Excerpt from November 2015 article in Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy

Stephen Porges’ book Polyvagal Theory (2011) helps us understand the biology of attachment. When we sense that we are adequately safe, our bodies use what Porges calls our Social Engagement system. Our Social Engagement system helps us to navigate the nuanced dance of relationship. The relationship between primary-caregiver and infant has the potential to facilitate this needed sense of safety. When this relationship creates the opposite, insecurity, a therapeutic relationship can provide a reparative experience.

Originally published in Elephant Journal Nov 25, 2015 - Polyvagal Theory and Romance

Faced with life-threatening danger, Fight/Flight is the defense option I want. So, I kinda live in Fight/Flight all the time. And my anxiety looks productive. I have all this energy. I need to channel it somewhere. Clean the bathroom. Mow the lawn. Write all the thank-you notes in one sitting. But the more I do, the less you do? Is my anxiety attracting your depression?

Originally published in Elephant Journal Sept. 15, 2016 - How Polyvagal Theory Helps Me Overcome Technological Disembodiment

At its best, technology can enliven. At its worst, it can overwhelm. Technology offers an endless buffet of sensual information. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, we must be able to sense when our bodies are full of stimulation so that we can feel when to push away from the table so to speak.

When I first learned about Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory, I saw that it created a framework within which I could fit every aspect of my life including technology. It helped me understand my personal journey and the journeys of all the counseling and dance therapy clients that I have worked with over the twenty-three years that I have been a therapist.

Polyvagal theory helps us picture our nervous system functioning.

Originally published in Counseling Today - June 2016, an American Counseling Association Publication

Picturing brain chemistry can be something like picturing a hurricane. Although we can imagine bad weather, it is difficult to imagine changing that weather. But Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory gives counselors a useful picture of the nervous system that can guide us in our efforts to help clients.

Porges’ polyvagal theory developed out of his experiments with the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve serves the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the calming aspect of our nervous system mechanics. The parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system balances the sympathetic active part, but in much more nuanced ways than we understood before polyvagal theory.