Somatic & Polyvagal Resources
Body-based practices and polyvagal theory tools to regulate your nervous system and release stored tension.
These materials are provided as educational supplements to your treatment. They are not a substitute for professional psychiatric or therapeutic care.
Somatic Exercises
Body-based practices to regulate your nervous system, track grounding exercises, and explore the movement-emotion connection.
Nervous System Map
NewA visual guide to understanding your autonomic nervous system states (safe, mobilized, shutdown) and how to navigate between them.
Somatic Grounding Log
NewTrack your daily grounding practices and notice how they shift your nervous system state over time.
Movement Journal
NewExplore the relationship between movement, emotion, and body sensation through structured journaling prompts.
Polyvagal Theory & Somatic Therapy (12 Worksheets)
A comprehensive somatic therapy series grounded in polyvagal theory — from understanding your nervous system to breathwork, pendulation, and building your ventral vagal toolkit.
Understanding Your Nervous System: The Polyvagal Theory
NewLearn how the vagus nerve regulates your nervous system and how trauma disrupts this regulation.
Mapping Your Autonomic States
NewIdentify your ventral vagal (safe), sympathetic (activated), and dorsal vagal (shutdown) states.
Vagal Toning Exercises
NewPractical techniques to strengthen vagal tone and improve nervous system regulation.
Window of Tolerance: Identifying Your Zone
NewDiscover your optimal zone of arousal and learn to recognize when you're hyperaroused or hypoaroused.
Neuroception: How Your Body Reads Safety and Danger
NewUnderstand how your nervous system automatically scans for threat and how to retrain this response.
Co-Regulation Practices
NewLearn how safe relationships help regulate your nervous system and build your own co-regulation toolkit.
Body Scan for Autonomic Awareness
NewA guided practice to develop awareness of your body's signals and nervous system state.
Somatic Tracking and Sensation Mapping
NewFollow the thread of sensation with curiosity and non-judgment to build body awareness and healing.
Pendulation and Titration Exercises
NewGently move between resourced and activated states to gradually build capacity for processing difficult material.
Building Your Ventral Vagal Toolkit
NewCollect practices and resources that help you access your calm, connected, social engagement system.
Breathwork Protocols for Nervous System Regulation
NewHarness the power of breath to shift your autonomic state with specific protocols for calming, grounding, and energizing.
Orienting and Grounding Exercises
NewReconnect with safety through sensory awareness, orienting responses, and grounding techniques.
Polyvagal Depression Series (8 Worksheets)
A focused 8-part series applying polyvagal theory directly to depression — mapping shutdown states, micro-movements, vagal toning, co-regulation, window of tolerance, and building a personalized nervous system maintenance plan.
Mapping Your Depression onto the Autonomic Ladder
NewLocate your depressive experience on the autonomic ladder — understand which nervous system state depression activates and why it is not a personal failing.
Recognizing Your Nervous System State
NewBuild the foundational skill of state awareness — learn to identify which autonomic state you are in, in real time, by reading your body's signals.
Micro-Movements Out of Shutdown
NewThe smallest possible actions that introduce just enough sensory input to nudge the nervous system toward activation, without triggering overwhelm.
Vagal Toning for Depression
NewEvidence-based practices that directly stimulate the vagus nerve — extended exhale breathing, humming, cold water immersion, gargling, and ear massage.
Co-Regulation When You Want to Isolate
NewPractical, low-demand ways to access co-regulation even in the depths of shutdown — organized by how much social energy they require.
Window of Tolerance for Depression
NewUnderstand your personal window of tolerance, identify what narrows it, and build practices that gradually widen it — with a focus on hypoarousal and shutdown.
From Shutdown to Activation
NewMap the four-stage pathway from dorsal vagal shutdown to ventral vagal engagement — including the sympathetic activation phase that often feels like getting worse.
Your Nervous System Maintenance Plan
NewA personalized plan capturing your daily practices, early warning signs, and crisis response — your operating manual for nervous system regulation.