

This might look like a trauma sensitive yoga practice that teaches interoceptive practice in a non coercive way - so that’s inviting you to explore interoception at your own pace, in an environment where you are accepted and celebrated for your identity. 

It might look like a lot of other things - dance, roller skating, arts and crafts, cooking. Whatever works for you, find a practice where you can get in touch with your body in a way that feels safe. 

This is really a tiny peek behind the curtain of our nervous system, there’s so much that goes into keeping us safe and alive, and the more we understand, the more we can work with it and not against it.