Autonomic Mapping
Discover how your nervous system responds to stress, connection, and safety through a guided polyvagal mapping process.
Benefit of Mapping your Nervous System
Personalized insight into how your nervous system shifts between safety, connection, and protection.
Greater self-awareness of body cues, emotional patterns, and triggers.
Practical tools to move toward regulation in moments of stress or disconnection.
Improved relationships through better understanding of your and others’ nervous system states.
Enhanced resilience by learning what supports recovery and balance for you.
Empowerment to respond instead of react, fostering more intentional choices.
Learn more at The Polyvagal Institute
What to Expect During a Polyvagal Mapping Session
In this session, you’ll be guided through a gentle, step-by-step process to explore your three autonomic states—sympathetic, dorsal vagal, and ventral vagal—and create a personalized “map” of how they show up for you. Using reflective prompts (and optional colors or creative tools), you’ll capture the sensations, thoughts, and core beliefs connected to each state.
You Will:
- Safely “dip a toe” into activation (sympathetic) and shutdown (dorsal) without becoming overwhelmed.
- Notice how these states affect your body, emotions, thoughts, sleep, appetite, and behaviors.
- Explore the beliefs you hold in each state, using the “I am…” and “The world is…” framework.
- Fully connect to your regulated state (ventral vagal) and anchor in the feelings of safety, connection, and possibility.
Polyvagal Mapping: A New Lens on Your Nervous System
Understanding Your Nervous System to Unlock Healing and Connection
Polyvagal Mapping is a guided process that helps you discover how your nervous system responds to the world—especially in moments of stress, disconnection, or safety. Rooted in Polyvagal Theory (developed by Dr. Stephen Porges and expanded in clinical application by Deb Dana, LCSW), this approach offers a simple but powerful framework for understanding your body’s automatic reactions.
Rather than focusing solely on your thoughts or behaviors—as in many traditional talk therapy approaches—polyvagal mapping begins with your body’s physiology. It invites you to gently explore your three primary autonomic states:
- Ventral Vagal – safety, connection, curiosity, and possibility
- Sympathetic – activation, fight/flight energy, and readiness to protect
- Dorsal Vagal – shutdown, withdrawal, and conservation of energy
By mapping these states, you learn to notice the signs of each one in real time, understand how you shift between them, and find ways to return to balance.
How Polyvagal Mapping is Different from Traditional Therapy
In most therapy sessions, you might be asked to describe events or analyze patterns. Polyvagal mapping takes a different route—it uses sensations, emotions, and core beliefs as the starting point. You’re not just talking about your experience; you’re learning to track it in the moment, with guidance and co-regulation from your facilitator.
It’s less about digging into the “why” right away and more about building a map of “what’s happening” inside your nervous system. This map becomes a practical, personalized tool you can use every day—at home, work, or in relationships.
Who Can Benefit from Polyvagal Mapping?
The short answer: anyone with a nervous system. Whether you’re navigating everyday stress or working through deep patterns of trauma, mapping gives you a clear, compassionate starting point for change.
Some ways people use polyvagal mapping:
- Trauma Recovery – Gaining a gentle, body-first way to understand triggers and build safety.
- Parenting – Recognizing your own state shifts so you can model regulation and co-regulation for your children.
- Relationships – Learning the cues that open or close your capacity for connection.
- Stress Management – Identifying early signs of dysregulation so you can respond before burnout or shutdown.
- Personal Growth – Deepening self-awareness and aligning actions with your values.
Why It’s Especially Powerful for Trauma and Parenting
For Trauma Survivors
Trauma often leaves the nervous system stuck in survival patterns—ready to fight, flee, or shut down, even in safe moments. Polyvagal mapping helps you notice these patterns without judgment, connect them to body signals and beliefs, and build pathways back to safety and connection. This is not about forcing yourself to “calm down,” but rather learning what regulation feels like for you and how to find your way there.
For Parents
Children learn regulation through co-regulation—meaning your nervous system sets the tone for theirs. Mapping helps you understand when you’re in a state that supports connection, and when you might need a pause or tool to shift. It’s a gift not just to yourself, but to your whole family.
For Helping Professionals
Therapists, coaches, educators, healthcare providers, and first responders often work in high-stress, high-demand environments. Mapping supports your ability to notice early signs of dysregulation, maintain presence with clients or patients, and avoid compassion fatigue.
For Individuals with Anxiety or Depression
Anxiety and depression can often be linked to chronic activation or shutdown in the nervous system. Mapping offers a body-based framework to understand why these patterns occur and how to create conditions for more balance and stability.
For People in Recovery
Whether from substance use, eating disorders, or other compulsive behaviors, mapping helps you identify the nervous system shifts that make cravings, urges, or relapse more likely—and develop strategies for regulation and resilience.
For Couples
Relationships thrive when both partners can recognize their own nervous system patterns and understand each other’s cues. Mapping can help couples improve communication, reduce conflict, and strengthen connection.
What to Expect in a Session
Your session is a collaborative exploration. With guided prompts, you’ll:
- Explore each autonomic state (sympathetic, dorsal vagal, ventral vagal) at a safe, manageable level.
- Describe what each state feels like in your body, what thoughts and emotions show up, and the beliefs you hold there.
- Create a visual map—often using colors—to make your nervous system patterns tangible and memorable.
- Leave with a personalized reference tool you can use daily.
Sessions are paced to feel safe, curious, and empowering—no forcing, no judgment, and always ending anchored in your ventral vagal state of connection.
✅ Ready to experience your nervous system in a whole new way?
Book a Polyvagal Mapping Session and start building your personal map toward regulation, resilience, and connection.