The Polyvagal Theory: The New Science of Safety and Trauma
Safety Note: Just before the 12 minute mark, Seth refers briefly to violence toward women, but does not go into details.
Here is a powerful talk by Seth Porges, son of Stephen Porges who developed Polyvagal Theory. It includes Seth’s social justice stance on understanding the Overwhelm landmark.
Seth talks about three states that relate to the Landscapes of Emotion:
- Green state = Rest
- Yellow state = Defend
- Red state = Overwhelm
Reflection Question
Seth talks about how the state we’re in at any particular point in time will influence how we experience a situation. Are you aware of how the same situation feels different to you when you are in different states? (e.g. driving in traffic can feel different when we are in Rest vs in Defend; being in a social situation feels different when we are in Rest, Defend and Overwhelm).
Tuning In To the Wisdom of Your Body with Pat Ogden
We have unconscious stories about ourselves and the world held in our mind and body. In this podcast, learn how becoming curious about your body can have an impact on your sense of self. Pat Ogden is a pioneer in somatic psychology, co-founder of Hakomi, founder of the Sensorimotor Institute, and author of several books on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. She joins Sue Marriott in a discussion of the principles of sensorimotor therapy for therapists.
Approximately the first 7 minutes of this podcast include the concepts in the Reflection Questions below. From that point on, the content is intended for therapists working with clients.
Reflection Questions
Pat talks about how movement can help discharge energy or can calm and soothe. High energy dancing is a way to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system without fear, whereas in trauma the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated with fear with the fight, flight or cry for help responses. Similarly, through the lens of the polyvagal theory, yoga that is very slow paced and very relaxing stimulates the dorsal vagal system without fear. How might you include more energetic movement or relaxing yoga into your routine to support your wellbeing?
Pat talks about how one of the best ways to address stress is to be in contact with our “attachment figures,” our friends and family who support us. Planning a resource ahead of time is a great way to support ourselves when we are in an out-of-choice stress response. How might you plan to use your attachment figures to support you in in-choice Reach and out-of-choice Reach?
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) evaluation
As an option, you’re invited to take the ACEs evaluation by following this link (you’ll need to scroll down past the third paragraph on that page). The ACE study looked at how adverse childhood experiences relate to health issues in adulthood.
Here are some reasons you might do the evaluation for yourself:
- you would like to validate your childhood experiences;
- you’re curious about how much your childhood experiences might be affecting your adult health;
- you’d like to share your score with others in a supportive community;
- you’d like to see what the top 10 kinds of childhood trauma are, and how they relate to your experience;
- you’re curious.
Here are some reasons you might choose to not do the evaluation for yourself:
- you have trauma in your story that you know is upsetting to think about;
- you are not sure how you’ll take care of yourself if you feel triggered by doing the evaluation;
- you do not want to read about what other people have experienced because you know it will trigger you;
- you have a sense of fear around doing the evaluation (an act of self-compassion is to listen to fear and honor it’s message).
And if you know your ACE score, please take it as an opportunity to get curious about yourself, rather than an opportunity for the inner critic to get involved. My ACE score is 2 and I’ve hung out with some really amazing healers with a score of 8. Understanding our past through finding our ACE score can help us take care of ourselves in the present and into the future. It can also help us to acknowledge and validate our experiences – we are not alone and trauma isn’t our fault. We can reduce our health risk by taking self-care steps and by practicing self-compassion as a way of life.
Somatic Self-Compassion Community on Facebook
You can see articles to support your study and practice on polyvagal theory on our Somatic Self-Compassion Community page on Facebook.