Glossary of Terms
This resource aims to empower you with a foundational vocabulary for navigating your unique wellness journey.
Autonomic nervous system (ANS): The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls involuntary bodily functions such as heart rate, digestion, respiration, and blood pressure. It is primarily responsible for regulating the body's internal environment.
Body scan meditation: A mindfulness practice that involves systematically bringing attention to different areas of the body, noticing any sensations without judgment. It helps to cultivate present moment awareness and can promote relaxation.
Breathwork: Intentional and conscious control over breathing patterns to achieve various physiological and psychological benefits, often used to influence the nervous system and promote relaxation or energy.
Dorsal vagal: In the Polyvagal Theory, this refers to the most evolutionarily ancient branch of the vagus nerve, associated with immobilization, shutdown, and a state of conservation of energy (often experienced as freeze, dissociation, or collapse) when faced with extreme threat.
Dysregulation: A state where the nervous system is outside its optimal zone of functioning (the Window of Tolerance), leading to difficulty managing emotions, thoughts, and physiological responses, often manifested as hyperarousal or hypoarousal.
Grounding: A set of techniques designed to bring one's awareness and nervous system back into the present moment when feeling dysregulated (e.g., anxious, overwhelmed, or disconnected).
Hyperarousal: A state of heightened physiological and psychological activation, often associated with the "fight or flight" response of the sympathetic nervous system. Symptoms include anxiety, panic, rapid heart rate, restlessness, and irritability.
Hypoarousal: A state of reduced physiological and psychological activation, often associated with the "freeze" or "shutdown" response of the dorsal vagal branch of the autonomic nervous system. Symptoms include numbness, fatigue, dissociation, emotional flatness, and a sense of disconnection.
Meditation: A practice where an individual uses a technique, such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity, to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.
Mindfulness: The awareness, quality, or state from intentionally bringing one's attention to the present moment without judgment. Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, defines mindfulness as having these four components: "paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally."
Polyvagal theory: A neurophysiological theory developed by Dr. Stephen Porges that explains how the vagus nerve and different branches of the autonomic nervous system influence our responses to safety and danger, shaping our social engagement, fight/flight, and freeze/shutdown states.
SAFE signal: A term, originated by Dr. Jessica Bock, referring to the subtle cues your body sends when your nervous system is shifting from a state of hyperarousal or hypoarousal back towards your Ventral Vagal (safe and connected) state. SAFE stands for Systemically Aligned for Functional Engagement, indicating that regulation is occurring, and you are moving back into your Window of Tolerance as your vagus nerve's ventral vagal pathways become more active, orchestrating a shift in your ANS from a state of defense to a state of calm and connection.
Sensory scan: A mindfulness or grounding practice, developed by Dr. Jessica Bock, that involves systematically noticing prominent and subtle details across all five senses in the immediate environment to anchor awareness in the present moment and send safety signals to the nervous system.
Sympathetic: Refers to the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, primarily responsible for the "fight or flight" response. It prepares the body for action by increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness, and diverting resources from non-essential functions.
Ventral vagal: In the Polyvagal Theory, this refers to the evolutionarily newer branch of the vagus nerve, associated with states of safety, social engagement, and calm. It supports regulation, connection, and restorative processes.
Window of tolerance: A term describing the optimal zone of arousal in which an individual can function most effectively. When a person's nervous system is within this window, they are able to think, feel, and respond to stressors adaptively. Being outside this window (either hyperarousal or hypoarousal) indicates dysregulation.
Last Updated: October 5, 2025
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Last Updated: May 27, 2025