Have you heard the term 'Glimmers?'

What are Glimmers?

The term 'glimmer' is used in Polyvagal theory to describe the micro moments of Ventral Vagal experience, which are often happening all around you in your everyday, and which nourish your nervous system when you learn to notice them.

Let’s look closer at how they nourish your nervous system

When you've spent significant time living with a nervous system sensitised to threat, your body and brain will have adapted to a 'threatening world,’ and be constantly on the lookout for threat, and perceiving threat even when it is not true in your present ‘now’. This keeps your nervous system in a state of dysregulation with limited, if any respite for rest and restoration.

Over time this creates an overwhelmed you! Since there's been no opportunity for your system to ground down into what we call its Ventral state.

Your Ventral state is within your window of tolerance and where you experience yourself as curious, connected to both yourself, others and your environment, empowered and ready to meet your day and engage.

It is not about having to stay ‘calm’ it is about being open and available to respond with choice because your nervous system doesn’t feel under threat and isn’t in survival mode.

With an overwhelmed nervous system it can be hard for your body to remember what being in ventral is like, and to recognise any moments of ventral experience aka ‘Glimmers’.

Glimmers may there happening around you, but since as humans we have a negativity bias, and when you have an overwhelmed nervous system it is primed for ‘the worst,’ you may not notice them.

Learning to notice glimmers through recognising the cues in your body that tell you you’re in a glimmer moment- that ventral state, is what helps builds new neural pathways and increases your capacity to hold the experience of feeling regulated.

Glimmer noticing is one way you can begin to tip the balance from chronic overwhelm, to more time spent in your ventral state, through intentionally looking for glimmers and deepening that moment of ventral experience, you are guiding your nervous system to orient towards more regulation, which overtime, can reset your baseline for how you relate in life.

Do you notice what happens in you that lets you know you’re in a glimmer moment?

What are any sensations, thoughts, emotions that come through for you?

What are some glimmer moments for you?

Some of my glimmer moments include; the scent of jasmine on a summer evening, catching a sunset and the pink skies it creates, when a stranger smiles and there's that micro moment of authentic connection, being surrounded by green leaved trees....the list goes on.

Are you interested in finding out more about how nervous system regulation can support your therapy journey? Click the button below to book your free 15 minute discovery call with me.