Welcome back to The Synergetic Health Newsletter! 

In this edition comes a deep dive into Polyvagal Theory.

After that, a short reflection on the path from being naked and afraid to naked and unafraid.

As usual, I’ll include some links to things I’ve found particularly interesting recently.

🎃 October 31st, 2024. Happy Halloween from Balian Beach, Bali! I’m wrapping up a week in a quiet Bali beach town with $16/night accommodations, loads of older Australian male surfers who drink Bintang for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, travelers looking for a slower pace, beautiful sunsets, endless rice fields, and friendly stray beach dogs.

My friend from middle school and I would eat a filet and mashed potatoes dinner every night (<$10), often sharing the table with a Frenchwoman, Spaniard, a Brazilian, and a Mexican. Often our conversations would be about our gratitude for living a life outside the narrow confines of Western society— as we discussed what adventure would we go on the following day.

The travelers met here are not talking about building a business empire or planning for their retirement— instead they talk about only working to live— usually a life that includes the beach, a nice tan, surfing, and time spent laughing with friends.

My kind of people.

🦺 Introducing the Polyvagal Theory

It took me awhile to finally get around to learning in-depth about Polyvagal Theory, a perspective that offers fresh insights into how our bodies respond to safety and threat, and how these responses shape our physical and mental well-being. My introduction came from the 2023 book “Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us”, by Stephen and Seth Porges— who started developing this theory way back in 1994.

What is the Polyvagal Theory?

The Polyvagal Theory provides a new model for understanding how our nervous system responds to and changes with our perception of safety or threat in our environment. At its core, the theory posits that our sense of safety - not just physical safety, but our felt sense of safety - is paramount to our physical and mental health and happiness.

The theory gets its name from the vagus nerve, a key component of our autonomic nervous system. This nerve acts as a communication superhighway, transmitting signals of safety or threat throughout our body, influencing everything from our heart rate and digestion to our facial expressions and ability to connect with others.

The Three States of the Autonomic Nervous System

The Polyvagal Theory introduces a nuanced understanding of our autonomic nervous system, describing three distinct states:

1. The Green System (Safety): This is our optimal state, where we feel safe and connected. In this state, our body can relax, heal, and engage in social activities. We're primed for learning, creativity, and empathy. Most importantly, this is the state where our body can focus on health, growth, and restoration.

2. The Yellow System (Danger): When we perceive danger, our body mobilizes for action - the classic "fight or flight" response. While necessary for survival, prolonged activation of this system can be detrimental to our health.

3. The Red System (Life Threat): In situations of extreme danger, our body may shut down or "freeze." This is an ancient survival mechanism, but it can be problematic when triggered in non-life-threatening situations.

These states operate in a hierarchical order, with our nervous system defaulting to more primitive responses as our sense of threat increases. Understanding this hierarchy can help us comprehend why we react the way we do in stressful situations and how chronic stress or trauma can impact our overall health and functioning.

The Freeze Response: An Automatic Reaction

It's important to understand that our response to threat is largely automatic and outside our conscious control. Many people assume that we always respond to threats by fighting or fleeing, but the reality is more complex. In situations of extreme stress or perceived life threat, many people experience a "freeze" response.

I've experienced this firsthand. There was a time in Cali, Colombia, when a man pulled a knife on my friend. In that moment, even if I wished I could throw on my Superman cape and take charge, I froze. I didn't fight, I didn't run - I simply couldn't move. This reaction was completely outside my control, an automatic response of my nervous system to a perceived life threat.

It's a natural, evolutionary response that's deeply ingrained in our nervous system. Understanding this can help us be more compassionate with ourselves and others when we don't react to threats in the way we think we "should."

The Health Implications of Chronic Stress

Let's consider the implications of spending prolonged periods in these defensive states. When we're constantly in the Yellow (danger) or Red (life threat) states, our body is continuously diverting resources away from the functions that support long-term health and well-being.

In the Green state, our body can focus on rest, digestion, growth, and repair. Our immune system functions optimally, our digestive system works efficiently, and our body can engage in the restorative processes necessary for long-term health.

However, when we're chronically stressed - when we don't feel safe in our homes, our workplaces, or our communities - our body is constantly prepared for threat. This state of perpetual alertness or shutdown comes at a significant cost to our health:

1. Compromised Immune Function: Chronic stress suppresses our immune system, making us more susceptible to illnesses.

2. Digestive Issues: Our digestive system doesn't function optimally when we're in a state of stress, leading to various gastrointestinal problems.

3. Cardiovascular Problems: Chronic activation of our stress response can lead to high blood pressure and increased risk of heart disease.

4. Mental Health Challenges: Prolonged periods in defensive states are associated with increased risk of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.

5. Impaired Cognitive Function: Chronic stress can affect our ability to think clearly, make decisions, and regulate our emotions.

6. Disrupted Sleep: Feeling unsafe can significantly impact our sleep quality, which in turn affects every aspect of our health.

7. Accelerated Aging: The constant wear and tear of chronic stress can speed up the aging process at a cellular level.

The Importance of Feeling Safe

Given these health implications, it becomes clear why feeling safe is so necessary for our overall well-being. When we feel safe, our body can relax, heal, and function optimally. We have the energy and resources available for growth, learning, and connection with others.

Safety, in this context, isn't just about physical security. It's about a felt sense of safety - feeling accepted, supported, and free from threat in our daily lives. This includes feeling safe in our relationships, our workplaces, and our communities.

When we feel safe:

• Our body can focus on long-term health rather than short-term survival

• We can think more clearly and creatively

• We're better able to connect with others and form supportive relationships

• We can engage more fully in life, pursuing our goals and passions

• Our body can efficiently rest, digest, and repair itself

The Power of Co-Regulation

Another insight from Polyvagal Theory is the concept of co-regulation. The authors argue that our need for social connection is not just a psychological desire, but a biological imperative.

Co-regulation occurs when our nervous systems interact with and are soothed by other nervous systems. Through face-to-face interactions with people we feel safe with, our nervous systems engage in a mutual calming process. This helps shift us from states of stress back into a state of safety, supporting both our physical and mental health.

Co-regulation can take many forms - from a comforting hug to a deep conversation with a friend, or even playing with a pet. By prioritizing these safe social connections we support our nervous system's ability to maintain a state of safety. When we lack opportunities for co-regulation, our bodies may seek other, less healthy ways to manage our physiological state.

Creating Safety

Understanding the Polyvagal Theory allows us to take active steps towards creating more safety in our lives and, consequently, supporting our health:

1. Prioritize Relationships: Cultivate connections with people who help you feel safe and calm. Co-regulation through safe social interaction shifts our nervous system into a state of safety.

2. Create Safe Environments: Pay attention to your surroundings. Create spaces in your home and workplace that signal safety to your nervous system.

3. Practice Self-Regulation: Learn techniques like deep breathing, mindfulness, or progressive muscle relaxation to help shift your nervous system towards safety.

4. Engage in Playful Activities: Play isn't just for kids. It's a way to exercise our nervous system's ability to shift between states of arousal and calm.

The Polyvagal Theory offers us a unique lens through which to view human health and behavior. It teaches us how we have a biological need for safety and connection— and how important that is for optimal health outcomes.

This theory jives perfectly well with all the other research I’ve done into mind-body medicine, the impact of stress and trauma on health, and how the psyche/soul is the arbiter on how experience is interpreted.

“When we feel safe, our bodies transform in a way that optimizes us for social connectedness, health, growth, and restoration. This is the healing state of homeostasis. When we feel unsafe, threatened, or dysregulated, our bodies respond by activating defensive systems that optimize us for immediate survival —at the cost of our ability to heal, grow, and restore. When we feel unsafe, threatened, or dysregulated, our bodies will instinctively do whatever it takes to end these feelings. When we are deprived of opportunities to feel safe, our mental and physical health suffers, as do many aspects of the human experience. In the modern world, many people are almost entirely deprived of opportunities to feel safe. This manifests as anxiety, trauma, stress, unchecked emotions, and poor health.” -Stephen Porges

TLDR: Be Safe

🙏 Naked But Not Afraid

We enter this world naked and afraid, totally dependent on our caregivers. But we're also pure, unburdened by the ego that will soon begin to assert its dominance. As we grow, we develop this ego—our personality, identities, preferences, opinions, likes, dislikes, beliefs, and character roles. We become so attached to these constructs that they become like a second skin.

Our ego wraps us in layers of protection—identities, roles, beliefs—each one carefully chosen and maintained. Like clothes worn for different occasions, we select which aspects of ourselves to display to the world.

These psychological garments hide our true selves from the world and, ultimately, from ourselves. We believe we ARE our identities, our roles, our opinions. The thought of losing these carefully curated costumes terrifies us. Our ego clings to them like a life raft in a stormy sea of uncertainty.

But here's the truth: This elaborate cosplay we've been engaging in our entire lives is just that—an illusion. The safety and security we feel wrapped in our identities is a mirage, shimmering tantalizingly in the distance but always out of reach.

So, what happens when you begin to disrobe? When you start to let go of the layers disguising your true, permanent, transparent, luminous, unchanging, unaffected self?

It turns out, quite the opposite of what you might expect.

As you shed the accumulated seasons of your life, something magical happens. You lighten up. You brighten up. You realize how ridiculous some of these "pieces of clothing" were—how they were simply weighing you down, causing suffering, obscuring your birthright of happiness that needs nothing "out there" to shine through.

The process continues as you distance yourself from your strong identities, firm beliefs, material preferences, and all the rest. You begin to see that your attachment to such things had no benefit whatsoever in your life. In fact, it was the root of your suffering, an obstacle to your inner peace.

As the layers slowly fall away, more and more of your unobstructed self emerges. You begin to operate from a place of stillness, peace, and equanimity. No longer do you act out from the emotional center of your costumed characters, but from a place that cannot be unmoored by external circumstances.

Your energy, once scattered among various distractions pouring into your senses, becomes centered—at home in your newly disrobed self. No longer dependent on anything outside of yourself to be at peace, your nakedness takes on a new quality.

In this state of being, you discover the ultimate freedom. You are naked, yes, but entirely unafraid. The vulnerability you once feared becomes your greatest strength. You stand tall, unburdened by the weight of expectations, roles, and false identities.

This is the journey back to your true nature—a return to the essence of who you are beneath the costumes and characters you've played for so long. It's a homecoming to your authentic self, where you find that being naked—truly, authentically you—is not something to fear, but something to embrace with open arms.

The journey may seem daunting but on the other side of fear lies freedom. And in that freedom, you'll find you're naked, but not afraid—you're finally, truly alive.

𝕏 Thread of the Week

💨 Breathing Slow Reduces Stress: A 2023 study investigated the effects of slow breathing techniques on stress reduction, comparing extended exhale to equal inhale-exhale ratios. A 12-week randomized trial with 100 participants found that regular slow breathing significantly reduced psychological stress. My favorite way to make this a regular practice is through Buteyko breathing, specifically using the Oxygen Advantage app.

☀️ Download the MyCircadian App: “MyCircadian helps you optimize your health by tracking sunlight exposure, UV index, vitamin D synthesis, and circadian rhythms. Log sun sessions, monitor light levels, and get personalized guidance based on your skin type, weather, and location. The app features a compass for sunrise/sunset directions and a lux meter to monitor light quality. Sync with natural light cycles to enhance your well-being, boost your mood, and support healthy vitamin D production.”

🔗 One Hitters

📚 Install this browser extension that checks if the book you are looking at is available at your local library (LibraryExtension)

🛒 Best health purchases UNDER $100 (Thread)

🛒 Best health purchases OVER $100 (Thread)

🧘🏻‍♀️ A 30-minute guided forgiveness meditation (Audio)

📚 Read my e-book, “Self-Development for Authentic Living” for free.

✔️ That will do it for this time! Hopefully you got some value out of it. If you have any questions/comments/things you’d like to learn more about please don’t hesitate to reach out.

🔗 If you know anyone who loves learning about these types of topics, send them this link!

📰 To read all past newsletters, go here.