Implementing The Polyvagal Informed Paradigm in Adverse Circumstances
The ability to develop and express polyvagal informed skills and strategies under adverse conditions is necessary to optimally promote health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
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Past discussions in this series regarding the polyvagal informed paradigm have emphasized the importance of developing and embodying the mind-based and body-based skills and strategies of the polyvagal informed toolbox. The importance of an intentional and deliberate practice of these skills has been described as well. It is also important to explore how best to accomplish this embodiment of the polyvagal informed paradigm and its associated practices under adverse conditions and circumstances which may not be amenable to extended practice and training of these skills.
Healthcare professionals, and many others whose craft is practiced under high demand and high consequence situations, frequently do not have large amounts of time to dedicate towards practice and skill development. Furthermore, such professionals are frequently exposed to circumstances in which they may not be able to spend large quantities of time training and expressing these skills. Given the tremendous benefits and advantages to embodiment of the polyvagal informed paradigm, to say nothing of the importance for promoting health and wellbeing, it is important to develop strategies to allow for expression of this paradigm under adverse conditions.
When schedules do not permit dedicated periods of time practicing and developing polyvagal informed skills and strategies, it is still possible to embody this paradigm. When high demand situations require extended periods of resource expenditure, it becomes particularly important to express these mind-based and body-based skills and strategies in order to continue to perform towards our greatest potential. The focus of this article will be the consideration of how best to enhance and express these skills under situations which are, at best, not optimally conducive to this practice and, at most, are adverse towards all pursuits except the most essential to accomplish the task at hand. This consideration will take several skills as examples which can then be extrapolated to other strategies.
As has been discussed across many articles in this series, one of the foundational aspects to the embodiment of the polyvagal informed paradigm is the development of awareness of biological state. This ability is based upon self-awareness. One of the most powerful practices for development of this skill is mindfulness meditation. It should be noted that other forms of meditation can be equally beneficial in this regard. In addition, it is important to acknowledge that for some people, meditation is not possible until greater degrees of nervous system regulation have been obtained. The consideration of developing self-awareness through a mindfulness practice is an example to allow discussion of how best to develop this skill under adverse conditions.
Within the practice of mindfulness, it is generally acknowledged that important and noticeable changes and benefits can be realized with as little as six minutes per day of dedicated practice. When considered from the polyvagal informed perspective, the primary importance of the mindfulness practice is the development of self-awareness which is then purposed towards identification of biological state. In conditions and circumstances in which the ideal dedicated and extended mindfulness practice is not possible, the same skills and capabilities can be developed through a practical approach in which one recognizes and notes what is currently being experienced across internal, external, and relational encounters. This does not require a dedicated practice and can be performed while participating in whatever activities and tasks are ongoing in the present moment. Through this experiential practice, the ability of awareness is strengthened without requiring additional dedicated time in mindfulness meditation.
A related practice within the present moment to enhance awareness and attentional control is to regularly recognize the current biological state. Paying attention to characteristics such as psychological factors, muscle tone, posture, breathing biomechanics and rhythm are the basis for identifying our biological state in real-time. This skill can be practiced outside of a dedicated time by deliberately recognizing and acknowledging the factors which indicate our biological state throughout the performance of our tasks.
Another significant skill within the polyvagal informed toolbox is breathwork. Under ideal circumstances, a deliberate breathing training program is implemented and followed on a regular basis. Under the adverse situations in which we are presently considering these skills, there is an adaptation which allows for further enhancement of breathing outside of the ideal practice. Taking a few moments between tasks, such as seeing patients in clinic or between surgical cases, to implement breathwork can be an important factor in improving this skill. In addition, this can be helpful to realize the benefits of breathing in an intentional fashion to influence our biological state. A specific example between tasks is several resonance breaths with prolonged exhalations through the nose using the diaphragm. This breathing pattern will increase ventral vagal activation.
The importance of the social engagement system has been discussed in past articles. There are deliberate practices which we can employ to develop our voice, use of our hearing, and others to increase ventral vagal tone. Under the adverse situations being considered in this discussion, it is also possible to train our social engagement system outside of this intentional practice. As examples, we can relax the muscle tension in our jaw, soften our eyes, hum or sing, or listen surrounding calming sounds. These activities can all be performed over short durations of time between tasks. Each of these skills enhance our ability to activate our social engagement system and provide grounding benefits simultaneously.
The final strategy for consideration in this article is recovery. Past articles have detailed the importance of an intentional and deliberate recovery routine and discussed modifications of this routine when circumstances do not permit the full routine to be implemented. This modification is based upon the understanding that ventral vagal activation is necessary for recovery and that by increasing our ventral vagal activation we are able to obtain a measure of recovery under conditions in which we cannot, for example, sleep for the optimal duration of time or fully invest in our recovery routine. By engaging in other activities which increase our ventral vagal activation, we can obtain a measure of recovery to permit continuation of performance at our highest possible level until full recovery can be obtained.
The importance of embodying the polyvagal informed paradigm amongst professionals in high demand crafts can be readily appreciated. Equally well recognized is that by the nature of these domains, it is not always possible to engage in the intentional and deliberate practice which is ideal to develop the necessary mind-based and body-based skills and strategies. In order to manage this reality, it is important, to the greatet extent possible, to develop these skills in advance of adverse situations and to embody the strategies discussed in this article to not only enhance our capability with these skills outside of deliberate practice but also obtain maximal benefit from these skills during periods of time in which we are most in need of their effect.
The Practices of the Healthcare Athlete are based upon the polyvagal informed toolbox which comprises both mind-based and body-based skills and strategies. Embodying these skills, particularly under adverse conditions, is challenging. The discussion provided in this article is intended to illustrate strategies through which we can enhance, develop, and benefit from these skills when deliberate and intentional practice is not possible. To learn more, including about polyvagal informed coaching for healthcare professionals, visit www.darindavidson.com.
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