Is Polyvagal Theory Debunked? Is The Body Keeps the Score Still Valid?
– A Guide For Practitioners, Teachers & Allied Health Professionals.
If you teach yoga, mindfulness, or work in allied health, you’ve likely heard that “Polyvagal Theory has been debunked” or that “The Body Keeps the Score is pseudoscience.” The truth is more useful and more nuanced than either headline. Some specific claims have been challenged by recent research, while the heart of trauma-informed practice stands its ground. Which is useful for those in this field or those who are needing help with Trauma Care to take responsibility of becoming informed.
This at-a-glance guide breaks down what the current evidence shows: what’s still true and safe to use, what’s gathering strong evidence, what’s genuinely up for debate, and what has been overstated. It’s designed to help yoga teachers, mindfulness teachers, trauma practitioners, and allied health professionals teach with accuracy, confidence, and discernment.
Offered to support, inform, and empower curiosity and discernment — balancing lived experience with the evidence base, within scope of practice.
Written from both the research and the room: As part of my Trauma Training & Professional Development (which is ongoing always) I completed a multi-day trauma training with Dr Bessel van der Kolk in Brisbane, during his visits (2017/2022) where he shared updates of his ongoing research and these reflections draw on that experience alongside current evidence. (A fuller note on what I took from that training appears at the end.)
Why This Guide Exists
First and foremost, this is here to offer support and information that is as unbiased and accurate as we can make it — and to encourage empowerment, curiosity, and discernment. The aim is to help you keep an open, curious mind and find your own balance between lived experience and the evidence base, while staying clear about professional scope of practice.
The Short Version
Polyvagal Theory: In February 2026, Professor Paul Grossman and 38 co-authors challenged the theory’s underlying anatomy in the journal Clinical Neuropsychiatry. Stephen Porges responded that critics are misreading his work. What’s genuinely disputed is the precise wiring — the three-tier nervous-system hierarchy and whether heart rate variability truly measures “vagal tone.” What’s not disputed: that feeling safe, co-regulating with others, and reading the body’s signals matter deeply. So the polyvagal “ladder” is best held as a useful map, while the precise anatomy is still being debated.
The Body Keeps the Score: In November 2025, psychiatrist Michael Scheeringa reviewed 122 claims from the book in BJPsych Bulletin and found that the strongest statements — trauma as “brain damage,” trauma “stored” in tissue, and body therapies as uniquely effective — aren’t fully supported as written. Importantly, van der Kolk never literally meant trauma is trapped in your muscles; his real argument is that trauma dysregulates the nervous system’s stress response. He continues to publish peer-reviewed work, and the field keeps evolving toward the same conclusion: body-inclusive, relational, bottom-up healing.
A Note From My Own Training and Practice
Many years ago I completed a multi-day trauma training with Dr Bessel van der Kolk in Brisbane. What stayed with me wasn’t a single technique or claim — it was learning from clients and each other through our lived experiences of the techniques and practices. For me it wasn’t only those in the training it was what has been ongoing personal and professional study over a long period. In that training we listened to and watched live recordings of trauma therapy sessions that drew on multiple modalities, seeing how different approaches met different people. We did the practical, moving, somatic exercises ourselves, and we shared our experiences with one another afterwards. I also became curious around attachment theories in relation to core beliefs how and when they form and the neuroplasticity of the brain. From memory I don’t recall leaving there thinking the trauma is ‘trapped’ or stored in the body – rather how movement and a multi modality approach can be useful in brain and behaviour change. This wasn’t necessarily knew but affirmed what the yogis had been suggesting. What is interesting to me is that Yoga may still be seen by many or viewed as falling into the ‘movement’ category alone. From my experience so far the moving & poses (the asana) is only one eighth of the practice. Mindfulness has and I ‘assume’ will always be part of yoga and vice versa if you are talking about all Eight Limbs of Yoga. Some may argue talk therapy is better, some may argue somatics and movement therapy is better. Yoga does in my experience in how I practice it and how I choose to teach it – does involve Talk Therapy – reflection and contemplation. A large part of it also involves discernment and observing cause and effect of body, mind and energy.
What that training and many trainings affirmed for me is something I keep returning to now: the way we feel, interpret, and perceive is diverse and varied. It depends on our lived experiences, on the day, the environment, how we slept, what we ate, the tribe, our beliefs – so many factors come into play. There is rarely one universal response — and a good framework leaves room for that.
So where I’ve landed, for now, is this: I try not to take sides in the debate. I’d rather stay open to learning, and do what I can to discern. Most likely every system we have is flawed and incomplete , and of course it is. That’s the nature of evolution and change. The models will keep being refined – and they should be.
The Bottom Line
The debate doesn’t undermine the work, if anything, it deepens it. Hold any system of thought or model lightly. Anchor in what’s certain: safety, relationship, presence, and co-regulation is one of the most if not the most important factors in terms of therapeutic value and quality of life.
Being honest with what we do and do not know and what we are still learning creates trust and safety – and hopefully inspires us all to take responsibility for our own health and wellbeing as best as we can – and not follow with blind faith – any system.
This is an educational resource, not clinical advice. It’s offered to support, inform, and encourage curiosity and discernment — helping you balance lived experience with the evidence base, within your scope of practice.
If you are curious about more on the evidence base, the debate or time and space to practice using a multimodality approach – based on your personal intentions feel free to make contact support@yoga-nrg.com / 0439418571
I have also popped up a slightly varied summary at a glance over at tammywilliams.com.au
www.tammywilliams.com.au · www.yoga-nrg.com · © 2026 Tammy Williams
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