Real Life & the Polyvagal Nerve

Explore the profound insights of the polyvagal theory, which connects our nervous system responses to emotional states. Recognizing signs of dysregulation and learning practical techniques can empower listeners to shift toward calmness and connection.

• Discusses the vagus nerve and its role in emotional regulation 
• Explains the polyvagal theory using the traffic light analogy 
• Identifies symptoms of fight or flight responses 
• Outlines signs of shutdown and emotional disconnect 
• Provides grounding techniques to manage anxiety 
• Suggests gentle activation practices for overcoming shutdown 
• Advocates for self-kindness as a method for healing 
• Encourages sharing insights and tools with friends for support 
• Emphasizes the importance of small, manageable changes for emotional well-being

Chapters

• 0:01 Understanding and Managing the Vagus Nerve
• 10:53 Achieving Wellness Through the Vagus

Transcript

Emily : 0:01

Ever notice how your heart races when you're stressed out or how sometimes you feel like shutting down completely when life just gets overwhelming? What if I told you there was a roadmap in your body that connects all the dots and explains it, and that we're able to change how it makes you feel? Well, that is the vagus nerve. It connects all the dots to how we feel physically, mentally. And today we are going to talk about the vagus nerve, but specifically the polyvagal theory and how it shows up in your life. So, hi, I'm Emily. And It Starts at Vagus, where we dive into natural ways to help calm our anxiety and stress with the vagus nerve. And today's episode is all about the polyvagal theory and how to recognize it when we're dysregulated. We're going to talk about the signs that you're in that fight or flight or shutdown mode and then simple, practical ways to shift back into that calm, connected, happy, want to go meet people kind of state of mind. First off, what is the polyvagal theory? Well, it is let's break this down the word poly means many and vagal means vagus. So the polyvagal theory talks about the many pathways that the vagus nerve takes and it explains how our nervous system responds to stress and safety. So we're going to start thinking out how it looks like with traffic lights. One pathway of the vagus nerve is called the ventral and that is your calm and connected state of mind. We're going to see it as the green light of emotional and physical regulation. Then we're going to talk about the sympathetic nervous system and that's when you're in like fight or flight and that is our yellow light. And then the dorsal, vagal part of the vagus nerve, that's the red light where we just shut down. And so, like I said, ventral that means more front and dorsal means back. And the way that I like to remember it is for the dorsal part, the back part, when that is signaling and going off, we take a quote, unquote back seat to life. So dorsal means back. We take a back seat to what's going on and we just shut down. And the dysregulation happens when we get stuck in that yellow or red state of mind. So our sympathetic nervous system is going off and that dorsal part of the vagus nerve is flaring and you're deciding if you need to fight, fight or just freeze. So that's kind of the science and visual part for the polyvagal theory. But I want you to be able to recognize which one you're in so that you can apply it to your life. So that's where it brings us into the signs of dysregulation and what that could look like.

Emily : 3:24

So, with the fight or flight symptoms that is, the yellow part of the traffic light you're going to feel more anxious, irritable, kind of restless or even possibly hyper-focused on something. Your heart's going to race and you're kind of. You're on that edge, so you're edgy. You're more sensitive to the littler things, because you're already sensitive. It's aware, aware that something's going on, and so it's more sensitive to everything to see ooh, is this bad or good? So that's where you can get that hyper-focus, where it needs to zone in on something, and you just get irritable because you're on guard. So what that would look like is if you've ever had an argument with someone and you can't stop replaying it in your head. It just keeps going over and over and over and that is going to remind your brain all the times of every detail that went into it. You're going to get hyper-focused about what was said or how it was said. You're going to get more edgy, which will make you more anxious, and it just kind of gets you stuck in that loop Versus.

Emily : 4:32

If you get into that shutdown, that dorsal part, you're going to feel numb and heavy, disconnected. You want to avoid everything, everything. That's where everybody like shuts down hoodie, blankets, bed and it can feel emotionally exhausted or even feel like in a depression state. So when you just want to curl up and hide away and you don't want to people anymore, you just want to be by yourself and hiding, and that is where that's that red light. So now that, what do we do when we recognize that we're like okay, great, I noticed that I am hiding in my bed. Now what? Well, now we kill our anxiety and stress with kindness. We're nice to our body. We recognize, hey, you're having a hard time, let me help you through this. So we're going to shift out of that dysregulation mode into the calm part, that green light.

Emily : 5:30

When we're in that fight or flight, the yellow, we're going to do grounding. Grounding is super helpful. Just take off your shoes, your socks, put your feet in the grass, take some slow breaths, breathe in slowly, exhale, and that is a good grounding technique. But it's winter right now and it's cold and you're like that's probably not going to be what I want to default to Great. So maybe you can be in your house and just start dancing and moving in ways and my favorite one is like to wiggle because you can just activate all these different parts in your body when you wiggle.

Emily : 6:13

Or you want to connect to a friend, give your call, like call your friend up and say hey, what are you doing? Let's go meet for lunch and you can have that eye contact with people and they can help you realize that you're in a safe spot. Nothing's coming at you at this moment. You might need to talk it out, but when you pick the right friend, they're going to be like okay, you are trying to help yourself out here. Let's go for lunch and just chat, maybe laugh. It's a great tension release.

Emily : 6:53

But if you're in that shutdown mode and you're hiding from the world, you're like I am not going to go outside for lunch, I am not going to see people, and that is just where I'm at. I am here in my space, okay, well, now we need to do some gentle activation for yourself. You need to start small, because you need that win right away. You need to get that reward. So just wiggle your toes, stretch in your bed, maybe like stand up and stretch, or again, just that gentle wiggling. So maybe you're not in full dance mode, maybe you just need to sway and just feel that rhythm of back and forth and if it's possible, if you live with someone, you can just be like, hey, can you just sit with me? We don't have to talk, I just need you to be here. And if they like that physical touch and you like the physical like, maybe just hold hands or a hug Hugs are great.

Emily : 8:01

They give out all kinds of hormones to help you feel better and that again helps you have a gentle, again, kill it with kindness, a gentle way for you to start feeling safer so that you want to start seeing people and then getting yourself out of that shutdown mode. You can also just step outside even a moment or let the sunlight in. I know that when we do shut down, we often want to like close the drapes and hide, but open it up, let that sun come in, let it hit your face, go outside, take a breath or two of fresh air and just disrupt that shutdown. And these are all tools that we can help when we get overstressed and overanxious, and these are just little things that we can do. Again, we want that easy win. We do because it's overwhelming and we're not trying to add more to it, we're trying to make it easier. So we need easy tools.

Emily : 9:05

You just have to so remember, when you're in that dysregulation mode, it's your body's way of protecting you. It's a really good thing, and the goal isn't to fight it. We need to recognize what's going on in our body, physically, mentally. It's that body-mind connection. Let those bells go off and say, hey, you're in this panic mode right now. How can we do something small and easy to make it feel better and then gently shift back into that state of safety? So start small.

Emily : 9:47

Choose one tool that you feel like, okay, my main default is to hide in my bed and just shut everybody out. We'll take one of these tools and say, okay, I can wiggle, I can wiggle, that's an easy thing to do, and then apply it. So have a plan, because these tend to be part of our life and we just need to learn how to again kill that stress with kindness. Be nice to yourself. It really does feel good once you start it, and I hope that these tools are helpful for you and share this episode with a friend who might need it. If you know that your friend that you call for lunch, that person has high anxiety, you can say, hey, this is helping me too. And you can say, we both have stressful times or stressful lives or overwhelming moments. Share it with each other, because when you call up your friend again, they're going to start recognizing when you need that help, and vice versa, and again it just makes that connection stronger.

Emily : 10:53

So thank you for spending time with me today. Remember to breathe and to do something that makes you smile. Thanks for listening to it Starts at Vagus. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you're ready to take the next step toward calm, grab my free Vagus Nerve Reset video in the show notes. It's quick and easy way to start feeling better today. And until next time, remember wellness starts at Vagus.