Relaxed, present, connected. Thinking is clear. Creating is easy. Decisions feel natural. Body is open, breathing full without effort. This is where real work gets done.

Still regulated, still in control, but the body is mobilized. Feels like healthy excitement. The recording state. The coaching state. Requires maintenance. Without regulation you drift into yellow without noticing.

Fight or flight beginning. Breath is short or held. Tight chest. Anxious feeling lives in the chest and throat. Thoughts starting to loop. Tunnel vision. Yellow is a signal, not a bad state. The problem is when you ignore it and keep pushing.

Sympathetic still firing. Dorsal engaging. Gas and brake at the same time. Restless but paralyzed. Jaw clenched, eyes glazed. This is the scrolling state. Answering emails that don't matter. Doing things that feel like work but aren't.

Sympathetic exhausted. Everything flat. Heavy, slow, like moving through water. Eyes low and unfocused. No anxiety, just numbness. Decisions feel impossible. This is not laziness. This is the oldest survival response on the planet.