Orienting is the process of becoming physically aware of the space around you, while also being aware of your body as being located within that space. “Dis-orientation” can be dysregulating to the nervous system. Reorienting to real qualities of the present moment, however, canbe soothing (if we’ve been unnecessarily caught in hyper-arousal); and, it can also help us to respond & take action more appropriately to the realities of the moment (especially if we’ve been caught in hypo-arousal).

By practicing orienting to the present moment through our senses (both our external senses and the internal sensing of our bodies), we can (re)teach our nervous systems to orient to the present moment more effortlessly. With trauma, our nervous systems are living in the past. In becoming aware of the present moment, more choice-making is available to us, from which new patterns can take root.