Exploring the Zones of Regulation
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Exploring the Zones of Regulation
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What is the Zones of Regulation?
The Zones of Regulation is a wellbeing tool designed by Leah Kuypers, used predominantly in therapeutic or educational settings, to help people, especially children, develop emotional recognition and regulation skills.
Prolonged emotional dysregulation can be distressing for a person and impact them in a number of ways, such as cognitive impairment and decreased sense of wellbeing. This dysregulation can further hinder a students academic and social capabilities. Within a classroom setting, children who are feeling emotionally dysregulated may present as disconnected, uninterested and reactive. They are likely to be unable to engage in activities, and may display emotionally challenging behaviours, such as tantrums or acting out. It can sometimes be hard for these students to engage in learning or to fit in socially. When we address these behaviours, we are often neglecting the true cause of the issue. However, when we address the emotions and needs underlying the behaviours, we help the child to enhance their overall wellbeing. The Zones of Regulation is a tool that attempts to give users the skills and abilities to identify, understand and communicate how they are feeling, increasing emotional regulation and wellbeing.
Talking about feelings can be challenging. They are frequently changing and show up differently for everyone, acknowledging and understanding them can take up a lot of focus and energy. To simplify the understanding of emotions, the Zones of Regulation categorises them into four different, easy to understand zones.
All zones are proactive, and serve a different purpose. It is likely we will shift between the different zones in the space of just one day, or we may recognise ourselves to be in more than one zone at a time. The zones in of themselves are a spectrum, and some days we may feel the different intensities of these emotions. Some zones may feel easier to be in, and some more challenging, depending on our current window of tolerance. Understanding and knowing how to work with the emotions that come up in each zone will enhance our emotional regulation and overall wellbeing, leading to increased cognitive and physical abilities.
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The Blue Zone
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The blue zone is recognised as a low energy zone. When we are blue, we may be sad, bored, sick, depressed or tired. Our physical energy, emotion regulation and cognitive capabilities will be low. When we are blue, it is usually a sign we have depleted our energy levels, physically, cognitively or emotionally, and our body is signalling to us that we need to take a break in order to rest and recharge. Feeling blue is also a normal response after a difficult or upsetting event has occurred. When we are blue, we may need comfort, reassurance, rest and self-care. We may continue to feel blue until we have had adequate rest and comfort, or until the upsetting event has passed. At times, we may feel a little blue, or we may feel very blue. The intensity of the zones emotions serve as an indicator of how promptly we need to address the feeling. For example, feeling a little blue may pass quickly once we are distracted, however, feeling very blue on a regular basis may require more serious intervention. People who are dysregulated may become blue at unnecessary times, have blue as their default state, or may struggle to regulate and shift out of blue.
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The Green Zone
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The green zone is recognised as our optimal zone of functioning. By optimal, this does not mean best, rather, it is referring to our most content state. When we are green, we may be feeling happy, calm and relaxed. Cognitively, we may feel clear, focused and energised. We are in this state when we feel safe within ourselves and our environment. In this state, we are able to complete a range of different tasks, as this mental, emotional and physical clarity and energy will enable us to take productive actions. Our ability to sustain the green zone, or to return to the green zone, is a reflection of productive traits, such as resilience. Whilst it is easy to consider the more tolerable and comfortable emotions of the green zone as the 'best' emotions it is important to remember our emotions are not designed to be static our environment is ever changing and the responsive nature of emotions allows us to adaptable, able to flow from state to state, whenever is required by our internal or external world. The key is being able to return to green, once our environment no longer requires characteristics from the other zones. For example, it is normal for a student to feel yellow during break times, but optimal classroom time will be when they are green. Therefore, teachers may want to spend a few minutes after break time helping students to regulate, helping them to shift from yellow to green as they transition from break to classroom. In the green zone, we may spend some time working on things that feel challenging, as we have the energy to do so. We may also spend this time practising our preventative self care, as some of these tasks are more challenging to do when we feel dysregulated.
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The Yellow Zone
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The yellow zone and it's emotions and behaviours are an indication that our energy is shifting into a more elevated state. This could be either due to excitement or nerves. These two feelings can physiologically feel very similar, but have different physiological presentations and causes. When we are excited or nervous, we may notice changes in our body such as an increased heart rate and feeling restless, leading us to become distracted, fidgety or 'silly', which can also lead to us becoming more reactive and impulsive. We may feel as though we are more alert, whereby we are having more thoughts and more sensations that we usually would. This is due to increased levels of adrenalin in our body, released in response to the exciting or nervous stimuli in our environment. Excitement and nervousness are usually normal responses to something in our environment. We need increased energy when engaging in exciting activities. However, this elevated energy may hinder our ability to adequately perform the task that is making us feel nervous or excited. Therefore, being yellow can lead to increased enjoyment and frustration simultaneously. Regulation skills are important for people in the yellow zone who feel overstimulated and overwhelmed. Mindfulness, breathing exercises, or any other grounding techniques may help us to regulate ourselves during this time. There may also be ways to release the build up of adrenalin, such as movement exercises. People who struggle with emotional regulation may spend a significant amount of time in yellow, and struggle to regulate themselves.
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The Red Zone
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The red zone is a state of impaired functioning due to very heightened and intense emotions. This could be feelings of euphoria, terror, rage or panic. When we are red, we are likely in a fight, flight or freeze response state. This is an overwhelming state to be in, as our brain and body will be in heightened alert mode. At times crossing into the red zone is an appropriate response. We may feel overwhelmingly happy about something, and have a short burst of red. However, being in red for a sustained period will be exhausting, significantly depleting our energy and functioning. When we are red, we are likely functioning in our reptile brain, and will react to situations impulsively. We may respond to situations in an elevated state, expressing extreme emotions. People who are highly dysregulated will often get red quickly, at inappropriate times, and will struggle to regulate. When we are red, we need to find healthy ways to express the emotion we are feeling, and have the skills and resources to calm ourselves before acting in an impulsive way that may hurt ourselves or others. For example, feeling red when at a concert or sports game, it may be appropriate to yell and cheer with the crowd. However, when feeling red due to being upset or angry, it is less appropriate to yell. Therefore, we need to find ways to express our emotions that are appropriate to the situation, followed by calming self care, such as deep breathing or removing ourselves from over stimulating environments.
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How to work out what zone you are in?
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To work out what zone you are in, here are some questions you can ask yourself:
How am I feeling in my body?
How am I feeling in my brain?
What emotions am I feeling right now?
What is going on around me that is having an effect on what I am feeling?
Is how I am feeling an appropriate response to what is going on around me?
What do I need? (Do I need to feel calmer or more alert?)
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To help better understand your what the zones of regulation look like for you, here are some questions to ask yourself:
I feel blue / green / yellow / red when….
Feeling (colour) is appropriate when….
Feeling (colour) is not appropriate when…
When I feel (colour) I can …. to help regulate myself (increase calmness or alertness)
For example:
I feel yellow when I get to go to a friends house after school. I feel yellow because I am excited to spend time with my friend. I can tell I am yellow, as I am feeling excited, I am feeling a bit fidgety and a bit distracted. It is appropriate to be yellow when we walk out the school gates, but then I need to calm myself down so I pay attention on the walk home, as we need to cross a busy road. When I get to my friends house, we both feel yellow as we are being playful and silly. We act on these feelings by playing a fun game that we both enjoy, and that uses up energy. By the time my parent collects me, I am feeling green, mixed with some blue and some yellow. I had fun at my friends house, but now I am tired and ready to go home to rest.
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How can teachers implement the Zones of Regulation in the classroom?
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Educating students about the zones of regulation is the first step. There are many worksheets / guides available online to facilitate these discussions. When the students know and understand the zones, they can begin to use them in daily life. For example, if you notice a child is acting like they may be feeling overstimulated, rather than ask them to describe the specifics of their current emotional state you can simplify the check-in process by asking them what zone they are in. The 4 zones provide them with a way to quickly identify what is going on for them in that moment, and what they need. An overwhelmed person is unlikely to be able to verbalise specific needs but should be able to say ‘yellow’, or even be able to point to an image that represents that colour.
In a classroom setting, you can practice modelling by highlighting your ability to recognise your own zone and utilising healthy coping strategies and regulation tools to move between zones this helps students identify when they are in each zone, and how they can be supported when they are there. You can also use the zones as an observation tool, for example noting a child seems blue today and using it as an opening into a conversation with the student. Additionally, the zones can be guiding factors in creating support plans for students who are often feeling dysregulated in the classroom. Normalising and encouraging students to feel safe in each zone and able to express their true feelings will enhance emotional regulation and wellbeing in the long run. and emotional regulation.
For example, you may talk about how you are feeling yellow for the school trip to the zoo that day, if you talk about how and why you are going to calm yourself down and go through that activity with the students (e.g, let's all take 10 deep breaths before we get on the bus). You can then ask the students which zone they are in, and use this guide to explore wellbeing factors. If they are yellow, is this nerves or excitement? How can they regulate before getting on the bus? If they are feeling blue, what can they do?
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For more information on the Zones of Regulation check out the official Zones of Regulation Website
If you want to learn more about how Komodo's wellbeing platform supports the emotional regulation and resilience of staff and students in schools around the world contact us today!
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