Window of Tolerance: Why Your Body Reacts Before Your Mind Catches Up
Window of Tolerance: Why Your Body Reacts Before Your Mind Catches Up
By Jennifer Truong, RP (Qualifying)
Have you ever experienced the deep feeling of threat and did not understand why? Were you shocked by your own response to that feeling?
If this is something you have experienced before, you may be having an experience outside of your window of tolerance.
What Is the Window of Tolerance?
The window of tolerance is one's capacity to feel, think, and process optimally. It is where one feels the most equipped to handle and manage what is in front of them. On a nervous system level, this is where one notices a felt-sense of ease and relaxation in their body: jaw unclenched, shoulders rested, breath feeling normal. Other ways to describe this in your body include feeling balanced, present, grounded, engaged, and settled. It is where there is a felt-sense of equilibrium.
Recognizing When You're Outside It
Sometimes, and most often, we notice our window of tolerance when we have an experience outside of it. This is where we feel significant amounts of stress that feel threatening, intolerable, and unmanageable, with our bodies feeling stuck, numb, or tense, and our heart racing while we have difficulty breathing.
Our bodies are often the first to detect and sense our surroundings. They may pick up on something in and out of our awareness and send signals to parts of our body to respond, whether that's fleeing, fighting, fawning, or freezing. Since these signals can happen under our cognitive awareness, it is insightful to practice noticing them. Noticing the signals in our body offers insight into what we are experiencing in front of us and what we may have experienced in our past that still stays with us, which we can use for deeper reflection and exploration.
Questions to Explore Your Window of Tolerance
When I feel I am within my window of tolerance, what do I notice?
What are the signals I notice that tell me I am feeling threatened? These signals may include sensations felt in the body, thoughts you notice, emotions experienced, and expressed behaviour.
What are some ways I try to soothe this feeling of threat?
What do these signals want me to understand?
Ready to Explore This Further?
If you're noticing you're outside your window of tolerance more often than not, our team can help you build the tools to widen it.