215 - Courtney Rolfe - Exploring the Ancient Wisdom of Modern Polyvagal Theory
“Our nervous system shapes us by experience, and our nervous system is gonna keep us in a pattern of protection instead of a pattern of connection in some realm in our life, and that's gonna get in our way.” - Courtney Rolfe
How’s your nervous system these days? Oof. I don’t ask to provoke. Still, I understand that the question can stir up immediate and unpleasant vibrations deep in the marrow, feelings that cannot be put into words. And that’s okay. In fact, it’s evolutionary. Courtney Rolfe is a psychotherapist, trainer, and speaker who has spent much of her professional career translating the language of Polyvagal Theory, those adaptive behavioral strategies that all mammals access to varying degrees. While the theory behind our vagus nerve’s role in emotional, relational, and fight-or-flight responses is a modern field of study, that bone-deep knowledge is ancient wisdom, according to Courtney, and has always guided our lived experience. She’s here to help us put language to that spine-tingly, unconscious knowing and become more aware of our agency in the process.
“Essentially, Polyvagal Theory is because we think of it as the heart of our lived experience,” explains Courtney. “It's underneath all of our experiences. It's the thing that happens before all the rest of the stuff happens. It's the reaction, the experience our body has before our thoughts, feelings, emotions, or behaviors catch up.” It’s easy to imagine that if you live someplace that felt threatening at all times (think: an abusive household or an under-resourced neighborhood), you eventually stop noticing that your vagus nerve is on constant alert, exhausting your capacity for rest, joy, or connection. Is it any wonder that so many of us suffer from chronic mental and physical illnesses?
The key to understanding polyvagal theory and reducing the stress response is to think of the nervous system as a ladder: each rung represents different states. Our lives are rarely static, so we move up and down the rungs or through emotional states depending on what we’re experiencing. “Our nervous system is working hard, so there's something really powerful in learning and teaching our clients how to at least name the things their system is responding to that we might not realize,” Courtney says. Since everyone’s operating on a different rung, that awareness is essential to regulating our own responses while co-regulating those of our clients.
“It’s a beautiful, adaptive survival process of appeasement,” concludes Courtney. I say it’s an invitation to connection. Knowing what's going on internally for you will impact your client relationships.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
NARM - NeuraAffective Relational Model
GUEST CONTACT AND BIO
Email
Courtney Rolfe is a psychotherapist, trainer, and speaker who uses the wisdom of the nervous system to guide and inform her clinical work. Courtney is passionate about teaching other healing professionals about the nervous system through the lens of the Polyvagal Theory.
Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…
Website:
www.headheartbiztherapy.com/podcast
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartBizTherapy/
Instagram: