#19 - Wandering Around Vagus (WAV) - August 2024

Part 2: Freeze, thawing, titration and pendulation

Welcome to Month 19 of Wandering Around Vagus, a paid monthly subscription series exploring the Vagus Nerve + Polyvagal Theory.

I’m Tina Foster of Foster & Flourish, the creator and guide of Wandering Around Vagus.

A few quick notes to help you orient within our pages:

• If you’re new, or need a review, here’s the link to the START page.

• You can find last month’s post (our 18th) that introduced the FREEZE state here.

• Monthly & Supplementary Posts + Recordings can be accessed by topic from the navigation bar atop the Wandering Around Vagus Homepage.

• All past posts live on the archive page.​

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THIS MONTH’S WORK

This month we wrap up our introductory dive into the three hybrid states in Polyvagal Theory with Part 2 of the Freeze state. As you likely know by now, the three hybrid states of Play, Intimacy and Freeze each combine two of the primary states of ventral, sympathetic and dorsal.

Here, again, are the three hybrid states and the two primary states that make up each one:

1. Play - a regulated state combining ventral and regulated sympathetic states

2. Intimacy - a regulated state combining ventral and regulated dorsal states

3. Freeze - a survival state combining survival sympathetic and survival dorsal states

This month is Part 2 of our exploration of the hybrid state of FREEZE, which blends the sympathetic and dorsal states.

Last month in Part 1 of the Freeze state, we touched on the practice of “thawing.” This month, we focus squarely on thawing as a way to work with ongoing, longer-term experiences of freeze.

NOTE: The post below appropriately frames freeze as a response to the highly stressful situations in our lives, but in practice, we’ll take a lighter, more accessible approach to freeze that can inform us in our most stressful times.

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By the end of this 15 minute audio you’ll have a better sense of:

• what an ongoing, longer-term freeze state is + how to recognize it + why it exists.

• how to navigate an ongoing freeze.

• how “thawing” slowly and safely helps us come out of ongoing freeze.

• how to know if you’re ready to practice thawing alone or with professional guidance.

• how to “lightly” practice thawing in a way that can be applied to places where freezing has you stuck.

• common practices you might already know that support and enhance thawing.

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Quick General Review of the Freeze State

The freeze response blends elements of the fight-or-flight response (aka survival sympathetic) with the collapse or shutdown response (aka survival dorsal).

Freeze can occur when we’re intensely shocked or overwhelmed by threat-based fear. During freeze we feel highly charged with energy as if we need to “do something” yet are unable to act quickly or focus.

The body tends to shift into the freeze state in situations where there’s confusion around how to react (e.g., whether to run, hide, or fight) or when none of these options are available.

Freeze states can be a quick, short-lived episode resulting in an acute, intense freeze response such as a “deer in the headlights” moment or a longer-term, ongoing episode that is less intense in any given moment but no less painful to endure as an everyday way of being and feeling.

Quick Review of Freeze State Feelings and Behaviors

Identifying the hybrid freeze state involves observing layered survival responses that combine sympathetic and dorsal characteristics. Common signs include:

• Heightened Vigilance: A sense of alertness and readiness to respond to potential threats.

• Physical Tension: Muscles may be tense and ready for action despite an outward appearance of calm, stillness or submission.

• Emotional Complexity: Feelings of anxiety, overwhelm or fear coupled with a surface-level calm or disengagement.

• Cognitive Dissonance: Difficulty reconciling the need to act assertively with the simultaneous impulse to remain still or comply.

Short vs. Ongoing, Longer-term Freeze

During a shorter-term freeze that occurs for seconds or hours, the body can profusely sweat and/ or show other signs of fight or flight while being stuck in a kind of inaction known as immobilzation.