Listening Inside Our Bodies, Outside Our Bodies, and Between Bodies

Safety in the playroom and safety between practitioner and client are highlighted through the lens of Polyvagal theory. First the reader is invited to reflect on the many physical decisions that are made to create a Polyvagal-informed playroom (PIP). This includes size, color, light, shape, space and play materials and identifies factors that influence exteroception (what our bodies tell us from the outside-in). While holding the concept of safety in the therapeutic space, safety between practitioner and client is then examined through five main areas of therapeutic use of self with the therapist as a key co-regulator in the therapeutic process. The concepts of safe space and safe relationships influence an experience of safety through exteroception, interoception, and neuroception.