Notes from a talk by Jan Winhall entitled 'Felt Sense Polyvagal'.

[Hope67]

These are some notes I took on 17th March 2023 when watching a talk by Jan Winhall entitled 'Felt Sense Polyvagal'.  Jan Winhall is a Canadian author at the Polyvagal institute and a Lecturer at the University of Toronto.  She is also a Trauma & Addiction Specialist.

She spoke about when she was in her mid 20's and attended a group for incest survivors.  She said she learned to 'listen with non-pathologising ears' in that group.  No labels/diagnoses.  Purely listen. 

She noted the members of the group were 'doing things with their bodies' e.g. cutting, dangerous sexual behaviour, and also drinking, eating/bingeing and vomiting.  She said they often got labelled as having borderline personality disorder.

Helped regulate their bodies and emotions.
Drinking a lot numbs you.

Psychodynamic model previously.  But doesn't address body

Judith Herman "Trauma & Recovery" - she is bringing out a new book.  She connected things to polyvagal theory.

Flooding - fight-flight
Numbing (Steve Porges calls it dorsal-vagus)
Shifting fight-flight to freezing/dissociating.
Bi-directional.

Cutting - endogenous opioids.  Bring relief.
Fold-collapse - numbing.

Help people out of stuck trauma feedback loop and into flow/flock.

Colour and visuals stimulates right hemisphere.  Colour, shape, imagery.
Interoceptive practice.
Model helps people to work with the body.

Fundamental question - how safe are you and how safe do you feel?

Motivation for addiction is to get out and away from the body.  Only in states of safety can we heal.

Immune system doesn't function well in fight/flight etc.  Healing needs to be in safe space.

Gendlin 'Focusing' - is a student of Carl Rogers.  Felt sense.

Relationship - establish some co-regulation. 
Listening freshly.
Notice where the body is speaking.
Notice.
Wait till body is ready to speak.
We want to connect through felt sensing.
Track where they are in the nervous system.

Jan Winhall's website is: https://janwinhall.com/ and she has some free resources on there.  (I must admit I've not yet looked at that link, so I don't know what's there).
Focusing accountability partners.

Flock - getting together with friends.  Connection and ventral energy.  Painting etc.

Jan prefers group therapy.  Co-regulation and social engagement.

She has body cards on the website.  Draw using colour where the felt sense was and describe using colour and shape.
Flock body cards - collect them as a resource.

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Note to self: I hope to have a look at these resources that Jan mentioned.

Hope 

[Not Alone]

Hope, I read your three posts of notes and found them interesting. Thank you for sharing these.