Reposted by request from folks who took my intro to PVA class last month!
Polyvagal Acupuncture™ (PVA) is an integrative technique I developed out of necessity—born during a time of crisis, refined through clinical application, and grounded in both traditional Chinese medicine and modern neuroscience.
In early 2020,
I received the first in what became a series of neurological diagnoses—each
potentially disabling if not life-threatening—with a prognosis that was
devastating for my family. There were no
effective treatment options available in the U.S, and due to the lockdown, access
to diagnostic imaging and elective care was severely restricted; for 20 months,
I could not even have elective imaging to evaluate the nerve damage. As a self-employed provider without the traditional
employer-sponsored social safety net, I had no choice but to treat myself. This
work became the basis of my doctoral capstone, but it took five more years of
postgraduate training in neuroscience, neuroplasticity and reflex integration
to fully develop Polyvagal Acupuncture™.
What began as a
survival strategy has evolved into a repeatable, effective system for
regulating the autonomic nervous system, reducing neurogenic inflammation, and
promoting neuroplasticity. Treating essential workers and injured healthcare
professionals during the height of the pandemic, I noticed clear neuromuscular
fascial patterning—tension, spasticity, dissociation—that echoed my own. The
same techniques that restored function and reduced pain for me produced
dramatic, visible changes in my patients.
The
Scientific Foundation: Fascia, Cranial Nerves, and Neuroplasticity
Polyvagal
Acupuncture™ integrates modern neuroscience, primitive reflex integration, and
traditional meridian theory to address the systemic impacts of trauma on the
body and brain. At its core, PVA targets myofascial pathways influenced by the
cranial nerves—particularly those linked to vagal tone—to interrupt chronic
sympathetic dominance (fight, flight, or freeze states) and promote
parasympathetic restoration.
In this neutral
state, the brain’s innate capacity for neuroplasticity is activated: new neural
pathways can form, motor function can return, and inflammation often recedes.
Fascia—long understood in both Eastern and osteopathic traditions as a
connective matrix of health—is reframed here as a functional interface between
somatic experience and neuroregulation.
The
implications are significant. Where conventional approaches often struggle to
resolve complex trauma syndromes or post-viral dysautonomia, PVA provides an
immediate and observable change in tone, function, and regulation—often in real
time, without pharmacologic support.
The sinew
channels (Jingjin), limbic system, and midbrain processing centers develop
together—embryologically, functionally, and somatically—the sinew channels can access
and modulate psycho-emotional states in a direct and often immediate way.
I. Shared
Developmental Terrain:
- The sinew channels emerge from the
same mesodermal and neuroectodermal layers that shape:
- Myofascial architecture
- Midbrain and brainstem scaffolding
- Early limbic-affective circuitry
- These systems are co-encoded,
meaning that:
Motor tone,
emotional valence, and orientational patterning are not separate.
II. Functional
Interfacing with the Limbic System
The sinew
channels interact with the limbic brain through:
- Fascial continuity: They transmit
postural, defensive, and affective tone through the body’s tensional
matrix.
- Reflex arcs: Sinew pathways
correspond to primitive reflex pathways that remain online into adulthood
and affect core emotional and vestibular responses.
- Neuroception and defensive
readiness: Their tension state affects brainstem-limbic appraisal of
safety vs. threat (via spinal cord integration and vagal tone modulation).
This means the
sinew channels don't just reflect emotion—they enact and maintain it.
III. Midbrain-Level
Modulation
Key structures
like:
- The periaqueductal gray (PAG)
(threat/freeze modulation)
- The superior colliculus
(orientation, tracking)
- The reticular formation (arousal,
tone)
are all
responsive to changes in postural tension, shear, and movement—which the sinew
channels mediate.
When a sinew
channel releases or reorganizes, it signals a new motor-emotional baseline to
the midbrain—triggering a cascade that can shift both cognitive and affective
state.
IV. Why This
Matters Clinically:
This is why:
- Local fascial work, when accurately
read through the sinew framework, has systemic psycho-emotional effects.
- You can intervene somatically in
what appears to be a “mental” or “emotional” block—because the architecture
of the emotion lives in the sinew field.
And it’s not
top-down. It’s not “thinking differently.” It’s altering the embodied
scaffolding that thought rides on.
Clinical Results and Present-Day Application
In clinical practice, patients with persistent neurogenic dysfunction—frozen joints, severe tremors, motor loss or complex chronic pain—often see meaningful change with the first sessions: acute pain scores drop from 10/10 to 3, and mobility and motor clarity return to areas long believed permanently damaged. We also see significant shifts in patients with early developmental trauma, PTSD, long-COVID based dysregulation and children with sensory processing challenges. Long term trauma patients in deep states of compensation are able to return to their bodies, and experience safety. By focusing on primitive reflexes, vagal tone, and the fascial interface, the nervous system begins to repair—regardless of how long ago the injury occurred.
Importantly,
this work is not modality dependent. PVA techniques can be applied by providers
across disciplines—including acupuncturists, physical therapists, and manual
therapists —and are accessible to patients for self-care between sessions.
Mindful movement, breath, and touch are not afterthoughts but core autonomic
tools that support the brain’s capacity to change.
From Concept
to Community
This technique
was not developed in isolation. I am deeply grateful to the injured medical
providers, veterans, educators, grocery clerks, and essential workers in San
Diego who became collaborators in this work during some of the most chaotic
years of our professional lives. None of us signed up for the warzone that
COVID-era treatment became—but many of us found healing through the process of
surviving it.
Polyvagal
Acupuncture™ is now entering a new phase. As we collect data, publish case
histories, and prepare for formal training pathways, we are building bridges
between somatic therapies, traditional medicine, and neuroscience. For the
first time, providers can reliably observe nervous system changes in real
time—not months down the road.
Looking
Forward
The
inflammatory cascade of chronic sympathetic dominance is implicated in
conditions ranging from stroke sequelae and traumatic brain injury to
autoimmune disorders, dementia, and neurodevelopmental delays. With the right
tools, timing is no longer a barrier to leveraging neuroplasticity.
Presence—and access to the parasympathetic nervous system—are key. For
practitioners seeking to work at the intersection of science and somatic
healing, Polyvagal Acupuncture™ offers a reproducible, neurobiologically grounded
path forward.
Coming soon: We’ve partnered with a leading platform
for postgraduate education to offer accredited training in Polyvagal
Acupuncture™. Our curriculum—designed for integrative providers, TCM
practitioners, and somatic clinicians—will be unveiled in the coming months.
Stay tuned via our website or newsletter for updates this fall.
đź“š To explore case studies, practitioner resources, or
training inquiries, please visit www.polyvagalacupuncture.org
or follow our ongoing blog at Down the Polyvagal Rabbit Hole.
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