Meditation and the Nervous System
Many people think meditation is just about calming the mind. But meditation is a whole-body experience that is affected by the state of our nervous system.
If meditation leaves you feeling spaced out, restless, anxious or surprisingly emotional, it’s not because you’re doing it wrong. These symptoms are usually just caused by different nervous system states.
A simple way to understand this comes from polyvagal theory, which describes three main states of the nervous system. Let’s call them the blue zone, red zone, and green zone.
The Blue Zone: Shutdown and Disconnection
The blue zone is the body’s shutdown or collapse response. It’s associated with dorsal vagal activation in the nervous system. Think of a car that has the hand break engaged.
In everyday life, the blue zone can show up as:
Feeling flat, numb or low in energy
Brain fog or difficulty thinking clearly
Disconnection from emotions or the body
A sense of heaviness or withdrawal
The Blue Zone in Meditation
Sometimes in meditation, the blue zone can be misunderstood as a state of deep calm.
You might notice:
Spacing out or drifting away
Losing track of time
Feeling heavy, foggy or sleepy
A sense of emptiness without clarity
While this might feel peaceful at first, it’s usually not a regulated state. You might experience some stillness but vital presence and aliveness in the body is missing.
If this happens, it can help to gently increase engagement — opening your eyes, noticing sounds in the room, taking fuller breaths or bringing awareness back into the body.
The Red Zone: Activation and Anxiety
The red zone is the body’s fight or flight response. It corresponds to activation of the sympathetic nervous system. It’s like having the accelerator floored and the engine is revving.
In everyday life, the red zone can look like:
Anxiety, agitation or anger
Racing thoughts
Restlessness or tension
A strong urge to do or fix something
The Red Zone in Meditation
In meditation, the red zone often becomes more obvious because there’s fewer distractions.
You might notice:
A flood of thoughts or worries
An urge to get up
Tightness in the shoulders or jaw
Self-judgement: feeling like you’re ‘failing’ at meditation
This doesn’t mean meditation isn’t working. It means your nervous system doesn’t yet feel safe enough to settle.
Rather than trying to force relaxation, it’s usually more helpful to focus on gentle grounding and reassurance to increase a sense of safety.
The Green Zone: Safety and Connection
The green zone is the body’s state of safety and social engagement. It’s linked with the ventral vagal part of the nervous system.
In everyday life, the green zone feels like being:
Calm and alert
Emotionally present
Connected to yourself and others
Able to respond with choice rather than reacting
The Green Zone in Meditation
In meditation, the green zone often feels:
Spacious and steady
Grounded in the body
Warm or open in the chest
Able to notice thoughts and feelings without being overwhelmed
This is the state where meditation feels natural rather than effortful. Awareness is clear, and difficult experiences can be met with curiosity and compassion.
The green zone provides the foundation for insight, emotional processing and self-compassion.
Moving between Zones
These states aren’t static: everyone moves between blue, red and green throughout the day. It’s common to move between these states during a single meditation.
The goal isn’t to force your body to stay permanently in the green zone, but to:
Recognise which zone you’re in
Respond appropriately
Gently guide the system towards a felt sense of safety and connection
Putting it Together
Rather than using one approach to meditation, it helps to respond differently based on which state is showing up:
Blue zone → increase gentle activation (slight movement, upright posture, sensory awareness, fuller breath)
Red zone → grounding and reassurance (slower breathing, orienting using senses, self-kindness)
Green zone → allow presence to deepen naturally
Meditation works best when it works with the nervous system rather than trying to override it.
Using the right approach based on which state your nervous system is in makes meditation easier and more rewarding.