Stephen Porges, PhD Archives

Karen Onderko

Karen Onderko is committed to advancing the understanding of the nervous system through Polyvagal Theory to enhance therapeutic care and foster greater connection and acceptance among individuals. She was instrumental in transitioning Dr. Porges’s Safe and Sound Protocol from the research laboratory into practical, widespread use as an accessible tool now available to therapists across various disciplines worldwide. Karen was the director of research and education for Integrated Listening Systems and Unyte Health and is a cofounder and current board member of the Polyvagal Institute. She serves on the board of directors for Developmental FX and has served as a board member for Aspen Brain Institute, Denver Film Society, Colorado Academy, and Stanley British Primary School. Before her work in neuroscience, she spent the first half of her career specializing in financial risk management, teaching the use of derivatives to international and central bankers, marketing financial products to banks and corporations, and managing an options business to ensure the safety of retirement investments. Karen holds a degree from Georgetown University and lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and three daughters.

Author photo © Marea Evans Photography

Stephen Porges, PhD

Stephen W. Porges, PhD, has been an academic for more than 50 years and currently holds positions as a distinguished university scientist at Indiana University, professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville, and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific papers that have been cited in more than 58,000 peer-reviewed papers, and he holds several patents related to technologies involved in monitoring and regulating autonomic state. Stephen also served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He is the originator of the Polyvagal Theory, which emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral, mental, and health problems, and he is the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol, which is the focus of this book. In collaboration with Anthony Gorry, he cocreated an acoustic intervention, the Rest and Restore Protocol, engineered to support homeostatic functions, and with Karen Onderko, Deb Dana, and Randall Redfield, he founded the Polyvagal Institute.

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Stephen Porges and Karen Onderko: All Healing Begins w...

Karen Onderko
Stephen Porges, PhD — May 20, 2025

In every social interaction, we convey signals of trust and accessibility to those around us. In other words, whatever’s happening within your nervous system is seen and felt by others. Dr. Stephen Porges’s groundbreaking Polyvagal Theory has led to a revolution in mental health, showing us that when you bring conscious awareness to your own inner state, you can choose to self-regulate (and ultimately to co-regulate), stop the cycle of fight-flight-freeze, and become a source of empathic connection and mutual safety for yourself and the people in your life.

Join Tami Simon in conversation with Dr. Porges and Karen Onderko, coauthors of the new book Safe and Sound to learn about: the origins of Polyvagal Theory; the minimization of bodily feelings and emotions in mental health care; the evolutionary hierarchy of our brainstem’s survival mechanisms; the concept of co-regulation; the neurobiology of trust; neuroception and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP); why the intonation qualities of vocalization are more powerful than the words we say; the amazing vagus nerve; applying the SSP for trauma healing; self-compassion and honoring the body’s wisdom; the transformative potential of a felt moment of safety; how to remain open and accessible without becoming overwhelmed by vulnerability; breathwork, qigong, and other neural exercises that facilitate the social engagement system; and more.

Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.

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Karen Onderko