Tick-Tock

All natural systems pendulate. They swing between poles, like the pendulum of a grandfather clock.

Jung called this phenomenon “enantiodromia”—the tendency for things to change into their opposites. Jung’s views on the topic were influenced by the ancient Greeks, including Plato, who said “Everything arises in this way, opposites from their opposites." Early Chinese philosophers came to a similar conclusion, framing it as “Yin becoming Yang, Yang becoming Yin.”

Our bodies are no exception to this rule. Inhale becomes exhale becomes inhale. Lub becomes dub becomes lub. Fullness becomes hunger becomes fullness.

So too with our nervous systems: They alternate between sympathetic and parasympathetic states, between activation (an “up-wave”) and deactivation (a “down-wave”).

“Activation” (the up-wave) encompasses all our activity in the world, from waking up to getting dressed to eating breakfast to going outside. “Deactivation” (the down-wave) represents the Yin to arousal’s Yang; this is our capacity to rest digest, to sleep and dream, to “down-shift” our experience. Here’s a visual model of the waves of the nervous system, continually rising and settling:

Now, our nervous systems also pendulate between “connection” and “protection” modes. Let’s start with connection mode.

In connection mode, we feel safely engaged with life. Here, we’re operating within a “window of tolerance,” where things feel manageable. In the window of tolerance, we have access to our resources—resources such as clear thinking, creativity, compassion, playfulness, and the capacity to rest and restore.

When we’re in connection mode, activation (our up-waves) and deactivation (our down-waves) alternate without getting too high or too low, which makes life feel manageable. You can see these waves occurring within the window of tolerance here:

Sometimes, however, dangers arise, and we need to leave of connection mode. We move out of our window of tolerance, and we move into protection mode.

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“Protection mode” refers to a variety of survival states that are availability to us in order to navigate threat and danger. It includes states of hyper-arousal (a big up-wave, extending beyond the upper threshold of our window of tolerance), such as the fight-or-flight response:

Protection mode also includes states of hypo-arousal (a big down-wave, crossing the window’s lower threshold), where we feel collapsed, dissociated, numb:

(Note that protection mode also includes the freeze response, which is a combination of up-ness and down-ness.)

So, the nervous system moves us between connection and protection, inside and outside the window of tolerance. If we feel safe, we stay in connection. If a survival response is required, we shift into protection mode.

But what if the nervous system continually perceives danger?

In this case, the pendulum gets stuck in protection. The nervous system swings into survival mode and it doesn’t swing back. It continues to operate as if our lives are being threatened, even when we’re objectively safe. This is trauma.

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In trauma, the nervous system has “forgotten” how to shift back into connection mode. This can lead to chronically feeling “too up” (hyper-aroused, like in anxiety, panic, insomnia, or rage) and/or “too down” (hypo-aroused, as in depression, dissociation, or withdrawal).

So, how can we restore smooth pendulation in our nervous systems?

Well, first, I want to note that protection mode is not the enemy. In fact, our survival states are superpowers! They help us survive, and we want to honor them. But we also want to reserve protection mode only for when we really need it. And we want to be able to leave protection mode when it’s no longer necessary.

Now, a primary way that I help clients restore their capacity for pendulation is by guiding them in “tick-tocking” between autonomic states—between up-waves and down-waves. Even if we’re stuck in protection mode (outside the window of the tolerance), micro-pendulations are still happening. We still have access to little ups and little downs, to openings and closings, to expansions and contractions.

So, in the treatment room, I support your exploration of your up-waves and down-waves. What is it like to experience an up-wave? Well, it’ll be Yang in nature—you might experience more movement, heat, tension, sweat, and rising energy. Meanwhile, a down-wave will be Yin—your body and mind might feel increasingly still, lax, cool, heavy, and sunken.

This practice is done in a titrated (gradual, gentle) way, so that it’s not overwhelming for you. I help you bring curiosity and tenderness and patient attention to shifts in your nervous system. In this way, you get to know and relate to these waves, these pendulum swings.

And here’s the key: When you bring our awareness to these shifts, something amazing happens. Your nervous system starts to remember how to be flexible. It remembers how to return to connection mode. The practice of tick-tocking helps you restore trust in your innate natural rhythms. You learn that it’s safe to feel safe.

As clients develop this skill, their window of tolerance widens, and their traumas begin to transform. They find that the up-waves and the down-waves are increasingly manageable. (Check out this video for Peter Levine’s description of the process.)

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As Alaine Duncan writes, when you’re practicing pendulation, you’re “restoring the dynamic and life-giving movement, relationship, and tension between yin and yang.” You’re’re starting to reconnect with the breath of life—in and out, up and down, opening and closing, expanding and contracting, activating and deactivating. You’re synching with the larger life-rhythms that are pulsing around us and within you.

Through this practice, you begin to discover that you don’t need protection mode as much as you used to. It’s still there, of course. Still available for you to shift into when necessary. But it’s no longer your default mode. You’re no longer stuck there.

And when you do land in protection mode, you find that you now have familiar and reliable pathways to travel when you want to leave it, pathways to swing back into connection mode.

In the process, you’re strengthening your resilience. You’re developing nervous-system harmony. You’re deftly surfing your waves of aliveness.

Header Photo Credit: https://kriswilliams.medium.com/how-life-is-like-a-pendulum-8811c4177685