On the surface glimmers may sound trivial, but they’re crucial to calming down our central nervous system, according to Dana. Her work is focused through the lens of polyvagal theory, which argues the nervous system has a significant effect on our mental health. “Our nervous system is where all of our experience begins, it’s where our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body responses — everything — starts, and glimmers emerge from the nervous system state of what’s called ventral,” Dana explains. “It’s a state of regulation, safety, and connection. Polyvagal theory really helps us understand that we have three states that we are moving in and out of all the time: We have that state of ventral safety connection regulation, we have the sympathetic state of fight and flight, and then we have a dorsal state of disconnect, collapse, shut down.”
