Brain Flossing: A Micro-Reset for When Feelings Get Stuck

By Erin Vandermore, LCMHC-S

If you work in a school, you’ve probably seen this moment.

A student is sitting right in front of you, but they’re not really there. Maybe they snap over a minor redirection. Maybe they completely shut down. Maybe they look fine on the outside, but your gut tells you something feels off in the room. It’s easy to read that as defiance or a lack of motivation. But here's the truth: this is not misbehavior. It's physiology, meaning the nervous system is overloaded.

Erin Vandermore, LCMHC-S

When stress spikes, their Guard Dog Brain (the amygdala) gets loud and shifts the body into protection mode

. Thinking, flexibility, and problem-solving get incredibly hard to access. A student can be physically present and still neurologically unavailable to learn

We can’t always remove the heavy, invisible backpacks our students carry into the classroom. And we definitely can’t reason someone out of a state their body hasn’t settled enough to learn. Safety has to come before strategy. This is where regulation comes first. Not as a replacement for instruction. Not as therapy. Just as a starting point.

I often call this Brain Flossing. It’s a simple way to describe something we already see in practice: when the body has a chance to settle, access to thinking tends to come back online. Just like floss clears out what gets stuck between your teeth, Brain Flossing is about helping clear out some of the emotional “gunk” that builds up in the nervous system throughout the day.

One way this can look is through bilateral stimulation; a left-right pattern like tapping, walking, or alternating movement. In clinical settings, bilateral stimulation is best known as one component of EMDR. Outside of therapy, brief, rhythmic left-right input acts as a grounding tool. It sends a signal to the body that says, "You're not under threat right now. You can rest." The exact mechanism is still being studied, but what we do know is this: predictable, repetitive sensory input helps the brain feel more organized and less overwhelmed in the moment.

Predictable, repetitive sensory input, such as listening to calming music or using a weighted blanket, can help individuals with sensory processing challenges or people experiencing anxiety feel more organized and less overwhelmed in the moment. I know I love sleeping with my weighted blanket.

Here’s one micro-reset you can try: The Butterfly Hug

Cross your arms over your chest so each hand rests on the opposite shoulder or upper arm. Either close or lower your gaze so that you are not distracted by the environment around you. Keep your arms tight as if giving yourself a hug.

Gently tap left, right, left, right.

Keep the rhythm steady. Let the pace stay slow. As if you are gently patting a baby to sleep.

If it helps, add a breath. (I also take slow, deep breaths as I do this- I do use my own suggestions)

That’s it. No long explanation. No pressure to “do it right.”

For some students, that rhythm creates just enough structure for the body to settle a notch. Not fixed. Not processed. Just less activated. And that shift matters.

Because when the nervous system feels even slightly safer, students are often more able to: follow directions, stay with a task, and re-engage after a disruption.This is not a cure. It’s a doorway. And it’s important to be clear about what this is and what it’s not.

What this is; it's a brief, non-clinical regulation support that can be used as a way to reduce a moment of being overwhelmed. It’s a tool that can be used in real time without disturbing instruction. What this is not: Therapy, Trauma processing, A replacement for counseling or mental health care. In schools, we don’t always need longer or more complex interventions. sometimes we need something that fits into the moment that’s actually happening.

A pause. A pattern. A micro-reset that helps the nervous system come down just enough so learning can start again.

You’re not imagining what you’re seeing in your classroom and your students aren’t choosing this on purpose.

Their Guard Dog Brain is doing its job and our job is to help it feel safe enough to stand down. Even just a little can make a big difference especially if its done daily. Because when the body settles, the mind has a better chance to follow.

References (APA 7th Edition)

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Author.

(Used cautiously for general stress/response framing, not diagnosis in article)

Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.

Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.

Stickgold, R. (2002). EMDR: A putative neurobiological mechanism of action. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(1), 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.10020

Lee, C. W., & Cuijpers, P. (2013). A meta-analysis of the contribution of eye movements in processing emotional memories. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 44(2), 231–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2012.11.001