Polyvagal Yoga is practiced with a focus on activating the vagus nerve and its effect on the autonomic nervous system. Traditional yoga has always had this focus, but without the “benefit” of knowing the modern physiological reason for its effectiveness.

When we breathe and move in synchrony with the breath, there is an immediate effect on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The line of communication between the gut, the heart, the brain, and every organ in between is mediated in large part by the nervous system, and via the vagus nerve.

When we move and breathe in a rhythmic, synchronized way, the message to the ANS is something like, “ahh, everything is just right in this moment.” Whether this is at a fast pace or a slow pace, the body clicks into a zone of balance and of supreme “ok-ness.”

The Polyvagal Theory was developed by Dr. Stephen Porges. He expanded on the two primary physiological states we experience in the body:

• Sympathetic response of the nervous system – “fight or flight” and the
• Parasympathetic response – “rest and digest.”

Porges expanded his theory of a polyvagal system as a hierarchy of states that are possible because of what is happening moment to moment in our autonomic nervous system. Our state (of having our nervous system regulated or unregulated) is informed by neuroception and co-regulation.

Those disregulated states of the nervous system can linger long after the initial experience, something further discussed by Bessel van der Kolk in his ground-shifting book, The Body Keeps the Score.