Nervous system regulation
 

Your nervous system is a part of your biology that helps to keep you safe, alive.
As long as it functions adaptively and has the flexibility to move through different defense states and back into safety again, everything works fine.

Problems start to appear when the system gets stuck in a state of defense without the person having tools to move out of that defense state, back into safety.

I work with the Polyvagal Theory in a practical way to help you to get to know the language of the nervous system, your own familiar defense patterns and I'll teach you strategies to interrupt stuck defense patterns and to shape the autonomic nervous system toward safety and connection.

We'll practice in multiple ways to track autonomic responses, learn skills to safely explore patterns of mobilization, disconnection and engagement and learn techniques to build autonomic regulation and resilience.

I work in a way where we learn the theory from the 'inside out', because feeling safe is not a cognitive experience.

It's one that you need to experience in your body.
I want to honor the individual autonomic wisdom and  help people to find the right degree of neural challenge. You might want to stretch your system a bit, but not stress it.

On this page, you will also find a video with my polyvagal explanation as I've taught it in my Wheel of Consent workshop. So that's a special, free gift for you. The audio is not very loud (although I've used a microphone), so not suitable to listen in your car.

Watching this video is the start of any Nervous system training I offer as well.

I love this part by Deb Dana in her Beginner's guide to the Polyvagal Theory:
"We come into the world wired to connect.

With our first breath, we embark on a quest to feel safe in our bodies, in our environments, and in our relationships with others.

The autonomic nervous system is our personal surveillance system, always on guard, asking the question “Is this safe?”

Its goal is to protect us by sensing safety and risk, listening moment by moment to what is happening in and around our bodies and in the connections we have to others.

This listening happens far below awareness and far away from our conscious control.

Dr. Porges, understanding that this is not awareness that comes with perception, coined the term neuroception to describe the way our autonomic nervous system scans for cues of safety, danger, and life threat without involving the thinking parts of our brain.

Because we humans are meaning-making beings, what begins as the wordless experiencing of neuroception drives the creation of a story that shapes our daily living.

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You can download Deb Dana's Beginners guide here.

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