Marina

“Neuroception precedes perception. Story follows state. Through a polyvagal framework, the important question “What happened?” is explored not to document the details of an event but to learn about the autonomic response. The clues to a client’s present-time suffering can be found in their autonomic response history.”
― Deborah A. Dana, The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation

“They teach you growing up that you are only one thing at a time—angry, lonely, content—but he’s never found that to be true. He is a dozen things at once. He is lost and scared and grateful, he is sorry and happy and afraid.”
― V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“Coming safely into stillness requires the ventral vagus to restrain the escape movements of the sympathetic nervous system and join with the dorsal vagal system while inhibiting its movement into protective dissociation. For many clients, the autonomic challenge of becoming safely still is too great. Without enough cues of safety from another Social Engagement System to co-regulate or the ability for individual regulation through a reliable vagal brake, the autonomic nervous system quickly moves out of connection into collapse and dissociation.”
― Deborah A. Dana, The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation

“Here are the tulips,
budded and full-blown,
their swoops and dips, their gloss and poses,
the satin of their darks.”
― Margaret Atwood, Dearly