1 00:00:00,049 --> 00:00:03,259 There's a brand new Polyvagal Theory book that is out extremely soon. 2 00:00:03,259 --> 00:00:04,519 It's for pre-order right now. 3 00:00:04,549 --> 00:00:08,329 And I want to give you as unbiased of a review as I possibly can so 4 00:00:08,329 --> 00:00:10,759 that you can know whether or not you should buy it for yourself. 5 00:00:11,259 --> 00:00:14,799 It is called Our Polyvagal World and is written by Dr. 6 00:00:14,799 --> 00:00:16,629 Stephen Porges and Seth Porges. 7 00:00:17,129 --> 00:00:18,470 My name's Justin Sunseri. 8 00:00:18,470 --> 00:00:23,730 I am a therapist, a coach, and the creator of the polyvagal trauma relief system. 9 00:00:23,730 --> 00:00:24,750 Welcome to stuck, not broken. 10 00:00:24,780 --> 00:00:29,069 Typically on this podcast, I teach you how to live with more calm, confidence, 11 00:00:29,069 --> 00:00:34,289 and connection without the psychobabble, but in this one, I want to do obviously 12 00:00:34,319 --> 00:00:38,519 a review of the book, Our Polyvagal World, although I'm going to be 13 00:00:38,519 --> 00:00:40,500 doing a review of the advanced copy. 14 00:00:41,009 --> 00:00:44,879 That's what I have, although I did buy it for myself as well, but the 15 00:00:44,910 --> 00:00:48,420 I'm going to review the advanced copy, which should be the same as the 16 00:00:48,569 --> 00:00:50,190 one you can purchase for yourself. 17 00:00:50,489 --> 00:00:52,590 But there might be some differences. 18 00:00:52,590 --> 00:00:54,599 So I can't guarantee it's exactly the same. 19 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:56,640 I imagine it's pretty much the same. 20 00:00:57,140 --> 00:00:59,899 I probably should address really quick also that I might not be 21 00:01:00,380 --> 00:01:03,110 a completely unbiased reviewer. 22 00:01:03,110 --> 00:01:05,270 I love the polyvagal theory stuff first off. 23 00:01:05,550 --> 00:01:09,060 But I'm also on the editorial board of the polyvagal Institute. 24 00:01:09,090 --> 00:01:12,670 Now, PVI did not publish this book or anything like that, but I love this stuff. 25 00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:13,690 I talk about it all the time. 26 00:01:14,020 --> 00:01:14,740 So I'm not. 27 00:01:15,460 --> 00:01:17,320 I'm not exactly unbiased probably. 28 00:01:17,980 --> 00:01:20,350 I do think I'm being pretty objective about the book though. 29 00:01:20,850 --> 00:01:22,500 But just that's like my disclaimer. 30 00:01:23,030 --> 00:01:25,850 If you decide you want to buy the book, I do have an affiliate 31 00:01:25,850 --> 00:01:27,200 link in the description. 32 00:01:27,230 --> 00:01:31,160 Please note that a portion of the sale goes to me at no extra cost 33 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,980 to you, but I do also want to kind of be upfront about that as well. 34 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:36,100 So let's just get straight to, is it worth buying? 35 00:01:36,100 --> 00:01:37,840 I think in general, yes, it is. 36 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:40,390 For general audiences, it's pretty darn approachable. 37 00:01:40,390 --> 00:01:43,780 The language is very simple in an easy to approach. 38 00:01:44,410 --> 00:01:47,650 There are in, especially in the first opening section on the 39 00:01:47,650 --> 00:01:50,860 polyvagal theory, there's references to like Spiderman and the Hulk. 40 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,160 It's uh, some pop culture stuff in there. 41 00:01:54,610 --> 00:01:57,070 It's not too heavy in the book, but it is there, especially in the beginning, 42 00:01:57,070 --> 00:02:01,840 which I think like I said at the outset, Seth and Stephen Porges wrote this 43 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,500 together and you can definitely get the feel from the first section that that 44 00:02:05,530 --> 00:02:07,150 is just kind of like Seth going off. 45 00:02:07,150 --> 00:02:07,630 And when I. 46 00:02:08,260 --> 00:02:09,010 Uh, interviewed Dr. 47 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:10,450 Porges in episode 2 0 1. 48 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:11,740 He confirmed as much. 49 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,490 So if you're new to the theory, I think it's pretty darn approachable. 50 00:02:15,540 --> 00:02:20,220 If you're a Polyvagal Theory nerd, then there's still some stuff in here for us 51 00:02:20,220 --> 00:02:22,740 as well, that I think is worth reading. 52 00:02:23,490 --> 00:02:25,440 There's a section on oxytocin. 53 00:02:25,740 --> 00:02:27,750 There's a section on evolution. 54 00:02:28,650 --> 00:02:31,470 There is information on respiratory science arrhythmia. 55 00:02:31,830 --> 00:02:34,680 So there's lots of really good little nuggets in there for 56 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:36,240 us to kind of chew on as well. 57 00:02:36,540 --> 00:02:38,700 So if you're new to it, I think it's fine. 58 00:02:38,820 --> 00:02:40,380 If you're a general audience, I think it's fine. 59 00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:44,010 If you're a Polyvagal nerd, I think it's, uh, it's worth buying as well. 60 00:02:44,510 --> 00:02:45,860 If you just like to collect this stuff then? 61 00:02:45,860 --> 00:02:46,850 Yeah, I think it's worth buying. 62 00:02:47,350 --> 00:02:51,700 Especially, because right now the price that I bought it at today was 14 to, or 63 00:02:51,700 --> 00:02:54,820 is $14, which is marked down from 22. 64 00:02:54,820 --> 00:02:57,310 So at 14 bucks, yeah, this is definitely worth a purchase. 65 00:02:57,810 --> 00:03:00,030 Let's talk about what I liked, uh, very easy to read. 66 00:03:00,330 --> 00:03:01,410 And I like that it is short. 67 00:03:01,510 --> 00:03:05,470 I am a extremely slow reader and usually when I read, I fall asleep, so. 68 00:03:06,130 --> 00:03:08,950 The fact that it's easy to read and short, I liked it. 69 00:03:09,450 --> 00:03:11,880 This is written primarily by Seth. 70 00:03:12,330 --> 00:03:14,550 And he's a much better communicator than Dr. 71 00:03:14,550 --> 00:03:15,040 Porges is. 72 00:03:15,060 --> 00:03:15,330 Dr. 73 00:03:15,330 --> 00:03:19,350 Porges knows his Polyvagal science academic stuff, of course. 74 00:03:20,060 --> 00:03:21,380 Seth is a better communicator. 75 00:03:21,590 --> 00:03:23,630 And I think they worked pretty darn well on this. 76 00:03:23,780 --> 00:03:26,360 I get the impression that Seth primarily wrote it. 77 00:03:26,810 --> 00:03:27,650 And then Dr. 78 00:03:27,650 --> 00:03:30,440 Porges's kind of gave his stamp of approval on it. 79 00:03:30,940 --> 00:03:31,600 Or maybe Dr. 80 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,720 Port has communicated with him and then Seth made it. 81 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:36,340 Uh, more understandable. 82 00:03:36,850 --> 00:03:38,020 But either way it works. 83 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:40,080 There is a wide range of topics. 84 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:40,590 I liked that. 85 00:03:40,590 --> 00:03:45,420 I liked that there they talk about things like school., prisons, oxytocin, 86 00:03:45,490 --> 00:03:46,760 mixed states that they added in. 87 00:03:46,790 --> 00:03:49,750 I'm not super excited about how those were introduced. 88 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:55,300 And I have my questions, which I talked about in the last episode, number 2 0 4. 89 00:03:56,110 --> 00:03:57,220 But I did like that. 90 00:03:57,220 --> 00:03:59,890 They're trying to address different things, you know, 91 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:01,100 from the Polyvagal lens. 92 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,760 And it does tread over Polyvagal Theory basics. 93 00:04:03,810 --> 00:04:06,930 I'm looking right now at the table of contents and there's a section on the 94 00:04:07,230 --> 00:04:11,600 pandemic, the Polyvagal Theory and work, evolution and the Polyvagal Theory. 95 00:04:11,670 --> 00:04:13,710 So it was a pretty good amount of stuff that they address. 96 00:04:14,210 --> 00:04:14,960 Neuroception. 97 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:15,990 I liked all that. 98 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:17,990 I love the section on oxytocin. 99 00:04:17,990 --> 00:04:20,390 I think it's a wonderful little read here. 100 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,740 And it really, to me stuck out as far as I don't want to root it for you. 101 00:04:25,220 --> 00:04:27,560 But there's something really kind of special about this section 102 00:04:27,590 --> 00:04:28,970 that I just found delightful. 103 00:04:29,270 --> 00:04:31,790 And one more thing I liked a lot was that the discussion 104 00:04:31,790 --> 00:04:33,680 points are politically neutral. 105 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:34,860 Very open. 106 00:04:34,890 --> 00:04:36,180 I think they're very inviting. 107 00:04:36,540 --> 00:04:38,640 They're not taking a stance on anything cause. 108 00:04:39,060 --> 00:04:42,000 Well, I think the Polyvagal Theory is open to anyone and everyone, 109 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,560 and I love that they stick to that. 110 00:04:43,950 --> 00:04:48,030 I personally do not care what their political or religious leanings are. 111 00:04:48,390 --> 00:04:50,910 I want to know the knowledge and I want to be able to apply 112 00:04:50,910 --> 00:04:53,510 that to reality as I see it. 113 00:04:53,510 --> 00:04:53,840 Right. 114 00:04:54,260 --> 00:04:58,730 So I liked that they kept it open to anyone to partake in 115 00:04:58,730 --> 00:05:01,550 and apply as they best can. 116 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,770 What I didn't like though was, especially when it came to the mixed states. 117 00:05:05,830 --> 00:05:07,600 To me, this is a pretty big addition. 118 00:05:08,260 --> 00:05:12,790 To the Polyvagal Theory, just sort of general knowledge and language. 119 00:05:12,910 --> 00:05:13,720 There's not much depth there. 120 00:05:13,750 --> 00:05:15,880 I mean, they really didn't spend much time on this at all. 121 00:05:16,300 --> 00:05:18,460 So I was pretty disappointed in that. 122 00:05:18,580 --> 00:05:22,570 And the angle that they came at are from was, you know, here's 123 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,230 the potential underlying states, but that was kind of, you. 124 00:05:27,070 --> 00:05:28,180 Uh, disappointing. 125 00:05:28,210 --> 00:05:29,020 I was supported in that. 126 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:34,470 Not only that, but there is a table that they have here where 127 00:05:34,470 --> 00:05:36,030 it has the hybrid systems. 128 00:05:36,060 --> 00:05:38,310 It says three circuits, several states. 129 00:05:38,610 --> 00:05:42,270 And what they have listed are social communication, play and dance, 130 00:05:42,770 --> 00:05:46,910 flight fight, intimacy, appeasement, fawning and shutdown, dissociation. 131 00:05:46,940 --> 00:05:51,500 They don't have freeze and they don't have stillness. 132 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:57,490 So in this table of states, they are missing two of the mixed states. 133 00:05:57,490 --> 00:06:01,450 Just pretty disappointing or are we expected to believe that these 134 00:06:01,450 --> 00:06:04,750 are no longer official polyvagal mixed states, something like that. 135 00:06:05,510 --> 00:06:07,460 There's a lot of good stuff in it, but then there's also 136 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:09,200 definitely leaves me wanting more. 137 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,450 And I left this with a whole bunch of questions. 138 00:06:11,630 --> 00:06:14,840 Especially about this section, which I've covered in the past. 139 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:16,790 Uh, well, in the past episode. 140 00:06:17,290 --> 00:06:20,290 The other thing I've done really quite like is I don't 141 00:06:20,290 --> 00:06:21,940 think this book is necessary. 142 00:06:21,940 --> 00:06:24,340 It's a fun read or an interesting read. 143 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:27,790 But I don't know if this needs to be in a book. 144 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,220 I would love to see stuff like this, especially if it's 145 00:06:30,220 --> 00:06:32,470 written by, you know, not Dr. 146 00:06:32,470 --> 00:06:32,950 Porges. 147 00:06:33,670 --> 00:06:36,790 I would like to see this in more of like a, a blog somewhere on 148 00:06:36,790 --> 00:06:39,280 his website or with, from the Polyvagal Institute, something 149 00:06:39,310 --> 00:06:41,380 that's more approachable for anybody. 150 00:06:41,830 --> 00:06:44,350 I don't think this needed to live in a book. 151 00:06:44,650 --> 00:06:48,970 When it comes to explaining the theory, we already have really approachable, 152 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:53,650 accessible, easy to understand stuff from myself, from Deb Dana, 153 00:06:54,010 --> 00:06:55,090 and a whole bunch of other people. 154 00:06:55,540 --> 00:06:59,350 My podcast is for free and it's a deep, deep, deep dive into this stuff. 155 00:06:59,740 --> 00:07:01,900 And I think it's pretty unapproachable and that's what I hear a lot. 156 00:07:01,900 --> 00:07:07,330 So do we need another rendition of the Polyvagal Theory in a book form? 157 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,420 I don't think so on in all honesty, I wouldn't, that would have been 158 00:07:10,420 --> 00:07:11,800 fun to read as a, as a blog. 159 00:07:12,310 --> 00:07:14,170 But I don't think it needed to be in a book. 160 00:07:14,670 --> 00:07:16,920 If you're brand new to the theory, I don't think I would 161 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:18,990 necessarily start with this book. 162 00:07:19,650 --> 00:07:24,180 You could, but I think there's other stuff that I recommend you, you start from. 163 00:07:24,540 --> 00:07:27,630 So not only this it's this book, I think unnecessary. 164 00:07:28,230 --> 00:07:31,320 But in a lot of places, it kind of like lacks depth. 165 00:07:31,820 --> 00:07:33,260 So I personally like. 166 00:07:34,100 --> 00:07:37,100 The fact that it's shorter, but for you, that might be 167 00:07:37,100 --> 00:07:38,750 something that you don't like. 168 00:07:39,050 --> 00:07:42,380 The advanced copy is 203 pages. 169 00:07:43,340 --> 00:07:46,900 But a big chunk of that is a glossary. 170 00:07:46,900 --> 00:07:49,930 So it's actually 183 pages. 171 00:07:50,590 --> 00:07:51,310 But. 172 00:07:51,810 --> 00:07:54,420 A few pages of that is the epilogue. 173 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:59,360 And in the epilogue, there's a bunch of like bulleted points, which are 174 00:07:59,860 --> 00:08:01,930 rehashing of some of the other stuff. 175 00:08:02,500 --> 00:08:05,440 And the glossary section is a- it's a glossary. 176 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:06,430 We don't need that. 177 00:08:06,930 --> 00:08:09,930 And some of the words in the glossary don't even appear in the book. 178 00:08:09,930 --> 00:08:11,040 Like it's just not necessary. 179 00:08:11,070 --> 00:08:12,870 Just kind of seems like they're adding pages. 180 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:14,410 The book's not super short. 181 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:18,220 But it's also seems to be kind of padded with stuff that was not necessary. 182 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,720 Which kind of would, to me detracts from the experience of the book. 183 00:08:21,810 --> 00:08:23,520 Um, I might just be nitpicking here. 184 00:08:24,150 --> 00:08:26,280 Again, though for 14 bucks, I do think it's worth it. 185 00:08:26,780 --> 00:08:28,610 The other thing I really didn't like. 186 00:08:28,970 --> 00:08:33,530 And honestly it was quite distracting was it's written by two people and 187 00:08:33,530 --> 00:08:34,970 it lists two people on the cover. 188 00:08:34,970 --> 00:08:38,600 So when I was reading it, I assumed it was like they were 189 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:40,070 taking turns, writing sections. 190 00:08:40,490 --> 00:08:44,000 And every now and then when they would reference an "I", like a first person. 191 00:08:44,450 --> 00:08:47,960 It would put in parentheses who was referencing. 192 00:08:48,460 --> 00:08:51,430 As I look back, I believe all the references were Steven. 193 00:08:51,430 --> 00:08:55,870 So it seems like it's written by Seth, but then every now and then Dr. 194 00:08:55,870 --> 00:09:00,460 Porges interjects, maybe I'm not quite sure what what to make of that. 195 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,990 So, if anything, it's confusing and distracting, I didn't 196 00:09:03,990 --> 00:09:05,190 like how they handled that. 197 00:09:05,940 --> 00:09:08,700 So the person who's speaking is not always clear and I feel 198 00:09:08,700 --> 00:09:09,750 like it kind of should be. 199 00:09:10,590 --> 00:09:13,350 Though the opening section, like I said, is clearly Seth. 200 00:09:13,410 --> 00:09:16,740 it has a much different distinct feel than the rest of the book, which 201 00:09:16,740 --> 00:09:18,630 again is not a huge deal, I guess. 202 00:09:18,630 --> 00:09:19,020 But. 203 00:09:19,710 --> 00:09:22,740 As far as the book review goes, I didn't like the way it felt. 204 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,150 Personally, what I would have preferred was just like Seth, writing this 205 00:09:26,150 --> 00:09:28,790 section, doctor Porges is writing this section, although maybe that would 206 00:09:28,790 --> 00:09:32,360 be two totally distinct, uh, but. 207 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,510 It would've made it a more comfortable read for me again, 208 00:09:35,540 --> 00:09:36,680 these aren't huge issues. 209 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:38,780 And I do think it's worth 14 bucks. 210 00:09:39,500 --> 00:09:41,300 Even at 22 bucks, I would have bought at that price. 211 00:09:41,300 --> 00:09:42,860 I was delighted to see that it was 14. 212 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:45,970 My overall impression, uh, overall enjoyable. 213 00:09:46,630 --> 00:09:48,310 Overall pretty darn educational. 214 00:09:48,310 --> 00:09:50,800 I think there's a lot of really good nuggets in here. 215 00:09:51,790 --> 00:09:53,860 I do generally think it's worth owning. 216 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:56,710 I've bought one for myself, even though I have the advanced copy. 217 00:09:57,340 --> 00:10:01,090 If you're low on cash and you're brand new to the Polyvagal Theory, 218 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:02,530 I think there's better ways to go. 219 00:10:02,980 --> 00:10:05,200 Listen to episode 1 0 1 of his podcast. 220 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,980 1 0 1 through 1 0 9 and boom, you've got a deep dive in the Polyvagal Theory. 221 00:10:09,610 --> 00:10:11,890 Although it doesn't have the new mixed states, but again, just 222 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:13,450 listen more to this a podcast. 223 00:10:13,990 --> 00:10:18,880 Episodes 2 0 2 and 2 0 3 will have your mixed dates and then 224 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:20,200 another one's coming up next week. 225 00:10:20,710 --> 00:10:22,000 So it's all here. 226 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:22,660 Like it's for free. 227 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:23,260 It's all here. 228 00:10:23,260 --> 00:10:24,100 I have it for you. 229 00:10:25,170 --> 00:10:29,640 And again, if you're a polyvagal nerd and you're looking for something brand 230 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,430 new, I think there are some nuggets in here that are really interesting. 231 00:10:32,490 --> 00:10:33,330 I did get into it. 232 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:35,460 So I think you'll be happy as well. 233 00:10:35,610 --> 00:10:36,150 Overall. 234 00:10:36,150 --> 00:10:37,140 I think it's worth owning. 235 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:39,890 Those are my thoughts on Our Polyvagal World. 236 00:10:40,370 --> 00:10:43,880 If you are moved to purchase it, I do have an affiliate link in 237 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:45,590 the description that you can use. 238 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,430 A portion of that goes to me at no extra cost to you. 239 00:10:48,430 --> 00:10:51,820 I don't want to just make sure that you're aware of that before you use my link. 240 00:10:51,850 --> 00:10:52,570 If you're going to. 241 00:10:52,820 --> 00:10:56,000 You've already read the book leave a comment on youtube to let 242 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,480 me know what you think of it or email me at justinlmft@gmail.com. 243 00:11:00,860 --> 00:11:02,270 I would love to know what you thought of the book. 244 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:05,790 Again it's justinlmft@gmail.com. 245 00:11:06,500 --> 00:11:06,710 Bye.