In today’s fast-paced world, understanding how our nervous system responds to stress and promotes calm is essential for maintaining mental and physical well-being and effective personal leadership. This article will introduce you to Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges and share three practical activities to help you cultivate a calm and balanced nervous system.
1. A scientific theory behind a calm nervous system
The Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, provides profound insights into how our nervous system regulates states of stress and relaxation. According to this theory, a calm nervous system, governed by the ventral vagal complex, is crucial for fostering feelings of safety, enhancing social engagement, and supporting overall health. By prioritizing activities that promote a calm nervous system, we can improve our resilience and improve how we connect with others.
The theory provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how our nervous system regulates our responses to stress and maintains states of calm and social engagement. According to Polyvagal Theory, the nervous system has three main components, each contributing to how we react to our environment: the ventral vagal complex, the sympathetic nervous system, and the dorsal vagal complex.
Ventral Vagal Complex (VVC):
- Role: Associated with feelings of safety, social engagement, and calm.
- Functions: Promotes relaxation, facilitates social communication, and supports health and growth.
- Activation: When active, heart and respiration support calm, connection, and social engagement.
Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS):
- Role: Prepares the body for ‘fight or flight’ responses.
- Functions: Increases heart rate, releases adrenaline, and prepares the body to respond to perceived threats.
- Activation: When activated, the SNS mobilizes energy for action and survival in response to stress.
Dorsal Vagal Complex (DVC):
- Role: Associated with ‘freeze’ or immobilization responses.
- Functions: Conserves energy, slows down bodily functions, dissociation or shutdown during stress.
- Activation: When the DVC is activated, we see numbness or disconnection, particularly during overwhelm.
2. The many benefits of a calm nervous system
When the ventral vagal complex (VVC) is dominant, the nervous system is in a state of calm and social engagement. According to Polyvagal Theory, a calm nervous system opens us to the following possibilities that are actually not available when the SNS and/or DVC dominate, including:
3. Practical ways to explore your nervous system states
Consider your morning today. What part of your nervous system was most active? What were your thoughts? How about your general mood? What about your energy level? How would you describe your overall state? Were you tired and sleepy? Excited? Mildly nervous? Exhausted yet willing to face the day nonetheless and see what happens? And, how would you describe your state right now?
Our states matter. They determine what and how we think, what we feel and also our energy levels. The activities in this section will help you assess your states quickly.
A: The 1 min Triage State Diagnosis
Here are five characters from our Grid balance work. From left to right, Zonked, Tired, Plate Spinner, Excited and Zen
- Which one are you right now?
- Which one are you most often?
- What is and isn’t possible from each place?
B: 4 Energy Cylinders Tracking
A key exercise that has been incredibly helpful since my first book Get Productive! was published and which has been reproduced in the recent 2023 Coaching Toolkit Handbook Series is the 4 energy cylinders activity. You can do this on your phone in Notes or in your diary. I use it a lot with clients recovering from burnout or those who want to move from Tired to Excited.
Simply score your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual energy with a number between 0 to 100. Let 100 represent the most energy you remember yourself having. You will end up with 4 scores. Add them up. Repeat very few days as you implement some of the other techniques and watch yourself slowly recover. People say they have a time management problem but in my experience, most often it’s an energy problem.
C: Emotional wheel palette
Emotion research makes a distinction between primary and secondary emotions. Primary emotions are universal, immediate, and instinctual; think disgust, sadness, fear, joy, anger, surprise. Secondary emotions are more complex reactions to primary emotions that are also molded by culture, personal experiences, beliefs, and habitual thought patterns.
Which drawing most closely captures how you feel right now?
6 primary human emotions
To explore your emotions in greater depth see the emotional wheel created by Dr. Gloria Willcox.
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