POLYVAGAL THEORY

— by Stephen Porges

“There is no such thing as a ‘bad’ response; there are only adaptive responses,” says Dr. Porges. “The primary point is that our nervous system is trying to do the right thing — and we need to respect what it has done. And when we respect its responses, then we move out of this evaluative state and we become more respectful to ourselves — and we functionally do a lot of self-healing.”

Porges’ polyvagal theory developed out of his experiments with the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve serves the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the calming aspect of our nervous system mechanics. The parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system balances the sympathetic active part, but in much more nuanced ways than we understood before polyvagal theory.

Before polyvagal theory, our nervous system was pictured as a two-part antagonistic system. The polyvagal theory identifies a third type of nervous system response that Porges calls the social engagement system, a playful mixture of activation and calming that operates out of unique nerve influence.

The social engagement system helps us navigate relationships. The two other parts of our nervous system help us manage life-threatening situations.

We are familiar with the two defence mechanisms, fight-or-flight. The use of our social engagement system, on the other hand, requires a sense of safety.

In the action section of this workshop, we will look into what makes you feel safe and how trauma, when not healed, can affect the functioning of your nervous system.

One thing to remember - when someone says to trust your gut, you need to understand first if your gut is healthy. If you hold unprocessed trauma, your gut may act out of fear. So the first step to ‘trust your gut’ is to get grounded. Find your triggers and learn to love them, understand them and work with them.