The Nervous System Glossary collects the nervous-system and regulation terms used in Somatic Realignment Therapy, defined so clients can understand the state-based language in their protocols.
Glossary
A
- 📝Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) — the part of the nervous system that runs automatic functions like heart rate, breathing, and stress response.
C
- 📝Co-Regulation — the settling that happens through calm, attuned presence with another person.
D
- 📝Dorsal Vagal State — a shut-down or numb state at the withdrawal end of the nervous system's range.
- 📝Downregulation — shifting toward the calming, parasympathetic side of the nervous system.
F
- 📝Fight / Flight / Freeze — the body's core survival responses to perceived threat.
H
- 📝Homeostasis — the body's tendency to return to a balanced internal state.
- 📝HPA Axis — the hormonal stress-response pathway linking the brain and adrenal glands.
I
- 📝Interoception — the ability to sense internal states such as heartbeat, tension, and breath; see also 🏷️#somatic-frameworks-lexicon.
N
- 📝Nervous-System Regulation — helping the body move out of stress-response and into a settled state.
- 📝Neuroplasticity — the nervous system's capacity to change with repeated experience.
P
- 📝Parasympathetic Nervous System — the "rest and digest" branch that supports calm and recovery.
- 📝Polyvagal Theory — a model describing how the vagus nerve may shape states of safety, mobilization, and shutdown.
- 📝Proprioception — the sense of where the body is in space; see also 🏷️#anatomy-lexicon.
S
- 📝Sympathetic Nervous System — the "fight or flight" branch that mobilizes energy.
V
- 📝Vagal Tone — the major nerve of the calming branch; 📝vagal tone marks how readily the body settles after stress.
- 📝Ventral Vagal State — the socially engaged, safe-and-settled state at the connection end of the range.
W
- 📝Window of Tolerance — the range in which sensation or emotion can be felt without overwhelm or shutdown; see also 🏷️#somatic-frameworks-lexicon.