Pulsetto

Pulsetto is a simple device that sends mild, rhythmic electrical signals to the vagus nerve.
Those familiar with Polyvagal Theory (Dr. Stephen Porges) will already understand the
proposed relationship between vagal regulation and our psychological and physiological
states.

When the nervous system moves towards a more regulated, parasympathetic state, this can be
experienced as a felt sense of safety, ease, openness and calm. This is the state in which we
are generally better able to respond to our environment rather than simply react to it.

When we are under significant stress, our perception can narrow, we can become more
vigilant and reactive, and we may become more easily irritated. In these states, we are more
likely to engage in stress responses rather than calm evaluation and flexible, considered
responses. When we are in a state of greater openness and regulation, we are better able to
perceive our reality more fully and interpret our experiences from a place of calm, curiosity,
respect, empathy and more consequential logic.

Furthermore, our muscles — and our entire physiology — are governed by the brain, and the
brain itself is constantly shaped by our experiences. Repeated experiences create what can be
thought of as attractor-like patterns in the brain, which in turn shape our habitual behaviour.
Habitual behaviour is what we operate on during our daily lives for much of the time.
Certain forms of brain and brain-body stimulation can rapidly shift our neurological, and
therefore our physiological and psychological, states towards more harmonious functioning.
Repeated experiences then create the soil and the seeds for more automatic patterns of
behaviour.

The more stressed we are, and the more stressful experiences we are exposed to, the more
readily our brains can become primed to expect stress and shift into stressed states.
Conversely, the more we engage in experiences that calm, regulate and nourish us, the more
readily these patterns can become established and accessible in our daily lives.
Pulsetto provides a shortcut towards a more balanced nervous-system state, and it does this in
only a few minutes. Over the course of my career in holistic health and related research, I
have not encountered anything that has had the potential to shift my internal state with the
speed and convenience that this device offers.