Welcome Home Hug

The welcome home hug is one of the best ways to help a couple recalibrate after separation.

Lots of research has gone into understanding how a full body hug helps to calm our nervous system down–that way, we are less likely to get reactive as we readjust to each other after separation.

It doesn’t sound very romantic, but basically in a relationship you have two nervous systems interacting with each other!

Nervous system regulation is dependent on both nature and our earliest nurture experiences with our caregivers. If there was not enough consistency in our attachment relationships, some of us learnt to rely a bit too much on ourselves while others became too reliant on outside influences to regulate us.

The ideal for the developing nervous system is co-regulation.

This is just a taste of the attachment research, but the bottom line is a full tummy-to-tummy hug gets those serotonin receptors in our “tummy brain “activated and we genuinely can begin to feel happier.

Try it for yourself!