It is hard to know what Dr. Rolf would have said about polyvagal theory. I think she would say that Rolfers need to know about this wiring that governs the state regulation of the human animal. As Rolfers, our hands are making contact with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and our interventions are impacting the parasympathetic tone of the vagus nerve. Dr. Stephen Porges has made a great contribution to our  understanding of the human animal. His polyvagal theory has important insights into  how we forge therapeutic relationships, how we listen to client stories, and how to discern the variations within our clients’ state regulation when they are receiving fascial manipulation.

The vagus is the tenth cranial nerve. It is a body-brain connection and it participates in the organism’s evaluation of safety. The vagus nerve is the pathway of the parasympathetic nervous system; when the vagus is ‘on’, the person has a lower heart rate, a lower breath rate, and a biological focus on nutrient absorption – ‘rest and digest’. Textbooks will typically speak of the parasympathetic state as the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system – the ‘fight or flight’ response. Porges brings our understanding of the vagus nerve into the twenty-first century. It is out of date to define these two channels of the ANS as a teeter-totter where if one is ‘on’ then the other is ‘off’. The better description is that each has gradations on a continuum and, yes, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system can both be ‘on’ at the same time. Let’s discuss further why Porges says the human vagus nerve is not unitary, it is polyvagal.

Here is the paradox that he encountered when investigating the function of the vagus nerve as a neurophysiologist:

• Healthy full-term infants have higher vagal tone (meaning more neural signal traveling along the nerve) than preterm infants who have been stressed by medical
• When babies are being born, those who have high vagal tone during birth are at risk of dying because their heart rates are slowing down too much to provide oxygen to the brain (neurogenic bradycardia).

Both these things are true about the vagus nerve. In one context the vagus neural signal is protective, an indicator of health, and in the other context the vagal neural signal is potentially lethal: this is the vagal paradox. The vagus nerve is doing much more than ‘rest and digest’.

How can high tone in the vagus nerve be an indicator of both health and a fatal pathway? The answer to the vagal paradox lies entirely in the comparison of the human animal with other vertebrates and primitive fish. Primitive fish had primitive heart muscles to circulate oxygen to all the cells of the organism. When faced with a survival challenge, these ancient fish had adrenaline- producing cells that would release this arousal hormone to increase their heart rate. Getting oxygen to the muscles is the hallmark of the sympathetic arousal state, the physiological preparation for fight and/ or flight. Yet all animals find this arousal state very expensive; it uses up energy reserves and it compromises restoration processes. The only way primitive fish can lower their heart rate is by waiting for their cells to break down the adrenaline molecule, a slow metabolic process.

The human vagus nerve and the reptilian vagus nerve have solved this problem. The vagus nerve will override the sympathetic arousal by quickly slowing down the cardiovascular system and increasing digestive processes to replenish what was spent by the stress state. Reptiles rely on their vagus nerve to slow their heart down after fight-or-flight experiences. Reptiles also apply high vagal tone in response to a threat; they exhibit freeze behaviors and depend on their camouflage, accompanied by a lower heart rate. Fish exercise their vagus nerve during threat by diving deeper to avoid predators. Fish and reptiles can afford to slow down their metabolism because their oxygen demands are low.

Humans, on the other hand, need to keep their core at a constant warm temperature,

and humans also have the demanding task of pumping 30% of their oxygen uphill to their metabolically expensive brains. The human animal has a reptilian vagus: this is the dangerous one that can be lethal during birth. It originates in the dorsal aspect of the brainstem. This dorsal vagus leads to an immobility state in humans in response to a threat, immobility with fear. Humans also have a second vagus nerve, the mammalian vagus. This branch of the vagus nerve originates in the ventral aspect of the brainstem. It is the ventral vagus only that is the parasympathetic pathway responsible for the growth and restoration state. The ventral vagus also leads to immobility of the human animal, but it is immobility without fear, immobility with a sense of safety.

Rolfers need to be able to differentiate the three autonomic states – the sympathetic and the two parasympathetic states – to really understand the client experience. Sympathetic arousal is easy to spot: the muscles of the person are contracted, the breathing rate is rapid, and defensive behaviors like facial grimaces are visible. We may see sympathetic arousal in our clients for brief moments, perhaps as they tell their story,  or,  they may live   in sympathetic arousal as a part of the symptomology they bring to the session. Ventral-vagal parasympathetic state is also easy to see in our clients. In the brainstem, the ventral-vagal complex is adjacent to the neural origins of nerves that govern facial gestures, sound sensitivity, and prosody (tone of voice). When the human animal  is dominated by ventral-vagal neural tone, the face is animated, especially the muscles around the eyes. This rest-and-digest state is synonymous with more melody in tone of voice, easy discernment of human voices by the ear, and the person will exhibit a wide range of social-engagement behaviours to express himself.

It is knowing about the lesser-known parasympathetic state, the dorsal-vagal state described by polyvagal theory, that will benefit every Rolfer. The neurology of the dorsal vagus becomes the dominant state of the human animal when all other autonomic states have failed: social bonds did not resolve a threat and fight or flight did not resolve a threat. The old reptilian pathway is the last resort and is applied when the individual perceives life threat of the highest order. The person will experience an unconscious behavioral freeze state: immobility of the limbs, low heart rate, low breath rate, and often a sudden drop in blood pressure. This is the neurology that leads some people to faint. Other people will simply be very still. A defining feature is that the person will not exhibit facial gestures, no social engagement will be possible, and the tone of voice will be monotone – a constellation otherwise known as flat affect. Rolfers may encounter clients who dip into and out of the dorsal-vagal freeze state throughout   a session, say while telling a story about trauma, or they may be stuck in a dorsal freeze state as part of their symptomology.

It is the safe therapeutic presence of the Rolfer that is the best response for all three autonomic states. The dorsal-vagal freeze is delicate: this is an unconscious human animal reaction that may be associated with a lot of fear and shame. It is important to normalize this response as a natural biological state that is temporary. If the client exhibits immobility with fear as part of his trauma story, we can let him know that his human animal was doing the best it could under the circumstances, and that freezing is often a good choice for survival. If the client exhibits an immobility response as a reaction to a fascial intervention we have made, then we know he will not be able to communicate clearly about his personal boundaries. Ideally in Rolfing® Structural Integration sessions, clients will oscillate between ventral-vagal and sympathetic arousal as part of the biological mechanism integrating the fascial manipulation. A dorsal-vagal state should be considered a stop sign to the practitioner, a teachable moment, and a sacred stillness to be honored like a newborn child.

During every Rolfing session there are at least two nervous systems in the room, and it is the nervous-system state of the practitioner that can lead to the best intervention for the state of the client. We want our ventral vagus to shine for our clients: our faces to be animated with emotion and care, our voices to communicate trust and security, and our heart rhythms to be restful and dynamic. When we make compassionate eye contact with our clients, we are impacting their autonomic nervous system, hopefully inspiring an unconscious state regulation towards rest and digest. When we touch the fascial system, we are also feeling the intricacies of the polyvagal system.

Bibliography

Porges, S.W. 2011. The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self- Regulation. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Porges, S.W. 1995 Jul. “Orienting in a Defensive World: Mammalian Modifications of Our Evolutionary Heritage. A Polyvagal Theory.” Psychophysiology 32(4):301-318.

Lina Hack is a Certified Rolfer in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. She started out as a biochemistry researcher before completing her Rolf Institute® training in 2004. Afterwards she was inspired to complete Dr. Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing training and rounded that out with a full psychology degree from  the University of Saskatchewan. Along with her Rolfing practice, she lectures about neuropsychology topics.

In Memoriam

Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® notes the passing of the following member of our community:

George J. Smyth, Certified Advanced Rolfer™

 Polyvagal Theory for Rolfers™[:]