Have you ever noticed that sometimes, no matter how hard you try to calm down, your body just won't cooperate? Your heart keeps racing, your shoulders stay tense, and you feel on edge in situations that should feel safe. You tell yourself that there's nothing to worry about, but your body just doesn't seem to listen.

This disconnect is your nervous system doing what it thinks is necessary to protect you. Understanding how your nervous system works can be the first step toward feeling more regulated, present, and safe in your everyday life.

What is the Safe & Sound Protocol?

The Safe & Sound Protocol (SSP) is a listening-based program designed to help reset the nervous system and improve your response to stress, create a sense of safety and control over your emotions, and foster a state of openness to social connection. Developed by Dr. Stephen Porges based on his Polyvagal theory, the SSP uses specially filtered music to stimulate the vagus nerve and help the nervous system recognize cues of safety.

SSP involves listening to this specially filtered music through over-the-ear headphones for about 30-60 minutes at a time, spread out over the course of several weeks. The music has been filtered to highlight the frequencies most similar to the human voice.

SSP may help reduce the symptoms of and support resilience for people seeking support for:

Depression and Anxiety
Neurodivergence
Learning difficulties
Sensory processing differences
Trauma history

What is Polyvagal Theory?

Polyvagal theory helps explain how our nervous system responds to safety and threat. It focuses on the vagus nerve, which connects our brain to our heart and other organs in our body and plays a key role in how we respond to the world around us.

According to polyvagal theory, our nervous system operates in three main states:

Ventral Vagal (Social, engaged, connected): This is our most regulated state. When we feel safe, we're able to connect with others, stay present in the here and now, and tune out irrelevant stimuli. Our heart rate is regulated, our breathing is easy, and we feel calm and grounded.

Sympathetic (Mobilized, action taking, fight or flight): When we perceive danger or stress, our body shifts into fight-or-flight mode. Our heart rate increases, muscles tense, and we feel the need to take action. This is the sympathetic state. This response can be helpful in truly dangerous situations, but many of us get stuck in this activated state even when we're safe, making the world feel dangerous and overstimulating.

Dorsal Vagal (Immobilized, shut down, collapsed): When a threat feels overwhelming or inescapable, our nervous system may shut down as a last resort. This dorsal vagal state is a primal response to a perceived threat to survival. This can look like feeling numb, disconnected, depressed, hopeless, or exhausted. It's our body's way of conserving energy when it believes survival is at stake.

Our nervous system is constantly scanning our environment for cues of safety or danger—often without our conscious awareness. This process, called neuroception, happens outside of our thinking brain. The nervous system uses our senses to subconsiously decide whether a person or situation is safe or not. Sometimes, our nervous system perceives a threat even when we're objectively safe, keeping us stuck in protective states that no longer serve us.

How Does SSP Work?

When we're stressed or have experienced trauma, our nervous system can become stuck in a state of defensiveness or immobilization, making it harder to feel regulated and socially engaged. Humans have a biological need to socialize, and socialization can help us co-regulate with others. SSP aims to return our nervous system to a calmer state, where we can be more connected and open to feeling safe enough to form supportive and protective relationships.

The SSP listening exercises expose us to the specific frequencies associated with safety and social connection. Over time, this can help the nervous system:

Shift out of fight-or-flight or shutdown states we may be stuck in
Better distinguish between actual danger and safety
Improve regulation and reduce reactivity
Enhance our ability to connect with others
Increase capacity to stay in the present moment

What Changes Might You Notice?

Everyone experiences SSP differently, but people often report:

Feeling more grounded and less "on edge"
Better able to handle stress without becoming overwhelmed
Improved sleep quality
Increased ability to be present in conversations
Reduced anxiety or hypervigilance
Better able to manage difficult emotions
More capacity for connection with others
Decreased sensitivity to sounds

Some people notice changes during the protocol itself, while others notice shifts in the days and weeks following completion. It's also normal to experience temporary increases in emotions or body sensations as your nervous system begins to process and release chronic stress.

SSP and Other Therapies

SSP can be combined with many other therapies, such as talk therapy, play therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Internal Family Systems (IFS) as part of a comprehensive and holistic treatment plan. SSP can help create a regulated neurological foundation supportive of other therapeutic work.

Your therapist will guide you through the process, adjusting the pace to match what your nervous system can handle. Some people move through the protocol quickly, while others benefit from a slower, more gradual approach. There's no "right" way to do it—we follow what your body needs.

Is SSP Right for You?

The Safe & Sound Protocol can be helpful for anyone who experiences chronic stress, anxiety, depression, difficulty connecting with others, or feels stuck in patterns of shutdown or hypervigilance. It's particularly beneficial for those who have experienced trauma, have sensory sensitivities, or struggle with feeling safe in their bodies. SSP is safe and effective for all ages and can be experienced from almost anywhere.

If you're curious about whether the SSP might be a good fit for you, we encourage you to reach out. Healing happens when we feel safe enough to be present, and sometimes our nervous system needs a little help remembering what safety feels like.