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Jan Winhall holding book she authored about Felt Sense Polyvagal Model

Heal Addiction and Trauma with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model

Courses, books, and community from Jan Winhall and the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model Institute

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What is the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model?

A new way of healing trauma and addiction developed by Jan Winhall that honors the wisdom of the body while integrating the latest findings in neuroscience

Current pathologizing models for treating trauma and addiction miss the point. The brain disease model leaves out the wisdom of the body. When we, instead, harness the power of our body’s natural healing process through accessing the autonomic nervous system and our felt sense, transformation occurs right before our eyes. 

About Jan

Jan Winhall, M.S.W.  P.I.F.O.T. is an author, teacher and seasoned trauma and addiction psychotherapist. She partners with the Polyvagal Institute and other organizations where she offers training programs based on her model and books...

Felt Sense Polyvagal Model Institute: Feelings, Memories, Sensations, Thoughts

Discover & Learn at the FSPM Institute

Join a global learning community offering courses, certification, and support in the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model—where neuroscience meets embodied healing. The Felt Sense Polyvagal Model Institute  helps you stay current with the latest research in trauma and addiction healing while learning practical, somatic tools to restore safety, resilience, and connection..

Find your Flock in Our
Felt Sense Polyvagal Community

Join the FSPM Community Today! Enjoy exclusive content and discounts while also connecting with like-minded individuals interested in a new paradigm in trauma and addiction treatment.

Somatic Practices

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Workshops & Resource Library

Community Blogs

Available at a Click of a Button

Learning Partners

Learn on Demand

Want to learn more about the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model, trauma and addiction on your schedule? Explore these self-paced offerings and start today!

Vagus Adventures

Vagus Adventures: Exploring the Edges of Polyvagal Theory and Practice

This Masterclass Series is a must  for therapists and coaches and those who wish to actively explore the edges of where Polyvagal Theory meets practice and thereby take part in the latest understanding and application of this important work.

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Polyvagal Study Series

This Masterclass Series is a must  for therapists and coaches and those who wish to actively explore the edges of where Polyvagal Theory meets practice and thereby take part in the latest understanding and application of this important work.

Jan Winhall teaching Group

Course Feedback

It was so exciting and informative, and has sent me down a path of really integrating body states into the work I am doing. I feel so incredibly grateful... What an inspiring, patient, clear teacher you are. I felt held by you the whole two days, and also was just soaking up your energy, the way you would phrase things, and respond. Once again, really inspiring.

-Jennifer Towndrow

Jan Winhall's book about treating trauma and addiction on a pile of other books

My Newest Book

My newest book, 20 Embodied Practices for Healing Trauma and Addiction Using the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model, is now available in print and audiobook format.

Heartfelt Offerings for All

Enjoy access to these resources at no cost.

Guided Practice

Body Cards

Used to record the various aspects of a felt sense–physical sensations, feelings, thoughts, and memories–as well as to draw the felt sense as it is experienced in the body and mind. Free bonus gift to newsletter subscribers!

The Steps to Shift Your Paradigm

Join the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model mailing list to receive an article authored by Stephen Porges and Jan Winhall that provides a generic framework of Polyvagal Theory, Focusing, and the Felt Sense that complements and can vastly strengthen any therapeutic modality.

Embodied Dialogues Podcast

Tune and chime in on free monthly conversations with leading experts in the trauma, somatic, and addiction world. Recordings provided to all registrants.

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Next Up:

How to Build a Somatic Resource Kit for Your Nervous System — Tools to Heal Trauma & Attachment

Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 4:00:00 PM UTC

Join Jan Winhall and Holly Lowery-Davis on Embodied Dialogues for a grounded, practical conversation about building the sturdy foundation needed to heal trauma and attachment wounds. Deep, body-level healing begins with feeling safe enough to stay with our embodied experience — and that sense of felt safety is something we can actively learn to create. Holly, a certified body-oriented coach, somatic practitioner, group facilitator, and mental-health educator, will share why a well-stocked resource kit matters and how to build one by meeting and matching your nervous system while tending to the different needs of your parts. You’ll walk away with immediately usable ideas to support every domain of experience: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, energetic, and relational. Together Jan and Holly will explore the power of deep felt sense work, rooted in Gene Gendlin's Focusing and Felt Sensing methodology. They will discuss why healing attachment and trauma isn’t something we think our way through; it’s something we restore in the body. For that to happen we must learn to intentionally and reliably resource ourselves to build the felt safety needed to do the deep work of healing. Reach Holly at hollylowery.com or on insta: @hollylowerydavis.

Previous Episodes

Steve Porges and Jan Winhall

"In Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model Jan introduces a new strategy to treat addiction that brilliantly integrates Gendlin’s classic concept of a felt sense with Polyvagal Theory. Jan shares her intellectual journey in which unique insights transform two disparate perspectives into obvious complements leading to a powerful treatment model. As Polyvagal Theory gives the language of neuroscience to Gendlin’s felt sense, the phenomenological world of Gendlin becomes transformed by Polyvagal Theory into observable shifts in autonomic state. The product of this creative journey is an integrated therapeutic strategy with the potential to decode the wisdom of the body with its full repertoire of survival reactions into positive outcomes that promote optimal mental and physical health. These successes are highlighted by new abilities to co-regulate with others that lead to successful trusting relationships."

-Stephen Porges, PhD, Researcher, Author, Speaker, Co-Founder of Polyvagal Institute

My Recent Posts...

"Addictions are adaptive behaviors in maladaptive environments."

Jan Winhall

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Let's Stay Connected

Subscribe to the FSPM newsletter to get updates about classes, research, and inspiration PLUS receive two bonus gifts: your own Felt Sense Polyvagal Model Body Cards and an article authored by Stephen Porges and Jan Winhall that provides a generic framework of Polyvagal Theory, Focusing, and the Felt Sense!

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