For our second session of the Men’s CNS optimization group, we were joined by Payton as our speaker. Building off of the last session, Payton’s discussion dove into information related to the function of our nervous system and how we can listen to and work with the parts that make up this system. Critical to this was Payton’s explanation of polyvagal theory which, in brief, is a theoretical framework which explains how humans move between states of connection, activation, and shutdown based on the perceived safety and threat. A key facet of this process is that our nervous system, in tandem with perceived internal (e.g., blood pumping in our ears, feeling full, sleepy, tired, pain, alert, etc.), external (e.g., loud noises, alarms, quiet or even silence, music, comfort, etc.), and social (e.g., smiles, frowns, when someone is yelling, when someone is laughing, etc.) stimuli, evaluates the level of threat in our environment and acts to regulate our body accordingly.
For example, say you’re chatting in the lunch room with a co-worker you like. You’re on lunch break, eating a meal, and generally having a relaxed time. No need to work right now, no need to stress, just you and your sandwich making peace with the world. While in this context, polyvagal theory holds that, bereft of any threat or stressor, your body will act to down regulate your body and keep things calm. Then, without warning, the boss stomps into the break room. Even before they’ve said a thing your brain is already screaming “alert” simply based on the way they barged into the room. This feeling of “alert” is further heightened when you see that your boss’ face is scrunched up in visible consternation and your sandwich, once so comfortably sitting in your stomach, turns to bile. Here polyvagal theory holds that, due to the sudden encroaching threat, more resources are required to manage it and the nervous system immediately responds by shifting your body into a more stressed state.
Now the kicker on this one is that, as the example illustrates, a lot of what happened here occurred without conscious awareness on our part. We didn’t think to ourselves “I don’t need to stress right now. Let’s relax our body” our body and nervous system automatically regulated ourselves based on the environment we found ourselves in. When the environment and state we were in changed, so too did our body and nervous system’s response. However, this is not to say that we are eternally at the whims of our body’s reactionary attempts to interpret danger in our environment. Payton went into detail about how, in moments of stress or dysregulation, we can “speak the native language of the body” so as to give it the right signals and put ourselves in the right state of mind to convince our body to take its foot off of the gas pedal and let the whole system relax.
Lastly, Payton gave a brief overview of some principles related to Internal Family Systems and explored how we can use the idea of “parts” to become more aware of the various internal influences on our thoughts and behavior. One thing that I really liked was how Payton emphasized the importance of being curious when it came to understanding ourselves and to treat what we discover with compassion and understanding. Looking forward to hearing what she has to say in a couple weeks!
About Spencer Jones
Spencer is currently completing his master’s of Counselling Psychology with Yorkville University, on practicum with Impart Therapy. He works with teens and adults who are struggling with anxiety, depression, and stress. Please visit here to learn more about Spencer Jones.