How Can Natural Tools Complement Polyvagal-Informed EMDR Therapy for Anxiety Relief in Midlife (Perimenopause)?

Woman in denim jacket and red shirt smiling between two trees in a sunlit garden. Lush green foliage in background. — Embracing natural serenity: A woman finds balance through holistic approaches during the menopause transition amidst the calming embrace of nature.

Anxiety can emerge at any stage of life—but during midlife and perimenopause, it often arrives in unexpected waves. For many women, this chapter brings profound shifts—physiological, emotional, hormonal, and relational. If you're noticing increased anxiety, irritability, or overwhelm, you’re not alone—and you’re not broken.

As an integrative therapist who works through a Polyvagal-informed lens, I see these symptoms not as pathology but as signals of a nervous system in need of regulation and support. For those in EMDR therapy, adding daily practices that foster co-regulation, interoceptive awareness, and ventral vagal access can enhance the healing process and promote nervous system resilience between sessions.

Six Holistic Practices to support your EMDR Therapy

Here are six holistic practices that act as adjuncts to Polyvagal-informed EMDR therapy, particularly supportive for those navigating midlife, trauma recovery, and hormonal transitions.

1. Embodiment Practices for Grounding and Safety

In EMDR, we often work with body-based memory—the felt sense of safety or threat. Embodiment tools like body scans, somatic resourcing, or grounding touch practices help clients stay within their window of tolerance and cultivate a deeper sense of presence.

Midlife Benefit: As the body changes during perimenopause, these practices help women rebuild trust in their physical experience—creating a safe container for deeper trauma work.

Therapy Tip: Use brief embodiment check-ins before or after sessions to orient to ventral vagal safety. Here is one of my favorites for learning calming, embodiment tools. Calm with Kyle

2. Binaural Beats to Support Nervous System Regulation

Binaural beats provide gentle auditory stimulation that can entrain brainwaves into relaxed states (alpha, theta), supporting down-regulation from sympathetic arousal. When paired with bilateral stimulation or used between EMDR sessions, they may enhance neuroplastic integration.

Midlife Benefit: Useful for those experiencing sleep disruptions, racing thoughts, or mood swings due to hormonal shifts.

Therapy Tip: Here is one of my favorite binaural playlists

3. Yoga Nidra to Deepen Rest and Integration

Yoga Nidra offers structured relaxation through voice-guided body sensing, intention-setting, and safe dissociation. It supports the parasympathetic nervous system and provides a safe window into internal states—a soft counterpart to EMDR’s deep memory processing.

Midlife Benefit: Particularly supportive for fatigue, brain fog, and emotional burnout common in perimenopause.

Therapy Tip: If you are interested in yoga nidra, here is one that you may want to try.

4. Essential Oils as Olfactory Anchors

Scents influence the limbic system, where trauma and emotion are stored. Calming oils like lavender, clary sage, bergamot, or frankincense can serve as olfactory anchors to regulate emotional states and support state-dependent memory reconsolidation.

Midlife Benefit: Some oils (like clary sage) also offer gentle hormonal support in addition to soothing anxiety.

Therapy Tip: Invite clients to identify a "safety scent" they can associate with regulation and use as a resource cue during sessions.

5. Breathwork to Co-Regulate and Reset

Breathwork is one of the fastest ways to influence vagal tone. In EMDR, breath cues can help pace processing or re-anchor during moments of dysregulation. Techniques like 4-7-8 breathing, box breathing, or physiological sighs activate the ventral vagal pathway, supporting a return to calm.

Midlife Benefit: Breathwork helps balance the stress hormone cascade that can spike due to shifting progesterone and cortisol sensitivity.

Therapy Tip: Teach breath practices in session and model co-regulation through your own pace and tone. Here is another breath awareness by Dr. Arielle Schwartz

6. Movement as Somatic Discharge and Regulation

Movement—especially rhythmic, cross-lateral, or joyful—supports completion of the stress response cycle. Gentle walking, yoga, dance, or even bilateral tapping aligns with EMDR’s bilateral stimulation principles, helping metabolize stuck energy.

Midlife Benefit: Movement also counteracts the physical stagnation, mood dips, and joint stiffness that may accompany hormonal decline.

Therapy Tip: Encourage clients to identify one form of “nervous system movement” they can turn to post-session.

Why These Tools Matter in Trauma-Informed Midlife Care

For those engaged in Polyvagal-informed EMDR therapy, these practices offer day-to-day nervous system scaffolding—supporting the neurobiological integration of therapeutic work. They invite the body into ritual, rhythm, and restoration, essential for sustained healing.

Midlife is not a breakdown—it’s a neurobiological reorganization. With the right supports, it becomes a powerful time of reclamation, creativity, and nervous system sovereignty.

When to Seek More Support

If anxiety is persistent, interrupting your ability to function, or compounded by past trauma, consider working with a trauma-informed therapist trained in EMDR, Polyvagal Theory, and midlife neurobiology. Therapy that addresses the full ecosystem of change—mind, body, hormones, and narrative—can transform this transition into a renewal.

Remember: You don’t have to do this alone—and you don’t have to choose between therapy and natural tools. Both can work together.

Disclaimer: This blog post is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional mental health care, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The holistic practices described here are not meant to replace therapy but may serve as supportive adjuncts to licensed mental health treatment, including Polyvagal-informed EMDR therapy. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before beginning any new wellness practice, especially if you have underlying health conditions. If you are experiencing significant distress or symptoms of anxiety, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional.