Must-have modalities for balancing the nervous system and bringing much-needed calm.
In a world that rarely seems to slow down, how can we find a little more calm—and, more importantly, carry on? It’s a question many of us ask ourselves daily. According to experts, one problem—and solution—may lie with the nervous system. In fact, according to a 2021 study published by the National Library of Medicine, more than one in three individuals in the world today has a related disorder. Historically, health professionals have recommended practices like yoga, meditation, breath work, gentle exercise, and even playing with pets to help reach a state of calm. But, as this issue reaches a fever pitch, experts are implementing more targeted strategies, from tech innovations to ancient modalities, to reset and balance the nervous system and help us humans find chill.
Today, the more optimal mode for wellbeing is rest-and-digest, controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system. “This is where the healing happens,” explains Dr. Irina Logman, DACM, LAc, founder and clinical director at Advanced Holistic Center in New York City and Miami. “With consistent treatment, the nervous system can become less reactive and more resilient. Instead of constantly sounding the alarm, it learns that it’s safe to return to a balanced state. You won’t eliminate stress from life, but you can change how your nervous system responds to it.”
Feeling Better by Design
Neurowellness experience architect and founder of CNTRD Wellness Jessica Crow is at the forefront of this movement in design. “My main focus is curating experience design—looking at how people move through a place and what it does to them physiologically—then shaping an intentional arc of transformation,” she explains. Her work is filtered through three lenses: neuroaesthetics (designelements that act on us unconsciously), nervous system attunement (reading how a physical space shifts a person’s autonomic nervous system state), and engineering experiences specifically for the nervous system.
According to Crow, the fields of neuroarchitecture, neuroaesthetics, and neurowellness are growing rapidly thanks to the proliferation of solid scientific research on the topics—highlighting the relationship to nervous system regulation, memory, behavioral states, and long-term health—from entities such as the Global Wellness Institute and the InternationalArts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins. “Spaces regulateor dysregulate us constantly, below conscious awareness. Once you see that… the whole design challenge changes.”
This plays out in specific ways. As Crow explains, for instance, curved forms settle us, while sharp, angular ones put the body on guard. Some colors are rousing, while others are quieting. The transition between rooms is also significant because our nervous system must undergo a renegotiation at each threshold.
“Regulation is not about being calm all the time.It’s about the capacity to return to a balanced state more efficiently,” Crow explains. “So yes, it is color and light and ceiling height and scent and sound and the way people find their way through a place. But the through line is sensory load, how much a space asks the nervous system to process, and toward what end.”
“Regulation is not about being calm all the time. It’s about the capacity to return to a balanced state more efficiently.”
— Jessica Crow, neurowellness experience architect and founder of CNTRD Wellness
Wellness is the Mother of Invention
While technology is often seen as an instigator of stress, some companies are also harnessing it asa solution. A prime example is Morphus, a newly launched line of loungers, programmed via an app with over 100 journeys with focuses from enhanced creativity to combatting anxiety. Essentially, the technology aims to usher users into a kind of “induced meditation state” using three simultaneous modalities. The first is Vibroacoustic Therapy or low frequency vibrations that stimulate the vagus nerve, promoting recovery, reduced muscle tension, and amore parasympathetic state.
Next is Light Therapy with choreographed patterns to impact emotional experience, moods, and circadian rhythms. Finally, Binaural Beats are immersive soundscapes that deliver different frequencies to each ear to encourage various brainwave states (alpha, theta, or delta). Whatever the more specific goal of each experience, the consistent thread is an effort to reorganize the nervous system.
“Today’s world constantly stimulates us,” says Linus Adolfsson, chief sales officer and partner. “We are surrounded by notifications, stress… and noise. When the nervous system remains in a prolonged state of sympathetic activation, people experience… poor sleep, anxiety, reduced focus, and slower recovery. Learning to intentionally shift into a calmer physiological state is one of the most valuable wellness practices of modern life. The central nervous system is the frontier for everything and… gives us greater access to our highest potential.”
“People are finally realizing that taking care of their nervous system is just as important as taking care of their physical body.”
— Antonina Chiciuc, assistant director of spa, Fairmont Century Plaza
Myriad Ways to Help Reset
Of course, the average person might start smaller when it comes to resetting the nervous system. Fortunately, some high-end retreats and hotels are getting into the game. At the Fairmont CenturyPlaza, for example, the spa prioritizes this type of decompression. After all, its clientele—who might bejet-lagged or even arriving from high-pressure nearby places like talent agency CAA across the street—is often stressed.
According to Antonina Chiciuc, assistant director of spa, the Biohacking Treatment is especially popular, designed to help guests reset and recover while reclining on an anti-gravity bed atop a HigherDOSE Mat, which combines heat, Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy, and healing crystals. In response to growing demand, the escape also offers a restorative red light therapy bed and Elemind (a neurotechnology device in the form of a headset that helps users fall asleep faster by guiding the brain into a relaxed state). “People are finally realizing that taking care of their nervous system is just as important as taking care of their physical body,” says Chiciuc. “We live in a world where we’re… absorbing everything happening around us. Small intentional moments can have an incredible impact.”
Acupuncturists have long subscribed to this philosophy. The success of a rapidly growing Traditional Chinese Medicine chain like WTHN is an indicator of both its efficacy and necessity. Perhaps particularly in the world’s most fast-paced cities, there’s an increased demand for resetting what’s internally out of whack. “That imbalance is what Chinese medicine was built to address," says Dr. Nicole Glathe, DAOM, LAc, DiplOM, head of product and service innovation. “People used to compartmentalize the mind and body. Now the connection is more recognized both scientifically and culturally.”
Glathe recommends at-home treatments to support nervous system recovery in between sessions. “Herbal medicine can help shift the body from sympathetic to parasympathetic by promoting the release of calming neurotransmitters,” she says, also recommending an acupressure mat, ear seeds, and body magnets to send gentle signals to the mind to stay calm. Acupuncture itself is, of course, a gold standard for regulating the body’s main control center. “The moment an acupuncture needle is inserted, it begins a sophisticated conversation with the nervous system,” explains Dr. Logman. “Within minutes, the body begins releasing endorphins (our own natural pain-relieving chemicals), along with serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and GABA, neurotransmitters that influence pain, mood, sleep, and emotional regulation.”
Dr. Logman integrates ancient TCM modalities with contemporary science—and therapies such as electro-acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, cupping, gua sha, therapeutic Pilates, and Schroth based physical therapy: “Modern neuroscience explains how many of the physiological changes occur, while Traditional Chinese Medicine explains why the body has fallen out of balance in the first place. I don’t see them as competing philosophies. I see them as two languages describing the same remarkable healing process.”
Experts agree that regular balance is key. At Pause Studio—a rapidly growing chain for “modern recovery and wellness” and “the solution to modern living”—offerings include contrast therapy (hot sauna plus cold plunge), compression therapy, and float therapy. But the ethos is less about which treatment guests choose and more about taking time out of our busy lives to reset. “We often think wellness requires large amounts of time, but consistency is usually more impactful than duration,” says Alex Piunno, marketing director. “We view recovery as a practice rather than a luxury.”
