Resourcing Your Nervous System – Small Shifts That Create Big Change
Why Resourcing Matters
Your nervous system isn’t just reacting to the present moment. It’s responding through a lifetime of patterned experience. And for many of us, especially women who’ve grown up in environments that prized productivity over presence, a felt sense of safety wasn’t always accessible.
That’s where resourcing comes in.
Resourcing practices are not designed to create a big cathartic release.
They’re not about blowing something wide open or finally “fixing” yourself. Instead, they help your body re-learn what safety feels like — maybe for the first time.
Over time, consistent resourcing gently shapes the nervous system toward greater flexibility, regulation, and resilience. It’s like watering a plant that’s been undernourished: you don’t need to flood it — just keep showing up with what it needs to grow.
What Is Resourcing?
Resourcing practices are tools, movements, and intentional actions that support your nervous system in shifting toward a ventral vagus state which is a state of connection, ease, and grounded presence. They don’t need to be complicated and they are going to look different for everyone - because we are all have nervous systems that are wired differently, so what feels good and supportive for one person might make another person feel much more activated.
They can be:
Bottom-up
Movement-based or sensory-focused, helping the body feel before the mind makes meaning.
Think: walking barefoot, swinging, breathwork, tapping.
Top-down
Mind-led practices that reframe, soothe, or orient.
Think: positive self-talk, prayer, journaling, visualisation.
Preventative
Building your baseline of support before you hit overwhelm.
Think: consistent sleep, nourishing meals, connection, community.
Intervention-based
Used in the moment to complete a stress response or interrupt a trigger loop.
Think: shaking out tension, sighing, grounding exercises
Here are a few nervous system resources to explore when you're feeling stressed, activated, or stuck. Try one at a time. Notice what lands. No need to force anything.
Sing, hum, or sigh out loud
Gentle rhythmic movement – rocking, swaying, intuitive dancing
Active movement – hiking, HIIT, digging in the garden, carrying something heavy
Mindful creativity – colouring, knitting, making pasta from scratch, pottery
Basic check-in – are you hydrated, fed, rested, and supported by your space?
No resource is too small. If it brings your breath down into your belly, helps your shoulders soften, or reconnects you to yourself, it counts.
Tiny moments of resourcing add up.They shape your capacity. They build your safety blueprint. They whisper to your body: you are allowed to rest, to feel, to be here.
So start small. Choose one practice that feels accessible today. Let it be enough.