JULY 2020

THE GLIMMER
Deb Dana's Rhythm of Regulation News

I was teaching in the Netherlands when the travel ban was announced and,
along with thousands of other travelers, had to find my way home.  My carefully
constructed work world quickly became a thing of the past.  That was over four
months ago and, just like you, I am still learning how to navigate in
unpredictable and challenging times.

When I look at my life now, I live in a world that feels both small and separated
and large and interconnected.  I am often by myself, separated from anyone
except Bob and our cat, and at the same time I travel around the world
connecting with colleagues from the safety and comfort of my upstairs
office. Some days I feel like a homebody, safe in a time of solitude and other
days I feel like a hermit and find myself intensely lonely.

The resources I have depended on to nourish my nervous system are now

unpredictable or unavailable.  It’s a time to look at what is possible in our new
socially distanced world and what we might invite in.  When many of our
familiar ways of connecting are no longer possible or are possible only in a new
form, if we can anchor in ventral, then we can explore new ways of safely
coming into connection.
 Glimmers
When we’re immersed in a time of distress, it’s easy to forget that our nervous systems

are capable of holding both moments of safety and moments of survival. 

Glimmers, micro-moments of ventral energy, are all around us and yet, if

we don’t look for them, they can pass right by. 

When we are open to finding glimmers, they show up frequently in our

daily lives.

Yesterday I spotted a red cardinal and stopped for a moment to watch him.  Later in the

day I smelled the scent of fresh cut grass through my window.  Yesterday’s glimmers

make me curious about what I’ll find on my path today.  

Stop for a moment and look around you. Is there a glimmer waiting to be noticed?

When we set an intention to see the glimmers around us, we’re often surprised by what

we find. My invitation to you is to write a glimmer intention and share it with a friend.  

Here is my glimmer intention…thank you for letting me share it with you.

I will look for the glimmers on my path today that are waiting to be found.

DEB DANA
DEB'S

OFFERINGS
Updates on workshps, events and available polyvagal resources

NEW RESOURCES
Fall Foundations Part I Online
New Fall Foundations Training Training open for
Begins 28 August Registration
Now Open For Registration
Digital Download:
Psychotherapy Networker:
Polyvagal Informed Therapy
Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation
Master Class (With Special
Foundations of Polyvagal Informed
Guest Dr Stephen Porges)
Practice Part I Fall 2020 Online
Sounds True Presents Online
Teaching - Befriending Your
Nervous System

Norton has published Deb's

latest book Polyvagal Exercises
for Safety and Connection

Polyvagal Flip Chart available

in October

REFLECTIONS
From Deb
In March when
the world turned upside
down, my 2020 travel and
teaching schedule came to a
halt.  As I learned to navigate
the unpredictability of life
with a novel coronavirus
raging in the world, having an
anchor in ventral was both
more of a challenge and more
of a necessity.  It’s been a
steep learning curve and
there still are many moments
when I lose my anchor in
ventral, travel to my home
away from home in dorsal,
and then have to find my way
back to safety and
regulation.  Those pathways
are well traveled!
Traveling and gathering for
in-person trainings is not
possible now but our longing
for learning and community
continues. Participants tell
me the new online platform
supports community and we
are finding new ways to
create connection.
We are finding ways to come
into what I call autonomic
intimacy across time and space
with microphones and
screens. We humans are
creative and determined
beings…
Reflecting on Connecting
One of my granddaughters told
me she is going to build a
transporter system so we can
magically move between Maine
and Illinois and be together Like most of the ways we
whenever we want. In what engage with our nervous
seems to be the continuing systems, this is not a one and
experience of both/and, that done practice.  I reflect on
both makes me smile and these questions, regularly
breaks my heart, I would love updating what’s working and
that transporter system. I’d love finding new things I wish for.  I
to say, “beam me up” and be hope you’ll join me in this
together. But, just like you,
connection check-in as we all
many of the ways of connecting
try to navigate these
that used to be a part of my life
challenging times and find new
are now on hold. And just like
ways to feel safely connected.  
you, I need to find new ways of
connecting.
Wishing you a day of
Our pathways to connection ventral vagal
have never been constant but abundance...Deb
now, in the time of Covid-19,
our pathways are more www.rhythmofregulation.com
changeable than ever
before. These four questions,
adapted from my book
Polyvagal Exercises for Safety Recent
and Connection, offer a way to Sounds True
attend to what’s working and
interview
what we wish for. Who are the
people in your life you feel
with Tami
connected with? What do you Simon
do together to maintain that
connection? Who would you like Click Here
to invite into connection? What to Listen
would you like to do to explore
new possibilities?