How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

Anchored

Deb Dana guides us to understand and befriend our autonomic nervous system, engaging its healing capacities to connect with ourselves and with our social world.

Deb Dana is a leading voice within the science of human connection. She takes complex subjects and makes them digestible, relatable and practical. In Anchored Deb provides an accessible guide to understanding and befriending our autonomic nervous system through the principles of Polyvagal Theory. This book is an invitation to nurture and care for ourselves in a manner that is deeply restorative. It also creates a template that enables us to extend this nurture, care and restoration to others and our planet. It is a must-read for anyone seeking to navigate life's challenges with more ease and grace.

Tamu Thomas, Author of Women Who Work Too Much

Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinician and teacher specialising in complex trauma, as well as a consultant to the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute. Deb's work is focused on using the lens of Polyvagal Theory to understand and resolve the impact of trauma in our lives. 
For more, see rhythmofregulation.com.

'Deb Dana guides us to understand and befriend our autonomic nervous system, engaging its healing capacities to connect with ourselves and with our social world.' – Gabor Maté 
 
'Once we know how our nervous system works, we can work with it,' teaches Deb Dana. 'We can learn to access an embodied, biological resource that is always present, available, and there to guide us toward well-being.' 
 
An aggressive email from your boss, or a fight with your partner - these situations aren't life-or-death, yet our bodies may react as if they are. But we can train our nervous system to stop overreacting, and start responding to the world with greater safety and ease, if we know how. In Anchored, expert teacher Deb Dana shares a down-to-earth presentation of Polyvagal Theory, then brings the science to life with practical, everyday tools. 
 
Using field-tested techniques, Dana helps you master the skills to become more aware of your nervous system moment to moment, and change the way you respond to the great and small challenges of life. Here, you'll explore:<ul><li>Polyvagal Theory - get to know the biology and function of your vagus nerve, the highway of the nervous system.</li><li>Befriending Your Nervous System - attune to what's going on in your body by developing your 'neuroception'</li><li>Using Your Vagal Brake - discover key techniques to consciously regulate the intensity of your emotions.</li><li>Connection and Protection - learn to recognize and influence your internal cues for safety and danger.</li><li>Your Social Engagement System - find ways to create nourishing relationships with others and the world around you.</li></ul> 
Through guided imagery, meditation, self-inquiry, and more, Anchored offers a practical user's manual for moving from a place of fear and panic into a grounded space of balance and confidence.

Deb Dana

Deb Dana guides us, by means of simple exercises, to understand and befriend our autonomic nervous system, engaging its healing capacities to connect with ourselves and with our social world.

Practical Exercises to Ease Anxiety, Find Safety and Come Home to Yourself Using Polyvagal Theory

'Deb Dana guides us, by means of simple exercises, to understand and befriend our autonomic nervous system.' - GABOR MATÉ 
 
When we’re stressed, anxious and overwhelmed, our nervous systems – and our lives – suffer. All our behaviours, emotions and stories have their roots in our nervous systems – how we feel in our bodies, how we perceive the world around us, and how we connect with others in our relationships. 
 
Polyvagal Theory has produced incredibly effective new tools for regulating our neurobiology. With The Nervous System Workbook, leading Polyvagal expert Deb Dana presents an interactive guide for befriending your nervous system and cultivating a sense of safety and peace. Dana warmly guides you through exercises, practices and reflections to help you understand, soothe and train your system – so you can live with less reactivity and more ease. 
 
The Nervous System Workbook is the tool you need to understand the nuances of your body’s unique needs – and respond to those needs when you feel challenged, with a custom menu of support. There is no right or wrong way – there is only the way of your nervous system.

Deb Dana

Praise for The Nervous System Workbook

Deb Dana guides us, by means of simple exercises, to understand and befriend our autonomic nervous system, engaging its healing capacities to connect with ourselves and with our social world.

Books by Deb Dana

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