Understanding Why You’re Stuck: Using Polyvagal Theory to Unlock the Life You Desire

In this episode, Sarah takes you through the different states in your Autonomic Nervous System, likening it to a special ops team constantly working to protect you. She explains how, through a process called neuroception, the system is constantly monitoring for internal and external threats. Sarah then delves into the three states of dysregulation—Sympathetic, Dorsal, and Freeze—and how each state has brilliantly adapted to protect you, as well as your primary state of regulation—Ventral—which is where we experience much of the “good” in life.

You’ll also go through practical steps to begin creating a “toolbox for regulation” and learn about the importance of consistently engaging in neural exercises, which is the key to rewiring the nervous system and improving your overall quality of life. Whether you're dealing with anxiety, depression, or everyday stress, this episode is filled with actionable tools to help you get into the driver’s seat of your experience and gain control over how you feel.

Episode Highlights

00:00 Intro

01:33 Neuroception - The Threat Detector

04:33 3 States of Dysregulation

11:46 Long-Term Dysregulation

13:21 Mirror Neurons - Nervous Systems Affect Each Other

15:58 #1: Sympathetic: Your Mobilized State of Fight/Flight

20:50 #2: Dorsal: Your Immobilized State of Shutdown

29:24 #3: Freeze: Your Blended State of Tonic Immobility

36:38 Ventral: Your Primary State of Regulation

40:51 Vagal Tone

46:35 The Connection Between Your Nervous System and Sleep

56:30 Your Pace is Exactly Right

01:04:10 Healing Shame

Free Workbook:
Want to learn more about your nervous system? Grab a FREE copy of Sarah’s trauma-informed workbook, “How to Gain Control Over How You Feel.”

This downloadable PDF will equip you with somatic tools to get into the driver’s seat of your experience so that you can step toward a life filled with more freedom and ease.

Click here to download your copy:
https://bit.ly/yms-sp-workbook

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Important Keywords:

• Autonomic Nervous System: The self-protective system within the body that is responsible for our thoughts, feelings, sensations, behaviors, and perception of self, others, and the world around us, as well as regulating involuntary functions, such as your heart rate and digestion, and playing a central role in how you react to stress or calm.
• Neuroception: This is your threat detector, which looks out to the world (and within) to decide whether you are in safety, danger, or life-threatening danger. It does this by resourcing an internal database that holds all your past lived experiences.
• Sympathetic Nervous System: This is your self-protective state of mobilization or fight/flight. This state is all about the “doing” and can be experienced as: anxiety, stress, worry, fear, terror, rage, agitation, frustration, or panic.
• Dorsal Vagal Complex: This is your self-protective state of immobilization or shut down. This state is all about leaving our bodies and can be experienced as: depression, hopelessness, apathy, disinterest, disconnection, a general sense of “blah,” or dissociation.
• Freeze: This is your self-protective blended state of tonic immobility, which is made up of equal parts Sympathetic and Dorsal. These equal and opposite forces come together to render us stuck and can be experienced as: feeling trapped, urgency met with the inability to take action, or a lot of energy in our bodies we can’t do anything about.
• Ventral Vagal Complex: This is your primary state of regulation, which can be experienced as: connection, joy, ease, flow, relaxation, rest, or aliveness.