The Face is the Portal to a
Person’s Internal State
Through evolution, a connection exists between the brain and the nerves that control the face. The vagus nerve runs from the brain through the face helps us by:
discerning emotions in facial expressions which promotes feelings of safety and survival
sensing emotions in the voice of others which facilitates empathy and connection
connecting bodily feelings with vocal intonation and gestures
Because humans are social beings, we convey to each other if we are safe to come physically or emotionally close to or to connect with.
To convey this message of safety, we utilize the newest vagal circuit to down-regulate our sympathetic defenses and present cues of safety when it’s appropriate. While the face is a crucial vehicle for this, the voice also plays an important role in conveying a physiological state of calm. If the voice has a higher-pitched frequency, it’s saying, “Don’t come near me.”
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The vagal circuit is both communicative and responsive. We feel calmer when someone’s voice is even toned and soothing. “When the vagal circuit is working, our middle-ear muscles change our capacity to hear predators or low-frequency sounds. Middle-ear muscles, like the muscles of the face, are regulated by the brainstem area that controls the mammalian vagal circuit”. Typically, when there’s something in the environment that threatens us, we turn off the vagal circuit, because it inhibits our ability to mobilize: it gets in the way of moving to fight or to flee”. The prosody (or modulation of pitch) changes in our voice when we feel safe or when we sense a threat and so hearing a voice that has a high pitch or is monotone communicates different messaging around safety.
As humans, we literally wear our heart on our face, and this is because of the vagus nerve. The muscles around the face and head are controlled by nerves that are connected to the ventral vagal circuit which is managed by specific brainstem areas. This happened over time and through evolution- while mammals’ vagus nerve has this brain-heart-face connection, reptilians do not. The vagus nerve innervates in the concha (inner canal portion of the outer ear) the lower neck, and the muscles in the larynx (voice box). Meaning, our ability to socially engage is neurophysiologically linked to our eyes, our ability to listen, and read facial expressions. Essentially, the face is the portal to a person’s internal state.
Creating Safety in Therapy
As therapists, we hold a profoundly important job- to create feelings of safety for our clients when they are in the therapeutic space. This will allow for deeper connection and healing to occur. If our clients do not feel safe, their nervous systems, through neuroception,will pick up these feelings in the resonance field.
Tips for Therapists
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track your own nervous system and notice how your own feelings of safety and regulation present
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track your own nervous system and notice when/why constriction may present
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being mindful of your voice prosody
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modulating your eye contact so it communicates your presence
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be mindful of your facial expressions and how they communicate support- such as a gentle smile or a head nod to communicate understanding of your client’s points
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utilize your own grounding skills- noticing your feet on the earth, feel the support of the seat you are sitting on
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prioritize co-regulation in the therapeutic space, for example, pausing both you and your client to take a collective deep breath