Polyvagal, Somatic & Listening Therapies
Regulate Your Nervous System. Expand Your Capacity.
When your nervous system changes, everything changes.
Focus becomes easier.
Emotions feel more manageable.
Stress becomes less overwhelming.
You recover more quickly, connect more deeply and access more of your potential.
My approach combines executive function coaching, nervous system education, polyvagal-informed practice, somatic approaches and listening therapies to help people function more effectively in work, relationships and daily life.
Is This For You?
You may benefit if you:
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Feel overwhelmed easily
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Struggle with stress, burnout or fatigue
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Experience anxiety or emotional reactivity
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Find it difficult to focus or follow through
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Feel stuck in cycles of procrastination
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Have ADHD or executive function challenges
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Want more inner resourcefulness, energy and emotional regulation
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Want to better understand how your brain and body work together
What Is the Nervous System?
Your nervous system is your body's communication network.
It influences how you think, feel, focus, connect, perform and recover.
When it feels safe and regulated, you are more likely to feel calm, focused, connected and capable.
When it becomes overwhelmed, you may experience stress, anxiety, emotional reactivity, shutdown, exhaustion or difficulty functioning at your best.
Many people spend years trying to improve their mindset or productivity while overlooking the system underneath that drives them both.
What Is the Vagus Nerve?
The vagus nerve is one of the body's most important nerves.
It helps connect the brain with major organs including the heart, lungs and digestive system and plays an important role in emotional regulation, recovery, social connection and wellbeing.
You can think of it as part of the system that helps your body move from survival into safety.
What Is Polyvagal Theory?
Developed by Dr Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory helps explain how our nervous system responds to safety, connection, challenge and stress.
Rather than asking:
"What's wrong with me?"
It encourages us to ask:
"What state is my nervous system in right now?"
Understanding these states can help explain why we sometimes feel calm, focused and capable, while at other times we feel overwhelmed, reactive, disconnected or unable to access our usual strengths.
Why It Matters
The state of your nervous system influences:
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Focus and attention
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Emotional regulation
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Confidence
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Relationships
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Energy levels
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Stress tolerance
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Executive function
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Performance under pressure
This is particularly relevant for people with ADHD, where challenges with attention, emotional regulation, self-management and executive function are often closely linked to nervous system state.
A Mind-Body Perspective on ADHD
ADHD is often viewed as a condition of attention, focus and executive function.
However, many neurodivergent individuals also experience differences in sensory processing, emotional regulation, interoception (awareness of internal bodily states) and nervous system regulation.
In simple terms, many people with ADHD are not only managing a busy mind. They may also be managing a highly sensitive nervous system.
From a polyvagal and somatic perspective, challenges with focus, planning, emotional regulation, procrastination and follow-through are not viewed purely as cognitive differences. They are also influenced by how safe, regulated and supported the nervous system feels.
When the nervous system becomes overwhelmed, executive function often becomes less accessible.
When the nervous system feels more regulated, many people find it easier to focus, make decisions, manage emotions, initiate tasks and navigate daily life.
This does not mean ADHD is caused by the nervous system alone. Rather, it highlights the close relationship between the brain, body, emotions and behaviour.
Executive function does not happen in isolation. It happens within a nervous system.
Understanding this relationship can help people move beyond self-criticism and develop greater self-awareness, self-regulation and self-leadership.
Somatic Approaches
Somatic approaches help you develop greater awareness of your body, emotions and nervous system.
Through body awareness, movement, breath and regulation practices, we learn to recognise patterns of stress and build greater flexibility, resilience and self-regulation.
The goal is not perfection.
The goal is increasing your capacity for life.
Listening Therapies for Nervous System Regulation
As part of my practice, I offer two evidence based listening therapies developed from the work of Dr Stephen Porges.
These interventions are designed to support nervous system regulation and may be integrated alongside coaching and other wellbeing approaches where appropriate.
Safe and Sound Protocol® (SSP)
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a listening therapy that uses specially filtered music to support nervous system regulation and social engagement.
Clients often explore SSP to support:
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Emotional regulation
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Stress and anxiety
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Auditory sensitivities
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Social connection
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Focus and engagement
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Readiness for coaching or therapeutic work
Rest and Restore Protocol® (RRP)
The Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) is a listening therapy designed to support restoration, recovery and nervous system regulation through specialised vagus nerve regulating frequency sound.
Clients often explore RRP to support:
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Burnout
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Chronic stress
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Sleep issues
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Fatigue
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Nervous system exhaustion
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Recovery and restoration
Why Combine Listening Therapies With Coaching?
Many clients find that when their nervous system becomes more regulated, everything else becomes easier.
Focus improves.
Decision-making improves.
Relationships improve.
Emotional regulation improves.
Executive function improves.
Where appropriate, SSP and RRP can be integrated alongside:
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Executive Function Coaching
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ADHD Coaching
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Nervous System Education
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Self-Leadership Development
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Emotional Regulation Support
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Somatic Practices
The aim is not simply to improve productivity.
It is to help you function, perform and live more effectively.
Included Within VIP Coaching
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) may be included within your yearly VIP Coaching Engagement where appropriate.
Suitability assessment required.
Exceptions may apply.
Why I Integrate Nervous System Approaches
Alongside my work as an ADHD and Executive Function Specialist, my current dissertation explores professionals' perspectives on the impact of polyvagal and somatic therapies for people with ADHD.
This research, together with my practitioner training in SSP and RRP, informs my commitment to integrating evidence-informed approaches that support and expand both performance and wellbeing.
Research & Further Reading
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) are informed by the work of Dr Stephen Porges and Polyvagal Theory.
Selected studies and resources include:
Reducing Auditory Hypersensitivities in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Preliminary Findings Evaluating the Listening Project Protocol
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4158445/
Social Outcomes of a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder Following a Listening Protocol
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19411243.2014.994694
The Listening Project Clinical Trial
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01984957
Associations Between Acoustic Features of Maternal Speech and Infants' Emotion Regulation Following a Social Stressor
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.12.148791v1
Autism and Regulation of Hypersensitivity
https://integratedlistening.com/blog/2014/03/20/autism-regulation-hypersensitivity/
The Listening Project at the ADD Centre and Biofeedback Institute of Toronto
https://www.addcentre.com/the-listening-project/
Examining the Effects of Processed Music on Chronic Pain
Research into polyvagal-informed interventions continues to evolve. These approaches are not intended to replace medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment and should be considered as part of a broader support plan where appropriate.