Polyvagal Theory Made Simple

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That feeling of being utterly exhausted but somehow unable to switch off. The tight chest. The 3am wake-ups. The gut that never quite settles. Most of us have been quietly living with these signs for years, chalking them up to a busy life or just the way we are. But what if they were your body trying to tell you something far more specific?

This week on Live Well Be Well, I'm sitting down with the brilliant Dr. Arielle Schwartz, somatic psychologist, certified yoga therapist, EMDR trainer, and one of the leading voices in nervous system healing and complex trauma. Arielle has this rare gift of translating some of the most intricate neuroscience into something you can actually feel in your own body. She is warm, grounded, deeply wise, and this conversation genuinely moved me.

Here's What We Dive Into:

- What a dysregulated nervous system actually feels like in the body

- Why stress and dysregulation are not the same thing

- What polyvagal theory is and why your vagus nerve matters more than you think

- How the body moves through fight, flight, and freeze responses

- Why ADHD may be a nervous system regulation challenge as much as a cognitive one

- How to stimulate your vagus nerve using just your own hands

- Why crying is one of the most healing things you can do for your nervous system

- How self-compassion directly improves vagal tone

- Why breathwork is the fastest nervous system reset available to all of us

- What EMDR is and how it helps the brain finally let go of trauma

Love,

Sarah Ann 💛

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Highlights

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:30 Signs of a Dysregulated Nervous System

00:05:00 How Dysregulation Affects Your Gut, Hormones and Immunity

00:12:00 Polyvagal Theory Explained Simply

00:17:00 The Vagus Nerve and the Mind-Body Connection

00:21:00 Fight, Flight and Freeze: The Three Nervous System Responses

00:24:00 Wired and Tired: Why You Can't Switch Off

00:29:00 ADHD and Nervous System Dysregulation

00:38:00 Somatic Healing, Yoga and Complex PTSD

00:43:00 Free Vagus Nerve Stimulation Techniques

00:49:00 Why Crying Is Good for Your Nervous System

00:53:00 How to Feel Safe in Your Own Body

00:57:00 Self-Compassion and Vagal Tone

01:01:00 Breathwork for Nervous System Regulation

01:07:00 What Is EMDR and How Does It Heal Trauma