The Polyvagal Theory Made Simple
When you’ve lived with trauma, depression, or chronic anxiety, your nervous system and body may feel unpredictable. Sometimes wired and restless, other times numb and shut down. Understanding why this happens can be a huge relief. That’s where Polyvagal Theory comes in.
Developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory explains how the vagus nerve influences your body’s stress and safety responses. Put simply, it shows why your nervous system reacts the way it does, and how healing happens when you learn to regulate it.
The Three States of the Nervous System
Polyvagal Theory identifies three main states:
Fight-or-Flight (Sympathetic Activation) – Your body prepares to face or escape danger. You may feel anxious, panicky, tense, or restless. You may also experience racing thoughts, feel angry, agitated, or freightened.
Shutdown or Freeze (Dorsal Vagal Response) – This is the opposite response to sympathetic. When stress becomes too overwhelming, your system may shut down. You might feel numb, foggy, hopeless, unmotivated, depressed, or disconnected.
Safe and Social (Ventral Vagal Activation) – This is your “rest-and-digest” state. You feel calm, connected, and able to engage with others. In ventral, you’ll feel here and present.
Why This Matters for Healing
Trauma often wires the nervous system to stay stuck in survival states. You might overreact to stress, feel trapped in shutdown, or cycle between the two. Understanding Polyvagal Theory normalizes these experiences. Your body isn’t broken, it’s protecting you.
Healing involves gently helping your nervous system return to safety more often, strengthening your ability to shift out of fight-or-flight or shutdown. Over time, you begin to trust that your body can handle waves of activation and then return again to regulation (ventral).
Practical Ways to Apply Polyvagal Theory
Breathwork: Slow exhales activate the ventral vagal system and signal calm, especially helpful if you are in sympathetic.
Connection and Co-Regulation: Safe relationships cue your nervous system that you are safe.
Movement: Gentle stretching, yoga, or walking help release activated energy.
Orienting: Looking around and naming what you see reminds your brain you’re safe now.
Vagal Toning: Practices like humming, tapping, or cold water exposure directly activate the vagus nerve.
Bringing It Into Therapy
Regulation is the foundation to trauma work. In order to do deeper healing work, it is imperative to have enough regulation in the system to avoid being flooded by trauma memories. Therapists trained in Polyvagal Theory use this framework to guide somatic practices and trauma healing. Over time, through guiding the system towards safety and regulation, Polyvagal theory helps rewire your system for greater resilience. This makes it easier to feel present, connected, and steady.
Take the Next Step
Understanding your nervous system is the first step toward feeling regulated and more connected. With the right tools and support, you can teach your body that safety is possible.