Trauma, Your Brain, and Your Body: Understanding the Polyvagal Perspective
- michelleslaterlpc
- Oct 18
- 5 min read
Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed, shut down, or constantly on edge without knowing why? These intense physical and emotional states are signals from your body's survival system.
The Polyvagal Theory, as explained in the Polyvagal Institute’s video “Trauma and the Nervous System: A Polyvagal Perspective,” provides a clear map for understanding these reactions. It shows that trauma and chronic stress are biological experiences embedded in your body—not simply psychological choices.
When your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is dysregulated, your reactions may feel out of proportion to the situation: panic in a safe place, or complete shutdown during a minor conflict. These are natural survival responses designed to protect you.
Understanding how trauma and chronic stress affect your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is the first step toward healing and resilience. This concept, often viewed through the lens of the Polyvagal Theory, explains why you get stuck and, more importantly, how you can get unstuck.
The first half of this blog is a breakdown of the video "Trauma and the nervous system: a polyvagal perspective" from the Polyvagal Institute. The second half discusses ways to practically apply the concepts.
Understanding Your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
Your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is your body’s built-in survival system. It manages automatic functions like your heartbeat and digestion, but also constantly scans your environment for cues of safety and danger, all without you having to think about it [00:52].
When the ANS is healthy, it is flexible and fluid, allowing you to move easily between states of action and rest.
The Three States of Your ANS
The ANS has three primary, automatic responses to navigate the world:
Safe State (The Green Zone):
Feeling: Calm, relaxed, and connected to those around you [01:00].
Function: This is the state where you are best able to engage, thrive, and focus on health and happiness.
Blended States: This safe state combines with others for activities like play (mobilized + safe) or intimacy (immobilized + safe) [01:55].
Mobilized State (Fight or Flight):
Response to Danger: When the ANS detects a threat, it prepares you to fight or run [01:11].
Physical Changes: Your heart rate and breathing increase, and adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormones) are released.
Immobilized State (Freeze/Shut Down):
Response to Extreme Danger: When the threat is so overwhelming you cannot fight or run, the ANS initiates a shutdown [01:26].
Physical Changes: Heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature decrease, and pain-numbing endorphins are released.
How Trauma Impacts Your System
Trauma is an experience, not an event. It is your internal response and what happens inside your nervous system as a result of what happened to you [03:54].
When you experience trauma or chronic stress, it can lead to ANS dysregulation, keeping you stuck in survival states [02:26].
The Faulty Alarm System
Chronic Danger Signals: For those with a history of trauma, the ANS detection system often becomes faulty, constantly signaling danger even when you are currently safe [02:41]. It's like an alarm system that keeps going off when there is no fire.
Survival Focus: Living in chronic survival states forces your biology to shift its focus away from the tasks that keep you healthy and happy, and towards surviving the immediate perceived threat [04:53].
Difficulty Connecting: Trauma compromises your ability to connect with others, replacing your natural need for connection with the need for protection [05:55]. Your system can no longer differentiate between your unsafe past and your safe present.
Path to Healing and Resilience
Fortunately, you can retrain your ANS to feel safe again and restore a healthy, resilient system [06:19].
1. The Power of Co-Regulation
Mirroring States: Your nervous system is constantly communicating with and attuning to the states of others [06:36]. We automatically mirror the states of those around us.
The Best Medicine: Connecting with others who are safe, attuned, and present is the most effective way to restore a healthy ANS [07:08]. When you are with calm, happy people, your system begins to feel better, too.
2. Activities that Help
Innovative clinical therapies are emerging to re-establish safety and regulation in the ANS [07:16]. Additionally, many intuitive activities can help make your ANS more regulated and resilient, including:
Spending time in nature
Practicing yoga or gentle movement
Dancing
Helping others
The Goal
Healing from trauma is not about being calm all the time; it’s about having a flexible and resilient nervous system that can accurately assess safety and danger, and fluidly move from one state to another as needed [07:55]. Becoming unstuck can feel like beginning a new life [08:10].
For more information, you can watch the full video: Trauma and the nervous system: a polyvagal perspective
Channel: Polyvagal Institute
Applying What You’ve Learned
Practical Tools to Support a Healthy, Flexible Nervous System
Understanding your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the first step. The next is building experiences of safety so your body learns it can move between states rather than stay stuck in survival mode. These practices don’t need to be complicated — the key is consistency and curiosity.
1. Recognize Your Current State
Before you can shift, it helps to know where you are in the moment.
Common Cues | Possible ANS State |
Grounded, open, connected, curious | Safe (ventral vagal) |
Tense, restless, racing thoughts, heart pounding | Mobilized (sympathetic) |
Numb, disconnected, heavy, “checked out” | Immobilized (dorsal vagal) |
Try this: Pause once or twice a day and ask yourself:
“What is my nervous system doing right now?” You’re not judging or fixing — you’re noticing. That awareness itself begins to bring regulation.
2. Create Moments of Safety
The nervous system learns through experience, not just information. Build small, repeated experiences of safety.
Co-regulation:
Sit or walk with someone who feels steady and kind.
Let your body notice their calm tone, eye contact, or breathing rhythm.
Pets, nature, or even soothing music can serve a similar function when people aren’t available.
Self-regulation:
Place one hand over your heart or sternum. Feel the warmth and pressure.
Take a few slow breaths in and out through your nose.
Let your exhale be a little longer than your inhale.
Look around the room and name three things that tell you “I’m safe right now.”
3. Soothing Practices for Daily Life
These help the body return to balance over time.
Practice | Why It Helps | Simple Example |
Grounding | Brings attention to the present and steadies the system | Feel your feet on the floor, notice textures, temperature, and support |
Rhythmic movement | Mimics the regulating rhythm of safety (like walking with a friend or rocking) | Gentle walking, swaying, dancing, or stretching |
Breath awareness | Activates the vagus nerve and signals safety | Try 4–6 count breathing or humming softly on your exhale |
Nature time | Provides calming sensory input | Watch trees move, listen to birds, or feel the wind for 2–3 minutes |
Creative expression | Helps discharge energy safely | Draw, sing, journal, or play music without concern for “doing it right” |
4. Building Capacity Gradually
Healing happens in small doses — moments of safety layered over time.
If a practice feels overwhelming, stop or adjust it. Safety is the goal, not endurance.
Tracking tiny shifts (“I felt a little calmer,” “My shoulders softened”) shows your system is learning flexibility again.
5. Reflection Questions for Ongoing Integration
Use these to connect what you’ve learned to your daily experiences:
What tends to signal safety for me?
What cues or environments activate my stress response?
Who or what helps me feel grounded?
What would “a more flexible nervous system” look like in my life?
How can I invite brief moments of calm into my routine this week?
Remember: Your nervous system learns through experience. Every pause, breath, and safe connection teaches your body that it can move between states with ease. Each moment of awareness and each small step toward safety and connection strengthens this ability. Over time, these consistent actions build resilience, flexibility, and a deeper sense of safety — allowing you to engage with life more fully, respond to challenges with ease, and reconnect with the calm, grounded parts of yourself.
Comments