Nervous System Care For Racial Distress: Polyvagal Approach

Racial stress and racial trauma live in the body, not just the mind. Polyvagal Theory offers a practical, body-based map for how we move through connection (ventral), fight/flight (sympathetic), and shutdown (dorsal), especially after racial harm, microaggressions, or racial activation.

In this track, we explore three core ideas: hierarchy (the ladder of nervous system states), neuroception (the body’s unconscious scanning for safety or threat), and co-regulation (how we settle through safe, affirming connection).

You’ll be guided to create your own ventral anchors—simple cues that help you return to steadiness after activation. Anchors may include breath and body sensations, supportive people, ancestral or cultural touchstones, nature, or moments in your day when you naturally feel more regulated.

This is an invitation to reflect, journal, and build a daily practice for mindfulness, somatic regulation, and connected community.

Transcript

Hello, Everyone. I'm real excited to talk to you about polyvagal theory, A framework that I've just recently added to the Brave Space program as an integrating way of holding and understanding our experience. It's been a concept I've been working with for the last year. It's been well-researched in many settings. And I just think it is so incredibly useful to incorporate as a mindfulness practice, As a somatic practice, And as a way of seeing how the body and mind connects. So let me say a few things about it and then give you an exercise. First of all, Polyvagal theory, Let me tell you what it is, Is a collection of evolutionary, Neuroscientific, And psychological constructs pertaining to the role of the vagus nerve in emotional regulation, Social connection, And fear responses. So you could see how this is really gonna support us inquiry and group connection intentions of this program. The theory was introduced in 1994 by Stephan Porges, And I've been studying with Deb Dana, Who's done a beautiful job of organizing content and exercises specifically for therapists and practitioners. Now the vagus nerve, Now keep in mind I'm not a neuroscientist, So I'm really coming more from my direct experience and understanding. The vagus nerve is the longest autonomic nerve in the human body. It connects from the brain to the nerves of the face, The heart, The lungs, And the key organs, All the way down to our digestion tract. Bye. So this is a long nerve that runs along the spinal cord. This theory, Polyvagal theory, Has been used broadly in therapeutic and trauma settings and is central to an understanding of our racial activation and wellness in three distinct areas. One, The degree to which we embrace the degree to which we brace to protect ourselves from fight, Flight, And freeze or shut down responses. Secondly, This theory connects our mind and body activity. And thirdly, It supports the degree to which we feel safe connection in our relationships with ourselves and with others. So you can see how this will be a good mechanism for kind of referencing where we are in our own regulation and in our own nervous system and how we are with others in our group. So let me say a little bit about how this theory is organized around three principles. The first principle that organizes around is hierarchy and often referred to as a ladder. And this is because the vagus nerve pattern consists of this kind of graduation from this top of the spine all the way down to the lower base of our skeletal frame. The vagus nerve pattern consists of ventral, Sympathetic, And dorsal activity. These three states, Ventral is when we're feeling stable and connected, Sympathetic is when we feel we are in fight or flight mode, And dorsal is when we feel immobilized and shut down. These three states, If you will, Or areas on this vagal nerve is what we're trying to understand in this ladder or this hierarchy. So this is a state of somatic and mindful regulation when we study it. And when we can investigate our conditioning and our conditioned response to racial distress, To division, And to healing, We have a framework for kind of understanding where we get activated and what we can do to self-regulate. So, And this is one of the aspirations, The kind of aspired outcome of the Brave Space Program, That we learn how to come into more regulation, Which would be more ventral stability this hierarchy or ladder so that we can learn how to shift ourselves out of reactivation into a more choiceful sense of presence and stability. So that's the hierarchy. The second principle that's in this powerful theory is called Neuroception. Now, Neuroception is the neural circuits in our autonomic nervous system that responds without involvement, Without involving the thinking part of the brain. It responds to bodily sensations and cues of warning and welcome protection and connection between our inner experience, Our outer experience, And even between experiences, Which is what's in our our environment that might be stimulating certain activation. And again, This is oftentimes without our understanding, Without a language or an understanding of what might be happening. So this is the territory, This neural section is a territory of unconscious bias. You might say that. And that we are making, Training, We are making conscious these neural sections, We're bringing some awareness into noticing the activity, Which is often through our sensations. We're noticing that activity and bringing an awareness to neural section so that our perceptions are more crisp, Clear, And we're more stable. So that's neural section. In a nutshell, And then the third principle in polyvagal theory has to do with co-regulation. Co-regulation is how the nature of our nervous system looks for and needs others with whom we can feel safe enough to connect and create supportive and protective relationships. Now, This kind of co-regulating activity It helps us create a stronger personal foundation for self-regulation and well-being. And over time, It supports our capacity to be in co-regulation with others. And this is a core meditation. This is a core intention of Brave Space. Because we're in affinity groups, We're really learning how to co-regulate our nervous system through our bodies, Through our connections with each other. We're noticing how that feels so that we can strengthen our capacity to be in any racial discretion, To be in any situation of our lives where we may be racially activated and understand how to navigate, At least with ourselves, Or bring in an aspiration of well-being or co-regulation in our bones. So we want to just get that aspiration as an intention and as a felt sense in our system. So there's a lot to learn about this polyvagal theory, And I encourage you to look at Deb Dana's work, Which I think is very simple and beautifully organized written and also to just continue to practice through this program. This concept is woven throughout the program as well as the mindful of race framework that you learned in the pre-work as well as guided meditations. All of these are intended to get us in our bodies, Get us into a felt sense of connection and stability so that we have then the grounded capacity capacity to investigate our racial conditioning and how that lives in our day-to-day world. So the last thing I'll leave you with is the invitation to create your ventral anchors. And what you'll see below are several questions for you to think about. And what ventral anchors are, Are invitations or stimulations for you to make a U-turn when you find yourself activated or deregulated to come back into regular by using one of these anchors. Now, The body and the breath is a solid mindfulness, Body-centered, Somatic anchor that allows you to, It's always, Your anchor, Your body and breath is always in the present moment, And it's always present time. So when you give your attention to the body and the breath, As an anchor, Then what you're doing is you're taking a pause and you're just coming into presence. And we do this as best we can. Sometimes we can be so highly activated that it's not so simple, But we can just taste it a little at a time and touch into the body and the breath. We can just be gentle and asking, You know, What's happening, Or I'm here, Or let me just slow down with you, Or, You know, Just connect with the body and the breath. Any attention you give it is going to naturally slow it down if you're not judging what's happening. The guided meditations throughout this program are going to totally support you here. I'm coming into presence with the body and the breath. Another anchor to think about is who can you think of that brings you ease and harmony? I often think of my dog that I used to have, Bodhi, Who was just a pure joy, Just instantly melted my heart. If I want an anchor that brings me into ease, And harmony, I'll think about Bodhi. Who do you think about? So another anchor inquiry is what objects or images bring you ease and harmony? Another is where in nature do you experience ease and harmony? And where do you feel most ease throughout the day? Is it when you first wake up in the morning? Is it after you've had a good workout? Is it the moment you lay your head down at night? So think about those felt and direct experiences that can bring you into a sense of heartfulness and gentleness and tenderness, And just rest your awareness there. So the invitation with this exercise is to reflect and then journal your responses to these questions, And when you feel satisfied that you have an anchor or two that you want to return to that really takes you there or that helps you feel great. Use it as a daily meditation practice or bring it into your mindfulness guided meditations. Trumpet in and call on it when you feel, When you need to come into a felt sense of regulation and co-regulation with your racial affinity group members. Has been helpful. Take your time with this, Have fun with it, And we will talk again. Thank you.