How to Rewire Your Body's Response to Stress, Trauma & Anxiety Feat. Dr. Stephen Porges

THE ED MYLETT SHOW

Ed Mylett

Business, Education, Self-improvement, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 14.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For a limited time, check out Rho’s Liposomal NAD+ at https://www.rhonutrition.com/discount/mylett and use code MYLETT for 20% off sitewide. Get your choice of a healthy free protein staple like chicken breast for a year or ground beef in every box for LIFE PLUS $20 off when you go to https://ButcherBox.com/mylett What if your thoughts aren’t the problem… but the state your body is in is controlling everything? In this conversation, I sat down with Dr. Stephen Porges, and I’m telling you right now, this one stretched me. Not just intellectually, but personally. Because what Dr. Porges reveals is something most of us have never been taught. Your life is not just driven by mindset or motivation. It is driven by your physiological state. And if you don’t understand that, you could spend your entire life trying to “think” your way out of something your body is actually controlling. We get into his groundbreaking work on the nervous system, the vagus nerve, and what he calls neuroception. That is your body’s ability to detect safety or danger without you even being aware of it. And here is the truth that hit me hard. If your body does not feel safe, it will not give you permission to feel joy, connection, or even perform at your best. That explains why so many high achievers still feel anxious, disconnected, or stuck even when everything on the outside looks successful. Dr. Porges breaks down trauma in a way I have never heard before. It is not just something that happened to you. It is something your nervous system holds onto because it is trying to protect you. And here is the key. The path forward is not just mindset work. It is learning how to work with your body. Becoming aware of it. Honoring it. And learning how to regulate it so you can actually change your experience of life. We also talked about leadership, parenting, and relationships. And this was a big realization for me. People perform better when they feel safe. Not when they feel pressure or fear. If you are leading a team, raising a family, or even working on yourself, your ability to create safety might be the most important skill you can develop. Because when people feel safe, they open up, they grow, and they become the best version of themselves. This episode is not surface level. It is a deep dive into understanding you. But if you stay with it, I promise you this. You will never look at your emotions, your stress, or your behavior the same way again. Key Takeaways: Your physiological state is the foundation of your thoughts, emotions, and behavior If your body does not feel safe, it will block connection, joy, and peak performance Trauma is not just an event, it is a pattern your nervous system holds onto You cannot think your way out of a state your body is creating True growth comes from learning to regulate and understand your body, not fight it The best leaders and parents create safety, not pressure This episode is not surface level. It is a deep dive into understanding you. But if you stay with it, I promise you this. You will never look at your emotions, your stress, or your behavior the same way again. 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WEBSITE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the Edmunds show.
0:05.0	All right, hey guys. So today's podcast is going to be unique. It's a dive into the deep end of understanding you. And I'm with Dr. Stephen Porges who you hear about in a minute, but we don't waste any time. So we're going to use terms that many of you haven't heard of before, like HRV, which stands for heart rate variability. And that's the variation in your heartbeat,
0:26.3	not your heart rate, but your heart variability. And that matters because they believe,
0:32.7	you know, in modern science that that's an indicator of what physical state your body's in, the neuro state
0:38.9	that you're in. You'll hear about parasympathetic and sympathetic state. All you need to know
0:43.4	about that is the sympathetic state is sort of considered fight or flight mode in most circles,
0:48.6	and the parasympathetic state is known as more of like a peaceful or flow state. The vagal nerve or the vagus nerve, it's just a nerve
0:56.5	that runs really, it's the longest nerve in your body. And this nerve when stimulated,
1:01.1	they believe changes that state that you're in. These are new terms to most of, you know,
1:05.6	most of you and most people who are listening to this, but it won't be over the next five or 10 years.
1:10.3	These will be very commonplace terms that you'll know about. So when you hear those terms today, don't be
1:15.2	intimidated by them or anything like that, but I wanted you to have this foundation because we're
1:19.7	going to go right into it here when you hear this conversation. And so stick in there because
1:25.1	although it's complicated in the beginning, by the middle and end, there's a big bow put around it that I think will increase your level of understanding, particularly to the very end this week. All right, guys, here we go. All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. So I wanted to talk to this man for a long time. What I didn't know is he lives down the street from me. So we're doing this, if you're watching this on
1:44.5	Zoom today or on YouTube, we probably could walk to each other's house and do this interview
1:48.7	together, but nonetheless, we've chosen to do it digitally. But I've been fascinated by his work
1:53.7	because it goes to the root of what I believe is modern day change in human beings, not just
2:00.1	platitudes or memes or motivational sayings,
2:02.6	but this man's work matters. And he's been doing it since, you know, since before a lot of
2:07.3	you were born. And he's an expert. His name, by the way, is he told me, please call him Steve,
2:12.8	but I'm not doing that until we get going. Dr. Stephen Porges is my guest today. He's affiliated with a bunch of different
2:19.1	universities. One of them is University of Indiana, so go Hoosiers and the National Championship
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ed Mylett, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ed Mylett and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.