Anchored Quotes

“But as we increase our ability to move between patterns of protection and patterns of connection and not get stuck in protection, we build flexibility. Flexibility is tied to resilience. Resilience is an outcome of a nervous system that moves from patterns of connection to protection and back to connection with some ease. A way to measure our level of resilience is by tracking how often we get pulled into protection, how long we stay there, and how easily we can find our way back into connection.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“A way to measure our level of resilience is by tracking how often we get pulled into protection, how long we stay there, and how easily we can find our way back into connection.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“But as we increase our ability to move between patterns of protection and patterns of connection and not get stuck in protection, we build flexibility. Flexibility is tied to resilience.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“As we explore what moves us into protection or connection, we begin to look for patterns.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Staying in curiosity and out of self-criticism is the key to this exploration. We need an anchor in regulation to be curious and not judgmental.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Make a statement, add yet to the end of the sentence, and see what happens.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“I’ve found that an easy way to bring some self-compassion is by adding one of my favorite words: yet. Yet holds a feeling of change and a sense of possibility.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“When you leave connection and get pulled into a pattern of protection, where do you usually end up?”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“The good news is that no matter how the nervous system has been shaped, the capacity for moving out of protection and returning to connection is built into our biology.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“The myriad moments we have experienced, from loving and joy filled to scary and hurtful, are woven together and create a particular design”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Cues of safety deepen our feeling of connection while cues of danger pull us out of feeling anchored in our lives.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“bring awareness to the cues of danger and make an intention to connect with cues of safety.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Safety is essential for survival, but to our nervous system, not being in danger is not the same as being safe. Being out of danger doesn’t guarantee we experience a neuroception of safety.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Awareness is the active ingredient needed to work with neuroception.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“You’ll recognize cues of safety in the ways you feel alive and anchored in regulation and cues of danger in the ways your sympathetic and dorsal survival states activate. Bring perception to these experiences and see where your neuroception takes you.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Think about other times in your life when you have felt this way. Look for the cues of danger that are similar between the past and now. When we find the thread that connects experiences, we have new information to help us understand our patterns.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Categories of appropriate or not appropriate, good and bad, don’t apply. The autonomic nervous system doesn’t make meaning or assign motivation. It simply takes in cues and enacts the response it deems necessary to ensure survival. If the answer to the clarifying question is yes, you’re likely anchored in the present moment”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“In this moment, in this place, with this person or these people, is this response (or this intensity of response) needed?” Notice we ask if the response is needed, not if it is appropriate”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“It’s important to know whether our responses are coming from the past or are grounded in the present.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“response that feels out of proportion to the present-moment situation, a reaction that is too big or too constrained, often points to a familiar cue from the past that’s being touched in the present. Feeling overwhelming anger at a small interruption while you’re working or feeling numb when someone tells you they appreciate something you’ve done might point to an experience from the past coming alive in the present.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“What are the cues of safety in this moment in your connection with others? Look for the signs of welcome your social engagement system is sending or receiving from someone’s eyes, facial expression, tone of voice, posture, and movements.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“What are the cues of danger in this moment in your connection with others? Look for signs of warning your social engagement system is sending or receiving from someone’s eyes, facial expression, tone of voice, posture, and movements.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“What are the cues of danger in this moment in your body? Start with a simple body scan. Is there an ache, tension, soreness, or numbness? Listen to your digestion, heart rate, and breath. Let your body show you cues of danger. What are the cues of safety in this moment in your body? Listen to your body. Find the places of ease, warmth, and flexibility. Feel your heart and breath rhythms. Let your body show you cues of safety.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Look around and see what brings you some joy. Find what helps you anchor in regulation.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Listen to your digestion, heart rate, and breath. Let your body show you cues of danger.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Let your body show you cues of safety.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“When we attend to these micro-shifts, we can fine-tune our ability to track the subtle shifts that happen within states.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“To practice, first think of a behavior you’re curious about and imagine enacting it. Move from perception to the neuroception that is underneath the behavior. Follow the pathway you identified that connects your two embodied points.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“It may be helpful to put your hands on the two locations as you begin to imagine the route from neuroception to awareness.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory

“Our thoughts begin to form a story. This internal experience is often accompanied by an impulse to take action.”
― Deb Dana, Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory