Proprietary Posts for Students
© 2025 J. Moffitt. Registered U.S. Copyright Office. Polyvagal Acupuncture®. Note: Regrettably, I have had to remove over 200 articles for the integrative material from the blog due to trademark and copyright infringement by a local medi-spa. Email for a link to the password-protected student material. I’ve left the 50 public facing Copyright protected articles. Read More
Restoring the Precursors to Autonomic Balance The practitioner’s role is to facilitate the restoration of autonomic balance and remove neurological interference caused by a nervous system in a high state of arousal. Once parasympathetic tone is restored, the necessary precursors for neuroplasticity are in place. What is beautiful is that as TCM and somatic therapists
© 2025 J. Moffitt. Registered U.S. Copyright Office. Polyvagal Acupuncture® Primitive reflexes (PRs) are involuntary motor responses that establish foundational postural tone, orientation, and motor-sensory coordination during early development. These reflexes should integrate as higher cortical control matures. When they remain active—or reactivate in the context of trauma, emotional stress, neuroinflammation, or structural compromise—they produce
© 2025 J. Moffitt. Registered U.S. Copyright Office. Polyvagal Acupuncture® The Fear Paralysis Reflex (FPR) is the earliest-appearing defensive reflex in fetal development, emerging as early as 5–8 weeks of gestation. It precedes all motoric fight-or-flight responses and represents the organism’s first organized reaction to threat: tonic immobility. This freeze state is characterized by stillness, bradycardia, breath-holding, and
The Moro Reflex, distinct from the simpler Startle Reflex, is a higher-order primitive reflex that appears at birth and is typically integrated by 4–6 months of age. It is triggered by a sudden loss of support—as if the infant is falling—and results in a global motor response: the arms and legs shoot outward, hands open
© 2025 J. Moffitt. Registered U.S. Copyright Office. Polyvagal Acupuncture®. Most primitive reflex training programs, particularly those focused on pediatrics, emphasize postural and motor pattern reflexes such as ATNR, STNR, and TLR. Yet many of my early classes omitted the most foundational layer of the reflex hierarchy: the freeze responses. Startle, Fear Paralysis Reflex (FPR), and Core Tendon Guard
© 2025 J. Moffitt. Registered U.S. Copyright Office. Polyvagal Acupuncture®. First Published on Down the Polyvagal Rabbit Hole, March 2024 https://polyvagalacupuncture.blogspot.com/2024/03/tonic-labyrinthine-reflex-tlr.html Author: Dr. Jennifer Moffitt The Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR) is one of the earliest reflexes to appear in human development, emerging in utero and typically integrating by 4–6 months of age, though postural traces often persist
© 2025 J. Moffitt. Registered U.S. Copyright Office. Polyvagal Acupuncture®. Autonomic dysregulation, often referred to as dysautonomia, reflects an imbalance within the autonomic nervous system (ANS) that disrupts its ability to fluidly transition between activation (defense) and rest (return to homeostasis). This imbalance manifests with a range of clinical symptoms, including heightened vigilance, muscular tension,
