What if “misbehaviour” – or any behaviour – is just a nervous system asking for safety?
This isn’t just theory. It’s what we feel in our bodies every day – as teachers, and as humans.
Thanks to Jan Winhall’s Felt Sense Polyvagal Model from her book 20 Embodied Practices for Healing Trauma and Addiction, we have a deeper map for understanding student (and teacher) behavior. Her use of color and nervous system states offers a clear, embodied way to see what’s really happening in the classroom.
Most classroom behavior isn’t about motivation or discipline.
It’s about survival.
When students feel unsafe – emotionally, physically, socially – their nervous system shifts into one of seven states.
Once you know how to recognize them, everything changes.
The 3 Core States:
🌞 FLOCK (Yellow) – Connected, calm, curious
This is where learning lives. Regulated, open, safe.
🔥 FIGHT / FLIGHT (Red) – Anxious, reactive, distracted, Irritability, outbursts, shutdowns – the nervous system in defense.
🌫️ FOLD (Gray) – Withdrawn, numb, silent
Not laziness. Not defiance. Just a body conserving energy in collapse.
4 Blended States We Often Miss:
🌞🔥 FUN / Fired Up (Yellow + Red) – Energized and focused
Grounded excitement.
When this is supported, students SOAR.
🔥🌫️ FIXATE / Freeze / Fawn (Red + Gray) – Hypervigilant, compliant, dissociated
Doing everything “right” while feeling everything “wrong.”
🌞🔥🌫️ FAVOURING OTHERS (All 3) – Looks fine, feels overwhelmed
Masking exhaustion. Keeping it together to survive.
🌫️🌞 FLOWING (Gray + Yellow) – Quiet peace, deep presence
A still place of safety. Rest, reflection, creativity.
We all move through these states – students, teachers, everyone.
TAKEAWAY:
When we recognize the state, we can respond to the need.
QUESTION:
What would shift in your classroom – and in your life – if you saw behavior as a clue, not a choice?