What it is

Each protocol targets a specific autonomic state and delivers a  physiological shift through one of the well-established vagal entry points: breath, vibration, cold, sound, touch, or co-regulation.

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The tool includes:

• Eight core vagal activation protocols — addressing acute stress, cognitive dysregulation, overwhelm, dissociation, hypoarousal, rumination, and relational disconnection

• Three targeted Vagus Switch Protocols — for metabolic regulation, anxiety interruption, and sleep onset

• Three entry points — by feeling, by body sensation, or browse all tools

• Short rationale for every tool

• Step-by-step guided protocols — including animated breath circles, countdown timers

 

How to use it for yourself

The Vagus Pocket Coach is a tool you can use between sessions, before a difficult consultation, after a hard day. Build vagal tone the way you would build any other professional capacity.

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Use the Metabolic Reset Breath after meals. Use the Sleep Descent Protocol on the nights your nervous system will not switch off. Use the Physiological Sigh before walking into a difficult consultation.

 

How to use it as a therapy assistive tool

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The Vagus Pocket Coach is designed to extend your therapeutic reach beyond the consulting room. Use it to:

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• Guide a client through a regulation exercise in session — open the tool on your tablet or phone, walk them through it together

• Recommend specific protocols between sessions 

• Provide psychoeducation 

• Equip clients between sessions and after discharge — give them a tool they can keep using after therapy has ended

 

This is psychoeducation and self-regulation support — not a clinical intervention in itself. It works best as an adjunct to your professional care.

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For practitioners

If you would like to make the Vagus Pocket Coach available to your clients as part of your therapeutic offering — whether in private practice, group programmes, corporate wellness, or post-discharge care — we offer a practitioner arrangement.

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This includes: Access to share the tool with your clients under your own care

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To enquire, please contact us.

 

Scientific foundations

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The Vagus Pocket Coach is built on the published work and clinical frameworks of:

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• Porges, S.W. — Polyvagal Theory; the autonomic nervous system as a hierarchical regulator of behaviour, emotion, and social engagement

• Dana, D. — The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy; the concept of glimmers and clinical application of polyvagal principles

• Mayer, E.A. — The Mind-Gut Connection; bidirectional vagal communication between the enteric and central nervous systems

• McCraty, R., & HeartMath Institute — Heart rate variability, cardiac coherence, and the heart-brain connection

• Huberman, A.D., & Balban, M.Y. (Stanford) — Cyclic sighing and physiological sigh research demonstrating the fastest measurable effect on stress reduction

• Bolte Taylor, J. — The 90-second emotion cascade; neurobiology of emotional duration

• Felitti, V.J. — Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study; long-term impact of early adversity on autonomic functioning

• Zaccaro, A. et al. (2018) — How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)

• Gerritsen, R.J.S., & Band, G.P.H. (2018) — Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)

• Frangos, E., Ellrich, J., & Komisaruk, B.R. (2015) — Non-Invasive Access to the Vagus Nerve Central Projections via Electrical Stimulation of the External Ear (Brain Stimulation)

 

Clinical frameworks additionally informed by Occupational Therapy theory, Psychoneuroimmunology, and Sensory Integration principles.