The Nervous System Workbook: Practical Exercises to Ease Anxiety, Find Safety, and Come Home to Yourself Using Polyvagal Theory

by Deb Dana LCSW

Overview

A guide to understand and befriend your unique nervous system—and find your way back to safety and calm in times of stress

We live in stressful times. When we’re anxious and overwhelmed, our nervous systems—and our lives—suffer. We can’t eliminate all of life’s difficulties, but The Nervous System Workbook can teach you how to find more well-being amidst it all, starting inside your own body.

Deb Dana, a leading expert in Polyvagal Theory, shares incredibly effective tools for getting to know your system. She writes, “No two nervous systems are exactly alike, and getting to know how your nervous system works leads you along the path to becoming an active operator of your own system, no matter how it is wired.”

Step-by-step, Dana takes you through more than 50 short practices and exercises that teach you:

• How your personal nervous system responds—to what’s happening outside you, to what’s happening inside you, and how you communicate with others’ systems
• How to recognize when you’re in a state of distress
• What helps you feel calm and centered
• Why co-regulation—connecting with others—can support your sense of security
• Strategies to find more safety and ease within yourself

QR codes throughout the book point to bonus audio practices guided by Dana.

As Dana writes, “When you learn to befriend the nervous system, you’ll move through the world in a new way and experience the powerful benefits that come with finding your personal pathways to calm and freedom.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781649631930
Publisher:	Sounds True, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/05/2024
Series:	Sounds True Inner Workbooks
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192

About the Author

Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinician and consultant specializing in using the lens of Polyvagal Theory to understand and resolve the impact of trauma and create ways of working that honor the role of the autonomic nervous system. She is a founding member of the Polyvagal Institute and lectures internationally. She is the author of several books, including Anchored and Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection. For more, visit rhythmofregulation.com.

Editorial Reviews

Deb Dana's wonderful workbook guides you step-by-step through learning about your nervous system and how to bring it back into balance when life is challenging. The tools and practices in this workbook are gifts you can give yourself over and over again.” —Diane Poole Heller, PhD, author of The Power of Attachment

“Deb Dana masterfully demystifies the complexities of the Polyvagal Theory, offering readers an empowering journey towards self-regulation. Each exercise serves as a road map towards greater resilience and emotional balance, paving the way for optimal well-being. The Nervous System Workbook is a must-read for anyone seeking to harness the power of their nervous system for a more fulfilling life.” —Stephen W. Porges, PhD, creator of the Polyvagal Theory

“Deb Dana’s Nervous System Workbook speaks in a beautifully compassionate, non-pathologizing voice directly to the individual using it. The steps toward befriending and tending the nervous system are spelled out in simple exercises that build on each other. The calming sense of ease in this approach can be felt on every page.” —Janina Fisher, author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors

“Weaving together insights from contemporary neuroscience and years of clinical practice, this workbook offers clear, step-by-step, engaging exercises that can help anyone better understand their nervous system and move from stress and fear toward stability, equanimity, and harmony. With warmth, humor, and a wise understanding of our differences, Deb Dana gives us a banquet of approaches so that we all can find our way to live a calmer, richer, more deeply connected and rewarding life.” —Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, Harvard Medical School, author of The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary

“The Nervous System Workbook by Deb Dana beautifully illustrates how to tend and befriend your nervous system! It translates the science of connection into easy, clear, and digestible tools and practices to help you find a sense of safety in your body and connection with others. It’s a must-read for everyone who knows or wants to know ‘home’ in themselves and in the world.” —Pat Ogden, PhD, founder and CEO of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute

From the Publisher