Do you need an experienced polyvagal therapist?
A dysregulated nervous system is the most confining prison that can trap you. But if you can understand the bodily cues of safety and danger, you can learn how to regulate your responses and harness the most effective key to free your mind.
According to Polyvagal theory, your autonomic nervous system can spot cues of danger or safety by analyzing voices, facial expressions, and other bodily movements. When you hear the right intonation or pitch in someone’s voice, for example, you can sense whether that person is safe or unsafe. If your nervous system senses danger, it will make your body feel or do certain things. For example, your heart rate might increase, or you might feel sweaty or shaky, and you might be unable to concentrate on anything but the danger. If your nervous system senses safety, your heart rate will slow down, your muscles will relax, and you will be able to concentrate on other things.
Your autonomic nervous system can be useful when there is a need to spot danger. But if there is a misalignment between your nervous system and reality, if you sense danger when there is none, you can end up trapped from within. Your nervous system becomes your prison, and you can end up having panic attacks or feeling jumpy, or give up and withdraw altogether because you just don’t feel safe.
Would you like to learn how Polyvagal theory can help you?
When you are ready, you can arrange a free ten-minute telephone consultation. You can book this online here.
Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist in Ridgewood, New Jersey
According to Polyvagal theory, your autonomic nervous system can spot cues of danger or safety by analyzing voices, facial expressions, and other bodily movements. When you hear the right intonation or pitch in someone’s voice, for example, you can sense whether that person is safe or unsafe. If your nervous system senses danger, it will make your body feel or do certain things. For example, your heart rate might increase, or you might feel sweaty or shaky, and you might be unable to concentrate on anything but the danger. If your nervous system senses safety, your heart rate will slow down, your muscles will relax, and you will be able to concentrate on other things.
Your autonomic nervous system can be useful when there is a need to spot danger. But if there is a misalignment between your nervous system and reality, if you sense danger when there is none, you can end up trapped from within. Your nervous system becomes your prison, and you can end up having panic attacks or feeling jumpy, or give up and withdraw altogether because you just don’t feel safe.
Would you like to learn how Polyvagal theory can help you?
When you are ready, you can arrange a free ten-minute telephone consultation. You can book this online here.
Chris Warren-Dickins
Psychotherapist in Ridgewood, New Jersey
What is Polyvagal theory?
To free yourself from this nervous system prison, you need to understand each state your nervous system is in. According to Polyvagal theory, the different states of your nervous system can be understood as a ladder. At the bottom of the ladder is the dorsal vagal state, at the middle is the sympathetic nervous system, and at the top is the ventral vagal state.
Knowing which state you are in gives you more choice about how you respond. The aim of your response will be to lessen the more extreme versions of your sympathetic or dorsal vagal states. For example, if you notice you are in a sympathetic fight-or-flight state, where your heart might be racing, you might choose to do things that will slow down your heart rate. Conversely, if you notice you are in a dorsal vagal response, where you feel sluggish or disconnected, you might do something more energetic.
At the bottom of the nervous system ladder, in response to cues of danger, your nervous system can shut down. Here we can feel numb, blank-minded, even depressed. Think of how we might be caught by the saber-tooth tiger; our nervous system cleverly shuts us down so we do not feel the pain of the bite of the tiger. This is the work of the part of the parasympathetic nervous system that is known as the dorsal vagal response.
In the middle of the nervous system ladder, in response to cues of danger that we have a hope of escaping, our nervous system will respond by increasing our heart rate so we can fight or flee the danger. Here we can find outbursts of anger and anxiety, and this is the work of the sympathetic nervous system.
Finally, at the top of the nervous system ladder, we find the most evolved response, in response to cues of safety, when we can connect with ourselves and others. Thanks to our parasympathetic nervous system, this is the ventral vagal response.
Together, we will help you to notice and name the different states, and you can use this awareness to flex in and out of the various states as appropriate.
Knowing which state you are in gives you more choice about how you respond. The aim of your response will be to lessen the more extreme versions of your sympathetic or dorsal vagal states. For example, if you notice you are in a sympathetic fight-or-flight state, where your heart might be racing, you might choose to do things that will slow down your heart rate. Conversely, if you notice you are in a dorsal vagal response, where you feel sluggish or disconnected, you might do something more energetic.
At the bottom of the nervous system ladder, in response to cues of danger, your nervous system can shut down. Here we can feel numb, blank-minded, even depressed. Think of how we might be caught by the saber-tooth tiger; our nervous system cleverly shuts us down so we do not feel the pain of the bite of the tiger. This is the work of the part of the parasympathetic nervous system that is known as the dorsal vagal response.
In the middle of the nervous system ladder, in response to cues of danger that we have a hope of escaping, our nervous system will respond by increasing our heart rate so we can fight or flee the danger. Here we can find outbursts of anger and anxiety, and this is the work of the sympathetic nervous system.
Finally, at the top of the nervous system ladder, we find the most evolved response, in response to cues of safety, when we can connect with ourselves and others. Thanks to our parasympathetic nervous system, this is the ventral vagal response.
Together, we will help you to notice and name the different states, and you can use this awareness to flex in and out of the various states as appropriate.
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