The polyvagal theory proposes a three-pronged, hierarchical model of the autonomic nervous system and says that the vagus nerve plays a central role in coordinating a "social engagement system."
The "theory" is a pseudoscientific fairy tale. There is no empirical support for these claims, and they contradict the current, well supported, cognitive science of predictive processing/active inference.
The brain and body system is a model-based prediction machine. If you are scanning for safety or danger it's because in your past, you were taught to do so. If you don't reach for social engagement to soothe yourself, it's because in your history, social engagement was not soothing.
If you want to refer to science to explain how your methods work, please enjoy the the following bibliography.
"How Emotions are Made, The Secret Life of the Brain" by Lisa Feldman Barrett
https://amzn.to/4dvxakh
"The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality" by Andy Clark
https://amzn.to/4frUcud
"Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain" by Lisa Feldman Barrett
https://amzn.to/46ymL56
"What Is Health?: Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design" by Peter Sterling
https://amzn.to/4dh59xi
"After 30 years of "polyvagal" hypotheses, is there any direct evidence for the first 3 premises that form the foundation of the polyvagal conjectures?"
https://www.researchgate.net/post/After_30_years_of_polyvagal_hypotheses_is_there_any_direct_evidence_for_the_first_3_premises_that_form_the_foundation_of_the_polyvagal_conjectures
"The evolution of sociality and the polyvagal theory"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301051123000868
"Fundamental challenges and likely refutations of the five basic premises of the polyvagal theory"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301051123001060
"Toward understanding respiratory sinus arrhythmia: Relations to cardiac vagal tone, evolution and biobehavioral functions," 2005
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301051106001876
"Signal processing in the vagus nerve: Hypotheses based on new genetic and anatomical evidence"
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37419401/
"An overview of the phylogeny of cardiorespiratory control in vertebrates with some reflections on the ‘Polyvagal Theory’"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301051122001259
"Allostasis: A model of predictive regulation"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938411003076
"The theory of constructed emotion: an active inference account of interoception and categorization"
https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/12/1/1/2823712
"The free energy principle made simpler but not too simple"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037015732300203X
"Functional anatomy of the vagus system: How does the polyvagal theory comply?"
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36100134/
"Active inference and the two-step task"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9586964/
"”Polyvagal theory” is pseudoscience. Here’s why.
The deeper you dig, the worse it gets."
https://medium.com/@clymene/polyvagal-theory-is-pseudoscience-heres-why-139d8b41608d
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