The Window of Tolerance (WOT)

Have you ever had what felt like an extreme reaction to something that felt relatively small? Maybe dropping a glass while cooking dinner at the end of the day resulted in a full-blown panic attack… or a conversation with a friend triggered feelings of shame and anxiety that left you exhausted and staying in bed most of the following day. This is usually a sign of something deeper going on in our nervous systems. 

The Window of Tolerance (WOT) is a framework created by Stephen Porges, PhD and founder of Polyvagal Theory. I find this to be an incredibly helpful framework to understand our own nervous systems, the nervous systems of others around us, and our adaptive responses to danger and stress.