When you’re feeling on edge, frozen, or disconnected, it might help to know these reactions aren’t failings; they’re your body’s survival system doing its job. Understanding how your nervous system responds to stress can offer powerful,
Ventral Vagal State: Safety, Presence & Connection
This is the state of calm engagement, your social nervous system online and available. Breathing is steady, your heart rate is regulated, and you can connect, listen, and respond with clarity.
How it feels: grounded, open, connected, regulated, capable of thoughtful communication.
Sympathetic State: Fight-or-Flight Activation
This mobilized state prepares you to respond to perceived threat. It can appear as anxiety, restlessness, urgency, or irritability, even when the danger is imagined or emotional rather than physical.
How it feels: racing thoughts, muscle tension, pacing energy, urgency, overwhelm.
Dorsal Vagal State: Shutdown, Collapse & Disconnection
When your system interprets a threat as too large or unavoidable, it may move into dorsal vagal shutdown. Energy drops, and connection becomes difficult.
How it feels: numb, heavy, distant, fatigued, scattered, low motivation, emotionally “far away.”
Why These States Matter
Each state is protective. But when you remain stuck in high alert or collapse, life becomes harder to navigate. The good news: your nervous system is built to move, and with the right supports, you can help it shift toward safety and connection.
Polyvagal State-Shifting: How Your System Moves Between States
State-shifting is not about forcing calm or fighting your reactions. It’s about offering your nervous system enough cues to move on its own.
Moving Toward Ventral Vagal
The ventral vagal system activates when your body detects conditions of safety, warm tone of voice, soft eye contact, predictable environments, steady rhythm, gentle breath. Even very small “glimmers” matter.
Helpful supports: slow exhale-focused breathing, grounding through the senses, orientation (slowly looking around the environment), gentle social contact, warm lighting.
Moving Out of Sympathetic
Sympathetic energy needs to be discharged before calm can return. Stillness often worsens mobilized states.
Helpful supports: movement (walking, shaking out arms, stretching), vocalization (humming, sighing), bilateral motion, then grounding or breathwork.
Moving Out of Dorsal
You cannot leap from shutdown to calm. Your system needs a small rise in energy first—enough to climb back into low sympathetic before ventral becomes accessible.
Helpful supports: gentle movement, warmth, simple structure, small predictable actions, sensory input that isn’t overwhelming, quiet connection with no pressure.
Tools to Support Nervous System Regulation
These techniques are gentle and research-supported. They work best when used consistently and matched to your current state.
Slow Diaphragmatic Breathing
Deep belly breathing activates the parasympathetic system and brings down stress physiology.
Try: inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 6 counts, repeat for a few minutes.
Mindfulness & Present-Moment Awareness
Mindfulness interrupts reactive loops and increases awareness of internal cues.
Try: focus on one sensation (e.g., the weight of your feet), returning attention when it wanders.
Body-Based Grounding & Movement
Movement helps release sympathetic energy and restore equilibrium.
Try: press feet into the floor, roll shoulders, stretch arms, notice the shift.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
Tense and release muscles to reduce hidden tension and improve nervous system balance.
Try: tense fists for 5 seconds, fully release, move through major muscle groups.
Co-Regulation & Supportive Relationships
Safe connection activates the ventral vagal system more effectively than any solo technique.
Try: sit with someone you trust, share a brief conversation, or simply connect through presence.
Nature-Based Regulation
Natural environments provide cues of safety like light, texture, movement, sound.
Try: step outside, identify three things you can see, hear, and feel.
Externalizing Worry Through Writing
Expressive writing reduces internal pressure and increases clarity.
Try: write freely for five minutes with no editing or judgment.
Neurodivergence & the Nervous System
Neurodivergent people often experience and interpret autonomic states differently. Sensory profiles, interoception differences, masking, and lifelong stress loads can shift how quickly the system moves into sympathetic or dorsal activation.
Autism & Polyvagal States
Autistic sensory intensity and social complexities can influence state shifts.
Common patterns: sensory overload leads to sympathetic activation; masking fatigue leads to dorsal shutdown; routine and predictability leads to increased ventral access; focused engagement leads to a stable ventral/mobilized blend.
Shutdown is often dorsal, not intentional withdrawal.
ADHD & State Regulation
ADHD often involves rapid switching and difficulty accessing steadiness.
Common patterns: RSD leads to sympathetic spikes; transitions lead to overwhelm; under-stimulation leads to restlessness; interest-driven focus leads to ventral availability.
Movement-first regulation often works better for ADHD nervous systems.
Masking, Demand Fatigue & Chronic Dysregulation
Long-term compensating or masking can:
- lower overwhelm thresholds
- increase sympathetic reactivity
- make shutdown more common
- impact interoceptive accuracy
This is adaptive, not a personal failing.
What Helps Neurodivergent Nervous Systems Regulate
- sensory-specific supports (weight, sound control, predictable lighting)
- movement before stillness
- environments with choice, pacing, and autonomy
- structured routines that reduce cognitive load
- relational clarity and direct communication
Understanding the Dorsal Vagal State More Fully
Dorsal vagal shutdown is frequently misinterpreted. It’s not laziness or giving up—it’s the body protecting itself.
What Dorsal Activation Is
A protective freeze/collapse response designed to reduce threat exposure by conserving energy, dimming sensory input, and creating internal distance.
Early Signs of Dorsal
- heaviness or slowed thinking
- feeling “foggy” or “far away”
- difficulty initiating tasks
- emotional flatness
- reduced facial expression
- disconnecting during conversations
- loss of motivation
Recognizing these cues early allows you to intervene before full shutdown.
Dorsal vs Depression vs Dissociation
These states overlap but are not the same:
- Dorsal = physiological shutdown
- Depression = mood and cognitive pattern
- Dissociation = psychological disconnection
Dorsal can contribute to dissociation, especially in trauma survivors.
Supporting Yourself Out of Dorsal
The aim is gradual re-engagement.
Helpful supports: warmth, gentle sensory stimulation, slow physical movement, co-regulation without demands, tiny achievable actions (open a window, sit up, drink water), gradual increase in structure.
anxiety, and bodily disconnection among survivors of multiple forms of childhood trauma.
Questions Clients Often Ask
What are the three states of the nervous system in Polyvagal Theory?
Ventral vagal (safe), sympathetic (fight-or-flight), and dorsal vagal (shutdown).
How do I know which state I’m in?
Notice energy level, thoughts, and body sensations—urgency, heaviness, or connection give you clues.
Can you shift nervous system states on purpose?
You can’t force it, but you can support the body with breath, movement, co-regulation, and sensory cues.
Is dorsal vagal the same as dissociation?
They overlap but are distinct; dorsal is a physiological state, dissociation is psychological.
Why do neurodivergent people shift states more quickly?
Sensory intensity, masking, and interoceptive differences can make state changes more rapid or intense.
Suggested Reading, Websites & Podcasts
Books: Deb Dana – Anchored and Polyvagal Practices
Stephen Porges – The Science of Safety
Richard Schwartz – No Bad Parts;
Elizabeth Stanley – Widen the Window; Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score.
Websites
Polyvagal Institute
https://www.polyvagalinstitute.org
Offers courses, research summaries, and practical tools based on Polyvagal Theory for clinicians and the public.
IFS Institute
https://ifs-institute.com
Home base for Internal Family Systems training, articles, research, and directories for certified practitioners.
Greater Good Science Center (UC Berkeley)
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu
Evidence-based psychology and neuroscience of well-being, including emotional regulation, compassion, resilience, and nervous system topics.
NCCIH (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health)
https://www.nccih.nih.gov
Government-based research hub on mind–body medicine, including stress physiology, mindfulness, yoga, and nervous system regulation.
Nervous System Regulation Education Hubs (General)
Stanford “Stress & Resilience” Hub: https://med.stanford.edu/wellmd/resources/stress-resilience.html
Brief, research-based guides on stress, vagal tone, and self-regulation strategies.
Brown University “Mindfulness Center”: https://www.brown.edu/public-health/mindfulness
Science-based mindfulness, interoception, and nervous system education.
NICABM (Trauma & Nervous System Resources): https://www.nicabm.com
Clinician-oriented courses, infographics, and clear psychoeducation on trauma, Polyvagal Theory, and regulation skills.
Podcasts
The Polyvagal Podcast
https://www.thepolyvagalpodcast.com
Episodes exploring Polyvagal Theory in everyday life, therapy, relationships, and body-based regulation.
IFS Talks
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ifs-talks/id1501746260
Interviews, case examples, and teaching conversations with leading IFS practitioners.
Therapist Uncensored
https://therapistuncensored.com
Attachment-focused podcast that blends neuroscience, Polyvagal ideas, and relational regulation strategies.
10% Happier with Dan Harris
https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast
Mindfulness, emotional regulation, and research-backed practices for lowering stress and improving resilience.
Huberman Lab (Nervous System Episodes)
https://hubermanlab.com
Long-form, research-dense explanations of stress, autonomic regulation, vagal tone, breathwork, and brain–body science.
References
Porges, S. W. (2022). Polyvagal Theory: A Science of Safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.
Porges, S. W. (2025). Polyvagal Theory: Current Status, Clinical Applications. Frontiers in Psychology.
Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015). Interoception & Proprioception in Trauma Therapy. Frontiers in Psychology.
Hodgdon, H. B. et al. (2022). Internal Family Systems Therapy for PTSD. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma.
O’Keefe, T. (2025). IFS + Dance Movement Therapy: Nervous System Dysregulation.
Brenham Therapy. (2023). Integrating Polyvagal Theory and IFS.
