Have you ever felt like you're more constantly in fight/flight than you should be?

Or, maybe you feel "stuck", like you can't move on from situations... you feel a lack of hope and it's SO hard to get going.

When we look to Polyvagal Theory (Dr Stephen Porges, Deb Dana), it tells us that these two states are related to the biology of the nervous system.

Polyvagal Theory tells us that there are three different states that the nervous system can be in.

The states can be likened to moving up and down a ladder.

At the bottom, we have the "stuck" state. It's a feeling of disconnection, of loneliness. The Nervous System is in a state of protection. Except it's doing it's job so well, that the body doesn't want to engage with the world around us anymore!

And in the middle is the "sympathetic activation" state. It's pretty well known - our bodies sense danger and the world feels overstimulating. It's an "action" state - BOOM! You're in "get things done" mode.

Then at the top of the ladder is our state of connection. A good way to describe this state is being in flow. We feel like we can and want to connect with others. Our bodies have an internal sense of safety. We can tune out irrelevent sensory stimuli, so we can remain regulated and engaged in the moment.

Being at the top of the ladder sounds pretty good, right?

But here's the thing.

We don't expect the human experience to ALWAYS be hanging out at the top of the ladder! No! That's not achievable. It's perfectly normal (and expected!) to move up and down the ladder.

BUT. What we don't want is to be REMAINING in the middle or bottom states.

Or dropping down into them too frequently during our days.

A sign of a healthy nervous system is being able to shift between all three states easily.

If you're finding that you're:

• struggling to experience feelings of connectedness, joy, or "flow"

• overreacting frequently to small things in your day

• wanting to hide away and not be present with others

• having feeling of feeling on edge, triggered by noise, overstimulated often

All of these things can indicate that you're struggling to remain at the top of the ladder.

The Safe and Sound Protocol is designed to help people "shift" up and down the nervous system ladder more easily.

Meaning you have more capacity and can stay at the top of the ladder more often.

Get in touch with us today to find out how you can get started.

Rachel