1) The Polyvagal premise: your client isn’t “dysregulated,” they’re in a state
Polyvagal Theory frames autonomic function as a hierarchy of states, not a single stress dial:
Dorsal vagal (shutdown / immobilization)
Numb, collapsed, foggy, “not here,” dissociated, low energy, hopeless.
Sympathetic (mobilization / fight-flight)
Anxiety, agitation, anger, urgency, racing mind, defensive activation.
Ventral vagal (social engagement / safe connection)
Present, connected, curious, grounded, flexible, able to relate.
A core clinical implication is: you don’t “treat symptoms,” you facilitate state shifts—and those shifts often need to happen in sequence (especially when trauma patterns are involved).
2) Why “calming” is often the wrong objective
Many clients (and many protocols) aim for: “Get me calm.”
Polyvagal reframes this as: “Help me move to the next adaptive state.”
Common failure mode
If a client is in dorsal shutdown, “calming” strategies can unintentionally reinforce immobilization (more collapse, more fog, more disconnection).
Better target
Appropriate next-step movement:
- From dorsal → toward mobilization (more energy, sensation, aliveness) without overwhelm
- From sympathetic → toward ventral (safety + connection) without suppression
- From ventral → toward integration (completion, meaning, choice)
3) Vagus stimulation as a “state lever,” not a tranquilizer
Think of vagus stimulation as a way to change the platform the client’s mind and emotions are running on.
What to aim for (clinically)
- Increase ventral vagal tone (capacity for safety + connection)
- Support titrated discharge (allow sympathetic energy to resolve rather than “being shut down”)
- Restore flexible switching (the real marker of regulation)
What not to aim for
- A flat “relaxed” state at all costs
- Forcing ventral when the system is not ready (creates rebound anxiety, irritability, or deeper dorsal drop)
4) A simple “state navigation” model you can run in-session
Step A — Identify the present state (in the room, right now)
Use observable cues:
- Ventral: eye contact is easy, voice prosody, humor/curiosity, coherent story
- Sympathetic: pressured speech, scanning, tight jaw/neck, restlessness, argumentativeness
- Dorsal: monotone, minimal affect, blankness, heavy eyelids, disorientation, “I don’t know”
Step B — Choose the next state, not the “best state”
- If dorsal: your next move is usually resource + gentle mobilization (small increases in sensation and agency)
- If sympathetic: your next move is usually downshift + orienting + connection
- If ventral: your next move is often processing/completion (resolve the pattern, not just feel good)
Step C — Apply stimulation in a titrated way
Short bouts, frequent check-ins, and permission for the body to respond:
- “What changed in your breath, throat, chest, belly?”
- “What emotion is closer to the surface now?”
- “Do you feel more here, or farther away?”
Your success metric is not “calm.”
Your success metric is more presence, more choice, more coherence.
5) Where color/light integrates cleanly with Polyvagal (from a research paper by Steven Vazquez, Ph. D.)*
Vazquez explicitly links a three-phase progression that closely mirrors Porges’ hierarchy:
- Primitive parasympathetic / dorsal vagal (withdrawn, frozen, shock-like)
- Sympathetic (fight/flight emotional expression)
- Modern parasympathetic / ventral vagal (social engagement, prefrontal integration)
His key operational claim is not “color calms people.” It is:
Specific colors resonate with specific emotional themes, which can activate emotions so that, with guidance, the emotional state can progress toward expression and completion.
The effectiveness depends heavily on matching the stimulus to the viewer’s moment-to-moment state, otherwise effects may be minimal or destabilizing.
He also describes how combining color + flicker/entrainment can rapidly shift brain states (photic driving), again emphasizing state specificity and dosage.
From a Polyvagal perspective, this maps well to:
Use the stimulus to bring forward what’s next, not to cover what’s present.
*Note that this paper describes a different method of applying light, color and frequency from SolaraGem and no endorsement is implied.
6) Practical positioning: “moving emotional states” with vagus stimulation
Here is the conceptual shift that tends to land with clients:
Old framing
“Vagus stimulation calms the nervous system.”
Polyvagal framing
“Vagus stimulation helps your system change gears—from shutdown, to mobilization, to safe connection—so emotions can complete instead of looping.”
That distinction matters because:
- A client in dorsal may need safe mobilization first (energy returns)
- A client in sympathetic may need containment and connection (ventral access)
- A client already ventral may be ready for resolution work (memory reconsolidation / meaning / release)
7) A concise in-session script (state-based)
- “Let’s identify what state you’re in right now—revved up, shut down, or connected.”
- “We’re not trying to force calm. We’re helping your system find the next gear.”
- “As we stimulate, notice: do you feel more present, more activated, or more distant?”
- “If activation rises, we slow down and help it move through—so it resolves rather than sticks.”
- “We’re aiming for flexibility: you can feel what you feel and still stay here.”
