Understanding Two Pathways to Nervous System Healing: Safe and Sound Protocol™ vs Rest and Restore Protocol™
I’ve been an authorized provider of two Unyte Health, Inc., products for years. I starting using the Safe and Sound Protocol™ (SSP) in 2017 and became a provider in 2019. I participated in the two pilot studies for the Rest and Restore Protocol™ (RRP) in 2024, and became a provider as soon as that certification was made available in early 2025.
I’ve guided individual clients and small professional groups through both, and have observed firsthand the profound impact they can have on nervous system regulation and overall well-being.
A common question I encounter is: What is the difference between the two protocols? Let's explore that.
Connection with Our External Environment: The Safe and Sound Protocol™
Dr. Stephen Porges developed the SSP as a practical application of his Polyvagal Theory, specifically to help individuals whose nervous systems struggle to feel safe and socially connected.
Purpose & Design
Awaken Your Capacity for Safe Connection
The SSP is designed to strengthen your nervous system's ability to feel safe with others, supporting social engagement, bonding, and emotional connection.
Enhance How You Process Sound and Voice
By using specially filtered music, the SSP exercises the neural pathways that help you better perceive human voices while filtering out distracting background noise.
Foster a Felt Sense of Safety
This gentle stimulation helps shift your body toward experiencing genuine safety, allowing your natural capacity for connection and social interaction to emerge.
Applications
Initially designed for children with autism and auditory hypersensitivity, the SSP has been applied more broadly for trauma recovery, anxiety, ADHD, sensory regulation, and more.
Connection with Ourselves: The Rest and Restore Protocol™
While the SSP focuses on social engagement and external connection, the Rest and Restore Protocol™ (RRP) is designed to support our internal physiological restoration. Dr. Porges co-developed RRP with music and audio innovator Anthony Gorry to promote deeper-level healing and regulation.
Purpose & Design
Activate Your Complete Relaxation Response
The RRP uses carefully crafted sound frequencies and rhythms that sync with your body's natural patterns, awakening both your capacity for peaceful connection AND your deepest levels of physical restoration. This creates a beautiful balance between feeling safe to engage and feeling safe to completely let go.
Support Deep Relaxation and Recovery
Designed to promote profound relaxation, recovery, and balance in body and mind, the RRP helps you shift out of chronic stress or shutdown into states of calm and inner harmony.
Enhance Your Inner Awareness and Self-Regulation
By fostering interoception (your ability to sense what's happening inside your body), the RRP supports self-regulation and activates your body's natural healing processes.
Applications
The RRP is primarily used by therapists and clinicians, delivered through the Unyte digital platform. It enhances physiological regulation, interoceptive awareness, and the capacity for self-regulation, supporting both mental and physical well-being.
Personal Approach: Why I Focus on the RRP
As a licensed bodyworker, my training and expertise is with the physical body. I’ve therefore made the professional decision to focus exclusively on the Rest and Restore Protocol™ (RRP) in my practice. While the SSP is a powerful tool for social engagement and safety, I find that RRP aligns most closely with the goals of deep physiological restoration, autonomic balance, and somatic integration that my clients seek.
Beyond the physiological benefits, RRP also resonates with the Buddhist-informed, spiritual approach I bring to my work. The protocol’s focus on deep rest, attuning to internal rhythms, and cultivating awareness of subtle bodily states mirrors core practices in meditation, mindfulness, and somatic contemplation. In this way, RRP not only supports the nervous system but also offers a pathway for inner reflection, presence, and spiritual alignment, helping clients to feel grounded, centered, and more connected to themselves and the world around them.
By concentrating on the RRP, I can guide clients into both states of calm social engagement AND the profound rest that allows true healing to occur. This approach supports holistic integration of body, mind, and spirit, making it a uniquely powerful complement to my Buddhist-informed bodywork practice.
Key Takeaway
While the SSP is widely recognized for enhancing social engagement and safety, my practice is exclusively focused on the RRP because it aligns most closely with the goals of deep physiological restoration, autonomic balance, somatic integration, and spiritual awareness. Through RRP, I support clients in accessing the full spectrum of their relaxation response—both their capacity for peaceful connection and their deepest healing states—providing a holistic pathway to nervous system health, emotional resilience, and inner presence within a Buddhist-informed, body-centered framework.
If you're interested in learning more about how the RRP can support your journey toward better nervous system regulation and overall well-being, I’m here to guide you through this transformative therapy. I offer small experiential groups, bespoke one-on-one delivery, and some budget-friendly options.