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START EXPANDING YOUR THINKING
POLYVAGAL THEORY & TRAUMA
Why the Vagal System Holds the Key to the Treatment of Trauma
The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation has been instrumental in transforming our understanding of trauma.
Stephen Porges, PhD
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THE 3 NEURAL NETWORKS
Micheal Pollan in his book "How to Change Your Mind" says "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
We can reset our neural networks after trauma so that they function correctly, and we can remap our negative defaults to positive.
The neuroscience delves further into the brain consciousness of the main 3 networks of the brain.
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ECN The Executive Control Network – we all know as the neocortex, the cognitive part of the brain that tries to put into language and categorised stories, any emotion that comes up so it’s aligned with your intention and goals. It’s the logical part of the brain.
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SEN The Salience & Emotional Network – is where emotional stimuli are processed in order of priority. It’s the part of the brain that makes the decision about what you need to focus on. Its main centre is the amygdala. It recruits the ECN or the DMN depending on the stimuli and how you usually process that stimulus. It should have a great relationship with the ECN, so that you can understand your emotions.
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DMN The Default Mode Network – the opposite of the ECN. This part of the brain doesn’t think – it reacts. Once a stimulus is received it can only go to the ECN OR the DMN, both can’t be engaged at the same time. This is our auto-pilot. It has a blueprint of your neural networks and processes the emotional stimulus according to your neural pathways that were created in your childhood, and in your reinforced experiences. For example: your SEN smells smoke. Immediately your DMN is engaged because smoke in your experience (in the Western World) is an indicator of danger. And you wouldn’t have time to cognitively process it. If a flash of flame came right at you – your body would be on the floor even before you were consciously aware of it happening. The part of your brain responsible for this is your Default Mode Network. but after trauma everything gets filtered here as if it's life threatening. This is why people with PTSD overreact or underreact to stimuli.
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HOW WE LEARN
Learn how to learn by Barbara Oakley and Olav Schewe is a practical guide emphasizing the importance of understanding how the brain learns to improve one's learning process. You have two types of memory that work together to help you learn new information and skills—working memory and long-term memory. The authors explain that putting information into your long-term memory is the key to learning, and working memory plays a crucial role in this process.
Jim Kwik Limitless - If Knowledge is Power - Then Learning is Your Superpower. Learn the strategies you can use (right now) to optimize your ability to learn faster and remember more. Get a head start in life. It's never too late.
Systems Thinking - Russell L. Ackoff gave an exceptional speech on Systems Thinking. He says “To manage a system effectively, you might focus on the interactions of the parts rather than their behavior taken separately.”
Peter Senge says "Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures of images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action."