SPRING 2024 SEMINAR: Clinical applications of Applied Autonomic Physiology: Remediating Distress States

This is a graduate-level seminar (2 of 2) in the applications of Polyvagal Theory, and Hearth Science’s research that extends it, into the context of developmental and clinical work with individual patients and groups in the healing arts. This course is intentionally trans-disciplinary.

In this second spring seminar, Gabriel will teach a connection phenomenological approach to the clinical applications of Polyvagal Theory and its extension through Hearth Science research (Beyond Polyvagal Theory), based on a thorough grounding in autonomic neuro-anatomy, and the conceptual underpinnings of Polyvagal Theory, e.g., neuroception, interoception, Jacksonian dissolution, pure Autonomic states, spectrum of hybridity, and insights from our research. The first third of the course will review these concepts. In the second two-thirds of the course we will transition to clinical application, focusing on tracking nervous system states in vivo, archetypal motor gesture, non-verbal communications of state, linguistic expressions of state, and healing trajectories. This second semester is focused on the transformation of distress states (e.g., neuroceptions of danger and lifethreat).

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR: Integrative physicians, naturopathic physicians, psychologists, nurses, trauma therapists, addiction therapists, practitioners of mindbody medicine, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, licensed professional clinical counselors, bodyworkers.

We will consider applications from individuals across the spectrum of the healing arts, with the caveat that you need to have a clear scope of practice in which you will be applying this learning. This course sets the foundation for further discipline-specific clinical courses with our faculty.

NOTE: Course is BY APPLICATION ONLY. Regretfully we are unable to offer scholarships for this course at this time. Apply here.

Our autonomic physiology seminar was, in brief, and I say these words with potency, an altogether grounding reorientation of my connection to Self and my Environment which manifested itself during a period of deep and painful metabolization of emotions and nervous system states which were previously unexperienced by my physical body. Not only was it meaningful for me, but it was in fact quite necessary for me in order to remain acutely conscious, observant, and attentive to the ways in which connection and safety desired to show up for me in a life context/situation which seemingly provided very little. In this way, it meant a great deal to me - and as I've always felt, known, and seen, this connected world knows the confluences of support, required growth and stretch, invitations to expansions and safeties in contraction much better than I am necessarily consciously aware. This course provided the banks and power charge to a river of insight, of revelation, and of reorientation.

Personally, it allowed me to apply grounded theoretical learning to the movement of energy within my own body and community. In turn, it contextualized the physiological requirement of containing, of holding, and of relating in a way that illuminates the beautiful symbiosis between our unconscious lives and our automated physiology. This course brought phenomenal clarity, with neurophysiological acuity and revelational attributes, the relationships between my own fields of study - restoration, creative expression, conflict dissolution and contextualization, and the general notion that in fact all of these fields are not separate at all.

-J. Ariel Guy, Counselor, Conflict Consultant, Artist & Mental Health Eductor (presently residing in Tel Aviv)

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Gabriel is Founder of Hearth Science, Convener of the Restorative Practices Alliance, and Founder of BEYOND WELLNESS. A connection phenomenologist and neural cartographer, he is the developer of the Hearth Science modality, and has led over 2,500 trainings at the intersection of neurophysiology and indigenous and ancestral lifeways internationally. He was asked to train the entire faculty of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Hearth Science, and has trained tribal leaders. He is principal architect of the Restorative Practices Deep Learning platform, Host and Director of the Restorative Practices Film Series and the Connection Masterclass. His writing has appeared in Psychology Today, and he is author of the Connection Phenomenology series. He stewards an eco-reserve in Northern California where Hearth Science is headquartered.