14) The Science of Connection

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Category: Connect
Published: Friday, 09 July 2021 10:44
Written by Cherry
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The Science of Connection

 

In her audiobook, 'Befriending the nervous system', Deb Dana writes:-

‘It’s our biology that shapes our experiences of safety and connection. Where we think our brains are running the show, really the way we navigate the world begins in our body with our Autonomic Nervous System’ 


'Polyvagal theory is the science of connection. It’s what I call the science of feeling safe enough to fall in love with life and take the risks of living‘ (chapter 3).

 

Until just a couple of decades ago it was commonly thought the model of stress v relaxation was based on the idea there were two circuits running the neural show of the Autonomic nervous system (ANS) - with the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activating the typical 'stress response' to threat and danger ('fight or flight') and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) expressing itself in the relaxation response ('rest and digest'). 

 

 

In the past 25 years, Polyvagal theory (Stephen Porges, 1994) has identified that the ANS has in fact three neural circuits which, in evolutionary history, developed separately in different animal lifeforms over millions of years, and we are the inheritors of all three. First came the dorsal branch of the vagus nerve – which, when not concerned with survival, aids digestion, but when responding to threat, is responsible for shutdown and collapse, disconnection and dissociation (as in a trauma response and in deep depressive states): next came the sympathetic spinal chain which allowed animals to move to ‘fight or flee’ the threat, and last of all, around 200 million years ago, in mammals, came the ventral branch of the vagus nerve - promoting positive states of relaxation and social connection and engagement. Taken together, these circuits regulate our bodily functions and help us maintain homeostasis or equilibrium.

Through understanding the delicate interplay between the different ANS pathways we can begin to appreciate the interdependence of the brain/body/mind connection. We begin with neuroception – beneath conscious awareness – but through understanding, perception, and behavioural adjustment we can learn to better regulate our nervous systems through our bodies - in the interest of greater mind/body equilibrium – and the role of the vagus nerve becomes ever more important in shaping our health and well-being.

 

As Stanley Rosenberg says in his book 'Accessing the healing power of the vagus nerve' -

 

‘Today there are many systems, including Pilates, yoga, martial arts, and mindfulness meditation , that help restore people to their sense of their body…

 

Sensing our own bodies and staying grounded helps us to remain in a ventral vagal state. Awareness of our body can help us to avoid getting carried away by emotions that can lead to faulty neuroception.’(p 63) 

 

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To help us better regulate our inner states and therefore our ways of being, of acting and of interacting in the world, we can develop greater bodily awareness. Here’s a practice to bring awareness into our ‘interior bodies’ through sensing and grounding from within:

 

 

 Felt-Sense Embodiment Practice

 

 

 

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