How to Regulate Your Nervous System for Stress & Anxiety | Peter Levine | Ten Percent Happier 

Such a great and wonderful and helpful show!! Both the interviewer and interviewee. Your questions, being real and vulnerable in clarifying and also restating... and Steven Levine, just a lovely and beautiful human who is and has been helping the planet for years. It is a continual unfolding process of healing & transforming trauma, understanding and hopefully breaking the cycle of hurting each other.... and replacing with helping each other instead. So simple. and the planet is so much smaller these days. 🙏💕🌏

I would like to share some of the somatic exercises I do that help me feel more in my body and more connected and that have so miraculously enhanced my trauma therapy. 1. Stroke my arms up and down for a few moments. 2. Put one hand on my forehead and the other on my neck for a few seconds. 3. Softly massaging the point below my nose for a few seconds. 4. Rubbing my hands together until I feel some warmth and putting them onto my eyes or cheeks or jaw. 5. Tapping my whole body from feet to head. As I am suffering from trauma based anxiety I also do some exercises to find security in the present moment. For example: 1. Looking around in the room I am in and curiously noticing everything that's there. 2. Concentrating on the sensation of whatever surface my body is sitting or laying on. 3. Moving my spine like it was a water plant and thereby really feeling my spine Besides this and talk therapy I took in all information I could get about the polyvagal theory and about protection strategies that out brain develops unconsciously to protect us from further pain or even from reality. I also do guided TRE (trauma release exercise) on a weekly basis to further understand and regulate my nervous system. Furthermore I journal a lot and I thought back to what I loved when I was young and started doing that again. This is what really helps me - I hope this can be of any help or inspiration. Lots of love ❤

He is giving listeners a SAMPLE of Somatic Therapy rather than just answering a list of questions by the interviewer. Love his work! 😌

Saying „I’m real“ caused a strong tingle in the core of my being.

Sounds & tones are huge for our bodies. Wind chimes. Sound baths...etc etc Healing.

OK, I know this isn't the most important thing shared in this video, but can you IMAGINE having Albert Einstein save your mother's life when you were in the womb? Man! The stuff of legends!!

100% agreed. Regulation of the nervous system is paramount and the crux of the entire issue. If you can find methods to restore regulation, and get the brain to accept parasympathetic activation/ability to relax/release etc... amazing things are possible. The difficulty is convincing the brain that it is indeed safe to reactivate this parasympathetic response... because in order to do that..the brain has to register that it is safe enough to change states. This is why some people have negative responses to certain types of trauma interventions..because the nervous system is rejecting that change. This also explains why certain people do breathwork and feel zero change...or may even feel more anxiety..etc. All individuals that I have worked with that either have physical issues or trauma related issues have a phenomenal disconnect between brain and body.. even at a muscular level. This can most certainly be reprogrammed...but the disconnect is the reflection of the nervous system. The more disconnected.. the more intense the dysregulation and symptoms. Hope this helps anyone who is watched this and has not found the answers they are looking for.

I don’t believe any child gets out of childhood without trauma. Bullies prey on smaller, weaker creatures. Children are the perfect target for the anger of traumatized adults. We all need this.

You have definitely left the world in a better place and I hope we meet in heaven

I am being treated by a wonderful somatic therapist that has created a safe and trusting environment to work through and unearth deep seated trauma as I am also trying to heal from chronic illness. Dr Peter Levine’s and Dr Gabor Mate’s work has been life transforming for me and I owe them a deep level of gratitude for honing a newfound compassion for my painful history of experiences. I wish everyone that could use it an effective and deeply fulfilling healing journey on your personal yet meaningful path 🙏♥️

"it's not about brute force anymore. It's about cooperation." That says it all, ey? So wonderful to hear two thoughtful individuals having a self-reflective, good-faith conversation grounded in substance and service.

Can there be more like this man? God do we need more ! Specially Good Men ❤

Incredible video! Thank you Dan and Peter 👏🏼. And, thank you Peter for being so vulnerable and sharing your story and your truth. So powerful.

This breath has helped heal my past Gastroperios, IBS Abaxiety dizziness constipation, and dizziness. This and meditation and brain training with tapping.Thank you for telling people this because if they would just get into a habit of this it could heal them too! Your body is hoping and waiting for you to tell it that it is safe and this is the bet way. If you yawn or pass gas, you'll know you are doing it right! xo Ava

Peter is a blessing to the world!

I am working on forgiveness: for others who caused me trauma, and myself for taking on shame and guilt for the trauma. Loving oneself unconditionally is key for me.

Peter is such a beautiful human being

The vulnerability here is incredible ❤

I’ve heard it explained it before like, the stuckness of the trauma is not a cerebral, intellectual, cognitive thing - it’s not a puzzle or problem that Mind can solve (e.g. talk therapy). Insight alone might not be impactful. It lives in the body, and many of us are so disconnected, dissociated & almost ignoring or compartmentalizing what’s happening in our bodies. We may not have access to it unless we go and meet it there, which starts with attending, noticing, paying attention. I’ve heard Peter say that the physiological stress response needs to be able to be completed, because it’s sort of stuck frozen from the original experiences, mid-reaction, when it couldn’t resolve.

Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory aligns with this and explains the physiology an science behind this process. He'd be an amazing guest too!

Crazy enough , I had a deep epiphany with some childhood trauma listening to this today . Thank you both for putting this important information. ❤

This breathing exercise is known in yoga circles, recovery groups, and at our local Y. Thought it is common, surprised to hear the interviewer frame it as wierd or fucked up…. Why dumb down the wonderful opportunity to talk with Peter Levine

Thank you Peter for everything what you do. You are saving lives. Thanks ❤

Thank you it works it was a giggle watching how uncomfortable it made the host and how resistant he was to doing this exercise

I have a lot of childhood trauma that a lot of people all around the world have experienced. For example, abuse neglect abandonment. It wasn’t until I lost my partner in front of me in tragic circumstances that I realised that the Trauma and shock that I experienced has affected my body to the point where for a period of time of a about a year I could barely walk. My GP doesn’t understand that it’s all connected and kept sending me for scans with nothing coming back. It wasn’t until I started getting acupuncture, and doing Meditation to calm my nervous system that the chronic pain that I’ve had for four years has begun to subside. This is a brilliant interview and the world needs to be educated on how to severe trauma even from childhood can affect you as an adult physically.. I can’t believe that CPTSD or complex Trauma is not in the DSM five. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this.

The vuuuuu thing works I have tried so many sounds but this technique works really well. Better than the breathe in then out for longer which nearly suffocates me

Yay! Peter Levine! I love this guy! 😊

This is so incredibly important. I can say from my own experience that working with my nervous system has enhanced my talk therapy in a stunning kind of way. I am processing so much trauma in a few months, I never thought this was possible. I can do that because I learned how to regulate my nervous system and find security in the moment as well as feeling true compassion for myself and therefore being able to watch my inner critic and consciously deciding to stop beating myself up. It's truly like a miracle. ❤ Thank you from my heart, dear Peter Levine and Stephen Porges for your most highly valued work.

Insights in no particular order: 1) Peter is one of the most amazing humans alive today and I am so fortunate for his life and work. The sharing of his childhood trauma at the hands of the criminal underworld is shockingly tragic, and yet his transmutation of that energy into Bodhisattvic help for the world is shockingly positive in wonderfully disproportionate measure (for the good)! 2) meditation is only mental until stability is achieved at which point bodily Visualization (Many times with the seeds syllables) is employed as the Higher tantras. I believe that the “west” has inherited a toxic judeo-Christian shadow that the body is “wrong,” “fallen,” “to be disregarded,” etc. This is not present in certain traditions, as evidenced by their acceptance of sexuality, for example (Nor is any of this a strict Dichotomy, West vs East, etc.). 4) It’s well understand in certain eastern esoteric traditions that what is required for a connection beyond the body is an actual physical karmic connection whilst embodied: that criteria was fulfilled between Peter and Einstein. Though not the case here, the same connection is required between master and disciple for instruction in the inner realms, through the gate of death etc. 5) At this point in human evolution, the “scientific“ dismissal of internal states of being and spiritual experiences, etc., is shameful, archaic, and not even on par with exhaustive peer reviewed studies around, for example, near death experiences, meditation, and altered states of being. Peter’s Level of insight that these experiences of imagined or very real things should be honored in children, and implicitly All, is spot on (which one would hope is common sense, yet alas look at our societal dismissals of inner subjective experiences). 6) Peter speaks of psychedelics as though he does not have experience in doing them, respectfully. There is nonlinear, trans-mental (pre annd post), information to be gained from the plants as shamanic cultures have always known. While I do understand the point that it is not necessary to ingest psychedelics to become embodied “past” trauma, the successfully integrated psychedelic experience does have information for the recipient which, but for that experience, might not be encountered via traditional channels through the waking state. How else would I have come to know that I was a toxically anger consumed Native American called the “Skull Crusher,” in a prior life (You can call me a fool, I will remain unconvinced of it)? 7) beggars banquet is a whole vibe indicative of 70s Berkeley I’m from (and live) the Bay Area and this really resonates with me. You can still go over to San Francisco to the Hayes St.Grill where the owner of the Beggars banquet, Patricia Unterman still rules the helm (as of 2018, not sure now). She’s still makin them rich soups at home. I rant, I rave, I’m inspired, I love! ❤️

Dan has come a long way. I’ve learned to accept that tho we’re both journalists, we,re as different as day & night. He’s still growing and evolving as I hope so am I, so are we all!

I didn't know that I've lived in my head and disembodied for decades, until I worked with a somatic experiencing therapist. That was transformative for me and helped me recover from chronic pain and befriend my body. The neuroscientist, Lisa Feldman Barrett says that the body doesn't keep the score. She says the brain keeps the score, the body is the scorecard. I'd love to see you interview her. It would be a fascinating juxtaposition to this interview with Peter Levine.

I have to admit during this breathwork I felt absolutely nothing. I am a childhood abuse survivor and still suffer with anxiety disorder today. But I will keep trying

Years of talk therapy with little benefit, left that therapist for a psychologist who used hypnotherapy, EMDR, and IFS (Internal family systems) and, wow, rapid progress, soò grateful ❤. Talk therapy was the primer, the soil in which EMDR, IFS, and hypno, and breathing to stimulate the vagus nerve were seeded, and I blossomed. Now i'll add the Vu to the breathing. Thank you, dr Levine, for your work and dedication ❤

The last few minutes of the talk really hit me after he showed the photo of himself as a toddler. Mr Levine was quite emotional of how he wants that "child" to be with him when he transcend this world. I have the same notion myself and can relate.

This is amazing thanks. I have ptsd and panic attacks

@Peter Levine had made a difference in my life and I continue to share his "waking the tiger" technique. Thank you, Peter, for your journey and your expertise and faith in your journey.

Wow! I had pain on my left hip and lower back before I started with 10 of the vuuuu out breaths. It works! The pain is 80% better 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽🙏🏽

If the US would sanction the use of psychedelics medicinally then maybe we could GET the help we need under medical supervision. We are so behind the rent of the world!

Beautiful messages. Using his testimony to leave a legacy.

Thanks so much for this. The vuuu is making me cry! Can't stop! Long covid for 2 years, been improving but it feels like it's taking me back to an awful trauma during lockdown when my special needs child had a bad accident and we needed to go to hospital. Was particularly bad due to all the restrictions. I don't usually get upset so this is strange. Thanks for this video.

Meditation practice has many more modalities than just observing one's thoughts. Sensorium type meditation focuses on one's attention in the sensations of the body. It's a ver grounding and healing practice that dislodge unconscious patterns, discomforts and trauma out of the body. During my practice I usually do a "body scan" paying attention without judgment and deeply feeling all that arises, without restrain. It's amazing what bubbles up. I also do this practice during emersive walks in nature. It has helped and healed me more than any talk therapy has ever done. We, as individuals and as society, became disconnected from the feelings emerging from our bodies. We drink them away, we try to find all sorts of scape from feeling any discomfort, by in doing so we also shutdown the healing. The healing is in the feeling. 🙏🤗

Dans interviewing skills are excellent in leading the audience with questions and suggestions to understand what the Doctor is explaining and demonstrating. The mind and body are amazing. ❤😊

Loved this! Thank you for having Peter Levine on. His tips are helping me already.

Such wonderful information. Not to feel crazy when in need asking my family to kind me in the right direction. Many times they are the departed. That connection is intriguing. Yes being open is key Ty gentleman

Thank you so much for these conversations Dan! Love Peter Levine

Somatic Experiencing changed my life, both personally and professionally. Thank you Peter, what a gift to be able to be so gentle and agile in therapy... not enough words.... Your work is reaching far and wide. Gratitude from Namibia...

It's unfortunate that the interviewer tried to intellectualize everything that Mr. Levine was sharing from a depth of presence & experience that far surpassed the thinking mind. I was SO touched & helped by this presentation. The boat story encompassing Einstein's appearance was awesome. Everything Mr. Levine shared was totally believable & people who are in "ascension mode" get this! I've had the same experience of people's doubt drowning out perfectly valid attempts to be helpful-- I can think of some linked to teaching EFT methods. FAR time to recognize that we're moving beyond the 3D to experience the miracles that can easily be experienced by believing. For believing is seeing, and not the other way around in my humble experience! What a beautiful human being this Mr. Levine is-- thanks for having him on your podcast.

Goal accomplished for improving the world.

Its AMAZING when I do the Vuuu, I allow my lips to vibrate and I'm exhaling....it seems to give even MORE POWER to the somatic intensity and intention! MUCH THANKS, for the PEACEFUL feeling it gave me! 1'st time! I definitely will keep using this!😊❤ Exceptional video full of useful information!

Thank you both Dan and Peter. I have done lots of healing in my life because my childhood was filled with trauma on a daily basis. I have worked hard to get to where I am now in my healing process. However I still have this habit of leaving my body. I did the exercise with you did at the beginning of this conversation and I actually fell right into my body sensation. Btw Peter. I only have 2 pics of childhood self. I look at the one where I am about 4 and I say when I can look at that pic and know it is me. Then I will know I have healed my wounds. I'm so much closer now. She is no longer a stranger to me. I can feel we are growing closer and closer the more I heal. Again, thank you. I look forward to reading your book Peter.❤

I come so close to death, several time! what i have experienced is that it so peaceful, it undiscribable...its anazing! i did want to come back, then a very small part of me remembered my chikdren...and i came back. My life is not finished yet!

I always find the best personalities in n people with these panick attacks ! They are the best types to deal with. Most honest, most talented, greatest people and personalities to be real friends and most down to earth, most loyal, most curious and interesting types !!!

I am so grateful to you Dr Levine all your work. You are amazing and have helped me greatly over the years. I only wish there were more like you who spoke about the so called woo woo experiences. I love your honesty it helps us all heal. ❤️💕

Both of you are beautiful human beings. When it was time to say “I am alive” I wept. Not sure why. Trusting for that healing work within. Wow, what a conversation.

Dan, you have a wonderful, deep, and resonant voice! I read your book, and it was great to hear and see you in person!

Thank you for the honest and wonderful conversation ❤

In 2020 I came across NICABM's training about mastering the treatment of trauma. It was here that I found out about treating trauma from the bottom up (i.e. through the body)...Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (Dr. Pat Ogden's work), EMDR, and other somatic modalities changed how I understood my own experiences as well as those of others. I really appreciate this interview! Your willingness to be vulnerable and try out some techniques is awesome! and great questions! Thanks so much for this.

We love you, DAN! You definitely haven't lost your mind!❤

This information is vital for the Human race. Thank you ❤

Thank you for this. The first 30 minutes with the practices are transformative ❤.

Peter thank you soooo much for this gift and thank you for the courage to share. Much much LOVE

Amazing, a professional is speaking exactly what I’m feeling!! THANK YOU.

The body keeps score is a great book that speaks to this.

This information is very valuable to help those of us dealing with anxiety, stress, trauma or physical pain. Thank you Peter for your wonderful work to help humanity. 💐

I M SO GRATEFUL DR PETER LEVIENE SIR . MAY I.PRACTISE AND HEAL RAPIDLY 🙏 ✨️ 😌

So interesting. I love the connection between body and mind.

This video helped me start to climb back out of depression that started a couple of weeks ago when I stopped doing all my self help work. I felt some relief almost instantly. I just got your book on Audible. Thank you so much.

What a beautiful and refreshing podcast.

Much gratitude for Dr. Levine, and now, also for Mr. Harris. I've also felt a downpour of warmth and soothness. Thank you both so much for this!

I love Peter Levine’s work as much as his amazing and beautiful heart. Thank you both for sharing this amazing and life-changing dialogue. ❤

What a brilliant and moving interview 🪷🙏🏻🪷

Thank you for sharing this video! I am so grateful to Dr. Levine! Acting like toddlers or small children is fixing us, and from my perspective, children are way more enlightened than we think, and this is the proof that these weird exercises work! We all knew it internally as babies. Let's cherish the children and their knowledge! ❤

I think enough of us are experienced enough with meditative and breathing practices to be very much in synch with the process. Thanks for adding to my own.

A beautiful and touching dialogue

One of the best enlightening experiences I’ve had in the last year, learning how everything we experience truly forms us.

What a beautiful interview! My goodness. Thank you both so much.

Such a beautiful conversation! Thank you so much for all you have shared, Dr. Levine. 🙏💗 What a hopeful message!

We are very sensitive. Impaired . Neglected emotions. Vagus nervous system 🥰🥰🥰🥰👋👍👍👍👍👍 GUT WRENCHING, HEART- WRENCHING STRESS TENSION for 60 yrs. Or more years. Know ONE TO LISTEN to. 😮😮😢😢 Writing a book of feelings. JUST NOT HEALING. WISH ING TO BE MADE VERY WELL. PRAYERS & BLESSINGS FOR A BETTERMENT LIFESTYLES 😊😊😊😊😊😊 😃🥰🥰🥰👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Thank you. Information makes so much sense of what and how trauma has been stored in my body. Somatic experience and walking meditation gives me hope.

sigh really hard, emptying the lungs (& allowing them to fill) 3xs will reverse the fight-flight reflex. allows a good night's sleep for one thing.

Thank you so much , this is so helpful. I believe you have definitely left the world in a better place than you found it because of the work you have done to help others 🙏🏾

Beautiful! Thank you both!

There was a Dr. Loewen who brought attention to somatic reaction also, using a technique called bio-energetics.

My experience with talk therapy is that repeating the story increases the physical response. Tension increases without recognizing it and releasing it.

I've had chronic pain from bracing since 2 years old,I fell down concrete stairs and was rushed to hospital, I lasted into a coma while they we operating on me and my parents were told I wouldn't make it.lived with trauma ever since,them more traumatic events piled on top and I don't think I worked through any of it,my mum couldn't deal with anyone's emotions but mine in particular she found offensive and told me I had no right to feel anything and that my life was not going to be a happy one,guess it sunk in.

This video just blew into my world n i was convinced u gu

It's really good. Also watch Sadhguru does it for 1 hour 🙏🏻❤️❤️

I totally get this! I wish I could help people in my life get through things, not to mention working on myself. Thank you for this 🙏

This video is a pure gem💎. Many thanks!

Peter Levine 💖💖💖

That was a wonderful authentic conversation. Feels like I have been there.

I love this talk. Thank you both. It’s so insightful. 🙏🏽

This is amazing! Im encouraged and inspired! Thank you so much for showing ys the exercise! No we are not juding you at all! Please continue created great shows! i suffer from anxiety, depression, panic attacks

Wow this is so powerful. Thank you so much for sharing this valuable information. It helped me so much. 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you so much for this interview 💗

Thank you, Dear Dr. Levine. You and Ron K. Changed (I should say saved) my life. ❤

I’m a believer. Thanks for sharing!

Great video however not one mention of how resetting the Vagus nerve can help reduce panic attacks. Please let your viewers no this important part. They will feel sooooooo much relief!!

Loved this...and the authenticity of you both. Thank you ❤

It relieved the gut wrench a bit! ❤