Stephen Porges is een neurowetenschapper die belangrijke ontdekking… deed met betrekking tot de functie van de Vagale zenuw, de zenuw die een belangrijke rol speelt bij de regulatie van ons systeem.
Op deze website vind je meer informatie over de Polyvagal theory.
Deb Dana vertaalde deze theorie naar de praktijk. Je kunt haar Beginnersguide downloaden.
The Polyvagal theory in practice – learning to navigate your nervous system
The Polyvagal theory, by dr. Stephen Porges, explains our biological behavior in relation to situations of threat and safety. Our nervous system continuously works for us to keep us safe and protect us from harm. It makes decisions and activates responses for us, based upon cues of safety, danger or life thread. Before we even become aware of it. It does this in predictable patterns, based upon how we, as human beings, developed during the evolution.
Although we live in relatively safe environments nowadays, there are still, for each of us in different ways, cues that our nervous system picks up as threatening. Feeling safe is not the same as being safe. We all grew up in different situation and circumstances that formed our biological reactions. In interactions with others we pick up and send these cues all the time. This determines our social behavior and has a tremendous influence on how we feel and think.