Safe Sound Protocol Process

WHAT DOES THE PROCESS OF SSP LOOK LIKE? 

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SSP is intended to be used as an additional form of therapy, not as the primary treatment method. It works great to complement the therapies the individual is already engaged in. The Safe and Sound Protocol involves five hours of specially processed music that is titrated over time based on individual tolerance. 

 

Dr. Rinde will attend to, guide, support, and educate you during your session. He will help monitor your response, assess your readiness, and titrate your level of intervention.

 

He may incorporate other nervous system balancing components such as breathing exercises, vagal stimulation, myofascial muscle release, bodywork, head, neck, spinal column, and lower back, stretches, and meditations, whether in-person or remote.

 

These are discussed and selected by the client,

 

However, the core of the process is the SSP.

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Depending on your assessment, there are two main protocols: the Classic SSP and The Rest and Restore Protocol.

 

SSP has three levels of listening:

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SSP Connect

• This level offers a full-spectrum, unfiltered music​​

• it provides an introduction to the SSP, often appropriate for children or highly sensitive individuals, as a starting place

• You can listen in any order​

SSP Core

• This is the main SSP listening level providing progressively, dynamically filtered music​

• Strongest, potentially therapeutic

• Must be in order

• Hour three is when many of the shifts occur.​​

SSP Balance

• This lightly filtered music​

• repeat hours as needed

• used as a state shift to provide additional support after the main program has been completed

• can be listened to in any order

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What does SSP music sound like?

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​SSP music is music you will recognize.  

There are three different playlists.

 
They are:

• Adult is a mix of rock, pop, and country.

• Wonder track, which is intended for children.  The songs are from Disney and similar.

• Classical Flow is classical music (might be best for someone whose misophonia triggers may be connected with vocalizations during music)

The filtering is the same on all three playlists, so anyone of any age can use them.   The different pathways are mainly to appeal to various preferences.

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Filtered music trains the neural network, especially in auditory sensitivity and emotional control. Frequency changes and is dynamically filtered. The nervous system is being trained through Neuroception, and the middle ear muscles are trained to receive middle-range frequency better. This sends cues of safety through the ventral vagal complex.

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Rest and Restore Protocol

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​​The Rest and Restore Protocol™ (RRP) is a new listening therapy developed by Safe and Sound Protocol™ (SSP) creator Dr. Stephen Porges and musician Anthony Gorry. It specifically targets those areas connected to the dorsal branch of our vagus nerve, which manages our Freeze and Collapse responses. While the Safe and Sound Protocol™ (SSP) works to increase our felt sense of safety within the body by stimulating our Social Engagement System, the Rest and Restore Protocol™ (RRP) does so by reaching deep into our core, connecting with our nervous system to promote a state of gentle relaxation.

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The RRP is several hours of music that contain the body's physiological rhythms. The frequencies of our heartbeat, respiration, craniosacral rhythm, digestion, and more have been infused into the music via a new audio technology called Sonocea®, entraining the nervous system through rhythmic stimulation. Dr. Porges describes listening to the RRP as “being gently rocked while floating on a raft without any fear of falling off.”

The RRP is brand new in 2024, and its effects are still being studied.

 

Preliminary pilot data, however, suggests gains in the following areas:

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• Enhanced efficacy of other therapies

• Increased physical, mental, and emotional ease

• Better sleep

• Reduced depression and anxiety

• Greater access to feelings

• Improved digestion

• Decrease in PTSD symptoms​

More information about the RRP and how it works can be found at this official Unyte/RRP site

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Which should I choose: the SSP or the RRP?

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The SSP helps us connect with others, and the RRP helps us connect with ourselves. The SSP is focused on the Ventral Vagus complex and, as such, is designed to support Social Engagement. The RRP works with the healing qualities of the Dorsal Vagus, improving the parasympathetic “rest and digest” response and functions related to the brain-gut axis (such as chronic pain and digestive disorders).

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Both systems are helpful, and most clients will benefit from both. Those with physical issues (functional disorder diagnosis, sleep apnea, retained primitive reflexes, etc.) and/or those with a habitual dorsal vagal (freeze/collapse) response to stressors may wish to begin with the RRP. Those who want to feel more emotionally regulated, connected, and safe might start with the SSP.

 

 

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