Stephen Porges and Karen Onderko: All Healing Begins with Safety

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Tami Simon

Religion, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In every social interaction, we convey signals of trust and accessibility to those around us. In other words, whatever's happening within your nervous system is seen and felt by others. Dr. Stephen Porges's groundbreaking Polyvagal Theory has led to a revolution in mental health, showing us that when you bring conscious awareness to your own inner state, you can choose to self-regulate (and ultimately to co-regulate), stop the cycle of fight-flight-freeze, and become a source of empathic connection and mutual safety for yourself and the people in your life.

Join Tami Simon in conversation with Dr. Porges and Karen Onderko, coauthors of the new book Safe and Sound to learn about: the origins of Polyvagal Theory; the minimization of bodily feelings and emotions in mental health care; the evolutionary hierarchy of our brainstem's survival mechanisms; the concept of co-regulation; the neurobiology of trust; neuroception and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP); why the intonation qualities of vocalization are more powerful than the words we say; the amazing vagus nerve; applying the SSP for trauma healing; self-compassion and honoring the body's wisdom; the transformative potential of a felt moment of safety; how to remain open and accessible without becoming overwhelmed by vulnerability; breathwork, qigong, and other neural exercises that facilitate the social engagement system; and more.

Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, friends. I'm Tammy Simon, and I have some exciting news for you. Best-selling author,
0:06.1	beloved meditation teacher, and dear friend of Sounds True, Tara Brock, is the host of a popular
0:12.8	podcast that is now part of the Sounds True podcast network. We're so excited to share every week
0:20.6	Tara's guided meditations and talks on living
0:24.5	with mindfulness, being compassionate towards ourselves and each other, putting our love into action,
0:32.8	and so much more. We hope you'll enjoy this weekly edition to the Sounds True Podcast Network.
0:39.1	You can subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts.
0:43.9	It's our evolutionary heritage is to feel safe. And what we've done with this, what I'm trying to bring to the consciousness of our community is that we have the tools, the neural circuits
0:56.6	on board to feel safe, and our culture has compromised them.
1:05.3	In this episode of Insights at the Edge, my guest is Dr. Stephen Porges and Karen Underco.
1:12.7	We are celebrating the release of their new book with Sounds True. It's called
1:17.4	Safe and Sound, a polyvigal approach for connection, change, and healing.
1:24.7	Stephen Porges is a world-renowned and distinguished neuroscientist, the developer
1:31.4	of polyvagal theory, and the creator of the Safe and Sound Protocol. He's published more than 500
1:40.4	peer-reviewed papers and six books on polyvigal theory.
1:47.0	Karen Anderco has been instrumental in bringing the safe and sound protocol from the laboratory
1:54.0	to the clinical worlds, conducting the initial testing, developing the early training, creating delivery guidelines,
2:03.6	and supporting the Safe and Sound Protocol provider community. And here they are together.
2:10.5	We're celebrating the release of Safe and Sound. Steve, Karen, welcome.
2:16.0	Thank you, Tammy.
2:16.7	Thanks, Tammy. Here at the very beginning, I mean, Steve, it's a really big deal to be the developer
2:24.3	of a new theory of how we understand the human nervous system.
	...

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