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In this episode, I return to the nervous system — and to Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory, which reshapes our old picture of fight, flight and freeze.

Your autonomic nervous system is constantly scanning for safety or threat, and it quietly drives your thoughts, emotions and actions. I explore how trauma fills your “threat bucket,” why hypervigilance is so common in riders as well as horses, and how simple cranial-nerve exercises can start to empty your "threat bucket". You’ll discover six states — from regulation to freeze — and how your state shapes your story, your riding, and your partnership with your horse.