POLYVAGAL TEST Archives - Mindful Happiness

April 2, 2016 By Admin

Use of Breathing Techniques – Do a Polyvagal Test

Use of Breathing Techniques – Do a Polyvagal Test First

Polyvagal Test

The polyvagal theory (S.Porges) and polyvagal functions are complex, highly important, evolutional processes with powerful influences on human survival, overall physical health, and emotion regulation. The tenth cranial nerve (from scull base to anus) functions in various ways, the most important of which deal with primitive survival-based immobilization behaviors and more complex processes of stress response, social communications, and emotional self-soothing practices. In clinical populations, polyvagal knowledge and skills may impact stress vulnerability, arousal, heart-respiratory rate, emotional patterns, and cortisol level. Vagal implications involve everything from complex cardiac functions (life or death) to more discrete aspects of attention, motivation, feeding, communication, emotion, vocalization, and the entire muscle array of the human face, head, throat and neck. Since human primary emotions are directly related to various autonomic functions, right brain activity, and brain stem medullary structures, the vagal nerve system can be used positively in well-informed psychotherapy for improving various emotion-regulation conditions leading to suffering. One primary link in the polyvagal interactions deals with breathing via satisfaction of oxygen demands of the human living system. Since it is now common in more advanced body-mind therapies to include breathing retraining, the more a competent therapists knows about using polyvagal skills the better.

I have one caution: Be sure to do a basic polyvagal test before initiating breathing retraining, especially deep, slow, abdominal breathing practices. I have created this test to safeguard client welfare in various forms of breathing retraining as part of their therapy process. If the client’s improvement in emotional regulation requires breathing retraining, you want your client to experience only positive outcomes from the experiences. Negative emotional outcomes will dampen motivation to continue.

The Breathing Retraining Polyvagal Test (A. R. Quintiliani, 4-4-2016)

Ask: “Have you ever experienced serious negative outcomes when doing deep, slow abdominal breathing? If the answer is “no” simply continue your breathing retraining process, but observe mindfully if any negative emotional reactions occur in the process. If so, discuss these reactions in detail and safely proceed.
If the answer is “yes” follow the steps below to ensure improved skill and protection for your client.
Gently negotiate for a very brief deep, slow, abdominal breathing event – that is “one-breath” ONLY. Use a SUDs score of 0 to 100 for the experienced level of discomfort in the client during this “ONE breath” activity. NEVER force a clint to do breathing practices! Discuss the SUDs score and the client’s subjective experience in the “ONE breath” practice. If the SUDs score is in the 40’s of below, continue the breathing retraining with caution. If the SUDs score is in the high 50’s or more, STOP the breathing retraining for now and use shorter, far more indirect and intermittent breathing methods as part of your on-going therapy.
If both you and your client are successful in phased-in breathing retraining, continue the process by slowly extending the time duration in breath retraining for abdominal breathing (as a first breath skill). For example move to two, then three or more breaths per training experience. Eventually, expand the depth and time in the abdominal breathing experiences. Over time deeper and slower is the goal. Continue to use SUDs scores for any negative outcomes, and begin to use SUPs scores (by A. R. Quintiliani, 1-1-2000) for positive outcomes. SUPs scores are also 0 to 100 but this time it measures subjective units of pleasure in the client’s experience.
Continue the breathing retraining program, slowly moving to more complex and more powerful breathing techniques. Always check with your client regarding comfort and effects. Use SUDs and SUPs scores. Go slow! Keep it positive!
Note that this informal “test” is based solely on common sense knowledge about the realities of breathing retraining and not on reliability and validity studies.

For more information on breathing retraining practices refer to Angelo, J. (2010). Self-Healing with Breathwork…Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, pp.28-30; Graf Durkheim, K. (2004 edn.). Hara: The Vital Center of Man. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, pp. 122,178; Johnson, W. (2012). Breathing Through the Whole Body… Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, pp. 238-29; and, Rosen, R. (2006). Pranayama: Beyond the Fundamentals. Boston: Shambhala, pp. 62-68.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image below to Order

Meditation Process in Chan Buddhism Chan Master Changlu’s The Deportmant for Sitting Meditation (12th century China) is a clear and helpful set of instruction. 1) It begins with the making of a personal vow for great compassion, personal liberation, and samadhi – all for the purpose of delivering sentient beings from their suffering and to their […]

Self-Help in Mind-Body Medicine In this brief post we will review several specific ways that may improve your psychological and physical health. The post will be short, sweet, and simple to encourage participation. Here it is. Affirmation – “I am learning to love myself just the way I am.” Repeat this mantra sub vocally over […]

Self-Reality Checks Are Needed in Your Mindful Clinical Practice It is highly important for helpers working in the co-occurring conditions field to become keenly aware of their own realities in practice and life that impact clinical effectiveness. Below I have listed four areas that show up in clinical surveys and added four more that I […]

Contemplative Practices – Affirmative Self-Inquiry Contemplation and affirmative self-inquiry may be helpful in improving your awareness of your better parts of self – your positive strengths and traits. Our self-critical mind often causes us to spend far too much time on critical, negative thinking about ourselves and about others. The practice below may be helpful […]

The Reality of Experience What is deep mindfulness? Deep mindfulness is the concentrated awareness of all experiences, preferably without evaluating as pleasant or unpleasant. Deep mindfulness is pure awareness as it becomes part of personal consciousness. We humans, however, are always evaluating our experiences and phenomena as pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant – often getting hooked […]

Using Your Compassionate Mind in Psychotherapy For you to become a more compassionate therapist, follow the details noted below. These preconditions, skills, and practices are required as a baseline for compassionate practice. You need the ability to access calmness in an environment of emotional suffering, chaos, or conflict. Most people do this by breathing in […]

Equanimity, Suffering, and Resilience It is said that equanimity (Pali – upekkha), the seventh factor of enlightenment and the tenth perfection, is an end-product of life-long personal practice in meditation and/or meditative yoga. It is about “walking the walk.” Some practitioners note that equanimity is the foundation for other helpful states of mind and body. […]

Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Trauma In line with the thousands of studies now available supporting the use of mindfulness-based interventions in depression, anxiety, chronic pain and addictions (via emotion regulation and interoception), this post will review recommended mindfulness interventions for trauma and PTSD. The post will note information from two recent books on this topic. Also recognize […]

Consciousness of Your Emotions Besides common scientific reflections on human emotions – that is neuro-chemical-electrical cellular impulses in response to sensory inputs – our emotional response system includes you and your innermost emotional reactions to both internal and external stimuli (people, places, things, memories, experiences, phenomena). Your mental state in response to sensory contact with […]

Helping Professions and Emotional Balance Helping professions must practice to achieve emotional balance. Working conditions for the helping professions have become more and more difficult over time, especially with the advent of so called “helpful technologies” and ever-increasing governmental/funding requirements for documentation. When I started in the (behavioral health) field of clinical psychology and addictions […]

Effective Clinical Supervision Perhaps other than the mental health status of the therapist and her/his ethical clinical skills, there is no more important variable in successful clinical work than effective CLINICAL supervision. I emphasize “clinical’ because in today’s bureaucratic systems, so much supervision tends to be about required procedures like utilization level, reporting requirements, and documentation for services […]

Introducing Your Clients to Brief Meditations Psychotherapists often ask about ways to introduce mindfulness and meditation to clients. There are other posts on this Blog that offer basic introductory information on both content and process. Here I will simply introduce you to four brief, basic meditations for clients suffering from anxiety and/or depression, along with […]

Honoring First Nation – Native American Spirited-Wisdom American First Nation or Native American People (according to how they wish to be named) have a strong spiritual traditions honoring life, the earth and the heavens. Naming these wise peoples is a problem; out of respect one would call them First Nations, Native American, or a specific […]

Interpersonal Mindfulness Various forms of mindfulness-based compassion training help us to care more about the needs, happiness, and health of other people. However, direct applications of interpersonal mindfulness activates these influences into direct action on behalf of others. Thus, if lucky, we learn to care more about others and less about ourselves. The self-centered ego […]

Inner Workings of Self-Medication Process To continue our discussion about the self-medication process we will first turn to the human brain. The human brain is the most complex system known to science. Here, my comments will be basic. Self-medication often has roots in the quality of our earliest childhood experiences (attachment and object relations with […]

Spiritual Mantras from Buddhism Spiritual Mantras: Mantra practice is certainly not informal Buddhism, nor is it a way to apply practical mindfulness skills to life. The path of mantra practice is much deeper than the psychological applications for good health. Mantra practice is a highly important part of formal Buddhist practice, especially on the spiritual […]

Breath, Mindfulness and Liberation J. Goldstein, (2007). in volume two of Abiding in Mindfulness – On Feelings… brings clear focus to the infinite importance of feelings – the sensation-based associations of various emotional and physical states. Via on-going and regular practice of mindfulness and contemplation we may access the four areas of human awareness: body, feelings, heart-mind, […]

Using Lectio Divina to Improve Your Self-Esteem LectioDivina is an ancient form of Christian (Benedictine) meditation. This meditative prayer is sometimes called “Sacred Seeing.” Lectio Divina follows specific steps as a process: lectio or reading a passage; Meditatio or meditating on the passage or image; Oratio or praying (I add – in your own way); […]

How Suicide impacts Psychotherapists One of the greatest fears of psychotherapists is that one of their clients will commit suicide. Here are some common reactions of psychotherapists when one of their clients commits suicide. In some ways these reactions are sequential, but no exact concrete sequence is well documented. Here is a list to consider. […]

Advanced Buddhist Practices Abiding in Emptiness The various impediments (enemies) to abiding in emptiness are noted below. We have strong attachment to objects of mind and our sense door pleasures. We experience strong desire and cravings as our norms. We over-attach to forms of affection. We may become stuck in grief related to our experienced […]