FREE TO JOIN: ‘Applied Polyvagal Theory in Yoga: Gentle Practices for Vagus Nerve Stimulation’ with Arielle Schwartz.. 
USABP – IBPJ FORUM PRESENTS: A Paradigm Shift Using Bottom-Up, Top-Down, and Systemic Models This event was a USABP fundraiser that took place in February 2021 and has now been released for general public viewing. Addiction treatment has been driven by a pathologizing model that leaves out the wisdom of the body in the healing […]
Category: Polyvagal Theory
Addiction from the Bottom Up: A Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™ of Addiction
The following piece was originally published in Somatic Psychotherapy Today. Reaching beyond the western, post Descartes view of mind/body duality as distorted and harmful, I have explored alternative ways of experiencing and conceptualizing the body. I think this is critical when working with addiction because our current understanding and treatment of addiction reflect this disembodied […]
Shifting from the Bottom Up: A Conversation amid the Coronavirus Pandemic with Jan Winhall
“We all have to pull together… we need to create safe-enough places together. None of us are going to get out of this okay unless we’re all okay.” — Jan Winhall Derek Ryan Maynard interviews Jan Winhall for the July 2020 issue of InFocus on behalf of The International Focusing Institute. Jan discusses how she […]
Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy with Jan Winhall, The Michael Ostrolenk Show #ORadio (Video)
Michael Ostrolenk is a licensed psychotherapist who completed his MA in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at John F. Kennedy University and did post-graduate studies in somatic psychology at the California Institute for Integral Studies . He is certified in Spiral Dynamics and Wade Mindsets. Michael is Head Instructor for SEALFIT’s Unbeatable Mind Academy as well as a personal development […]
Addiction from the Bottom Up: Integrating a Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™ to Treat Addiction (Video)
Join Jan as she shares over 40 years of experience keeping her client’s company. Her clinical work has led her to understand that what is called “addiction”…Interview with Ann Dowsett Johnston https://youtu.be/eTFtjRSQnx4
Addressing mental health needs in students as they return to school
The following was originally published in Fox News.on Saturday, July 31st 2021. BALTIMORE (WBFF) — As children get ready to return to school, Fox45 news is focusing on their mental health. The New York Times reports urgent need for children’s mental health has been rising for years, and has spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jan […]
Book Review of Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model: A Bottom-Up Approach
This piece was originally published on Somathic Psychotherapy Today. By Dr. Leslie Ellis Just at a time when the wider world is waking up to a more compassionate and inclusive way of understanding trauma and addiction, a timely book that addresses these issues in personal, historical, embodied, and practical ways has arrived. In Treating Trauma […]
Beyond Belief Sobriety Podcast Episode 238
In this episode, Jan explains how and why addiction becomes a way of coping with trauma and she helps bridge the two worlds of trauma treatment and addiction. *** Topics Discussed **** Jan’s early work with a group of women who survived incest.* How trauma enacts a process in the autonomic nervous system.* Polyvagal Model […]
The Addicted Mind Podcast Episode 152
Duane Osterlind of the Addicted Mind Podcast speaks with Jan Winhall about treating trauma and addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™. Jan explains how our nervous system influences our behavioral choices and how we perceive the world and our situations. She also teaches how we can use the felt sense with the help of […]
Relational Implicit Interview
In this conversation with Serge Prengel, Jan Winhall describes how therapists can respectfully understand addiction and treat trauma responses with deep embodied listening. Watch the Episode