The Triple Vagal Method™
The Triple Vagal Method™ is body-based somatic trauma transformation that aims to release and heal trauma by encouraging feelings of safety through the rapid release of the neurotransmitter oxytocin and increasing vagal tone through physical manipulation of the main branches of the vagus nerve. TVM™ was developed after 7 years of applied research and thousands of documented sessions and is currently undergoing studies for medical documentation.
The vagus nerve is the longest in the body and runs from the brain to the bottom of the spine. It innervates most of the organs in the torso, and is responsible for most parasympathetic responses of our autonomic nervous system. In each TVM™ session, we safely engage each of the vagus nerve branches through calming physical touch. This process releases stored trauma and completes unresolved trauma cycles while strengthening the body’s resilience to stress.
What is Trauma?
Trauma has become a buzzword in recent years but remains frequently misunderstood. The term trauma originates from ancient Greek and means ‘wound’. World-renowned trauma expert, Dr. Gabor Maté, defines trauma as:
“It is not what happens to you; it is what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you: It is not the blow on the head, but the concussion you get. Trauma is a psychic wound that leaves a scar. Trauma leaves an imprint in your nervous system, in your body, in your psyche, and then shows up in multiple ways that are not helpful to you later on.
The nature of the wound of trauma is it's raw, open, and it really hurts so when somebody touches the wound that you sustained a long time ago, but that hasn't healed yet, you will react like you're just being tormented all over again. This happens in relationships all the time.
On the other hand wounds scar over, and certain features of scar tissue are very hard and rigid and not flexible, so people tend to be rigid when they are traumatized; it also doesn't grow, and the trauma very often stops emotional growth and development. So knowing that is very raw and painful and on the other hand, it also lacks sensation because scar tissue doesn't have nerve endings. So trauma then is not what happened to you, not the war, not the abuse, the pain, it is the wound that is sustained as a result. And that is the good news because if it is the wound that was sustained, it can be healed at any time.”
Edited for length and clarity from The Root Cause of Trauma and Why You Feel Lost in Life, The Jay Shetty Podcast.
Trauma Stored in the Body
Trauma is a memory stored in our body, through our nervous system, for self preservation. When people experience traumatic events that are overwhelming our bodies cope by storing trauma in our organs and body through our nervous system. Trauma trapped in the body causes many common physical and mental ailments such as Anxiety, digestive issues, addiction, depression, chronic pain, PTSD/CPTSD, ADHD, uncontrollable anger, and autoimmune disorders. Unlike animals in the wild, humans no longer have access to their instinctual way of discharging the trauma, so it remains within our bodies and can be extremely detrimental to physical, emotional, and mental health. Renowned expert in trauma and somatic healing, Dr. Peter Levine explains:
“What happens in trauma is, our body doesn’t go back to where it was before, it stays in this stuck place. A key in working with trauma … is in finding out how the trauma has become lodged in the person’s body, then helping them move through that stuck place. I see it as moving from trauma, which is fixity, back into flow, into here and now presence.”
-Dr. Peter Levine Beyond the Theory Podcast
How Does TVM work?
TVM works to restore the body’s ability to smoothly switch between stress and safe nervous system responses, referred to as building vagal tone. TVM builds vagal tone by manually moving the client between the stress and safe nervous system states and by facilitating the rapid release of oxytocin into the clients body. Alternating nervous system responses in a safe container is also what allows incomplete trauma circuits to complete, which allows the release of stored trauma from the tissue and organs.
TVM is a hands on quantum modality which creates a sense of great safety for our clients through flooding the body with therapeutic levels of oxytocin and co-regulation with the therapist.
We work to strengthen the body’s resilience to stress and trauma. Using gentle touch we remind the nervous system how to fluidly move between sympathetic and parasympathetic responses, thus building vagal tone, the cornerstone of a healthy nervous system!
When a traumatic experience occurs, the body needs to respond appropriately. For instance to run away or fight an adversary, or freeze and play dead, or prepare for death. The body makes these decisions through the autonomic nervous system. There is a cascade of responses the body will go through. Initially by activating its ‘fight or flight’ or sympathetic nervous system response, then when the stimulus lasts for longer than the body’s available resources, it will shift into dorsal parasympathetic, ‘freeze’ response. When the threat is no longer present, a healthy nervous system will be able to return through the cascade to a state of safety, or a ventral parasympathetic response. This state of ventral or ‘social engagement’ is the state where body’s resources are being allocated for healing, curiosity, play, love…etc. However, sometimes an experience is too overwhelming for the mind to process, the neuro-circuit is unable to complete, and the nervous system stays stuck in the stress, ‘fight or flight’ or ‘dorsal’ state, thus is registered as a trauma.
With high vagal tone a person will be able to resolve these experiences as they occur in real time.
What Can I Expect in a TVM session?
Your practitioner will engage with your body through gentle and varying pressure on points along the vagus nerve. Through this engagement, we will encourage the release of the hormone oxytocin, which creates feelings of relaxation and safety in your body. Once the body reaches a state of relaxation and safety, we will begin vagus nerve stimulation through pressure points to encourage release and transform stored trauma. Releasing can be expressed as vibration, twitches, or involuntary movement of the body, emotional responses such as grief, anger, or sadness, and expressions of crying, laughing, or other intuitive body releases that are surfacing for the stored experience to be released.
Throughout this process, your practitioner will be guided by the wisdom of your body and your comfort and safety and can be altered at any time at the client's request. Sessions will usually last for 75 minutes on the table, and then bring the session to a close with calmness and more release of oxytocin. Time will be available at the end of the session to rest and integrate any energies that have moved during the session.
Clients will come to our clinical setting in comfortable-fitting clothes. Before the first session, we will have an intake conversation where we will go over the treatment process, and your practitioner will learn about traumatic experiences that may have been stored in your body, as much or as little as you are comfortable sharing. We will also learn what current practices and habits may be supporting or inhibiting your healthy nervous system, and finally, we will answer any questions you may have. Then the treatment will begin on the massage table, where clients will remain fully clothed throughout the treatment.