Co-regulation is the process by which one person's nervous system helps regulate another's. Through proximity, voice, touch, and synchronized rhythms, we can calm each other — or escalate each other. It is the biological basis of "we regulate together."
Key Functions
- •Mutual calming — one person's ventral vagal state supports another's
- •Social engagement — facial muscles, hearing tuned to human voice
- •Rhythm alignment — breathing, heart rate, movement synchronize
- •Bidirectional — both participants influence and are influenced
In ONDA Life
Part 6 describes "co-regulation — the ability to calm oneself through another and to calm others in return." Activation of the ventral vagus creates a state where "facial muscles and hearing are tuned to the human voice and face."