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Start feeling more grounded—in just a few minutes a day.
Download the free 7-Day Nature Reconnection Guide and begin gently regulating your nervous system through simple, research-informed practices—no forest required.
We respect your space.
No spam. No noise. Just occasional, grounding emails with reflections, practices, and seasonal insights. Unsubscribe anytime—no hard feelings.
By Mae Whitfern
- May 14, 2025
When Stephen Porges first introduced Polyvagal Theory, he offered more than a new framework—he gave voice to what many of us intuitively feel: our nervous systems are shaped not just by biology, but by life experiences, relationships, and the environments we move through. Today, Polyvagal Informed Therapy is transforming how we understand trauma, resilience, and emotional regulation, both in clinical practice and in daily life.
At the core of this approach is the vagus nerve, a cranial nerve that plays a central role in regulating autonomic responses, influencing everything from heart rate variability and respiratory sinus arrhythmia to our ability to socially engage and connect. It’s not just physiology—it’s the science of safety.
A Map of the Human Experience
Polyvagal Theory suggests that our adaptive survival responses—fight, flight, freeze, and social engagement—are deeply rooted in our evolutionary heritage. What Porges calls the vagal brake allows us to slow down, co-regulate, and engage safely with others. Without it, the body stays in high alert, often long after a traumatic event has passed.
Polyvagal Therapy aims to restore neural regulation through top-down and bottom-up processes, drawing from somatic psychology, breathing practices, and mind-body therapies. Practices like diaphragmatic breathing, deep breathing, and even gentle movement or sensory experiences can support vagal regulation, reduce stress responses, and promote homeostatic functions across neural circuits.
This work isn't theoretical. It’s being applied across behavioral health, clinical applications, and community-based care. Organisations like the Polyvagal Institute, Pesi Publications, and the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine are championing the framework for yoga therapy, application of yoga practices, and integrative models that honour the connection between body and mind.
Therapy That Listens to the Body
Clients navigating mental health challenges—especially those related to trauma, anxiety, and depression—often present with dysregulated autonomic function. The autonomic circuits are out of sync, leading to physical symptoms, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty forming or maintaining social connection.
Through Polyvagal Informed Therapy, clinicians are trained to recognise cues of safety, assess subjective experiences, and build a therapeutic alliance that fosters sense of safety and emotional well-being. This isn’t about fixing a problem—it’s about helping the body remember safety.
And it’s not only for trauma recovery. The benefits of vagal regulation extend to physical health, bodily processes, and behavioral processes that underpin our adaptive functions. We’re seeing applications in insomnia treatment, chronic pain, and even auditory hypersensitivities.
A Future Rooted in Connection
Porges’ work—whether referenced as Porges S. W., Scholar Porges, or in partnership with others like Lewis G. F. and Bridges & Porges—has created an ecosystem of thought that’s influencing psychotherapy, education, and community healing spaces. The research base is growing too, with systematic reviews, neurophysiological substrates, and clinical data pointing toward long-term change.
Ultimately, Polyvagal Theory is more than a tool. It’s a biological imperative to connect, to feel safe, and to be seen. In a world that often prioritises performance over presence, Polyvagal Therapy invites us back into the body—and into relationship.
Because healing doesn't just happen in the mind. It begins in the neural pathways, in the rhythm of our breathing, and in the stillness where we feel truly safe.
About the Author
Contributor | Nature-Based Mental Health Educator
Mae Whitfern is a writer and mental health educator exploring the meeting place between nervous system science and the natural world. With a background in community health and public education, Mae specialises in making evidence-informed practices feel gentle, grounded, and doable—especially for people navigating stress, burnout, or urban life.
Her work is shaped by lived experience, years in the public sector, and countless walks in local bushland. She believes healing doesn’t require perfect conditions—just a patch of sky, a moment of stillness, and the willingness to begin again.
Mae writes from the edges of Naarm/Melbourne, where she lives with her partner and a scruffy rescue dog