Polyvagal Theory — The Latest Science on Nervous System Safety and Healing

 (New insights from Dr. Stephen Porges’s 2025 research)

In 2025, Dr. Stephen W. Porges, the originator of Polyvagal Theory, published updated research that deepens and clarifies the science behind how our nervous system regulates safety, connection, and survival. This isn’t just theory — it’s science that helps explain why trauma responses feel so automatic, and what it takes to heal them in the body.  

What Is Polyvagal Theory?

Polyvagal Theory (PVT) is a scientific framework that explains how the autonomic nervous system — especially the vagus nerve — shapes our emotions, behaviour, and social interactions. Developed by Dr. Porges in the 1990s, the theory highlights that our nervous system doesn’t simply switch between “fight or flight” and “rest and digest.” It moves through a hierarchy of responses based on cues of safety or threat in the environment.  

The 2025 research revisits and synthesises this work, clarifying how these pathways function at a physiological and behavioural level, and connecting the theory with clinical practice and neurological science.  

How Our Nervous System Reads Safety (Really) — Neuroception

Before the brain decides anything, the body is already scanning the world — like a radar — for safety or danger. Dr. Porges calls this neuroception: an automatic, unconscious process that detects signals of safety or threat and shifts the nervous system accordingly.  

This is why:

• You can feel nervous even when you know you’re safe.

• Your body can go into fight, freeze, or collapse before your mind catches up.

• Therapeutic insight alone doesn’t always change how your body feels.

Healing begins with the nervous system feeling safe first — not just the mind understanding safety.

The Three Nervous States 

Polyvagal Theory describes three broad states the nervous system can shift into:

🟢 Safety & Social Engagement (Ventral Vagal)

When the system detects safety, the ventral vagal pathway becomes active.
This supports:

• Calmness

• Connection

• Curiosity

• Regulation of emotion and social interaction
  In this state, the body feels open and receptive to connection.  

🟠 Mobilisation (Sympathetic Activation)

When the system detects possible threat, the sympathetic nervous system gears up for action:

• Heart rate rises

• Breathing becomes faster

• Muscles prepare for defence
  This is our classic fight or flight — natural and adaptive in danger.  

🔴 Shutdown & Collapse (Dorsal Vagal)

When threat feels overwhelming or inescapable, the dorsal vagal pathway takes over:

• Energy drops

• Body immobilises

• Dissociation or numbness can occur
  This is an ancient survival response — not a choice or weakness.  

   

What’s New in the 2025 Science?

Dr. Porges’s latest research revisits Polyvagal Theory from multiple angles — integrating it with modern neuroscience, clinical observations, and physiological data:

✔ A clearer physiological foundation

The 2025 article synthesises decades of research on vagal neuroanatomy and how the nervous system supports adaptiveness, resilience, and social engagement.  

✔ Connection is rooted in biology, not just psychology

Safety and social engagement are biological requirements — not optional mental experiences. Connection changes us because it changes how the nervous system perceives safety.  

✔ Clinical links between theory and practice

The updated research ties Polyvagal Theory to practical interventions, including acoustic and sensory pathways that support regulation and social responsiveness.  

Why This Matters for Trauma Healing

Traditional models of trauma focus on thinking — and unintentionally overlook the body’s safety system. Polyvagal Theory reframes trauma as a nervous system response, not a personal failure. This shift matters for healing because:

• Your nervous system learns habits of survival, not just your mind.

• Regulation begins with felt experiences, not beliefs alone.

• Social and sensory cues can calm the body before thoughts calm.  

This is why many people can understand safety cognitively but still feel unsafe somatically — the body needs felt safety first.

What Polyvagal Theory Isn’t

Polyvagal Theory is not:

• Just a metaphor

• A “quick fix” explanation for trauma symptoms

• A set of techniques detached from science

It’s a neurophysiological model that explains how the body organizes itself around perceived safety and survival.  

Practical Takeaways You Can Use Today

✨ Safety isn’t about thinking calm — it’s about feeling safe in your body.
✨ Social connection is a nervous system cue, not just a psychological preference.
✨ Therapeutic change happens bottom-up (body first), not only top-down (mind first).

These insights transform how we approach healing — especially in trauma therapy.

Join Rewire Trauma Therapy’s Vagal Toning Program with fourteen 10-minute-a-day, expert-guided vagal toning exercises to help: 

• Reconnect with soothing sensations of calm and groundedness within the nervous system and body after surviving trauma or chronic stress.
• Strengthen the vagus nerve to reduce the intensity and frequency of triggers, flashbacks, and nightmares.
• Safely release traumatic memories and energy stored in the body through vagal toning therapeutic exercises.
• Gently reduce feelings of overwhelm with somatic movement.
• Reclaim feelings of love, kindness, and acceptance for the self and others.
• Restore sensations of power and self-agency to ease feelings of numbness and dissociation.

References & Further Reading

This article is informed by the work of Stephen Porges, founder of Polyvagal Theory, and contemporary neuroscience research on the autonomic nervous system, safety, and trauma.

1. Porges, S. W. (2025).
   Polyvagal theory: A journey from physiological observation to neural innervation and clinical insight.
   Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.
   https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/behavioral-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1659083/full 

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

3. Porges, S. W., & Dana, D. (2018).
   Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies.
   W. W. Norton & Company.

4. Polyvagal Institute.
   What Is Polyvagal Theory?
   https://www.polyvagalinstitute.org/whatispolyvagaltheory