Lori A. Parker, GCFP, SEP, Ph.D.
SSP Provider & RRP Provider
Dr. Parker is no stranger to the work of Dr. Stephen Porges. In fact, she was one of the first persons, if not THE first lay person to write about Polyvagal Theory. That was in 2006.
She was introduced to Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory while in her Advanced Training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. Dr. Parker took the words spoken by Dr. Peter Levine at the end of her Advanced SE Training very seriously. Dr. Levine literally said: “This is important people. You have to get this theory!” Well, most people didn’t get it, and many people, at that time, simply dismissed it out of hand. But Dr. Parker did not.
She went straight home, with her copy of Dr. Porges’ seminal article on the subject, and began to read it. But she basically found it unintelligible — brilliant perhaps, but impossible to understand. Her sense of things was that no lay person would likely spend the time to read this paper or attempt to really understand the importance of what Dr. Porges was attempting to communicate.
So, line by line, she proceeded to tease out the essence of what Dr. Porges was talking about. She then wrote a 55-page paper to simplify this very complex theory. It is called: Polyvagal Theory: What Is It? And Why Should We Care? That very detailed paper, written for the lay person, is still available on our website as an eBook.
Shortly after writing that paper, Dr. Parker asked a colleague, Dr. Benjamin Shield, a highly respected Rolfer and Craniosacral Therapist, to teach a one- day workshop on Polyvagal Theory. An MP3 File of that workshop (Polyvagal Theory For The Lay Person) is available on our website as well.
The point, in short, is that Dr. Parker is no stranger to Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory or to his most recent practical applications of that theory (SSP and RRP). She is practitioner of both of these Unyte Music Therapies.
Nor is she a stranger to working with the human nervous system in general. She has been a Feldenkrais Practitioner since 1998, and she has been a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner since 2005. She has worked tirelessly, over time, with a large cross-section of individuals.
Dr. Parker had the good fortune of studying extensively with the top echelon of trainers in the Somatic Experiencing Community: Dr. Peter Levine himself, Dr. Raja Selvam, Dr. Larry Heller, and Dr. Kathy Kain. So, the concept of “titration,” which is a very important component for those working with the RRP Protocol, is also not new to her.
“Titration” is a core concept in the Somatic Experiencing Model and a very important part of the SE training. Because the majority of Dr. Parker’s clients are Somatic Experiencing Clients, she has extensive clinical experience working with stress-related conditions and she has literally practiced “titration,” day in and day out, for over 20 years.
Somatic Experiencing, The Feldenkrais Method, and both of the Unyte Music Therapies (SSP and RRP), are for Dr. Parker, extraordinarily compatible and synergistic. Although, she is relatively new to delivering the RRP Protocol itself, her extensive background in working with the nervous system (Somatic Experiencing and The Feldenkrais Method) coupled with her knowledge of Polyvagal Theory makes her particularly well-suited to deliver RRP.
Combined Modalities = Enhanced Results
