Understanding Your Nervous System: Why You React the Way You Do

Let’s dive into some geeky, body-based wisdom 🤩 Your body often speaks before your mind can catch up — that’s your nervous system at work. In this article, we explore the three core states of the autonomic nervous system and how compassionate awareness can bring you back to balance and ease.

First, What Is the Nervous System?

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is your body’s behind-the-scenes regulator — a kind of inner management system. It silently governs heart rate, breathing, digestion, and your sense of alertness or calm.

The ANS operates through three core states:

1.           Fight or Flight (Sympathetic Activation)

2.           Rest and Digest (Parasympathetic – Ventral Vagal)

3.           Freeze or Shutdown (Parasympathetic – Dorsal Vagal)

Let’s explore each in simple, grounded language, and with a little imagination.

1. Fight or Flight – When Your Body Sounds the Alarm

This is your body’s built-in emergency mode. It gets activated when your brain senses a threat.

Imagine you are alone in a jungle and spot a tiger in the distance. Your body tenses, your breath shortens, and your mind races to figure out an escape route. You might even think, “Should’ve gone to that boxing class!” 😅Digestion? Paused. Focus? Laser-sharp.Your nervous system is saying: "Something isn’t safe. Prepare to act."

In everyday life, that “tiger” could be your boss, an overwhelming e-mail inbox, or the pressure to be constantly productive.But the body doesn’t know that these aren’t literal threats. It still prepares you to run or fight. And over time, that chronic activation takes a toll.

2. Rest and Digest – The Grounded, Connected State

This is the state of balance and safety. Here, your body feels open, calm, and socially connected. Digestion flows, breathing deepens, and you’re present with life.

Think: it’s post-dinner, you’re with family, someone brings chai, and laughter moves easily through the room. Your nervous system softens and says: "All is well. You can relax."

This is where the body wants to return: to feel safe, seen, and settled.

3. Freeze or Shutdown – When It’s All Too Much

This state kicks in when your system feels overwhelmed or helpless. It’s like your body presses pause to protect you.

Back in the jungle, the tiger hasn’t gone away. You realize you can’t run, can’t fight — it’s too much. So your body plays its last card: it shuts down. Like an opossum, you freeze. Maybe the tiger won’t notice.

In freeze, your muscles lock and energy builds up inside, stuck. In shutdown, the body collapses inward: muscles go limp, systems slow down. You disconnect, emotionally and physically.

Your nervous system is saying: “This is too much. Let’s numb out.”

The important thing: None of These States Are “Bad”

Every one of these responses is natural. You are not broken: your body is doing what it learned to do to keep you safe.

Trouble begins when we stay stuck in one state too long, especially if we don’t recognise it.

Want to Learn How to Shift Out of Freeze or Fight/Flight?

You don’t have to figure it out alone. Book one of our Courses or work with Brita in a 1:1 Nervous System Consultation to begin the journey back to balance.