I am a dance/movement therapist and somatic educator. I love to geek out on nervous system science and have written many articles in Elephant Journal on polyvagal theory. Here’s my latest polyvagal aha: The word “mobilization” is defined in two ways. One definition draws from military ideas of moving troops. However, the other definition is “the action of making something capable of movement.” Scientist Stephen Porges, creator of polyvagal theory speaks of a state called Play/Dance. Play/Dance can be overlooked as a form of mobilization. However, when we feel safe, in certain situations, with certain people (or pets), it is Play/Dance that makes movement possible.

Play/Dance is created by a rhythmic releasing and braking of the ventral vagal nerve. Lisa Diamond is the author of a chapter in the book called Bases of Adult Attachment: Linking Brain, Mind and Behavior. The chapter is entitled: The Biobehavioral Legacy of Early Attachment Relationships for Adult Emotional and Interpersonal Functioning. Diamond says that the autonomic nervous system responses that involve parasympathetic withdrawal (releasing of the vagal brake) appear to be more rapid, more flexible, and easier to disengage than sympathetic-dominated responses.

Disengaging Play/Dance versus trying to Disengage Fight/Flight:

• With Play/Dance, it becomes possible to mobilize in very big, fast, sharp ways and to stop moving, with no Fight/Flight sensation during movement and after stopping.
• When we mobilize with Fight/Flight and we stop moving, time is needed to resolve the Fight/Flight chemistry in the body.

Establishing Play/Dance

Play/Dance ideally gets patterned in infancy. Ideally, within an energetic dance between the developing child and at least one parent, co-regulation is possible. In the reality of our world today, only some people have some movement expressions in some situations with some people (or pets) that can be activated by Play/Dance.

Most people have many movement expressions in many situations with many people, which have become inhibited by what Porges identifies as dorsal vagal Shut-down. Dorsal vagal Shut-down can inhibit movement expressions in all parts of the body, because Shut-down happens in the core of the body where all movement expressions originate. Shut-down slows digestion and shallows breathing.

All movement expressions flow energetically outward from the core of the body. Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, developer of Body-Mind Centering, calls this flow of energy outward from the core Navel Radiation. The core is identified as the main energy center in the Eastern practice, Qigong. When Shut-down slows digestion and shallows breathing, there is less energy flow out from the core and more movement expressions are inhibited.

The Therapeutic “Dance”

Fortunately, when Play/Dance is not patterned during infancy, it can be re-patterned during a therapeutic “dance.” Either consciously or unconsciously, the therapeutic interaction can offer dyadic movement experiences that replicate the infant developmental interactions that pattern Play/Dance. I speak to this in my 2015 article Polyvagal theory and peek-a-boo: How the therapeutic pas-de-deux heals attachment trauma. Along with dance/movement therapist Orit Sônia Waisman, I also address the therapeutic dance in our 2022 article Stirring up health: Polyvagal theory and the dance of mismatch in healing multi-generational trauma. Both articles are in the journal Body, movement and dance in psychotherapy.

Child psychiatrist Judith Kestenberg and colleagues studied infant rhythms. They identified two types of rhythms: one which they called “indulging” and the other, which they called “fighting.” These rhythms are referred to by various movement specialists as Tension Flow rhythms. The rhythmic braking and releasing of the ventral vagal nerve, which creates Play/Dance, is easily recognized as a tension and flow pattern. The Play/Dance braking (tension) and releasing (flow) of the ventral vagal nerve aligns with the first “indulging” Kestenberg Tension Flow rhythm, which is called the “sucking” rhythm.

How might the rhythmic braking of the ventral vagal nerve play a role in gut motility?

Gut motility is the term given to the stretching and contractions of the muscles in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The synchronized contraction and release of these muscles is called peristalsis. Peristalsis propels food and liquid through the GI tract, mixing the contents as it moves through the digestive system.

The GI tract is innervated by the enteric nervous system (ENS). The ENS consists of two networks of nerves; one is the myenteric plexus. The myenteric plexus originates in the brain stem. The vagus nerve then carries the axons to their destination in the GI tract.

The dorsal branch of the vagus nerve facilitates the rhythmic process of peristalsis in the intestines—the mixing and moving of the contents of the colon. The dorsal branch of the vagus can facilitate digestion in this way when the ventral branch of the vagus facilitates the rhythmic action of sucking. The first Kestenberg infant “indulging” rhythm is “sucking.” Once actual sucking gets established, movement expressions all over the body can take on that “sucking” rhythm. Movement expressions mobilized by Play/Dance seem to have the “sucking” rhythm as an underlying organic rhythm. How cool is that?!

The ventral branch of the vagus also facilitates swallowing and likely chewing. The Kestenberg “sucking” rhythm is developmentally followed by the first “fighting” rhythm, which is “biting/snapping.” When parents or those holding therapeutic space for clients have their own full-bodied “sucking” rhythm available to them, they are more likely to respond playfully when the child’s or client’s “biting/snapping” rhythm shows up.

A playful reaction to the “biting/snapping” rhythm fosters the child’s or client’s ability to become their unique self. This idea of inviting Individuation within a therapeutic dance can be seen in Authentic Movement. Authentic Movement is a technique created by dance/movement therapists Mary Starks Whitehouse and Janet Adler. In this technique, a “nonjudgmental witness” holds space for the awakening of a “mover’s” more authentic movement.

As the therapeutic dance helps clients develop core-flowing movement with both “sucking” and “bite/snap” rhythms, clients expand the movement vocabulary available to them that is mobilized by Play/Dance. Breath flows in a natural way. It becomes easier to yawn, heightening awareness of the urge to rest and refuel.

The popular embodiment practice called 5Rhythms was developed by musician and dancer Gabriel Roth. The first rhythm is Flowing and the second is Staccato. When Flowing has the underlying “sucking” rhythm, Staccato has a playfulness such that the third rhythm of Chaos is surprisingly available in Play/Dance rather than being experienced as a stirring of Fight/Flight.

Social Engagement system

Porges calls the continuum of activation and calming facilitated by the rhythmic braking of the ventral vagal nerve our Social Engagement system. He chose this name because the ventral branch of the vagus nerve plays a role in muscle movements key in communication: vocal patterning, head turning, facial muscles, the flexing of the middle ear muscle that helps us tune into the human voice.

As we look at how the rhythmic braking and releasing of the vagus nerve aligns with the Kestenberg “sucking” rhythm, we can see the full spectrum of what Porges calls the Social Engagement system. We can appreciate the role of the ventral vagal nerve in actual sucking, swallowing and chewing. We can appreciate the dorsal vagal’s role in peristalsis. We can see two separate continuums of active and calming. We can distinguish Play/Dance/Rest/Digest versus Fight/Flight/Shut-down. When mobilization happens with Play/Dance, we naturally Rest and Digest.