THE POLYVAGAL THEORYSYTAR 2014

Lynn Hughes, D.O. RYT-500Robin Rothenberg, E-RYT

500, CYTh

WHY SHOULD I BE FAMILIAR WITH THIS STUFF AS A YOGA THERAPIST?• The nervous system is wired to assess the

potential risk in the environment. This could be physical, psychological, real or imagined. **From here flows the propensity towards approach and avoidance on all kosha levels.

• How we perceive our internal and external world is real to our body and brain as mediated through the nervous system.

• If we perceive safety…then the more advanced systems inhibit and modulate the more primitive emotional (limbic) and brain stem structures that control fight/flight/freeze/dissociation.

• If we perceive a lack of safety…then the more primitive survival systems take over.

• In healing, this sequence has to be honored in the reverse order.

• Do you hear an underlying foundation in our human organism for the essential teachings and practices of yoga?

Visceral states color our perceptions and therefore our

“world”

GENES AND STRESS

• Mild to moderate stress orients our brain to learn and become more “plastic”.

• In this environment, genes turn on proteins which can create new connections or strengthen previous connections between neurons (the cells of the nervous system). This is what learning looks like at a cellular level.

• High levels of stress can inhibit or disrupt the brain’s integrative capacity (right and left as well as up and down).

• When we flipped our fingers up we had a model for how the reptilian and emotional centers can be unlinked from the conscious cortex under stress.

End organ effects of the Sympathetic

and Parasympathetic nervous systems

From: Sapolsky. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers.

A MORE NUANCED WAY TO LOOK AT STRESS

• In the past, the emphasis has been on the fight and flight system of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).

• Stephen Porges proposed a theory backed by much research that stress vulnerability may be better viewed as withdrawal of the newest part of the rest and digest system or the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

• The PNS tone (vagal tone) prior to the challenge may define stress vulnerability.

POLYVAGAL COMPONENTS from Peter Levine (In an Unspoken Voice)

THREE BASIC NEURAL ENERGY SUBSYSTEMS: OVERVIEW

• These systems evolved in sequence. They also develop in that order in each of us.

• The two oldest systems we will discuss evolved in very different times. There was no time to “think” about the tiger between you and your cave. You needed to ACT to survive.

• Because survival was at stake, the “cost” to the body and psyche in using this powerful chemistry was not relevant.

• The newest system (our vagal brake) gives us the ability to dial our arousal level up and down as needed WITHOUT letting the two older systems take over.

THE VAGUS AKA THE WANDERER

THREE NEURAL ENERGY SUBSYSTEMS IN THE POLYVAGAL

THEORY• The oldest more reptilian system is comprised of the unmyelinated branches of the vagus nerve (PNS). Lots of below the diaphragm targets for these nerves.

• In the middle is the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) with fight or flight and its connection to the hormone system. This is where the HPA (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal) axis is predominantly impacted.

• The Social Engagement System (SES) is found in the myelinated branches of the vagus nerve. Myelin is the fatty sheath wrapped around these nerves (like insulation) that makes them faster and more efficient. This is the “vagal brake”. The targets for these branches are mainly above the diaphragm. The Brain-Heart-Face Circuit.

• Our most powerful tool to directly impact these parts of the Autonomic Nervous System is the breath.

IT SOMETIMES WORKS AS A LAST RESORT

OUR OLDEST SYSTEM

• The major nerve of the PNS is the vagus nerve. It has branches that underlie our oldest and our newest neural energy systems.

• The oldest system underlies the primitive defense of immobilization such as freeze, feigning death, behavioral shut down, and is shared with most vertebrates. In trauma, this may be expressed as dissociation.

• It originates from an area of the brainstem called the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus.

DON’T THINK…RUN!

THE SNS SANDWICH

• Between the old (unmyelinated vagus/PNS) and new (myelinated vagus/PNS/vagal brake) is the SNS energy of fight or flight.

• Associated with increased metabolic activity and increasing cardiac output.

• Main influence on cardiac pacemaker. If it was unopposed by our vagal brake, our heart rates would be much faster and unsustainable.

• Think of the complexity and physiologic cost of over activation and/or prolonged activation of the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal). Short term (adrenalin) and longer term (cortisol).

LET’S DANCE!

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT SYSTEMMYLENATED VAGUS SYSTEM

• This brain-face-heart connection begins to “wire up” in the third trimester. It is measured through heart rate variability linked to exhale (PNS) and inhale (SNS). The more variability, the more resilience because your brake has more range/gradations.

• It allows for social gaze and controls a number of important muscle groups: facial expression, middle ear (extracts human voice from background sounds), ingestion and sucking, swallowing, breathing, vocalizing, and muscles of head turning and tilting.

• All of these are connected to heart rate and the other systems for the “work” of resting, restoration, and digestion.

• This system links social behavior to autonomic regulation (vagal brake). Decreasing vagal tone can disinhibit the older two systems.

• As we develop this shift to a more sophisticated ability to regulate our physiology our cortex begins to help more and more to make the Social Engagement System more robust.

FROM GOOGLE IMAGES

LET’S REVIEW

• We evolved with increasing control of the heart via the myelinated mammal vagal system.

• It developed in parallel with increased neural regulation of the facial muscles.

• Decrease in vagal tone (weak or floppy brake) disinhibits the older two systems. This is often studied by measuring heart rate variability (HRV) between inhale and exhale.

• Greater HRV indicates a more flexible and stress resilient system.

• **Increased risk for illness can result when the protective anti-stress and self soothing features of the myelinated system and SES are compromised.

YOGA

• Strengthens the myelinated vagus (see bibliography) building resilience so that we can increasingly handle life’s ups and downs without resorting to full on fight/flight or freeze/dissociation when it is not needed.

• Studies show the positive impact of yoga on various measures of health and well being e.g. heart rate variability and other autonomic measures as well as measures of emotional stability, mood, problem solving, pain, immune function, and multiple other health indicators.

• Increases our ability to navigate between the shores of chaos and rigidity (Daniel Siegel) with flexibility and grace.

• Linked to increased gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) function. This is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Guess where a major brain site is for GABA?

A FEW PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS• If people are afraid, or if pain (emotional or

physical) is overwhelming, they can’t learn. Start there. As safe and comfortable as possible. Practice modulating YOUR SES and they will tap into that resonance. In essence, they are “borrowing” your vagal brake.

• In trauma, too much eye contact can feel dangerous. Sitting in a circle may be overwhelming. Keep eyes open initially. We are working to unlink immobility and fear through moving even a little.

• If someone is depleted and shut down, lift off your vagal brake and animate that yoga voice more.

• Watch for body, breath, voice, pallor, facial indicators to shape your response. Think of the dance between mother and child as a model. She looks AWAY when the baby is over-stimulated and reengages when her baby is ready.

IN LIGHT OF THIS...ASK YOURSELFWhat might be the consequences

of:• A depressed mother on the development of her infant’s social engagement system?

• Parents on their phones instead of interacting with their children?

• Social media where face to face contact is minimized and emotional volatility goes unchecked (and is often rewarded)?

• The profound lack of movement and physical play in our modern world?

SOMETIMES LIKE THIS

AND SOMETIMES LIKE THIS….

BREATHE!!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Fosha, D. Siegel, D. Solomon, M. editors. The Healing Power of Emotion: Affective Neuroscience, Development and Clinical Practice. W.W. Norton. New York. 2009.

• Hanson, R. and Mendius, R. Buddha’s Brain. New Harbinger. Oakland, CA. 2009.

• Lazaridou, A. Philbrook, P. Tzika, A. Yoga and Mindfulness as Therapeutic Interventions for Stroke Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Vol 2013, Article ID 357108.

• Levine, P. In An Unspoken Voice: How The Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. North Atlantic Books. Berkley, CA. 2010.

• Panksepp, J. and Biven, L. The Archaeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions.l W.W. Norton. New York. 2012.

• Porges, S.W. The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions and Attachment, Communication, and Self Regulation. W.W. Norton. New York. 2011.

• Porges, S.W. and Furman, S. The Early Development of the Autonomic Nervous System Provides a Neural Platform for Social Behavior: A Polyvagal Perspective. Infant Child Dev. 2011 February ; 20(1): 106-118. doi: 10.1002/icd.688/

• Sapolsky, R.N. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Henry Holt & Co. New York. 2004.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Siegel, D.J. Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation. The Random House Pub. Group. New York. 2010.

• Siegel, D.J. and Harziwell, M. Parenting From The Inside Out. Penguin Books. 2003.

• **Streeter, C.C. Gerbarg, P.L. Saper, R.B. Ciraulo, D.A. Brown, R.P. Effects of Yoga on the Autonomic Nervous System, Gamma-aminobutyric-acid and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post- traumatic stress disorder. Medical Hypothesis 78 (2012) 571-579. (121 references listed).

• Sutherland, S. How Yoga Changes the Brain: The Ancient Practice Promotes Growth in Brain Regions for Self-Awareness. Scientific American Mind. Volume 25, Issue 2. March 2014.