Explore the World of the Polyvagal Theory through a Chiropractic Lens!Â
The Original Polyvagal-Informed Chiropractic Protocol
Elevate your practice with the science of connection—see how understanding the nervous system can transform your adjusting technique, patient care, and business dynamics!
Contact Us NowMake Your Adjustments Land Deeper Without Changing Your Technique
Learn how to apply Polyvagal Theory to your adjusting, communication, and patient experience so your patients feel safer, stay longer, and respond more consistently.
Check out our blog for related articles at https://drdonmacdonald.com/blog
If you’re a chiropractor who feels like you’re doing everything “right” but your practice still feels harder than it should… you’re not alone.
The Informed Chiropractor helps neurologically focused chiropractors bridge the gap between what they know and what’s actually happening in practice by applying Polyvagal Theory directly to their adjusting, communication, and patient experience.
From Guessing to Knowing What’s Actually Happening
If you’ve been in practice long enough to know it’s not your technique… but you still can’t always explain why some patients get better, and others don’t… this is where things change.
We help chiropractors apply Polyvagal Theory in a way that sharpens your assessment, upgrades your communication, and changes how your adjustments land. You’ll start to see what’s happening in the nervous system instead of guessing and finally have the language to explain it with confidence.
As your patients feel safer and more regulated, everything shifts. Visits become more connected. Progress becomes easier to track. Retention improves without pressure. And long-term care stops being something you have to justify… and becomes something your patients actually understand and value.
Begin with Free Learning
If you are curious about Polyvagal Theory and how it applies to chiropractic, start here. Our free Introduction to Polyvagal Theory for Chiropractors course and The Informed Chiropractor podcast give you practical language, clinical context, and real-world examples you can immediately relate to your practice. Listen by clicking HERE. This is a low-pressure way to explore how a nervous system lens can bring clarity to your care without changing who you are as a chiropractor.
Grow Inside the Informed Chiropractor Mentorship
For chiropractors who want ongoing support and deeper integration, our group mentorship provides a steady rhythm of learning, reflection, and clinical application. Inside The Informed Chiropractor community, you will refine communication, assessment, and clinical decision making through a Polyvagal and neurologically focused lens while staying grounded in chiropractic principles. This is where understanding becomes consistency and confidence.
Experience the Work Live
Our live events are where this work becomes embodied. From technique-based seminars and team communication trainings to masterminds and Healing the Chiropractor experiences, these gatherings are designed to deepen regulation, restore clarity, and reconnect you with purpose in practice. Live events offer a space to slow down, ask better questions, and experience what a regulated chiropractic environment feels like.Â
Check our upcoming events dates and locations below.Â
The Informed Chiropractor.
If you’re a chiropractor who’s been in practice for a few years and knows there’s more available, but you can’t quite access it consistently, this may be for you.
The Informed Chiropractor is a mentoring community for neurologically focused chiropractors who want to stop guessing and start practicing with clarity, confidence, and intention. We show you how to apply Polyvagal Theory to your adjusting, your communication, and your patient experience so your care actually lands and your patients stay engaged.
Inside, you’ll get real support, not more noise. Monthly calls to sharpen your thinking, ongoing conversations in the community, and practical tools you can use in practice right away, including how we apply the MacDonald Safety Corridor Protocol in real time. This is the only place you can currently get online information about the protocol, besides joining us live at an event.Â
No contracts. No pressure. Just a place to plug in, get clear, and start moving forward again.
For more info click HERE
Join Us At A Live Event. Check the Highlights Below!
April 18th th, in Calgary, AB:
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The New Zealand College of Chiropractic Lyceum
Calgary, AB | April 18th, 2026 Â |Â at the Studio Bell
A bold new era in chiropractic is emerging – one defined by visionary leadership, scientific clarity, and a renewed commitment to the profession’s vitalistic roots.
The programme gathers renowned speakers from across the globe, each contributing their unique expertise to a powerful blend of chiropractic science, innovation, and human‑connection insight.
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CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFOJune 6th, in Calgary, AB: CANADA
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Unlocking The Pelvis and Pelvic Floor
Calgary, AB | June 6th, 2026 Â |Â at the Downtown Calgary Marriott
A MacDonald Safety Corridor Protocol: Series
limited spots left
This one-day immersive training focuses on the gateway of neurological safety — in the pelvis and pelvic floor.Â
The pelvic floor is one of the most overlooked yet influential regions in the body, playing a key role in stability, movement, and nervous system regulation. When it’s not functioning well, it can contribute to persistent low back and hip patterns, altered breathing mechanics, and widespread fascial compensation throughout the body. In this focused, hands-on workshop in Calgary, chiropractors will learn how to better assess the pelvis and pelvic floor, understand its global impact on function, and apply simple, practical strategies to help patients respond more consistently and hold their adjustments longer.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
September 19th in LONDON, ENGLANDÂ
Unlocking The Pelvis and Pelvic Floor.Â
London, England | September 19th, 2026Â Â |Â Â at haptic Chiropractors office downtown London
If you’ve been feeling like there’s a missing piece in your care, this is where things start to click. This one-day Pelvic Floor seminar in London will give you a clearer lens on why some patients don’t hold their adjustments, why chronic patterns keep returning, and how to work with the body in a way that creates real, lasting change. You’ll walk away with practical assessment strategies, hands-on approaches, and a deeper understanding of how pelvic floor tone and interoception influence stability, regulation, and overall function.
More importantly, this day will change how you see both your patients and yourself. As your awareness grows, so does your precision and confidence. Adjustments become more connected, results become more consistent, and your ability to guide patients toward long-term change expands. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start working with the nervous system in a more intentional way, this is a seminar you don’t want to miss.
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CLICK HERE TO REGISTERDecember 5th, 2026, in Toronto, Ontario
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The Informed Chiropractor Gathering
Toronto, ON | December 5th, 2026 Â |Â at the Toronto Airport Delta hotel and conference center.
The Gathering: The Communication Extravaganza is not your typical chiropractic seminar. This is where neurologically focused chiropractors and their teams come to refine how they connect, communicate, and care in today’s world. As the people walking into our practices continue to change, the way we communicate has to evolve with them. This event is designed to help you move beyond overexplaining and into a style of communication that creates safety, clarity, and trust from the very first interaction.
Over the course of the day, you’ll learn how to communicate through a nervous system lens, align your team, and create an experience your patients can actually feel. This is practical, real-world work you can bring back into your practice immediately. If you’re ready to deepen your impact, strengthen your retention, and feel more confident in every conversation, click below to view the full event details and secure your spot.
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CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFOYou Don’t Have to Change Who You Are to Practice Differently
You don’t need a new technique.
You need a better understanding of what’s happening in the nervous system when you adjust.
Working with us helps you deliver adjustments that regulate deeper, communicate in a way that is actually relevant to your patients so they understand, and build a practice that feels more stable, consistent, and aligned with how you want to live.
At The Informed Chiropractor, we help you make sense of what you’re already seeing every day. You’ll refine how you assess, how you communicate, and how you adjust—so you’re not guessing anymore.
Whether it’s creating more connection in your visits, improving retention without pressure, or building a more regulated office environment, this work brings chiropractic back to something that feels clear, grounded, and sustainable.
No scripts. No forced systems.
Just a better way of seeing, so you can show up with more certainty every day.
Watch this interview Clip with Dr. Stephen Porges.
At The Informed Chiropractor, we integrate the Polyvagal Theory into principled chiropractic care to help doctors better understand nervous system regulation, vagal tone, trauma physiology, and the social engagement system. In this exclusive interview with Dr. Stephen Porges, founder of the Polyvagal Theory, we explore how chiropractic adjustments influence autonomic state, safety cues, and whole-body regulation. Our mentorship and seminars teach chiropractors how to apply polyvagal principles in clinical assessment, communication, and adjusting technique so care becomes more predictable, neurologically informed, and results-driven..
“Perhaps our misunderstanding of the role of safety is based on an assumption that we think we know what safety means. This assumption needs to be challenged, because there may be an inconsistency between the words we use to describe safety and our bodily feelings of safety.”
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"The key to moving our practice from one that was stuck and stagnant to one that is growing and thriving has been the vitality shift. The vitality shift got us moving and the vitality engine keeps us moving. The vitality engine has helped us develop our skills to communicate & practice congruently in a vitalistic manner. We’ve never been happier or more fulfilled in practice."
Dr. John and Marie Osborne, Ireland
"Since joining the Vitality Engine my personal practice has increased by 40% from a time when I thought I was full. Gentle advice on top of excellent lessons and monthly tutorials have enabled me to edge my practice forward past where any of us ever thought possible. Receipts are up, referrals are up and results are up."
Dr. Donald Francis, Scotland, UK