Defense Cascade Study Group

Defense Cascade Study Group

Last quarter we delved into the controversies around Polyvagal Theory through a World Cafe discussion, multiple article studies, and a practice lab. As we all know and were reminded through these sessions, the Toolkit has never relied on any one model, and is deeply rooted in epistemic justice, drawing from many different models to apply where relevant and support people in making sense of their own internal experiences.

We also clarified that even while centering our clients’/participants’ experiences without overvaluing science, our role as Toolkit Facilitators is to have enough understanding of science (remembering that none of us are physiologists, neuroscientists, etc.) to be responsible translators. There are other models that we use in the Toolkit that can help people to understand their internal experiences without relying on the inaccurate science of Polyvagal theory, and one model that surfaced repeatedly through these discussions was the Defense Cascade.

Lumos facilitators have decided that we want to delve back in and study this model together, and we would like to open it up to all of you in the Alliance to join us.* If you’re feeling like it’s been a while since you’ve studied the Defense Cascade model, or that a refresher could be helpful, or are just curious, please join us! Event details are below, including the link to download the article if you need it.

Host: This will be a peer-led and co-facilitated discussion; Devika will host the space.
Date: 10/20/2026
Time: 2-3 pm PDT
Defense Cascade Article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4495877/

RSVP here via Mighty Networks.

*Please note that we scheduled the event based on Lumos facilitator calendars, and given that we are all currently based in US time zones, this particular session is a very late/inconvenient time for our Africa/UK/Europe based folks. We are hopeful that this will be the first of many study groups, and please know that we will work to find more friendly times for as many time zones as possible for future sessions.