A personal exploration of the Polyvagal Theory
Zoom class facilitated by Kathryn Hansman-Spice, TRAGER Instructor
Six Weeks: Saturday Feb 26 and March 5, 12, 19, 26 and April 2 2022
1-3 PM (ET) and 10-12 (PT).
There will be recordings for participants only (not for sale later).
Cost: $180; 12 Ceus NCBTMB
Welcome to a warm, confidential space for coming home to yourself and sharing both personal and professional insights into the wondrous, inspirational world of your autonomic nervous system. We will delve into the Polyvagal Theory and its applications to our personal development and all our relationships.
Everyone is invited who wants to better understand how our nervous system is wired to protect us, and how we can change deeply wired patterns by “turning toward and tuning into” our habitual responses. Together we will deepen our curiosity and self-compassion.
Imagine how supportive it will feel to create deeper connections, compassion and community through this study group. By becoming more attuned to our nervous system, and how it evolved for our survival, we can name, accept and reshape patterns that limit our ability to be fully present to ourselves and our clients.
Let’s come together in love and acceptance, with the authenticity of our whole selves, to acknowledge the heartfelt ways we are in caring connection, as well as the ways we have learned to disconnect to protect ourselves. Let us be Listening Partners as “two solitudes that meet, protect and greet each other.” (Rainer Maria Rilke) In being heard, we can safely embrace new possibilities of health, growth and rejuvenation. In learning new skills, we will embody and spread “world peace one person at a time.”
In this 6 week virtual seminar we will develop the B*A*S*I*C skills, developed by Polyvagal Theory expert Deb Dana, to attune with and shape the dialogue with our autonomic nervous system.
B* BEFRIEND
A* ATTEND
S* SHAPE
I* INTEGRATE
C: CONNECT
EACH CLASS will:
1. Focus on one BASIC skill, including a discussion of your reading and your responses to exercises completed at home. Exercises are found in Deb Dana’s Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection.
2. Include movement explorations to embody the principles of the Polyvagal Theory: Neuroception, Hierarchy and Co-Regulation, and The Science of Safety. Deb Dana’s brand new book Anchored is a rich resource for understanding these principles.
3. Utilize Break Out Groups for sharing with Listening Partners, taking turns to fully listen to and hear each other’s responses to the exercises.
4. Provide recordings only to participants to protect confidentiality.
SAMPLE INSPIRATIONAL QUESTIONS:
BEFRIEND: How does my body tell me I am in a Ventral Vagus (Social Connection), Sympathetic (Mobilization) or Dorsal Vagus (Immobilization/Withdrawal) arousal state?.
ATTEND: How can I notice and track changes along a subtle continuum of Ventral, Sympathetic and Dorsal states?
SHAPE: How can I reshape my habitual patterns of reacting, moving toward safety and connection of Ventral Vagus as a home base of calm regulation?
INTEGRATE : How can I deepen the ability to be resilient, to restore balance after moments of dys-regulation?
CONNECT: How do I find a balance between tending to myself and connecting with others? How do I nurture a feeling of belonging? How do I connect to experiences of gratitude, awe and compassion?
CLASS RESOURCES:
Deb Dana (2020) Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection: required.
Deb Dana (2022) Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory
TESTIMONIALS:
Some personal reflections from previous classes:
• “I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in personal growth. Recalling the depth of connection and insight, and sharing with the class, continues to strengthen who I am.”
• “I am amazed at the impact of just identifying what stage I am in and how this impacts my resonating awareness. I can see more clearly how my mode and thoughts shape shift when triggered.
• “I love seeing the regulated continuum so that Sympathetic and Dorsal are not just protective states. Sympathetic can be self-motivation and taking action, and Dorsal can be a quiet restorative state.”
• “I have a better understanding of where I am, and how I got there.” (what inside or outside perception triggered me)
• “I realize I have choices. I can make a new choice and be more the person I strive to be….”
MORE ABOUT KATHRYN
For years, Kathryn has been championing the importance of seeing Trager under a larger umbrella of mind/body medicine and neuroscience. Having attended conferences for 20 years with NICABM, she was struck how our work uniquely offers the body-based education, grounded in somatics mindfulness and trauma sensitivity, that other therapies now promote.
She has passionately taught how neuro-plasticity, trauma sensitivity and the Polyvagal Theory offer new languages for expressing the transformative power of Trager touch and movement to reshape our habitual patterns. She has highlighted that we embody and facilitate Safety, Engagement and Enrichment, the key factors that turn on the brain’s capacity to change. She has called for us to see the power of Trager to “recondition the soul” (Milton’s words) when we feel met, heard, respected, and accepted as we are, opening the possibility of change.
Last year Kathryn spent a full year being part of an online course with Deb Dana, meeting 3 hours a month. She will share her deepened insights into how understanding our typical arousal states can enable us to anchor in a state of mindfulness to regulate our nervous system for health and wellness and a greater effectiveness in our work.
Two virtual classes on the USTA website, one on “Neuro-plasticity” and one on “The Polyvagal Theory and You”, offer more detailed background for this class, but are not required. In her Group Tutorial Forum, she facilitated a conversation about Trager: A Trauma Sensitive Approach, which inspired this new class. She also offers an in-person Level V, entitled “Trager Rewires the Brain”, which explores how a Trager Session can be a more effective educational process when grounded in the principles of Neuro-plasticity and Trauma Sensitivity.