20 Embodied Practices for Healing Trauma and Addiction

What if addiction, dissociation, and other manifestations of trauma were not framed as diseases or disorders, but rather as adaptive methods of regulating the autonomic nervous system (ANS)? This book takes that approach, and guides readers through 20 embodied practices that promote the rewiring of the ANS. By integrating the latest neuroscience from Stephen Porges's Polyvagal Theory with Eugene Gendlin's embodied felt sense, Jan Winhall's Felt Sense Polyvagal Model is a paradigm-shifting, deeply somatic approach to healing trauma and addiction.

Readers are presented with two vital tools for healing: learning how to recognize and rewire their autonomic state, and finding the felt sense of somatic wisdom. This compassionate and inviting model centers the intelligence of the body to allow for deep healing, and these 20 step-by step exercises present an accessible approach for clinicians, their clients, and anyone on the journey to healing from trauma and addiction. The book's exercises are uniquely designed to be completed either with a mental health professional, another person engaged in this embodied process (a felt sense partner), or both.

About the Author

Jan Winhall, MSW., P.I.F.O.T., is a seasoned trauma and addiction psychotherapist. She is the author of Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model; an adjunct lecturer at the University of Toronto; and an educational partner with the Polyvagal Institute. Jan is codirector of the Borden Street Clinic, Toronto, Canada. Stephen W. Porges, PhD, originator of Polyvagal Theory, is a Distinguished University Scientist and founding director of the Kinsey Institute Traumatic Stress Research Consortium at Indiana University, and a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina. He lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida.