Polyvagal Institute

Module 1: Beginning Principles

• Dr. Porges opens with the theory’s core principles: the autonomic nervous system, co-regulation, and neuroception.

Module 2: The Science of Co-Regulation

• Dr. Porges maps the neuroanatomy that links facial expression, vocal tone, and middle-ear tuning to the vagal regulation of the heart, comprising a social engagement system that mammals use to signal safety to one another, 

Module 3: Trauma Retunes the Nervous System

• Covers how trauma disrupts connectedness and shifts a person out of social engagement into fight, flight, or shutdown, illustrated through a contrast between traumatized children and typically developing children absorbed in shared play. 

Module 4: A One Nervous System Model

• Introduces Dr. Porges’s central clinical idea: that a client’s autonomic state, not their cognitive story, is the true intervening variable behind their feelings and behavior. 

Module 5: The Pandemic Through a Polyvagal Lens

• Dr. Porges presents research from more than 1,600 participants surveyed during the COVID-19 pandemic on the link between their adverse experiences and overall health & wellness.

Module 6: Case Studies

• The course’s closing session: a recorded, unscripted demonstration in which Deb Dana works with a workshop volunteer to physically negotiate a chair position that feels safe, narrating the process of neuroception and consent in real time, with Dr. Porges commenting alongside on what her nervous system is doing and why.