Improvisation, State Flexibility, and Co-Regulation:

Bringing Polyvagal Theory to Life Through Action Methods

Traci Howland, LMFT, RfG-CP
October, 2025

Foreword (by Daniel J. Wiener, PhD, RDT-BCT)

Between 1997 and 2020, I developed and taught a graduate course, “Action Methods in Family Therapy” at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), a course that prominently featured RfG. Following my retirement, this course continued to be taught in CCSU’s Marriage and Family Program. Traci Howland, who had been my student at CCSU and later completed her RfG training with me, is currently teaching this course as an Adjunct faculty member. Below, Traci explains how her integration of RfG and Polyvagal Theory inform both her teaching and clinical practice.

Introduction

When introducing action methods to graduate students, a remarkable shift occurs even before any discussion of psychodrama theory or the structure of a Rehearsals for Growth scene. The energy in the room changes as students begin to play—laughter emerges, eye contact is restored, and breathing becomes more relaxed. The
atmosphere transforms as guarded analysis gives way to genuine relational engagement. This shift in body language signals the presence of safety, embodying the core principles of Polyvagal Theory through improvisation.

Understanding Polyvagal Theory

Developed by Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory explains that our nervous systems are constantly scanning for cues of safety or danger. When we perceive danger, we move into protective states; when we perceive safety, we move toward connection. This theory has fundamentally changed the way clinical and classroom environments are understood. It highlights the necessity of feeling safe before we can think deeply, reflect, or gain insight.

Improvisation and Rehearsals for Growth

Improvisation, especially as applied in Rehearsals for Growth, fosters safety not through discussion but through direct experience. Daniel Wiener’s approach adapts theatrical improvisation to both psychotherapy and therapist training, using play to cultivate presence, spontaneity, and connection. These qualities are essential for both therapy and everyday life. Instead of analyzing problems externally, participants engage in new roles and relationships, opening possibilities and activating what Polyvagal Theory calls the social engagement system. Through this process, eyes meet, voices change, and facial expressions become animated, creating shared attunement and allowing new stories to arise from embodied experiences (Wiener, 2020).

Improvisation as Nervous System Rehearsal

Both in clinical practice and teaching, improvisation serves as a rehearsal for nervous system flexibility. When clients or students take on unfamiliar roles, they practice tolerating uncertainty within a safe environment. Nervous systems that once defaulted to fight, flight, or freeze responses learn that they can also play, laugh, and imagine. This is not merely acting out; it is practicing new possibilities for being. As Wiener described, improvisation guides individuals into unfamiliar functioning in the present, providing opportunities to enact non-habitual choices and explore their consequences. This bridge between the imagined and the real allows safe experimentation with courage, connection, and creativity.

Classroom Examples of Polyvagal Theory in Action

In a recent class, students played a simple scene where one person offered help and the other declined. This exercise became a spontaneous exploration of boundaries, agency, and compassion. One student shared that, for the first time, saying “no” felt like self-respect rather than rejection. Such embodied learning, where safety is enacted rather than explained, exemplifies the intersection of Polyvagal Theory and action methods.

Therapy Applications and Co-Regulation

In therapy, similar dynamics unfold. Couples stuck in patterns of blame may discover, through improvisational exercises, that they both desire to see and be seen. By adopting playful and non-threatening roles, defenses soften, allowing for new experiences of connection. Co-regulation emerges through shared rhythm, timing, and
attention—not through explanation, but through embodied interaction.

Teaching Future Therapists

Training therapists in these tools means encouraging them to engage with their whole nervous system, not just their intellect. This involves noticing subtle cues—tightening, averting gaze, holding breath—that signal movement away from safety. It also involves modeling presence and curiosity over reactivity. Polyvagal-informed practice and improvisational therapy both emphasize trusting spontaneous impulses within attuned connections.

Redefining Growth

Integration of these approaches has transformed the definition of growth. Growth is not about perfect insight or polished techniques, but about moving differently in the presence of others—taking a breath, holding a gaze, or expressing something unscripted and surviving the experience. These relational and physiological moments, whether in therapy or in the classroom, are where transformation occurs.

Conclusion

Improvisation teaches that healing is nonlinear and safety is dynamic, co-created through voices, gestures, and imagination. Observing students or clients engaged in playful scenes, alive with laughter and engagement, is witnessing the full expression of Porges’s social engagement system and Wiener’s vision for therapy. Integrating
Polyvagal Theory into Rehearsals for Growth is not simply adding another model; it is recognizing that safety and spontaneity are deeply interconnected. Supporting people to feel safe enough to play allows their nervous systems to learn that connection is possible—and that, perhaps, is the most profound rehearsal of all.

References

• Wiener, D. J. (2020). The Rehearsals for Growth Practitioner’s Manual (2nd ed.). Advanced Psychotherapies Press.
• Porges, S. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.